When I had gone to Matt Murdoch's office, I had not expected to walk out with a time set up to train with him every day. Maybe I had in the back of my mind; but I still wasn't expecting it. When I got back to the Tower, I had told Steve that I signed up for a yoga class. I knew he would disapprove of me training with someone he didn't know, especially one that fought crime in Hell's Kitchen every night.

Matt was a…disciplined teacher, to put it nicely. To put it honestly, he kicked my ass every day. Surprisingly, I seemed to be a natural. After a couple of weeks though, Matt seemed to up the training, adding in long sticks to hand-to-hand combat. When I arrived at work at the Tower that day, just about every breath was making me wince. Matt had tried to get me to go to the emergency department, but I had foolishly refused.

So far I had done a good job of hiding my reaction to the little jabs of pain; until I got into the lab with Bruce to try out a new tracking system I had created. Without even thinking about it, I had taken a deep breath eliciting a loud wince of pain. "Are you okay?" Bruce asked, peering at me over his glasses.

I shake my head, waving a hand at him. "I'm fine." I tell him. "Just stretched a little too much in yoga this morning."

"You've been doing this for a couple of weeks now," he says, taking a couple of steps towards me.

"I have," I say. "But you know how it is…you don't exercise for a while-"

"You look like every breath is hurting you…" He was definitely onto me now.

"I'm fine Bruce," I say. "I swear. Just please, drop it."

"Does Steve at least know," he asks.

I shake my head again. "He doesn't. I am fine though, so please…just drop it."

"You know I am a doctor," he was standing right next to me now. "I am bound by law and oath to help anyone if they are in pain." I let out a sigh as I stop working. "Look, if you don't want to tell me what happened that's fine. At least let me look at you though."

I narrow my eyes slightly as I look at him. "Not a word to Steve?" Bruce nods his head before asking JARVIS to darken the walls of the lab for privacy. I lift my shirt on the side were it hurt most. The skin over my ribcage was already starting to bruise. I almost double over in pain when Bruce lightly pushes on the area over my ribs.

"You probably have a fractured rib or two," he says, still feeling the area. "Of course we'd need an x-ray to know for sure. I'm also guessing you didn't get this from yoga." I say nothing as I lower my shirt again. "You know you're not going to be able to hide that from him for six weeks."

Still, I say nothing. "Just pain relievers will help this, right?" Bruce nods his head and I cut him off as he starts to say something. "Alright, I think I have something in my desk upstairs. I'll be back down in a little while."


I enter the lab to find Bruce in there by himself. "Steve," he says in greeting.

I nod my head towards him. "You said you needed to talk to me about something?" I glance around the lab. Rhiannon had told me she would be in here most of the day working with him, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Bruce immediately looked uncomfortable. "It's about Rhiannon..." I cross my arms over my chest as he removes his glasses and rubs at his eyes. "This morning when she was in here, she acted like she was in pain. I was finally able to convince her to let me look over and she at least has three fractured ribs-"

"What?"

"I had told her I wouldn't tell you…but these injuries are very out of character for her," he says. I could feel my heart racing, how did she get three fractured ribs? "I'm telling you out of concern for her as a friend."

I take a deep breath and release it slowly. "Thank you for telling me. I'll take care of it." Bruce gives me a tight smile before I turn and leave the lab. I had to get to the bottom of what was going on with Rhiannon. I also knew that I would have to approach this carefully. I send a text to her asking where she is. She responds quickly, telling me that she's in her office. As I step onto the elevator, I try to calm myself down while worrying what the hell my wife had been doing.


As soon as Steve stepped off the elevator and into my office, I could tell he was irked about something. "Hey," I say as he walks towards my desk. I sit down in my chair again. "You looked irritated…"

"I'm not irritated," he says. I raise an eyebrow at him as he comes around the desk and leans against it and crosses his arms over his chest. "But I am worried about you."

"Why would you be worried about me?" Even though I ask the question, I immediately know that Bruce must have said something to him. I should've known he would.

"Bruce talked to me." He simply says. I stand up from my chair to stand in front of Steve.

"I'm fine Steve," I tell him. Even though it hurt like hell, I cross my arms over my chest.

"So we're lying to each other now?" His lips press into a hard line as his arms fall down to his sides.

"I'm not lying to you. Despite whatever Bruce told you, I am fine." I say again.

"At least three fractured ribs…that's not fine. Especially when you're supposedly just doing yoga," Steve says. "Or was Bruce lying?" My arms drop down to my side in defeat; he wasn't going to let this go and as Bruce had said, I wasn't going to be able to hide this from him while it healed over the next few weeks. I turn my head away from him as I lift up my shirt to show him the bruising. Steve steps up in front of me, placing a hand on the hip opposite of the bruising. "What the hell have you been doing? And stop lying to me-"

"This is why I didn't say anything to you," I say, yanking my shirt back down and stepping away from him. "You're overreacting-"

"I am not overreacting," Steve says. "You've obviously been lying to me about what you've been doing every morning and now you have three fractured ribs."

"What do you think I'm doing Steve?" I say to him, my voice was growing firmer and louder. I don't know why I didn't just tell him; but I was in too deep now. "Just drop it-"

"You must think me a fool if you think I'm going to drop this-"

"Pardon the interruption, Mrs. Rogers," JARVIS says overhead.

"What JARVIS?" I snap back at the air. I was fuming.

"Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark are requesting you in the lab," the AI says. "They say it is urgent and regarding the scepter."

"Tell them I'll be right down," I say. I head towards the elevators with Steve right beside me. "I guess I need a babysitter now?" Steve just shakes his head as we step onto the elevator. The entire ride down there was uncomfortable. I knew I was in the wrong, that I should just tell him what I was doing. There was a stubborn streak running through me though that was keeping me from telling him. A few minutes later we both walk into the lab. "Did you guys get a hit?"

Bruce quickly glances between Steve and I. "Yeah," he says. I walk up and stand on the other side of the screen that seemed to float in the middle of the room. "It's a ninety percent match."

"We just need you to see if it's HYDRA that's got it," Tony pipes up from across the room. I start working as a silence settles over the lab. Tony, though, is sure to break that silence. "Troubles in the Rogers' household?"

"Stay out of it Tony," Steve says. I roll my eyes as I keep working.

"Steve is mad at me because he thinks I'm hiding something from him." Across the room, Steve gives me an annoyed look. "What? You want to live here where everyone can know our business anyways. Why not go ahead and tell them?"

"To be fair, you do have three fractured ribs," Bruce quips. I raise an eyebrow at him as he shrugs his shoulder.

Tony lets out a low whistle. "Badass. Who have you been fighting?"

"If I won't tell my husband, why do you think I'll tell you Tony?" I say.

"Well I won't be as judgey as your husband," Tony says.

I shake my head as a map of a remote HYDRA bunker pops up. "Looks like my story will have to wait for another time gentlemen. Y'all have a got a scepter to steal back."

"I'll give Thor a call," Steve says. Behind him I hear Tony contacting Clint and Natasha. "He's in London visiting with Jane."

After moving and sending everything to the quinjet in the Tower, I shut down the tracking program. "I'll run up and make sure all this info got to the jet." About twenty minutes later, the team comes walking out of the elevator, Steve in his suit, ready to go. I meet him halfway as Tony, Bruce, Clint, and Natasha walk past me. "How long do you guys think you'll be gone?"

"Couple days at most," Steve says. He lets out a sigh as he slips his wedding ring off his finger. Grabbing the long chain out of his pocket, he slides it on the chain before placing the chain around my neck. His hands rest on my shoulders, his thumbs drawing long strokes on my neck. "You know we'll have to talk when I get back."

I nod my head. "I know." My hands wrap around his wrists as his lips find mine. Too soon, Steve pulls away and tells me he loves me. "I love you too Steve." He gives me one more quick peck on the lips before walking away from me and onto the quinjet.