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No you told yourself. No… It had to be here somewhere. You still had it when you went on board of Howard’s plane. Or did you? You felt the panic grow inside your body and you didn’t know what to do. You could only hope you hadn’t lost it during the attack on the HYDRA base. You would never find it again if you had.

You started walking, wiping the tears from your face. You had to stay calm. Even if you had had the key, you still wouldn’t have known if it would have worked. You didn’t know much about time travel, but what you did know however, was that anything was possible. Maybe you should ask Howard if he could cryo-freeze you. Like doctor Zola would do with Bucky…

You quickly shook that thought from your mind. It was too dangerous. What if you lost your memory, like Bucky? Then you still wouldn’t return to Steve. Not really anyway. You quickened your pace and made your way towards Howard’s lab. There must be something he could do. If his son could do it. He could do it.

‘[Name]!’ Howard smiled, putting some of the HYDRA weapons into boxes. He would probably examine them later. ‘Come to say goodbye?’

‘Not exactly…’ you swallowed hard, wondering how you should tell him what you wanted him to do.

‘Oh? How can I help you?’

‘Do you believe in time travel?’

A soft laugh welled from his throat as he frowned at you. He continued putting boxes on shelves and you walked closer to him.

‘Do you?’

‘Theoretically, yes, but even if it was physically possible, we don’t have the right technology for it.’

‘What if I told you your son build a time machine and that’s the reason why I’m here…’

Howard turned around, looking at you suspiciously. ‘I’d say you’ve gone mad. It’s impossible.’

‘His name is Tony and he’s an absolute genius. He has perfected most of your weapon designs and your company is making millions of dollars.’

‘My company?’

‘Stark Industries…’

‘How’d you know about that? I haven’t told anyone about my I idea for a company…’

‘I’m not from here, Howard. You know that.’

‘But…’

You could see his mind was racing, trying to come up with different explanations for what was going on.

‘Tony,’ he sighed, after a few minutes. ‘It was my grandfather’s name…’ he looked up at you and nodded, telling you he believed you. ‘What do you need?’

***** SEVERAL HOURS LATER ******

‘Argh!’ Howard cried out, throwing another piece of now useless paper on the ground behind him. He had been sketching out designs and formulas for the time machine he had agreed to build for you, but he wasn’t getting anywhere.

You had told him everything you knew about the machine Tony and Bruce had made, but it wasn’t much. Howard had been trying for hours to make the correct calculations, but by the deep wrinkles in his forehead you could tell he was only getting frustrated.

‘It’s no use,’ he sighed after another five minutes. ‘He must have had some external power source. One that could light up all of New York for a year. It’s impossible.’

You let your head drop into your hands and shook your head. The arc reactor. It wouldn’t be invented for years to come. Howard was right. It was impossible.

‘Unless…’ he suddenly lifted his head up again. ‘Yes! That’s it.’

You also lifted your head up, looking at Howard as he scribbled down formulas and calculations like a mad man. He took his pencil between his teeth and nodded at his work satisfied.

‘What?’ you asked hopefully.

‘If we use Schmidt’s source of power, we should have enough power to transport you to the future. Or anywhere actually.’

You sighed, thinking it was a good idea, but the Tesseract wasn’t recovered yet and you didn’t know how long it would take for Howard to find it.

‘We don’t have it.’

‘Not yet, no, but…’

‘No,’ you said resolutely. ‘It’s too dangerous. The Tesseract is unstable. It could burn this whole building too ashes.’

‘The Tesseract? So that’s what it’s called… What is it?’

‘Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.’

Howard nodded. Letting himself drop back into his chair. ‘So now what? You just stay here? Isn’t that dangerous too?’

‘It is, but I don’t have a choice,’ you sighed, rubbing your eyes. ‘Promise me something.’

‘Hmm?’ he looked up at you gathering his calculations and putting them into one of the boxes.

‘Never try to use the Tesseract. You have no idea what it can do.’

You could see he doubted you for a second, but quickly agreed with you and picked the files from the box again. He ripped them apart and threw them in the bin standing next to the table.

‘It’s probably best if no one ever messes with the events of time again. Who knows what my son has caused by sending you here. Tell me, what is he like?’

You smiled, shaking your head. ‘That’s also something you don’t want to know,’ you laughed. ‘But he’s a good guy. He fights for what he thinks is right. He had a good teacher,’ you nodded at Howard.

‘He’s a pain in the ass, isn’t he?’

‘Like I said: he had a good teacher.’

Howard laughed with you and you thought it was a shame he would die at such a young age, when Tony was practically still a boy.

‘What will you do?’ Howards asked you, his face turning in a serious frown. ‘You can never stay at one place for long. You might change the future.’

‘I know,’ you sighed again. ‘Maybe it’s best if I just… disappear.’

‘You can’t be thinking about that. There must be a solution. Have you started looking for the device that was supposed to bring you back?’

‘I lost it during the fight. By now it will be burned down to ashes.’

It was silent for a few minutes. You both didn’t know what to say anymore and you thought it was probably best if you left now, before you could change more things than you already had. You pushed yourself from your chair and looked at Howard.

‘Goodbye, Howard,’ you said, holding back your tears. He had been your last hope. ‘It’s best if you don’t tell Tony about me.’

Howard nodded. ‘Be well, [Name]. If you ever need anything. You probably know where to find me.’

You smiled. ‘Thank you. Take care of yourself.’

You walked away from him, leaving him to go back to his boxes filled with HYDRA weapons. As you were walking through the hallway you started to realize you would be stuck here forever. You would never see Steve again. Your whole life was over.

‘Agent [Last Name]!’ someone cried after you. ‘[Name], wait!’ Peggy yelled again.

You turned around, seeing her running after you.

‘I heard you were leaving,’ she said, softly panting.

‘I am. I just need to get my things.’

‘Then you shouldn’t forget this,’ she opened her hand, revealing a necklace with Tony’s key dangling underneath. ‘I think it fell from your neck when I shot the HYDRA agent with the flamethrower.’

You were lost for words. You looked from the key to her and couldn’t stop yourself from hugging her.

‘Thank you!’ you cried out, taking it from her hands. ‘You have no idea what this means to me.’

Peggy smiled, somewhat overwhelmed. ‘You’re welcome,’ she laughed. ‘I’m glad I could help.’

You put the key into the pocket of your jacket and made sure it couldn’t fall out.

‘When are you leaving?’ Peggy asked, walking with you as you made your way towards your shared sleeping bunker.

‘I just need to grab my stuff and then I’ll leave.’

Your heart beat uncontrollably in your chest. Peggy was talking to you, but you didn’t hear a word of it. You were too excited to even walk. You would go home. You would actually go home…. That was of course if Tony’s machine worked.

‘… and I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,’ Peggy finished when you had reached the sleeping bunker. ‘I missjudged you. You’re a good person and Steve was right to trust you. We all should have listened to him a lot sooner. He might still be alive if we had…’

You sighed, laying your hand on her shoulder. ‘No one could have saved him, Peggy. You shouldn’t blame yourself.’

‘I don’t,’ she responded. ‘But I cannot help but wonder…’

You could see a tear leaving the corner of her eye, but she quickly wiped it away.

‘I’m keeping you from packing you bag,’ she smiled after a few seconds of silence. ‘I hope we will see each other again someday.

‘We will,’ you reassured her. ‘Goodbye, Peggy.’

You hugged her one last time and watched her walk further into the hallway. You quickly walked into the sleeping bunker and closed the door behind you, before making your way towards the bed. You couldn’t thank Peggy enough for picking up your necklace. In a way, she had saved your life. You told yourself you would go find her when you were back in the future. She deserved to know the truth about you.

You let yourself drop on the bed and let your head sink into the soft pillow. Your fingers curled around the key in your pocket and you carresed the little button inside. This was the end of your mission. Whatever would happen after this moment, it would finally be over. You closed your eyes and could only hope you had changed the future. You pressed the little button on the key and waited for something to transport you back to the future. Something… Anything…

*

**

***

****

*****

When you opened your eyes again, you had the feeling nothing had changed. You had probably fallen asleep while the hours had ticked by. It had been too good to be true. Without the threat of a weapon, Tony hadn’t needed to make a time machine. Now you would be stuck here forever. Again.

You looked around you, but there was nothing to be seen but darkness. Somehow however, the room felt familiar. You pushed yourself from the soft mattress and looked around you. It was still pitch black around you, but you were almost certain you were inside a room. You couldn’t remember your sleeping bunker ever being this dark. Not even when it had been night. You threw your legs over the right side of the bed and let your feet sink into the soft fur of the carpet.

Your heart started to beat uncontrollably in your chest. There was no carpet in your sleeping bunker… Only… Only in your room in Star Tower… You gasped. Were you really back? Had the machine really worked? You rushed over to the door and pulled it open, immediately getting blinded by the warm sunlight that shone into the hallway. You walked through the door, seeing the familiar halls of Stark Tower. Tears fell down your face as you realized everything was still intact and all the rooms and floor were still there. The machine had worked. You were back.

You ran through the hallways in your short pajamas. You could almost not control your excitement as you ran down the stairs and into the large living room. Tony was sitting on the couch, watching TV, while Pepper was cooking something in the kitchen. You could hear Natasha and Clint argue behind the kitchen table and you were sure Bruce and Fury were walking up the stairs as you could hear their voices from behind the door.

You laughed, tears still streaming down your face. You had done it. You had actually done it. Your loud sobs finally got the attention from Tony. He looked up from his show and turned his gaze to you.

‘What's wrong with you?’ Tony frowned, walking into the room.

You started laughing harder through your tears when he started talking. You walked towards him and hugged him tightly. Thank God for Tony Stark… you thought.

‘Pepper!’ he yelled in the direction of the kitchen. ‘There’s something wrong with [Name].’

‘What’s going on?’ a familiar voice asked.

Steve walked out of the kitchen, an apple in his hand. He took a large bite and looked at you with a frown on his face. You could only hope he had gotten your letter.

You swallowed hard, trying to remember what you had written down. You let go of Tony and walked towards Steve. By the looks on their faces you realized no time had passed. You were exactly in the time and place you had left them several weeks ago. Although to them, not a moment had gone by.

‘I’m sorry,’ you told Steve.

‘About what?’ he asked, looking at you suspiciously.

‘For not telling you everything, but I couldn’t… I hope you understand now.’

‘Tell him what?’ Tony frowned, watching you walk closer to Steve. Everyone was looking at you like you had gone mad, but you could tell from Steve’s face he knew exactly what you were talking about.

He dropped the apple on the floor and looked at you doubtfully, as if he couldn’t believe he would have you back after all those years.

‘[Name]?’

You nodded, a smile curling your lips as tears started to stream down your face again.

Steve rushed over to you and closed his arms tightly around you. You knew in that moment he would never let you go. You buried your face in his shirt and started laughing and crying at the same time again.

‘What the hell is going on here?’ Tony cried out, probably still looking at the both of you.

You ignored Tony and instead focused on Steve. You would tell them later what had happened. ‘I’m sorry,' you said again, your words muffled by Steve’s shirt. ‘About what happened to you, to Howard… Bucky…’

Steve shook his head, pressing you even tighter against him. ‘It’s okay. You couldn’t risk it. And I don’t think I would have believed you if you had told me.’

You nodded, pushing yourself from his chest. You looked in his eyes and pressed a small kiss on his lips, which caused the other Avengers to be even more confused. Steve smiled, wiping the tears from your face, before kissing you back.

‘Did you get my letter?’ you asked.

‘I did, but not after the attack on New York. Fury wasn’t sure the letter was real. You were already an agent back then, so it was very confusing to him.’

You nodded. ‘I am glad he gave it to you anyway. I didn’t want you to go through the so much pain again.’

He smiled, looking at you gratefully. ‘The last week has been hard though, having you so close… but you didn’t remember anything. I almost thought you’d never come back… I…’

‘But I did,’ you laid your hand against his cheek and smiled back. ‘I love you, Steve. I wish I could have been there when you woke up.’

‘I love you too, [Name]. More than you can imagine…’

He kissed you passionately, until Tony cleared his throat and you both realized the rest was still looking at you.

‘You wanna go dancing?’ you smiled at Steve, not paying any attention to the rest. You would talk to them later.

Steve laughed. ‘I still don’t know how…’

‘We’ll have the band play something slow.’

You let your hand slip into his and pulled him along with you. It was still morning and you were wearing your pajama, but you didn’t care. You wanted to spend as much time with Steve as possible.

Tony yelled something at you, but you didn’t hear it. You pulled your coat from the rack and ran outside, hand in hand with Steve.

‘Where are we going?’ he asked you, following you as you made your way onto the street.

‘Anywhere we want to!’ you cried out, laughing.

Steve pulled you to him, into his arms, looking down on you with more love than you thought was even possible.

‘I’ve missed you so much,’ he whispered, closing his arms around your waist.

You smiled, feeling happier than you had ever been. Steve pressed a kiss on your lips and you didn’t mind standing in that spot for the rest of the day. As long as Steve would hold you in his arms.

Steve let go of you slowly, getting you by the hand. You made your way into the city together, walking hand in hand as the sun guided your path. You didn’t know what the future would bring – it was probably best that you didn’t – but one thing you knew for sure: you were right where you wanted to be. Where you belonged. And you would never have to go back in time to get there.

It was finally over.

THE END