Artemis : The Seventh Avenger ➳ Steve Rogers [1]

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"Oh, I look weird!" Camille says, taking the picture from me, "You can take another one."

"No, hey!" I quickly grab the picture from her before she could do anything to get rid of it. "I like it, I think it's perfect." I say stuffing it into my pocket along with the one we took together.

The tips of her ears start to flush as I pull her closer to me by the waist, I plant a kiss on her forehead.

She hums thoughtfully at me as her eyes examine my face.

"What?" I ask, raising my brows at her.

"You've really gotten better at talking to women, haven't you?" She teases.

"Women? No, there are no other women." I say shaking my head, "Just one. Just you."

***

I stare down at the pictures that I've kept with me ever since that day. Smiling fondly down at them at the thought of the amazing memories we've had together.

For a split second, while I'm looking at them, I forget how painful it's been without her but then it all comes flooding back again. I have to get her back.

"This is going to work, Steve." Nat reassures.

I glance at her, "I know it will." I stuff the pictures back into my pocket with a sigh, "Because I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."

Nat nods, reaching over to squeeze my hand, "We're going to get her back."

"No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defences of any kind." Danvers reports as she returns, hovering outside the Benatar. "It's just him."

"Then that's enough." Nebula says.

I nod in agreement, "Let's get our families back."

*
FIVE YEARS LATER

"So, I...Went on a date the other day. First time in five years, you know?" Joseph, a regular at my therapy sessions, says, "Sit there, dinner. I didn't know what to talk about."

"What did you talk about?" I ask.

"Same old crap, you know? How things have changed and my job, his job. How much we miss the Mets. Then things got quiet, he cried as they were serving the salads.

"How about you." Another member asks.

Joseph considers the question for a minute, "I cried just before dessert." He says, "But I'm seeing him tomorrow, so..."

"That's great. You did the hardest part. You took the jump, you didn't know where you were going to come down." I say, forcing a smile, "And that's it. That's those baby steps you gotta take. To try to become whole again, to try and find purpose."

I take a sigh as I stare down at my hands. I've given these words great thought and every time, I come up short of what my purpose is supposed to be in this world. How was I supposed to be whole again when the person that made me whole wasn't here anymore?

"I went in the ice in '45. Right after I met the love of my life. Woke up seventy years later and had to adapt." I continued, "I thought I'll never find love again, but I did. I promised that we'll find a place, settle down. Just the both of us...And then I lost her. It felt like I'd lost my world, it still does. But you've got to move on."

I sigh as much as I want to believe what I'm saying, I couldn't. I couldn't move one. I couldn't forget her.

"Got to move on." I repeat, mostly to remind myself, "The world is in our hands. It's left to us guys and we have to do something with it. Otherwise...Thanos should have killed us all."

I take a breath, "That's for today. Thank you guys for coming." I say and the people soon start to scatter.

I reached into my pocket as soon as the last person leaves and stare at the picture of her, the last reminisce of her that I have in my possession.

I thought we were going to get her back. I really did. And so, I guess I made the biggest mistake of all; I gave myself hope.