Chapter 7

Groaning as he looked up at the ceiling and leant into the chair in front of Steve's desk, Sam said, "I did not plan for you to hear about it, to be honest."

"I had to know, Sam, you know that. An intrusion onto the training facility and a theft? If I hadn't been notified, then it would be more of a problem."

"It was just…embarrassing, man. Seriously."

Steve looked sympathetically at his friend, but replied only, "Not your fault, Sam. This type of technology isn't something that we have planned or trained for."

Sam drawled sarcastically, "Right. Not supposed to be prepared enough to defend myself against the bug people. Not sure I was ready for a lot of the s*** that has gone down, Cap, but I still handled it. I should have handled this, too."

"Well, we have to consider that your suit is more vulnerable than we realised. Perhaps Tony can take that into account in the next version."

"No. I am not having Stark find out that I got beat by a dude who calls himself Ant-man. No way, man."

Steve sighed and said wearily, "If this guy can get inside your suit, then Tony and Rhodes both could be vulnerable. We have to let Tony know, Sam."

"Listen, Cap, you tell them what you have to tell them about a possible vulnerability, but I do not need Stark coming up with a whole new list of ridiculous nicknames for me after this. You know how I feel about that."

"Ok. I'll think about it. In the meantime, we only have two hours before we head out. Do me a favour and make that call, Sam. You can't avoid voice mails forever."

Sam made a face at Steve and grumbled, "Don't see why I have to do it. It's her fault things got like this."

"Please, Sam. You know it needs to be done."

"Fine, fine. I will call her."

"Thank you. It's the right thing to do, Sam. Family is too important not to try one more time."

Sam rolled his eyes and made a gesture as he left the room with a bitter laugh.


"Well, surely your boyfriend will come back soon, silly Sissy. I don't know why you are so worried."

"It's been three weeks! He didn't think it would be even one. What if something has happened? He might have been hurt. I don't even know where he went. These days who even knows? Robert!"

Robert rolled his eyes at his sister, but replied in a softer tone, "He is an Avenger, Sissy. You cannot possibly expect him to have regular hours or keep a tight schedule. If you can't handle this now, then how will you deal with it if your relationship gets more serious? Have you talked to Dr Gampeghi about this?"

Mary-Claire sniffled. "I don't know what I will do. I've worried about that. I would never want him to change what he does. I just have to figure out how to handle it, which is really frightening."

Her brother grunted with frustration. "This is who he is, Sissy."

"Of course, which is part of what makes him special. What he does is important to the world, so it matters more than my comfort, Robert."

"I'm glad you see it that way, since there would be no good result if you wanted him to change."

"I would never want him to change for me. That would be awful, Robert."

Robert frowned at her. "You are going to need to make sure Steve knows that, Sissy. I have no idea what his plans truly are, ok? However, if he believed you couldn't be happy if he didn't retire then he might actually consider it."

Mary-Claire shook her head. "No. He wouldn't, I'm sure. He believes in what he does too much. No, I just have to figure out how I can handle it, Robert. You know that I always said that I couldn't date military because I couldn't go through what I went through with Riley again. Now I've chosen a former Army commando, who is a super soldier that currently fights literal monsters. I've had nightmares every night about him being hurt or losing his memory and forgetting me or…or not coming back." She flopped back in her chair and looked at her brother fiercely, "As for Dr Gampeghi, she just said that I should reassess whether Steve is a good choice for me, since I have been so stressed. Well, obviously, he is a good choice, so I sort of tuned her out at that point. Her advice was pretty unhelpful and kind of stupid."

Putting his arm around his sister, Robert asked, "Ok, we can get back your therapist in a moment. I want to know, are you in love with him, Sissy?"

Lying unconvincingly, Mary-Claire stammered, "I…I don't know."

Robert gave her look that made it clear he knew that was untrue and asked, "Has he told you how he feels about you?"

She looked down at her hands as she replied, "Yeah, a bit. He just said that, well he said he thinks the world of me."

"Well, I can tell you that his feelings are far stronger than that, ok?"

Mary-Claire seemed annoyed as she watched her brother for a little while. "He's never said anything."

"He is a pretty reticent man, Sissy. He may be waiting until he is more certain of you, I don't know. But from what Wilson told me last month, Steve Rogers is hopelessly gone over you and has been for quite a while now. That matches what I have seen, too. So now, do you think that Captain America, who survived being frozen for 70 years, won't overcome any obstacle that gets in his way in order to come back to you?"

Mary-Claire gripped her hands together anxiously as she replied, "Robert! It isn't that easy. He can't predict what terrorists or whatever will do."

In a voice that was sharper than he usually used with his sister, Robert said firmly, "So maybe it is time that you admit what you feel for him and what you want to happen with this relationship. At this point, you are pretty much leading him down the garden path if you aren't truly interested in a future with him. He is very serious about you."

"I didn't say that I wasn't serious about him. That isn't it! I just said that I'm not sure about everything. It is confusing. I really like him, Robert. I think he is pretty much perfect." She began chewing on her fingernail as she dazed into the distance. "I just…I don't know, you know? I worry about everything. I don't know if he really knows me. He thinks that I am beautiful, but does he know me or just have ideas about who he thinks that I am? Does he really, truly want the pile of baggage that comes with me, Robert? Also, I'm scared what happens when people find out. Steve says he can't understand how somehow people haven't found out about us and posted a picture online or something. Then it will be weird and scary and people will say stuff all over Twitter and I just don't know how to handle that."

Scoffing loudly, Robert spoke even more aggressively than he had before, "You don't even read Twitter. Who the h*ll cares what other people say, Sissy? You are beautiful enough that people notice when you are there anyway. If they see you with Steve and they're aware he is 'Captain America', then they'll just think he got lucky as all h*ll. And they'd be right."

She nodded and said, "But I'm scared of all that, Robert. I mean, it was horrible when people took pictures of us at the White House and all. Remember? And that was just the once and no one said anything mean because it was all about Riley. I just can't bear gossip about me."

"Then why did you ever go on a second date with the man, Sissy? You knew what dating him would eventually mean."

She sighed and almost let out a sob as she replied, "Because he is amazing. There is no one like him."

"So you are in love with the poor man, Sissy. Accept it."

Mary-Claire waved her hands as if to ward off something frightening. "I know, ok? I accepted that a while ago, Robert. I'm just not been ready to talk about it."

"Or admit it."

"Well, I am admitting to you now, ok?"


"I have to say Rogers, I'm impressed."

Steve looked over towards Natasha from his hunched over position and wearily asked, "How so?"

"You were more tightly controlled and focussed than I've ever seen, which is unusual for a man in your position."

Putting his phone down on the desk in front of him, Steve replied, "I see." He looked away and replied flatly, "You have continued to comment obliquely about my relationship with Mary-Claire. What is it that you really want to say?"

Natasha shrugged and stated simply, "In my experience, a man as in love as you clearly are cannot handle his s*** enough to get the job done. Instead of being compromised, you are more disciplined than ever. I have never seen that before, so it impresses me."

Sighing slowly, Steve closed his eyes for a moment and leant back. Then he looked directly at Natasha. "I don't have a choice, Natasha. I cannot allow my team to be affected by my personal life. I owe you all that much as your leader."

"No one but you would take that responsibility this seriously, Rogers."

Steve looked directly at Natasha and replied seriously, "I can't do anything else."

Smiling slightly, Natasha started to walk away as she very softly replied, "That's why you're the captain, Rogers."

Thinking uncomfortably about what Natasha had said, Steve wondered how impressed she would be if she knew how afraid he was to call Mary-Claire. It had been at least twenty minutes that he'd sat there with the phone in his hand before Natasha came in. It was ridiculous to be frightened about calling her. One way or the other, he had to know where things stood. There was no point in hiding behind cowardice.

Looking around the room to be sure he was truly alone, Steve finally snatched up the phone, quickly pressed the buttons, and put it to his ear. As soon as he heard her greeting, he felt his stomach lurch nastily and he stammered, "Mary-Claire? Hi, it-it's Steve."

"Steve! You're back! Oh my goodness, I've been so worried. Oh my goodness!"

He could hear her relief and began to calm himself as he apologised, "I am sorry that it took so long. We didn't expect it to go quite like that. We went straight from the situation with Ultimo into two others."

"Are you ok? Did you get hurt? Did it go all right?"

He was not going to tell her about that. He grimly prevaricated, "I'm fine. How are you, Mary-Claire?"

"I'm just glad that you are ok. You have no idea how nervous I've been."

Steve frowned and plucked at his sleeve. "I've been concerned, too, Mary-Claire."

"Well I'm sure. You have to make certain the mission succeeds. That's a ton of responsibility."

With a sigh, Steve answered further, "I wasn't talking about the mission. That is separate. I was referring to you, Mary-Claire."

"Why? I haven't done anything more dangerous than write an opinion that was a bit subpar for the Security Council."

"I have been gone for five weeks without any contact. I had no idea how you would take that."

He heard her sharp intake of breath and waited for her reply. When it came, he winced. "Did you think that I wouldn't want to see you? Really?"

"I hoped that wouldn't be the case, Mary-Claire, but our last date was a little wobbly and then I disappeared for 5 weeks. Yes, I was worried."

Her tone very flat, Mary-Claire replied, "Oh. I didn't think about it like that."

He could hear from her voice that he had made a mistake. He said anxiously, "I would really like to see you, Mary-Claire."

"Um, ok. Of course. Would you call me about that tomorrow? I'm really glad you are ok, Steve."

Suddenly aware that something was very wrong, Steve desperately pleaded, "Wait, Mary-Claire…"

"Bye, Steve."

Steve stared down at his phone and felt his anger rage through him so fiercely that he dropped the phone on the desk, so he wouldn't crush it. The feeling of fear and fury twirling inside him with little control was so frightening that Steve burst from his office and nearly ran towards the elevators. No, that would take too long. He turned towards the stairs and took them two at a time until he got down to the hall leading down to the smaller training rooms. No one had better be using that punching bag.

"Rogers."

Steve stopped and looked back. He did not need to deal with anyone right now. "What do you need, Barton?"

"Woah, you ok?"

"Not really. Did you need something?"

Barton stared at Steve with concern as he replied, "Not enough to get in your way. What the f*** happened?"

"Not going to talk about it. If you have something you need, see me later, ok?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine. You deal with whatever…this…is."

Steve's nostrils flared and he clenched his jaws as he nodded in reply before turning away. He did not see Barton's shocked expression, nor would he have cared.