Steve approached the New York Sanctum with a sigh. The time stone was the last remaining gem he had to return before going back.
Going back to what, he wasn't entirely sure.
Most of the people he cared about were gone. There was Bucky, but even he seemed to be wrapped up in his own life, especially now that him and Sam were back together.
He tried not think about the real reason Bucky wasn't a large motivation for him.
Despite what everyone thought, he hadn't kept the knowledge of the Stark's death from Tony as a means to protect his best friend. It was done because Steve was desparate to try and reconcile the fact that said best friend murdered the man he loved.
Knowing Howard was long dead was another reason he wasn't eager to return to the future. It was bad enough when he woke up that they tried to push a simulated Peggy on him, someone who had only ever been a friend, but they acted like the death of Howard Stark was just a minor footnote in history. Even Tony, the man's own son, had barely cared about it.
But Steve cared, and God did it hurt when he found out. He cried for weeks whenever he was behind closed doors. Sometimes, when he could get away( not an easy feat with SHIELD), he'd go to Howard's grave and just sit there for hours, mourning what could have been.
They'd had plans for after the war. Steve had had no illusions that things would be easy, but if anyone could have circumvented laws and societal norms, it was Howard Stark. Either way, they were determined to be together.
But heroes don't get happy endings, Steve learned that the hard way. Now Tony was gone too, and with him the last remaining tie to the man that held the soldier's heart.
If there was ever a moment that Steve Rogers felt out of time, it was this one.
"Tell me, do you always think so loudly?"
Steve turned around, startled, to see a bald woman in strange robes sitting across from him.
"You must be the Ancient One, my name is..."
"I know who you are, Steven Rogers. When one is tasked with protecting reality, it's not hard to notice someone known as 'the man out of time'."
He approached her cautiously, and opened up the suitcase containing the Infinity gem.
"I'm here to return the time stone."
"I see. I take it the threat that required it has been vanquished?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She gave him a thoughtful glance before lifting the gem out of the case.
"Tell me, Steven, where will you go now?"
Steve wondered if this Ancient One was somehow psychic and could hear the thoughts raging in his head.
"Honestly," he said after several minutes," I just want to go home. Problem is I can't."
"Hmm, yes, I'd imagine that would be quite difficult considering your home is a person and not a place."
At his shocked face, she gave a delightful laugh, "Don't look so surprised, I wouldn't be where I am now without knowing a few things."
"Would you like to go back to him?"
'God yes', was Steve's first thought, but then he asked, "won't that mess up everything in the future, especially since I was frozen in the ice during most of that time."
"Not to worry, I have the ability to grant you what you wish without undoing the good that's been accomplished. It might even become better."
"Why would you help me?"
"Because you have slipped in and out of time more than any human ever should," she said as she gently touched the side of his face,"I think it's time you got to rest."
Suddenly the time stone flashed green, and all he knew was darkness.
*****************
Steve gasped awake to find himself laying in a hospital bed. For one horrifying moment, he thought the Ancient One had sent him back to 2012, but then he looked around and saw that the medical equipment was not the sleek, advanced type from the future. Then he noticed there was someone sleeping halfway across the bed while holding his hand, and nearly cried as he recognized who it was.
"H-Howard?"
At the sound of his name, Howard jerked awake and looked up to see the baby blue's he'd missed so much staring back at him.
"Steve!"
Without a second thought he leapt from the chair he was sitting in, grabbed Steve's face in his hands and started kissing the daylights out of him.
"I knew I'd find you," he cried as he held Steve tight, "they all thought I was crazy to keep looking, but I knew you were out there."
Steve burrowed his face into Howard's neck and enjoyed the feeling of finally being reunited with the love of his life.
"You're not crazy, sweetheart, not crazy at all."
***************
It was several days later when Steve finally told Howard all the things he'd learned in the future. Despite how far-fetched it sounded, the genius knew that Steve didn't lie, and together they worked to ensure that not only was the Tesseract destroyed, but that a certain Arnim Zola was prevented from being recruited by SHIELD.....permanently.
After several months they were also able to locate the missing Bucky. However technology to rid him of the brainwashing did not exist yet, so both Howard and Steve felt it best he remained in cryogenic stasis and monitored at a Stark Industries laboratory.
*****************
It was some years later that the couple decided to have children, with a friend of Howard's named María offering to be a surrogate.
*****************
The day that Anthony Edward Rogers-Stark was born, was the day that Steve finally believed that heroes could get a happy ending too.