['Cause you and I-- he starts, and there's a sly smile there on her lips, because the way she finishes that sentence is different than how he does. They'd fought too, of course. He'd fought her for the shield. She'd tried to kill him, once, when they'd hollowed her mind out and left only the darkness in.

But even if the situation between her and James is complicated, there's still a you and I, even if it's not something she puts into words, just a brief look that fades at his questions.]

Seems so. I think whatever this is they do here, that they didn't just pull people from different worlds, but different versions of it.

[There's a tilt of her head, watching him as she talks. It's not a subject she really wants to go too deep into. It's not her forte, not something she really enjoys having to wrap her mind around, but here they are. So she puts it into English as best as she knows how.]

I'm still figuring out the differences, we haven't quite sat down and talked about timelines. But my Steve- [God, that's a strange sentence to say.] He was one of my closest friends. And the Steve here isn't quite the same, and not just because he doesn't have the good sense to shave that beard.

[Absent teasing, can't quite help herself.] Like they were similar people that lived through different things, I think. But they both carry that shield, and they both move like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders, and that's enough for me.

[She trusts Steve, even here, even bent through time or whatever this is.] It's you I'm curious about.