Steve

New York, June 9th

Hell, it's been months since I heard this kind of silence. Travis Miner leaned back in his computer chair, a pleasurable sigh escaping his lips. For the first time in a long time, he was going to be able to complete his work in absolute silence. Summer camp had just started up for Jessica and Jamie, and his wife Molly was out to dinner with her friends. For the first time in a long time, his budgets and reports would get finished on time, and if he played his cards right, earn him a promotion.

He loosened the noose around his neck, and flung his tie across the living room where it landed gently on the arm of the couch across from the piano. Travis opened his laptop, his eyes scanning the powerpoints and spreadsheets that popped up, reminding him of exactly what he had to do.

His eyes slid across the room to look at the television he'd recently bought for the "family." He was itching to use it.

Soon, boy. Soon.

Travis had just finished doing some calculations when a knock came at the door. He scowled, but stood upright to make his way over to the door.

Standing in the doorway was a man twice his height, who probably benched somewhere between 350-400 pounds. Travis' eyes widened comically as the man stuck his hands into his khaki pants pockets, clearly uncomfortable. "Can I help you?"

The man gave him a shy grin, brushing back his short, blond hair. "This may sound ridiculous, but I was wondering if I could borrow a cup of sugar."

A few hours later, Travis found himself in the company of Steve Rogers, the guy who lived above him in Leaman Place. Prior to that day they'd never met, but Steve was a fairly nice guy, and put Travis at ease. He needed the cup of sugar to bake a cake for one of his good friends whose birthday was coming up. While he used Travis' fancy new oven, he sat in their living room, putting together a bookcase.

Travis looked up from his typing to glance at Steve out of the corner of his eye. "You're rather handy with a hammer," he noted. Steve looked up, startled, and glanced at his project. "You working in construction or anything?"

He smiled, embarrassed. "No...I'm just good with tools, I guess. Picked it up naturally. My dad didn't even need to teach me."

"You caught a lucky break." Travis managed to hide the jealousy in his voice - his father openly voiced his disdain that Travis wasn't really a hands-on kind of man; he preferred to pay someone to fix the leaky pipe in his basement. And why not? He had money.

Travis took a sip of his red wine. "So...how're you finding Brooklyn? Been here a while?"

"Uh yeah, a few months," Steve responded absently, sticking nails into the corner of his mouth. "You?"

"A year or so. Moved from Boston. Thought a change of scenery would be nice." He did a few calculations on his spreadsheet. "Is it just you up there?"

Steve didn't respond for a while. When he did, his voice was guarded. "Yes sir, just me."

Travis stopped typing and leaned over the edge of his chair to fix Steve with a look of disbelief. "You, alone? Come on, you gotta be kidding me. You bench what, 350-400? You gotta have ladies flocking to you every night. Besides, it's New York. Chicks dig that stuff."

Steve chuckled without humor. "I don't go out much. I like being alone." He started to hammer a nail into the corner of the bookshelf, holding two pieces of wood together.

Travis could tell that there was something more to the story. "Well, I like being alone too, but no one likes being lonely."

At that, Steve's hammering stopped, and he raised his eyes to look at Travis. "What do you mean?"

Travis nearly rolled his eyes. "I like being alone. As a matter of fact, I'm alone now. Kids are at camp, wife's gone for the evening...but when it all comes down to it, I like being around them. You can't just hole yourself up in that apartment until the end of time." He shrugged. "Not worth it."

"There...used to be somebody," Steve said, his voice hesitant. "But she left."

"Left you?" Travis snorted with disbelief. "Why?"

Steve shrugged his massive shoulders and resumed work. "She disappeared. I don't know. I haven't seen her in a month or so."

Travis opened his mouth to speak again, but then figured that it was best to leave the subject alone. Steve clearly didn't want to talk about it, whatever "it" was, so he turned back to his computer. Leave the guy alone, he thought to himself. Get your work done, and you can catch the game tonight. Good game plan.

Steve left Travis' apartment a little while later with a freshly baked chocolate cake, and a new bookshelf. Travis offered to carry the bookshelf for him, but Steve refused, and nearly burst into quiet chuckles when he saw the look of astonishment on his face when he picked it up with one hand. For any ordinary man, it would be a struggle, but Steve ascended up a flight of stairs carrying it with one fingertip.

He entered his apartment and kicked the door closed before setting the chocolate cake on the counter in his small kitchen. Hopefully Natasha would like it; she mentioned that chocolate cake was her favorite.

He dropped the bookshelf with a heavy sigh before turning his gaze to the living room. Next to the television, which he still struggled with, was Peggy's picture. Steve walked inside and smiled fondly at the picture of his old love. He stared at the ruby red lipstick she wore the day the picture was taken.

Then his eyes dropped to the newer picture he'd placed on the small stand a few weeks ago. It was Elliot's picture, one that he had Tony swipe from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database. In the photo her face was expressionless, without a trace of life or emotion in her blue eyes. He would have liked to have found a photo of her smiling, but he was unable to do so.

He put up the photo the day after S.H.I.E.L.D. declared that she was dead in the aftermath of her escape, and the sudden appearance of alien lifeforms on Earth. It all happened rather spontaneously, and he was in the building to experience every minute of it.

Tony shot Steve an unhappy glance as he strode into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s command center.

"Don't look at me like that," Steve said coldly, eyeing Nick Fury's back. The fearsome leader of the organization stood facing several different computer screens all showing different parts of New York City. The command center was abuzz as usual, but there was a sense of panic in the air that indicated that something wasn't right.

Someone tapped Fury on the shoulder, and he turned around to see Tony and Steve striding towards them, obvious dislike written all over their faces. Fury smirked; he didn't particularly care that they were throwing silent fits over their capture. They had been harboring a fugitive, so it was in his best interest to take them down and find his prisoner.

"Stark. Rogers," he greeted them, crossing his arms. "It's good to see you again."

Tony's dark eyes narrowed at the corners. "Yeah. Good old times. What the hell do you want? We told you what you wanted to know, and I was supposed to be having date night with Pepper."

As if Fury cared about Tony's late night shenanigans. The director barely even blinked in acknowledgement of his words. Turning his one eye to Steve, he said, "Your information was wrong, Cap'n. Pedagia isn't at the hotel."

Steve's eyes widened in genuine surprise, and he glanced swiftly at Tony. "I..." he stuttered, truly unable to give a response. "She was there when I left. How could she not be there?" Panic entered his voice. "No one knew we were there...did they?" he added, turning to Tony now. He shrugged his shoulders in response.

"The fact that Pedagia disappeared happens to coincide with the appearance of several lifeforms on this planet," Fury continued. "Same readings as before."

Tony arched one dark eyebrow. "You mean the Asgardians are back."

"I told those suckers to stay the hell off my planet. I don't know what's goin' on, but I don't like the looks of it."

"What the hell do you want us to do?" Steve snapped, irritated now. He'd been dragged from Stark Tower and transported to S.H.I.E.L.D. like a fugitive. Even though he was able to knock out the entire team of guards in the car, he went willingly in case S.H.I.E.L.D. had any news about Elliot. "Round up the old team again? Fury, we're done. We saved the Earth once already, and that's enough for me."

"You're telling me you don't care about Agent Pedagia?" Fury tilted his head, interested. "What if it has something to do with her?"

Tony stepped up to Steve's defense, taking a step forward. "Listen here, Nick," he said through his teeth. "Don't pull that card. I'm done with your bullshit, so is he. If you got alien problems, deal with it. You got a taskforce twice our size." He motioned to the rushing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents around them. "Sorry, pal. I got a hot redhead to deal with...literally." Tony, ever one for flair, swept into a bow, and then retreated from the command center. No one made to follow him.

Steve was left standing alone in the command center. Fury fixed a hard gaze on him, willing him to accept whatever mission he had. "Well, Rogers? Are you out, too?"

Indecision flickered in his eyes. Hesitantly, he asked, "What's the problem?"

"The problem is that we got alien lifeforms walking around in Earth, and Pedagia, enemy number one, seems to be missing. I ain't askin' you to get involved in the fight. Just go have a look see, and find out what's walkin' around New York City. And while you're at it, find Pedagia."

"I don't have a damn idea where she is," Steve responded gruffly. "And besides," he added, motioning to the plaid shirt and khakis he wore, "I'm not even dressed to track down an Asgardian. I don't know who he is. It could be Loki."

"Or Thor," Fury pointed out.

"Or Loki," Steve pointed out in response. "You're sending me into the fight without a map or a flashlight."

Which, for the most part, was the truth. Fury hadn't given him many details, other than the obvious ones, but it wasn't enough to insure Steve's safety. Asking him to track down Loki or Thor, or whatever it was, was dangerous.

But of course, Steve wasn't entirely aware that Fury wasn't just sending him in for a mission. Fury was smart; he picked up on the fact that Pedagia and Steve were fairly close. If she would listen to anyone, it would be him.

And he bet half his salary that the alien walking around New York City was Loki. If she'd disappeared, what other reason could it be? It all made sense. So Fury connected the dots.

Find Pedagia, find Loki.

It was a good plan in its own right, but Steve wished that he'd never taken the job.

What tipped Steve off to the idea that it was Loki walking around New York was the sudden 25-car pile up on the Brooklyn Bridge. His M.O. was mischief. Made sense. The news pleased Fury, who was glad that S.H.I.E.L.D. finally had a lead on tracking the Asgardian and locking him up for good.

For Steve, it sent panic racing through his mind.

Elliot had left with Loki nearly a month ago, and returned friends with him. What if he'd returned to take her back? If she and Loki were on good terms, there was a good chance that if given the option, she would return to Asgard. Elliot had only just returned to Earth a few hours ago. She couldn't leave yet. Not so soon.

After he helped those trapped in their cars to safety, Steve took off for Central Park, hoping to find her there. But the park was empty, as most of the city had returned home for the evening, and were more than likely glued to their television screens to watch the coverage of the accident. After searching high and low for any sign of her, he returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. to report his findings.

He arrived just in time to witness the entire command center explode with panic when readings went off the scales for alien activity located in Hyde Park. Steve was the first one to arrive, ahead of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

When he arrived, he found four dead bodies, one of a large man, a skinny, dark-haired woman, and two children. Steve had seen dead bodies before, some of them of his friends during the war, but still the grief of losing another human life never failed to escape him. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived a little after he did, and set to work covering up the crime scene before the NYPD got involved.

Loki was nowhere to be found, and neither was Elliot. Steve volunteered to stay as long as need be to scour the park for any sign of her. He worked until midnight that same day.

Around 1:00 a.m. in the morning, S.H.I.E.L.D. changed her current status from missing to dead.

A few weeks afterwards and Steve still hadn't be able to get over her apparent death or sudden disappearance. But considering how S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't seen any alien sightings since that night, he could only assume that Loki returned for Elliot, and she went with him. All he could do was hope that she went down fighting.

Of course, what'd never know is that Elliot was alive and well, and living on Asgard.

a/n: Happy 2013 to all, hope you rang in the new year with your friends and family. Super excited to be writing again! Next chapter up in a while. I'm really excited to put this one up because it's reuniting some of the Avengers with our favorite (now) Asgardians. And I get to do some research! *enters geek mode*