Hey guys! Thank you to all who favorited/followed/reviewed this story so far! =)

This chapter is a bit dull and short, but this sets up the next chapter perfectly. (Well, perfect to me anyway.)

Avengers 2015: thank you for reviewing the first two chapters. glad you're enjoying it!

BarbyChan4ever: thank you too for reviewing chapters four through nine! made my day!

kiroroblue: will continue writing. =) glad you like my story!

stellarstarlet: thank you for your kind review! as you already know, balancing the action and romance is challenging, so thank you for saying that. =)

PandaLilly: thanks! and you'll find out this chapter!

Enjoy!

The faint sound of music could be heard as Steve slowly started to become conscious. Between the overly bright lights, the familiar smell of disinfectants, and the consistent beeping coming from the heart rate monitor, it didn't take long at all for him to register that he was in a hospital room.

The last thing Steve remembered was telling Bucky that he wasn't going to fight him as the helicarrier was falling from the sky. Steve turned his head to the right and saw Sam reading a book. So Sam was okay, Natasha and Fury took down Alexander Pierce so they must be good... But where was Autumn? Last he heard over his comms was her yelling that her engines went out.

"Where is she?" Steve asked, his voice a bit rough. "Did she make it?"

Sam looked over at his comrade and let out a soft chuckle. He was a little surprised that Steve hadn't asked about Bucky or the aftermath of their mission. He had asked about Autumn.

"Yeah, she's okay, man. She ejected out of the plane but doesn't remember landing. She actually landed only about 200 feet from where you were found," Sam informed.

"Is she hurt?"

"Aside from her previous injuries, she was shot in her right thigh and suffered a mild concussion. She's pretty bruised up too but other than that, she's doing alright. She's still her overly talkative self. She pretended she had amnesia when she first saw Natasha...it was actually pretty funny."

Steve felt his body ease up. He was glad she made it out alright. After he learned she had been shot, he couldn't stop worrying about her. She had always been in the back of his mind throughout their whole mission.

"She's something else," Steve admitted. Truthfully, he normally wouldn't find something like that funny. But because it was her, he couldn't help but fight back a smile. "Where's Buck?"

Sam shot his friend a sympathetic look.

"Gone. No trace of him. Sorry, Steve."

Steve said nothing, he only let out a sigh.

"You should rest up. I'm going to go get you a mirror so you can see how busted your face is right now. But knowing you, your face will probably be healed by the time I return."

"Perks of being genetically altered."

"How long does it take to heal from all this? A day? Maybe two?"

"Hard to say. Maybe about two days or so. Haven't been shot in awhile so we'll see how it goes," Steve half joked.

"I was just joking. But damn."

"So, you've experienced this sort of thing before?" Fury asked the Captain as he stared at his own grave. It read:

Colonel Nicholas J. Fury.
"The path of the righteous man. Ezekiel 25:17"

"You get used to it," encouraged Steve.

"We've been data-mining Hydra's files. Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm heading to Europe tonight, wanted to ask if you'd come."

"There's something I gotta do first," Steve answered.

"How about you, Wilson? I could use a man with your abilities."

"I'm more of a soldier than a spy," told Sam.

"Alright then," Fury says and holds out his hand to both Steve and Sam, who both shake it. "Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here," Fury motions to his gravestone before walking away.

"You should be honored, that's about as close as he gets to saying thank you," came Natasha's voice.

Steve and Sam look over in her direction to find both her and Autumn making their way towards them.

Steve's focus was particularly on the shorter girl who was crutching her way towards them. He hadn't seen her at the hospital, even though she was only a room down. By the time he got around to it, she was already checked out. A few days later and here she was. Sam had mentioned bruises, though he didn't see any aside from a light bruise on her right cheekbone. She was also dressed so differently - She wore a black skirt with black tights, black boots, and a loose long-sleeved off-white shirt that was tucked into her skirt. This was also the first time he had seen her hair down, which fell in gentle waves in front of her. She was absolutely breathtaking.

"Not going with him?" Steve asked Natasha.

"Noooo," Natasha dragged out her answer.

"Not staying here?"

"I blew all my covers. I gotta go figure out a new one."

"That might take a while."

"I'm counting on it," Natasha answers and hands Steve a file. "That thing you asked for, I called in a few favors from Kiev."

Steve opens up the file and sees a picture of Bucky and information regarding his Winter Soldier transformation.

"Be careful, Steve. You might not want to pull on that thread," Natasha warns before kissing his cheek softly and walking away. "I'll be waiting in the car," she whispers as she passes Autumn. Sam leaves too and slaps Steve across his upper arm before walking away.

"Hi, Steve," Autumn awkwardly greets after both Sam and Natasha are out of range. She flashed him an awkward grin.

"Hey," Steve greets back. He was finding himself in a much lighter mood now that she was around him. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better," she answered, though her tone suggested otherwise. "Though I could sure use your healing abilities right now."

"How much longer will you be using those?" Steve nods over to her crutches.

"Hard to say. Doctors say a few weeks but hopefully it won't be that long. I hate not being active."

"So what now?" Steve asked, taking a step towards her.

Autumn's smile fades into a much sadder one.

"I'm not sure...I really have no idea what I'm going to do with myself now. But in the mean time, I'm going to go back to Brooklyn and stay with my family. Confront my dad about his time with SHIELD. Natasha told me he was in fact loyal to SHIELD so phew, that's a huge weight off my shoulders. I take it you're going to go after your friend?"

"Yeah," Steve answered with a sigh. "He's my best friend, I have to find him."

"I understand, I totally understand. My friend back home, her name is Lucy, we've pretty much known each other since we were in pre-school together. I would do anything for her too..." Autumn trailed off awkwardly and grimaced, not quite sure why she had said that. "Sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous. Like, even more so than I usually do."

"Why are you nervous?" Steve asked.

Autumn mentally slapped herself for saying that out loud.

"I...I'm not sure? I think I may have a bit of anxiety after all that's happened..." Autumn lied.

No, that wasn't why. It was because of the man standing in front of her. She didn't want to part with him. Even though they had only known each other for the past few days, she felt as if she'd known him longer. And she wanted to get to know him more. She didn't want to see him go. What if she never saw him again?

"It could be PTSD," Steve suggested. "Did you want to talk about it?"

"Uhh...I'm not sure what there is to talk about. I mean aside from nearly being choked to death, getting shot at and miraculously surviving ejecting from a quinjet after blacking out, all is well," Autumn joked. But Steve's reaction still stayed serious. "It was a joke," she muttered softly.

"You know, we wouldn't have gotten this far if it hadn't been for you. And I...I just wanted to say thank you, Autumn. For everything," Steve told her while looking into her cerulean blue eyes. He had noticed her eyes before, but now that she was in a calmer state, he really noticed how deep and dark blue they were.

Autumn was taken back by his appreciation towards her. She honestly didn't feel like she did anything special. She was only doing what was right.

"You don't have to thank me for anything. And if you ever need my help or anything, don't hesitate to ask. I mean, I might have a funny walk and will probably not be able to run as fast as I used to...but really you could just strap me to your back and I'll just electrocute everyone as you run past them. We'd make a hell of a team, Cap," Autumn suggested with a lopsided grin.

Steve found himself smiling at her awful and yet funny suggestion.

"We would make a great team, Autumn. I'll keep that offer in mind," told Steve.

"Yeah...well, I should get going. Natasha is waiting for me in the car," Autumn motioned with her head towards Nat's car.

"Right..." Steve trailed off, unsure of how to part ways with her.

"You can hug me, you know. I don't bite," she smiled while moving her crutches to one arm and holding her arms out wide.

Steve let out a short chuckle before walking over to her and pulling her in for a hug. He wrapped his arms carefully around her small frame, not wanting to hurt her. Autumn wrapped both arms around him and leaned her head on his chest for just a moment, taking this moment with him in. She was sure going to miss him.

"Call me if you ever need anything, alright?" Steve told her as soon as they parted.

Autumn shifts her crutches back into place under her arms and leans over them.

"Definitely. Bye, Captain America," she tells him and playfully winks at the man.

"See you later, Autumn," Steve smiles back at her.

Autumn returns his smile before turning the other way and crutching back to Natasha's car.

Steve watched her as she crutched away. He felt his heart drop in disappointment as soon as she had turned around.

Did he really have feelings for this girl he had only known a few days? There was no denying that there was something pretty unique about her. Autumn stuck out like a sore thumb compared to all the rest. She was undeniably beautiful, even if she or anyone else didn't think so. Not to mention the fact that she was clever, funny, intelligent...and best of all, she had a big heart.

But what could he do? He was about to go after his friend and there was a possibility of him leaving the country to search for him. He could be gone for weeks or even months at a time.

"Autumn!" He called out and jogged after her. Autumn stopped in her tracks and turned around.

"What's up?"

"I..." Steve cleared his throat and paused for a moment, as if he were collecting his thoughts. Autumn raised an amused eyebrow at the man as she waited for him to speak. "Would you like to get coffee sometime?"

Autumn immediately found herself heating up. She was sure she was blushing. Was this Steve's attempt at asking her out on a date?

"Oh, sure...that would be nice," she answered. "Umm, when?"

"Actually, you deserve better than that. How about dinner? I...I really would like to go on a date with you, Autumn."

"Oh," Autumn breathed and nervously pursed her lips together. "That's...really kind of you, Steve, but..."

Steve mentally started to prepare himself for rejection. That tone was really not assuring at all.

"I hate to put a damper on things...it's just I can't really go out. I'm kind of crippled at the moment. I would still love to go on a date with you though, I just don't know how..." Autumn admitted, her eyes shyly finding the ground. "Maybe we could have dinner and my place? Or yours?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," Steve said, relieved from her answer. "Does my place work?"

"That's fine," she smiled and made eye contact with him again. "What time?"

"6? I can pick you up if you'd like," he offered.

"Sure...that'd be great, Steve. Thank you."

"Can I walk you back to your car?" Steve offered again.

"Sure," Autumn laughed nervously and started to crutch back to her car with Steve beside her. "That was unexpected."

"Yeah, had to take a chance and ask," he admitted to her.

"I'm glad you did," she admitted back.

Her blush colored cheeks didn't go unnoticed by Steve.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Steve," Autumn told him once she was at Natasha's car. And on cue, Natasha rolled down the passenger window. Both Autumn and Steve knew Natasha wasn't going to let them come out of this unscathed.

"Aww, did Steve ask you out on a date?" Natasha cooed at the two.

"Shut it, Nat," Autumn snapped back at her friend before sweetly smiling at Steve.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Autumn," Steve opened the passenger door for her, catching Autumn off guard.

"Oh, chivalry is apparently not dead with you," she nervously laughed before throwing her crutches in the back and stepping in. "See you tomorrow."

"About damn time, Steve," the red head smirked.

"Thanks, Nat," Steve sarcastically replied before she drove off.

"Man, that didn't take long," Sam chimed in.

"Yeah. She's something."

"Yeah, she is," Sam agreed. "Wait, didn't you say your place was shot up?"

Steve's smiled disappeared. His apartment had busted windows, gunshots on the floor and wall, and who knows what else.

"Come on," Sam patted Steve's back. "I'll help you clean up and we can talk about how we're going to find your friend. Deal?"

"Deal," Steve agreed.

Eh. Not sure how I felt about this chapter. I mean I'm happy with what I wrote but I did struggle. Hmm, maybe I'm just being overly critical about how I develop Steve and Autumn's relationship. But oh well, this chapter will do. Hopefully you all enjoyed it. Let me know what you think.

Any ideas or requests for their first date? =)

OH! So, I know Steve mentioned in WS that Autumn wasn't his first kiss since he woke up, meaning he's been on a date or maybe a few since. In the first Captain America movie, you can see how he's super shy with other women. Now that we know he's seen other women, I feel like he won't be super shy anymore. But I'm not going to make him 100% confident either. I mean, this is Autumn, the first girl to really catch his eye and attention since Peggy. I guess what I'm getting at is...I'm a bit apprehensive on how I should write Steve? Eh, maybe I'm thinking too much into this. Thoughts?