Sarah's POV
After we got upstairs, I got Chloe in the shower and went to go grab her some clothes. She used to stay over a lot, so there was a set of pj's for her in my closet. I grabbed hers and mine and went back into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and stripped to get in the shower. Chloe and I had done this so many times we had a routine down. While I waited, I looked at my wound. It was healing nicely; the front was almost completely closed and the back looked a lot better than yesterday. By Monday, I should be good as new.
I heard the water shut off and went to grab Chloe a towel. She seemed steadier as she got out of the shower, which was good. I handed her another towel for her hair and turned to get in the shower. I heard Chloe gasp and looked back to see if there was a spider in the sink again; she hated spiders. I didn't see anything, so I looked at her, one eyebrow raised.
She cleared her throat and pointed at my wound. "Sarah Maria Evans, what happened to you?"
I grimaced. I had been hoping that she wouldn't notice. "I got shot again."
"And when were you planning on telling me about this?"
"Later, after it healed and it was just another crazy story."
"You're telling me everything as soon as you get out of the shower."
"I'm telling you what I can tell you when I get out of the shower."
"I'm holding you to that."
I laughed and started the shower. I heard Chloe moving around the bathroom and heard the door open and shut. I finished up and got out, drying off and pulling my hair up before putting on my tank top and shorts. I hung up my towel and padded to my room to see if she was in there. It was empty, so I grabbed my pillows and knocked on Steve's door. He didn't answer, so I opened it to see the room was empty as well. I grabbed his pillows too and went downstairs to the living room. That was usually where we camped when I had friends over.
Chloe was hugging a bottle of Gatorade, chattering at Steve quietly. Jace had made popcorn and put in a movie. I tossed the pillows on the couch and Jace and Chloe briefly tussled over their favorite one before Jace let her win. I went to the hall cupboard to grab some blankets and set the stack on the couch. Steve raised an eyebrow at the fact that they were all Captain America themed and I laughed.
"Blame him." I pointed at Jace, who grinned, unrepentant. "I got cold easily when I was younger, so he gave me one every Christmas."
Chloe looked at them, realized what we were talking about, and started giggling. "I like you, Steve. You're my favorite hero after Iron Man."
"Chloe thinks he's hot." I said to Steve, straight faced. He burst out laughing as I sat down next to him
"Show Tony her picture and then tell her what he has to say about her," he said, smirking.
"Hah. I know better than that. There's a reason he's not married, you know."
"I do know. I believe he said something along the lines of 'there are so many of them and only one of me.' Nope, not humble at all. I am convinced he doesn't know what that word means." Steve speculated.
"Sarah, you know Tony Stark?" asked Chloe. "All this time you've been holding out on me?"
"Yup, for a whole 6 days now. Was going for seven and telling you over the phone to preserve my eardrums."
She playfully slugged me and I winced as she jarred my shoulder. Her eyes widened as she remembered the wound and pulled my shirt strap down to look at it. "That looks pretty bad, Sarah. What happened?"
Jace stood up and came over to look at it, too. He knew I had it but not how bad it was. I had done a pretty good job of keeping it covered so far this weekend. He gestured for me to turn so he could see the exit wound. His cerulean eyes met mine and I looked away, not wanting to see what he thought.
I looked at Chloe and shrugged, pulling back up my strap. "We were running this undercover op and I was on my way to the jet when a sniper took a crack at me. One of the team took him out, but I went down. Steve got me to the jet and helped patch me up."
"It went all the way through you? Didn't it?" she asked, eyes wide.
"Yeah. It's better that way, though. I really hate having to have someone dig bullets out of me."
"I second that," said Jace, sitting cross legged on the floor facing us. "I really hate digging bullets out of you."
"I think I would rather not know," said Steve, giving me a look. I shrugged.
"Wrong place, wrong time. I was fine once he got it out. I couldn't reach it myself. Anyways, enough about me. Are you ready to watch the movie?"
"You're changing the subject." said Chloe.
"You betcha. It's after midnight – I'm tired and ready to eat popcorn and relax. Aren't you? You both had a busier day than I did." I reached over to snatch a handful from the bowl next to Jace.
Chloe looked at me, considering for a moment and then shrugged. "I suppose. Start the movie, Jace. What are you doing tomorrow... I mean today?"
"We have church at 9:30 and Uncle Kev's coming to dinner tomorrow before we have to drive back."
Jace found the DVD remote and started the movie, Gnomeo and Juliet. I got up to get a glass of water and turned off the kitchen lights and the living room lights before going back to the couch to sit next to Steve. Jace had moved up to the couch from the floor, so we were all comfortably snug on the couch.
* * *
Steve's POV
Sarah nodded off on my shoulder not long into the movie, so I pulled her onto my lap and she curled up with her head on my chest. Jace had slouched down and was snoring lightly. Chloe was curled up on her end of the couch, leaning on the arm. I fell asleep some time after that, only to wake up when Sarah eased off my lap and went in the kitchen. I followed her, only to see her drinking a glass of water.
"How are you feeling?" I asked as I got a glass out of the cupboard and filled it at the tap.
"Fine, just thirsty."
"So did Chloe remember anything?" I asked quietly, pulling her to me when she sat her glass down.
She shook her head. "No, she remembers finding Jace, but nothing after that until she woke up. Thank God Jace called when he did."
"I take it the local police busted the party and found three guys with concussions and broken legs?"
"Of course. I sent a message to the police station through the anonymous tip line on our way into town."
"What did you do with the drugs?"
"I left enough on each of them to get them in deep shit. I'm keeping the rest to test a couple things on them."
"An antidote?"
"Something like that. Thanks for coming with tonight. I wouldn't have been able to do that all on my own; and we would've been a lot slower getting out of there."
"I'm glad I was here to help."
"What did you and Jace talk about? I could hear your voices moving around the clearing but couldn't make out what you were saying."
"I just helped him realize that it wasn't his fault and he did all he could to protect her. He's a good kid. He'll make a great Agent." I kissed her forehead gently. "He knows more of what you can do than she does."
"Yes. He's spent a lot of weekends riding with me to meet sparring partners and sparring with me himself. I trust Jace completely, and he knows the most that I can tell him. Chloe – well, I love her, but she isn't great at keeping secrets. She knows I work for Shield and am faster and stronger than I should be, but she doesn't see what she doesn't want to see." Sarah hopped up on the counter and put her arms around my neck, "Chloe thinks I work as a low level agent and spend a lot of time at a desk, only going as backup on ops. I never intend to disabuse her of that notion. It's safer for us both if she stays in the dark."
"I think you're right. Ready to go back to sleep?" I reached up and stroked her face gently. She nodded and I picked her up off the counter and carried her back to the living room. I tossed a pillow on the love seat and grabbed a blanket off the floor before laying down. Sarah curled up facing me and gave me a kiss before laying her head on my chest.
I held Sarah until she fell asleep again, just savoring the feel of her in my arms and breathing in her clean scent. I hadn't hardly slept last night; in the short week that I had known her, I had already gotten used to having her sleeping next to me. I was exhausted, but wasn't ready to sleep, not yet. Tonight's events had gotten under my skin and I simmered in anger.
If we'd been even a couple minutes later, I shuddered to think what could have happened to Chloe. No woman deserved to be attacked and used like that. Thank God I came home with Sarah this weekend or it could have been entirely possible that those scumbags would have tried to drug her as well. She probably would have went to the party with her friends, drank with them, chatting to others.
As beautiful as she was, Sarah attracted attention everywhere she went, whether she noticed it or not. I'd seen with my own eyes how the guys at the party had looked at her, only seeing her for her body. It was the same way most people looked at me, seeing only Captain America instead of Steve Rogers.
I took a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. Everything had turned out all right in the end. Neither of her friends had been seriously injured and I'd seen how levelheaded Sarah could be during a crisis. We were all trained in the use of reversal meds, but she'd been treating them before I'd even known what had knocked them out.
I struggled to come to terms with my feelings for Sarah; she'd already come to mean a lot to me. Before I met her, I'd only been existing in this time. Because of her, I was finally starting to live again. I was feeling emotions again instead of passing the days in a dull numbness.