Second Chance - Romanogers

1

Steve Rogers had only one infinity stone left to return, the mind stone.
He knew where that had to go. And so Captain America was off to the 2012 Avengers tower.
This was the same timeline that they'd taken the mind stone from before, so he hoped everyone would be too distracted by the fact that Loki's missing with the tesseract to notice that there is two Steve Rogers.
As he snuck into the facility, he noticed everyone was hustling around in worry.
"So he just up and left??" Tony Stark was saying to Clint Barton.
Steve grunted sadly to himself. This was probably the last time that he'd see Tony again.
"That's what the guards are saying. Apparently he went searching for his old pal, James Barnes." Clint shrugged.
Steve suddenly realized that they were talking about... him? Or at least the 2012 version of himself.
What had happened here after they left.
"Still no information on Rogers." A familiar woman's voice said from the doorway.
Steve's heart skipped a beat.
"Well maybe you could find him." Tony suggested to her. "You're a spy, isn't that your job.
"Actually, I'm a shield agent, Mr. Stark, but thank you very much for the suggestion." Natasha Romanoff smirked at him.
Steve took this moment to take in all of her features, even if it's for the last time.
For a moment he forgot why he was there in the first place. For a moment he almost burst through that door and ran up to her, holding onto her and never letting go.
But he didn't.
Instead Steve realized his mission was not yet over. He was a soldier, not a romantic.
And so, he went around the back of the building, through the side doors, and towards the elevator hidden in the back corner of the building. He clicked the "up" button, and fidgeted in anticipation. If anyone saw him, there'd certainly be questions.
"How long does an elevator take?" He muttered in frustration.
"You in a hurry?"
Steve's body tensed up. "Shoot."
Natasha walked up beside him, folding her arms.
The elevator chose this moment to open with a ding sound.
Steve grabbed her waist and pulled her inside the elevator with him, and he hurriedly clicked on the button that made the doors close quicker.
"Well, I'm surprised." Natasha said, shoving him off her. "I would've thought you'd be long gone from this place looking for your buddy."
"Just.. shut up a sec, okay?" Steve yelled at her, as he silently panicked.
"Holy-" Natasha eyes went wide as she looked down at his hands. "Did... did you take the mind stone?"
Steve remembered his hands held ruffly onto his shield and the staff that held the mind stone. He'd left mjolnir with the reality stone on Asgard.
"Oh um.." he stuttered. " I was returning it?"
Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. "Was that a question?"
Steve brushed her off as the elevator started moving towards the top floor.
"Rogers." She said, trying to get his attention. "Steve?"
He tried to ignore her. There wasn't time for chit chat. Unless...
Steve turned to look at her. His eyes trailed her jaw, her lips, and landed on her eyes, green like emeralds.
"Are you okay, Captain?" She asked him, confused on why he was looking at her like that.
"Um, yeah. Of course." His heart burned. He'd known her for over 10 years, but in 2012 she'd just met him. He was barely a teammate to her.
"I thought you left." She continued, " to find your friend, James?"
"His name's Bucky." He muttered as the elevator doors clicked open and he stepped out without another word.