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Disclaimer: The characters and things you recognize in this story don't belong to me. They belong to Marvel and Janet Evanovich. I'm pretty sure you'll recognize which is which. Mistakes belong to me.

Chapter 3

Steve's POV

I stopped on our way out of the conference room to pick up my duffel bag and as I turned around I noticed Natasha exchange a meaningful look with Lester. That was odd. I'd noticed the two of them whispering to each other at some point during the security discussion earlier, and I'd found that strange at the time as well. Oh well, I'd figure it out eventually, so I just straightened up the rest of the way and moved on.

We all followed Stephanie down the staircase and into the garage. I watched as Stephanie pushed a button on another plastic key fob and an SUV's lights flashed. She pushed the same button on the other fob and the SUV next to it did the same. She glanced around the group then smiled and handled the second set of keys to Natasha. Natasha smirked and nodded her thanks before getting in the second SUV.

"Great, they've already formed an alliance. I knew we shouldn't have let Natasha go upstairs with her earlier! Women always do this."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and walked over to the drivers side of the car and yelled back, "get over it, Stark! And get in the car."

"Oooooh, bossy! I like her, Cap!" Tony said while climbing into the back seat of the SUV. I watched as Clint climbed into the front seat of Natasha's SUV and Thor climbed into the back. Bruce got into the backseat of Stephanie's SUV with Tony, so I shrugged when the latch to Stephanie's SUV opened and threw my duffle in the back and was surprised to see another small one already in there. Then I walked around and got into the front seat next to Stephanie. As I climbed in, I heard Tony informing her of which hotel to go to and watched as she programmed it into the SUV's GPS unit.

Then we sat. Stephanie didn't even start the car.

"Problem?" I asked.

"Yes, I see three grown men who don't know that they need to put their seatbelts on when they get in a car. And I'm not going anywhere until they do."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Please don't call me that, it makes me feel old," Stephanie sighed and Tony snickered in the background. "Just call me Steph. Or Stephanie if you'd rather. None of this ma'am business."

"Uh, sweetheart, I'm pretty sure you're the youngest one in this car. And Cap's got you beat by like 60 years. Also, I'm wearing a suit of armor, Cap heals crazy fast, and Bruce is practically invincible thanks to the other guy so..."

Stephanie just chuckled and said, "Seat belts boys, I'm waiting!"

Once we'd all buckled our seatbelts, she started the car and music immediately started playing. I wasn't too caught up on modern music, but I was pretty sure it was a genre called heavy metal, which I'll admit surprised me a little. As soon as she heard it, Stephanie chuckled and smiled the first true smile I'd seen from her.

"Metallica, nice!" came from Tony in the backseat. I guess that answered that question.

With that, Stephanie pulled out onto the street with Natasha behind her. Since it was late at night, or rather, early in the morning, we made it to the hotel quickly. I noticed Stephanie scanning for threats and tails the whole way, and I was impressed by the caution she was exercising. Although she hadn't seemed all that upset earlier, it was clear that she really was aware of the seriousness of the situation. Good. Hopefully that would make keeping her safe a little easier.

I know Ranger and his employees had badly wanted her wearing one of those trackers, and I felt sure they were tracking this car, but I'd put my foot down on the issue. She'd made her stance on being constantly tracked clear and I could understand her point of view. It would no doubt be stifling as a long-term solution.

What I didn't understand, and I'd said so much to the men earlier, was why, if she'd made it clear she wouldn't take a panic button with a tracker in it, they hadn't gotten her one without. It seemed as though, if they were that concerned about her, that would have been an easy compromise. They'd just looked at me baffled when I suggested it. Guess they were too busy complaining about her stubbornness to see their own. I was grateful that Tony had been able to get his hands on a simple panic button so quickly.

Stephanie found two parking spots on the street as near the hotel as possible, mumbling something about "Rangeman parking karma" to herself and we all piled out of the car. I grabbed both duffels with one hand, leaving the other free to fight if need be and just shook my head when Stephanie made to grab the second one. Without consciously discussing it, we all formed a circle around Stephanie as we walked toward the hotel. I thought she was going to comment on it, but instead she let it go.

"Did your car play Metallica when you started it up too? What's up with that?" questioned Natasha.

"Oh, yeah. The Merry Men spoil me. Well, they couldn't know which car I was going to get into, so they must have programmed both so they'd be covered either way."

"Merry Men?" questioned Thor.

"Right. You see, I used to joke about some of the things that Ranger could pull off by calling him Batman. Then one day I likened him to Robin Hood and then decided that his employees must be his 'Merry Men'. So that's what I call them now. Let me tell you, they did not like it the first time they overheard it. But I figure they can deal with it."

Clint barked out a laugh. "I've been in the field with Ranger and some of his men a few times. They would always tell stories about Babe and Bomber and all those other nicknames I heard them use today. I never realized they were all one woman. Something tells me there isn't a lot they wouldn't do for you. Including die."

"Well, that seems fair since I'd die for them too."

Clint stopped scanning the area and just stared at her. "You better not because it would destroy every one of them." Clint replied, then he went back to his constant surveillance. I was going to have to ask him more about this group of men later. I found myself wanting to know everything about Stephanie and these people who meant so much to her.

Natasha had made a point of telling me that Stephanie was single. But being the only woman (other than Ella) in a building full of men like that, I still couldn't quite believe it.

Soon we were in the hotel lobby, and Clint broke off to monitor from a higher vantage point as we went to go check in. No sooner did the front desk attendant look up and notice Iron Man than he pushed a button on his phone and a manager came scurrying out of the office to the side. His step faltered slightly when he noticed everyone, especially Tony, in their combat gear, but he quickly continued on, greeting us profusely.

We were lead to a private elevator that serviced only the top two floors and shown to the suites. When we reached the door outside the first suite, Stephanie stopped short and stiffened. We all went on alert and noticed her gaze on a box sitting in the hallway outside the room.

"Is that from the hotel?" I asked the manager.

"No. And it wasn't here 30 minutes ago when housekeeping left after giving the suites a freshen up."

Stephanie groaned and hissed out, "boxes outside places I'm living are almost always from creepy stalkers or serial killers! Or creepy stalker serial killers!"

I think we all mentally filed that comment away to ask about later. Tony put his mask back on and then walked up to the box. Held out an arm and a scanner popped out and a light flitted across the box.

"It's safe," he confirmed. With that he picked up the note and handed it to Stephanie. She took one look at the envelope and let out a sigh of relief. The outside read "Babe".

It was from Ranger.

"See, it is shit like this that made me call him Batman."

We all chuckled a little, and it turned into full on laughter when it became clear from the expression on her face that she, once again, hadn't meant to say that out loud. I had a feeling we were all going to appreciate that quality. It would make it easier to get to know her; I doubted she was very good at witholding information even if she tried.

Apparently Tony had wrangled two three-bedroom suites for the group. Into the first he put Natasha and Clint, Stephanie, and I. He, Bruce, and Thor went into the second suite. Each bedroom had its own attached bathroom as well as a private sitting area and full closet. The suite itself had a full kitchen, a dining area, full laundry capabilities, and two sitting areas. One of the sitting areas had a piano off to the side and another bathroom attached to it.

One whole wall was windows and sliding doors onto a huge balcony. While I was setting Stephanie's bag in her room, I noticed her walking up to the windows looking out at the view. She was quickly pulled back by Clint as Natasha rushed over and closed the drapes.

"Right," Stephanie muttered to herself. "That was stupid; I know how this works."

Natasha just hooked her arm through Stephanie's and lead her off. "I'm just going to help Steph get settled and make sure she isn't hiding any injuries from us."

"I'm fine," Stephanie protested as they walked into the other room.

Clint turned to me with a grin on his face, "you know they're talking about you, right?"

That gave me pause. I actually had assumed that Natasha was checking Stephanie for injuries and otherwise making sure she was okay. Now that I thought about it, Clint was probably right.

I sidestepped the issue and asked, "so, you know this Ranger guy?"

This brought out a chuckle, "yeah. He's former army special forces. Black ops. Still a mercenary for hire, mostly for the US government. He and his team are badass and I for one am glad they're on our side on this one. We only crossed paths a handful of times, but I can tell you that while they were always willing to do legally gray things, they never did anything they thought was morally wrong."

"When I first met them they were all very withdrawn, you could tell they were only living ghosts of lives. The type that you knew were okay with the idea of not coming back from a mission. It was part of what made them so good at the types of missions they were given. Around the time they started telling stories about her," Clint gestured in the direction Stephanie and Natasha had gone, "you could see a little bit of light come back on inside of them. I don't think they'll ever be whole, but I think she saved them. From what I hear, they consult and offer advice but don't really take up missions any more. I meant what I said earlier. I think every one of them, at least the ones she'll be close with, would die for her because it would kill them if she died."

With that he walked over to the piano and tapped out a few notes. "But, what do I know. Like I said, I only met them a handful of times. Oh, and one last thing. If they were an item right now, there's no way he'd let her be here instead of with him."

I thought about what he'd said. He may have only met the man and his team a few times, but one of the things that made Clint one of the best spies and assassins in the world was his ability to assess situations and read people. The same was true for Natasha. They didn't trust anyone that I'd met before, outside of our team. And if Clint was vouching for these men, then you can bet they were trustworthy.

They'd also both taken to Stephanie shockingly well. Natasha didn't let many people get near her, but she was allowing Stephanie to. We all had finely honed instincts, especially after recent events with SHIELD and we were all gunshy about trusting people. The fact that everyone else was accepting her reassured me that it wasn't just attraction drawing me to her and letting down my guard.

Natasha walked back into the room and looked a Clint, the two exchanging some sort of silent message between themselves. Then Natasha smiled, "couple of bruises and scrapes, but all minor. She'll be right as rain in the morning. She's just taking a quick shower."

We quickly all went about our ways and did the same before gathering in the room again five minutes later. Stephanie was still in the shower, but I was pretty sure that was normal for civilians. Especially females.

There was a knock on the door and I watched as Natasha pulled a gun, holding it at her side before peeking out the peephole and opening the door. When she pulled the door fully open, I recognized Ella from earlier. She stood there with many bags in her arms and said, "Ranger sent me with some supplies, if that's alright?"

Natasha nodded her head and moved to the side. I stepped forward and took the bags from her. "I've got one more stuff down in the car with Tank; I can make it in one trip if one of you can help me." Before I could set the bags down, Clint stepped forward to escort her back down to the car and get the remaining items.

Moments after they left, Tony strode into the suite followed by Bruce and Thor. He was wearing only a robe. I raised my eyebrow at him and he just said, "Hey, your alarm went off in the middle of the night! I rushed out of the tower with my suit assembling around me and forgot to put on clothes."

"That explains why you kept your suit on the whole time. You should have said something, we could have found clothes to fit you at Rangeman." Stephanie had walked back into the room, face clear of makeup and hair wet. She was breathtaking.

Tony just shrugged and said, "I'm fine." He then turned to Natasha and me adding, "Hey Capsicle, Natalie, where'd you get the bags? What's in them?"

Just then, the door opened again admitting Clint and Ella. Stephanie rushed forward, but I beat her to Ella retrieving the bags again. "Oh, Ella, you shouldn't have come out this late. We would have been fine until morning."

"Nonsense, darling, I'm happy to help. Besides, Ranger had Tank drive me, so it really was no bother. I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner though, some of the items were a tad hard to find. Now, I'll just be getting on my way. Call if you need anything and I'll pick it up and have it for you tomorrow."

We all chimed our thanks and she was back out the door in a flash. "That woman is a saint!" Stephanie exclaimed.

We started sorting through the bags and noticed that each person had a bag with their name on it. Except for Stephanie, who was clearly her favorite. Stephanie had three bags and she was squealing with delight as she went through them. She then dashed off to change. We all followed suit then gathered again at the rest of the bags, and pulled out some toiletries and essentials as well as more food.

"If Ella was bringing all of this, then what's in the box that was here when we arrived?" Bruce asked.

Stephanie went over to the table and opened the envelope. Inside was a note that just said, "thought you might need this."

She opened the box and inside was a bag and a smaller box. The bag had in it some military-grade pepper spray on a keychain. Guess that had been missing when he'd gone through her weapons earlier. She set that aside and pulled out the smaller box. Inside was a bunch of ice packs and a pint of Cherry Garcia. Stephanie stared at it for a full minute and then she burst into tears.

Bruce looked startled, like a deer in the headlights and Tony just went awkward. Thor looked pained and reached over and thumped her on the shoulder. Then the three of them grabbed one of the bags of food, muttered that they'd be back the following morning, and hastily went back to their suite.

Natasha gave me a pointed look and gestured toward Stephanie on the couch. Then she and Clint busied themselves putting away supplies and dishing up plates for the four of us. They left plates in the sitting room for Stephanie and I and a spoon for the ice cream then waved, gestured toward the couch again, pantomimed comforting her, and went into their bedroom, shutting their door firmly.

I looked around and realized I was now alone with Stephanie for the first time since we were running away from a bomb. Granted, she was crying, but it was still a momentous occasion. I cautiously lowered myself down onto the couch next to her and slowly reached my arm around her.

As soon as my arm touched her shoulder she curled into me and just started crying harder. I hadn't been in this situation before, so I just went with my instincts and brought my other arm up and pulled her more firmly into me. I ran my hands soothingly up and down her back and made little shushing sounds until she quieted down. I held her like this for a few minutes, breathing in her scent when I realized that she had fallen asleep in my arms. One part of me felt like I was king of the world that I had made her feel so comfortable and safe that she was able to set her worries aside and sleep.

The other part of me was terrified. I had no idea what to do. I didn't know if I should stay there and just let her sleep on me, get up and leave her on the couch to sleep, or get up and carry her into her room to sleep. The last option seemed like it was the best, but I didn't really think I should be alone with her in her bedroom. It just wasn't right- especially since we'd just met that very day. Just sitting there was a similar dilemma- I enjoyed getting to hold her close, but it just didn't feel right. Leaving her on the couch, however, felt kind of callous. I mean, she was obviously upset since she'd just cried herself to sleep.

I was still sitting there contemplating my options when Natasha and Clint's door cracked open a tiny bit. Obviously noticing the silence, they crept out with their dishes. I turned my head and made eye contact with them, showing all of my bewilderment. I mouthed, "help!" and watched Natasha pass her plate to Clint.

She snuck closer and before I could do anything about it, whipped out her phone and took a picture. I didn't want to jostle Stephanie awake, so I shot her a menacing look. Clearly she wasn't concerned though because she just kept tapping and then hit send and sent a smirk to Clint who had rejoined us. One minute later, Thor, Tony, and Bruce were standing there with huge grins. I shot Natasha a stern look then looked around at my teammates and whispered, "she just cried until she fell asleep! What do I do now?!"

"You two are so cute together," Natasha offered.

"Not helping." I gritted out.

"What's wrong? Is the big old Captain afraid of the teeny, tiny girl?" Tony taunted in a whisper.

I threw my head back, closed my eyes, and counted to 10. During that time, I heard more camera phone clicks and realized that now they had pictures making it look like I was asleep too. I let out a breath and turned pleading eyes to Bruce.

He chuckled and said, "you can't leave her like that, she'll be sore in the morning, especially after everything you two went through tonight. Take her into her room and set her on her bed. She'll thank you for it in the morning."

I looked at Natasha who reluctantly nodded having already had her fun, "he's right."

I carefully moved one arm under her legs and moved the shifted the other one on her back to help stabilize her as I picked her up. I didn't fail to notice another camera click coming from Natasha's direction. I just ignored it, goal in mind, as I gently carried her into the bedroom, turned off her lights, and quickly exited the room and shut the door behind me.

I stalked over to Natasha and grabbed her phone, deleting the images. That's right, I'd picked up technology pretty well once I got used to the concept. Natasha rolled her eyes, "Come on Cap, what do you hope to accomplish? I'm a spy. If you think I don't already have those pictures backed up four different ways, you're wrong."

I handed her back her phone and growled at her, "that wasn't nice."

Her lips twitched as she replied, "maybe not, but it sure was fun."

Steph's POV

I woke up to a soft knocking noise on the door. I looked around and realized I wasn't in my room or anywhere that I remembered sleeping before. Actually, I didn't even remember going to sleep here.

"Steph," a man's voice called, "It's 6am, and you told Ranger we'd be back at the office by 7."

Ugh, morning. I hate morning. Then suddenly, yesterday's events came rushing back to me and I recognized the voice!

"I'll be out in a few minutes, Steve!"

I rushed into the bathroom and took care of business. Then I quickly brushed my teeth, tamed my hair as best I could considering I'd gone to sleep with it wet, and changed into the Rangeman uniform I'd brought with me.

I walked out into the sitting area and there were all six Avengers. It really wasn't some kind of weird dream. Of course, as exciting as that may sound, there was also the fact that I was now both homeless and carless, so that put a damper on things. Thankfully I could smell coffee.

They all looked up at me and offered their various "hello"s and "good morning"s, and I just walked right past them, waving a hand in their general direction. I made a beeline for the coffee machine and poured myself a mug full, fixed it with a bunch of sugar and cream, and then downed it. I poured myself a second cup, fixed it, and then took it with me back into the sitting room with a smile on my face. They were all staring at me in surprise as I said "good morning" in a sunny voice.

"Oooooookkkaaayyy," said Tony, "now we know, coffee first for you."

I nodded and said, "yep, if it is before 10am and I'm awake, you'll want to make sure I've had coffee before you talk to me if at all possible. Unless I'm hungover then it is The Cure all the way."

"The cure?" Bruce enquired.

"Large Coke and large fries from McDonalds. Works every time."

I could see them all mentally processing that.

"I'd try that sometime," commented Tony, "but I think it is no longer possible for me to get hangovers."

Natasha just snorted.

"Okay," I asked, "what's the plan here. Are we packing up and taking this stuff down to the car with us now? Are we coming back for it later?"

"We're coming back for it later," came the reply, this time from Steve.

"Okay, well, let me go grab my shoes and my bag and I'm ready to go when you all are."

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'll grab a piece of fruit when we get there, I really can't eat much before I workout."

Steve just handed me a muffin and said, "eat, you didn't eat anything last night."

I shrugged, peeled off the wrapper and started eating it as I walked into my room. I grabbed my shoes and my bag. I stopped back on the couch and sat down to tie my shoes. When I started to get up, I noticed Steve holding out the can of pepper spray that Ranger had sent over.

"Right, good call." I said, while digging out the keys to the SUV. Steve took them from me and carefully strong on the pepper spray leaving me to finish the muffin.

When I finished he said, "you've got a belt on that uniform, why don't you carry your gun on it so you're ready just in case." I nodded in agreement and he pulled it out for me, checked that it was loaded, verified the safety was on, and handed it to me. I settled it into my holster then did the same with my taser (he checked the charge on it first) and cell phone and thanking him as he handed them to me.

I looked up and saw everyone watching us with amused looks.

"What?"

"Nothing, that was just very domestic of you both. In a badass, pepper spray kind of way," said Clint.

"On Asgard it is a sign of great affection to check over someone's weapons before battle and to trust someone to do so for you," added Thor.

I felt myself blush, and Tony said, "aww, look, they even have the same adorable blush."

Looking for something to do, I flicked my phone open and powered it on. We all started walking toward the door and I pulled my rangeman hat on as my phone started beeping incoming message alerts. I just fixed it onto my belt, letting it keep going, as I walked down to the elevator and pushed the button.

I turned around when I realized no one was still with me. They were just staring at me and the phone on my hip which hadn't stopped buzzing or beeping yet. The elevator door opened up and I held it open calling out, "are you coming with me or not?"

They all rushed forward and finally, Natasha looked at me and asked, "how many messages do you have."

"Well, I'm sure I have how ever many are the limit to each for this phone. I'm actually surprised it hasn't just crashed, but then again, it looks like it is a newer model." I sighed and added, "alright, so it works like this. I'm from a neighborhood of Trenton known as The Burg. In the Burg, everyone is raised to do as their told, marry within the Burg, and lead the perfect Burg life. For women that means getting married, not working, and popping out as many kids as possible while ignoring any dalliances on your husbands part."

I glanced around at everyone as we exited the elevator and started walking to the car. They were all circled around me, so I continued on. "I went to college, which was frowned upon and drew all the Burg gossip, and got a business degree. As soon as I graduated, I let my mother bully me into believing I wanted the Burg lifestyle and married the first 'decent' guy who asked. His name was Dickie," I said, breezing through their snorts of laughter and continued, "we were married for about five minutes when I found him cheating on me with Joyce Barnhardt on our dining room table. I threw them out of the house and we had the loudest, most public divorce in the history of the Burg. Again, this drew the Burg gossip."

We paused when we got to the cars. Everyone was constantly surveying the area, but clearly considered the thread level low enough to finish my story. "Things were going okay for me, I had a steady job as a lingerie buyer and I was getting by until the company I was working for got shut down by the FBI for a whole host of tax, embezzlement, etc. etc. I had savings for a while, but when those ran out, I blackmailed my cousin Vinnie into giving me a job at his bail bonds office."

"That's where I met Ranger when Vinnie's office manager, Connie called in a favor to have Ranger train me in how to be a bounty hunter. I still do some bounty hunting for Vinnie on the weekends while training my replacement, Lula. But most of it I do for Rangeman these days. I like it better that way, I have a partner and I tend to get knocked around less now."

I noticed Steve's hands clench into fists at that. Oh well, depending on how long this all took and how long they stuck around he'd probably see it at this point.

"Anyway," I continued, "obviously being a bounty hunter and working for a security company really, really isn't 'Burg'. Plus with all the stalkers and explosions, they love to gossip. Anytime something happens in Trenton, someone in the Burg sees it. When they see it they call someone else, who calls three more people and so on. The story usually gets more ridiculous as it goes. Adding to the mix the fact that you all were quite publically recognizably seen there, and Captain America saved my life and you can bet that 1) my voicemail box and text messages are full of gossip seekers as well as my mother calling to yell at me about embarrassing her and 2) we're on the front page of at least the Trenton newspapers, but probably the New Jersey ones as well."

I finished and there was silence as they all let that sink in. Then I said, "okay, let's get to Rangeman!"

I was surprised when Natasha handed her keys to Tony then took my keys and handed them to Steve. She then got into the back of my SUV, pulling me with her. Steve got in the driver's seat and Clint took the front passenger seat. As Steve started driving, she asked if we could turn down the music, so he switched it off.

"Stephanie, I'm really sorry. I think I did something really dumb."

"Okay…"

"Last night when you started crying and Steve was comforting you, you fell asleep on him on the couch."

I looked up and caught Steve's eyes in the rearview mirror. I was going to apologize, but I could tell from the look that he didn't mind, so I didn't. Then to my surprise, he winked at me and chuckled when I blushed.

Natasha continued, "when I brought Clint and my dishes out to put away, I saw you and it was just so cute that I took some pictures. I sent them to the team, and they came in and we were teasing him a little because we've never seen that side of him and he really didn't know what to do. He got frustrated and closed his eyes to try to calm down and I took some pictures like that so it looked kinda like he was sleeping too. And then, umm, I took some pictures when he picked you up to carry you into your room."

"Alright, I mean, that's not my favorite thing to hear, but I get why you did it, so that's fine."

"Well, that's not all. I also texted them to Lester," Natasha finished with a wince.

"Lester Santos? How do you even have his number?"

"Well, I think you and Cap could be really great together, and I could tell yesterday that he felt the same, so we talked about it some and decided we'd work on it together. When I took the pictures last night I sent them to him as a progress update."

"Okay, I get that you couldn't know this, plus your the Black Widow so there's really nothing I could do to you, but Les is a huge gossip and prankster. Now, he and the rest of the Rangmen will keep all their gossip inside Rangeman, so we're safe as far as that is concerned, but you can bet your ass he's done something dumb with them. And sent them to all of Rangeman with some stupid email and tagline. And I don't just mean Rangeman Trenton, I mean all the Rangeman offices."

"Ouch. I'm really sorry, Steph."

"I know. All the same, I said we were going to the gym early to keep Ranger from killing Les on the mats, and that was mostly a joke because he wouldn't kill him. They're cousins. But, when we get there, I'm going to find out what email he sent. And then in all likelihood, I'm going to kill Lester. So you'll have that to think about."

With that I stared out the window and began plotting my strategy. I could tell Natasha felt bad, so I just reached over, gave her a one armed hug and said, "I'm not going to lie, this is going to be a VERY uncomfortable day around the office. Especially for Steve and I. But, you couldn't have known, so seriously, don't worry about it."

We pulled up to the Rangeman garage and I fobbed my way in and instructed Steve to stop after he'd pulled forward a bit so I could fob the next SUV in. Then we all got into the elevator together and stopped at 5 first. I made a beeline for Hal's desk and motioned for the others to follow me. I smiled at him sweetly and said, "Good morning, Hal, how are you today?"

He looked at me nervously, then at the Avengers, then back at me. "Good Steph, what's going on?"

"Could you do me a quick favor and go see who is on Bomber duty today? I don't want to distract whoever is on monitors with these guys and they're following me around endlessly right now?"

"Sure" he stammered out then headed off.

As soon as he rounded the corner, I sat in his chair and opened up his email, Natasha and Steve right behind me. Clint clued the others in and then they were all crowded around me, except for Clint who was keeping a lookout.

I clicked on an email from Lester that's subject read, "This Time Beautiful's Going for An Upgrade". Inside the in huge letters he wrote "From Batman to Captain America: No more fake superheroes for our Bombshell Bounty Hunter!" Then he'd made a sort of collage out of the pictures Natasha had sent him and included them full-sized as well as attached individually. I noted the to field had all of the various Rangeman offices with a groan. I could feel the tension coming off Steve. Natasha reached out and I just said, "it's okay, but don't touch me right now, there's something I have to do."

With that I stalked over to the stairs and slammed the door open. I exited on the third floor and walked straight to the gym. As I walked in, followed by the others, the place went deadly silent. Lester and Ranger stopped their sparring match on the mats and looked over. I saw Lester gulp and pale when he saw my face. "Morning, Beautiful!" he tried, with a false sense of cheer that he clearly wasn't feeling.

I didn't respond, just strode over to the mats and pointed at Ranger and then motioned for him to leave the ring. I then stopped at an empty chair next to it and pulled off my utility belt. I looked at the bracelet and went ahead and took it off, handing it to Steve for safe keeping. "Uh, Stephanie" he started, and I just glared at him and he shut up. Smart man. I took my CAT boots off and then pulled off my shirt leaving myself in a sports bra with a cami over it. Steve sucked in a breath.

I climbed into the ring and took up a fighting stance and began circling Lester. I waited until he charged and used his weight to flip him before bouncing back out of his reach. Then I went into my zone. I don't know that I'd ever fully made it here before, but I was motivated in that moment. And let me tell you, I kicked ass. After a few trips to the ground, he wasn't holding back any more. Finally Lester was on the ground after one particularly vicious knee had gotten him in his nuts and Tank was hauling me away and off the mats. "Alright, Little Girl, he's had enough."

I just scoffed before going over to a treadmill and turning it on and starting to run. I watched Bobby approach the mat to check on Lester and called out, "don't worry, I didn't break anything. I am sorry though, you guys always wear a cup when you fight me and I didn't know he wasn't wearing one!"

I heard Tony laugh at that, and then was surprised when Clint climbed onto the treadmill on one side of me and started running. Ranger climbed onto the one on the opposite side of me. I kept watching in the mirror as Steve said something to Natasha. He came over and he reached my bracelet out to me. "Thanks, I said."

"Anytime," he said with a nod. Then he started walking back before turning around with a smile and calling out, "nice work, by the way."

Ranger was silent through the whole exchange. Finally he said, "you think I'm going to be angry or it is going to be awkward. I'm not angry. We both agreed you should move on and I couldn't give you what you need." I nodded, and he continued, "and it will only be awkward if you let it. Please don't let it be awkward again. I thought we were past that and I had my best friend back."

I looked over at the plea in his eyes and I nodded my head. "Okay, Batman," I said with a grin at his shocked laugh, "too soon? And for the record nothing happened. I saw the ice cream you sent and couldn't stay in denial land any more so I started crying. He comforted me and I fell asleep on him. Natasha took pictures, and he carried me into the bedroom so I didn't wake up with a crick in my neck from sleeping on the couch. That's it."

"I believe you."

"Good."

Clint had been silent the whole time, taking in the exchange. Then he said, "I know you're upset and running can help, but I think you're going to want to watch this. You know how you said that Natasha was Black Widow so it's not like there's anything you can do to her anyway?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Cap's a little… old fashion. And he's pissed off because he's worried about your reputation."

I noticed Ranger's lips twitch at that. I just nodded and said, "okay…"

"Cap wouldn't hit most women unless they attacked him, and even then he'd subdue if at all possible. But Natasha's one of the few people in the world he can spar with and have anything even approaching a fair fight. Except for Thor. And probably the Hulk, but we haven't tried that yet."

That's when looked further back in the mirror and noticed that both Steve and Nat were warming up on the mats. I slowly turned my pace down for a quick cool down then turned off the machine and walked over toward the mats with interest, putting my bracelet back on as I went.

I stared in fascination as they fought. It was pure speed and efficiency on Steve's part with a dash of elegance, almost like dancing thrown in on Natasha's end. I felt Clint wince a little at one particularly hard hit by Steve, and looked over to see if he felt like someone needed to intervene, but he just said, "she's fine, she can take this and more. She actually has fought the Hulk."

The fight went on for an hour, with every Rangeman who wasn't on monitor duty or out of town stopping in to watch some or all of it, before Steve finally made her tap out. Or maybe it was let her tap out. They both collapsed on the mats exhausted and I heard Natasha ask, "we good?"

"Yep," was Steve's reply.

"Steph, we good?!" she called out to me.

I climbed into the ring and offered her a hand up and a smile, "Yeah, Nat, we're good."

She grabbed my hand and let me help her to her feet. She smiled at me and then with a wink we reached our hands out to Steve in unison. He pretended to let us help him up then gave Natasha a playful shove and winked at me before climbing out of the ring.

As Natasha and I climbed down, Steve reached up a hand to helping me this time. He held onto my hand and inspected it and then the other. They were a little bruised but not much since I didn't really punch much. It wasn't my best move. "You should tape your hands next time," he said, looking me in the eye. "And we need to work on your punches."

"Do a lot of boxing? Because I'm pretty sure I'm hopeless on that front. Many have tried to fix it before, so now I just do other things instead."

The other Avengers scoffed, and Steve smiled, "yeah, I box some. Don't worry, you're not hopeless."

Natasha added, "you did pretty well with Lester, but I still have a lot of work to do with you."

I turned to her, "yeah, about that. After what I just saw, I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"It's a great idea," Natasha and Steve said at the same time.

"Fine, but if you kill me, I'm not going to be happy about it."

She laughed and said, "deal. We'll start tomorrow though, okay, I'm suddenly feeling a little tired this morning."

A/N: So... what do you think? BTW, Chapter 4 is written, just waiting for me to feel compelled to post it. Feel free to compel me!