Notes: Oh, so I saw AOU for Mother's Day. *sigh* It was wonderful. It was so much better than the first Avengers' movie. I'm happy. *sigh* again. :D

Anyway, yes, this has spoilers (only slight), and so does the note at the end. It's supposed to be about Steve's and Maria's conversation at the elevator, but Steve wanted to add a few things so I let him. ;) This is part of my Daffodils series.

Title from the Eric Clapton song.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Steve watched Maria from across the room, as he had all night. She had been at the bar and in conversation with Rhodey, Stark, and Thor; then she walked away with the Colonel. Steve tracked their movements until he realized that Rhodey was trying to maneuver Maria to a spot off to the side, away from the other guests. He took that as his sign to move in and intervene.

It wasn't that Maria couldn't handle the situation, it was just that, though their relationship was still secret, anyone hitting on his wife was more than Steve could stand to watch.

As he approached the two, Maria cocked an amused eyebrow at him. Rhodey, however, didn't appear to find anything humorous about Steve's encroachment.

"Captain." The colonel's voice sounded resigned.

"Colonel." Steve smiled slightly at him.

"Maria." He nodded his head and attempted to keep his face neutral.

"Captain." She greeted him and Steve had to fight the laugh that threatened with the look she gave him. Colonel Rhodes would miss the subtlety, but Steve saw her acknowledge his jealousy.

Maria took a deep interest in her drink as Rhodey began to engage Steve in conversation by telling him a joke about some general and a tank, or something like that. Steve wasn't really paying attention. He didn't usually mind Rhodey's jokes as much as the others did, but he was calculating an exit strategy and trying to assess how long he keep his wife away before they were noticed missing, more particularly, noticed missing together.

"Rhodey." Maria looked up from her drink to interrupt before Colonel Rhodes began another story. "I think that blonde over on the far couch has been watching you for a while now."

"Really?" Rhodey perked up and Steve suddenly wanted to smack the man. He'd just been trying to hit on Maria and now he was ready to run off with someone else.

Rhodey excused himself and walked away. Maria sighed quietly in relief as Steve moved around to her other side to face away from the crowd and finally take a look at his wife the way he'd wanted all night.

She was wearing a new dress, which Steve always enjoyed, especially learning the most sensuous way to get her out of it. The jewelry was a set he'd purchased for her birthday in January. He felt the corner of his mouth twitch up at the thought of undressing her but leaving the jewelry on. Maria teased him about his fetish for what she had dubbed "bling sex," but Steve couldn't help himself. There was just something about the way she looked…

"I'm sorry about earlier." Maria's voice, tinged with remorse, interrupted his fantasy.

He looked at her in surprise and waited for her to explain. He couldn't think of anything she needed to apologize for.

"What I said about the twins," she told him. "What it implied about you."

Steve thought a moment before he remembered their conversation at the elevator.

"It's not a problem," he assured her. "I didn't even think about it again until you mentioned it."

"Still, Steve," she started, but Steve shook his head.

He quickly checked around to see if anyone was overtly watching them, when he saw that everyone seemed occupied, he suggested they step on onto the balcony to talk privately.

"It's a bit cold," she said. "I'll go get my sweater."

Steve shook his head and slipped his jacket off. Maria turned so he could slip it over her shoulders. As he did so, she stiffened slightly. Steve looked into the glass of the wall to see whom she suspected had seen them.

"Natasha," she said.

Steve found the red-head in the reflection.

"I wouldn't worry too much," he assured her. "She's busy with her own attempts at romance."

"Dr. Banner's still clueless?" Maria asked as Steve guided her to the doors.

He opened the door for her and was glad to find the balcony deserted. It was cold enough to keep most inside.

"Afraid so," Steve said.

Maria shook her head.

"It's not as if she's been subtle."

"Well, Banner's probably like me," Steve said.

Maria looked back at him as she led him around the corner of the balcony to a more secluded spot.

"Like you?" she asked.

"Yeah, he probably doesn't understand why he's being pursued by an incredibly beautiful woman," Steve told her.

"You're being pursued by a beautiful woman," Maria cocked her eyebrow at him.

"Well, I was," he said. "But I wised up and married her."

The look of unimpressed disbelief on Maria's face was enough to force Steve to give into his grin.

"I don't recall pursuing you in the slightest," she said. "I think you have a different version of our story."

"It was a subtle pursuit," he said.

Maria laughed at him.

"So subtle I didn't even notice it," she said.

He smiled at her.

"Alright, I admit it," he said. "I was pursuing you from the first moment I saw you."

Maria laughed some more at that.

"Stop," she said. "Your nose is going to get longer and it will make it difficult to kiss you later."

"You think I wasn't interested from that first day?" he asked then pulled her into the shadows where they couldn't be seen inside.

"What do you think I gave Fury that $10 for?" he asked.

Maria shook her head and laughed quietly at him.

"Oh, this is good," she said. "I haven't heard this one before."

"Are you saying I'm making this up?" He leaned down and rested his forehead to hers then snaked his hands under the jacket to pull her closer to him.

"Uh, huh," she said.

And Steve pulled back with a mock look of surprise on his face.

"You expect me to believe that you were standing on the bridge of a flying aircraft carrier that had just turned invisible and you meant to tell Fury that I was the thing that surprised you?"

She was laughing now, which was exactly what Steve wanted. Maria relaxed and enjoying herself had been his goal even before they started officially dating.

"So was it because you weren't used to getting disapproving looks?" she asked.

"No," he protested. "It was because you were the most attractive woman I'd seen since I woke. I had no idea they existed anymore."

Now she really did look at him in disbelief.

"You knew Natasha before you knew me," she said.

"I'm missing your point," he replied.

Maria rolled her eyes.

"OK, I think you've deflected from the actual problem long enough," she said, returning to her apology.

"I didn't mean to infer that you were some kind of monster for volunteering for the super soldier program," she told him.

Steve's breath caught at her admission and he cursed himself for his earlier response. He'd meant it only as a joke. He should have worded it differently.

"I never thought you did," he said. "I was just trying to be funny. I obviously failed."

He leaned in to press his lips gently against hers. He longed to deepen it but they both knew they couldn't afford to take the chance.

Later, he thought, as he forced himself to pull back from her. The way she looked at him didn't make it easy though.

"How many more minutes is this party?" he asked, his voice rough with desire.

Maria chuckled and smiled as she reached up to his lips to wipe off the lipstick. Steve grabbed her hand and held her fingers to his lips when she was finished, kissing each one slowly and seductively.

"You've become too much of a tease since SHIELD fell," she admonished.

"You're on to me," he said, then turned her hand over to kiss the base of her palm and smiled at the expected resulting shiver. "That's the real reason I wanted to take it down."

Maria laughed and Steve was sure he would not be able to wait until Thor left and the party was officially over. He was about to suggest she suddenly get called away, which was how they usually played it in these situations, when they heard the doors open again and people talking.

Steve pulled away from Maria quickly and they both walked over to the balcony railing to make it appear they'd simply been having a casual conversation.

A couple rounded the corner and gave disappointed looks when they found the area occupied. They turned and left, but Steve knew he and Maria had to get back into the party soon. He let out a loud sigh and Maria shook her head at him.

"You'll be fine," she said. "Just a few more hours."

She began to walk back to the door and Steve watched her. He groaned aloud as Maria intentionally swayed her hips.

"Talk about being a tease," he growled, then caught up with her so he could open the door for her.

As they walked back into the party Maria turned and commented to him.

"You know, there was a slight benefit to your comment in the elevator," she told him. "I'm now certain Tony doesn't suspect anything. He said that if you keep talking to beautiful women that way, you'll never get laid."

"What?" Steve choked.

"Sorry, did my language offend you?"

Steve opened his mouth to respond but sighed and shook his head in resignation instead. He smiled at her smirk then leaned down and whispered one word in her ear.

"Bling."

Steve chuckled at the response on his wife's face and the way she had to bite her lower lip to control it.

"You don't play fair, Captain Rogers," she finally said and Steve laughed.

"Everything's fair ground with you, Mrs. Rogers," he said quietly.

The look she gave him before he turned and walked back to the party made Steve warm in all the wrong places for a public event and he wondered if he'd truly won that round.

Notes:

Oh, and how loooooong Maria wore Steve's jacket?! Yeah, that was great. :) (Just don't get me started on how there is no Maria Hill in CA3. *sniff*)

Anyone else ridiculously over the top happy about the fix-it for Hawkeye? I was looking forward to that, once I heard about it, more than anything else in the entire movie. :) Of course, my kids think that they'll kill off his family in the next movie. :/ I swear they did not get this pessimism from me.