I finished applying a thin coat of wine colored lipstick on my lips. It's been a long time since I've worn makeup. The last time I wore makeup was before Maggie was born. Even though it's only been a week since her birth, it feels like forever.

Today is the day that I have a so called 'job interview' with Fury. I hoped that once I retired from SHIELD, I wouldn't have to work again. But now they want me back.

I checked the mirror one last time before I exited the bathroom and strolled into the bedroom. I grabbed my black flats and gently slid them on my feet.

"Hey, Alice?" Steve yells from the living room.

"Yes?" I call back.

"Come here! I found a house that I think you might like!"

I grin and stand from the bed. I quickly walk over to my dresser. I look at all of my necklaces that were scattered on top. I've had some of these necklaces since my childhood. They were heirlooms that were passed down through the women in my family. Now that I have Maggie, I can pass them down to her.

I decide to wear a simple silver chain with a small diamond for the pendant. It was something simple that Steve had gotten me for our first Valentine's Day together. I remember that day so well. It was the day we had our first kiss. He was so nervous that day.

-

Steve asked me to join him for dinner at the pizza place downtown. The place looked like a complete dive on the outside and inside, but it had the best pizza in town. It was great place to eat. Not exactly 'romantic' but I didn't mind. I would be spending the evening with Steve. Just spending the evening with Steve made everything perfect.

When I arrived downtown, I paused in front of the pizza shop window and checked my hair. It fell in soft curls down past my shoulder. My little red dress was hugging my figure nicely. My makeup looked perfect. All in all, I felt confident about my date with Steve.

Well, I felt really confident, until I realized that Steve was sitting at a table for two directly on the other side of the window. He grinned and gave a shy wave from the other side of the glass.

I shut my eyes in embarrassment and sighed. Caught red-handed.

I lowered my head and walked to the door. I chuckled as I walked into the restaurant and looked over at Steve. He gave the same shy wave again as I strolled over to the table. Steve stood up and walked around to greet me.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." I apologize as he helps me take off my coat. He hangs it on the back of my chair and then proceeds to pull out my chair and let me sit down.

"You should know, Alice, you look wonderful tonight." His comment makes me blush.

"Thank you, Steve."

Steve surprised me by already ordering dinner for us. Normally he would wait and let me choose whatever I wanted for dinner, but tonight we would be having pizza. I had no idea what kind of pizza it would be, but I had faith that he knew what's good. And besides, at this pizza place, nothing was ever terrible. The food here was always excellent.

Steve was just full of surprises tonight.

He ordered a heart shaped pepperoni pizza.

When we finished our meal, we sat at our table together for hours. All of the other customers had left, and it was just the two of us alone in the restaurant. Even the waitress had changed the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED. But they never kicked us out.

All we were doing was talking. But it's these little moments that I appreciate the most. Those little moments of conversation when it's just you and the one you love. Those are some of life's sweetest moments. And this very moment was about to get even sweeter.

"Alice, I wanted to get you something special for Valentine's Day." Steve began to reach into the pocket of his coat which was hanging on the chair.

"Steve, you didn't have to get me anything." I respond.

Steve shakes his head, "I had to get you something. You know, to show you how much you mean to me." He grabs the item in his pocket. "This is for you."

In his hand was a silver diamond pendant strung on a silver chain. It was beautiful and one of the nicest gifts I've ever received.

Well, it was, until the pendant slipped over the side of Steve's hand and fell into the pizza pan, burying itself in a pile of pizza sauce.

My jaw dropped and eyes widened. Steve cursed under his breath and snatched the necklace out of the pizza sauce. I had already begun to laugh, but Steve made me laugh even more.

He held the sauce covered necklace in his hand and looked around the table. He could've just wiped the sauce off of the pendant with a napkin. But he didn't.

Instead, he chucked the necklace into his glass of water. Then he picked up the napkin and wiped off the excess sauce on his hands. Then he realized he should get the pendant out of the glass of water. He dove his entire hand into his glass of water and quickly pulled the necklace out and plopped it down on the napkin. He then patted the necklace dry.

I was all smiles and trying to hold back the tears. I hadn't laughed this hard in a really long time.

Steve leaned back in his chair once he looked up at me and saw me on the verge of crying happy tears. He cracked a crooked smile and began to laugh. Then, I could not contain my tears any longer. I burst into laughter and let the tears roll down my cheeks. Steve began to laugh at my hysterical laughter.

When we both caught our breaths, I wiped away my tears. Steve stood from his side of the table and walked around the table. The pendant of the necklace was dangling out of his fist.

"May I?" He asked, unhooking the chain of the necklace.

I swept my hair to one side. Steve stood behind me and lowered the necklace down around my neck. I gathered my hair and lifted it away from my neck as Steve connected the clasps together. The cool chain fell against my neck and I released my hair and let the curls fall. I turned to thank Steve, but as I turned, I found myself face to face with him. He was so tall, that he had gotten down on his knees to connect the two ends of the necklace together.

His nose nudged mine as I ventured deep into his baby blues. His forehead gently collided with mine. I think he's hesitating as to whether or not he should kiss me.

I've waited so long for this moment. I just wish he would kiss me already.

I raise my right arm up until my fingers are resting gently at the base of his neck. His skin brushing my fingertips, while the rest of my hand rests on the collar of his shirt.

I watched as he slowly leaned in to me, and then our lips came together for the sweetest first kiss I had ever received. His pink lips were so soft against mine. It was such an innocent first kiss, but it was magical. It was the perfect first kiss. The one kiss that I had dreamed about when I was a teenager. When our lips parted, I grew sad. Just one kiss from him had made me want to beg for more.

Then I took charge, leaning in and kissing him again, but for much longer this time. His free hand reached up to cup my face. His palm was warm against my rosy cheeks.

Our lips parted and my eyes fluttered open. My eyes met his blue ones with ease. He searched my face, looking for his words. His eyes landed on my lips.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Alice."

-

Times were so much more simple back then. That was before Steve had been kidnapped. Before I attempted to avenge his fall. Before I had been shot and stabbed countless times. Before my brother had tried to kill me. Before I knew that my brother was still alive. That was before my world changed forever.

That was before I realized that our world, and my life, was one big beautiful mess.

It was beautiful through Steve and all of our friends.

But it was an absolute mess through SHIELD.

Now I must face the fact, that no matter where I go or what I do, my past through SHIELD will haunt me forever. Those demons cannot be killed. Those demons stalk me every day. They are my shadow. They are my nightmares. Like a slice of Hell on Earth.

I know what I must do. I have made up my mind.

No matter how hard they beg for me to return, I must not give in to them. I will not let them take my life, my family, and my friends away from me. They do not own me, or at least they think that they will, and they never will. Never again.

I had gotten so lost in my thoughts that I had lost track of the time. I would be late for my interview if I didn't get a move on.

I quickly dash out of the bedroom and find Steve sitting on the couch with Maggie in one arm while he was searching online for available houses close by.

"There you are! Maggie and I had began to wonder if you had gotten lost or something." Steve looks down at Maggie as she slept in his arm.

"Sorry," I apologize, "I got lost in my thoughts."

Steve shut the laptop and stood from the couch. He walked around the coffee table and stood in front of me. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, let's just say that I know exactly what I'm going to say to Fury." I reply.

Steve chuckled and rocked Maggie in his arms. "Well, we will be right here when you come home. Then I will show you the house that I was looking at."

"Alright, I gotta run." I say quickly.

Steve gives me a quick peck on the lips. "Love you." I quickly kiss Maggie on the head.

"Love you too." I respond as I head for the door.

I turn around one last time to make sure that I wasn't forgetting anything. Instead I found a rather sweet and comical sight. Steve held Maggie's limp little fist in his hand, waving it back and forth to mimic the movement of Maggie waving at me.

I smile as I step out the door and close it behind me.

-

"Nice to see you again, Alice." Nick Fury says as he guides me into the conference room. I take a seat in an uncomfortable black chair, while Nick walks behind his desk and sits in his big desk chair. "How's the baby doing? I heard it was a girl?"

"Yes. We named her Margaret. We call her Maggie for short. She's doing great. She's my world." I slowly begin to drop hints on me declining the job. "But I'm not here for small talk, Nick." I cut straight to the important things, "Why don't you tell me why you called me back here."

Nick fold his hand together and leans forwards on the desk.

"Well, we've lost a member of the team. And we want someone to fill the empty slot."

I was puzzled, "What do you mean that you lost a member of the team?" I ask, growing worried that there may have been the death of one of my close friends.

"Barton quit."

"Clint quit?" I was stunned.

"Well, retired is more of the word that I'm looking for."

"I don't understand. I thought Clint loved his job. Why did he retire?"

Fury tips back in his chair, "That's classified information that I'm not allowed to discuss."

I cross my arms and glare at him, "Nothing ever stays classified at SHIELD for long, Nick. You know this." I say. Nick nods his head in agreement, "But you want me to fill the space that Clint left behind?"

"I'm prepared to double your old salary and offer other promotions."

I shake my head, "I'm sorry, Nick. But I'm done with SHIELD. I'm done with my past here. I've finally got what I've always wanted in life. I'm not giving up what matters most to me." I stand, ready to walk out of his office for the last time.

"I thought that maybe you would want to know that we've found him." Nicks words echo in my ears.

"Found who?" I stop in my tracks and turn to face him.

"The man who broke into SHIELD and used Loki's scepter on Steve." Fury pauses as I slowly walk back towards his desk. Suddenly I'm hooked on what he has to say.

"He goes by the name of Zemo."

Suddenly, my phone begins to ring from inside my purse. Nick's personal phone on his desk begins to ring as well. We exchange glances before we both look t see who was calling.

Steve was calling me.

"Steve? Now's really not a good time-" I begin, but he cuts me off.

Steve's heavy breathing on the other end of the line sends chills down my spine. I can hear sniffling in the background. Is Steve crying? What happened?

"Alice, it's Maggie. She's gone. They've taken her."

Three sentences. Eight words.

My world stopped turning and my phone fell to the floor.

-

A/N: Hello amazing people out there! Here's a new chapter for you! Because I've been sick since Sunday, I thought that was a great excuse to sit at home, do nothing, and write. And this is the result of that! Don't hate me for the ending! Okay, okay, so I kinda have an addiction to writing cliffhangers. Sorry. Well, kinda. But this has a HUGE effect on the rest of the story. But now, the story is going to begin to draw to it's end. I'm not exactly sure how many more chapters I will write, but I think the number is somewhere close to 7-10 chapters maybe? I'm not sure, I'm terrible with numbers and math in general.

Ahh, great. I just sneezed all over my laptop. Damn allergies.

Okay, one last little bit of information. I'm looking at posting a new story. I was wondering what you guys would be interested in reading? I'm currently working on one for The Fantastic Four and for Sebastian Stan himself. I've also got one that's sort of like a love triangle between Steve and Bucky. Please let me know which one you would like to read! I'm not sure which one to post, so I'd like some feedback! I don't bite! And I love answering comments :)

Please let me know!! Love you all!!

Man, I really love to type.

-Cam