Warning! Very long author's note ahead! Proceed with caution!

Hi everybody and thank you for your interest in my story! It feels like ages since I've uploaded a new story, and I've forgotten the excitement (an nervousness) of sharing the pieces that I've written! This story is just one of the other Marvel series stories I've been working on, so expect my other works to be popping up fairly soon.

Now, about my totally common, boring description and the somewhat strange title I've given my story. Yes, there's reason to my madness. See, as I type out most of my stories, I listen to music as an inspiration to keep me going (and sometimes keep me awake if I'm writing after work, phew!). As I was forming the plot line in my mind, I wondered what in the world I would title this utter madness.

Then, I thought of a certain song and whoosh! Youtube was open in a different tab on Google Chrome in no time! After listening to this song (the version of the song that I prefer, apologies to the original singer), I determined that it fit the two characters (Steve, and you'll totally find out her name later! Sorry guys! The woes of first chapters!) in the story perfectly. I found one of my favorite verses and BAM! I had a title!

Now, for fun (because I'm somewhat sadistic, sorry loves!), I won't tell you the title of the song, but below is one of the versus, and I will give you a hint (simply because of the difference in versions of the song). If you cannot identify the song, fear not! In the next chapter I will reveal the name, so stay tuned!

The song is from the movie 'If I Stay'. And if you have not seen the movie, I recommend you do, and I highly recommend tissues. You will need them.

And now, before I can attempt to do any more editing and drive myself completely mad in the process (I sincerely think someone's going to have to admit me to a psyche ward), I present to you: Through My Darkest Night! Happy reading, my darlings! And once more, thank you for your valuable time!

Also, I do not own anything (including what little remains of my sanity)! All characters (excluding my OC) belong to Marvel and any strange references I make belong to creators of said reference.

Through My Darkest Night

Description: Steve has been searching for Bucky for quite some time now, and has been making very little progress. When a young woman literally falls into his life, will it help, or hinder his quest to find his missing best friend. But will he find something else along the way?

"Hit me like a ray of sun,

Burning through my darkest night,

You're the only one that I want,

Think I'm addicted to your light."

"Help ... me. I'm ... so ... dark ... lost ..."

The voice cut through the dark, cold space. A woman's voice. She sounded scared, very scared. He wanted to find her, to help her. But there was nothing but darkness, nothing but shadow. Everywhere he turned, pitch black.

"There! I ... see you." She said suddenly, and she didn't sound so scared. "Can you ... help me ... please?"

"I will-!" There, he had said it! Something that he had wanted to say all this time, but whenever he dreamed, he hadn't been able to say anything. Now it was a promise. Now, he would find her. He would help her. He had to!

"I will!" Steve said, shooting up in bed, breathing heavily as he did so. He paused and looked around, seeing not the dark, blank space of his dream, but merely his cold, somewhat empty bedroom in his new apartment.

Panting, he laid back down and attempted to catch his breath as he remembered his dream. A woman, lost, scared, pleading for help in the dark. He knew the feeling of being scared and alone. Lost to all around you. He wanted to, had to find her. But ... where was she? Steve didn't even know what she looked like, or even where to begin his search for that matter.

It seemed like all he ever did anymore was search, for the right path in life, for Bucky, for her ...

Needless to say that wasn't the first time he had this strange dream. At first, it had just started out with one word. Lost. Her voice, at first, small and weak. But it was slowly growing in strength, especially when she had 'seen' him. Why was it that she could see him, but he couldn't see her? Another thing, why was he so obsessed with seeing her, knowing her, when he only dreamed of her in the first place?

Steve laid there for a few moments, before realizing that he wasn't going to fall back asleep. He sat back up in bed, then climbed wearily out of it. Standing, he made his way out of his bedroom to his front door, pausing momentarily only to grab a jacket as he continued out the front door to the stairway and finally, up to the roof.

He stood staring blankly into the night sky, contemplating. Going to war, becoming a super soldier, saving Bucky, losing Bucky, crashing, freezing, being thawed out in the future, lead a group called the Avengers in a battle to save New York ...

... finding Bucky, and then losing him again ...

It was a never ending circle really. It was inevitable. Even when he won, he still lost.

A sigh escaped Steve and he figured he really better get going. It was getting late. Not that he had to get up particularly early in the morning, he just did anyway. It was a routine thing that made him feel somewhat grounded. Get up, go for a run with Sam, go home, shower, work on rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.- what the heck was that?

Something shiny was falling out of the sky, and rapidly approaching him. The closer it got, the more he realized that it looked like a person, and instantly threw out his arms to catch. The person got close enough for him to see that it was a girl, or rather, a woman. She seemed to slow the closer she got to the ground, and ended up floating right into his arms as he went down to one knee to carefully lower the two of them to the ground. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared to be dozing peacefully.

"Ma'am? Ma'am?" He said, gently shaking her. She groaned quietly, rousing only slightly before turning her head to the other side and remaining asleep.

He took this moment to assess her, only to quickly realize that she was quite naked. Steve's ears and neck turned pink. He blushed as he shed his jacket and threw it around her small body, covering the necessities. Her long, pale legs still showed, especially as he scooped her into his arms. Quietly, he made his way back to his apartment with her in his arms. He carried her carefully down the stairs and through the empty halls. Perhaps he should have accepted Tony's offer and moved into Stark Tower along with the other Avengers. Then again, there were cameras in Stark Tower, and he would never hear the end of it from Tony had he seen Steve carrying a naked woman though the halls.

He shifted so he could hold her with one arm while he unlocked and opened the door to his apartment with the other. He walked in the room, turning on the light quickly before making his way over to the couch, where he carefully laid her down. She shifted a little when he sat her down, then purred in her sleep and curled up onto the soft cushions, sighing softly in contentment. Steve watched all of this with amazement, before he rubbed his temples in frustration. Great. He had an unknown woman in his house with an unknown background, unknown personality, unknown everything.

But what was he supposed to do? Leave a defenseless, naked woman out in the cold?

While she slept, she looked harmless enough, her curly black hair messed and tossed from her decent to the earth, and only more ruffled as she slept on peacefully. Steve rubbed the back of his head, not knowing what to do in the current situation. Especially since she was naked as the day she was born. Again, he blushed. Then, his gentlemanly personality kicked in as he quickly made his way to his bedroom to pull down the blankets in his bed. He walked back out in the living room and picked her up again, carefully. She didn't stir much, but instead curled peacefully against him. Once more, he felt his ears grow hot as he carried her to bed and laid her down, covering her up. When she was covered, he attempted to pull his jacket out from beneath the covers. She must have grabbed a hold of it, because when he tugged, the jacket didn't move. That, and the tiniest of frowns formed on her smooth lips. Steve shrugged and let her keep it.

With that task accomplished, he walked back out to the couch and laid down himself, wondering what the hell he was going to do now. The obvious answer would be to contact the authorities, but how was he to explain that a naked woman had fallen out of the sky and happened to land in his arms. Second, he supposed he could contact Director Fury, as he knew more about this kind of situation than Steve. But then, she'd be taken away for who knows what kind of studying, and for some reason that just didn't sit right with him.

Sighing, he closed his eyes in an attempt to try and get more sleep, and perhaps for another dream about the mysterious lost woman, even though he had enough trouble with the one currently sleeping in his bed.

Oh my dear heavens, beginning chapters are simply the worst to write. Phew! I'm glad I've gotten that one out of the way! If there are any grammar errors, I sincerely apologize! I've edited this about a million times, but things do slip through my radar! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed! And I hope I did Steve justice when I wrote him, because he is simply the sweetest guy! They just don't make men like him these days! Darn it!

And now, I shall go to bed and get some sleep. Look forward to the next chapter being updated quite soon! Thank you very much for reading, I cannot say that enough!

Goodnight, my loves, sleep well! XOXO, Kitty ~