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18 | brutally out of shape ribcages

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brutally out of shape ribcages

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"I wish I didn't have to go tomorrow," Cara sniffled after all of her tears had been wiped away by Steve's thumbs. She was now sitting with her back to him, leaning into his chest. There, he held her protectively, with both arms wrapped around her middle.

"Who said you were?" His hands found hers and entwined their fingers.

"Didn't you hear what Fury said? He wants me gone because I know too much." She paused before adding, "I have no where else to go."

"What about your Aunt May?" He asked, rubbing circles on the backs of her hands.

"You want me to leave, too?" She moved away from him, turning around so she could face him. "Even after that...I don't know, moment we had? Even after I told you my life story?" She couldn't help it; she was genuinely confused and hurt. She'd barely gotten through telling Steve about her past, and now he was telling her to leave? What the fuck?

His eyes widened as he realized how the statement had sounded. "Oh, no, Cara, of course not. I don't want you to leave at all. But I suggested your aunt because she seemed like a reasonable answer to your problem, if Fury is really going to kick you out."

"Oh." Cara felt a bit like an unmanageable teen in that moment, as her cheeks flushed pink. She'd overreacted. Great.

Steve moved his hand to rest on her knee. "But I honestly don't think you're going to be kicked out."

"Really?"

"Really," he nodded. "If you haven't noticed, we all love you here. I mean," he scratched the back of his neck, "Nat is...a work in progress. But other than that, we've all seen our lives impacted by you, and we don't want to see you gone. Besides," he added, "you know this much already, so it'd be stupid to let you go, where you could spill all our deepest, darkest, secrets." He tickled her while speaking the last words, and she giggled, hitting his arms away playfully.

"Okay, okay, I see your point. But I don't want to be just the jokester, or the family pet. I want to have a purpose. If I'm going to stay here, I'm going to be of some use to you guys." She looked at him pointedly, and he nodded, understanding what she meant.

"I'll talk to Fury about it, and then I'm sure he'll--"

Cara held up a hand. "Uh-uh. I'm not gonna do this to get approval from that crap load. I'm gonna do this to help my friends." She grinned. "Who knows, maybe I'll be Captain America's sidekick," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

His smile was small, but he chuckled all the same. "I don't know, Captain America's pretty good without one." He shot her a sidelong glance. "But it might be nice to have someone to come home to." He leaned in for a kiss, but she jumped off her bed.

"Nope, I'm not gonna be your trophy wife--girlfriend--either. That's not a purpose, that's a...pampered life for rich assholes. Sorry," she added hastily, as she knew the look he would give her.

But he didn't. Instead, he just smiled at her and nodded. "Alright, what do you want to start with?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, who do you want to start with? We've gotta find out your strengths, pick out your best traits. I could try to teach you my form of combat," he offered, "but I have to say, it's a challenge. Especially for someone who wasn't injected with serum in the 40s."

Cara smacked his bicep. "Oh, shut up. Teach me, I'll be amazing at it. I have no doubt."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You sure?"

"Oh yeah. I'm positive."

-

"Ow, I--ooh, that hurts--fucking suck at this," Cara groaned as she pulled herself up off the floor.

Steve looked at her worriedly. "Are you okay?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not." She glared at him. "I thought you were going to take it easy on me!" She accused.

"I--but I did," he defended himself.

"Obviously it wasn't easy enough, otherwise I wouldn't have a brutally out of shape ribcage right now, would I?" She rubbed the sore area, flinching when a stab of pain shot through her.

"I'm so sorry, Cara, I didn't mean to--" he rushed to her, holding his warm hand over the bruised spot, but she squirmed away from him and shook her head. "What did I do?"

"Nothing," she said, "you didn't do anything. But I just, I need to rest before I go all 'find me a purpose' again." She grinned, back to her normal self. "If you go get me a bag of ice and a bucket of ice cream, I'll let you watch a movie with me," she proposed flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes.

Steve pretended to whine as he said, "Fine." But as he passed her, he pecked her on the cheek, smiling as he walked out.

Cara sighed. How did she get here? After her mom died, she was all alone, though surrounded by families. And then these people, this new family of hers, welcomed her in, allowing her to stay with them and adjust to their lifestyle. And in the midst of it all, she found herself taking a liking to the oldest one there.

Okay, actually, he might not be the oldest, she defended herself. Thor's gotta be, what, a thousand?

Still, she was surprised that she'd even found anyone who didn't just like her for her jokes and sarcastic impulsiveness. It was a nice change, to have someone care for her the way she'd needed it ever since she was nine.

After a few minutes, Steve returned with an ice pack and a large container of ice cream with a spoon. "What movie this time?"

"Um," she pondered, "did you know there's a sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean?"

He grinned. "Of course there is."