𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃. - 𝐓. 𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍

Chapter XXVIII.

"Kirsten, you know you're a very special agent and scientist, and that we need you." He stated. I could see it in his eyes: he was procrastinating.

"And?" I asked. "Kirsten, I didn't want to tell you this. I know Malekith was going to force me to anyway." He took his seat before continuing.

"You used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D longer than you think." He said. It wasn't making any sense. Steve got up, leaving. What was wrong with him?

I think I saw him wipe away a tear. "I've been working for 4 years-" "Its been 6." He interrupted. I stayed quiet. "You've been a S.H.I.E.L.D agent for 6 years."

I stood, baffled. Thor stood beside me, trying to understand it all himself. Did he not know? "Malekith had your memory cleared." Excuse me while I pick up my jaw from the floor.

I didn't say anything, so he kept talking. "You used to work for him. You knew very valuable information he didn't want us to get ahold of, so he had part of your memory wiped cleaned."

Nick took a second to glance at the door where Steve just left. "Only problem was, you and Captain Rogers were married at the time."

MARRIED?!

"Malekith wiped a little bit too much of your memory away, and you don't remember much of anything about you and Steve's life together."

Everything started to make sense now. That's why Steve was so jealous. And he had everything at the party perfect for me. And the ring..

"That ring he gave you at your party was your wedding ring." Nick muttered. "I told him not to give it to you, but he's been holding out a speck of hope that one day you'll remember something, anything of what used to be.."

The room had an eery silence lingering about. "Day after day, he'd ask me if anything changed. Asking if he noticed any signs of your memory returning. But there was nothing.. He'd cry to me night after night to hold the woman he married.."

Nick was extremely good at making this seem like such a tragic love story out of a movie or something.

I felt terrible. I couldn't even love the person I married. Instead, I fell in love with someone completely different.

"Thor here, knew nothing of it. So don't blame him for not telling you anything." He added quickly. I looked around the room at everyone's saddened faces.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered, wiping my wet cheeks. Thor held me in his chest, trying to comfort me. "It's nothing to apologize for, Kirsten." Bruce said.

"Yeah, you didn't know." Natasha stroked my shoulder. What was I going to do now? Actually, the bigger question is: Where was Steve?