The soldier lay there on his cot, his head wrapped in gauze but his mind was everywhere at once as the oil lamp burned on the ground beside the makeshift bed, far enough not to accidentally knock over though close enough to reach if need be. The pain in his temples pulsated and beat like a battle drum. The tempo was steady and the rhythm was constant, over and over and over again, pounding against his skull and pushing behind his closed eyes.

He couldn't remember everything that had happened the day before, and that was most likely due to his concussions. But the little pieces he occasionally picked up were hastily written down in the little leather journal he kept under his pillow with a dull pencil missing its eraser. Being held captive by the German forces, being released by Captain America, seeing Captain America carrying an unconscious, horribly treated Angel in his arms, shouting to the Captain and telling him that he knew the woman, that he'd take her with him back to camp with the rest of the guys who'd helped him snag one of Hydra's trucks.

A little after that was when things began to grow hazy. He could recall the gun shots and the Angel regaining consciousness, but after that, things were fractured like a broken window. Gun shots and shouting echoed in his memory, then explosion after explosion splintering his senses and diluting his motor skills. The numb sensation of his feet dragging against a gravel road was tucked away in his head, then another big burst of sound that seemed to split the sky from the ground. 

Among the heavy smoke and ashes floating through the air, one thing was left standing. Well, one woman, to be exact.

And the next thing Henry knew, he was waking up on a cot in the base camp's medical facilities, his injuries treated and a glass of water sitting on the ground beside his bed. As if he'd just woken up from some bizarre nightmare where women could blow up an entire cluster of men with a piece of a destroyed vehicle.

"Good morning," A kind voice said as the tent's flap was opened and a woman stepped into the room. To his dismay, it wasn't Angel, but another nurse who must have been on duty. Henry had asked about the corporal when he first came to, but he didn't get as much information as he'd been hoping for. Yes, Angel was alive, but the extent of her injuries she'd received during her time as a prisoner of war were 'classified to the public', whatever the hell that meant. "I have some medication for that nasty headache you've been talking about."

Henry sat up slowly, acknowledging the sudden dizziness that still came whenever he moved his cranium, and took the pill given to him by the kind woman who had been attending to his needs. She was kind enough, with her black hair and pretty hazel eyes, but the young man wasn't looking for kind- he was looking for news on how the woman who had taken him under her wing was doing.

The relationship between Evangeline Harris and Henry Foster had always been a peculiar one when compared to how modern day relationships worked. In society, women were rarely ever around men with the intentions of wanting to be friends and nothing but. With the job of housewife being most dominant, young ladies did their best to snag a husband when they thought they'd caught the right fish and get hitched the next day.

But not Evangeline Harris, nope. Every man she'd met in the army was immediately her brother, and she loved them all equally (except for Sergeant Barnes, but Henry knew it was because of their past). With the young man hardly being eighteen, the Angel swooped in like a mother bird and wrapped him protectively in her wings. Not once had he felt like there was a romantic spark between the two, and he couldn't have been happier about that. It wasn't that he didn't find Evangeline attractive, all the guys did. He just felt grateful to have a friend that cared about the people around herself so much.

She'd saved so many lives during his time under her command, including his own on more than one occasion. Escaping Azzano in one piece was only the tip of that heavy iceberg. If she hadn't been with him in the thick of the war, Henry's mother would've gotten his condolence letter in the mail weeks ago. So he couldn't help but feel a bit concerned when no one told him what was happening with his big sister.

"Thanks," He said before putting the pill in his mouth and washing it down with his glass of water. "How long does it take for these things to kick in?"

"Shouldn't be too long-"

The talking pair were interrupted by the sound of the tent flap opening once again and another person stepped into the room. The goofiest grin that appeared on Henry's face was one for the record books.

"I can take this one, Patty." The nurse's eyes widened at the sight of the injured escapee, her normal clothes now on and her feet wrapped up in gauze. She hadn't bathed yet since returning to the American camp, but she's managed to pull her long blonde hair back into a messy ponytail that cascaded past her shoulders and down her spine.

"Corporal Harris, Mr.Stark said-"

"-that I could take this one before I leave." Angel finished the woman's sentence for her and nodded towards the exit. Though Patty seemed a bit disappointed, the nurse nodded in understanding and left the tent without another word. Evangeline turned towards the injured soldier and gave him a big smile. "Hey, kid, how you holding up?"

"I'm doing loads better," He started and she took a seat next to him on the cot. "Now that I know you're doing okay, I can finally breathe again. No one would tell me what's been going on with..." His eyes found the glowing scars on her fingers and wrists, disappearing beneath the sleeves of her old faded green coat. "...you." As if by instinct, she self-consciously pulled the sleeves over her hands to hide the orange spiderwebs, but a few seconds went by and she realized that there was no point in hiding her condition now. The woman pulled up her sleeves and revealed a portion of the damage that had been done to her. His jaw dropped. "Woah..."

"I don't know the technical term for this, probably because I know there isn't one, but what's going on is that for some odd reason, Hydra wanted me to be able to process explosive chemicals from my fingertips," She started and slowly extended her left hand towards him. "You can touch it, its safe when its under my skin. Just don't try and give me a high-give any time soon." Henry gently prodded one of the glowing veins with his index finger.

"You said that you're leaving," Henry spoke up, getting to the real issue at hand. He didn't care about her new condition as much as he cared about whether or not she was staying at the camp. "What did you mean by that? How long are you going to be gone?" She let out a slight laugh and shook her head.

"I won't be gone too long, just a few days. Mr.Stark wants to run some tests on me to make sure I won't blow up the camp. I'll be back by the end of the week." She promised, though Henry knew when she was lying. It was clear she didn't know exactly when she'd be returning to the front lines.

"Does Sergeant Barnes know?" He asked her. He didn't know Bucky enough to be on a first-name basis, but Henry knew how much the sergeant meant to her. He knew how close they'd gotten and how everything they'd been through had pulled them even closer together. She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"Not yet, but I'll say good-bye before I go."

"He isn't going to take this separation well. Not after Azzano," Henry sighed and folded his arms over his chest, his eyes on the floor of the tent and the gears in his head turning. "This is going to be brutal. Were the rumors true? Did he ask you to marry him?"

"Yeah," She didn't even bother denying it, not that she wanted to. "He did."

"Did you say yes?"

"Technically, no, but I would have if I'd been given the chance."

An evil grin appeared on his lips as a beautiful idea entered his mind, one that would surely piss the colonel off if he ever found out and could possibly end up getting Henry kicked out of the army for insubordination, but he didn't care. Some things in life are more important than being a goody-two-shoes all the time. This was one of those things.

"I know what we could do to cheer him up before your send-off. Meet me in the woods tonight, with Sergeant Barnes, Miss Carter, and the Captain. Midnight."