Chapter 5
Hank managed to get a few batches of particles ready in two days for Steve’s travel. Natasha was not over joyed with the idea that her boyfriend is going back to deliver the stones, but he only kissed her forehead and promised that he would be back in a timely manner.
“Okay Steve you have to return the stones at the exact moment that we took them. It will only be a few seconds for us, but you take all the time you need.” Bruce said as he looked at his friend in concern. Steve only nodded and tighten his hands on the briefcase that held the stones and Mjolnir.
“Five.”
Steve took a deep breath in and looking over at Natasha.
“Four.”
The red head was tense next to Sam and Clint and Steve could only give her a small smile, hopefully calming her nerves.
“Three.”
She returned the smile, but the blonde knew better then to believe she was okay.
“Two.”
Gosh, he couldn’t wait to get back home, get back to her, maybe he’ll ask her to marry him. Might as well, they’ve technically been together for twelve years, been on plenty of dates to last a life time, even if they didn’t call them dates at first.
“One.”
“I love you.” He mouthed to her before disappearing in time.
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ASGARD, 2013
Steve tried to be as quiet as he could after all his girlfriend is the world’s best spy; and she would be disappointed in him if he didn’t learn anything from her. Finding Jane was not hard, since Rocket told him the directions to her room, left, right, right, third door on the left.
“Are you here to return something?” a voice said from behind him. Steve froze in the spot and debated if he should turn around or just flight.
“It’s okay. I know who you are. I mean no harm.” Steve turned around slowly and came face to face with Frigga.
“Hello Steve.” She said with a smile.
“Frigga.” He breathed out, the older woman beckon him into a tight hug, in which he returned.
“I have missed you and your friends visiting me. How is everyone? Have you finally courted Natasha?”
Steve pulled away with a laugh, “Everyone is fine, now. Natasha and I are dating, have been for a while. I might propose when I get home.”
“That’s lovely to hear. You know I will be there with you in sprint. Tell Thor I love him and to please eat a salad or two.”
“Oh, I will.”
“Just leave Mjolnir here. She’ll find her way to Thor when she’s needed.”
“Of course.”
“Carry on with your mission and get back to your love.” Steve nodded before pulling Frigga in tight hug once more before pulling away and going in the direction of Jane’s room. Thankfully she was still asleep and he careful injected the Reality Stone into her arm.
“One down, five to go.”
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NEW YORK, 2012
Bruce told him that there was a woman called the Ancient One who held the Time Stone long before Dr. Strange held that power. Steve quickly dodged his way through the destruction that was the Battle of New York. He hopped on buildings trying to find a woman in yellow.
“Are you here for something?” Maybe she found him. Steve turned to see a woman, with a hood on, pale, looking at him as if she knew his story long before he told her.
“Yes, are you the Ancient One?”
“I am,” she said as she pulled back the hood to show her face, “Who are you?”
“Steve Rogers. I’m here to return the Time Stone.”
“I was expecting Bruce Banner.”
“I figured since he was the one who came for it.” Steve opened the briefcase and allowed the Ancient One to remove the stone and put it in the safe locket around her neck, and then closed it up.
“Thank you, Mr. Rogers.” She said with a smile.
“Thank you for understanding,” He said as he turned to power up his suit but before then he turned back, “Stephen is a fine sorcerer. You never have to worry about him going to the dark side.” The Ancient One was shocked, her mouth hanging open, but before she could say anything he was gone.
Steve walked into Avengers Tower, not to be noticed since everyone was running from Hulk’s anger of taking the stairs. His past self was still knocked out and the scepter was still lying next to him. It’s apparent that no one has noticed the missing Captain just yet. Working fast 2023 Steve carefully picked up the scepter and placed the Mind Stone in it, before pulling it back in the case.
“America’s ass is right.”
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MORAG, 2014
Peter Quill was still knocked out when Steve arrived. He made a mental note to ask Rhodey what he hit him with because he was out cold. Steve used the guide that Nebula give him and made his way to the cave where the Power Stone was normally kept.
The blonde used the mechanical tool that Nebula made him so that his hand didn’t get burnt off when placing the stone back. Once the stone was back in its place, Steve walked over to Quill and tried to shake him awake.
“Come on man.” The other man could only groan, and Steve was getting frustrated before he came up with an idea. Removing the headphones, Steve leaned down close to his ear and whispered, “Footloose sucks.”
That definitely woke him up but before he could say anything, Steve was gone.
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CAMP LEHIGH, 1970
Steve could only sigh as he placed the Space Stone back inside the locker. He had half a mind to not return it because it knew what trouble it would cause them later in life, but he needed too.
Before he could even close the locker, there was a gun pressed to the back of his head.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” A British voice said. He knew that voice. He turned around slowly and smiled.
“Hi Peggy.”
“Steve?” she asked in disbelief. Her bottom lip shook as she put the gun back on her side and rushed to give him a hug ,Steve could hug her back. They broke apart soon and she could only stare in awe.
“What are you doing here? How did you get here?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Come. Let’s go to my office and talk.” Steve really wanted to say no; he had one last stone to deliver, he promised Natasha that he would be right back, and he promised Quill that he would try to get Gamora back.
“You’re not Steve, are you?”
“I am, but not how you remember.” The blonde quickly give her the back story on how he came out the ice, meet the Avengers, saved the world a few times, and now he was returning the stones so they could finally be at peace. He may have left out the fact that Hydra was Shield but there was no point, but the time the fall of Shield happened Peggy was slipping from the real world.
“Sounds like an interesting series of events.”
“Yeah, it is. I know it sounds crazy, but you have to believe me.”
“I do,” she said with a small smile playing at her lips, “How’s Tony?”
“Married to Pepper and he has a daughter, Morgan and he interns this young man named Peter.”
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you have someone special?” Steve could only blush and rub his neck nervously.
“Natasha Romanoff. We’re dating now but when I get back to my time, I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
Peggy could only smile, a real smile, he finally found someone to be with, after all he deserved it.
“You better or else I’m going to come to the future and kick your ass for being dumb.”
“You and Bucky both.” They shared a laugh, and then the British woman pulled him into a hug one last time.
“Hurry and drop that stone off so you can be with her.” They pulled apart and smiled at one another.
“You two are alike in a lot of ways the only difference is she’s a Russian red head.”
“I probably would love her.”
“Take care Peggy.”
“You as well Steve. Tell Tony I said hello.”
He nodded and then he was gone.
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VOMIR, 2014
It was freezing when Steve arrived on Vomir. Clint had warned him about the guardian that awaited him at the top of the cliff.
“So, don’t throw your shield at him.” Sam joked.
He doesn’t even remember how long he walked but before he knew it, he was standing at the cliff with a floating figure waiting for him.
“Steve, son of Sarah.” He knew that voice.
“Schmidt, son of a bitch you’re alive.”
“Yes, I was banished here by the Tesseract after I tried to use it. What are you doing here? Whatever you may sleek you may not find.”
“I’m here to return the Soul Stone and come for Gamora.” Schmidt’s eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped.
“No one has ever returned the stone before.”
“Well, the stone brought back my family and I’m going to keep the promise of returning the stones to their original timeline.”
“You say that you are here for Gamora, daughter of Thanos?”
“Yes, where is she?”
“Not here.” Steve’s jaw clinched tightly. He wasn’t going to leave this damn planet until he had the young woman.
“The rule is a soul for a soul.”
“It has ever been tried in reverse before Captain. Try if you may like.” He moved out of the way and stood at the edge of the cliff. There was no body, trace of blood, or anything at the bottom; it was like a blank wall staring back at him. Steve took a deep breath and dropped the stone into the abyss and then everything went dark.
Steve woke up in shallow water and a knife in his face. The figure above him was green, long purple hair, and lips in a straight line.
“Gamora?” he asked, not moving just in case she killed him. Nebula warned him that Thanos trained them as children, so she wasn’t hesitant to kill him outright.
“Who are you?” she asked, unmoving the knife from his face.
“My name is Steve Rogers. I’m from 2023, and I know Peter Quill.” Her face was in shocked before it soften, and she removed the knife away from him. Steve took that as a sign that he was allowed to move and quickly rose to his feet.
“What happened? Where’s Peter?”
“So long story short, in 2018 Thanos took all six infinity stones and wiped out half the universe. Now we’re five years into the future, 2023 to be exact. We defended 2014 Thanos and now I’m returning all the stones and I promised Peter that I would try to get you back.”
“Oh, how are we getting back to the future? Is Peter with you? What about Nebula?”
“All of them are there waiting on us.”
“How can I know you’re telling the truth?” she asked with her eyebrow raised and her hand tight on the knife.
“I lost someone I love to the Soul Stone too and half my family was wiped from the face of the Earth. So, you can trust me.”
“The person you love,” she started off looking him dead in the eye, “Where are they?”
“She’s at home, waiting on me. The Soul Stone give her back to me because we used the stones for good. Now I promise Quill that I would try and bring you home-“
“You better not being lying, or I will kill you.”
“I know,” he said with a smile, “Please put this on.” He said handing her the extra suit that he brought with him.
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PRESENT DAY, 2023
“Okay bringing him back in three, two, one.” When Bruce hit the enter button again, everyone was expecting Steve to return back to the platform, but nothing happened. Natasha started to tense up and Clint could only put his hand on her lower back, in hopes to calm her down.
“Where is he?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know I’m trying to bring him back.”
“Try harder.”
Bruce kept pressing every button there was and then the platform lit up and dropped two figures. Everyone held their breath as the pair stood up and dusted theirselves off, Quill stood as tensely as Natasha was, not wanting to give into his hope that maybe Gamora was back.
“Steve?” Natasha asked, not taking a step until she knew it was him. The blonde removed the helmet from him and shook out his hair, he give her a smile.
“Sorry it took so long, I had to convince our guest to come along.” Said guest removed their helmet and Natasha swore she heard Quill's breath hitch in his throat.
“Gamora?”
“Peter?” Tears were forming in both of their eyes as they ran to each other; they met half way and she jumped into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist.
“Oh my gosh! I missed you so much.” Peter said as he buried his head in her neck and his arms holding her up.
“I missed you too.” The green woman pulled back and cupped his face before she pulled him into a kiss.
“Please stop it!” Rocket called from behind them. The two broke apart and the half human put his love down so she could reunite with the rest of her family. Everyone smiled as they watched the alien family hug one other and cry out how much they missed each other. Even Nebula pulled her sister into a hug and shed a few tears.
“So how was time travel again?” Natasha asked as she helped Steve take off his traveling suit in their shared room. The two snuck off in the house while everyone else was still outside, Bruce and Scott explaining how the time travel platform worked to Hank and Janet; while everyone else got to know Gamora.
“It was okay. Would’ve been better if you were with me.” He said with a smirk.
“You would’ve been too busy staring at me then getting anything done, Rogers.” She teased back. Steve smiled back before his face returned serious again; Natasha noticed this and sat next him, and he reached over and took her hand in his.
“You know I love you right?”
“Of course, I do. You know I love you too?”
“Yeah,” he said with a small laugh, “I saw Frigga and Peggy.”
“Oh. How are they?”
“Fine, Frigga asked if I courted you yet.”
“Ha-ha was she disappointed on how long it took you to ask me out?”
“No, I didn’t tell her that. She probably would’ve hit me for being slow.” Natasha barked out a laugh at his statement and Steve could only join her. Soon they both calmed down and the red head tighten her hold on his hand, a signal for him to continue.
“Seeing Peggy was nice. She hasn’t changed from my time to the seventies. Tough as ever,” Natasha noticed when he took a breath and normally that means he was about to get very serious with their conversation.
“I told her about you.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you, Nat. I wanted her to know that I moved on. I’m living my life like she would’ve wanted,” Steve released her hand and dropped down onto one knee in front of her and pulled out a small box from his pocket and opened it. Inside was a small gold ring, with a round diamond in the middle, it was a simple designed. Natasha quickly covered her mouth with both hands and tears were forming in her eyes.
“It’s my mother’s wedding ring,” he explained, “I’ve loved you for a long time Natasha. You’ve been with me through thick and thin. You helped me adjust to this new world, I told you things about Bucky that I’ve never told anyone else, you were there for me when I had nightmares. For twelve years Natasha you have been my partner in crime and I could never see anyone else taking your place. I love you. I really do love you Nat. I was lost without you and when I did lose you forever, I thought I was going to die myself. The thought of never seeing you again killed me so much, but now we have a second chance and I don’t wanna miss it. So, Natalia Alianovna Romanova will you make the happiest man ever and be my wife?”
Natasha was stunned to say the least. Steve just poured his heart and soul out to her and the only thing she could do was looking in shock and cry. Gosh, she’s been doing that a lot lately.
“Um, Natasha I need you to-“
“Yes! Yes! I will marry you!” Steve and quickly put the ring on her finger. The two shared a long passionate kiss.
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Everyone stopped when they heard a scream coming from the house. Nebula and Gamora started to walk in, weapons in hand, to see what was wrong with Natasha and Steve, but Clint could only stop them with a smile.
“Shouldn’t we see what’s wrong?” Nebula asked, clearly confused on why no one was running towards the house.
“No, he just proposed; it’s nothing we should worry about.”
“Auntie Tasha and Uncle Steve are getting married! I wanna be the flower girl!” Morgan screamed as she ran inside the house.
“Oh great, an American and Russian wedding.” Tony said sarcastically. Pepper could only flick him in the back of the head.