SAM PULLED HER KNEES INTO HER chest and gazed down at the city below. The nighttime air picked up her brown hair, blowing it across her face. The sound of sirens and faint shouts echoed up to where she sat.
The city was slow to rebuild. Not just its streets... but its spirit, too.
More than the buildings of New York had been damaged in the alien attack. Its own people were unsettled and in disarray. It would take time for things to get back to normal. Though, they'd never actually be normal.
Sam clenched her jaw, rubbing the tags around her neck.
There was a footstep behind her.
She didn't need to turn to know who it was, keeping her eyes straight ahead. The footsteps padded closer and paused at her side. She gazed up into blue eyes.
"Did Thor leave yet?"
"He's worried his father will restrict him from coming back once he finds out what happened. I think he's planning on sticking around a little longer." Steve huffed a dry laugh, shaking his head. "Gods, aliens, different realities. Still haven't wrapped my mind around it."
Sam let her feet dangle over the edge. This was supposed to be the landing area of Stark Tower— for private jets and such. But was far too damaged at the moment.
Despite her fear of heights, she felt no fear at the plunge below.
Only a sort of numbness.
"Steve... what are we going to do?"
He sat beside her, shoulder brushing against her own. In a simple t-shirt and jeans, he wasn't the outfitted soldier of stars and spangles. He was Steve Rogers. The current Steve Rogers. Not the one she'd run into. "I don't know."
"Dimensions, other realities, alien worlds. Dammit, I miss the old days."
"So do I, Samantha."
She closed her eyes. "What if he is alive?"
Steve was quiet at that.
"We have to do something." Sam didn't know what. She didn't know where to start. After taking out Loki, she'd been so certain everything would be downhill from there. But things had flipped. She didn't even know what to think anymore.
At the same time, she'd barely told the others about her encounter with alternate Steve. She'd brought up his talk of timelines, his panic at being seen.
But his words and warnings about her... death... hadn't really made conversation.
"I think it goes a lot deeper than Bucky," Steve said finally. She glanced over, giving him a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"You said you could sometimes see the dead. But not him. What if that means he's not... dead?"
She'd thought the same thing. But it hurt all the same.
She was scared to hope.
Not if it was a lie.
"Beyond that," Steve raked a hand through his hair. "Something isn't right. I don't know where we start, but right now, this is between us. No SHIELD, no government. Not until we figure everything out."
"I don't think the others will mind that."
"In exception to Romanoff and Barton, maybe."
"Eh, they're smarter than most." She couldn't help but smile. "I'm sure they'll come around."
He huffed a laugh, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. Sam rested her head on the man's shoulder and gazed out into the night. If she could block out the noises below, it was almost peaceful.
As if all these things hadn't happened.
"Do you remember that night of your birthday?" she asked. "When we all went out dancing?"
"And you and Buck ditched the pub so it'd just be me and Peggy?" He snorted. "Of course I do."
"I just remember the stars," she whispered. "And how happy we all were."
"That too."
"I watched him fall, Steve. I watched him fall and I didn't do anything." Sam took a trembling breath, closing her eyes. "If it's possible that he is alive, then that means I left him. That means I broke our promises. Every single one."
Steve pulled her closer. But he seemed too broken for words himself.
He killed you.
"If he is alive and survived the fall, then what's left?" A tear slid down her cheek. Sam might not have been so terrified, if not for alternate Steve's words spinning through her mind. "What if he's not the Bucky we know? What if—"
"Samantha."
She cut off. Steve met her gaze, blue eyes solemn.
"Right now, all we can do is take a breath. Figure things out. Okay?"
"I just—"
"We'll figure it out, Samantha. I promise."
Sam closed her mouth, nodding. She had a million other questions, worries, and things to say, but forced herself to swallow them. Instead, they gazed back out at the city. At the darkness, dim ruins, and starless night.
She tried to take comfort in the friend holding her close. Tried to take a breath. Because despite it all, he was right.
Until they figured things out, all they could do was take a breath.
But it was harder than it sounded.
~ ~ ~
"Alright, I've got scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. Who wants what?"
Yawning, Sam padded into the living room. Tony had given her one of the lower floors, to her thanks, and offered out the remaining floors to the others. For the time being, they'd be staying together. She was grateful for that.
It was nice having a team again.
"I didn't know you could cook, Stark," Nat grunted, following behind her. Sam moved into the kitchen, only to stumble back out again at the sharp smell of burning.
"He can't!"
"Hey, I listed all the options. I never said they were here yet. Answer the elevator when it dings, the delivery guy should be here in five."
Sam gagged, trying to shake her head of the stench. Grabbing a glass of orange juice, she moved back out into the living room. Clint padded by, hunched over in a rumpled purple sweatshirt, brown hair a mess.
"Morning, Clint."
He didn't even look over at her. Sam raised an eyebrow, but Nat plopped on the sofa beside her, draining her own glass.
"He doesn't officially wake up until noon, or after twelve cups of coffee. Whatever comes first."
"He doesn't look so great."
"I'm ninety percent sure he forgot to put his hearing aids in."
Sam watched in amusement as the archer moved back by, the entire coffee pot in hand, eyes still half-closed. He didn't even look their way. She snorted.
"I'm going to assume you're right."
There was a faint ding, but neither of them made a move to answer it. A series of curses came from the kitchen and Tony stumbled out, shooting them both a dark look.
"Nevermind, ladies. I'll get it."
"You're too kind, Stark."
"It is your tower," Sam added. She grinned at the curses he threw back their way.
"I wish for breakfast," Thor announced, coming down the stairs. Somehow, even in sweats and a t-shirt, he looked no less godly. Sam wished she could wake up and have her hair look that good. "What do you Midgardians eat? Fruit? Porridge? Salted ham?"
"Uhh... poptarts?"
He gave her a strange look. "What is a pop-tart?"
"Only the best thing on the planet," Sam shoved herself up and hurried into the kitchen, coming out a moment later with an aluminum package. She threw it to the god and he caught it with one hand, brows furrowed. She swallowed a laugh at the way he studied it dubiously.
"Take off the packaging, Pointbreak," Tony said, coming back from the elevator laden with bags of take-out. The smell of pancakes and bacon was intoxicating.
Thor did as he was told and took a careful bite. Then his eyes widened and he stuffed the rest of the pastry into his mouth, dropping the crumpled wrapper to the floor.
"More!"
"Oh god," Nat muttered. "Clarence, what did you just do?"
Sam didn't have a chance to answer before Thor hurried off with the rest of the box. Tony gave her a smirking look.
"His sugar rush is gonna be on you, Casper."
"Oh, joy."
The sound of footsteps on the stairs drew their gazes up and Steve came down, a yawning Bruce at his side. Steve smiled softly at meeting her gaze.
"Ah, the Capsicle awakes! I was worried the old man side was kicking in and we'd find you dead somewhere."
Steve's smile melted and he gave Tony an unimpressed look. "Stark."
"You know, Tony," Sam said. "We're the same age. And I don't appreciate being called old."
"Eh, you look better than him though, Casper."
Steve's frown deepened. But she only considered the words and shrugged, leaning back. "Okay, I'll take it."
Bruce rubbed his eyes. "So... we gotta plan yet?"
"For starters," Tony said. "You're helping me fix the elevator and all those stairs you cracked. Then we're gonna do a nation-wide search for the Tesseract. If we could find it earlier, maybe we can find it now."
"If it's still on this planet or in this timeline," Steve muttered. Tony huffed in agreement.
"Yeah, that too."
"What can we do while we wait?"
"Sweep the city," Nat said. "See what we can do to help. All that alien tech is still littering the streets and there's not a chance some people won't take advantage of it."
"Fury wants to meet with us too," Steve added. "In addition to the World Security Council."
"I am not talking to those old farts."
"You won't be, Stark. It's just me, Samantha, Nat, and Barton. Fury specifically asked that you and Bruce work on finding the Tesseract."
"More like he ordered for you to stay away," Nat chuckled. A small smile pulled at Steve's lips.
"In a series of choice words, yes."
"And Thor?"
"Thor's got the best advantage of all. If anyone can sweep the city and keep an eye on the comings and goings from above, it's him." Steve glanced around. "Where... is Thor?"
"Clarence gave him poptarts."
Sam shot Tony a dark glare. "Thanks for that, tin-man."
"Hey, for once something's not my fault. You bet I'm jumping on it, Casper."
She rolled her eyes and pushed herself up, moving over to the heap of take-out and piling a plate. Nat called for a couple pieces of toast which she added. "So when are we supposed to meet Fury?"
"Noon."
"Great, that gives me just enough time to prepare myself for doom."
Nat grinned thankfully as Sam handed over the bread, settling beside her again. "I'd say he's not so bad once you get to know him, but that'd be a lie."
"Figures."
"Meanwhile, Banner and I will get started on Tesseract peek-a-boo." Tony clapped Bruce on the shoulder and started toward the staircase going down. "Come on, Mean-green. I wanna show you my toys."
Bruce gave them all long looks. Sam grinned, wiggling her fingers in goodbye.
Sighing, he turned and followed.
"You know, he'll probably have to assign you both clearance as agents." Nat stood, eyeing Sam in her sweatpants and baggy t-shirt. "You can't wear that."
"I happen to be quite comfy."
The woman raised a brow. Sam looked pleadingly at Steve but he only shrugged, a light dancing in his eyes as he crossed his arms. Sighing heavily, she pushed herself up.
"Fine. What do you have in mind?"
Nat's green eyes gleamed. "I've got a few ideas. Let's go, Clarence."
"Noon," Steve called. Sam waved a hand over her shoulder.
Hopefully, meeting Fury would bring out some answers. Or give them some sort of closure, at the very least. And she was more than ready to chew out the World Security Council for launching a nuke at New York.
Sam hurried after Natasha.
This afternoon was going to be... interesting?
~ ~ ~
Herghh, I've had this chapter done for AGES but was too lazy to edit. So I finally did that. Dunno how often updates will be in the next week or so, cause I'm moving into/starting college! Kinda nervous, kinda excited. On the bright side, with only a few classes a day, I'm gonna have a TON of time to hunker down in the library and write.