To hear that voice again, so close, made a cold chill run through Jeanette. Before she could blink, the heroes about her melted away into the crowd, presumably, to surround the intruder.
"Stay in the back," Steve murmured to her before sliding away quietly.
"Back so soon, Loki?" Stark called. A clearing had formed in the center of the room. The guests had pushed together and away from the intruder, who was clad in his green and gold armor, though his intimidating helmet and scepter were thankfully not present. Loki stood in the center of the clearing, Stark stood across from him, stepping slowly closer. Despite Steve's very sensible request, Jeanette found herself drawing nearer. It was an unconscious movement. She would never, in her right mind place herself anywhere near the villain. But he was like a magnet, and she couldn't help herself.
"As long as my brother and his silly friends are together, I'll never get anything done," Loki said flippantly.
"So, what, you're going to kill us all yourself? Your entire alien army couldn't do that, remember?" Stark shot back.
"Ah, but you have a room full of very important people I'm sure you'd like to continue breathing."
A small gasp rippled through the crowd at the threat.
"And you," Loki said with a surprised look and a grin to somewhere just behind Stark. Stark turned to see Jeanette, the Captain's date, standing there staring at the uninvited guest with a thoughtful expression. "My would-be hostage. Too bad that didn't work out, hm?" he said, casting his eyes down her frame.
"Back, back, back," Stark whispered urgently, flapping his hand at her discreetly from his side. But there was something off about Loki, Jeanette thought. Maybe she was just close enough to the situation, but not too close, to see it. A slight shimmer just at his edges. A watery tone to his voice, which had been clear as a bell when he'd held her by the throat during the battle in New York.
"Do you have something he wants?" Jeanette whispered to Stark. He looked at her, confused but for only a moment, when his eyes showed understanding. "Where is it?" Jeanette asked.
The Tesseract was somewhere in space, as per the Asgardians' ruling. Loki's reasoning for being here was weak, unless it was to distract the Avengers, namely Thor, from an assault elsewhere.
Quite suddenly, Jeanette pulled off one red leather pump and hurled it with impressive force at the vengeful Demi-God's face. It passed right through him, the particles of his hologram rearranging after it, and fell to the floor with a clatter. Loki grinned that off-putting grin of his, pretended to lunge at the people to his right, making them jump, then disappeared with an eerie laugh. The room was still and dead silent for a beat.
"Thor," Stark called to set his friend into action, as he pulled his phone from his pocket and began tapping away at it. The guests in the room still didn't quite know what to do, so they stood frozen, until one woman in a pink dress fainted, and then the rest of them rushed toward the door in a disorderly panic, though the threat was gone.
"I'll contact Heimdall," Thor said over the din of the mad dash to exit, striding toward the back apartments.
Stark got director Fury on the line to explain the impending attack in some unknown portion of space, just in case there was anything he could do to help. It was entirely possible, SHIELD still had many secrets. Most of the guests had vacated, and Jeanette hobbled over to retrieve her shoe and yank it back onto her foot.
"What were you thinking?" Steve chastised softly, taking hold of her elbow from beside her. She sighed and melted into him, suddenly very exhausted and wanting nothing more than a bit of comfort. The loveliness of the evening, the adrenaline, plus the quick shot of fear and panic was making her a little dizzy. As she leaned her cheek into his chest, his arms came around her. "Can you just, maybe quit with the heroics, please?" he murmured softly into her hair. She grinned, and tilted her head back to look up at him.
"I will if you will."
He grinned at that, and because it seemed right, because she had now twice thwarted a villain, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She froze for a moment, but then did not hesitate to grab his lapels and pull him closer into her, as she had been longing to do. It felt as though fireworks exploded from her chest and shot into every corner of her body, down into her fingertips and her toes. Steve had splayed his hands across her back, trying to touch as much of her at once as he could, pulling her flush against his body.
"Ahem," Stark interrupted unapologetically. Steve pulled away from Jeanette gently and sheepishly. "Thanks for the heads up, 'Nette, but the Captain's gotta get to work."
Tony was still tapping at his phone, and Steve and Jeanette stared at him dumbly for a moment, dazed from the kiss.
"What can we do? The cube is in space," Steve said, still with one arm around Jeanette.
"'Nette?" Jeanette repeated, not impressed with the unimaginative nickname.
"Thor's going to go make sure the cube is where they say it is. Meanwhile, SHIELD headquarters has had a security breach. Apparently someone was trying to hack in and shut down their information system when I tipped Fury off to the shenanigans going down over here. So, suit up," he said, motioning his hands over the Captain's general area distractedly, then walking away.
"'Nette?" Jeanette said again, exasperated that he hadn't addressed her concern about this lame nickname. Steve didn't seem to pay too much attention to it either. He turned to her again, linking his fingers together at the small of her back.
"I'm sorry, I do have to go."
"Oh of course," she sighed, laying her palms over his chest, feeling his heart beating, pumping slightly harder and faster than normal. "You have worlds to save and battles to win," she smiled reluctantly up at him.
"I'll call a car for you," he said, but made no move to release her. In fact, he was drawing her nearer. It was all she could do to not wind her fingers into his hair and crush his lips to her. But she called on all her will power and patience and let him kiss her tenderly. He drew back with a contented sigh, and dotted a few more kisses along her jawline before pulling her under one arm and leading her toward the door. "Alright, let's get you home."
"Thank you for a lovely evening. You have wonderful friends," she said as he held the door of the black car open for her.
"It was my pleasure. I'll call you when I'm through with...whatever this is," he said, jerking a thumb behind him. Jeanette stifled a delirious chuckle; here they were saying goodnight like it had been a normal date, when really, she had socialized with superheroes and been threatened by a Demi-God. She placed a hand on his cheek and a kiss on the corner of his mouth, and then slipped into the car. If she got another kiss from him, there would be no stopping her.
At her apartment, she hated to take off her dress and admit the night was over, but she replayed all the moments she could remember over and over in her mind. Especially the last moments with Steve and his hot, gentle kisses. She took out her phone to text Desiree, and saw a photo of the buffet table on the screen. Of all the amazing things she could've snuck a photo of, she took one of the cheese platter. Typical. She didn't even remember doing it.
She grinned like a fool all the way to bed, and couldn't sleep for hours, for the excitement of the evening and the hope for all that was to come.
I know, slow chapter, but I wanted to get something up for you quickly! Holidays, you know, there's no time for anything but baking and wrapping presents!
Have a very Merry Christmas :D
