Stay With Me

20. You Don't Own Me

Rogers Residence. Philadelphia, PA. August 1, 2018.

Sun shines harshly on Steve's face, which rests on his arm on the wooden table in the dining room. At his sides, Natasha and Tony sleep uncomfortably, heads resting on their arms, same as Steve. He didn't want to sleep. Not while Julie was still on the road, but he lost the battle. His body and mind too exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster he and Julie have been on since the bar reopened 4 days ago.

He shifts, turning his head to face the other direction when a shrill beep cuts the quiet slow breathing of everyone in the room. Tony lifts his head at the sound, rubbing his face hard —blinking the sleep from his eyes.

"Steve. Wake up." Tony orders and shakes Steve's shoulder, when he sees the notification on his phone.

Steve jolts up. "Is it Julie?"

Tony nods. "We have a problem."

Natasha lifts her head as Thor and Bruce trudge into the kitchen, having also heard the notification on Tony's phone.

"What is it?"

Tony swallows nervously and looks up at Steve. "Her tracker is offline."

"How's that possible?"

"It can only go offline under two circumstances." Bruce answers.

"Which are?" Steve asks, fear for Julie causes his tone to be harsher than he intended.

"One, it was removed. Or, the tracker can no longer locate her vitals."

"Locate her vitals? What does that mean?"

"It means she would have to be dead." Natasha whispers.

Steve's face pales as his heart rate accelerates. "Please tell me she's still alive."

Tony is silent for a long moment, the longest minute of Steve's life as he watches the man furiously click through his phone. Steve's heart pounds painfully in his chest, he feels sick to his stomach and dizzy at the same time.

"Tony!" He yells.

Tony's face blanches. "I think something's wrong."

"You're scaring us." Natasha states, seeing the look on Steve's face mimics how she feels.

Tony rereads the screen, staring at the time her tracker was still active and collecting data. Over 12 hours ago.

"It's showing her vitals were dangerously low 12 hours ago. They stayed low for about 3 hours before the tracker went offline."

Steve snatches the phone from Tony's grasp and tries to make sense of the numbers on the screen. "Dangerously low... what's low?

Bruce walks around the room to stand behind Steve, reading over his shoulder. "Her blood pressure, blood oxygen and heart rate were almost at a critical level. Any lower and she would be dead."

"And then it went offline? Oh my God. Is she dead?! She's dead isn't she. It's been hours. She's gone." Steve asks with so much desperation in his voice it brings Natasha to tears watching him spiral. His world begins to crumble around him, his vision darkening as he struggles to breathe.

"I don't know."

Thor leans on the table, "We need to find her. We can track her phone and her car... can't we?"

Tony nods and takes his phone back from Steve who gripes the device so hard the plastic case around it cracks. He types furiously, locating her phone.

"Her phone is also offline. Last recorded location was Baltimore City. Looks like it was last on Patapsco River to be exact." He types some more, locating her car and the tracker.