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Prologue: Sometimes fate has a way of giving you what you’re looking for, especially when you least expect it. For Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff, this was a partnership, that turned into a friendship, and then to love. Two years of working side by side after the Battle of New York, these two team-mates developed a bond that far outweighed any they had felt before. For Steve, it was being able to get close to someone who could help him learn to live in the new century he woke into. All he ever wanted to be was a soldier. For Natasha, it was a chance for her to let her walls down, something she had been uncomfortable doing with anyone other than Clint Barton. When you’re a spy, you tend not to let anyone in, or give your trust away easily. Perhaps this is what initially drew them together. They both lived guarded lives, and sometimes keeping people at a distance is a terrible way to live, but it’s a good way not to die. Captain America and the Black Widow lived this life until they found each other.
The day after the wedding Steve wakes up early just like he always does. He looks over at the woman sleeping beside him and he feels content. It was a long road for them to get here and he wouldn’t have had it any other way. As he gently brushes the hair out of her eyes he thinks to himself about how beautiful she is when she sleeps. He gives her a light kiss on the forehead, and her lips curl into that soft smile he loves so much. Silently he gets out the bed to get dressed for his morning run. Tasha feels the shift in the mattress and through half opened eyes she speaks.
“Going for a morning run, Captain? After last night I didn’t think you’d have any energy left to be up so early this morning.”
“Last night was amazing, Tasha. If we hadn’t had Jarvis sound proof the room, there would have been seven angry Avengers trying to sleep breaking down the door,” Steve says with a smile.
“We couldn’t have that, now could we. Go get your run in. You wore me out, so I’m going to get some more sleep. Tony insists on cooking breakfast for all of us.”
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. Pepper told me about the flight back from Monaco, he spent three hours cooking and brought her back a burned omelet. Get some more sleep, I won’t be gone long. Love you, beautiful.”
“Love you, sweetheart.” Steve leaves quietly to hit the nature trail. Tasha sits up in the bed and admires the wedding ring he had specially made for her. It’s an eighteen carat gold setting with a white diamond in the center, a ruby on the left, his birthstone, and a rare blue topaz on the right. He told her he wasn’t even thinking about the colors when he chose it; he had just wanted it to have their birthstones around a diamond. Naturally, she loved that he put that much thought into the ring and its design. Lying back down, Tasha goes back to sleep so she can be awake and refreshed for the flight to Bali for their honeymoon. Outside, Steve is enjoying his morning run. The area surrounding the cabin is all quiet and the sun is up, but not too high yet to break through the trees canopy. He feels at peace and one with nature. It’s so different than Brooklyn and D.C. Growing up, he thought he would never get tired of the city. He was always so in tune with the people and the sounds, that being in a place like this would make him nervous. He laughs as he realizes how much he has changed since he became Captain America. He’s been a soldier, he’s seen war. When he woke from his nearly seventy year sleep, he was instantly in a world where nothing made sense for him. Every friend he’d ever had was long gone from his life. Some of them had passed on, and others, like Peggy had moved on with their lives. Then he met Natasha. She was strong, fearless, and independent, and instantly he was attracted to her, but he still had to keep a distance. The Chitauri, being on the run with her when they discovered HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD, and then the attack on Camp Lehigh, all this brought them together and they realized how much they needed each other. Two sides of the same coin, opposites, but connected in a way that she had never felt with Clint, and what he had been looking for since before he went under. Finishing up his run, he heads back to the cabin to get a shower and start breakfast before Tony can. Something about burned omelets doesn’t appeal to him. When he gets there, he finds an unexpected visitor waiting outside for him.
“This is a nice place you have here, Captain,” says Phil Coulson.
“Morning, Phil. What are you doing here? I thought you would be busy rebuilding SHIELD from the ground up. Nick told us he made you the new director. Wait a minute, how did you know this is where we were?”
“Fury told me. I have to say congratulations on the wedding. I wish I could have been here for it. I knew you and Natasha were meant to be together from the moment I introduced you on the helicarrier. I had hoped though that it wouldn’t have taken you both so long to realize it yourselves.”
“You can’t rush these things, Phil,” Steve says. “Anyway, you’re here now, come on in. I was about to start making breakfast for the team.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t stay. I do have to get back to my team, but I’ll get to why I’m here when all the Avengers are present.” Steve and Phil go inside the cabin and while Steve begins cooking all the Avengers are waking up and greet Director Coulson. Tony is the first to congratulate him.
“Phil Coulson, Director of SHIELD. It wasn’t so long ago that we thought you were dead. Now, you’re the boss. Congratulations.”
Tasha comes out of the bedroom dressed and ready for the day. Before joining Steve in the kitchen to help him prepare breakfast, she greets Coulson as well.
“Hey Phil, it’s good to see you. Nick couldn’t have chosen a better man to be the new Director of SHIELD.”
“We’ve got a long way to go to rebuild. I hope I’m the man for the job. Congratulations, Natasha. I was glad to see you and Captain Rogers become a couple, I’m even happier that you two have gotten married. Anyway that’s not the only reason I’m here. I need the Avengers help.”
“What’s wrong, Phil. What’s so urgent that we have to leave the after party of Steve and Natasha’s wedding,” asks Tony.
“While HYDRA’s infiltration of SHIELD was extensive, there are still bases across the world with Agents that were not HYDRA. I’ve been in contact with them. The Convergence was a crisis of global proportions. What’s coming next will make that look like a walk in the park. Malekith only wanted to return the universe to darkness. What we face next, is threatening to destroy everything.”
“What are we facing? What has the power to do this,” Rhodey asks.
“Well, that’s the problem, Colonel. My team and I aren’t sure. So far, the only thing we know for certain is that people are disappearing. Sometimes they reappear right where they were, no worse for wear. Other times, they are transported half way around the world with no idea as to what happened. The worst case scenario has only happened a handful of times. A person has disappeared, and then returned with no memory of their life here. Here they could be married with two children, and when they come back, they’ve always been single, it’s as if…” Phil pauses, and Bruce finishes for him.
“It’s as if the person who reappears is from a different earth than ours. One that moves along the same lines of the space time continuum, but has a different outcome, or set of rules. The only known device that could be capable of that is…”
“The tesseract,” Thor says. “It’s not possible. The tesseract is safe in my father’s treasure room. It has been there since I returned to Asgard with Loki.
“I believe you Thor,” Steve says, “but we shouldn’t discount any possibilities of what is causing this, until we have some solid evidence.”
“Then I shall return to Asgard, and seek answers from Odin. I will return when I have them.” Not wanting to cause any damage to Steve and Tasha’s cabin, he steps outside. “Heimdall, open the Bifrost!” Thor is transported back to his home to get the answers he seeks.
“All right, so Point Break is gone,” says Tony. “What do the rest of us do?”
“First thing, we all get back to the tower,” Tasha says.
“Not a chance, you and Steve have a honeymoon to go on. Take it, the rest of us can handle this,” Tony interjects.
“No Tony. You’re not leaving us out of this one like the last time you went to Asgard,” Steve says. The fate of the universe is at stake, we’re all in this together.”
“Agent Romanoff, could you please talk some sense into your other half. I don’t think he is really seeing things the way…” Tasha interrupts him.
“I agree with Steve, genius. We can get our honeymoon in when the world is safe.”
“Tony, you really should have learned by now not to argue with The Black Widow,” Clint says. “Like her husband, when she makes up her mind about something, there is no changing it.”
“All right, then let’s get going. Avengers Assemble!”
“We’re already here Tony, we’re assembled,” Clint jokes.
“You know what I meant, Hawkeye. Back to the tower.”
The team boards the quinjet and leave for New York City. Steve and Tasha both know that they will get their honeymoon after this is all over. The mission comes first though.