Emma awoke in a shed or at least it looked like a shed from what she could tell. She tried to sit up but found herself strapped to a table by many chains. She tried to break them but she was weak, that vile contained some heavy stuff.

How did this guy find her? How had he been looking for her? Where the hell was she?

"Good morning Fräulein," He commented coming into the shed.

She heard a buzzing nearby and tried to see where the noise was coming from.

"How did you find me?" She asked hoarsely, it was no use denying it, he already figured it out.

"Well, I settled in Mexico after the war to hide from the SSR. Then a year ago, I saw you, on TV with Tony Stark. I recognized you at once, you hadn't aged." Emma closed her eyes as he leaned forward and sniffed her hair, "Still smell the same too." She grimaced, "I then started researching, I still have a lot of my old Hydra files and used those and the helpful internet to track down Tony Stark's intern. I then saw you at a restaurant with Mr. Stark and were talking about how you were researching New Mexico and this lovely small town, so I came to settle here, expecting you to show up, but it took you long enough."

He released some of her chains and stuck an IV in her arm, while he was doing that Emma wiggled her other hand towards her phone in her pocket. She found it empty, he took her phone and her weapons.

"Don't worry, I've disabled your tracker and you cannot contact your SHIELD friends." Emma felt tears stinging her eyes as the drug was penetrating her veins. She was alone.

"So, what are you going to do with me?" She asked through the haze taking over her mind.

"I'm going to send you to the Red Skull."

"He's dead," She retorted.

"No, I'm sending you back." He grinned as he pinned a note to her shirt.

"I can resist you know," She retaliated weakly.

"Oh no, you can't. This drug is so powerful, it will cloud your mind enough to listen to directions but not to fight back." He said and then he leaned by her ear and whispered coordinates and the year he wanted, which was 1944.

Emma felt the familiar sensation and then felt the weight of the chains fall from her as she closed her eyes and she felt her traveling stop. She opened her eyes and found herself in a warehouse. She heard German shouting and the next thing she knew was she saw soldiers staring over her body and the Red Skull appearing.

He picked up the note pinned to her shirt and smiled.

"It seems one of our agents has come through, from the future. It's so nice to see you Miss Barker, your mother would be so happy, if she were alive." He said.

"Fuck off," Emma slurred.

"Oh, feisty. Well, let's get some testing done."

One of the soldiers leaned over with a syringe and she fell into darkness.

Steve and The Commandos

They were getting closer to the Hydra facility. He crept quietly by his men and kept an eye out on the snowy night for any agents hidden in the dark trees.

Steve and The Howling Commandos had been raiding Hydra Facilities for the past few weeks, they were knocking down the buildings one right after another. He missed London and his warm bed, he missed Brooklyn more. He missed Emma most of all, but she worked just as hard as him. He always wondered when he would take leave in London if he would see her. Luckily, he saw her this last time briefly at Howard's. She had stayed one night and left, leaving her usual note. He kept all her notes, still in his pack, he read them over and over.

He saw something out of the corner of his eye and he held his hand up for all to stop. A deer moved nearby, he lowered his hand and they moved on. They reached the warehouse and attacked. They moved quickly and shooting as they kept moving.

"Alright boys, clean sweep the area!" Steve called as they had killed their last Hydra agent. "Find anyone still left and look for anything we can take back or send back to base."

The Commandos split off and Bucky and Steve went into the main office of the warehouse.

"Steve look at this," Bucky noticed a door handle hidden behind a bookshelf.

"Open it," Steve said drawing his gun and holding his shield.

Bucky opened the door and they found a dirty medical room. Machines were scattered throughout the room and there was a cabinet filled with viles of blood and some other substances. There was a medical table in the middle of the room and the doctor turned as the door opened. He had a gun but Bucky was a quicker shot and shot him square in the chest and he fell to the ground.

"Dear God that's a woman!" Bucky said as he noticed the nearly naked woman on the table. They both ran closer and Steve felt his stomach drop.

"Steve is that?" Bucky asked through a dry throat.

"Emma," Steve whispered.

Emma lay on the table bloody and bruised and worse for wear. She had an IV in one arm draining her blood and another in the other sending some vile green liquid into her system. She was only wearing her bra and jeans and boots, which were oddly different than her normal clothes. She had scars along her chest and cuts that seemed to have been healing themselves, which was impossible within itself. She looked almost as if they had tested how much pain she could take. She had dark bruises on her temples and dried blood around her ears and in her hair. She also had blood dried from her nose and a fat bloody lip. Bruises were covering her arms from needles. She had either been a test subject or tortured.

"Emma? Emma?" Steve asked as he held her head as Bucky began to unstrap her from the table and took the IV carefully out, "Emma, honey please wake up." Steve nearly cried.

"She still has a pulse, it's faint but it's there." Bucky felt her wrist. He handed Steve his blue pea coat to wrap around her.

"We got to get her out of her. Have the boys collect all those viles and the IV bottle." Steve ordered as he gingerly picked her up in his arms.

"All clear Cap!" Dum Dum called coming in and he stopped short when he saw Emma, "Is that Emma?"

"Call Stark, we need a plane here ASAP. Give him our camp's coordinates to pick us up."

"Yes sir," Dum Dum said and he ran out with his radio in hand.

Steve cradled Emma in his arms and felt her slow labored breaths. What the hell happened to her. He had the boys carry everything out to the Hydra truck and he laid her down in the back and sat next to her. He threw off his helmet and brushed her hair from her face. "I need you to wake up, please."

She gave a soft moan at his touch and he smiled, she could at least feel him. "Steve," She whispered.

"I'm here, I've got you and we are gonna take care of you."

"Here's the last of the stuff and her clothes." Bucky threw a flannel shirt and brown leather jacket next to Steve and one last case.

"We got to go, they are gonna find us soon. Blow that damn place up and let's go." Steve ordered.

"Stark said he will be here in 1 hour." Dum Dum said getting into the front driver's seat.

"Let's hope she can last an hour." Bucky said. Steve glared up at him, "She will she's strong." Bucky corrected.

They drove back to Camp and just as they arrived, Stark had landed his plane.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her and fell to the ground where she was lying, "What the hell happened?" He asked with the blood draining from his face. She looked older to him and he knew this was a different Emma than the last one he saw. Something didn't feel right about this.

"We found her in a lab in the last Hydra base we raided." Bucky answered for Steve who was placing their sleeping mats on the floor and getting a makeshift bed for her to lay on for the flight.

"Steve…." Emma breathlessly whispered from the ground.

"She's starting to sweat, that's not good." Falsworth noticed, "That could mean a blood infection."

"We've got to get her out of here," Howard said running to his plane.

"What do you think I'm fucking doing?!" Steve shouted.

"Steve, calm down," Bucky said putting a hand on Steve's shoulder. Steve took a deep breath and gently picked her up and laid her down in the plane and sat next to her. Bucky turned to the rest of the Commandos "Start to break down camp and get that stuff off the truck and on the plane. Let's go!" He shouted and they all worked like mad. Within a few minutes they had packed up the plane and were on it and blew up the Hydra truck.

Steve held Emma's hand the whole entire flight and Howard tried to get back as quick as he could to London.

Once they landed in London, they got her rushed to the medical ward of the base. Steve paced outside of the operating room with Howard, Bucky, and the Commandos sitting in the chairs nearby.

Peggy came running down the hall and ran into Steve's arms to hug him.

"How is she?" She asked.

"I don't know," he whispered, nearly close to tears with worry.

"Let me take the rest of the boys and get some reports written up." She said and he nodded his head. Bucky and Howard were the only two who stayed.

"Steve, please sit down." Bucky asked an hour later.

"I can't." he said.

"She will be alright Steve," Howard reassured him, but he wasn't 100% certain himself of that.

Just then the doctor came out before Steve could snap at Howard, "Captain," He said saluting to him.

"Doctor, is she alright?" Bucky and Howard came to stand next to Steve.

"She's better, but she will take time to heal. She had strange scars and this seemed to be more than torture. They were testing her for something. That drug they put in her was a cocktail of sedatives and something else, something stronger that is what kept her weak. The cocktail was strong enough to fight against the same serum that's in your blood Captain. The bruises on her temples were from electroshocks."

Howard felt sick, they were trying to prevent her from traveling and figure out a way to control her travels. They were also trying to use her to find a way to stop Steve, to end Captain America.

"She lost a lot of blood, thank goodness you all saved the blood from her IV bottle. We were able to use that as a transfusion to put back into her body. But the drugs were hard to fight against, once we added more blood, the drugs got stronger but they are finally starting to wear off. We are moving her into a private room and you will be able to see her there."

"Thank you," Steve said to the doctor and he led them to her private room.

They walked in and found her lying in a bed, now in hospital garments but still looking like a mess. Her hair was still dirty and messy and wild with dried blood but her face was cleaned up a little but her bruises and scars were dark on her skin. Steve immediately went to her side and took her hand.

"I'm so sorry I had to let go for a while. I'm just glad you are okay." He kissed her hand and he felt a faint twitch of her fingers.

"She can hear you, but she will be asleep for some time." The doctor said. "I'll leave you alone."

"We will leave you alone too Steve, take care of her," Bucky said as he touched Howard's shoulder and they left.

Steve held her hand and kissed the inside palm, "I'm not leaving you."

Emma felt heavy, sore and tired, but she felt like she'd been asleep for ages. Her hazy dream included her reoccurring nightmare in the snow which morphed into a dirty warehouse where she last remembered seeing Red Skull. She remembered being poked and prodded and shocks, painful shocks. She remembered what her mother had told her about the experiments done on her.

"…then everything went black…then so much pain…electricity…."

Emma heard her voice echoing in her head as the tests were done to her. Then she remembered hearing gun shots and the doctor freaking out and trying to up her serum keeping her there, trying to kill her and then he turned and he was shot at.

She then remembered, fading into even deeper darkness and hearing Steve's voice.

"Emma?" He had distantly called, like her nightmares but then she felt tingles along her body and face as someone held her face. "Emma?" he said again and she fought hard and whispered his name.

Then darkness fell over her again and then she heard Bucky and Howard and she kept trying to fight. But the serum was strong and then complete darkness.

That's where she was now, waking up from the darkness and feeling it fade away and pain creeping in. She tried to open her heavy eyes and found herself in a dark room with a dim light on her left, it was sunrise outside the window. Emma blinked her eyes and saw the figure asleep on her arm and holding her hand, it was Steve's blonde head. He was dressed in his khaki button down and brown pants, he looked disheveled like he had tried to change quickly. Emma looked about the room and realized where she was. She saw her clothes from being kidnapped in the chair in the distance and could smell iron and dirt and that she clearly hadn't showered in a week. Emma tried to move her right hand to touch her hair which felt disgusting but noticed the bruises up and down her arms that were still trying to heal against the serum.

The movement caught Steve and he sat up abruptly and then tears started to fall as he smiled with relief.

"Emma," He said softly.

"Hi," Her raspy voice seemed to echo in the room.

He leaned over and kissed her lightly on lips and she hissed against the pain and he pulled back, "I'm sorry."

She smiled, even though it hurt, "No, please don't." She was just relieved to see him, after all this time. It was not ideal, since it was in a weird place in the middle of their timeline but she couldn't change that. He leaned over and kissed her again, longer and lingering in the kiss. His hands cradled her face gently and he brushed the tears as they streamed down her face.

"I'm so happy you are alright," He whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers. "It was so scary to find you like that, I thought you were dead."

Emma cringed at that thought, since she was in her current time stream living without him in her life. She knew that feeling all too well.

"I'm here, it's alright. You saved me." She whispered as she lifted her hands up to his face and cradled it there and loved feeling his skin beneath her fingers again. He was real, this wasn't a dream. "I seem to always be the one trying to save people and you saved me."

"I'm returning the favor." He said and she pulled away to look at him and he kept his hands on either side of her face, "You saved me twice before. Once from those stupid bullies and when I needed to find myself after becoming Captain America, you saved me. It's only fair that I get to save you, at least once." Emma felt tears falling down her face again and leaned over and kissed him.

"Sorry to interrupt, glad you are awake." Peggy said coming into the room. She held flowers, a large garment bag, and a small brown bag. "I brought you some food Steve and clothes for Emma, but now I will go get Emma some food as well." With that she dropped the bags on bed and put the flowers on the bedside table and left.

Steve reached over and looked inside the garment bag to see a dress with undergarments for Emma and he blushed at looking.

"Oh please Steve, it's just clothes." Emma teased and he smiled at her.

"Glad to see you in a teasing mood."

Just then Howard walked in and he smiled in relief.

"Emma!" he came over and hugged her close.

"Be careful," Steve said as Emma winced.

"Steve, can you please go get some supplies to get me sponge bathed? I want to clean up." Emma stated.

He nodded his head and went to go find a nurse.

"Emma, what year are you from?" Howard asked once they were alone.

"2010."

"You are 2 years older since the last time we saw you."

Emma felt her stomach drop, "You can't tell myself any of this."

"What?" He asked in shock.

"I travel out of time streams sometimes and I can't know this happened."

"But maybe I can prevent you getting kidnapped, however the hell that happened!" Howard argued.

"No, you can't." She said, "That could be worse. Sadly, I have to go through this hell."

Howard shook his head, "Time travel is a mess."

"Yes, it is. What happened to all the tests they did to me?" Emma asked.

"Your blood samples and the crap they made from it are in my lab and being locked away. The files from the Hydra lab burned when they blew up the warehouse. Your time traveling abilities are still safe." Howard reassured her.

Emma gave a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, Steve can't know."

"Yes, but he knows about you having the same serum as him." Emma felt her stomach drop, "The doctor told him after all the work and he noticed your healing."

"Well, shit." Was all Emma could say.

"I know." Howard said and he held her hand, "I'm just happy you are okay."

Emma kissed his hand, "When are you traveling home?" Howard asked.

"I'm not sure, my body is too weak currently. It needs time to heal and my healing powers have been affected from this serum. I might have to wait a few days. But I can't stay too much longer because I know I will be coming back soon." Howard nodded his head at that.

Just then Steve came in with a nurse.

"Would you like me to help you change and bathe miss?" She asked.

"No, I can do it, thank you." Emma insisted and the Nurse left. Steve shook his head.

"You are still weak," He commented as Emma struggled to even get out of bed. He helped her out with Howard on her other side and she stood on wobbly two feet.

"This is ridiculous, please let the nurse help you," Howard insisted.

"No," Emma said stubbornly and the boys helped her into the adjoining washroom and then she closed the door on them. She tried to carefully take off her hospital gown but everything hurt and she eventually sat down on the toilet wrapped in just a towel. She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror and she looked worse for wear.

"Steve," She hoarsely called. He knocked on the door and opened it a crack. "Is Howard still there?"

"No, he left."

"Can you come in here please?" She asked.

He opened the door and blushed at her in a towel. She realized where in the time stream they were and it was before the two of them had slept together. She tried to pull the towel a little tighter against her but winced at the pain.

"Are you sure about this? Maybe we should wait a day, let your strength get up?" He commented.

"I'm disgusting, I need to shower." She said and Steve just gave a small smile.

"You're still beautiful, even if you haven't showered in probably a week." He knelt down in front of her, "I have an idea to make you feel better."

He carefully lifted her into the bathtub and got the water running, it was cold as it hit her and she hissed against it.

"What are you doing?" She asked as her teeth started to chatter against the cold.

"I'm going to at least wash your hair and then I will help you out and then the Nurse will come help you change. Is that okay?" He asked. Emma nodded her head as the water started to warm up and he grabbed a glass cup from by the sink and started to wash her hair. He was gentle and very careful with her scalp near her ears where the electro probes had been and left welts. Emma looked down at the water and saw it turn pink as he started to get the dried blood out of her hair. She pulled the towel closer to her as it started to get heavy from the water.

"Thank you," She whispered and he gently kissed her temple.

"I love you," He whispered in her ear and she smiled.

"I love you too."

She heard Steve take a sharp intake of breath and then quickly let it out, "Why didn't you tell me about the serum?" He asked softly as he continued to carefully wash her hair.

Emma looked back down at the dirty water, "I couldn't."

"Why?" He asked softly again.

"Because I was afraid of your reaction. I was a test subject for Erskine before you to make sure the serum worked. I weirdly got strength and healing powers from it while you got mostly strength."

Steve paused in washing her hair and moved around to face her forward, "Don't ever be afraid to share anything with me. Life is already a little weird in our case, but it makes sense you have healing powers. Erskine said it affects who you are on the inside as well. I heal just not as easy as you, because I've had many scars in my lifetime, you had to put up walls if I remember correctly." Emma smiled at the stories she told him about her life, well except that it was all set in the wrong time.

He leaned over and kissed her softly, "I'm here, no matter what."

Soon he was finished and he stood up and lifted her back to sit on the toilet. He left and came back with a nurse to help her change. Once she was changed into the dress Peggy had brought her and the nurse helped style her hair, she helped her back to the bed and found Howard in Steve's place.

"Where'd Steve go?" Emma asked.

"He went to get you lunch, he will be back. You look much better." Howard complimented.

"I feel better." Emma said as she got settled in her bed and the Nurse left.

"Do you feel better enough to travel?" he asked.

"I can't, that would leave Steve suspicious. Can't use the excuse I got pulled on a mission right now." Emma said, "Plus I don't feel that much better." Howard nodded at that and Steve came back in with Bucky and four brown paper bags and Emma could smell fish and chips.

"I brought you one of your favorites," He said and she smiled. Even though she was still in pain, everything in this moment was perfect.

A few days passed and Emma was healing nicely. The doctors gave her a few tests and she had clean blood and was free to go.

Steve walked in her room in full uniform and Emma kissed him when she saw him, "Where are you all dressed to go?" She asked.

"I have to leave, with the Commandos." He said gripping her hands and looking pained at leaving her.

"Well, I will see you when you come back next," Emma reassured him and Bucky walked in.

"We got to get going Steve." He said and Emma walked to him and hugged him close. This was the last time she was going to see him.

"Bye Bucky," Emma whispered and he smiled down at her.

"I'm gonna see you the next time we are here," He said and Emma just nodded her head and then went to Steve. He pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

"Wait for me?" He asked as he pulled away.

"Always," She said up to him, "Just come back," She said and with that he walked out the door and left.

Emma was a little relieved at this, it gave her leeway to travel. She was starting to feel her strength and urge to travel coming back.

Howard walked in to pick her up, "Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yes," She said and she followed him out to his car. Once in his car she started to focus on where she wanted to go, she decided back to New Mexico would be her best bet and capture that Hydra agent.

"Howard?" Emma said

"Yes?" he asked as he focused on driving.

"Don't freak out. I'll see you soon." And as she said that, she closed her eyes and traveled back home.