Here we are: the final chapter! I hope you all have enjoyed the journey so far, and I hope you enjoy the next story as well, which will be entitled Some Bonds Can Perform Miracles. Chapter one is up now so check it out!

Thank you all for your continued support! I love each and every one of you!

April 18th, 2012. SHIELD headquarters, New York City.

The next time Steve woke, his head felt much clearer and he breathed a sigh of relief when he realised the voices from earlier had stopped. Looking round, he found himself back in the same room he'd woken in before, only this time, there was someone else there. Turning his head to face them, he froze in stunned silence. The vague memory of seeing her in the corridor slammed into him and he took a sharp breath, still wanting to believe it was some sick illusion. Right now, that was about the only thing he could make himself believe.

"This isn't real." He murmured.

Beth shook her head sadly, the golden waves he knew so well falling into her face. She brushed them back, the same way as she had ever since her hair first started getting long as a child, but his brain still refused to accept it wasn't a trick. Even if she had survived what he knew was a fatal fall, there was no way she would still be the same age she was when he last laid eyes on her. He stood up off the bed and moved steadily towards her, growing even more suspicious when she stepped away from him, a cautious look in her eyes. His Beth would never be afraid of him, even after the first time she'd witnessed him kill a man with his bare hands.

"It's really me Steve." She said, her voice shaking as she outstretched her arms to show she meant him no harm.

Hearing her voice snapped something wild and vicious within him and he lunged for her. Instinct had him grasping her by the throat and slamming her against the wall with a sickening crunch. She'd predicted he'd be volatile and assume she was a ploy to weaken him, but she hadn't expected him to unleash almost all his strength on her. The end result of that miscalculation was her fighting to remain conscious, black spots dotting her vision. The fact he had actually hurt her felt like a punch to the gut and she let out a small whimper, partly in pain from hitting the wall, partly in pain that he'd attacked her before she had a chance to explain everything. The noise made Steve's hand loosen, conflicted between believing her and letting her go or not believing and crushing her throat. In the end, his grip remained on the soft flesh of her neck, but he didn't tighten it again. The fact that she was obviously an agent meant he expected a number of things to happen including alarms ringing for backup, or for her to fight back and attempt to make him let go, but none of them happened. Instead, she simply dropped her arms to her sides and gazed sadly at him. He felt her swallow against his hand and loosened his grip slightly more, allowing her to speak.

"You kill me now, HYDRA wins. The bullet and plummet into the ocean I took for you while trying to put Schmidt and that stupid plane in the water will have meant nothing." She managed to croak out.

Steve let go of her so quickly, she crumpled to the floor with a grunt. Before she had time to process what had happened, his arms locked round her in a vice-like embrace, crushing her against his chest, his head nestled on top of her own. Immediately, she felt warm tears on the top of her head and felt her own begin to fall in response. Altering their stance slightly, she flung her arms round his neck and felt him shake as the tears turned to heart-wrenching sobs, wracking through his body, her own sobs joining his as she pressed herself further into him.

So wrapped up in each other, neither sibling noticed the camera blinking in the corner of the room, watching them embrace for the first time in almost seventy years. In a nearby room, one pair of frowning eyes tore away from the screen to look at the other man standing in front of the screen with an impassive expression.

"Sir, why didn't you let me send someone in to help her? He was about to kill her."

Nick Fury looked over at Agent Phil Coulson, understanding the worry in the other man, but found that despite the worry caused, he did not regret his actions.

"Had I done that, he would have become angrier and most likely would have actually killed her. By doing nothing, he was able to realise she wasn't there to trick him. I predicted that not sending people in would let his mind process that thought and ultimately, that prediction saved her life."

"So you took a gamble?" Coulson asked, shocked the director would risk losing one of their most valuable agents because of a hunch. It also didn't help that he'd come to view her more as a member of his family than as simply another agent, which made him even more annoyed with the director.

"And it paid off" Fury replied, a warning in his voice that had Coulson pursing his lips together before he could say anything else.

Coulson looked back at the siblings still locked in their embrace, the joy and sorrow radiating from them tugging at his heartstrings. After knowing Beth almost fifteen years and watching her spiral further into depression with each year that passed, he couldn't supress the smile that spread across his face. His mind, however, was whirring at the fact they now had two people that were living, breathing historic legends, both of whom were supposed to be dead. As if reading his thoughts, Fury smirked.

"All we need now is Bucky Barnes to miraculously come to life and we'll have the whole set." He joked.

Coulson frowned at the attempt at humour. Somehow, he thought that if that did ever happen, it would be more likely to break the siblings rather than heal them, especially given the pain, guilt and suffering they'd gone through following the Sergeant's death. Choosing not to voice his thoughts, Coulson cleared his throat, choosing instead to say what he was originally about to say.

"This is going to change everything when the world finds out."

Fury cast him a sidelong glance.

"Indeed it will, which is why for now, it remains quiet. Only those that were present yesterday are to know. Even then, if any of them ask why Beth reacted so emotionally, they are only to be told that she is his descendent, am I understood?"

"Yes sir." Coulson nodded and left the room.

Fury turned his attention back to the screen in front of him once more. The pair had stopped hugging and were now sitting in silence, staring at each other as if neither could believe the other was truly there. He saw Steve reach up to brush away a few stray tears from Beth's cheek and she gave him a soft smile. Sensing they were about to start talking, Fury switched off the monitor. For now, he'd give them their privacy; he had bigger things to deal with, including a very intrigued Alexander Pierce.

Back in the room, Steve wiped away Beth's tears, the smile she gave in return threatening to make his heart burst out of his chest with joy. He reached out once more to her and she wordlessly climbed onto his lap. He didn't want to think about the how and why of her being here, but the need to know overwhelmed his need to stay in the moment and he found himself asking the question.

"How?"

She turned her gaze up to him, a haunted expression in them that he'd only ever seen the night Bucky died. Instinctively, he tightened his arms round her and felt her instantly relax against him, her head resting against his chest.

"How did I survive, or how am I still this age?" she asked.

"Both." He replied, unable to think of an answer himself for either one.

He felt her stiffen, and knowing her well enough to understand the memory was hard for her, his arms tightened reassuringly once more. He planted a kiss to her head and she smiled, still in shock that her brother had been alive all this time and the hope she'd held on to hadn't been in vain for once.

"It's a long story." She admitted.

Steve chuckled.

"Trust me, I'm not going anywhere any time soon."

Rolling her eyes fondly, Beth settled in further before speaking.

"Well, as you know, I was shot and fell in to the water after Schmidt pushed me. Everything after that is something straight out of a fantasy…"