She should have expected it she really should have, things had been going to good recently for something not to go ass up donkey shit drunk nuclear melt done mode.

She had expected it to be one of them, either for Natasha to kill one of them in their sleep or her brother to blow up half the tower.

Turns out she was the one doing the blowing up.

Though it was less of a blowing up the lab and more of a blowing up in her face.

Now she and Steve had been going out randomly to dinner or fixing dinner and settling down in the living room to watch a movie and snuggle, yes she was a stark and a snuggle whore give it a break, and she had discovered they were both very protective of each other when it came to threats.

Her nearly getting taken out by a huge robot taking a hit for Steve even after they'd had a huge fight and hadn't talked for a week kind of proved that.

Anyway, currently she was standing in front of a machine she and her brother had been trying to figure out since it was discovered in a hydra base they had found and shut down two weeks ago.

So when the unnamed device suddenly started whirring when she hadn't done anything more than plugged in to run a diagnostics to see what it was programed to do, she got a little worried.

Now five minutes later she had tried everything but it wouldn't shut down, she had even removed its power source!

When it started sparking wildly and she suddenly had the thick scent of burning ozone in her nose she knew it wasn't good, some kind of purple glow focusing on the end of what looked like an antennae ray.

She backed up and heard the door to the lab open but barely had time to shout a warning before it fired.

Next thing she knew the lights were flickering she was temporarily blinded and also on the floor held tightly in Steve's arms.

She sighed heavily and patted his chest "thanks for the save Stevie" when he didn't respond she frowned and sat up his arm falling from her side she graved his shoulder and shook him "Steve? Steve! Come on ice brain wake up" he groaned softly

And she sighed as the lights came back on fully "that's it babe, can you open those pretty eyes for me" he groaned again body going tense then suddenly relaxing and his eyes blinked open for a second she thought they were purple but she blinked and they were blue.

She sighed in relief when he reached up to rub his head "what hit me?" he asked she shook her head "I don't know, I don't even know how this thing turned on, I did not hit the green button!"

He snorted at her rolling his eyes a little before taking the hand she offered to help him up.

"Any clue what this thing is now?" she looked at him "other than knowing it shoots pretty purple lights? Not a clue, seems like it burned your shirt when it hit you" she motioned to his back where a hole had been burned "but didn't even effect your skin"

She snapped her fingers "maybe it's a clothing incinerator!" he snorted again looking at her, she noticed he'd become use to her sarcasm surprisingly fast.

"you wish" she shrugged then patted his arm "thanks for the save babe" she saw a faint pink tent raise to his jaw and smiled wider "what'd you come down here for?" she asked tossing aside her safety glasses "foods done" she looked at him eyes lighting up "ohh! You know just how to get to me Rogers" she bolted up the stairs "last one there dose the dishes"

He laughed and followed her up the stairs neither of them noticed the faint blue glow that lingered around the antennae array of the machine before withering and disappearing completely.

Lunch that day was fried chicken, as usual everyone got two maybe three pieces, but she and Steve got a chicken.

She took one bite off a drum stick then grinned at nick who seemed to be around less and less as school continued "have I ever said I love you? Because I do, I swear I am never letting you leave here again, I'm gonna chain you to the island so you have to cook for me forever"

Nicks cheeks reddened slightly and he ducked his head to hide his smile muttering a bashful 'thank you' she grinned at him then dug back in.

A couple minutes later she was distracted from her food yet again, this time by Steve who was more picking at his food than eating it.

Her brows knitted together as she turned her head to look at him whipping her mouth on a napkin as she did "chicken not taste good to ya Stevie?" he glanced up at the nickname she had been calling him by more and more lately then shook his head.

"No its good, I just, I don't know I'm not that hungry I guess" satisfied she took another bite off her drum stick "you did have three omelets this morning" he angled his head toured her "that could be it" something still dug at her in the back of her mind that something was wrong.

She cleaned her plate of everything but bones, then nagged a wing from Steve's plate he rolled his eyes and pushed it over so she could have better access and she smiled approvingly.
"aww aint that cute" tony said from in front of them "fuck off bro" she muttered around a piece of thigh "language" Steve said almost absently she made a face when she thought he wasn't looking.

"I saw that" she made a noise of despair and the others laughed.

After everyone had finished and she had finished the dishes she turned back toured Steve "you sure you're alright?" she asked now that everyone had left them alone.

She walked over and leaned against the island when he looked at her "you didn't eat very much even by your standards" he shrugged "I don't know, I just, wasn't hungry"

She made a humming noise scratching at what use to be a scan in the middle of her chin from falling into a coffee table as child, when she told Steve that story he'd laughed for almost ten minutes straight.

"Whatever that purple beam was, it could have messed with your stomach, come on, I want Bruce to have a look at you, just in case" he sighed and got up "lead the way"

30 minutes later Bruce had just run the file test and turned back toured him "everything looks fine, what did you say happened again?"

She sat down on the medical bed behind Steve who sat on the end and kicked her feet "the machine we found turned itself on wouldn't turn off even after I pulled the power source, then did a pretty purple light show right into his back, it burned right through his shirt"

Bruce made a huh sound "I was wondering why you changed shirts" he muttered "but it didn't touch his skin, I looked not even a scrape" Bruce scratched his ear "well I don't know what to tell you, maybe hydra hadn't finished it yet, maybe you were really lucky, maybe it really was just a super-heated light show and the cotton in your shirt dispersed the ions enough for it to collapse in on itself"

Beth was humming still kicking her feet then she shrugged "thanks anyway Bruce, come on big guy" she graved Steve's arm by his elbow and pulled him until he was standing and lead him out of the lab "I think it's about time for a movie marathon"

Steve sighed fondly, trying to fake a put upon look but the smile ruined it "just none of those super hero ones they did about me ok? I don't Wanna sit for the next few hours pointing out everything they got wrong" she grinned at him.

"So long as you don't mind acting in the role of pillow that's fine by me"