Disclaimer: The characters and things you recognize in this story don't belong to me. They belong to Marvel and Janet Evanovich. I'm pretty sure you'll recognize which is which. Mistakes belong to me.

Chapter 11

Steve's POV

Silence fell over the table at brunch when Steph's phone rang and flashed across her screen as an unknown caller. With my super soldier hearing, I always tried to be respectful and not listen in. In situations like this, sitting so close, I'd easily be able to hear both sides of the conversation. Sometimes I just don't mean to and I hear it anyway though. This was one of those times and as soon as I heard the caller respond to Stephanie's greeting with "fucking bitch" my head snapped toward her and I reached over, took her phone, and put it on speakerphone as Steph responded, "who is this?"

"I'm so disappointed that you haven't enjoyed our game and decided to run away with your so-called boyfriend instead. Whore. Maybe it's because I wasn't giving you enough attention."

I did not like the way he said "attention," it was nothing other than predatory.

"Are you the person who bombed my apartment and my car?"

"And the backup car, yes, that was me."

"Were you the person who shot me?"

The voice laughed chillingly before saying, "I wish. Unfortunately I hadn't tracked you down yet at the time, so I didn't get the chance before you went into hiding. You've been neglecting me when all I want to do is play. I thought maybe I've been boring you, so I left you a little present."

"Why me?"

"You met a friend of mine once, played a game with him. Only you cheated and had the Web Master kill him, so I've been waiting for the right time to finish his game. I do hope you enjoy your welcome back home present."

The line went dead and we all watched Stephanie, who had gone pale during the exchange, waiting for her to say something.

"I'll be right back."

She made a mad dash toward the bathroom of the restaurant Tony had rented out, and even though we were alone, Natasha chased after her. The rest of us sat there, but I got up as soon as Natasha opened the door again and motioned for me. When I walked in, I found Stephanie on the floor being violently ill and sobbing. Natasha was standing off to the side holding her hair back and when Pepper peaked her head in, I asked her to grab a glass of water for Steph. Once it seemed like Steph didn't have anything else left in her stomach, but just couldn't calm down enough to stop gagging, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me whispering in her ear that she was okay, that I had her, and we weren't going to let anything happen to her.

I held her for several minutes until she quieted and relaxed against me. Then I coaxed her into drinking some of the water and brushing her teeth with the toothbrush and toothpaste Pepper had somehow magically procured for her. Natasha took the water glass and toiletries when Steph was done and murmured that she'd be outside waiting with everyone else. Once we were alone, Stephanie just buried her head in my chest and wrapped her arms around me and held on as I gently rocked her from side to side. We stayed like that for a good long while, with Natasha and Pepper taking turns unobtrusively checking on us.

Finally we made our way back out into the restaurant and to our table where everyone was waiting. Pulling Stephanie on my lap, I wrapped my arms around her and held on, reminding us both that she was safe as she explained about "the game" to us. As near as I could tell, she'd be stalked and terrorized for days, toyed with by someone named Fisher Cat. I winced when I thought of the roses I'd given her, but she just patted my hand. Everything he'd done had been in the name of some sick game that he'd won, by killing others, and she was made the prize for. Once he finally decided to make his move, he told her he was going to kill her then rape her dead body. She fought back and might have made it out on her own, but someone killed him first and shot her with a tranquilizer.

She later got kidnapped by the person who killed Fisher Cat and found out it was a man named Cone who called himself the Web Master. He locked her in a warehouse and toyed with her, threatening the lives of Lula and brother-in-law as well. Thankfully he underestimated Stephanie and she made it to where he'd stashed a gun and killed him, three shots to the chest. I was pleased to hear that she'd defended herself, but I couldn't help thinking about the chain with bells she'd had stuck to her so he could hear her in the dark and the fact that she couldn't have gotten out of those and the building if she'd wanted to. This was pretty much exactly what I'd been talking about when I'd supported her desire to learn lockpicking and other similar skills! The glances I exchanged with Natasha and Clint told me that they were thinking the exact same thing.

"So, we're looking for someone who knows this Fisher Cat person," said Pepper once Stephanie had finished her story.

"Maybe. Or it could just be someone with access to the files on those cases," I said. "If we think about what the caller actually told us about that case, he didn't actually say 'Fisher Cat'. He did know the name 'Web Master' though, and he knew that the Web Master had killed Fisher Cat. He also knew that it was a game, and that someone was leaving Stephanie presents along the way. That sounds to me like a little more than just someone who read newspaper articles, but not necessarily someone who knew or was involved with Fisher Cat."

From the doorway, I heard Ranger speak up, "You're right. And for what it's worth, Morelli still has a couple days left on his alcohol and anger management program. My sources say he hasn't left, but we're working to verify that fact."

He walked over to us and squatted down so that he was eye level with Steph and asked, "you alright?" She just nodded her head. "I had a couple of the guys who were out stop by your apartment. They talked to Dillon who said that work was just about done on it and he was going to call you this week, though they didn't seem convinced that he actually was going to call you. I think you may have finally broken Dillon, Babe."

"Wouldn't blame him if I had."

"When they went up to your apartment, they found a vase filled with red roses and white carnations sitting outside the front door. They called TPD and are waiting for the Bomb Squad to show. This guy has already blown up that very apartment, as well as two cars, so nobody is taking any chances here."

"Oh man, I really can't move back there now. My poor neighbors!"

I tensed a little at the mention of Stephanie moving out of the Tower and back to Trenton. True, Trenton wasn't all that far from NYC, and I knew we hadn't been together very long yet, but I didn't want her to move away.

"Hey!" exclaimed Tony, "I thought you liked living in the Tower and you were going to stick around and help Ranger set up his new office?"

Everyone was eyeing Stephanie warily now. "I wasn't actually planning to move back, I guess I was just realizing that I really can't now. Or at least shouldn't." Then she reassured, "I do like living in the Tower, and I am planning to stay in New York and help Ranger set up the new office. But we all know I can't just stay in the Tower, I'm going to need to find an apartment at some point here."

"We can sort that out later," Pepper chimed in.

"Right, Ranger, you guys have things in Trenton under control and you'll keep us posted, right?" asked Tony. At Ranger's nod of affirmation, Tony continued, "So, we're just going to continue on with our day as planned which involves staying away from Trenton. We'll be on extra alert though, and Steph, we're going to stop at the Tower first and get you fresh body armor."

Everyone was walking out to the cars when we were brought to a halt by the sight of red roses and white carnations on the windshields of each car we'd brought with us. Including Ranger's Turbo. I shoved Stephanie behind me, hearing Thor move into place behind her, and turned to Ranger, "you've been here about 10 minutes, right?"

"Yep, those weren't there and I didn't see anyone suspicious."

We marched Stephanie right back inside, with me in front of her and Thor at her back. Sandwiched between the two of us, barely any of her would be visible. Mentally I cursed myself for taking her out of the house without a vest today.

"Helicopter's on the way," Tony said.

"You really can't keep using helicopters to take me places; that has got to be crazy expensive," Stephanie protested.

"Sure I can, I'm a billionaire. And not like one billion dollars. What are we at now, Pepper, like 15? I own lots of helicopters and it is cheaper and less upsetting than having my car blow up. Plus, we were going to get on the helicopter at the Tower anyway for a tour of the city, so we'll just do that on the way. No big deal."

Stephanie started to protest, so I cut her off with a quick kiss. "You have to learn to pick your battles with him, and this isn't one that is worth picking. Plus, you're not going to win, and everyone else in this room is on his side right now."

"I've called to local police and TPD. I'll handle things here, and make sure your cars get back to you after they've been cleared." Ranger stated, "Bobby, Lester, Tank and Hector are already in Manhattan. With your permission, they'll join you this afternoon. Tank and Lester will meet you in the tower, Hector and Bobby will shadow you. You were planning to be on foot after the tour, right?"

We all nodded in agreement, then hustled out to the helicopter when it landed. After taking the scenic route back, we found ourselves at the Tower. I got Stephanie to eat some crackers from the common area kitchen as, let's be honest, she didn't have any of her brunch left in her. Then I distracted her while we waited for the others to join us by stealing some kisses in the kitchen with my body pressed up against hers. Thankfully, Natasha came in and cleared her throat before we could get too carried away.

"Stephanie, we want to gear you up and talk about this afternoon."

Stephanie already had her gun holstered at the small of her back, but Natasha gave her a backup piece with an ankle holster. Once she'd strapped that on, she was given another ankle holster with two knives on it. I handed her some pepper spray to clip onto her belt as well, ignoring Clint's chuckle at the gesture. Then Natasha pulled her into the other room, and I wasn't sure what that was about, but I had a feeling some Widow Bites might be involved. I just hoped she gave her good instructions, though my understanding was that in the whole Project Insight debacle, Natasha had used one on herself and had probably an even more healthy understanding of how much they hurt. So probably she'd make sure Steph didn't get herself. Then again, Natasha might just find it funny.

Almost as though it was rehearsed or choreographed, the second Natasha came back into the common room with Steph, Tony swooped in his arms full of goodies. "Okay, Steph. This watch is a replacement for your current bracelet. You'll notice it is a bit bulky, but not too bad. It still has a panic button, but it now has a microphone so we'll be able to hear what's going on, only after the panic button has been activated as well as a speaker so that we can talk to you if necessary. It also allows Jarvis to talk to you and you to talk to Jarvis through the watch if you can't through this." He says while handing her a new Starkphone. "Both the phone and the watch have explosive scanning capabilities that should work for cars as well as most doors as long as they aren't too heavily reinforced." He went about demonstrating both to her.

I watched her carefully and heard her mutter something about "waste of money" and "really too much" but was pleasantly surprised when she took a few more seconds to think about it and decided to accept them without argument. Tony walked her through accessing Jarvis with both and using the explosive scanners.

Before he handed her the watch, however, he held up a second watch in a different color. "This one looks different so you don't mix them up. I know how you feel about trackers and we're not going to make you wear one if you still don't want one. However, given the references this guy made to 'The Game' that those people played with you before, Jarvis thinks, and we agree, that there is a high probability that this guy is going to want to catch you and toy with you. Maybe make you play a game with him again. So, this watch has a tracker. I would recommend you wear this watch until we catch the guy, but I'm giving you both and the choice is up to you."

We all watched carefully, trying to keep our faces blank, as Stephanie's face screwed up in distaste at the mention of trackers. But she eyed both watches contemplatively, and understandably paled and the mention of being made to play a "game" with someone who wanted to kill her again. She held both watches in her hand and we watched the indecision play on her face before she finally put on the watch with the tracker on it.

Then Tony went on to the last couple of things he was holding. "Okay, I have some new body armor for you. Given how high powered of a weapon you were shot with last time, this is a little bit bulkier than the last, but it is designed to be worn under a shirt, so you can cover it up. I know you can't ride that bike anytime soon, but I made you an additional piece of armor built into this jacket. I'd recommend using it when you're outside and you can stand it. Both are obviously bulky, but I think you'll find them the most breathable of any similar item on the market today."

You could see a little bit of light come across Stephanie's face, no doubt remembering when she'd teased him asking him if the last one would work. It quickly clouded again as she remembered what happened to the vest and how close she came to death. So instead of joking again, her eyes filled with tears and she grabbed both and choked out a "thanks, Tony."

He tilted her chin up to look him in the eyes as he said, "I don't care what happens to that, I've got more in the works for you already so you can rotate them, just make sure that whatever happens to them, you come back to us, okay?"

She latched on to Tony with a big hug and I gave him a grateful nod. Tony seemed okay with the hug even though he generally didn't like to be touched. That is until he heard her start sniffling and realized that she was crying at least a little. Then his eyes came back to me wide with panic and he mouthed, "help" at me. I chuckled at his reaction but pulled Stephanie away from him and into my embrace until she managed to fight off the tears again.

She pulled away with a "sorry about that. I hate crying." Receiving various versions of "that's okay" from everyone in the room. Then she left the room to put on the armor and we all stood around waiting, greeting Tank and Lester when they arrived.

I ran a hand through my hair and looked at everyone gathered around. Taking a deep breath and then blowing it out, I said, "are we being stupid taking her out?"

"We can't keep her locked away forever, Steve," reasoned Bruce.

"Better to draw something out when we're prepared for it. Plus, she's going to want to work this week, and she'll just go stir crazy and insist on going out when you're less prepared if we don't do something like this," pointed out Lester with Tank nodding in agreement.

Rolling her eyes, Pepper clapped her hands and added, "Plus, you know, it's her birthday this weekend! We want to celebrate how glad we are that she was born and that she's still alive!"

Rather than getting caught up in the close calls, I let myself smile at that! because it was true. My smile just got bigger when Stephanie came back in and greeted the newcomers before walking over to me, putting her arm around my waist and leaning in to me. She was practically vibrating with excitement as she asked where we were going.

"We've got a few places in mind, but we'll be starting with Central Park. Figured you might need a little sunshine, and we can at least attempt to blend into the crowd there." Hearing my answer, she squeezed me tightly in appreciation.

Without any more discussion, we headed out of the Tower and were on our way to the park. Stephanie spent a good deal of the walk plastered to my side, but she also made a point of rotating around and talking with the others as well. We'd immediately been noticed upon leaving the Tower- everyone knew who lived there and we were pretty obvious leaving as a group. Although I'd seen some cameras come out and some people followed us for a few blocks, nobody who seemed overly threatening was hanging around. Plus Stephanie hadn't felt anything that was off, and we were all developing a healthy respect for that sixth sense of hers.

Reaching the park, we all dispersed a little to walk around and explore. I was able to sneak a couple minutes of semi-privacy with Stephanie to pull her behind a tree and steal some kisses. We broke off the kisses after a couple minutes and I just held her as we whispered "I love yous" back and forth.

Eventually we wandered over to where Happy had been waiting for us all, guarding a picnic set-up. Happily we were able to eat and sit around on the picnic blankets for a while without being disturbed. I had pulled Stephanie onto my lap at some point and was playing with her hair, watching the sun dance across it as I ran my fingers through the curls and we chatted with the others. As we had all expected, the crowd that had been slowly gathering in the perimeter eventually became brave enough to approach.

When the first group approached, Stephanie blushed and made a move to get off my lap, but I just held her where she was, wanting to keep her there for as long as possible. Finally I did have to give in and let her off my lap so I could stand for some pictures, but I was able to keep her close because several of the people seemed to want pictures of us together. Her face the first time someone asked for her to be in the picture was hilarious because, while I had expected this to happen at some point, she was clearly surprised.

There was, as usual, a pretty large contingent of children there, most of whom split up to talk to their favorite Avenger. Or, you know, just stare up at us in awe while their parents talked for them, which was always cute.

I let out a chuckle at the look on Stephanie's face though when one little girl walked right up to her and asked for Stephanie's autograph. I could tell that she expected it to be because she was my girlfriend, but was pleasantly surprised when the girl said, "is it true that you hunt down the bad guys who refuse to go to jail?" She answered the question as well as a few more that some additional kids came up and asked. When one of the kids asked if he could play with her gun, we all turned to see how she'd handle the situation. I thought she handled it perfectly, being gentle but firm as she explained that the gun was an unfortunately necessary tool and definitely not a toy.

It wasn't too long before she and some of the children started a game of "Bounty Hunter" which seemed to basically be a combination of tag and hide and seek. As subtly as we could, the remainder of us kind of spread out so we'd have more angles with which to see Steph when she hid. I was grateful to see a few more men in black had arrived as the crowd grew and nodded my thanks to Tank. I was also glad to see Steph make an extremely conscious effort to stay within the line of sight of at least one, if not more, of us each time she hid. Watching her laugh and play while interacting with the kids was seriously enthralling, and I was so glad that we'd decided to do this. It was probably the most carefree she'd been since that first date on the beach.

Sam walked up next to me watching me watch Steph and said, "man, you've got it bad."

"Yep."

"She's good at all this."

"She is. It helps that she somehow still genuinely likes people, despite everything she's gone through and the types of people she hunts down regularly."

"She does seem to see the good in almost everyone. She's good for you."

"She is. I just hope I'm as good for her."

We were starting to get ready to head out when I felt a little tug on my pants. I looked down and let out a chuckle of delight when I saw who was there. I called Steph over as I squatted down. When she reached me and squatted down next to me, I said, "Stephanie, I want you to meet my new friend Lacey. She helped me out and gave me some advice about what to get you for your birthday."

"Hi Lacey, it is so nice to meet you. I saw you on the news yesterday, and I was hoping I'd get to meet you at some point!"

Lacey had what appeared to be the rose I'd given her yesterday in her hair and she smiled at that. "You're not mad about that, right?"

"Nope!" said Stephanie. Lacey told us not to move and we waited patiently as we ran over to her mom. When she came back, she had a small bouquet of daisies in her hand.

"We came over as soon as we heard that you were in the park. I was worried that you wouldn't be here anymore when we got here, but I stopped and got you these just in case. Captain 'Merica said you'd been having a 'rough time' and I thought I'd help try to cheer you up. Happy birthday, Stephanie!"

Steph's eyes sparkled with delight as she took the daisies with a big smile and thank you before wrapping Lacey in a hug. My heart skipped a beat at the site, wondering if one day I'd get to watch Stephanie hug a mini-her who was our daughter. It wouldn't be anytime soon, but I decided I liked the idea. I looked over and saw Natasha laughing with a smirk on her face that clearly said, "I know what you're thinking!" directed at me. I just shrugged at her in response before reaching to the bouquet and taking one of the daisies to put in Stephanie's hair just like Lacey had done with her rose. Lacey's smile got even bigger at that.

We chatted with Lacey for a few more minutes before telling her that we were glad we'd gotten to see her but we needed to leave. As we walked out of the park and on to our next destination, I pulled Stephanie close with an arm around her waist. "You handled that really well, Steph. Thanks."

"I don't know why you're thanking me, it was no big deal. But you're welcome."

"It's a big deal because it shows me that you might be willing to stick around for a while and aren't going to be scared off by things like that. It'll probably happen a lot when we're out. I can't promise you anonymity or privacy if you're with me. Really I can only tell you that you'll probably experience a lot of the opposite, and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to deal with that."

She gave me a little hip bump and nuzzled into me further, "as long as I get you out of the deal, I'm more than happy to deal with as much of that as necessary."

"I'm glad you feel that way. There's actually a charity ball thing on Friday; will you go with me?"

"If you think it'll be safe, then of course."

We walked in silence for a bit longer before we reached our destination, a fairly low-key bar of which we were all fond. It was just a few blocks from the Tower and, for the most part, the patrons were regulars and would leave us alone when we visited. It seemed someone had called ahead for us, probably Pepper, and gotten a few tables reserved together. We hadn't even sat down yet, I was helping Stephanie out of her jacket, when a waitress walked up with a giant margarita and placed it in front of Stephanie. "We heard you liked these; it's on the house. Happy birthday, we're glad to have you here celebrating with us."

Stephanie murmured her thanks and once the waitress was back out of earshot she said, "I don't know whether to find that awesome or creepy."

Clint was across the way from us and just called out, "free booze is always awesome!"

Stephanie thought about it before nodding in agreement, taking her seat, and then taking a big sip of her margarita. I looked at the size of the margarita and remembered what Ranger had said about her being a lightweight. It was going to be an interesting night.

After a while, I reluctantly allowed Steph to lead me over to the open area of floor where some dancing was always happening. By now I'd danced a few times with various women, but it just wasn't really my favorite activity. An opinion that, I had to admit, was quickly changing as Stephanie pulled herself closer and closer to me while we danced. After a couple of songs though, I gladly let Lester cut in with a mostly friendly warning of "as long as you keep your hands appropriate!" and a quick kiss for Stephanie.

A couple minutes after I sat down where I could keep an eye on Steph, I had Natasha on one side and Pepper on my other. Eyeing them cautiously I said, "what?"

They both put on their innocent faces, which for Natasha just made me more suspicious, and Pepper said, "nothing. We just want to make sure our friend Steve is having a good time."

"I am," I replied blandly. I allowed them to squirm and try to make small talk and pry information out of me for a while. I really didn't like to talk about my personal matters, but I did trust them both. Mostly it was just fun to mess with them. When it seemed they might be about to give up, I turned to Pepper and said, "is it alright if I bring Steph on Friday?" before chuckling at her squeal of delight.

"Absolutely! Tony's designed a dress for her. It should be ready by Wednesday."

Natasha and I both gaped at her for a few seconds before Natasha finally got out a "Tony did what?"

"Okay, well I and one of my favorite designers helped with the 'design the dress' part, but Tony has been frantically working on it since the shooting. It matches your uniform, Steve, since you all have to wear your uniforms this time, but it is made mostly out of one of his body armor materials. It took him a solid week just to get the material right so it could be sewn into more than just a bulky shirt, and since then it's been getting the fabric to work as a dress."

I pondered that for a moment before smiling my appreciation at Pepper. I tuned Pepper and Natasha out as they talked a bit about their dresses. I was becoming more tense as time passed. Steph had gone to the bathroom, with a Rangeman escort, several minutes ago. Could just be that there was a line, but my instincts were starting to scream at me. I got to my feet now completely ignoring Pepper and noticed that Natasha was doing the same.

My gaze was fixed on the hallway I'd last seen Stephanie disappear into as I rushed over. When I got there, I saw Tank and Lester both down. Lester was right outside the bathroom door, unconscious and bleeding from the side of his head where a bump was already forming. Tank was at the entry to the hallway with a dart sticking out of his leg, weapon partway out of his holster and unconscious. I quickly checked on both, confirming that they were breathing and I thought they'd be okay. It seemed as though Lester had been taken down by a blow to the head while escorting Steph to the bathroom, and Tank had rushed over to help, only to be tranqued. As I stood, Natasha came out of the bathroom shaking her head. Stephanie wasn't inside.

I broke out in a run when I heard gunshots and shouting from outside the back door further down the hallway, hitting my panic button in case anyone wasn't already on their way as I ran. When I made it out the other side of the door, I took a few seconds to assess what I saw in front of me. Just a few steps outside the door was a man I'd never seen before. He was shot dead. Stephanie and a couple Rangemen were struggling with a group of men who had Stephanie in the middle of it. The Rangemen were trying to fight their way to Steph as she was trying to fight her way out.

My blood turned to ice when I saw who had Stephanie. "Batroc!" I called. "Let her go! Your fight is with me!"

I heard Tony yelling at Jarvis to send a suit as rain clouds started gathering around us and Mjolnir flew into Thor's hands.

Batroc called to me, "I think I'll keep her for my own after I kill you! Should be easier now that you don't have a shield to hide behind." He passed Stephanie off to one of his men surprisingly carelessly and came rushing toward me. Just before he took a flying leap at me, I saw Stephanie pepper spray one of his men then execute the flying takedown Natasha had shown her on another. My momentary distraction making sure Steph was well and had gotten free enough to start fighting back allowed Batroc to land his kick, but I just rolled with it and quickly rebounded to my feet.

"We've done this before. You know I don't need my shield to beat you." I replied. The battle waged on and we were outnumbered and fairly evenly matched. I was relieved when Tony yelled "incoming" as his suit dropped my shield down to me before opening and latching onto him. Stephanie was still too far away and being dragged even farther and I couldn't get to her. Suddenly, someone dropped down seemingly from nowhere and into the middle of the group of men holding her. I freaked out when I saw who it was until I realized that he was standing back to back with Stephanie and helping her fight.

Without any more hesitation I yelled out "Bucky!" and hurled my shield at him as fast and as hard as I could, satisfied when he caught it with his mechanical arm and then swung it around, using it to help Stephanie even more. We were finally making progress, and Batroc must have realized he wasn't going to win this battle, because he stepped out of my range and said in French "until next time." Some sort of large smoke bomb went off and when the smoke cleared, we looked around and all our adversaries were gone. Bucky was covering Steph with his body, shield in front of them, surrounded by cops with their guns pointed at them. I ran over yelling out, "he's with us! Lower your weapons!"

After a few more tense seconds, they complied and Bucky tossed me my shield before gesturing to Stephanie and saying, "I think this belongs to you too." I let out a laugh and a "damn right," as I pulled Steph into my arms.

I held onto her and she was saying that she was okay over and over again until I eased up. I turned back to Bucky and said, "Bucky, is that really you this time?" When he gave me a painfully familiar grin, I pulled him into a half hug and said, "It's good to see you, after all this time. I missed you. And thanks for your help, I could never repay you for this."

"Trust me, I still owe you. You helped me break free from Hydra and find myself. I'm just glad I was here to help. I've been following you trying to find a good time and way to approach you to let you know I'm back and myself again. I was a few buildings away, and I was worried I'd get here too late to help her. That's quite the fighter you've got there."

Steph's POV

I couldn't believe it! Bucky! Steve had told me about him, and about trying to find him after everything that happened in D.C. before he was forced to give up the hunt and come back to the States. I know he was sure he'd never see Bucky again. I held on to Steve and listened to them get reacquainted with each other. Then I reached around Steve with a smile on my face and held my hand out to Bucky while meeting his eyes, "Hi, I'm Stephanie Plum. I'm so glad to meet you. I wish it was under different circumstances, but thanks for helping me."

I could see a look of surprise on his face; he seemed to think I would be afraid of him, but I really wasn't. He'd pulled Steve out of the Potomac, and that was enough for me to give him a chance. Not to mention he'd just saved me from, at the very least, being kidnapped. Possibly much worse. And it seemed the Steve was satisfied for right now that he was in his right mind.

After a few minutes Natasha, standing next to a man in a suit and a few cops, interrupted and said, "Steph, can you explain the body we've got over here?"

"Yeah. I think when we investigate further, we'll find that is the person who bombed my apartment and the cars. That's Bart Cone, and he always gave me the creeps. He was the Web Master's brother, and he knew what was going on with The Game. Even tried to cover for his brother. I'm not quite sure what happened after Clyde died, but clearly he came back and decided he wanted to kill me. He was waiting for me in the bathroom hallway and took out Tank and Lester. Are they okay?"

They assured me that they were and I continued, "when he pulled me out the back door, that Batroc guy told him to let me go and that he'd be taking me off Bart's hands. Bart refused saying he wanted to play with me and Batroc shot him."

I shuddered at that and felt Steve's arms tighten around me and Bucky quietly ask "bombs"? I turned and gave Steve a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling his arms from around me, and walking over to Natasha.

We talked to the cops for a while, and I appreciated the fact that Steve was holding back and giving me space despite the fact that I was pretty sure he wanted to be physically holding me right now. Natasha and I explained things to the cops for quite a while, and I provided them with contact information for Trenton PD as well as Mayor Joe Juniak to verify my stories. I allowed them to test me for gunshot residue knowing that I hadn't fired a gun for weeks, and the man in the suit eventually intervened and led them away from me.

Before I could head back to Steve, Natasha grabbed me by the arm. "What's up, Tasha?"

"Before their fellow henchmen took them away, I count three you took down."

"Four."

She nodded at that, looking at me contemplatively. "How are you feeling? Your ribs okay?"

"Surprisingly, yes."

She nodded again. Then she reached into one of the pockets attached to her belt, checked that no one was paying us too close attention, and shoved a couple condoms in my pocket.

"Geeze, we haven't used all of the ones you gave us at the house, and I'm sure Steve both packed some of them up from there and has some in his apartment."

"You did use them last night, right?" I could see Natasha's eyes widening in probably as close to panic as I'd seen so far.

"Yeah…"

"Don't forget. Based on your medical records, I'm sure you think you have it covered, but Cap's DNA was chemically altered. No one is sure exactly what that would mean. So unless you're positive your chemical barrier is stronger than the chemistry that made that," she gestured toward Steve, "you might want to make sure there's a physical barrier as well. Or unless you're willing to take that risk already."

I paled a little and said, "I'm sure he has some in his room though."

"Adrenaline. You need them on you. I doubt you'll make it to his room before you need them."

At this point, I was alternating between extreme embarrassment and also fear. We'd used condoms and I was on the pill, but Natasha had a point… and condoms weren't 100% effective. Hopefully the combination would be good enough because I really couldn't picture myself as a mom. Steve as a dad, sure, that was easy, but I much preferred being an aunt where you could pump the kids full of sugar then pass them off at the end of the day.

"Breathe." Natasha commanded. "It'll be fine."

Maybe I should get a diaphragm too. Do they let you do that?

At Natasha's chuckle I blushed and she just said, "yep, out loud. If you're that concerned, I'll ask Bruce for you. He probably knows the most about the serum of anyone we can trust. I think you're fine though."

"Thanks, Tash." I had a moment of panic when I realized she'd given me permission to call her "Tasha" but not "Tash". She let it go though and I sighed with relief.

"I think Steve's going to explode if you don't wind up back over there soon, so you better go. And when the adrenaline rush comes, try not to forget about…" she trailed off gesturing at my pocket.

"Thanks."

"No problem. We'll do some light yoga and stretching tomorrow, okay? You did good tonight."

I nodded my head and walked back to Steve, letting out an exaggerated "oof" when he pulled me tightly back into him. Before too much longer, we were headed back to the Tower. The whole way, Steve was holding onto me tightly, his hand stroking up and down my side in a way that I was sure was reassuring him that I was there, but it was also revving me up. When we got to the tower, we made plans to all meetup in the common living room in an hour. Bucky and Sam looked at each other before saying that they'd head there now and take care of getting some snacks and such together. Maybe catch some of a baseball game while they waited. I felt Steve, who I was pressed up against nod in appreciation as we stepped off on his floor.

As soon as the elevator doors closed behind us, he hoisted me up and I locked my legs around his waist. His mouth dropped to mine in an urgent, hungry kiss as he walked across the short entryway and toward his apartment door. No sooner had the door shut behind us then I felt him pressing me against it.

"Steph, Doll, I gotta. Please." He groaned out, grinding his hips into me.

"Yes," came my breathless reply. "I need you."

He used one arm to support me and the other to pull my pants down, but I managed to snag one of the condoms out of my pocket before they were out of reach. HIs finger slid into me, checking that I was as ready as he was, and I could swear that he whispered out a prayer of thanks when he found me wet with a need that matched his. When he opened his jeans, I pulled him out and slid the condom on. Just as quickly he pushed into me. We both paused for a few seconds before setting up a frantic pace.

When we collapsed together against the door, I heard Steve gasp out, "I was so afraid."

"I know, so was I. But I'm okay."

He just held on for a few more minutes, pressing me against him tightly, with his ear against me listening to my heart beat. Finally he pulled away with a kiss and said, "let's go get cleaned up before we meet the others." I agreed but grabbed my jeans from the floor as he picked me up, pulling another condom out of my pocket. I had a feeling I knew how the shower was going to go.

A/N: Aug 30- Quick update to fix a previous error. Steph's first panic button from Tony was a bracelet, not a different watch.