Well, it’s not THAT old…
It’s Been A Long, Long Time
A Fanfic derived from Endgame
By: Cindy R. Miller
Chapter 1
Returning all the Infinity Stones to their respective timelines was difficult, but if anyone could do it, Cap could.
Of course, he had some other things he wanted to accomplish on this mission… things that had nothing to do with his position as Captain America- but as his position as the guy from before- Steve Rogers…
Since he knew that he had to do some time-traveling anyway, he decided to travel back to the forties to meet up with Peggy- and live the rest of their lives together.
He had some other plans, but this was the main one.
Steve had to make sure he picked a good time and place. He knew that the accident had to happen; but that he didn’t want too much time to pass before coming and finding her. The only thing he did prior to coming and finding Peggy was to search for Bucky. He didn’t want Bucky to have to go through all the torture and programing he’d been through.
Also, even though in his own timeline, Steve knew that he couldn’t change the past to change his memories of what actually happened; and this would be a new timeline… but it didn’t stop him from knowing that this was the right thing to do.
He searched and searched, and finally found his friend… he was nearly dead. Steve took him to the hospital, since there wasn’t much he could do but wait and see how his friend fared; he made his way to the SHIELD base, and noticed that everyone was packing up… He found Peggy. At first, he didn’t approach her because there were too many people around. But when he saw her looking at his file, and grieving, he couldn’t let her suffer.
Steve walked through the crowd and approached her. At first, she was lost in her own thoughts and didn’t notice him approach, but when he said softly, “Am I too late for that dance?” Peggy whirled around and dropped the folder on the ground.
Prior to him making the journey, Steve wondered if she would even believe he was alive, or how she would react… but all of that faded in the moment… and Peggy did none of the things he’d once thought she’d do.
She began to tear up, and she put her hand on his face. She noticed that he was a little older and looked a little confused… but as if she’d decided not to care about the logistics for the moment.
In answer to his earlier question, her choked voice murmured that it was never too late.
Not even caring about the crowd, who was beginning to stare at them; he pulled her close and kissed her.
At first, it didn’t seem as if the people realized who he was… because he was wearing a regular army uniform and not his spangly outfit. But eventually, everyone began to get curious- and milled about, figuring out that in fact, Captain America wasn’t dead.
And that night, he took his girl dancing.
She was pleasantly surprised that he’d already learned.
Barely a word was spoken between them. Nothing really needed to be said. At least not in this moment. The victory in Europe was completed now, and now it was the battle with Japan…
They had a few days before getting shipped wherever the next base was… and so Peggy invited him to her office since it was the only proper place for them to talk privately…
“When you walked into the compound, I was so happy to see that you were alive that nothing else mattered… but I guess we should talk about how and where you came from… I get the feeling that a bit of time has passed for you…”
Steve nodded. “Actually, technically speaking, one of me is in the ice… frozen, and will remain there until the year 2011.”
“You’re not pulling my leg?”
“No. I know this is hard to believe, but it’s true. And I wish I could say that the rest of this is more believable, but it’s going to get strange and confusing very quickly…”
Peggy nodded that she understood and motioned for him to keep going.
He told her everything. He told her about waking up in New York City. He told her about Fury and the Avengers Initiative. He told her about rescuing Bucky, but also about the original timeline. Most of all, he filled her in about Hydra growing inside SHIELD. Peggy was horrified.
“Apparently, they waited to make their move until after you retired… For good reason.”
Peggy sank back in the desk chair, expelling a breath as shaky as he’d felt when he learned that Hydra was inside of SHIELD and he could no longer rely on them.
He went on to tell her about Thanos and his snap. He mentioned their time-traveling shenanigans.
It was a bit for her to take- since obviously at the time she was hearing all this, man hadn’t even been to the moon yet.
He brought her Tony’s sketches of the Quantum loop and some of his notes. Steve explained Tony’s sacrifice.
“You’ve been through a lot. I can’t imagine what that would have been like.”
“Lonely. I mean, through some of it, I had my friends… but everything else I knew didn’t exist, and I was always out of time…”
“What gave you the idea to come look me up?”
“Well, something you said to me in 2016- just before you passed away… you said something about making the most of the time one has left because you can’t go back. Normally, that’s true. But I found a way to beat that… “
A bit of confusion clouded Peggy’s face…
“Since I had to travel back to where the stones were taken from in the approximate times they were taken; which required time travel, I decided to make the most of it. As soon as Scott Lang showed up at headquarters- saying that it’d only seemed about five hours and not five years; it gave me hope.”
“So, you returned all the stones, and then came back here- rescued Sergeant Barnes, left your other self in the ice, and found me.”
“Yes.”
“But in your reality, Barnes would be brainwashed and programed to be an assassin for Hydra, and you’d have to fight him later… but eventually, he remembered you, and at last, the programing was removed from his brain…”
“Yes.”
“So what happens to the timeline now that you’ve come here and saved your friend? I don’t know anything about time travel, but it seems like that should alter things…”
“That was my worry. However, this method apparently creates its own timeline. There are these great movies called Back to the Future parts 1-3 and it’s sort of the movie time-travel people in the future look back to fondly even though no one really thinks time travel works that way.”
“I think we should keep a record of all the timelines you’re aware of just in case they come back.”
“That’s a good idea.”
They looked into each other’s eyes and he kissed her tenderly. “I missed you so much.”
“And I missed you…”
Neither one of them really knew what to say, but it turned out that nothing was really needed.
Eventually, they were over in the east, and he fought gallantly, although more covertly.
The army knew he wasn’t dead, however, since they’d thought him dead at some point, there was the matter of declassifying and retyping his papers.
One of the things Steve did when the war was wrapping up, and he got to talk to the members of SHIELD’s early science team. He asked if his blood revealed anything about the Supersoldier Serum he’d been given.
“Not exactly.” Howard Stark said. He wasn’t the one over that branch, but since he knew Steve, and also knew everyone’s business; he had his finger enough on the pulse of the town to be able to answer the question.
Steve didn’t know how to reply to what Howard said. It turned out he didn’t need to.
Howard sighed. “They’ve isolated some of the elements, but so far, no one’s been able to replicate it in its entirety.”
“I expected as much.”
Steve got the idea to travel forward in time a bit until Hank Pym worked for SHIELD. Upon approaching the man, the guy looked confused. “You’re alive? I was under the impression you died in the second world war.”
“It’s a long story, but since I need to ask for a favor, I’ll tell you the whole story.”
When he was done, the man looked a bit overwhelmed, but he seemed to believe it.
“So, you and your team used the particles I created to save me, and fifty percent of life…” there was a profound sense of wonder in his face.
“It was a game changer.”
Hank nodded. “So, what can I do to help?”
“Well, this is going to sound weird, but I was wondering if you could build a Quantum tunnel like this one.” Steve handed Hank some drawings, and photographs, as well as some schematics.”
“You want to travel more?”
“The thing is that even though this is a different timeline, I know a lot of things that are supposed to happen and have a relatively high probability of still happening. I would like to combat them. Nip them in the bud so to speak. Another reason is that there are a few logistics which need to be cleared up.”
Hank agreed, and he gave Steve some Pym particles so he could go back in time to before his other self got the serum- and talk to Abraham Erskine, warn him that there was a Hydra operative posing as a reporter on the day of the procedure, and that he should take proper precautions.
Steve wondered if he would be like 1955 Doc Brown from Back to the Future or if he would be like 1985 Doc who wore the bullet-proof vest… He hoped for the latter.
He brought some Kevlar from the future and caught Dr. Erskine before he got all the way back to his barracks after the conversation with a pre-serum Steve. When the man looked stunned, and a little afraid, Steve told him in as gentle of a voice as possible, “You believed in me when almost nobody else did… I don’t know that there’s anything which can make that up… but I want to try.”
“What are you talking about? What is going on? I haven’t given you the serum yet. I just left your barracks…”
“I know… look.” Steve directed the man’s attention to the barracks where his younger self was getting ready for bed. The man looked back at the man in front of him.
“You’re older.”
“Yes… I’m from the future… I’ll explain… is there somewhere to talk. I don’t want the little guy to see me and get confused.”
Erskine nodded, still a little confused. They went back to his quarters. Steve briefly explained the time travel thing… but dove almost immediately into what happened on the day of the procedure.
Erskine was obviously struggling to take this all in.
After Steve told him about the Hydra Operative, he said, “I brought something for you to keep you safe- if you’ll just wear it under your clothes.”
“I’m guessing that there are a few reasons you’re doing this… the main reason being that you wish to pay me back, a certain portion of you wants to make sure my dream becomes a reality, but I suspect that my loss so early was both motivating and hard…”
Steve took a deep breath. “Of course, I felt it… but everyone, it was a deep blow…”
Erskine nodded.
“You told me just a little about your adventures… it sounds as if you fulfilled your destiny several times over. And all of these adventures are simply the icing on the cake… Attempting to make things better for everyone.”
“Do you think that’s foolhardy?”
“No. I think that people might call it such- but that there are things which if they can be prevented- should.”
After leaving Erskine, Steve was pretty sure that the man had decided to use the vest to protect himself.
Cindy Says: Let's Brainstorm 