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( six. lost time )

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Imagine her relief when Howard came to talk to her later the next day to tell her that he believed her ridiculous (and really messed up) story.

He even told her that he had asked the SSR to arrange an extra room at the base for her to stay in (without mentioning that, of course), that way, while he's staying for the meantime to help out with Project Rebirth, he could simply drop by to help her whenever they need to discuss her 'time travelling' situation.

Of course, that meant she had to move out from Becca's apartment. Ellie was devastated to see her go, poor girl, and it was Natasha's first experience in her life at how much it hurt to see a little girl cry because of you. She gave her a tight hug, telling her that she's off to do her 'princess' duties for the meantime.

Becca, on the other hand, was suspicious again, to say the least, knowing that SSR doesn't just give out any room to a common nurse in their base. She played it off by simply saying that she must have made an impression on them and remarked that she forked up a good enough money to provide herself a room (eh, alright, not exactly true).

"Here," she handed her a sealed envelope.

"What's this?" Becca looked at it, perplexed.

"My debt."

And she didn't even get the chance to hand it to her when she quickly refused. "No, Anne."

"Becca, after everything you and Ellie have done for me—"

"You're being preposterous." Natasha arched an eyebrow, amused by her use of crafty words. She rolled her eyes, smiling, "Besides, I think having a princess stay in our house is enough payment, don't you think?"

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"So, what does this thing do?"

She turned around to find Howard holding her watch up to his eye. "It serves to monitor the time left for me to stay here. You see that percentage number? It's the battery life of the watch."

He looked at her for confirmation, "You mean you have a time limit? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

"Until what?"

She huffed a breath. "Until I disappear."

Howard looked at her, dumbfounded like he had misheard her. "You... disappear?"

"Die, or whatever you like to call it. Point is, I need to get back to my time before that battery dies out."

"And you've been here for how long?"

"Eight days."

"Well, at least the battery's not dying out fast. It's only about eighty-five percent, and if it continues at this rate, I suspect that you still have approximately five weeks left until you... die."

That didn't sound like good news, but it was the closest thing to a good news that she heard ever since she came here, and she'll take all that she could get. "Alright, so what are we looking at here? What do you need me to do?"

He leaned back on his char, "You said that you got transported in time through a machine that harnesses its power from a very powerful source?"

"Yes."

"And what's that power source like?"

She hesitated to answer, she couldn't dismantle any information about a weird glowing stone being it. It would only add more to his plate and before she knew it she's trying to calm the shit down on him while trying to explain the whole thing again.

"I'm not sure what it is. I just know it's strong enough to transport space-time molecules—whatever."

She knows she wasn't helping by giving out vague answers but if Howard Stark is as smart as he tells himself to be, she could only hope he'd figure it out.

He looked clueless. "Does it run on electricity? Like the way we use the power lines to generate something?"

Uh. "Something like that."

"Well, while I doubt there's anything here in 1943 that we could find as strong enough to generate space-time molecules and send you back to the future, I'll see what I can do."

It wasn't much, but it was enough to give her a sense of relief at the moment. "Thanks, Stark."

"By the way, what is your real name?" He wondered, "I mean, I don't suppose you're dense enough to use your real name here, so—"

"We're not there yet."

"Oh, right, sorry I was just uh... wondering."

She headed to the door, but not before shooting him a sideways smirk over her shoulder before stepping out of his office.

Howard ran a hand through his hair.

God, this girl would be the death of him.

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Natasha didn't have problems about men giving signs that they were attracted to her, or them giving signs that they want something from her. She was a spy, she was used to seducing men all the time and going as far as to satisfy them just to get a mission done.

It wasn't a big deal for her—

—before.

When she was actually assigned on missions with Steve, she didn't know why she felt uncomfortable doing it. It would usually be alright, even when Clint was her partner she didn't have any problem with it.

But when Steve came around, just the thought of him listening through their coms while she did her job, she felt ashamed of herself. Embarrassed. Fearful of what he might think of her. Not that there's anything else for him to think about her when he's completely aware of what kind of person she is.

A complete opposite of him. The kind that someone like Steve Rogers would hate, would despise.

It was crazy to think how much Steve changed her morals, her reasoning, her perception— even if the dork probably doesn't realize it at all, but he did.

And now, she was actually having a problem when a lot of these soldiers were actually making sexual remarks about her in public and in a place where lots of people can hear them. Including her.

She knew she was eye candy and all that, but still, it was somewhat sickening to hear.

Her fingers were clutching her tray tightly while she breathed heavily, trying to shut out all the suggestive things the men were speaking about her—

"Is this seat taken?"

Her grip suddenly loosened the second she heard the voice. It was all too familiar to not remember. 

She looked up, surprised, "Agent Carter," She offered a smile, holding a tray in hand and standing just behind the vacant seat in front of her. "No, please."

Never in her life did she ever plan to have a conversation with the Peggy Carter. Truth be told, she was tensed by her presence, she didn't know what to do.

"Just ignore them." She suddenly said, her British accent showing through. "These soldiers are a bunch of dogs. They hardly know how to treat a lady right."

"It's fine. I'm used to it." She sighed, tossing the bland food on her plate around,

From the way she sounded so weak and pathetic, she half-expected her to feel some sort of pity but thank God she didn't. "Maybe that's just the downside of being gorgeous," Peggy said.

She laughed, shaking her head, "That's a lot coming from you. You're practically the Marilyn Monroe in this place."

Confusion filled her face. "I beg your pardon?"

She then realized Marilyn Monroe wasn't even known until the late 50's.

Oops. "Oh, right, I forgot where I came from is different from Brooklyn. She's an icon. Word about her is going to reach this place soon, I hope."

She didn't push on that topic further, only nodding at that. "Are you one of the nurses accompanying us tomorrow?"

"Yes, I was just told this morning." It only occurred to Natasha that besides Steve turning into a heroic icon here in the 40's, there was another reason why she was so keen on learning more about his past, it was because of the woman standing in front of her. And now that she was here, she was keen on knowing how their ill-fated romance started out. "Have you met the soldier already? He's quite the talk around here since yesterday."

Yesterday, Colonel Phillips actually expressed his great disapproval towards Dr. Erskine when he chose Steve to be the man for the program. She didn't know much, but it was certainly somewhere about Steve jumping in on a grenade in hopes of saving the others. Turns out, it was just a test. It was a dummy grenade.

And boy how Natasha would've like to see the look on the colonel's face after that.

When she heard the news, she couldn't stop the proud feeling resonating on her chest as she pictured it. It sounded every bit of Steve Rogers. And she was glad that he stayed the same after 70 years.

Unfortunately—no, fortunately (wait, what?) Peggy was there to witness his heroic stunt firsthand.

"Yes, he's actually... one of a kind." A warm look gushed over her face, and she didn't fail to notice the faint pink spreading on the agent's cheeks.

She could easily picture Steve falling for her with no doubt. She was every bit his type. Strong, fearless, a real beauty but still full of grace and poise, and she seemed like an honest person, a good person, one that you could trust easily... unlike her—

Wait, hold up. How the hell did she get dragged into this conversation?

Natasha shook off those thoughts, praying to God that whatever this was, it would go away soon.

She didn't have time to think about this now.

She didn't want to think about this.

Tomorrow was a big day, and she made it clear to herself that her emotions weren't going to get in the way of that.

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who's excite for steve to finally see nat?