Chapter Text
Darcy stood at the entrance to the Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum, breathing steadily before stepping through. She was about to revisit a load of memories that were quite ’long ago’, not for her mentally or physically but rather according to time. She already knew the fate of many of her friends – most were dead, which Darcy found she preferred because it made reconnecting easier and she was about done with recounting her tale of Time Travel. After speaking with Jane on the phone, getting grilled by Nick Fury and a couple of Shield Head-honchos and finally the Avengers – she was sick of it.
It had been nearly a week since she found her way back home. Her first night back she slept poorly, each time her eyes became droopy she felt as if her body was tearing itself in half travelling through time again. It took a couple of nights to beat the insomnia before she realized that she probably wasn’t going to time travel on her own without the assistance of the Tessarect. Once Thor and Loki left earth with the Cube she relaxed a bit, as Thor told her since she had already manipulated the power of the cube twice, each time using it would become easier to synchronize with it again. Needless to say she wished him a goodbye and good luck before he wielded the item and watched him leave from inside the security of the Shield building.
She tried to get back to work immediately, but Jane was still skipping around the world and Erik was seriously compromised. She was worried about him since Loki’s mind control, and he did not seem to be handling it well. He scooted off to Denmark before anyone could stop him, and her new phone was getting blasted with nonsensical texts about star patterns, black hole theories and molecular transference. She was informed that he was not even close to stable yet and recommended to avoid contact with him until his Behaviour improved.
So here she was, wasting time in the Smithsonian hoping that there was nothing about her in the exhibits. She had requested in her letter to Howard that there would only be an occasional mention of a “R.M. Lewis”, with no elaboration on her person. She knew that her trusty camera had been left behind full of pictures of her travelling to the Alps, and some awfully personal photographs left in her truck that she hoped had made it to a safe place. She assumed that she wouldn’t be successful in her attempt to make it back to the 21st century so her packing was not done with much care. The only pictures she had kept on her person was a shot of Howard and Dr. Erskine wearing party hats at her birthday (the first shot on the camera so it was a little washed out) and the shot of Bucky kissing her cheek. Thankfully Steve managed to recover his photo of the three of them from his saved personal effects in the Shield storage warehouse, so she happy that photo wasn’t lost.
She entered the exhibit and took her time, slowly drifting around the memorabilia, watching the grainy videos of Steve’s adventures in Europe with the Howling Commandos. She read in great detail about Peggy, knowing that no amount of words would be able to capture the woman in great detail, never mind a 500 word blurb. Even now, though her mind was not quite as sharp as it used to be – Peggy was a charming woman. Steve had brought her to see the woman, and the two had a touching reunion in the latter’s hospital room. When she was lucid, Peggy was still quick witted and hilarious. But it only took her a few minutes to realized that Peggy was starting to suffer from Alzheimer’s or something similar, because just as suddenly as the two were reminiscing about Dr. Erskine or Howard, Peggy would re-realize that Darcy and Steve both alive, starting their conversations over. She was over 90 at this point, so Darcy wasn’t entirely surprised, but she knew that it was harder on Steve so she cut the visit short.
She smiled at most of the photos, knowing the full back story of a few of them and laughing at some of them. She noticed that quite a few photos were ones that she managed to take, and many had the signature ‘R.M. Lewis’ in the bottom right corner in writing that looked suspiciously like Howard’s writing. She shook her head laughing in disbelief at his brazen manipulation of her request. He found a way to insert her into the past without drawing attention to it so she had to appreciate his dedication.
She finally wandered over to the large glass mural on James Buchanan Barnes and simply stared at his image, appreciating how he was captured in the shot. Hair was free and slightly shaggy, had a confident grin on his face and was looking over in the distance highlighting the angles of his strong jaw and chiseled features. She was still sore from his death, but she realized how blessed she was that she had managed to even share the same space as the man. He truly was a special person, she finally understood why Steve was so wounded by the loss of his friend.
Healing would take some time, she was a notorious flirty girl before her ‘trip’ as she was going to start referring to her bout in the past as. Her relationship with Bucky had changed her, and even though it had ended in heartbreak she felt as if she had truly grown as a person from meeting him. She knew better than ever that life was short and you should always tell the people you appreciate that they were important to them. She still had not spoken to Tony since her return, their contact was minimal and brief after her parentage was released, and it would be hard on her. Every time she caught a glimpse of Tony she always saw Howard first, then Anthony Stark. If she couldn’t disassociate him from his father, she probably should take some time before seeking him out.
On her way out of the Smithsonian she caught one sneaky picture that Howard had saved that had her in it. That bastard. It was during the celebration before Steve Rogers and the Howling Commandos departed for their attack on the Hydra bases. The night that Bucky and Darcy spent the night together. Her hand went up to the photo and touched the plaque on the frame.
Howling Commandos Celebrate before Departure.
The shot was packed with people, but if you knew what you were looking for like Darcy was, you would have seen a grinning Bucky looking into a young woman’s face, her hair falling into her profile so only a glimpse of a large smile was seen. Darcy’s back was to the Camera, the two of them had been in the middle of a spin with Bucky’s one arm around her waist, and their connected hands up in the air. The picture painted a wonderful impression of the mood that the room was in. This was when they were all invincible, before the hostility increased and Bucky had fallen off the train.
She took a quick shot of the photo with her new iPhone, hoping to find the negative somewhere in the Shield warehouse. She was scheduled to pilfer it at the end of the week, Howard was apparently a hoarder of things and Maria Hill informed her that there may be items under Howard’s name that may have belonged to her. Pepper Potts had also called Darcy a couple days ago mentioning that there were a couple of items that had her name on them in the Stark family storage unit. Pepper had admitted to being confused, claiming that the objects were dated – but the names on them were her full name: Darcy Rosemary Lewis and the date of her birth on them so clearly, they were always meant for her.
Darcy was certainly curious about the objects, hoping that Howard had simply saved all her personal effects she had accumulated in the past but was still scared to visit any Stark owned without backup. She didn’t want to search through what was technically both her grandfather and old friend’s storage facility for 70 year old items. Once she was done deflecting from her current problems she would be more than willing to look through the items but currently she was still trying to remember how she liked her coffee and getting over the new dislike of Doritos. Everything was entirely too salty or sweet for her now, she was frustrated that her taste preferences had been changed from living in the Past.
She chucked a five dollar bill in the donation box on the way out of the museum and started to wander around the park, aimlessly walking to nowhere in particular as she tried to occupy her free time. She didn’t even need to go to school anymore, due to her manipulation of the Tessarect and development on the Gauntlet she had been given an honorary degree in Physics, paid for by the Janet Pym foundation of a sister school of hers. She wasn’t complaining. She missed (technically) 2 days of final exams and walked out with 2 degrees, Political Science and Physics. Fury said he had a hand in her Poli Sci degree being handed out since she managed to live through one of the most difficult times of American History in better condition than people would have guessed.
Again, not going to complain. But now since she didn’t have remedial exams to do, she was more bored than she had ever been. Steve and Natasha were doing some recovery PR from the attack on New York, volunteering their time to fix up the dirtier blocks and assisting shop owners with damage. Coulson wasn’t answering his phone and no one would tell her where he was, so she couldn’t even harass him and other than that there wasn’t really anyone she could hang out with.
Her friends list was never referred by her as “small”, but rather “intimate”. Before her Trip she was a charismatic young lady, capable of talking to anyone. New, old, felons, babies – whoever, but since she had returned she found herself walking in a haze, simply maintaining a routine. She avoided new places, and while she used to sit anywhere she wanted with or without company, she found herself ordering delivery and eating alone in her tiny suite at the Washington Shield base. Most of her time was her penning down all that she could remember from her Trip for Nick Fury so that she hopefully wouldn’t have to sit through another one of Shield’s ‘interviews’.
Walking down the path she recounted her 6 hour long interview with Fury when she had settled herself in a bit. Man they really wanted to know every little detail that she could remember. They were at first excited (she assumed, since most of the people she was speaking to where disembodied voices and a unexpressive black man with one eye) that they now had someone who had worked on the Project Rebirth Super Soldier Serum on their side, but were defeated when they released her actual limited involvement. She didn’t take much time letting them down, informing the group that Dr. Erskine had managed to create most of the serum on his own, she just knew about the power input and best way to inject it into the subjects. She tried halfheartedly to let them know that at least when the Serum was duplicated they could start making Super people almost immediately.
It didn’t really help. Something for which she was glad for. Having a freaky amount of Super Soldiers really didn’t seem like a good idea for the world. And honestly, she thought, there weren’t really any other people like Steve out there. Many people given the opportunity for super powers probably would use it for less than ideal purposes.
She looked at her watch and then up at the sky. She had exactly 20 minutes before her guarded car would come pick her up. She plopped down on the grass nearby, and leaned against a tree to watch the traffic move by her. There were many things that she could appreciate about her time, but she was constantly finding musing over the major differences she noticed from new America to old. First was the air and smog. Having been raised with it all her life she never realized there was a certain taste to her air, and the amount of cars on the road had all of a sudden become noticeable. People were less pleasant on the streets, skeptical and wary of all other people on the streets, avoiding eye contact and never waving a passing hello.
She was glad to be back, no doubt about that. There were some luxuries that she wouldn’t have been able to live without for very much longer, but there were the select few quirks about the 40s that would be missed. Someone sank to the ground in front of the tree next to hers and she glanced over without purpose. She saw a fairly attractive black man catching his breath from a rather aggressive run, judging by his sweat marks on his sweater, and she pulled a spare water bottle out of her messenger bag and held it up to him, getting his attention. He grabbed it from her and gave an appreciative “thanks” to her before drinking nearly half the bottle in a single gulp, making the bottle crunch slightly from the suction. He pulled the bottle out and sucked in a large gulp of air, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He pulled his sleeve out and stuck out his hand in Darcy’s direction for a handshake.
“Sam” he introduced.
“Darcy” she returned politely.
“Thanks for the water, I’m trying to start running again and I forget I need water to live.” he chuckled, clean white teeth shining back at her. She simply nodded her head and gave him as small smile in return.
“Yea, I’ve been there.” She said quietly. The two sat there enjoying the clash of sounds, birds in the trees versus the honking hustle of traffic in front of them. Sam had finished his water and chucked it into the recycling can on the sidewalk, making a fist and pumping it when it went in. Darcy snorted at his behavior. She heard a deliberate honk in front of her and saw a car waiting, driver holding the door handle and calling out her name. She stood up and turned to her new acquaintance to nod goodbye at him. He raised his hand up at her and watched her get into the car.
She sat in the back and looked out at Sam Wilson through the tinted window, watching him watch the car. She thought she came across kind of rude, not engaging him in conversation like she usually would have in this time. As the car drove back to the compound she realized that she didn’t know how to be the old her. Her new experiences had seriously given her a new perspective on life.
If she saw the runner again, she’d be sure to engage him more. Maybe ask him out for a coffee or something. She needed to make some more friends. After all, she thought grimly, most of hers were dead.