The closer they got to their destination, Christine's nerves were getting worse. In the beginning of the flight, she had taken a pain pill for her ribs, but it did nothing to calm her beating heart. Which quickened when Clint announces that they were fifteen clicks away.
Christine hadn't moved from her spot by the table. She leaned against the table as she fiddled with the gun holster on her thigh. Unclasping the belt and re positioning it on her thigh. Every time she looked down after adjusting it, it seemed to be in the wrong spot. The first time it was too low on her thigh and now it seemed like it was way too high. When she made a move to adjust it once again, a hand covered hers.
"You're making me nervous." Tony explained as he moved her hand from the holster and dropped her hand onto the table she was leaning on.
She mumbled an apology.
"How are you feeling?"
"Numb."
"I was talking about your ribs."
She shouldn't have been surprised that Steve told everyone about her injury. In fact, she was appreciative that he was worried. Her eyes cut to him as he was talking with Clint. He must have sensed her look because he made glanced her way. Once their eyes made eye contact, she quickly hid her face by turning towards Tony.
"He's just worries about you. Whether you like it or not, you are apart of team and we worry about each other."
During the conversation, her gaze had met the floor she raised her head at the sound of someone approaching. Steve stood in front of them, adjusting his shield onto his back. His eyebrows were pinched in concentration while he performed the task. Christine managed to tear her eyes away from the man in front of her long enough to tune into what Tony was saying.
"No way we all get through this. If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. There's gonna be blood on the floor."
Tony's words resonated inside of her. The words rang inside her head like bells and she could feel her chest begin to tighten. She knew that the job was going to be dangerous and there was always a possibility of someone getting hurt. The idea of one of her teammates dying struck a cord. Even though she only spent a few weeks with the team, she had grown fond of them.
Fury had different allies around the world that could have helped the team, but he came to her. A part of her realizes that he knew that she would become attached to the group and do everything in her power to ensure their survival. She internally groaned when she realized that he was right.
"I got no plans tomorrow" Steve replied.
"I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's who he's waiting for."
"Get in line."
"That's true. He hates you the most." Vision states. He turned towards Christine. "I would say that he hates you the least."
"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire and that's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out. We'll go with Christine's plan and make sure that everybody knows their positions, lives depend on it."
"We're here." Clint announced.
Christine braced herself as he began to descend into the country. When the quinjet gave a final jolt, she knew that they had landed. Christine took a minute while everybody went to their positions. Her chest was constricting and she couldn't tell is her ribs were the cause. She reached into her side pocket to take another pill.
"Take too many and I'll make you sit out."
She chuckled and removed her hand from her pocket, leaving the pill in her pocket. She revealed her empty hands to him. He signaled his approval and she smiled back at him. Steve opened his mouth to say something, but Christine beat him to it.
"I'm fine, Steve."
"Ask me why I don't believe you then."
"You worry to much for your own good." She reached beside him to grab an extra magazine off the table. She had plenty of them, but she needed something to fiddle with to calm her nerves. While she was reaching for the magazine, her chest grazed Steve's and she hissed in a breath. She had tried to forget the way that he had made her feel earlier, but she couldn't seem to. She avoided eye contact and retreated with the magazine in hand.
"You ready?"
He reached his hand out.
"What?"
"Give me the pills."
"Steve, you make it seem like I'm some junkie."
He ignored her comment, she groaned before reaching into her pocket and placed the bottle in his hand. Satisfied with her compliance, he placed them in a pocket on his body.
"Are you ready now?"
Steve shook his head from his trance that he was in before he nodded. She gave one more glance at the door before they left. She could see that it was still as could as it was a few weeks ago. There was no snow on the ground,but it was still bitterly cold. She shivered when a cold breeze brushed her shoulders. After taking a few moments, she managed to build up the courage and started their trek down the ramp.
It was quiet, but not the calming type. She knew what this quiet consisted of, it meant that something was about to happen and she didn't like it. Her anxiety from before slammed into her and she she began to feel overwhelmed. Steve stopped in his tracks when he noticed that she had stopped on the ramp.
"Christine?"
"I'm okay."
"No, you're not."
A small smile formed at the concern in his voice. He pulled her into his embrace and she accepted the affection. He was cautious of her ribs, holding onto her gently. She leaned her head into his chest and breathed in his scent, a clean white t-shirt with a hint of sweat.
"Tell me what's going through your head." His hand rubbed her back.
His comforting touch forced her to cooperate. "Amilla."
"You miss her?
"I always do, but that's not what I'm worried about." He stayed silent long enough to give her time to expand on the topic."I wasn't able to help her then, so what if I can't help these people?"
"You will. You didn't have us back then."
"What if something happens to someone on the team?"
"You worry too much." A hearty laugh escaped her when he fed her the same line that she told him.
Steve pulled away enough to look down at her, instead of making eye contact she stared at his chest. He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. When she met his blue eyes, Christine could feel the butterflies flutter in her stomach again; everywhere he touched she could feel tingles.
"If something happens to someone on the team then they know that I died for a good reason. We know what we signed up for when we joined. We all knew it wasn't going to be easy."
She rolled her eyes."We can't have you dying, you're Captain America."
He smirked at her, but chose not to respond. By then, the eye contact had grown a little more intimate than just casual eye contact. Sometime during their conversation, Christine's hands had made their way to his chest. While she was examining their compromising position, she hadn't realized the way Steve was looking at her. When she finally made her way back up to her face, she noticed that he was already looking at her. His eyes flickered down to her lips and back to her eyes a few times. He began to lean towards her and she almost leaned up to meet him halfway. Instead, his lips met her cheek close enough to her lips that the corner of their lips met.
When her stomach began to flutter again, she decided to pull away from him.
"Cap? Y'all okay up there?"
Christine chewed on the corner of her lip and she gestured for him to answer Clint.
"Yeah, we're on the way now."
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I know it's been awhile, but I'm really excited that my book has been getting the amount of reads that it has. Thank you so much.
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