You had just gotten home from another mission.
You were a time traveler.
Your father had been one, and before he died, he gave you his time travel watch.
Natasha was the first one to notice you.
Everyone was gathered outside of the lab.
She grabbed your wrist.
"Am I in the right year, 2016?" You asked.
"You are not going to believe what Tony did to Steve as a joke," she said, dragging you through the crowd of Avengers.
When she pulled you into the lab, you saw Tony drawing blood from a small, scrawny guy.
Upon looking closer, you noticed it was Steve.
"Is he dying?" You gasped.
"Not yet," Steve snarled, glaring at Tony.
Tony was lucky Steve didn't have laser eyes.
"I was referring to you, Steve," you said.
"Not yet," Tony said, extremely serious.
"What did you do?" You asked Tony.
"I was just trying to shrink Rogers. I guess I reversed the super soldier serum," Tony explained, reading over results.
"Make another one," Natasha broke in.
Tony winced.
You crossed your arms.
"You can't, can you?" You asked.
"No," he admitted, shaking his head.
You thought over all the options.
Losing Steve was not one of them.
You glanced at your watch.
"How long does he have?" You asked.
"2 weeks. 3, at the most," Tony sighed.
You nodded.
"What year were you injected with the serum?" You asked Steve.
"No, Y/N," Natasha said, "You just came back from a mission, from time travelling."
"I know, so it'll take me a few days when I get there to recharge," you explained, "But if I can go back and discover how the serum was made, I can come back and help save Steve."
Everyone was silent.
"Y/N, you don't have to-," Steve began.
"I want to," you interrupted.
Steve grabbed your hand, weakly squeezing it in thanks.
You kissed his cheek.
"You come back," Natasha warned.
"Always," you smiled.
"Kick my dad's ass for me if you see him," Tony added.
"While Nat kicks yours," you replied.
"Now, what was the year?" You repeated.
"1942," Steve answered.
You typed in the year on your watch.
You closed your eyes as you felt yourself drift.
You focused your energy on remaining whole.
If your mind drifted, it made for a messy trip.
One time, your kidneys got rearranged and when it came to peeing... well, you never wanted a repeat of that.
You felt yourself stabilize and opened your eyes.
The first thing you noticed was that you were in a military base.
You quickly dodged out of sight.
You knew you didn't match in with the times.
You looked around for a face you could trust.
Peggy Carter.
You recognized her from Steve's photographs.
She was prettier in person.
You watched her enter an empty tent.
You followed behind her.
As you closed the entrance, a gun was aimed at you.
"And you are?" You heard a british accent ask.
You turned around slowly.
"A friend of Steve Rogers," you answered.
"He hasn't mentioned a female friend," she said, keeping the gun steady.
"He doesn't know me yet," you explained, "I'm from the future."
"Prove it," she said.
You motioned to your clothing.
She looked at you up and down before holstering her weapon.
"Okay. Why did you come back to this time?" She asked.
"Steve is in danger where I come from," you told her, "I need to get close to him, figure out how the serum was made, and how it affected him so he could use it in the future."
Carter stared at you.
"I'm-," she began to introduce.
"Peggy Carter," you nodded, shaking her hand, "I know. I'm Y/N."
"How do you know?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I can't tell you," you winced, "Preserving the future and all."
She nodded.
"Let's help you blend in with the times," she said.
After outfitting you in some of her clothes and giving you a makeover to blend in with the time, she led you outside to where the recruits were training.
"Now, just play along, partner," she whispered, leading you over.
"Who is this?" The general asked.
"My partner, Y/N. You approved her transfer last week. She's finally arrived," Peggy lied.
The general just humphed and nodded at you.
You picked out Steve in the crowd.
He looked kind of adorable, working twice as hard as the others.
Some things never do change.
You watched as the general argued with another man before he took the pin out of a grenade and threw it.
You watched the soldiers retreat and stepped forward with Peggy to stop the blast with your own body.
Steve beat you two to it.
He curled up on top of it.
"Always sacrificing himself for others," you smiled.
Steve got up and walked over to Peggy.
"Did I pass?" He asked.
"In my book," she responded.
"The world needs more soldiers like you," you said, copying Peggy's accent.
Steve looked over at you, before removing his eyes from yours.
He looked around, nervously.
"I'm Y/N," you introduced.
"Steve Rogers, ma'am," he said.
You smiled.
"Why don't you two get to know each other?" Peggy suggested, "Y/N here is to conduct psychological evaluations on all of you."
You nodded along.
"Okay," Steve nodded.
You led Steve back to the tent where you had talked with Peggy.
"Please, get comfortable," you said, setting out two chairs.
Steve sat away from you.
"Do I make you uncomfortable?" You asked.
"No offense, ma'am, but all people do," he answered, staring at the ground.
You smiled.
"You must stop calling me ma'am," you laughed, "Do you like to draw, Steve?"
Steve looked at you, eyes lighting up.
"Yes, i do. How'd you know?" He asked.
He subconsciously moved his chair closer to yours.
You had connected to him.
"I can see it in your hands. Gentle, but steady," you observed.
And you two talked for an hour everyday, spending your time also talking to the other recruits to avoid suspicion.
You hated to admit it, but you were falling for Steve.
You were screwing up by letting your emotions get in the way.
Then the day finally came, the day Steve would be injected with the serum by Dr. Abraham Erskine for Project Rebirth.
You watched as Steve was put into the chamber and emerged the man you knew in the future.
You couldn't help but be a little saddened, because you knew he would never be the same again.
An onlooker stood and shot the doctor.
You jumped in front of Peggy before he could shoot her, taking a bullet in the shoulder.
You allowed yourself to fall, eyes closing.
If you played dead, it would be easier to leave.
"No!" You heard Steve shout.
You waited until you heard everyone exit the room.
You stood and pulled the camera from your pocket.
You took pictures of the plans and noted the activating chemical, Vita Radiation.
Before you could return home, Howard Stark entered the room.
He wasn't facing you, looking to the destroyed serum.
It was easy for you to knock him out from behind.
You took a picture to appease Tony.
You typed in the year you had to return to, along with the day.
You knew you would arrive a few days later.
You closed your eyes and allowed yourself to fade through time.
When you solidified, you opened your eyes to find yourself back in the lab.
"It's been 6 days," Tony stated.
You looked at him.
"I got this," you said, rolling up your sleeves.
"Love the outfit, but you're not a scientist," he said.
You rolled your eyes.
"I don't trust you with this information, Tony. And besides only I saw how this thing was made," you responded.
Tony scoffed and stomped away.
You cracked your knuckles and got to work.
Within 3 days, you were injected Steve with the serum.
Your patched up wound still ached.
You left and closed the door as he changed.
Your heart hurt, but you knew it was for the best.
You took the vials, and any samples you knew Tony could get his hands on and cast them into the Limbo of the time dimensions.
You waited with the others in the living room.
You handed Tony a print out of the picture of his unconscious father.
The camera had been thrown into the abyss too.
He laughed.
After a few minutes, Steve came out, fully restored.
"I remember you," he said to you.
"Yeah, I should hope so," you told him.
"No, I mean, I remember you back then. I watched you get shot. I thought you were dead," he recalled.
"Sorry," you apologized, "I had to make a clean getaway."
"I never got to tell you," he sighed.
"Tell me what?" You asked, standing.
Steve walked over and dipped you, kissing you.
Your eyes widened in shock before understanding and happily kissing back.
The next line uttered was from Natasha, who stopped the others from making annoying comments.
"Love that stood the test of time."