An Old Friend

chapter 18

    A few days pass and everything seems to be going fine, even if Evelyn won't tell Steve anything.

       He's trying to get her to talk more, assuring her that its fine to talk about anything she wants, and can say more than just directly answering a question, she was sure she had some stories to tell, she's been a secret weapon ever since she was captured that day.

       "Evelyn," Steve says one morning.  They're sitting across from one another while eating breakfast.  He had toast and eggs, while she had dry cereal.  She looked up at him after taking in a spoonful of the cheerios.  "Do you remember how you were captured?"

       She shook her head.  "No, I don't," pause.  "Should I?" she was wearing a long sleeved shirt with a pair of Steve's sweat pants, which were too big on her, but she liked them that way.

       "Well would you like to know?" He was wearing a simple t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants.

       She paused for a moment, thinking it over, wondering if she could remember it all.  He's been trying to help hr remember a few things, somethings she remembered right away, others he had to tell the story, some parts in full detail for her to understand fully.  This she couldn't remember at all.  "I guess it wouldn't hurt to know," she gave a small smile.

       It wasn't exactly a fun nor happy story, but she should know, it could help her with remembering a few other things.  "We thought the base belonged to HYDRA, but it was Hyde, a group that we never heard about until that moment.  They captured the troops that were sent there, we went on a different mission at the time.  Once we got there you had the plan of me dressing up as a guard and me taking you in a prisoner, and it worked.  You were put with everyone else, and a while later I came in and got everyone out.  Everyone started to make their way towards the entrance to get out, I didn't see you anywhere, but I thought you were just lost in the crowd even if we were always at each other's side.  We later found out that you went into the building, and you tried blowing it up with the grenades that we found.  You never made it out.  Least that's what we all thought."

       He gave her a moment to take that all in.  She had her hands on her lap, looking down into her cereal.  Steve couldn't tell if she was remembering what happened or if she was finding it hard to believe that she had gotten captured by them.

       "Evelyn?  Are you okay?" he reaches out and puts his hand on her shoulder, which snaps her out of the trance.

       She jerks.  "Oh, um, yeah, uh.  Yeah Steve, I'm fine, just a bit to think about.  I think I remember that.  I-I took a few grenades that you found, and went back inside, hoping to destroy most of the base, but guards were coming once I threw the first one.  I took down a few of the guards, about five more came, all having guns and pointing at me, I knew I couldn't take them down, so I threw the last grenade that I had and ran.  Th-the force took me down, burned me pretty badly," she bit her lip, she can remember that scene all too clearly now.  "Then I woke up somewhere, and-and, I had a knife stabbed though my right hand, nearly passed out from blood loss, or did I?  Some nurse gave me something, and having nearly no blood didn't help."

       Her voice began to crack towards the end.  Steve got up and sat beside her and hugged her.

       "Evelyn, its wonderful that you're remembering, amazing actually, just keep talking and more should come back to you," he moved her messy hair out of her face.

       She shakes her head.  "I don't want to talk about it," she bites her lips and hangs her head hair covering her face. 

       He let out a sigh. "Please Evelyn. It'll help, trust me. You want to know now about yourself don't you?" she slightly nods and Steve's asks her to tell him what happened.

       She had started to shed a few tears when she was telling Steve in full detail what happened after she was captured.  She wasn't sure where these memories were coming from, which then made her cry more, it made her question who she really was, she didn't have a clue at all.

       The two moved over to the couch to get more comfortable.  She leaned against him wiping tears from her face with the sleeves of the shirt, while he had an arm around her to comfort her, to make her feel safe.

       "Steve," she said softly, she was afraid that her voice would crack.  "Who am I really?  I'm not really a killer, am I?"

       "Well, you weren't a killer in the way that you are saying it.  You were always a bit violent, but also fearless, which was good, but you were also really stubborn, and didn't listen to orders very well, nearly got our team caught and killed a few times, but you always had a reason behind it, and nine out of ten times your plan worked, but besides that, you were really sweet, as long as you liked the other anyway.  You were a bit of a show off, but in a good way, you always wanted to show the men on the base that just because you're a girl that it doesn't mean you can't do the same thing as them.  I loved having you apart of my team."

       Steve smiled down at her even if she wasn't in view for her to see him.  He thought that this would be a good opportunity to tell her how he feels about her, but even if he had to explain all of this he still wasn't sure how, and it also seemed like he was taking advantage of it.

       "Not sure if I seem like a nice person or not," she said softly.  He was fiddling with the sleeves on her arms, they were a bit long on her so she kept her hands covered, she just felt safer somehow.  She's never felt like this.  She felt weak, and she hated it, she had a bit of a death wish as well.  She didn't want to be back at Hyde, bit she felt like that's where she belongs, she felt safe there, nothing could go wrong there, this is the longest she's been out of the facility.

       "You were a nice person, and I'm sure that person is still in you," he was nervous, he really wanted to tell her about his feelings, he may not get another chance.  "Can I tell you something that I've been wanting to tell you since the 40's?"

       "Hey, even if you told me back then, its not like I remember, so say whatever you wish."

       Steve let out a deep breath, he wanted to pull her closer to him.  "I-I. . . I love you."