Chapter Text
When Steve Rogers awoke it was to a world he no longer knew. Despite the relatively familiar interior of the room, the classic hospital room of the 1940s, he knew something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones, an uneasiness that began to grow rapidly now that he was finally awake.
He shivered slightly as he sat up on the bed, still feeling the ice on his skin. Had he truly crashed the plane into the ice? Where was Peggy? Had they succeeded? He closed his eyes momentarily and tried to recall his last moments. As expected, his memories were so clear it was as if he was reliving them. He could hear the whirr of the planes engine, Peggy’s barely concealed sobs as he said goodbye and he could feel the ice cold water seep through his suit, freezing his bones until everything went dark.
A crackle of electricity caught his attention and he turned his head to find the source. A radio sat on a small table in the corner of the room and now that he was listening he deduced that it was commentary of a game. He listened closer as the words finally registered in his brain. The match was very familiar, too familiar and Steve wracked his brains trying to figure out why. Before he could, the door opened.
“Morning.” A lady stood before him, red curled hair, a typical nurses uniform on. However, Steve couldn’t bring himself to trust her. He didn’t know if it was instincts learned on the battle field or the instincts of somebody who was beaten up in alleyways everyday but something was very, very wrong.
Steve took a closer look at her trying to pinpoint what exactly was bothering him. He knew there was something strange about the radio but there was something wrong with her too. Taking a closer look, he realised that her tie was from the men’s section, it was also knotted wrong and her curls were too loose for a work environment. And he couldn’t help but notice that her shirt was fitted wrong, it didn’t have the same shape around her chest area that he was used too. Not that he was very used to it at all but that wasn’t the point.
“Where am I?” He knew it was rude but he couldn’t help it. He could hear his ma in his mind, lecturing him on the importance of respecting nurses but his heart was pounding within his chest and sweat was starting to build up on his palms. He needed to get out of there.
“You’re in a recovery room in New York City.” No he wasn’t. As he focused on his breathing, he tried to think rationally but it was difficult now that there was no noise. At first he thought it might be a Sunday and therefore the streets weren’t as busy as usual but if there was a game, it wasn't a Sunday. It wasn’t right.
“Where am I really?” He now knew why that game sounded so familiar to him even though it had been years since he had been to one.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.” The lady said, shifting on her feet. Steve narrowed in on the movement, on high alert.
“The game. Its from May 1941. I know because I was there.” He tried to block out the memories but as per usual they were vivid and felt too real. The pain in his chest made him want to curl up and cry but he rose to his feet, making his way over to the lady. He didn’t want to but if intimidation was the only way to get answers then fuck it. “I am going to ask you again. Where am I?”
He noticed her click a button and suddenly he was back on the battle field ready for a fight. The door opened as his voice rose and two men walked into the room. They were a threat. Without thinking he pushed the lady out of the way and threw the two guys into the wall. He wasn’t expecting it to reveal an empty warehouse but he didn’t stop to think too much about it. He really needed to get out of there. So he ran.
There was a crowd of people outside of the doors he broke down and his panic increased tenfold when he realised that he recognized nothing. Had Hydra captured him? What about Peggy? Had he failed? He heard a car in the distance and even though something was off about it, it was still the most familiar thing he had around him so he followed the sound. He ran through the crowd shoving people out of the way, not allowing them stop him. But when he made it onto the streets, he wished that he had just let them take him.
Where was he? There were bright flashing lights and a tsunami of sound that crashed down on him and threatened to drag him under. His eyes blurred and his skin seemed to crawl. His heart pounded and his brain screamed at him to run but he couldn’t move. Fear kept him rooted in place even as cars, at least that was what he thought they were, swerved around him. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he wanted to cry as he stood alone surrounded by the unfamiliarity.
Multiple black cars had surrounded him, distracted as he was but he couldn’t bring himself to focus on them.
“At ease soldier.” A black man in an eyepatch stood before him surrounded by soldiers with guns. “Look. I’m sorry about that little show back there, I thought it best to break the news to you slowly.”
“Break what?” Steve asked automatically even though he didn’t want the answer. He struggled to catch his breath and as the man opened his mouth to speak Steve had an odd end of the world feeling in his gut.
“You’ve been asleep cap. For almost seventy years.” The man stared him in the eye as he spoke as if trying to convey the seriousness of the message.
Steve’s instinct was to laugh. “That is ridiculous,” he wanted to say, “That is not humanly possible.” But how human was he now? And truly, was anything impossible with him? He was a freaking miracle. The longer Steve thought on it, the less convinced he was that the man was lying. It wasn’t like he could mark the passage of time under the ice. But if seventy years had passed, what had happened to Peggy? And Howard? And his commander? And B- No Steve already knew what happened to him. If it had truly been seventy years, and the certainty in his instincts made him inclined to believe it was, then he also knew what had happened to the others.
“You gonna be ok?” The man asked as if he hadn’t just destroyed what was left of Steve’s entire world with a few words. The pain in his chest flared up again, threatening to bring Steve to his knees, but he didn’t have the words or energy (or quite frankly the trust) to tell the man any of it.
“I had a date.” Was all he could say.