Disclaimer - I do not own Torchwood, Doctor Who, or Marvel's The Avengers, and make no profit from this story.

A/N - Excerpts of dialogue in this chapter were taken from the film, Captain America: The First Avenger.

Chapter 1 - Heroes and Heartbreak

19 August 1945

Safe House, Wales, U.K.

Phil felt like he was being torn apart as he remembered that day; it was exactly four months ago to the day. Four months since he had lost the man he loved, his mate. It seemed cruel really; they had such a short amount of time together. It wasn't right, they were supposed to have more, it should have been forever.

He remembered the last time he heard his voice:

"Give me your coordinates. I'll find you a safe landing site."

"There's not gonna be a safe landing. But I can try and force it down."

"I'll, I'll get Howard on the line. He'll know what to do."

"There's not enough time. This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York. I got to put her in the water."

"Please, don't do this. We have time. We can work it out."

"Right now, I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are gonna die. Phil... this is my choice. Phil..."

"I'm here."

"I'm gonna need a rain check on that date."

"All right." Right then, Phil didn't care who was listening.

"A week, next Saturday, we'll go to the seaside, have a picnic."

"You got it."

"One o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood? You know, I still can't cook though."

"I'll show you how sometime. Just be there."

"I'll bring a radio, maybe we could try for that dance, something slow. I'd hate to step on your..."

[radio static]

"Steve? Steve? Steve?"

He heard that static every time he tried to fall asleep, he just couldn't seem to escape it. The past four months had been the hardest of his life, when they should have been the happiest. Peggy, and even Howard, tried to help as much as they could, but it wasn't the same.

Steve should have been there! He should have been with him as his stomach swelled from the lives growing inside of him. He should have been there to feel the babies kick. And most of all, he should have been with him today. He should have been there to see his children come into the world. The children he never knew existed.

Phil looked down at the small babes nestled in his arms. They were a month early, but the doctors said that they are perfectly healthy, if a little underweight.

He sighed, rocking his children as they fed from their bottles. Peggy had gone home for the night. She had stayed with him throughout the whole ordeal, and had offered to stay the night. Phil had finally convinced her to go home about an hour ago, he didn't know what he would have done without her these past few months, but he wanted time alone with his children.

Phil had been terrified that he would lose them, his last tangible link to Steve. He was determined to keep on searching for Steve; it didn't matter to him that everyone said that it was of no use, Phil refused to give up until he had absolute proof that Steve would not be coming home.

So he decided that they would stay here, in Wales, where MI-6 and the US Army's Signal Intelligence Service had secreted him away during his pregnancy. The SIS didn't know about his pregnancy, only that he was continuing to work as their liaison with MI-6. There were people here who had volunteered to help him with the twins so that he could continue to work and continue to search for Steve.

"I promise you both," Phil whispered to his children who were now fast asleep "I will find your Daddy, no matter how long it takes. I'll bring him home to you, I swear it."

Phil heard a strange yet familiar grinding noise from the corner of the room before a large blue box appeared, one that he hadn't seen in more than thirty years. He stood and placed his children in their bassinet as the door of the box opened.

A tall, attractive man in a brown pinstriped suit emerged. He looked around the room and quickly focused in on the two children who lay sleeping contentedly. He turned to Phil with a tentative smile, asking permission to approach them.

Phil nodded and sat back down tiredly. He watched on as the man gazed down at the two children with a look of complete adoration upon his face.

"What do you call them?" The man asked quietly without looking away from the crib.

"Ianto Steven and Rhiannon Rose Coulson-Rogers." He said with a hint of anger.

The other man cringed slightly, but smiled again.

"I think they would have liked those names. Rose especially, she'd be so excited."

Phil nodded sadly.

The man continued to stare at the children for a while before he turned and sat in the chair next to Phil's bed. This time he turned his gaze toward Phil, frowning as he noted the clear signs of exhaustion upon his face.

"You need to rest, go on and get some sleep. I'll take care of the children when they wake."

Phil didn't want to listen to him, wanting to hold on to the feelings of anger and abandonment, but he had never felt more exhausted in his life.

He lay back gingerly into the pillows and gave up the fight to keep his eyes open any longer.

"That's right," the other man whispered before leaning over to press a kiss to Phil's brow.

He gently began to caress Phil's hair.

"Go to sleep Phillip, everything will be alright. I'm here now son."

A/N2 - So . . . what did you think? Are you interested in this story continuing? Please R&R to let me know.