Never | Steve Rogers x OC

Chapter Twenty

He shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes, I like to train by myself."

"I feel you on that one." She said just as Steve entered the kitchen. His shirt barely had an sweat on it from his run. She flashed him a small smile. "Good morning."

She had already told him that, but she was doing her best not to raise suspicions.

"Morning. You two ready to start?" Steve asked.

They both nodded and began to follow Steve into the training room. Inside, Wanda, Vision, Rhodey and Natasha had already gathered onto the floor and they were conversing with themselves.

"We're going to break up into two teams today. Good guys versus bad guys. Vision, Sam, Brianna. Wanda, Rhodey, Natasha and me. If you have a fatal hit, you're out. Last person standing on the team wins. Any questions?" Steve asked as he flipped a switch and the training room changed into a city.

Holographic weapons appeared on the floor. You would be able to feel the impact of one hitting you, but it wouldn't cause pain. It was an efficient way for them to practice without getting injured. Brianna leaned down to pick up her bow and arrow holder full of arrows.

"Good." Steve said once everyone stayed quiet. "Let's begin."

Brianna, Vision and Sam went to one side of the room so they could deliberate.

"I think Vision should act as our air support. We could take care of Wanda and Rhodey. Brianna, you and I will cover the ground." Sam explained.

Vision and Brianna nodded in agreement before getting into their positions. Her two targets, with Sam, would be Steve and Natasha. She was actually a little excited to fight her boyfriend. She knelt down behind a 'car' and pulled an arrow out so she could be ready. The bell rang and it was chaos. Weapons were fired. She could see Rhodey's rocket propellers go across the room.

She aimed her arrow at Natasha and narrowly missed her. The older woman smirked at her as she got away. In the corner of the room she could see Vision and Wanda 'fighting' with one another, but then she caught a glimpse of Steve running after them. She produced another arrow and fired at him. She felt her body being pulled back and glanced behind her to see Wanda had her in one of her weird, glowing red mist.

She spun around to the best of her ability to get a direct shot at Wanda.

"No hard feelings, right?" Brianna asked before shooting an arrow straight at her chest. Wanda dropped her to the ground. In any normal circumstances she would have been hurt by the impact. However, the ground was padded and made for a softer landing.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steve fighting with Vision. She had seen Steve fight before, but she never watched him, watched him. She couldn't help, but stare at the way his muscles moved beneath his shirt. Or how concentrated he looked. A loud yell sounded behind her and she looked up to see Rhodey holding onto Sam, flying him through the air. Rhodey 'dropped' him before firing some sort of weapon at Sam. He would have killed him in a real fight.

"Damnit Brianna!" Sam yelled. The room grew deathly quiet. "I could have been killed. Instead of protecting your team you were making puppy dog eyes at Steve!"

"I-I..." Brianna's face burned red. She could feel the heat of it on her skin.

Everyone was staring at her, including Steve. She cleared her throat awkwardly before dropping her weapons and walking out of the room. In the back of her mind, she knew Sam was right. She shouldn't have been staring at Steve. It was the fact that she had been caught doing it that caused her to feel embarrassed. She needed air.

"Brianna!" Steve called out from behind her.

She just ignored him and kept walking. Brianna knew that he would catch up to her in a moment. He wrapped his hand around her wrist softly, effectively stopping her from walking. When Steve faced her he could see the sadness in her eyes. "Brianna...."

She shook her head. "Don't. Don't. It's my fault. Sam was right. I shouldn't have been staring at you. Well, it doesn't help you make it hard not too."

His lips spread into a smile revealing his perfect teeth. "I'll try not to be too distracting anymore. It was a mistake. We'll learn from it. Okay? I can talk to Sam if you would like."

"No, I'll talk to him later. When we've all cooled down." She said.

Later came. After a full day of avoiding Sam. She passed him in the hallway multiple times. Saw him in the kitchen, but she never spoke to him. She could still feel his anger. They had to speak though. There could not be tension within the team. Finally, at close to midnight, she knocked on Sam's door. He was surprised to see her to say the least.

"Brianna." He spoke firmly.

"I just wanted to see if you were open to talk?" She asked.

Sam swallowed dryly, but opened his door further to let her inside. "Sure."

She looked around his room. Various awards were displayed on the wall as well as pictures. She could see a picture with an older couple standing in front of a boat who she assumed was his parents. Then there was a picture of a woman with two little boys that she assumed was his sister. And then a picture of Sam in his Air Force uniform standing next to a guy also in a uniform.

"That was my best friend, Riley." Sam told her when he noticed her staring at the picture.

"Was?" She asked.

Sam sighed deeply. "He, uh, died. Was killed actually in the line of duty."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She said softly.

"That's why I freaked out on you. I've lost people, Brianna. Good people. Good soldiers. It's not something I want to go through again. When you get distracted...dangerous things happen." He explained.

Brianna nodded understandingly. "Sam, I'm so sorry. You have no idea how bad I feel. It won't happen again, I promise."

"Mistakes happen. I know this is all new for you, but you're doing a damn good job."

"Really?"

"Really."

"So, are we good?" She asked.

Sam smiled. "Yeah. We're good."