Starting a new story. Set post-Winter Soldier. This chapter's more of an introduction than anything, but I promise it'll get more interesting. Enjoy!
Steve Rogers hated being late.
To be fair, it wasn't his fault that he was late, it was the damn construction's fault, but it was still driving him crazy. He hadn't even wanted to come in the first place, but Natasha had insisted on setting him up on a blind date. Of course, he had still refused, until Natasha threatened to make his life a living hell unless he went, and Steve had learned to take Natasha's threats seriously. So here he was, 10 minutes late for this damn date, uncomfortable as hell in the suit Natasha had bought for him, inwardly cursing her for subjecting him to this humiliation. As he walked into the restaurant, the cool air hit him and he relaxed, at least a little bit. It might be late August, but apparently the weather hadn't realized it was almost fall, and temperatures had been at record highs all week. Steve the stuffy-looking maître de his name and followed himself, he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. After all, Natasha had picked her, so she couldn't be that bad, could she?
"Captain America?"
He winced as the cute blonde rose from table, eyes wide. "Steve's fine, thanks. You must be Jenny?"
She nodded excitedly, blonde curls bouncing like springs. "It's amazing to meet you! I couldn't believe it when Natasha said you wanted to meet me! It's so cool! I mean, Captain America, wanting to meet me! I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to this!"
Steve winced a little bit with each exclamation point, inwardly banging his head against a wall. "Really, Steve is just fine. I've been looking forward to this too," he said courteously, lying through his teeth. Something told him those exclamation points weren't going away for the rest of dinner.
Steve walked through the door of his apartment and locked it behind him with a sigh of relief. To Jenny's credit, she'd finally relaxed enough halfway through dinner that the exclamation points were only every two or three sentences, instead of every single one. She really wasn't as bad as he'd expected when he met her. She really was quite sweet, and he had no doubt that she was usually quite clever, but unfortunately, her nervousness over "Captain America wanting to meet her!" made it pretty hard to keep a real conversation going. But he'd made it through the night, walked her to her door like the gentleman he was, and given her a firm handshake, hopefully communicating politely that he never wanted to see her again.
"So how'd it go?"
Steve grimaced and turned around. "Please for the love of God tell me why you thought that date was a good idea?"
Natasha started to laugh, turning it into a (poorly-concealed) cough instead. "That bad, huh?"
Steve shook his head in disbelief. "She wore a red, white and blue dress to dinner, and I'm pretty sure she called me 'Captain' more times tonight than I've been called since I was performing in shows for the troops. Really, what were you thinking?"
She stretched like a cat, looking completely unsurprised at his description. "Damn. I thought I'd found one who could hold herself together around you. She really is usually quite smart, you know. She's a math teacher at some underprivileged high school. Real good girl, perfect for the golden boy. Vodka? I brought it with me. Figured we could celebrate if it went well and if not, well, vodka's pretty good for forgetting bad dates too."
Steve shook his head resignedly at her. "And what, exactly, would you have done if I'd invited the lovely Miss Jones up to my apartment?"
Natasha grinned, that mischievous twist she always got when she was messing with him. "Please, you? The All-American golden boy bring a girl home on the first date? I'm pretty sure there's a better chance you sleeping with Tony than that happening."
Steve glared at her. "Can you stop calling me golden boy and pour me a drink instead? I have some big meeting with the new head of S.A.F.E., probably to tell me how much they appreciate my informing them of Hydra's existence and could I please never do anything like that ever again. Regardless, I could do without a hangover. Something tells me it's going to be enough of a headache regardless."
Natasha shrugged and headed out. "You're making me glad I'm still on the government's x-list," she said as she left, closing the door behind her.
"If only I still was," Steve muttered to himself, not looking forward to yet another pointless meeting.
Surprisingly, the meeting was not pointless. As it happened, SAFE had need of Captain America for a real mission, though admittedly a low priority mission compared to what he was used to.
"We need you to take care of something for us. We've recently discovered and arrested this girl, and we need your help dealing with her," said Director Davis, indicating the picture that flashed up on the screen to his right.
Steve examined the information on the screen. Rose Verdi, age 23, 5 feet 7 inches, brown hair, blue eyes. The picture of the girl didn't look threatening- she was pretty, with distinctive features, but not in a harsh way. There definitely was something in the way she was looking at the camera, though- there was ice behind those big blue eyes. "What's she under arrest for?" he asked.
"Blackmail. Miss Verdi here is responsible for several distinguished politicians' recent and very public downfalls. She finds out whatever skeletons they're hiding, threatens them to get them to do whatever she wants, then releases her information to the public when she's done with them."
Steve looked at the screen, a little surprised at the trouble she had managed to cause. "And what do you want me to do with her, exactly?"
Davis sat in his chair and leaned back, hands clasped as he leaned back to consider the man standing in front of him. "We want you to help us rehabilitate her. We believe she could be a valuable asset for our organization, but first we need to make sure that she isn't a loose cannon. Assuming you agree, we'd restrict her to stay within a certain radius of you at all times. Sort of like a dog on a leash. We're hoping you'll be able to rub off some of your- I suppose the best word is 'wholesome'- ideas on her. She's still young and impressionable, and we think you might be just the person to turn her around before she throws an otherwise promising life away. Of course, we'll cover her expenses, and allot you an allowance for her. I understand your apartment has a guest bedroom, so living arrangements shouldn't be difficult. She's already been implanted with a chip that neutralizes her ability to access computers and, again if you agree, we'll program that chip so she has to stay within approximately a quarter of a mile from you. Any questions?"
He had plenty, but something told him that was a rhetorical question. "No sir. Happy to do whatever needs doing."
Davis nodded and stood to shake Steve's hand. "Good to hear, soldier. We'll have her ready to leave with you in 15 minutes. The sooner we get this little experiment going, the better, right?"