AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Dedicated to Joy, who enjoys making me declare five minute war on her.

This is a short chapter, but there will be more soon. I just hit a bit of writer's block.

WARNINGS: Language, Sex, Innuendo, Violence, Blood, Angst

ENJOY!

xxxx

Angel just honestly wanted to get this all over with—she wanted to get the team assembled and she wanted to find a way to get Sharon back safely. So she had to swallow her pride and go and see Steve even though she knew what he would be doing: taking his frustration out on punching bags like he normally did. It was going to be easy to find him, but not easy to convince him that this needed to be done…or so she thought at first.

Steve was, after all, Captain America.

If Sharon was in trouble, then Steve would spring into action and help to rescue her, Angel was sure of it. So when she found Steve punching away at the bag, she smiled a little bit and then she took a deep breath when he looked at her and then looked away again. She didn't even have time to check him out before he punched the bag across the room and then went to hang up another one, talking to her and bringing her out of her own slightly dirty thoughts.

"Here to keep me calm?" Steve asked her. "Integrate into the world?"

Angel nodded slowly. "You honestly think that I would force you to do something you didn't want to do?"

"At first I suspected, but…no." Steve said, stopping the bag and then looking over at her. "I'm trying really hard not to think ill of you, I'm just upset."

"That I didn't tell you about it?" Angel asked him, nodding when he did. "Yeah…well, if it helps, Tony has never done a single thing I've ever asked him to."

Steve laughed a little. "Yeah?"

Angel sighed loudly as she tried hard not to get upset with her brother, but Tony seemed to bother her on a regular basis. It had become somewhat of a habit for him since he had taken over the company and Angel wondered if maybe she was the problem around here. After all, he seemed to be all about the company and whomever he could bed instead of caring about his little sister…

"Stop it, Tony," Angel told him, hitting him with a wooden spoon. "I live here too."

Tony pushed on his sister's shoulder gently. "Don't hit me with spoons."

"Don't bring strange women home!"

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Just because I'm younger, doesn't mean you can boss me around!"

"Actually, I think that just because you are younger, means just that."

Angel growled at him and then turned on her heel to leave the room because as much as she wanted to use her powers on him, that just wasn't like her. She would never do that to him, especially since he was kind of raising her a little bit since their parents were gone, even though she was really raising herself and being raised by Charles while she was at the mansion. No, Angela Stark really just needed to have some space from her brother right now and he needed space from her.

"I know that we're not okay, Steve, but I need you right now," Angel told him, handing him a file folder. "What do you know about the Tesseract exactly? I know we've touched on it, but…Loki has it."

Steve looked at her as he slowly took the file folder from her. "Loki…"

"Thor's brother," Angel said nodding.

"Have we gotten to Andy to ask her how to get Thor here?" Steve asked her slowly.

"She's on her way, but I came to get you," Angel responded, smiling gently. "This is really important because on top of Loki having the Tesseract…he has Sharon."

Steve's eyes were on her in an instant when he heard her voice crack and he stepped up closer to her, sighing because he was torn. He was still upset and he was still processing, but Sharon and Andy meant everything to Angel and Steve couldn't find it in him to be upset with her when she was so clearly hurting right now not knowing where Sharon was or how she was and Steve sighed a bit. Even sad, she was every bit as beautiful and his fingers easily found their way into her hair.

"Hey…we'll get her back," Steve promised, resting his forehead against Angel's before kissing it. "What's the next step here?"

xx

Sharon wasn't sure how she felt about being with Loki, but one thing was for certain: the man had a plan. He knew what he wanted and he had all sorts of people on his side that she hadn't been expecting to see: humans, agents and mutants alike. Anyone that could help him achieve his goal was right there and now she was there and she wondered why he hadn't actually tried and controlled her yet when he honestly could have…nothing was stopping Loki from using his scepter.

Shaking it off and trying to count her blessings, Sharon went on a hunt for Clint, seeing him working with Erik Selvig and she decided to approach them. She knew that she and Clint weren't really in a good place even though they'd had a few nice encounters this last four months, but she wanted to see if she could snap him out of this before he did something that he was going to regret forever…

"I know you're not entirely you, right now," Sharon began.

Clint looked at her. "I'm me…"

"No, you're not," Sharon responded, shaking her head. "You would never do this to Nick or to Natasha and you know that."

"Maybe you don't know me," Clint told her.

Sharon couldn't explain the pain in her heart that she felt at that comment, but she knew that she deserved it because he was right: she didn't know him. They didn't know each other past what they assumed and for one of them to think they knew the other over the other meant that they were just being hypocritical. So, she decided to approach this in a different way because that way was obviously not getting her anywhere…

"If you're you, then why—"

"—you hurt me, Sharon." Clint cut her off. "I wanted to put my heart on my sleeve for you and all you gave me were secrets. That doesn't matter though. What matters is this…Iridium?"

Erik nodded at him. "It's important for the device."

Sharon glanced at the plans, but Clint moved them out of her eyesight and then went to talk to Loki while Sharon tried to figure out what to do. She didn't want to stay here, but there were mutants that she knew that she couldn't just abandon…and she couldn't abandon Clint. God, she was into him and she knew that now, seeing him like this. All he had wanted to do was get to know her and she had gone out of her way to push him away every time.

"Thought you might like a pudding cup," Clint told Sharon as he sat down next to her at the table.

Sharon looked at him and laughed loudly. "Angel put you up to this. I hate tapioca."

"Really? She said it was your favorite…"

"She does that to every guy she thinks is sweet on me."

"Is everyone starting to talk like Captain America?"

His last question made her laugh a little and shrug because she had to admit that it was kind of nice having Steve around—having a real gentleman around.

"Besides, I'm not sweet on you," Clint told her, but he was blushing a little bit. "If anything you hit on me first."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "In your dreams, pal. Now, if the pudding cup is all you have to offer, I'd like to eat it in peace…"

She was like that, though. Sharon had a tendency to run from men when they got too close and it was more fun to play with them than it was to trust them. Not only was she a mutant, but she'd been hurt a time or two before and in a place where there were so many spies, she just didn't feel entirely comfortable when they all had secrets as well. She didn't think that anyone had a right to talk to her about keeping secrets, but at the same time she knew that hers was big.

"You're coming with me," Loki told Sharon gently.

Sharon looked at him. "Excuse me?"

"To get the Iridium, Sharon…you are coming with me." Loki told her, grabbing her arm and digging his fingers in a little bit. "And I'm certainly not asking."

xx

Angel wasn't sure what to do that night, but she knew that she needed to get some sleep. She was walking down the corridor to her room when she just started crying, leaning against the wall and trying to pull it all together because right now she just wanted to know that everyone that she cared about was nice and safe. Then she felt arms wrap around her and even though she shook her head, they picked her up and cradled her, carrying her to her room.

"I just want to be alone," Angel said gently.

Steve nodded and kissed the top of her head. "I want to make you feel better…"

"If I was my brother, I'd be chalk full of innuendo right now,"

"You're not your brother…"

"I'm still a freak…"

Steve shook his head and couldn't stop the door from shutting with her in his arms, but he kissed her forehead and then nuzzled her skin. When she got her feet on the ground, Angel went in to kiss him, lips capturing his, pouring herself into him because she just wanted to feel good right now, and kissing Steve felt good…in fact it felt great. Steve couldn't say that he didn't feel good either, having Angel's soft lips crushing against his with such need and determination.

"We should have a talk about where we are," Angel told Steve that night as they listened to some music.

Steve nodded and gave her his full attention. "I think we're good…am I wrong?"

"No, you're not wrong, I just think that we should have a slightly awkward conversation." Angel admitted blushing. "Like…a sex conversation…"

She could see the red rise up in Steve's cheeks, but they'd both been thinking about it more than they should have been. They were close and she was a Stark and he thought that she expected it and Angel wanted him to know that she was a virgin and she really couldn't be expected to just throw herself at a guy no matter her age or how much she wanted him. They both turned each other on and they enjoyed each other's company, but at the same time it was something that they would need to talk about eventually and right now seemed like the best time.

"A…what…?" Steve asked her slowly.

Angel blushed a little more. "I'm a virgin and I would rather we wait."

"Oh, you're…" Steve nodded because while he hadn't expected that, he was kind of glad that she wasn't expecting anything from him.

All this time he had been expecting that because she was Angela Stark, she was experienced and she was expecting someone more experienced than he was. Now she was telling him that she was just like he was—not used to this—and it made her that much more attractive to him. So he smiled at her to let her know that he got it and that he was good with waiting and just when he was going to say something, Angel spoke because she was so embarrassed she'd even brought it up—way to scare the guy off.

"So are we good? Good talk?" Angel asked him.

Steve nodded at that. "Yeah…good talk."

For a moment, Steve just let it happen, fingers in her hair, holding her close to him and feeling her body against his…but it didn't last. He knew that it was wrong because she was upset and he desperately wanted to make this stop, even if there were feeling surging through him—and he felt like he really needed to stop when she was unbuttoning her shirt. This was not the way that he wanted this to happen and he was still a gentleman.

"Angel…stop…" Steve said slowly, hands covering hers as she paused what she was doing. "You're upset and I care about you, but this isn't the way…"

Angel nodded, flushing red. "God, I know…oh God, I'm so sorry."

She fled into the bathroom, Steve watching her go and trying to make the feelings subside because he just wanted to be kissing her again. Angel quickly got into her pajamas and then opened up the door, seeing Steve leaving her room and speaking up because it was the only thing she could do.

"Stay with me…please?" Angel asked him.

Steve heard the words and then nodded gently, turning to her and watching as she got under the covers in her bed, his mouth going dry. Still, he took off his leather jacket and he laid down on top of the covers, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him, breathing in her scent as she rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. He would give anything to be with her right then, but he knew he had to stay alert and she knew it wasn't the time.

"As long as you need me," Steve promised.

xx

"Okay, you guys are really in need of a clue," Andy said bitterly, looking over the information and then glancing at a console. "He's only hiding until he shows—every villain is like that."

Nick smiled a little bit at her and nodded. "Right…so, we need to…what have we here?"

"I've been trying to pinpoint Sharon because I'm worried about her, and I have a terrible feeling that we're close," Andy explained to him.

"As soon as we find him, I want Angel to know where she is," Nick told her.

They nodded at each other and were about to speak up about more personal matters when everything seemed to fall right into their laps. Andy smiled and looked at the screen, pointing to it and then looking at Nick, Bruce, Coulson and Natasha.

"He wants to be found," Andy said, nodding slowly. "I'm sending Steve."

Note: There might not be another chapter tonight—I'm working on a video for the story and I've hit a little bit of writer's block. I'm trying, though. Feedback is always appreciated!