Little Cap

The Avengers are fighting Thanos and his army. Iron Man and Falcon are fighting them in the air; Thor and Loki are using their godly powers; Natasha, Hulk, Bucky and Captain American are guns and hand-to-hand combat. Then we have Hawkeye with his bow and arrows, ping! Ping!

Thanos drops just in front of Natasha and aims an infinity stone towards her. At the same time, Thor and Falcon land on either side of Natasha. As the beam of light from the infinity stone reaches them, there is a blast of light. And then, everyone is gone. Thor, Nat, and Sam are standing on the side of a highway, same place in Brookland where they were just fighting Thanos, but there are no aliens and no one around. There are cars whooshing past them, they even hear someone yelling “Stupid Cosplayers!” from one of the passing cars.

In the distance, they see someone jogging towards them. As he gets closer they recognize his familiar face: Captain America. Thank God, they collectively think, it’s not just us. But then, they all notice that he is in his civies, not his Captain America outfit. No matter, as they stop him he removes his earbuds. “What can I do for you?”

Flacon starts talking to Steve, aggressively fast, “Cap, man, what’s going on. And where’s your outfit? We saw a flash and…”

Thor puts a hand on Falcon’s shoulder while Nat says, “That’s not our Steve Rogers.”

Looking confused, Stephen speaks, “Our Steve Rogers? I assure you I am Stephen Rogers. Have we met before?”

Falcon, looking like a puppy who just got kicked in the face, “Yes, we met before. Does ‘on your left’ mean anything to you? I’m Falcon,” points to Nat, “Black Widow,” points to Thor, “Thor, Prince of Asgard.” Thor and Nat look at each other and Falcon continues talking, impatiently trying to get Steve to acknowledge them, “Iron Man, Loki, Bucky. You have to remember Bucky.”

Stephen’s face becomes sad and Falcon finally stops when Stephen speaks, “Bucky. How do you know Bucky? And what kind of names are Falcon, Black Widow and Thor. And what is an Iron Man?”

Thor start to speak to Nat, “We need to take this inside somewhere. I’m afraid we may be exposed here.” Nat nods in agreement. “Cap, is there somewhere we can speak in private, somewhere not so close to a busy street?”

“Cap?” asks Stephen, confused. “Yeah, let’s go back to my place, but please, call me Stephen.” They all follow Stephen to his place. Once there, Nat and Thor start to explain to Stephen what happened from their perspective while Falcon just sits there in silence. Stephen sits there, listening to the explanation of aliens, superheroes and their aliases, as well as the possibility of there being an alternate dimension where he exists as a superhero.

He looks at them and takes a deep breath, “Well then, you guys will need a place to stay while we figure out how to get you guys back to your own dimension. You guys can stay here, I have plenty of rooms.”

Sam interrupts suddenly with “Wait a sec… If you are Stephen Rogers,” he looks at Thor and Nat, “this dimension’s version of Steve Rogers, how is he alive. Wasn’t he born in 1920?”

Thor and Nat look at each other, then questionably look at Stephen for an answer. He hangs his head down, then begins to speak.

“My father had died when I was a child and my mom died of pneumonia when I was in high school. So when WWII started, I tried to join the army. They turned me away because I failed the medical. My best friend Bucky was accepted and died after going off to battle. Everyone that I love was gone. Then I was invited to volunteer for Operation Rebirth. The army wanted to inject me with some super serum to make super soldiers. After the injections I didn’t feel any different. So I went to Mr. Stark and asked him to freeze me for 100 years. He agreed, but then two years ago, his son Tony woke me from my sleep. He said it was an accident. So here I am, in this new world. Ironically, what people have told me about my being old-fashion in manner is helping my run for Congressman of Brooklyn. I’m hoping to lead Brooklyn’s people by showing them crime and violence is never the answer.”

“Alright! Alright! I get it, you’re Steve Rogers,” Sam says.

“Stephen Rogers,” Stephen responds, then says, “OK, so does anyone know where to start?” And from there, they all start brain storming, pulling all-nighters, and going back to the drawing board. Nothing they seem to come up with worked, or seemed possible. Over the next couple of weeks, they had arguments, breakdowns, and silence. Nothing seemed to work. However, the only thing that seemed to be developing was feelings between Stephen and Nat.

One late night, Stephen and Nat are sitting on the sofa, alone. He’s playing with her hair and starring in her eyes. “Please Stay. When we find a way to send you guys back, please stay. You wouldn’t have to fight anymore if you stayed…and we could be together.”

“Stephen, I can’t. I want to, but I can’t. Who would I be here? I don’t know how to be anyone but Black Widow. I’m a spy, a soldier, and I’m not needed here.” Nat’s eyes are welling up as she speaks these words to Stephen.

“I need you,” says Stephen.

“You know what I mean. I can’t Stephen,” Nat says. “But, we haven’t found a way back yet, so let’s not think of this for now.” Stephen leans in closer and they start kissing.

The next morning, Sam and Thor are banging on Stephen’s bedroom door, “Wakey, wakey, eggs and backey!”

Stephen opens his door and steps out, “What time is it?”

As he asks this, Nat emerges from his room, clearly just waking up. Thor and Sam shoot each other a glance and then look at Nat with smirks on their faces. “Shut it!” she snaps as she walks into the kitchen to make a coffee. Everyone follows.

Sam, to Thor, “What? Were you gonna say anything?”

“Me? You mean about Nat and Stephen exiting the same bedroom, clearly after a night of …” Nat shoots Thor a look … “deep slumber?” Thor and Sam snicker.

Nat slaps them on the arms and Stephen is shaking his head and then says, “Where you two banging on my door for a reason?”

Sam and Thor compose themselves and just at that time, someone else walks into the kitchen. Stephen looks confused and Nat looks torn and says, “Loki."

Stephen asks, “And who is Loki?”

“Loki is my brother and he has found us to bring us home,” Thor is smiling, so proud of Loki for finding them and figuring out how to bring them home. Stephen, clearly heartbroken, says, “Oh, that’s … great.”

Nat, clearly torn, “Yeah, great. That’s great Loki.”

Sam and Thor look at each other, confused, then Stephen says, “Alright. Loki, how do we get all of you back to your own dimension?” Stephen and Nat smile at each other.

The all leave Stephen’s house and follow Loki. Loki leads them to a wooded area and heads into the woods. Loki leads everyone to a small clearing where they see an inter-dimensional door opened and ready to go through. Once they all get into the clearing, Thor and Sam say their goodbyes and thanks to Stephen as Loki hollers to them to "come on" and disappears through the door. As Thor and Sam start heading towards the door, Nat stops them and asks them to not mention anything about her and Stephen once they get back to their own dimension. They both agree and tell her not to worry about it. They turn and disappear through the door.

Nat and Stephen step closer to each other and look in each other’s eyes. “You can still change your mind,” Stephen says to Nat.

She smiles and kisses him. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t.” She gently touches his cheek with her hand, turns and disappears through door without looking back. Stephen stays still, staring at the door and stays there staring long after the door disappears. You can see the hurt radiating through his eyes as the tears begin to fall.

Upon their return, everyone is standing near the inter-dimensional door. Clint rushes to Nat and hugs her. Everyone else joins them and starts talking about the other dimension. The next day, everything returns to normal. You find Tony and Bruce in the lab working on a project with Vision. Stephen and Bucky are running laps around the compound. Loki is laying on a sofa in Tony’s library, reading a book. Clint is outside, sitting on a wood stump, making arrows by hand and placing them in his quiver. Thor, Sam, and Nat are running fight scenarios, fighting techniques.

A couple of months after they’ve returned from the other dimension, and during a sparing session, Nat suddenly becomes dizzy and loses her balance. Thor and Sam immediately come to her side. Sam is holding her, helping her sit and Thor is checking her vitals. Once she composes herself, they convince her to go get herself checked out. She finally agrees and goes to talk to Dr. Steven Strange.

Thor and Sam are waiting for Nat as she comes out of Dr. Strange’s office. She tells them not to worry, she’s been feeling off since they’ve returned and it’s nothing to worry about. Clint happens to walk by at the same time that Nat is saying this to Thor and Sam. As she walks away, Clint asks Thor and Sam what happened.

Nat and Clint are standing outside of the compound and Clint is talking, “Come on Nat, it’s me. There’s been something different about you since you guys came back to this dimension. So Nat starts telling Clint that, unlike Sam and Thor, she does remember everything from the other dimension. She tells him how they had met Stephen Rogers from that dimension. That they were falling in love with each other and that she’s since found out that she’s pregnant. Stephen is the only possibility for the baby’s father. Clint then speculates that the pregnancy is probably the reason she remembers, it would be the tie to the other dimension. She also tells him that her feelings for Stephen are the same for Steve. “I mean, it’s Steve. Steve Rogers from any dimension is still Steve.”

During this conversation, Steve had walked out behind them and heard everything. Before he could say anything, he saw Thanos coming towards Nat and Clint. Steve yells, “Look out!” and throws his shield, hitting Thanos to distract them. Clint and Nat are both looking at Steve with a stunned look for a second before they break out into fighting against Thanos.

In the end, Thanos escapes. The dust clears and Clint yells “Nat!” She is laying on the ground with a shot through abdomen. Steve picks her up and they rush her to the hospital.

Clint and Steve are sitting in Nat’s hospital room while she sleeps. The doctor gave her a sedative for her to rest. They sit there in silence, looking lost. Clint finally turns to Steve and asks how much he had heard. Steve, looking at Nat, says, “Enough.”

When Nat finally wakes up, she can feel that there is someone on each side of her, each holding one of her hands. She opens her eyes and Stephen is on her left side. She turns her head, and Clint is on her right side. She manages to sit up, looks at Clint and then turns to Steve. Her eyes start to well up and Steve takes her in his arms. Clint moves closer on the bed so she doesn’t have to let go of his hand. Steve puts one hand behind her head and gently pulls her closer. He kisses her on the top of her head and says, “It’s okay, we can always try for another.”