Chapter 2: You're not in Kansas anymore Toto

Fiona cruises down the highway with her windows open, singing along to her Lana Del Rey CD as her hair blows around her face from the wind. She takes a sip of her latte as she watches the road. A few weeks in the city and she still hasn't adjusted to the abundance of traffic. At least the highway offers a small break from the backup due to the lack of stoplights and crosswalks. Pedestrians rule the road in the city, and dozens of them will swarm into the road, cutting right in front of cars. A few times she was forced to slam on her breaks to avoid decorating her windshield with them.

Although she shouldn't be complaining that much. Her car had finally been fixed, at a price that broke her bank. The grease ball mechanic was a shyster and had no problem screwing her over. Idiots like him made her miss the southern kindness of her old state. Old Billy would have fixed her car for a reasonable price. He always gave discounts to the college students. It seemed few people around here had any concern for anyone but themselves. Fiona was having a hard time adjusting to that, expecting the shop owners to be friendly like the townspeople back home.

She gazed out her window at the woods off to the side of the highway, surprised that any trees had managed to survive the expansion of New York's concrete jungle.

She continued driving down the road and spotted an old beater pulled into the breakdown lane.

'Someone's having a bad day' she thought.

As she pulled closer she saw a man looking quizzically at the hood of his car. As he heard her approach he turned to her smiling and folded his hands in a pleading gesture. She giggled and decided she could spare a few minutes to give this man a ride. She didn't have to be anywhere for a few hours, and she couldn't leave him to fend for himself in the middle of nowhere. She pulled next to him and got out of the truck smiling.

"Car troubles?" she asks, closing her door.

"Yeah of all the worst luck." the man sighed. "It's been a rough day as it is." He walks over and pops the hood open, looking inside curiously.

Fiona remembered how her repairman had forgotten his tools in her trunk, and she'd been so angry at his rudeness she hadn't brought them back to him. "Hold on" she said walking over to her trunk. "I think I have a few tools back here."

She pops her trunk and shuffles through the tools, grabbing anything she thinks might be useful. She finds an unfamiliar tool and thinks the stranger may know what it is. She looks up "Hey..." she trails off seeing him digging through her purse through the back window.

She rushes over to the driver's door. "What are you doing?" she asks him.

"Just seeing if you had a cell phone in here, wanted to call for help." he reasoned.

Fiona did not feel good about this at all. She felt panic creep into her veins as her heart started pounding rapidly. "Look I'm running a little late so I should.."

He reaches into his pocket and snaps open a switchblade. "Get in the trunk." he demands. "We're going to take a little ride."

Her eyes widen and she bolts in the opposite direction. "Hey where are you going?" the man asks chasing after her.

Fiona runs across the highway looking for passing cars but finding none. She is literally in the middle of nowhere, and the traffic she usually complains about is nonexistent. She is all alone, and has no idea how to escape. The man is gaining speed and she runs into the woods, hoping to lose him amongst the trees. Her legs ache and her lungs are burning but she knows she has no choice but to keep running. She has no idea what this man will do to her if he catches up. Did his car even break down, or was all this a trap?

All things considered, she was actually doing a great job of running in heels. Even Tabatha Coffey would be impressed by her balance and coordination in the stilts. Panting, she weaves through the trees, desperately trying to lose her assailant. Unfortunately she's been running too fast for her body to keep up, and she trips over her own feet falling into the grass.

The man comes up to her turning her onto her back and holding the blade to her throat.

"You shouldn't have tried doing that." he scolded. "Now I'm going to have to punish you."

Fiona squeezes her eyes shut, tears slipping down her face as she braces herself.

Nothing ever happened though and suddenly she feels the man being wrenched off of her.

Steve donned a pair of sweatpants and an active wear shirt he had found at Target. He was still struggling to adapt to modern fashion, and had to be vigilant about his outfit choices in order to avoid embarrassing or drawing attention to himself. He didn't know what passed for workout clothes in this time period, but luckily Target had an entire section dedicated to it. He walked into the department and simply grabbed the first shirt he saw. It was made of a smooth and thin material which made it perfect for jogging. It would not stick to his chest as he sweated. He gawked at the twenty dollar price, but he was informed that was a reasonable amount for a shirt in this time period.

He resented the guidance from the SHIELD agents, and mostly refused their offered help, choosing to do things on his own. They meant well but they mothered over him and made him feel helpless, which he wasn't at all. He did accept their help on some things, because inevitably he had questions, but they were so businesslike, and detached. It felt like they weren't really concerned about him at all, and would rather be doing something else. He refrained from contacting them unless it was absolutely necessary, and tried figuring out whatever modern mystery he faced on his own. Fury respected his space, and informed the agents to back off and let him contact them for help. After a few failed attempts at trying to assimilate him he realize that Steve would come around when he was ready, and needed to adjust at his own pace.

He laced up his workout sneakers, and went out the door of his old fashioned apartment. He needed to clear his head, and running always helped calm him. He would go to the outskirts of the city and jog in the small wooded areas he could find, away from the abundance of modern things. In this time period everything was in your face; advertisements and store logos were plastered on buildings, and the flashing lights make them difficult to ignore. He passed by dozens of car showings and billboards on his walk out of the city. He found a small area of trees and broke into a run. The trees and grass reminded him of the war, when he and his Howling Commandos would trek through the forests observing the enemy, or setting camp for the night. The trees and bushes provided excellent camouflage, and they were as safe as they could possibly be in those situations.

He runs for around twenty minutes, and is disappointed to find that the woods end, and he comes out to a highway. He sighs and realizes it would be difficult to avoid the pavement and buildings without going out to New York State, but he just wasn't up for the trip there today.

Deciding to quit his run for the day he turns to walk back before noticing two cars parked in the distance. Looking around, he realizes they are the only two on this strip of highway. He steps out of the woods and starts to move closer in case they required assistance. One of the cars looked in rough shape, and the people were possibly stranded out here. The road scrapes under his shoes as he starts to approach the scene. On the other side of the cars he sees two figures standing across from each other.

Moving closer still, he struggles to hear their conversation with his super soldier hearing.

"...You doing?" a female voice squeaks. She is facing his direction but hasn't noticed him yet, completely focused on the man in front of her.

Steve finds something familiar about her, but that's practically impossible since everyone he knows is dead.

As he keeps walking, he eventually gets a closer look at her face and he suddenly recognizes her. It's that Fiona girl he met on the train a couple of weeks ago.

She takes a step back as the man pulls out a knife. "Get in the car." he growls. "We're going to take a little ride."

Fiona's eyes go wide as she tries to run away from him. She runs across the highway into the woods he has just came from.

"Where are you going?" the man demands chasing after her, waving the knife.

Steve squares his jaw, his eyes narrowing as he chases after the man. They're both far into the distance but he'll catch up to them no problem. They both disappear into the trees as Steve follows. He easily dodges the trees and branches in his way, even breaking one off just in case he needed a weapon. His Shield was god knows where, and being in the army taught him to always carry weapons, regardless of strength. It was imperative to be prepared for all possibilities.

He passes through a group of trees and sees Fiona trip and fall to the ground. The man wastes no time hovering over her, roughly turning her around. He puts the knife to her throat. "You shouldn't have done that." he taunted her." Now I have to punish you."

Steve rushes over, grabbing the man, and throwing him to the ground.

"What the hell man." he complains, rubbing his shoulder.

Steve angrily punches him square across the face, knocking him unconscious. The cops can deal with his sorry ass.

"Are you okay?" he asks Fiona, extending a hand to help her up.

"Ye..yeah." she responds placing her shaking hand in his.

He pulls her up taking note of her shaking body. "I'm glad you're alright ma'am, what exactly happened?"

Fiona struggles to take even breaths. "I..I was driving along and he..was...stuck on the side of the road, and he pleaded with me to..pull over and help him. I figured it would be fine." she gasps for breath. "We all used to pick up hitchhiker backs home." she finished her voice climbing a few octaves.

He sighs and looks at her sympathetically. She wasn't used to city life, and needed to be more careful. "That may have been alright before ma'am, but this is a dangerous city and you need to be careful around here." Steve informed her. "The people are not the same as they are down in the south."

She chokes out a laugh. "I guess I'm not in Kansas anymore Toto."

Steve laughed. 'I understand that reference!' he though.

"And I thought I told you to call me Fiona." she reminded him. "You do remember me right."

"Yes." Steve smiled. "From the train."

"Yup, that was me. By the way you never called." she waved her finger at him shaking her head.

I didn't want to be an inconvenience." Steve said sheepishly.

"Inconvenience?" she looked incredulous. "Nah dude, and I don't know too many inconveniences that save your life."

There was that dude word again. He wished he could ask her what that meant, but was worried about what her reaction would be. That was obviously a common word now.

He observed her tear stained face ad quivering lip and thought maybe he should keep an eye on her. She seemed to get herself in trouble. It would probably be good to have at least one friend, especially if she was so insistent about it.

"Would you like to get a cup of coffee?" he asked. That was simple enough. He could calm her down and they could talk a bit.

"Umm." she hesitated.

Steve sighed internally. What an idiot he was. Fiona was obviously just being nice, and didn't really want to hang around him.

His self-pity was broken as she raised her shaking hand up. "How about ice cream. I think caffeine is the last thing I need right now." she said, gesturing to her hand for emphasis.

Steve smiled. "Ice cream would be swell." he answered, cringing internally as he remembered that word was outdated.

"Do you have a car?" she asked, looking through the woods back to the highway.

"No I ran here."

"Huh?" she looked confused.

"I jog through the woods sometimes, it helps clear my head." he explained.

"Oh, well we can take my car! It's not broken or anything. I just got it fixed actually." She looked down at her unconscious attacker. "What about him?" she asks.

"We'll call the police. Do you have a cellular telephone? He inquires.

"You don't?" she wrinkled her nose.

"No ma'am."

She shook her head and started walking. "Come on, I have one in my purse."

Steve followed the tiny girl, giving one last disgusted glance to the pig on the ground.

A/N Anndddd fate brings them back together. I apologize if there are any formatting errors. I just got Windows 8 and it is frustrating me so much right now. But they only make laptops with them now, and I was forced to get a new one. And don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think, if you feel so inclined.