Evelyn was leaving a welcome home party for Tony, she could still hear the drunk patrons of the overcrowded bar as she walked down the sidewalk. Leave it to Tony to throw a welcome home party for himself , to celebrate his homecoming of being captured in Afghanistan. Everyone wanted to get an interview with her brother, but she wanted no part in that.

She slid her hands into her jacket pocket as the night breeze was growing chilly on her skin. It was later than Evelyn typically liked to stay out, but she was so grateful that her brother was safe that she dragged herself into a place she despised to please him.

She heard footsteps walking in tandem behind her, she whipped around in a panic before becoming relieved at who she saw.

"Obie! You didn't want to stay longer at the party?" she asked, looking at her brother's business partner. Obadiah Stane had been around the Stark family long before Evelyn was born, and she always assumed he would be there for years to come.

"I've got an early meeting tomorrow morning." he said, yet his eyes wandered everywhere but on Evelyn. He fumbled with his fingers, looking up and down the sidewalk around them. And Evelyn instantly knew that something was wrong.

"What's happening, Obie?"  Evelyn asked softly.

"I'm really sorry about this Eva. But Tony left us with no choice." he said, before wrapping an arm around her neck and dragging her into an alleyway. She struggled against him to the best of her ability, trying to remember the techniques that Clint had taught her in self defense. But Obadiah was double her size, and she was so surprised by his actions that she barely had time to react. And it wasn't long before the darkness consumed her.

~

Evelyn opened her eyes and looked down. Unsurprisingly, the alleyway where she was taken appeared in the palm of her hand. She wasn't sure why her brain picked this exact moment to focus on, but it was progress in showing Evelyn could create a portal by thinking of where she wanted to go.

"Where is that?" Steve asked over her shoulder. Evelyn, Steve, and Tony were all in the basement level of Stark tower. Tony thought it would be safer in case anything happened while they figured out the extent of her ability. And Evelyn was grateful nobody could see them.

"This is where I was betrayed by a man I thought I could trust." Evelyn mumbled, before extending her hands and making the portal bigger.

"How big do you think you can make it?" Tony asked. He had a spectrometer active on the other side of the room, it was picking up minimal gamma rays being emitted by Evelyn's body. Minimal, but they were still there.

Evelyn closed her eyes, and focused all her energy and attention on making the portal in front of her big enough to fit a human body. The power she felt coursing through her veins had never left her since leaving the hospital. It had in fact intensified to the point where she could physically feel it flowing through the tips of her fingers, down her arms, and all the way into the balls of her feet.

She opened her eyes to see one of her hands was outstretched, and a large blue portal was housing itself several feet away from her. She wasn't exactly sure if she should be celebrating that she successfully created a portal to another location. But she knew she didn't want anyone else to find out about it. Even Nick, who was like a father to her, she knew he would want to put her out in the field with his top S.H.I.E.L.D agents. That wasn't what she wanted.

But what did Evelyn Stark truly want? That was the existential question of her adulthood. Her PhD in mechanical engineering mirrored her fathers, she wanted to hold a piece of him in the knowledge they would at least share. But her PhD in robotics, that was for her. She loved tinkering in the labs from a young age, always creating tiny bots out of household items. She had hoped to do something good with the field she fell in love with. But the competitors and enemies of her family had other plans.

Tony allowing her to design one of his suits was the only thing worthwhile she had gotten from six years of college. She hadn't touched her lab in two years, she wasn't even sure what she would do when she finally stepped foot inside.

"Great job Eva!" Tony exclaimed, shoving his arm in and out of the portal she created.

Evelyn sighed and smiled tightly. "Why don't you see if it works?" she asked.

Tony looked to her and quirked an eyebrow. "Why? So you can close it and leave my ass in Los Angeles? Why not make Spangles do it? I know you wont leave him alone in California."

"It's fine. I'll do it." Steve said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She reached out and pulled him back.

"If anything does happen, I'm sure Rhodey will pick you up." Said Evelyn with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Not gonna happen," smirked Tony with a shake of his head.

Evelyn sighed before walking forward and taking a step through her own portal, The dry air of California hit her right in the face, a complete contrast to the humidity on the east coast. Evelyn was never fond of California, she was a New York girl at heart, which was probably why Tony was never able to convince her to visit Stark Industries offices that were based in central L.A.

"Steve," Evelyn called out, poking her head back through her portal. "I'm in the mood for pizza. You know where to meet me." she sent a wink his way before waving her hand and closing the portal around it.

She looked around the alley way for a moment before deciding she really did not want to be there, not only did it bring bad memories but it smelled like garbage. So she quickly opened up a portal to the alley behind Sal's Pizza in Midtown off 8th Avenue.

~

It didn't take Evelyn long to adjust to her new found abilities that were given to her by the tesseract. She was extremely careful in using her portals, making sure there were no eye witnesses to the powers she now possessed. But that didn't mean she didn't have a little fun with it.

She used them several times to scare her brother half to death by showing up in his lab unannounced. She did the same to Pepper when she was taking the jet back to California, and wasn't answering her phone. But with Steve she knew better. She knew there would be no pleasure in scaring him for her own amusement, because Steve was still dealing with a lot of his own issues. Evelyn only wanted to help him, not make things worse on him.

Evelyn had been laying in her bed, tossing and turning all while contemplating taking a walk around the block to clear her mind, when her phone went off.

Are you awake? The text was from Steve. Steve never sent her text messages, he was old fashioned and called or showed up at her front door. She knew instantly something was wrong.

Instead of texting him back, she was quick in calling him.

"Eva," Steve's voice was practically trembling as he answered his phone.

"What's wrong, Steve?" Evelyn asked softly.

She could hear his shaky breath through the phone, before a small sniffle was heard in the background. Evelyn closed her eyes knowing her best friend was in distress. So it was easy for her to abandon her rule of showing up unannounced at Steve's apartment with a portal. She hung up the phone before quickly scrambling through her large blue portal and into Steve's living room.

Steve was sitting at the end of his bed when she walked into his room. His head was clutched between his palms, and a low sniffle could be heard. She glanced behind him and noticed the sweat marks on his sheets and the disarray of the blankets.

"Was it a nightmare?" she whispered, kneeling down in front of him. It wasn't that long ago that Steve was doing this for her.

"It felt so real," Steve told her, "Most of it was."

Evelyn sighed before reaching forward and gently pulling his hands from his head.

"You're okay now. You aren't there, you're here in your apartment." she told him. The only techniques she knew to calm someone down after a nightmare were those she used on herself.

"I'm here, but I shouldn't be." Steve whimpered, looking up at Evelyn and letting a tear roll down his cheek. Evelyn's heart broke at the idea of Steve not being in her life.

"You belong here Steve, I don't know a better man that deserves a second chance at living again,"

"There were so many better men than me fighting in the war. So many of them laying down their lives for our country. All of them deserve to be here. Bucky deserves to be here." Steve's voice got even more forlorn at the mention of his lost best friend.

"What happened to Bucky was tragic, but from what you told me he was trying to save you when he was blown out of that train. I think Bucky would disagree that you don't belong here. And I definitely disagree, I need you in my life Steve Rogers."

Steve rested his hand atop Evelyn's, which had found its way to gently rest on his arm. "Most of my nightmares include Bucky dying, more of my fellow soldiers getting killed. I see civilians lying dead in their homes, I see the remnants of the gassing of the villages. For most people the second world war was so long ago, but for me it's still like it was yesterday,"

Evelyn couldn't imagine the horrors that Steve witnessed back in World War II, the most she knew was what she learned in school and documentaries and the books back in the library. Steve wasn't only adjusting to modern life, he was adjusting to coming home from combat. That was something she was well versed in with Tommy. He served two tours in the time they were together, the third taking his life too soon. There was no cure all for what Steve was going through, the only thing she could offer was her support and a listening ear when he needed it.

"I've met a lot of people coming home from war, Steve. You're doing a beautiful job at adjusting. There is no timeline for healing from this, it takes time. But I have a friend who specializes in this sort of thing if you ever want me to give him a call for you."

Steve smiled at Evelyn and squeezed her hand. "I have all I need right now, but thank you."

"I'm glad you texted me. I'm even more grateful for the fact I can instantly be here when you need me." Evelyn said, standing up and wrapping her arms around Steve's broad shoulders. Steve was immediate in encasing his around her tiny waist.

"Please promise me you'll let me know if these feelings get worse. I don't know what I'd do without you, Steve." Evelyn had rested her head against the crown of his head, and spoke softly into his sandy blonde hair.

"I promise." Steve whispered, giving her waist a squeeze.