Chapter Text
April 27th 2018
“Janie, I love you but you are not allowed to Science! without eight hours of sleep and a solid meal. I’m putting my foot down.” Darcy stomped said foot dramatically, standing in front of her now colleague Dr. Jane Foster.
Jane though, was not listening, so deep into a Science! Bender as to have become incognizant of outside stimuli. Darcy recognized the vacant stare of the truly gone and muttered to herself in falsetto. ‘“Don’t worry Darcy, I’ll be fine while you’re on vacation. You deserve to rest after getting your doctorate”’
Darcy commenced shutting down the lab around her, leaving Jane to the slightly whispered ramblings her brain was coming up with on 36 hours without sleep. ‘“Working together is going to be so much fun Darcy!” “Finally I won’t be your crazy boss, I’ll be your crazy colleague”’ Darcy continued to grumble under her breath. After clearing up all of Jane’s notes, taking pictures of all the white boards, (never again will vital equations be lost to the brush of a night janitors arm sleeves) and picking up all of the pop tart wrappers and coffee cups; Darcy remembered why she had come into the lab at 11:45pm.
Darcy had just received her doctorate in the mail and was coming in on her last vacation day to hang her new framed degree in the lab. Darcy really shouldn’t have been surprised to find a nearly feral Jane still in the clothes she had worn to take Darcy to the airport 7 days ago. “Whatever, I am going to hang this tonight, I’ve worked too hard to just leave it sitting on my desk.” Darcy moved to her corner of the expansive lab space and shifted her hip out, contemplating where she should hang her framed doctorate. Choosing the wall behind her desk (so that anyone sitting in front of her desk would have to see it while meeting with her. She had earned that doctorate damnit, and she was going to flaunt it!) Darcy climbed onto the cabinet tucked into the corner. She was careful enough to take off her shoes first and hold the window frame for balance; but no amount of carefulness could prevent her from jumping when Jane suddenly yelled out “The phase emitter!”.
Unfortunately for Darcy, she had not noticed the half built machine sitting on the cabinet beside her stockinged feet. So, when startled by Jane’s outburst, Darcy spun and kicked said machine onto the floor. A bright light began to shine from the center of the machine aiming at Darcy. Darcy heard Jane’s yelp of dismay before the fluorescent rainbow light spread across her skin leaving a tingly weightless feeling and then black.
————— * —————
April 27th 1943
“Miss, miss are you alright?” Darcy heard faintly, as she drifted back to consciousness. A small young man was leaning over her with a concerned look in his bright blue eyes. “Hey cutie, aren’t you a little young for the kissing booth?” Was Darcy’s slurred reply.
Steve’s face and neck turned a vivid red as he ducked his head “I’m guessing you hit your head then miss” he turned to his best friend “a little help Buck?” but Bucky only laughed “don’t look at me, you’re the one she thinks is cute”. Steve rolled his eyes and turned back to Darcy furrowing his brows he asked “can you remember your name miss?”
“Darcy Lewis, no, no, Doctor Darcy Lewis Phd!” At the confused looks of disbelief from both men Darcy quickly sat up (a very bad idea for the recently concussed) “don’t give me that look! I can be a doctor, I have the paper to prove it!” Bucky glanced at the frame still clutched in her hand and nudged Steve’s shoulder “she’s right, says so right there”
If possible Steve’s complexion grew to a deeper crimson and he stammered a reply “I’m sorry miss, I mean doctor, Dr. Lewis, ma’am. Can I help you up?”
Darcy nodded regally and held out her right hand to Steve, who placed his left behind her back to steady her as he grasped her hand with his right. Once standing Darcy quickly swooned into Steve, who valiantly tried not to fall down with her.
“Bucky, don’t let me drop her!” Steve exclaimed as he started to lose his grip on Darcy. Bucky stepped in and scooped Darcy into a bridal carry. “Well, what now Romeo?” He quizzed his friend.
“Take her up to our place, Mrs. Horowitz should be home from the hospital soon, she can take a look at the Doc’s head” Bucky nodded his head and started up the three flights of stairs to Steve’s mother’s apartment, now theirs since Mrs. Rogers passed last year. Darcy faded in and out of consciousness on the way up, mumbling about “half-assed machines” and “damn feral scientists”, but never once did she lose her grip on the framed degree in her lap.
Steve made it to the third floor landing and turned to the right instead of left with Bucky, “I’ll just check if Mrs. Horowitz is home yet”
“Sure leave me to the damsel in distress, I’m sure I can get her to call me ‘cutie’ too” Bucky threw over his shoulder with a smirk while opening their apartment door, careful not to hit Darcy’s head again on the way in. Bucky settled Darcy on the threadbare sofa in the living room and fetched a pillow from his bed for her.
He took a step back to examine their strange visitor; she wore a knee length navy dress that seemed to have constellations across the skirt and navy stockings with no shoes (though her stockings didn’t look as dirty as he would imagine if she had been walking around without her shoes, they must have left them behind in the alleyway) Bucky noticed that her glasses were askew and reached out to straighten them when Darcy’s eyes popped open.
“Whoa! No touchie dude!” She exclaimed, batting away Bucky’s hand. Darcy gripped her now pounding head while glaring at Bucky suspiciously. “Who are you and where have you taken me? Where is Jane? If this is another kidnapping, I swear I will demand double hazard pay this time!”
“So I guess she’s not calling you cutie yet” Steve said from the doorway, Mrs. Horowitz following closely with a first aid kit.
“Let me see your head Bubbeleh, you can’t be seeing right if you think these two boys would kidnap you” Mrs. Horowitz bustled over to Darcy’s side and efficiently triaged her patient. “Now tell me what happened to land you here” her sharp gaze took in Darcy’s grimace of pain and slightly pale skin. “I was in my lab with Janie trying to hang up my degree, oh, guess I didn’t finish that” she said glancing at the frame still clutched in her left hand “then… I’m not sure, I was outside I think, then here.”
“Do you remember your name dear?” Mrs Horowitz asked, taking Darcy’s pulse and nodding minutely. “Darcy Lewis, Doctor Darcy Lewis, PhD!” Was her response.
“Yes, I see your fancy paper there. Can you tell me what day it is?” She coaxed gently, while looking into Darcy’s eyes carefully.
“April 27th, Friday. Well it’s probably Saturday now since it’s daylight already, last I remember was midnight…” It was then that Darcy truly started to look at her surroundings, the small living room she was laying in had no tv, no remotes of any kind strewn around like her own home. There was an old fashioned radio in one corner and a gramophone beside it. Come to think of it, everything looked old fashioned, the furniture, the drapes on the window, even Mrs. Horowitz’s first aid kit was nothing like the one in her lab.
With dawning horror Darcy looked carefully at all three inhabitants of the cramped living room; Mrs. Horowitz was wearing a nurses uniform Darcy had only seen in old movies of WWII. It wasn’t the cheap flimsy fabric of a costume either but sturdy cotton and looked well worn. Both young men were in suits, definitely of a different cut than any suit Darcy was familiar with, high waisted pleated pants, short and wide ties, over concerned faces their hair was slicked back and gelled. Sitting up slowly Darcy asked with a tremor in her voice “What, um … what year is it?”
Steve answered with a quirk of his eyebrows, “1943”