All Along - Steve Rogers {1}

Chapter 14: Awake

January 2012

"We'll meet again
Don't know where, don't know when"

His blonde hair, his breathtaking lopsided smile, the strength in his jaw, the sparkle of his blue eyes, the power in his shoulders, the safety his arms provided... all she could see was him. All that Nellie dreamed of was him.

"Me neither. I will think of you everyday. Let's write to each other, it'll be romantic." Steve suggested and Nellie leant out of his arms to look up at him.

"Since when were you romantic?" She asked, a blush forming on her face at the longing look Steve gave her.

"Since the day I realised that you felt for me what I feel for you." Steve admitted as he too became choked up. "Nel, I... I..." He wanted to tell her those three words, to let her know how he truly felt.

"I know. Me too." Nellie blinked away the tears as she held onto him as tightly as she could, never wanting to let go.

As Steve realised Nellie was again on the verge of tears, he attempted to lighten the mood. "We'll meet again." He smirked as he spoke the lyrics of the well known song.

Nellie rolled her eyes and couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face. "Don't know where, don't know when. Right?" She continued the song as she shook her head. "Cheesy and romantic, what's gotten into you?"

"I just wanted to see that smile one more time." Nellie's heart swelled with love as she leapt forward again and kissed Steve once more.

Something began to pull at her mind, wasn't there something important happening...? Her thoughts were jumbled, there was an urgency to them but all she could see was Steve, all that she could feel was Steve. His hands on her body, his soft lips against her own, the caress of his hands against her face...

"So will you please say 'hello', to the folks I know
Tell them I won't be long
They'll be happy to know, that as you saw me go
I was singing this song."

Why was the song still playing? She had gone over that memory already, hadn't she? This wasn't right, the song should have stopped.

The sound of distant sirens blurred the images of Steve in Nellie's head. Then there was shouting, again, very far away, but it was there. She heard the purr of car engines, the faint tooting of their horns, of car doors shutting... it almost sounded like home. She was not in Brooklyn though, she hadn't been home for almost two years.

"We'll meet again
Don't know where, don't know when
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day
Keep smiling through
Just like you always do
'Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away"

A car horn blasted, this time too loud and too close to be a distant memory. Nellie's eyelids fluttered, her pupils absorbing the light streaming into the room she was in. Not even a second later an immense, mind numbing pain shot through her head, making her instantly feel nauseous. She blinked once, twice, and then opened her eyes properly to be met with a plain white ceiling. Where am I?

She tilted her head forward slightly to get a better look about the room. There was a ceiling fan whirring away in the centre of the room, wobbling slightly, possibly due to age. There was a window to her right, partly open, the soft breeze billowing the curtains. The room was painted sage green and white, a dado rail separating the two colours, the air smelt strangely of fresh paint. How did I get here?

Nellie furrowed her eyebrows and tried to concentrate hard. What had happened before she fell asleep? Was she suffering amnesia, is that why she was in a hospital bed? She caught a glimpse of a memory, well she hoped it was a memory. She was holding onto Steve, and he her, she had never held him so tightly. The edges of the memory were blurry and then... the plane?!