An introverted waitress stumbles into Captain America during Loki's attack on New York. After taking a bullet for him, he lets her go, wondering. She's on the run, but he can't know that. When she meets the Avengers again, escape is all but impossib...
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AMERICA'S POV
"It feels kind of strange to be back here again," I say, glancing up at the familiar skyscraper. I used to see it every day on my way to work. "Part of me wishes we could have just stayed in Washington." Most of me, actually.
"I know, but you heard Fury. According to the UN, the rest of the team is supposed to keep an eye on us for a little while," Steve says, rolling his eyes. It's been two months since I got out of the hospital, and they've finally come to a decision. Governments irritate me. They never make sense, but I know better than to gripe off about authority in front of Captain America.
"Well, all I'm saying is it will probably end up with us babysitting Tony." The elevator takes us up, the British AI JARVIS greeting us politely as we go. No one is on the main floor, so I quickly run my bags to my room before meeting Steve back. "Some warm welcome, huh?"
"Yeah. They're probably all busy." He glances around. It's like he's nervous about something. It must just be that we're back here. "Listen, we need to talk."
"Okay, shoot." I plop down criss-cross on the biggest couch and look at him expectantly. He clears his throat and opens his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by a screeching fire alarm. I cover my ears with my hands. "I'M GOING TO CHECK ON TONY! I'M SORRY! I'LL BE BACK!"
I'm sure he's the reason fire alarms are going off, so instead of waiting for the elevator, I take the stairs. They're faster, at least for me. When I reach the lab, I can barely see into it. Blackish gray smoke hangs over everything. I walk in cautiously.
"What...are...you...DOING?" I half-shout, half-cough.
I can barely see him shrug, a sheepish, embarrassed expression on his face. "One of the suits I was working on just blew up," he admits. "JARVIS, open the vents, get this place cleared out ASAP."
"Right away, sir." The smoke clears in a few minutes, leaving a slightly annoyed me and a soot-covered Tony to stare at each other.
"So, you and Capsicle are back," he says, removing his glasses to clean the layer of grime off of them. "That's exciting."
"Yep. I should go find him, actually. He wanted to tell me something when you set the alarms off." I grin. Nothing's changed.
"All righty. Have fun." I can tell how much he wants to dive back into his tinkering, figure out what went wrong, so I wave and head back upstairs. Steve's in the kitchen pouring himself a cup of water.
"Tony blew up a suit," I inform him, sliding into a seat at the island. "He's okay, though."
Steve grins. "You smell like smoke now."
"Ugh, I do. Here, I'm gonna go shower, and we can talk after. That okay with you?"
