Chapter Text
“You’ve been staring at her the whole time we’ve been here, Punk,” Bucky stated with a roll of his eyes, “Go talk to her,” his elbow was as sharp as Steve remembered.
Steve frowned at him and shook his head, “Just because you’ve found your soulmate and are happy in love, doesn’t mean you have to keep trying to set me up with every girl out there, Jerk,” he pointedly avoided looking at the short-haired brunett in question. It wasn't his fault he could still spot her a short distance away out of the peripheral of his eyes. She was silently staring at one of the many Christmas trees that surrounded them, just like she'd been doing for the last several minutes since Darcy had towed him and the other Avengers to this family-owned tree lot in Brooklyn.
“What are the two of you doing just standing around here?” Darcy chirped, suddenly appearing at Bucky’s side, her arms sliding around his waist and a grin stealing across her red lips, “I’m pretty sure if you boys don’t start looking we’re all going to go home with whatever sad, sad stick thing Clint picks out,” she gestured to where Clint was vigorously gesturing to the skimpy tree beside him to Natasha. Steve could barely make out words about the tree deserving a good home just as much as any other tree in the lot.
Bucky turned his head and stole a quick kiss from his girl, “Just tryin’ to convince Stevie to go and talk to the lovely young woman he’s been staring at all night,” he nodded subtly to the woman in question who had moved around to study another tree with an absent look on her face.
Darcy wasn’t so subtle about turning to stare, “She’s pretty,” she decided with a tilt of her head before turning back to Steve, “You should talk to her, who knows what could happen?” she threw up her arms and backed away from Bucky a little so she could spin without hitting him, “It’s Christmas!” she laughed and smiled up at the small flakes of snow that had been slowly floating from the sky for the last few days, “Magical things can happen at Christmas, you know,” she told them both seriously with a twinkle in her eyes.
He didn’t even have to look at Bucky to see the besotted look on his best friends face, but he did anyway. (He liked seeing his friend so happy after everything he’d lost, sue him.) Sure enough Bucky was watching her with a look of love and bafflement; he’d confessed a few days before how he still couldn’t quite wrap his head around lucking out with a girl like Darcy. Steve knew this look, and he knew a bunch of PDA was about to follow so he just sighed and gave in to their demands.
“Fine,” he reluctantly agreed, “I’ll go talk to her,” he took a small step in the woman’s direction before giving them both a look, “But if this goes wrong the two of you will drop this whole setting-me-up thing for the next month, at least,” he pointed his finger at them and narrowed his eyes.
Bucky rolled his eyes again, already pulling Darcy into his arms and nuzzling at her neck, “Deal,” Darcy giggled, her gloved hands sliding around Bucky's shoulders.
Steve pulled his eyes away from the two of them with a shake of his head, he knew they weren’t excluding him on purpose, and he knew that their attempts to set him up in the last two weeks had been just as much to help him as anything. When Steve and Darcy had shown up with Bucky in tow to Thanksgiving dinner, the Avengers had all welcomed him with open arms and encouragement, but it hadn’t taken long for one of them (Tony) to approach Steve with their concerns.
Beyond the fact that Bucky was a supposedly un-brainwashed ex-HYDRA assassin who might flip-out at any second and go on a killing spree (Tony’s words, not his), the team was worried about the new dynamic between Steve, Bucky and Darcy. Apparently there was some concern that Steve and/or Darcy would become jealous or greedy about their time with Bucky which in turn would create strife between the two of them, which would wind up causing problems for the whole team, seeing as how Steve was their leader in the field, and Darcy was their leader in nearly everything else. Historically a fight between the two of them caused rifts faster than anything else could.
Steve had waved the team’s concern away, becoming jealous of his best friend spending time with his soulmate would be petty, and Steve prided himself on not being petty. But he’d been surprised to discover not even a day later that their concerns had, surprisingly, been the tiniest bit valid.
While Darcy didn’t begrudge him his time with Bucky, he found himself feeling a little selfish and not wanting to share his best friend for the first few days. Darcy had gracefully allowed the two of them to spend as much time together as they wanted for the first week or so, and likely would have allowed it to continue, but thankfully it only took Steve that long (and a few pointed looks from Natasha) to figure out what he was doing. Once he realized he was monopolizing Bucky’s time and keeping him from his soulmate (unintentionally, he hadn’t really meant to) he’d tried to include her more often, and to leave them some alone time when he could. After the first little bit of working together, he’d always been close with Darcy so it wasn’t exactly a hardship to have her around.
After watching the two of them just...be together for a while, he’d come to realize just how right they were together. He’d been correct in thinking that they would be perfect for each other all those years ago when he’d first noticed Darcy’s soulmark. Darcy balanced Bucky’s serious mood swings and Bucky was the calm to Darcy’s frenetic moments. Once he really recognized the compatibility between them he found it became much easier to share his best friend. Now he loved watching the two of them grow closer together, but watching them brought out an increasing loneliness in him that he hadn’t really been forced to recognize in himself before.
Waking up in this new time had been hard, everyone he’d ever known was either dead or dying and he still to this day couldn't entirely concieve of everything he'd missed during his time in the ice. As a result, at the time he’d secluded himself from everyone, which made it easier to live in denial about what had happened, while giving himself the space to try an wrap his head around it all. When Fury had showed up with a mission to 'save the world' the SHIELD director had unintentionally (or maybe intentionally, you never knew with that man) saved Steve; he provided him with a team and friends the likes of which he’d never had.
He’d been undeniably close with the Commandos, but after so much time with the Avengers he was able to recognize that he was somehow (inexplicably and unprecedentedly) closer with the Avengers than he’d been with his old team. It had bothered him at first to realize it, but now…he knew the Commandos would never have held it against him for being close to his new team. When he’d discovered Bucky was still alive he’d received more support from his new team than he’d ever thought possible. Even Tony (whose parents they were all fairly certain were killed by Bucky) had extended his not-so-insignificant resources to help bring Bucky home.
Having his best friend literally walk in the door with his soulmate by his side had paradoxically flipped Steve’s world on its head all while returning it to its former rightness. Now with Bucky home, safe, and occasionally joining him and the Avengers out in the field (it had only happened about three times now-the team was still cautious about him when it came to combat situations) it was like having the best of both worlds.
Now if only he could fill that one last hole in his chest, the one meant for his soulmate, whoever they were, he’d be able to really feel whole and content.
His heart raced a little as he approached the smaller woman (he never really had mastered the ability to talk to women) and his eyes took a moment to study her profile. There was something subtly Asian about her features, and her hair hung a few inches past her shoulders, curling with small, natural looking waves. She was wearing a zipped-up black leather jacket, dark blue jeans, scuffed and loved combat boots and a dark blue beanie. He watched a couple stand near her for a moment to study the same tree she was looking at and tilted his head curiously as he realized that she looked for all the world as if she were only vaguely aware of where she was in that moment. Her thoughts were visibly far away as she slowly sauntered from one tree to the next, standing still every few seconds to contemplate the different trees.
Sidling up to the tree next to the one she was staring at he blurted out the first thing he could think of, “I’ve always been more of a Noble Fir fan myself, but Douglas Firs are a good second,” he tucked his hands into his pockets nervously, his eyes watching her cautiously. Over his shoulder he could hear Tony scoffing something to Rhodey (who was off duty for the next few weeks) and a low ooff that meant Rhodey had done something physical in retaliation to defend Steve
The woman turned to look at him with wide chocolate brown eyes. Her lips parted with surprise and moved as if they were struggling to put words together. She shifted in place until she was facing him fully, her hands tucked into the front pockets of her jacket, “Those are my words,” she breathed, her eyes gaining a light sheen to them, “This is...You have no idea how badly I needed to meet you right now,” she swallowed and shook her head, still gaping at him. Suddenly her eyes widened in recognition, "You're..." her head shook and she stumbled back a step, "I have to go. Sorry! I...sorry."
And then, before Steve could fully process that he’d just found his soulmate (his soulmate!) in the middle of a Brooklyn tree lot, the woman spun on her heel and took off. It took him a second longer than he was proud of to process through his shock, but when it finally sank in his eyes widened and he found his feet already propelling him after her. He dodged around random Christmas tree shoppers, and even ran into Sam and Wanda in his hurry to catch up with his soulmate, but by the time he’d reached the street she was gone.
Head spinning as he looked up and down the street for any sign of her, Steve frowned and stumbled back a step when he finally recognized that she was nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t even gotten a name. His chest constricted painfully as he played over the last few minutes, his soulmate felt she needed to meet him, had wanted to meet him, but then…what had scared her enough to send her running from him?
“Well,” Bucky’s familiar voice spoke from behind him, “I’ve seen a lot of gals have a lot of reactions to you askin’ them out over the years Punk,” Steve didn’t look at him, but he could feel him move to stand at his right, “But that one really took the cake. You must have seriously put your foot in it to send her runnin’ so fast.”
Steve took a slow deep breath to try and calm the adrenaline surging through his veins, “She’s my soulmate,” he stated, his voice rough, finally turning his head a minute later to look over at Bucky’s stunned expression.
The surprise slowly slid from his friend's face to be replaced with protective anger, “And she just took off like that?” the Brooklyn was strong in Bucky's voice as his arm gestured in the direction the woman had gone, “What’s wrong with her?”
Feeling irrationally defensive on his soulmate's behalf, Steve quickly shook his head, “I don’t…I think she might have been scared.”
“Of what?” Bucky exclaimed, following him as he turned around to walk quickly back into the tree lot, “You’re Captain America.”
Steve shook his head, a low feeling of dread sinking in his stomach as he realized, “I think that may have been why she ran,” he voiced his thoughts, “She said she needed to meet me, she needed me, Buck, and then she seemed to realize who I was,” his voice trailed off absently as he peered down rows of trees, spotting his friends and teammates as he went but not the particular friend he was looking for, “and that’s when she ran.”
Bucky’s hand caught his arm just as Steve caught sight of Tony, “Steve, only bad guys run from Captain America,” his concern was obvious.
“She’s not a bad guy Buck,” he disagreed immediately, he’d had that concern himself for a split second but he’d seen enough bad people in his life to know the woman hadn’t been one of them, or if she was, it wasn't because she wanted to be (besides, something inside him just…knew she was a good person).
“Tony!” he spotted his target near the hot chocolate booth, “I need a favor.”
Tony arched an eyebrow at him, his arm sliding around Pepper as she stepped into his side, “Does this favor have to do with that girl you were chasing a minute ago?”
“My soulmate,” Steve acknowledged with a nod, “I…she…could you, I don’t know…I need to find her,” the desperation that peaked through his voice wasn’t a weakness he normally allowed people to see or hear, but this was his soulmate they were talking about, he could let his emotions show when it came to her.
The genius’s stare was heavy and intense for a moment before he gave a firm nod, “Right,” he turned to Pepper and pressed a quick kiss to her lips before pulling away, “Let’s get back to the Tower,” he told Steve, “The team can finish finding the tree, or trees," he aimed a disparaging look to where Clint was carrying around the stick-tree, "they want while we do some digging.”
Pepper smiled and rolled her eyes, giving into the urge Steve was resisting, Clint was Clint, they should all be used to his...eccentricity by now, “We’ll be home soon,” she agreed stepping forward into Tony to give him a longer kiss, “Do good work boys,” she patted Tony on the chest and then turned to saunter away.
Tony watched her go for a second before turning back to Steve, “Well?” he waved his arms importantly, “What are we waiting for? Soulmates to find and all,” he stepped forward and deliberately walked into the six inches between Steve and Bucky to force them to part for him as he headed towards the entrance to the tree lot.
Steve glanced over at Bucky to find his friend already watching him, “You want me to come?” Bucky offered.
Sighing and shaking his head, Steve scratched the back of his neck, “No,” he waved the offer away, “You stay and pick out your tree with Darcy, I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”
“You’ll find her,” his friend seemed certain. His hand clasped Steve’s shoulder and pulled, jerking him into a quick hug before sending him off.
Turning around Steve hurried to catch up with Tony just in time to see Happy pull up in front of the tree lot in his favorite Stark SUV. Tony slid into the back seat before Happy could get the door for him, and Steve followed a moment later. Shutting the door behind him he fidgeted and shifted in place as Happy pulled back into traffic.
“So,” Tony started, “Your soulmate huh?” his hands were fiddling with his phone, pressing buttons and things as he spoke without looking at Steve. Before Steve could acknowledge this face Tony held the phone up to display a picture, “This her?”
It was a blurry picture and the woman’s face was partly turned away from the screen, but Steve recognized her immediately, “Yes,” he breathed, resisting the urge to take the phone from Tony so he could stare at the only image he currently had of his soulmate, “How did you get that?”
Tony smirked, “Well when Captain America takes off running after someone it generally is in the population’s best interest to figure out who that someone is,” he waved his phone,“So I snapped a pic,” he shrugged and turned back to his screen, “JARVIS is already running facial rec, he should have something by the time we get back to the Tower.”
Steve’s head fell back against the seat and he gave a small relieved sigh, Tony would find her, “Thanks,” he murmured.
Not saying anything else, Tony just grunted and continued doing whatever it was he was doing on his phone. The rest of the ride was uneventful (with the exception of Happy vocalizing his opinion about New York drivers every few minutes) and within half an hour they were exiting the elevator to Tony’s lab.
Absently greeting Dum-E as he rolled up and chirped, Steve frowned when he noticed the perplexed look on Tony’s face, “What is it?” he inquired, following Tony to one of his randomly placed monitors.
“Huh,” was the only answer he got, “What are the odds…” the other man muttered to himself as he began typing, his eyes focused on the screen. Whatever he was doing didn’t fix the problem and a few seconds later he was frowning and twirling around to approach another air screen, “That can’t be right…” he spoke up louder then, “J, get me the—yes that and could you…good,” different screens popped up in the space around where Tony was now standing at.
“What’s going on, Tony?” Steve demanded, quickly losing his patience.
However it was JARVIS who answered his question, “It appears this woman does not exist on any database I can gain access to Captain,” he shared, “I have sufficient points of reference to create an accurate representation of the woman’s features, but I cannot locate its match anywhere.”
Steve frowned, that didn’t match with what he knew of this century. Everyone seemed to have a picture somewhere, most had more than a few, in fact, “How is that possible?” he questioned, his eyes scanning over the rapidly changing screens in front of Tony.
“That’s the thing,” Tony answered this time, “It’s not,” he shook his head, his fingers flying, “Not organically, anyway. She should have some record of her existence somewhere, a driver’s license, a student ID, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Thumbsit, even YouTube or other random social media sites. Even if she doesn’t have an account anywhere online, her face should show up in at least one other picture somewhere, even if it’s just in the background of someone else’s picture,” he was quiet for a moment as he flipped whatever was on the screen out into his larger hologram projector area revealing thousands of pictures and files of women who looked similar to Steve’s soulmate but weren’t her at all, “The fact that she isn’t…” he trailed off, flipping through some of the pictures.
“What?” Steve prodded, he had some of his own thoughts but he wasn’t sure he wanted to be the one to voice them.
Tony faced him full on, “The fact that she isn’t so easily found tells me she doesn’t want to be found,” he glanced at the fluctuating pictures, “whether that’s because she’s running and hiding from someone or something, she’s a hacker or some other sort of criminal or,” he paused, “or she’s a spy for an unknown entity, I can’t say for sure.”
“Why unknown?” he had to know, “Wouldn’t the CIA or...whoever keep their pictures from being easily discovered?”
The genius nodded, “Yes, but I’ve already been through their records,” he stared absently at the information in front of them, “Whoever she does work for, if she is a spy,” he shook his head thoughtfully, “we don’t know about them.”
“Or she’s HYDRA,” Steve didn’t want to tiptoe around the matter.
There was a small silent pause before Tony gave a sigh that brought Steve’s eyes over to him, “I wish I could tell you that she wasn’t,” he really seemed like he did, “But yeah, she might be HYDRA,” he gestured to the computers behind him, “I’ll keep looking though,” he added, “If nothing else we should be able to find her on ATM and traffic cameras, maybe figure out where she went.”
Steve gave a small nod, forcing down a sigh and the urge to hit something, determined to keep his face stoic, “Let me know what you find,” he ordered before turning and heading for the elevator.
“Cap,” Tony called, bringing him to a stop, “We’ll find her.”
He could think of nothing further to say, he knew Tony would do his best and if it were possible to find her, Tony would be the one to do so; so he just nodded his head once more, shoved his hands in his pockets and stepped into the elevator.
They would find her. His hand slid to his chest to rub at the words scrawled over his heart as it ached at the thought of never finding her again. Her words replayed in his head; he’d find her, not just because he needed her, but because she sounded like she needed him. Whatever it was she needed from him, he longed to be there to give it to her.
He’d find her, he tried to convince himself, and when he did, he would make sure she got everything he could give her. He just wanted to hold her, protect her...love her. He just hoped that he found her before whatever she was running from caught up with her.