Sober – Kelly Clarkson

Chapter One

Steve

As I locked eyes with the thugs standing before me, most of them grinning evilly, I wonder how I had been talked into this situation. Beside me, I felt a tight grip on my arm and I knew there was no other way out of this situation than to fight.

"On my count, you're going to run, alright?" I turned to look at the young girl beside me. She could be no older than eleven and I had offered to walk her home because it had been getting late. She nodded at me and dropped her hands from my arm.

"Ready…set…" I didn't get to say go as there was a sudden burst of light and many of the thugs were thrown backwards. The others rushed towards me and I made short work of them, keeping a watchful eye on the frightened girl. She screamed when one of them pulled a gun on me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I heard from behind me and the thug cocked his gun threateningly, "You guys just aren't good at making smart decisions are you?"

Before he could even place his finger on the trigger, he was blasted into a building by a ball of white light. Scanning my surroundings, we were officially out of danger, though I never considered us to be in danger to begin with.

"I thought I asked you to stay with the others." I sighed, exasperated. Of course she wouldn't listen to me, she never does.

"I had a feeling you would need some help, forgive me for trying to be thoughtful." Her tone was harsh, unforgiving, and something I had grown used to over the past couple of weeks.

"Look, can we not argue about this right now. I just want to get her home." I gestured to the girl who was looking at our so-called savior in awe, "We'll be going now. Go back to the Tower, Shiloh. That's an order."

Her blue eyes were cold as she stared at me, since she hated it when I ordered her around. She didn't argue though and I watched as she turned on her heel and stormed off. When she was gone, I turned my attention back to the girl and she began to guide me once again.

"Isn't it past your bedtime, Gramps?"

I shot Tony a withering glare as I entered the room. He and a few of the other Avengers were gathered in the kitchen. I noticed immediately that Shiloh wasn't there. I always looked for her first. It was a habit I had developed when we had dated.

The fact that we were no longer together still didn't sit right with me. Eight months, we were together for eight amazing months. I had even caught myself looking at wedding rings. I'm old-fashioned, I'll admit. I didn't want to be in a relationship unless it was going somewhere. And I thought ours had been doing just that.

Apparently I was wrong.

There was a mission that had gone wrong, and we nearly lost Tony and Clint. Afterwards, Shiloh lashed out at me, blaming me for putting them in danger. She blamed me almost as much as I had been blaming myself. The next morning, she told me it was over.

"Steve?" I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Pepper call me, "Are you hungry?"

At that moment, the door opened and Shiloh walked in. Her black hair was windblown and the blue dress she was wearing brought out her piercing eyes. She was beautiful in every sense of the word, and she was no longer mine to behold.

"No, I'm good." Pepper gave me a worried look but didn't say anything as I silently walked out of the room.

It was like losing Peggy all over again.

It wasn't long before I found myself in Stark Tower's gym, standing before the punching bag. Swallowing hard, I began to hit the bag a couple of times before my frustration caused me to snap. Landing blow after blow, I watched as memories flew past my eyes.

Our first official date. She wore a yellow dress. We went dancing.

For our three month anniversary (Pepper insisted we celebrate), Tony flew us to Paris. It was amazing.

At six months, I broached the topic of marriage while I was having lunch with her father, Nick Fury.

He approved.

At seven months, I had wandered into a small jewelry shop and find a blue sapphire ring.

The owner told me he would hold until the time was right.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I stopped punching long enough to glance over at who had just walked in. It was Bruce.

"Clearly," I breathed as I resumed punching the bag, "I'm not in a talking mood."

"Steve," I ignored him, "Steve, listen to me. Steve!"

I stopped immediately and turned to face him, hoping that he wouldn't lose his cool and Hulk out. Luckily, he didn't and I mentally chided myself. He had been working on controlling his alter ego, and was doing a fine job of it. Who was I to doubt him?

"She knows I miss her," I finally confessed, "And she doesn't care."

"Have you two actually sat down and talked about this?" I shook my head, since the breakup, we couldn't talk to each other without getting into an argument, "What happened, Steve? One moment, we were all sitting around trying to come up with baby name for you two, and now you guys can't even stay in the same room without fighting."

The look I gave him told him everything he could possibly want to know. I didn't have an answer for that question, because I had spent the past three weeks trying to figure it out. The only way I would know was if I actually sat her down and forced her to talk to me. That was likely to never happen.

"I think you guys should talk it out," He turned to leave, "And you're wrong about her not caring for you. She just about blasted Tony's head off when he tried to keep her from tailing you and that little girl."

As the door to the gym closed, I stared silently at the punching bag. My arms felt heavy, like lead, and I slowly slipped the boxing gloves off of my hands.

Bruce had a point, but I wasn't too eager to get my hopes up. Not again.

The next morning was eventful, to say the least. Around sunrise, JARVIS activated an alarm that let us know there was danger in the city. Quickly changing into my suit, I opened my bedroom door and headed down the hall to the living area. There I found Clint and Natasha already standing in front of a holographic screen.

"What's going on?"

"There's a fire downtown, that certainly wouldn't take all of us, would it?" I looked around as Tony, Bruce, and Shiloh appeared.

"No, it shouldn't," All eyes rested on me, the leader; "Tony, Natasha, and I will handle the fire. The rest of you stay here and be on alert, in case we need back up."

Everyone nodded in agreement before we separated. Natasha and I took the elevator down to the garage, where a black Jeep waited for us. Climbing inside, we sped out of the parking area and down the street while Tony flew above us.

We could hear the sirens and the screaming as we neared the site of the fire. It was an old apartment building, and it looked as though it were on the verge of collapse. Getting out of the Jeep, I approached one of the firemen.

"Are there people trapped inside?" He nodded and I sent a look to Natasha. We were going in.

The heat blazed as we approached the entrance of the building, several firefighters trailing behind us. Kicking in the door, I stepped inside and immediately dodged falling debris. Calling out, I searched for any sign of life.

"Bottom floor is clear, Captain." Natasha informed me as we made our way towards the stairs.

"Looks like we're going up."

"Captain! That's a bad idea, this building is going to collapse any second." Tony's voice came through the communication link just as I heard a deafening crack.

"Can't be helped, there's people in here."

"Cap, I just had JARVIS scan the building, there's no one in there except you guys." What? Tony had to be wrong. The firefighter I had spoken to told me there were people here. Why would he lie? Or maybe the people had gotten out on their own?

"Captain!" It was Natasha I heard over the groaning of the building, it was coming down.

"Get out of here!" I yelled to her and the firefighters, "Now!"

She looked at me as though that was the last thing she wanted to do, but Natasha never disobeyed my orders. Hesitantly, she turned and guided the firefighters back outside. Once they were safe, I took a careful step backwards, making my way down the stairs I had been climbing.

The building groaned again and I swallowed hard, I wasn't going to make it out in time.

Above me, I could hear the deafening roar of the building collapsing upon itself. Hurriedly, I jumped down the last few steps and rolled back into the entryway. There was a sudden thud as I was pushed forward and thrown out the door we had entered in.

Hitting the pavement, I groaned as dust and ash surrounded me. Coughing, I pushed myself off the ground and stood up straight.

I was alive.

"Captain? Are you there?" I coughed some more before managing to answer Natasha. I could hear her breathe a sigh of relief, "Don't ever do that again."

"I think we can call this a job well done. I managed to minimize the amount of damage the building caused. No one was hurt and the fire is officially out." I could practically hear Tony's grin. He had been the one to save the day, and was quite proud of it.

"Let's pack it up and go home, then."

I met Natasha at the Jeep and we climbed inside of it. As we drove, I couldn't help but wonder what had happened back there. Something or someone had set a trap for us, I now realized. If I hadn't made it out in time, if I had kept searching…

"Steve, are you alright?" Natasha asked as we approached the Tower.

"Yea, I'm fine."

Except, I wasn't.