A/N: Thanks to all who have added me to their favorites lists and subscriptions! It means a lot that you all want to read my story.

Into the New World

Chapter 10

Captain Rogers was not surprised that the more scientifically-minded folks around him were skeptical of his assessment. Why wouldn't it be easy to believe a man who had been frozen for the last 70 years? Particularly when he said he could remember the smell? Steve wasn't sure if he even truly believed it himself.

And that fella named Hawkeye seemed certain that HYDRA had been destroyed. Overall, that was a good thing; that's what he had been fighting for so many years ago. But he definitely thought he could be right, and when you have that gut reaction, it's hard to ignore.

It had been two weeks since the incident at Stark Tower. Two weeks since he had almost asked Amanda out on a date. And two weeks since he'd had any contact with her.

It was just as well; he didn't have time to actually take her out anyway. Maybe it was all for the best. Director Fury has set up training for them all in those last two weeks and it was ten hours a day extensive physical training.

Today, Steve was in the boxing ring with Thor. He had begun to get to know the god of Thunder and kind of actually liked him. And without his hammer, he was a pretty even match for the Captain. The two also found they had a lot in common. Both were new to this world; both needed to learn a lot so they could function here.

They had already gone several rounds when the door began to open to the training room. The person who walked into the room was enough to distract both of them, but Thor recovered quickly and took advantage. He swung and landed a punch that had Steve flat on his back.

Thor grinned and extended his hand to help Steve up. Steve was embarrassed that Amanda was such a distraction to him and that there were so many witnesses to see him fall.

"Don't worry, Captain," Thor smiled. "We are all victims of great beauty."

Steve nodded, as he shook Thor's hand.

"I'm sorry; JARVIS didn't say that both of you were in here. I'm just looking for Thor," Amanda said. "Not that…" Amanda started as she saw the flash of disappointment on Steve's face. "I just have a message for you. Jane and Darcy just landed at the airport. They should be here within the hour."

"Thank you, doctor," Thor said. He nodded to Amanda. "I should probably get cleaned up."

Steve nodded and smiled. He had heard about Jane Foster from Thor a couple days ago earlier. He was happy for Thor that she could come visit.

Thor was gone quickly and soon it was just Amanda and Steve. Steve was still standing in the ring, afraid to make eye-contact with the woman.

"Um, I heard you've been doing some pretty extensive training the last couple of weeks," Amanda said.

"Uh, yes," Steve replied.

"You know, I've been trained in boxing," she said, grinning.

Steve wasn't sure what she was talking about. In fact, Amanda wasn't sure why she had mentioned it. Both of them were thinking the same thing: was she flirting?

But Amanda decided to go for it. She was divesting herself of her suit jacket and heels and was climbing between the ropes.

The Captain was kind of horrified at the thought of sparring with a girl. Particularly once he had such strong feelings about. And, even though she was a trained agent, she was still a woman. You weren't supposed to hit a woman.

Amanda playfully jabbed him in the side, and he knew she wasn't going to back down. But he didn't put his guard up, just so he didn't hurt her and a few trick moves later, she had Captain America pinned to the ground. Any man who wasn't a super-soldier would be unconscious in this situation.

Steve used his muscle control and lightly flipped them over so he had her pinned to the floor of the ring. He looked down into her blue eyes.

"You're not exactly the damsel in distress, are you?" he asked.

"Well, sometimes it's fun to be rescued," Amanda replied.

"So, where have you been the last couple of weeks?" he asked. He truly thought after the second week of not seeing her, she was avoiding him purposely.

Steve let her free and the laid on their backs in the ring, looking up at the ceiling.

"Fury was not pleased with my initial absence the day of the incident at Stark Tower, so I've been getting the grunt work since then: delivering messages, getting coffee, and the like," Amanda explained. "I suppose I deserve it."

"You're entitled to time off, right? Just like any job?"

Amanda's response was to laugh. Even when she wasn't working, she was working.

"I am always working. In Fury's opinion, we are the job and the job is us."

"Like being a soldier."

"Indeed. And don't get me wrong, I love my job. I can't imagine doing anything else. But once in a while, having a personal life would be nice. I tried dating that guy who almost got me killed by the Hulk…Johnny Storm. But he was, and still is, one of those egotistical superheroes who thinks that he's God's gift to women."

The way she used the word 'superhero' so casually was odd to Steve, but he just kept listening.

"Obviously, it didn't work out," Amanda said. "Unfortunately, gaining super powers doesn't make you any less of a jerk. He cheated on me a couple of times in the week or so we dated…I don't know why I'm making you listen to this."

"That guy is a jerk," Steve replied. "I've never understood how people cheat. My conscience would get to me."

"Not all guys, or girls for that matter, put a lot of stock in their conscience," Amanda said. "Oh! I did want to tell you that JARVIS and I have finalized our list of tests that we would like to run, with your final approval, of course," she said.

"I'm sure they're fine. I probably wouldn't know one way or another anyway. Do you need to start them now?"

"Oh, no, no. You've had a long couple of weeks and a very long day today," she said. "Maybe Monday? If Fury doesn't need you to keep training every single day."

"Between the fight training and simulations, as well as the reading I've been doing about the last 70 years, don't let it get out, but I am kinda getting tired," Steve said.

"I could imagine."

He was trying to focus on what Amanda was saying, but he was caught up in the fact that they were lying next to each other, just talking. They weren't touching, but it seemed so intimate. Steve couldn't believe that after not seeing her for two weeks, wondering what could be between them, or not between them, and here she was, next to him.

"It's been a lot of history to learn in only a few days."

"I took an American History class in college a few years back. It was the 1850s to present. It met three days a week, two hours each day for 16 weeks and we still didn't make it through the 1970s. So, I can imagine that the reading is getting a bit tedious."

They continued to talk about this and that, but Amanda now found herself losing the battle she was having with staying awake. It was so comfortable to be laying there with Steve. His voice was calming and quiet and soon her eyelids were fluttering closed and her breathing became rhythmic. She had fallen asleep.

Steve wasn't so sure what to do next. She was asleep on the floor of a boxing ring and he was now responsible for her sleeping form. Should he move her? But where would he take her?

Listening to her breathing, so deep and even, while he was thinking of what to do next, was starting to make him tired. Maybe he could just close his eyes for a minute and when he awoke, he could ask JARVIS what to do. But in the meantime, he was going to succumb to the tiredness that he was feeling too.

….

Tony Stark was used to staying up all night. Usually it was because of some party, or some woman, but last night it was because he'd reached a breakthrough in his research and experiments. He wanted to speak to Amanda, the person who had been hiding out from Fury and helping him the past week. However, she wasn't picking up her cell phone.

Barefoot, he poured himself a cup of coffee in his kitchen. The sun was beginning to rise as he spoke to JARVIS.

"JARVIS, what time did Amanda leave last night?" Tony asked his cyber butler. She'd been working with JARVIS in his lab last night before being asked to take a message to Thor. And Tony had no idea what time that was. When he was in the zone, he had no concept of time.

JARVIS took a moment to process the request of his creator.

"It appears that Doctor Carter never left the house last night," he answered.

"She usually mentions when she's staying. Where is she?"

JARVIS did not reply.

"JARVIS, where is she?" Tony said, starting to get aggravated. He'd created JARVIS to be very, very smart.

"Sir, she is in Captain Rogers' weight room," the computer replied.

"What the hell is she doing down there? Is she all right? None of the crazies that I have living here snapped and killed her, right?"

"My sensors are detecting normal vital signs. Slightly elevated temperature, but breathing, pulse and blood pressure are normal for her."

Tony set down the coffee he had just poured for himself and took off for the basement staircase. If Rogers or anyone else brought any harm to her, he was going to do some serious Iron Man-type damage to said person.

But the sight he found once the door slid open was not what he expected. In fact, an unconscious woman, he thought to himself, would be less unsettling.

A pair of black high heels lay kicked off on the ground and a woman's suit jacket was thrown over the back of a metal folding chair. And two bodies were sleeping in the middle of the boxing ring.

It was easy to identify them as Amanda Carter and Steve Rogers. And even though Tony knew that they were attracted to each other, Amanda had told him only last night that she hadn't even spoken to the Captain in over a week and a half.

Tony slowly backed out of the room, as quietly as possible, so as not to wake them. It was awkward enough to view them sleeping in a boxing ring; he didn't want to wake them up and have to talk to them, too.

As the door slid shut behind him, alarms started ringing throughout the house. The alarms designed to let all the Avengers know that there was a situation that was happening.

It was show time for the whole lot of them.

…

Dun, dun, dun….

Okay, please leave me a review. I promise real action with the Avengers in the next chapter!