Chapter 6
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
AN1: So I haven't updated in a few days because I was waiting for the AOS season 3 premiere, just in case there were things that could affect this story, and because there are details in future chapters that I wanted to get right. Now that that has aired I will update every day, maybe more often If people want.
AN2: How awesome was the premier? If you want to talk about it talk in your review.
It has been about fifteen minutes since Melinda left Steve in the gym and in that time she has had a shower and dried her hair, as much as she could. As she walks out of the bathroom Melinda goes straight to her bag and starts to look for something to wear. As she does Melinda realises that she has nothing that is fitting for a 'a nice dinner in the city' and so Melinda heads over to where Natasha keeps her clothes, being glad that they are the same size, and starts looking for something. After not even a minute of looking Melinda finds something suitable and so she grabs her phone from where she left it, on the bed, and sends a message to Natasha.
Ever since she returned to the living area after going to check on Melinda Natasha has joined in on conversation though it is clear to Clint and Nick, that she is still worried. As Natasha listens to Tony and Clint arguing about something she tuned out a long time ago she feels her phone vibrate and she is shocked when she sees what the message says.
"Nat? What's going on?" Clint asks as Natasha stands up and walks across the room.
"Nothing, I'll be back." Natasha says as she walks out.
"I wonder what that's about." Tony comments.
"Honestly, so do I" Clint admits.
"Why do you need to borrow a dress?" Natasha asks as she walks into her bedroom, where Melinda is standing in a towel looking though Natasha's wardrobe.
"Because I'm going out to dinner and jeans or tactical gear won't cut it." Melinda reveals.
"Dinner, with Steve?" Natasha ask, stopping just inside the door.
"Yeah." Melinda confirms and Natasha grins.
"Where are you going?" Natasha ask, feeling excited for her friends.
"Somewhere nice in the city." Melinda explains, "Which is why I need to borrow something."
"Yeah, you so do." Natasha says, knowing that Melinda has nothing that would be suitable for that, "What are you thinking?" Natasha asks as she walks over to Melinda.
"This." Melinda says pulling out a halter top, black dress that goes just above the knees.
"That's not a bad choice, but maybe you should think about wearing something that's not black." Natasha suggests.
"Most of your wardrobe is black, Nat." Melinda reminds her friend.
"No, most of your wardrobe is black." Natasha corrects, "Only some of mine is." Natasha says, "I have other colours." She says as she looks through her clothes.
"What are you suggesting?" Melinda asks, knowing that Natasha must have a suggestion.
"That's a good question." Natasha says as she continues to search, "Got it." Natasha says as he pulls something out, "What about this?" Natasha asks as she shows Melinda a dark red dress that goes to just above the knees with a square asymmetrical neckline, "It' simple, but classy, and it's not black."
"What's wrong with black, really?" Melinda asks, "You wear it all the time."
"I know and I never said there is anything wrong with black." Natasha says, "But you always wear black, Mel, maybe you should wear something different for once." Natasha argues, "Plus red always looks good on you."
"Okay fine." Melinda says with a sign, "Hand over the dress, I don't have time to try and out stubborn you." Melinda explains, knowing from experience that it will take a long time for one of them to give in.
"Great." Natasha says as she hands over the dress, "Get dressed and I'll pick out some shoes and a purse."
"Okay." Natasha says and Melinda heads back to the bathroom, "And you should curl your hair." Natasha suggests and Melinda heads to the bathroom.
"Yes, Nat." Melinda says as she closes the bathroom door.
A few minutes later Melinda has changed into the dress and has started on her hair when the bathroom door opens and Natasha walks in.
"Looking good, Mel." Natasha says with a smirk, "There is a pair of stilettos, and a purse, on the bed for you." Natasha says as she sits on the counter.
"Thank." Melinda says, gratefully, "I mean it, thanks for letting me borrow the dress and the shoes, and the purse."
"You don't have to thank me Mel, what's mine is yours you know that."
"Yeah, I do." Melinda confirms, "And that goes both ways."
"I know." Natasha confirms, "Sooo, you're going on a date with Steve?" Natasha asks.
"Yeah, I am." Melinda confirms
"And how do you feel about that?" Natasha asks curious, watching her friend carefully.
"I'm excited." Melinda admits, "I think this could be a really good thing Nat, and I really want to see where it leads." She says pausing what she is doing so that she can look at Natasha.
"You feel hopeful." Natasha realises, knowing what Melinda is feeling without her needing to say it.
"Yeah, for the first time in a long time." Melinda admits and Natasha just grins back at her friend, "I know you two are close, what do you think about this?" Melinda ask Natasha curious as Natasha's opinion always means a lot to her.
"I'm thrilled." Natasha says without hesitation, "I know you both, so I know this could be something really great, something you both deserve, and I think you're good for each other." Natasha says, knowing that after everything both Melinda and Steve have been through that this could be just what they need, "I'm happy for you Mel, for both of you." Natasha says and she and Melinda exchange smiles while drifting into silence.
"Okay, when are you and Steve going?" Natasha asks curious after about a minute of silence.
"Less than ten minutes." Melinda says as she looks at the clock on the wall.
"Okay, then I'll finish your hair while you do your make up." Natasha says as she jumps down from the counter, realising that Melinda is going to need help to be ready on time.
"Thanks." Melinda says as she hands Natasha the brush and curler.
It has been about five minutes since Natasha started to help Melinda do her hair when they hear, though the open bathroom door, a knock on the door that leads to Natasha's rooms.
"Why am I not surprised that he is early?" Melinda asks as she hears the knock.
"Because you know Steve's a boy scout." Natasha comments, "I'm done so I'll go stall." Natasha informs Melinda as she puts the curler down.
"Thanks, Nat." Melinda says as Natasha walks out of the bathroom.
"Yep." Natasha says in response.
After leaving to the bathroom Natasha heads to the door to her room and she opens it where she unsurprisingly finds Steve, wearing dark blue dress pants and vest with a black shirt on underneath, standing on the other side.
"You clean up nicely, Captain." Natasha says with a smirk, "Mel's going to be a few more minutes." She explains.
"Okay." Steve says as Natasha lets him into the rooms.
"You can sit down you know." Natasha says a couple of minutes later, after she has sat down on the couch.
"I'm alright." Steve says as he shifts nervously.
"You nervous?" Natasha asks, being amused by that.
"A little." Steve admits, as he doesn't really have much experience with dating.
"Well relax Steve, you and Mel have spent plenty of time together lately, you'll be fine." Natasha says as both she and Steve hear footsteps and Natasha looks over to see Melinda walking out. As Melinda steps out Natasha looks between her friends and she can't help, but at the smile at the look of amazement on Steve's face.
"Captain." Melinda greats as she walks over.
"Agent May." Steve greats, "You look incredible."
"Thank you, Captain." Melinda says, with a small smile.
"You're very welcome, Agent May." Steve responds.
"You two do realise that you do actually have first names, right?" Natasha asks curious as she finds it incredibly amusing that Melinda and Steve don't call each other by their first names.
"Goodnight, Nat." Melinda tells her, ignoring her comment.
"Are you ready to go?" Steve asks Melinda.
"Yeah." Melinda says with a nod.
"Have fun you two." Natasha says as Melinda and Steve walk out. Once Steve and Melinda leave Natasha heads over to where she keeps her laptop so that she can use Tony's programs to set up something to remove any pictures of Melinda and Steve that get online before anyone can see them.
Five minutes later Melinda and Steve are in a car, the same car they took the morning they went for coffee and tea, driving on their way to the city.
"So I got us reservations at an Italian restaurant in the city." Steve informs Melinda, "Do you like Italian? I should have asked first." Steve realises.
"Yeah, I do like Italian, don't worry." Melinda assures him.
"Great." Steve says, being glad that he didn't screw things up already.
"I wanted to apologise, Captain, for falling apart on you like I did." Melinda informs Steve.
"You don't have to apologise for that." Steve says.
"I feel like I do." Melinda admits as she never falls apart so the fact that she did on Steve is a big deal.
"Well you don't." Steve says, "It's okay." Steve assures Melinda, "And I meant what I said, you're not a monster. From what you said you did what you had to do, you saved people."
"That doesn't make what I did okay." Melinda tells Steve.
"I'm not saying it does, but I am saying is that your actions don't make you a monster." Steve says, "If you were then it wouldn't affect you the way it has." Steve tells Melinda, "You're a good person. Yes, you had to do something horrible, but you did it for the right reasons and that doesn't change anything, it doesn't mean that you're not a good person, because you are. I've seen that you are, I believe that you are, and you should to." Steve tells Melinda. Not trusting her voice Melinda just gives a small nod, Steve's words meaning so much to her.
Over an hour after they left the Avengers Facility Melinda and Steve have arrived in the city and are walking into the restaurant that Steve got them reservations at.
"Good evening, can I help you?" The waitress asks when Steve and Melinda walk in.
"Yes, we have reservations under Rogers." Steve answers and both Melinda and Steve notice the waitress look at Steve twice, they both realise that she has realised exactly who Steve is.
"Table for two, seven thirty, your table is all ready, follow me." The waitress says and Steve and Melinda follow and are lead to their table.
When they arrive at the table Steve pulls out Melinda's chair for her and waits until she is sitting down before he sits down.
"I'll be back in a few minutes to take your orders." The waitress says handing both Steve and Melinda their menus, seemingly less than happy with Melinda going by the look she gave her.
"Thank you." Both Steve and Melinda say and the waitress walks away.
"I'm sorry." Steve tells Melinda as soon as the waitress walks away.
"You have nothing to apologise for." Melinda assures Steve.
"Yes, I do." Steve says, "I wanted tonight to be perfect, but you don't deserve the way she was looking at you." Steve says, it being clear that he is feeling guilty.
"It's okay. You're Captain America and an Avenger, I know that, so I knew to expect things like this, but I'm not going to let that ruin anything." Melinda tells Steve as she thought about this very thing when she was showering, "I don't care what the waitress thinks, I only care what you think." Melinda tells Steve, "I want tonight to go well, and I know it can still be perfect, but only if we don't let anyone else ruin it." Melinda says, "So I'm going to ignore everyone else and focus on us, I'm not going to let anyone ruin tonight, the question is what are you going to do, Captain?" Melinda asks.
"The same thing, I'm going to focus on us." Steve says with a smile.
"I'm glad to hear that." Melinda says, also smiling, "I think I'm going to have the chicken parmigiana, what about you?" Melinda asks after checking the menu.
"I'm not sure, but I'm thinking steak." Steve says and he and Melinda exchange smiles, both focusing on each other rather than the looks they are getting from the other people in the restaurant.
It has been a couple of hours since Melinda and Steve sat down to dinner together and they are now back at the facility, have been for a few minutes, but instead of getting out they are still sitting in the car in the garage, talking.
"You accidently set fire to your tent while on a mission." Steve says repeating what Melinda said, "How did you manage that?" Steve ask curious.
"It was around 86, I think, a mission in Bosnia." Melinda explains, "The mission had gone south, Phil, Fury and I all got a bullet each and we had no way to contact HQ, we were the only ones on the mission, no backup." Melinda explains, leaving out that all of that was pretty standard, "We decided to make camp so that we could wait for light to figure out what to do, Phil had passed out and Nick was pretty close to joining, but I knew we needed food." Melinda admits, "So I started to use the fire and the little supplies we had to try and make something when I heard a noise. I went to investigate and I apparently left the fire to close to the tent." Melinda explains, "The tent was alight pretty quickly and Phil and Nick moved pretty quickly, despite their wounds." Melinda explains, "On the plus side it lead the support team straight to us, but for a long time Phil and Nick didn't let me hear the end of it." Melinda explains.
"That's a pretty amazing story." Steve say, completely meaning that.
"I have a few of them." Melinda admits, "It comes with the job."
"That it does." Steve says and they exchange smiles, as they do both Melinda and Steve lean in both going in for a kiss, but before their lips can meet an alarm starts to go off, causing them both to stop.
"Is that…?" Melinda starts to ask.
"The All Avengers to action centre alarm, yeah." Steve confirms and they both hurry out of the car and go sprinting towards the Action centre, Melinda doing so in the stilettos heals that she is wearing.
When Melinda and Steve rush into the action centre a few minutes they find Fury, Maria, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Rhodey, Sam, Pietro and Wanda already there.
"What's going on?" Steve asks as they rush in, causing everyone to turn around.
"Wow, I'm no expert, actually I am, but that's not exactly the best tactical outfit, no matter how good you look." Tony says when he sees what Melinda is wearing.
"Shut up, Tony." Both Steve and Melinda say together, which causes Tony to just smirk as part of the reason why he made the comment is because he wanted to see how Steve would react.
"What's going on?" Steve asks again.
"One of the places we've been keeping under surveillance has just received a huge spike in activity and there is questionable energy signatures coming from there." Fury explains.
"How many people are we looking at?" Natasha asks.
"At least thirty, probably more." Maria answers.
"Okay. Nick can you run things from here?" Steve says and Fury nods, "Okay, everyone else suit up. We leave in ten." Steve orders and everyone starts to move out.
"I guess this this puts an end to our date." Steve comments when he, Melinda, and Nick are the only ones left in the room.
"Yeah, but it's pretty fitting." Melinda admits, "We're both soldiers after all."
"That we are." Steve confirms with a grin.
"I'll see you on the Quinjet, Captain."
"I'll see you there, Agent May." Steve says and Melinda leaves.
A few minutes later Melinda walks into Natasha's rooms and the second she does she has to catch her tactical outfit that Natasha has thrown at her.
"Thanks." Melinda says as she steps out of the high heels.
"So, how did your date go?" Natasha asks as they both start to get changed.
"Good, it was great." Melinda says, "The interruption wasn't appreciated though." Melinda says as she does up her pants.
"They never are." Natasha comments, "So, do you think you'll have a second one?"
"I would like to, but we didn't get a chance to talk about it." Melinda says as she takes of the dress and puts on her shirt.
"You do realise that with how busy you both are, how dedicated to the job you are, that finding time isn't going to be easy." Natasha says.
"I know." Melinda confirms, "It was good night, Nat, a really good one." Melinda says as she does up the leather vest part of her tactical outfit.
"That's great, Mel." Natasha says, walking over as she is changed, "Boots." Natasha says as she hands Melinda her boots.
"Thanks." Melinda says accepts them.
"Let's got to work." Natasha says and after exchanging nods both Melinda and Natasha leave, both of them still holding their boots instead of wearing them.
Ten minutes later, now wearing their boots, Melinda, Natasha along with Rhodey, Sam, Maria, Clint, Pietro and Wanda are already on the plane putting away the gear while they wait for Steve and Tony.
"But you were imagining a better ending to the night." Clint says to Melinda in a teasing whisper and in response Melinda just gives him an annoyed look, "I take that as yet." He says as Steve and Tony walk into the plane.
"Everyone ready?" Steve asks when they walk in and in response everyone nods, "Get us in the air Agent May."
"On it, Captain." Melinda says before heading to the cockpit.
An hour and a half later the Quinjet, cloaked in stealth mode, is hovering above the location so that everyone can go over the plans for the mission.
"How are we going to do this?" Sam asks.
"Agent May, you'll land the Quinjet and once you do we'll separate into three groups." Steve instructs, "Rhodey, Tony, you're on perimeter and cover, watch our backs." Steve instructs, "Clint, Natasha, Maria, Agent May, you're going to enter through the back. Wanda, Pietro, Sam, you're with me and we're entering through the front." Steve instructs, splitting everyone into those teams as from what he knows Clint, Natasha, Maria and Melinda will work best together considering their history of being a team, "I want everyone to stay on coms at all times. We work move quickly, but carefully."
"You got it, Cap." Clint says and everyone else nods.
"Take us down, Agent May." Steve instructs and Melinda nods and heads back to the cockpit.
A few minutes later the Quinjet has landed and everyone has separated into their respective groups. Melinda, Clint, Natasha and Maria's group have almost reached the back door when they silently exchange a look. Because they all know what the looks means Clint pulls an exploding arrow and fires at the door, causing it to burst open. Once the door is open Clint, Natasha, Melinda and Maria enter the building all prepared for a fight, a fight which meets them the second they enter.
Even though Natasha, Clint, Melinda and Maria are fighting individually they also intervene and help one another and transition seamlessly from fighting along to fighting as a team and back again.
As Melinda takes down her latest enemy she spots something that clearly needs more investigating.
"It's May. I've spotted stairs which might lead to a basement, which if remember correctly wasn't on the plans." Melinda tells the others through the coms.
"You're right there." Tony's voice says, "There is no basement on the plans and my scanners can't read down there."
"Okay, I'll go investigate." Melinda informs the others, taking down another enemy as she walks.
"Be careful Agent May, watch your back." Steve instructs.
"I will." Melinda says as she heads towards the stairs.
"And keep us updated."
"Yep." Melinda says as she walks down.
For the next few minutes everyone continues to fight until suddenly they all hear gunshots and what seems like a grenade exploding coming from below.
"MELINDA!" Steve yells terrified, realising exactly what that means.