All of Me

hurt

"Fancy that," he grinned. "It's my Friday too, wanna grab a drink?"

Please, God, shoot me down right now, she thought. This man just did not get the hint. She figured it would get through his thick skull when she never called him back after their first and only date. It had been disastrous. He spent the entire date talking about the latest surgery, which wasn't even that interesting, and flirting with the waitress. She hadn't returned his calls and had managed to avoid him at the hospital for two whole weeks after that. She had thought that would be the end of it but he continued to corner her. She took a deep steadying breath and moved to duck under his arm. Wrong move. He anticipated this. He moved to grab her arm and spun her back towards him. Evelyn put her hands up to brace herself and keep as much distance between them as possible. His arm moved to her waist and pulled her in close.

He reeked of cheap cologne and hospital grade disinfectant. The scent made her stomach flip. She placed her hands on his chest and managed to push hard enough to push him away a solid foot and a half.

"I just got off a 32-hour shift Cross, I'm going home and going to bed," she darted through the main doors of the hospital and all but sprinted down the sidewalk towards her apartment. She didn't stop until she was an entire block away. She finally turned and released a sigh of relief when she realized that he hadn't followed her.

The rest of the walk from the hospital to her apartment was quiet. She lived only a few blocks away, which made it easy to walk to and from work every day. This allowed her to save a few extra precious pennies to put toward her student loans. Luckily, she just had two more months of residency and then she would be an attending and free to do whatever she pleased.

It had been a long, hard road to get here. Most people from her small, backwoods town never made it out. She had sacrificed sleep, friends, and all her free time to study for the MCAT. She promised herself that she would get into an out of state college and as far from Iowa as humanly possible. She scored in the top 5% on the MCAT and received her choice of medical schools. She'd busted her ass throughout med school and was chosen for a prestigious emergency medicine residency at one of the top training hospitals in the country. And she had done it by herself. Noah was in New York, building his company from the ground up. Her mother was long gone, buried in the family plot in Iowa.

In the past eight years, she had treated everyone from the homeless to senators. She'd even volunteered to serve with the Red Cross in New York City after the attack.

The damage that was left after the Chitauri was devastating. Thousands of people were injured, not to mention the destruction of twelve city blocks. The Avengers did what they could. Tony Stark, the public face of the Avengers, donated money and resources to rebuild the city. Dr. Bruce Banner volunteered at the hospitals. It was Steve Rogers however that dedicated his time and muscle to help the citizens of New York City. He was there in the trenches, shoveling debris and cleaning up the city.

She had been volunteering at one of the aid stations that the Red Cross had set up, stitching up a cut on the face of an older woman when he'd walked in. Naturally, the people in the tent gushed over him to thank him for saving the city. She'd seen the look of regret that passed over his face. It was obvious that he didn't feel like he deserved the praise. He acted like he felt guilty for not protecting the city better. He moved slowly throughout the tent, introducing himself to everyone there. He took the time to learn everyone's names and actually talk to them. He helped with basic first aid for the less injured. He listened intently to each person. She watched him closely. He seemed so different then she'd pictured. He was kind but shy.

Steve Rogers was a man of action.

When not on missions for the Avengers, he was volunteering with the Red Cross, saving people from hurricanes and tornadoes, serving food to the homeless, playing basketball with the Boys and Girls Club. While the press ate it up, it never seemed to affect him. He continued to help wherever was needed.