Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers (the comics, movies, characters etc.) or any of the characters; I only own my OC Art.

11. R&R

The night sky was that special shade of dark blue that couldn't be eloquently described by words. Above the cloudline, what stars that could be seen were perfectly visible, and everything seemed beautifully calm. Or, at least, from one side of the glass it looked calm. Art, sat on the floor of one of the recreation rooms, was staring out a wall of windows that allowed her to peer out into the night. From her side of the glass, it looked calm, but she knew that outside, on the earth below, somewhere Loki's minions were preparing to plunge the world into chaos. There wasn't anything that they could do in that moment; they had no clue where to go and Loki wasn't been cooperative. Natasha was just about to set her plan into motion, Tony and Bruce were locating the Tesseract, and Steve was doing god knew what. But Art simply sat there with nothing better to do, wondering just how long it was going to take for war to blossom into fruition.

Not to mention, Art was still stuck on her reaction to Tony. And it was, in fact, to Tony and not the needle. She knew just how she reacted to such medical instruments, as she'd experienced it before. But her violent reaction to Tony had been because he was approaching her in what she had instinctively categorized as threateningly… which was funny because she didn't remember ever reacting to something like that so drastically before. She sighed and dropped her head onto her arms, hiding her face from the rest of the world. Everything had been going so well before that morning, and now all of it was plunged into a chaos she both loved and hated. Loved because it was familiar, hated because she currently couldn't do anything to make it better.

"Long day?" Art looked up to find Coulson standing a few feet off, hugging a clipboard to his chest. She wondered how long he must have been standing there. She was so out of it, she wouldn't have noticed it the agent had been there for the last hour. With a tired smile, Art nodded in agreement. "Would you… mind if I joined you? Or I could… come back some other time if you like."

"I don't mind, please, sit. I'm on stand-by till I'm needed again, so some company would be greatly welcomed." Looking gratefully excited, Coulson came and sat beside her, right on the floor. He set his clipboard aside, and crossed his legs under him. He looked sort of funny, a full-grown man in a suit sitting in a child-like position; but he was a very happy, excitable man, so she supposed that it suited him. His enthusiasm was undying and lovely and she couldn't help but think of him fondly. Art then noticed he was holding a small stack of small, rectangular card stock in his hands. "Are those the trading cards?" Coulson smiled sheepishly and nodded. Art extended her hand. "May I?"

Once Coulson handed the cards over, Art began to carefully go through them, remembering him mentioning that they were all practically in mint condition. The set seemed evenly divided between depicting Steve and herself; she thought she remembered Coulson saying something about there being a Lieutenant Liberty set that eventually got assimilated into the Captain America one. There was one of Steve in his original costume, with blue and red lettering that read 'Buy war bonds! Have you done enough?' Next was one of her in her Commandos uniform, though the drawing had been done to make it more apparent she was a woman––her hair was longer, her chest wasn't flat, and her hands were settled on the flare of her hips. The depiction of her was smiling broadly and brightly, with words bordering the top and the bottom. 'Support our men AND women overseas!'

Other cards were scenes from the comics, baring both herself and Steve in the images, taking swings at Nazis or Hitler himself. Steve was depicted in the various different stages of his uniforms from the very beginning to what had been the final product. She vaguely recalled seeing some of them in the shops before she went overseas. The art was dramatic and beautiful. Steve was always depicted broad-chested in heroic stances, with hard lines and angles, as heros were generally shown. But Art's cards took on a beautifully done cross between strong stanced, heroic lines and the soft femininity that was shown in her smiles, the tilt of her head, or the curve of her back. It was odd to see herself drawn so heroically, as it was a form of flattery she never could have wished for in her wildest dreams; one such card was the one of her running through the forest with her gun at the ready, mouth open in what was assumably a shout of command. In the background she could make out another figure in a blue coat––Bucky.

Her lips were drawn into a sad smile as she flipped to the next card, which she had to turn sideways as the image was drawn in landscape view. It was a sepia tone photograph of her and Bucky laughing over a map spread across the hood of a military vehicle. The final card was the one that Natasha had mentioned, the rare one. Sure enough, it was of her and Steve, a drawn rendition of a photograph that had been taken while the film crew had been present to make the movie about the Howling Commandos. She and Steve had their bodies turned square-on to the looker on, but their heads were turned profile as they beamed at each other. Steve's headgear was gone to reveal his head of perfectly styled blond hair, and Art's coat slouched open just slightly to show off the dogtags around her neck. The photographer had captured a rare moment where it wasn't Captain America and Lieutenant Liberty––or, at that time, Arthur Knoll––they had instead captured Steve Rogers and Artemesia Knoll. A moment where Steve's eyes crinkled around the edges and Art looked like she was near laughter. Art held up that card and smiled over at Coulson.

"I think this one is my favorite," she commented. Coulson grinned and watched as she fanned them out across the floor with the utmost care. "Which is your favorite of me?" He considered them all with a critical but loving eye before he tapped one near the center. It bared a simple tan background and a small bubble in the corner that bared the number of the card in the card set––it was, in fact, number four. The image in the center of the card was of her standing with her legs braced apart, a pistol grasped in one hand while the other rested against the edge of Steve's shield, which was propped up against her leg. Her hair was longer in that image, too, falling in dark brown curls that draped themselves over her shoulders; she wore her Commando uniform, which was shown to be distressed here and there with singe marks and maybe a bullet graze or two. "Do you have a pen?"

Coulson eagerly dug one out of his suit coat and handed it to her, watching as she placed the card against her leg and bent over to sign it. She paused with the tip of the pen just over the card, pondering on how she should sign it. 'Lieutenant Liberty' would barely fit… but then her lips quirked into a small smile as she got an idea. On one of the card's corners, she flicked out a beautiful cursive capital 'L' that immediately looped into another that hung just below it. There. Then, feeling as though that seemed a bit too impersonal, Art signed her full name, Artemesia Knoll, across the bottom. Finally, she handed it back, smiling at him.

"Thank you, so much," Coulson said, beaming down at the card as he put it on the top of the pile of cards. "This is… I couldn't have dreamed of having these signed! Thank you."

"Of course, it's the least I could do," Art told him, resting her cheek on the top of her knees. Coulson pushed the set of cards into his breast pocket, making sure they were fitted there securely. Art sighed quietly and looked back out the window. "Selvig and Clint… do you think we'll find them, Agent Coulson?"

"Please, call me Phil––at least in casual settings––and I think that we will. We've got the best expert in gamma radiation working on tracking the cube down and whenever the cube is, they're bound to be. And we've got you and the Captain, and you've both proven good in a fight, so I've got no doubt we'll get them back soon," Coulson told her with a comforting smile. Art smiled at him thankfully and he checked his watch, sighing as he rose to his feet. He straightened out his jacket and tie, bending down to pick up his clipboard. "I've got to go and make sure the bridge is in order. Thank you, again; maybe sometime we could sit down for coffee."

"I'd like that," Artemesia agreed, smiling again. He nodded to her and quietly said 'Lieutenant' as he left. As she turned to look back out the window, she noticed that he had left behind one card, which had been turned specifically to face her. It was the one of her and Steve, the one she had said she liked. Art wondered if he'd just forgotten it or if he'd left it for her to have. But either way, she picked it up and smiled at it, tucking it into one of the pouches on her belt to ask about later.

Steve ducked into the recreation room after a particularly disgruntling conversation with Tony. He was hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top-secret files, claiming that Fury was not telling them everything. Though Steve reprimanded him on hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, it had stirred up a mind-gnawing suspicion that, perhaps, Fury wasn't telling them everything. If he was going to go investigate, he was going to take Art along with him; but first he needed to find her. And when he did, she was sitting in silence, watching clouds drift through the night sky. Steve approached and paused before he sat down beside her and joined in on staring out the window.

"I had a plan you know," he said softly. It was probably not what she wanted to hear, and Steve knew that. But he made a point to try not to lie to her, and that was the truth. He did have a plan when he jumped out of that plane, knew exactly what he was going to do. Art turned her head and stared at him for a long, quiet moment, a faint crease beginning to appear between her eyebrows. But instead of shaking her head and snorting, she just nodded and rested her cheek on top of her knees.

"I realize that now. I was just being… well… stressed," Art sighed.

"The only way I could stop anyone from getting hurt was if I left immediately. If there had been time to spare, then I would have––"

"Steve, you don't have to explain yourself." The two looked at each other and she offered an apologetic smile. "You were right to do what you did. I was wrong to presume that you were acting rashly… you never act rashly––I'm the one that does that, apparently."

"You don't have to apologize. It's… been a long day. A very long day."

The conversation lapsed into silence, then, and the only sound they heard was the faint whirring and humming of the Helicarrier's engines. It must have looked funny, the two of them sitting on the floor. There they were, two heroes dressed in their spangled uniforms, sitting like young children on a play-date. Steve shifted himself closer and wound an arm around her waist, prompting her to lean into his side. Art did so easily and welcomed the comfort of his warmth and familiar smell; he was right. It had been a long night. To have the words of a villain get into your head was highly unpleasant, and she would know since she now had Schmidt's and Loki's words rattling around her brain. Sleep seemed far off, especially with all the coffee she'd had to drink, and she was sure it wouldn't come till all of this was over. Though she had to wonder if the serum would make not sleeping easier on her because it certainly didn't feel that way every time she woke up in the morning.

Steve's gloved hand roamed up and down her side in a slow and comforting manner, thinking something along the same lines. He had seen her face on the monitors, how distraught she'd look when Loki suggested they were alike. It was a look Steve never wanted to see on her face again, never wanted to see the way her eyes shone with tears or the severe downturn of her lips. Turning his head, he pressed his lips to the crown of her head and then buried his nose in her hair, which had been let down since last he saw her. Art shut her eyes and welcomed the calm the moment provided.

"Why didn't you come find me?" he asked softly. Art, knowing what he was referring to, sighed and traced the shape of the top point of the star on Steve's chest.

"Because we have to be professional," Art reminded. "We have to be Captain America and Lieutenant Liberty; we aren't Steve Rogers and Artemesia Knoll here…"

"That's where you're wrong." Steve lifted his head and Art looked up at him curiously. "You're Artemesia Knoll as much as you are Lieutenant Liberty and I'm Steve Rogers as much as I'm Captain America. We're always ourselves." Art felt Steve's glove clad fingers slip between hers as he spoke, fondly shaking her hand. "In short… we should be free to seek each other out when we need to, no matter the reason."

Art tilted her head back so it rested against his shoulder, staring up at him. A gentle smile appeared on her face, and she lifted a hand to place it against Steve's cheek. Their quiet moment was just what she had needed; a moment with just them two, away from everyone else and the chaos that they'd been immersed in so suddenly that morning. Steve returned the smile and turned his head in the slightest, which allowed him to kiss her palm.

"Thank you…" she murmured.

Steve's head tilted forward and their foreheads met and their noses brushed together. Art's hand drifted down to his neck, her nails lightly grazing his skin. Placing a hand on her cheek, Steve closed the short distance between them and kissed her. Art's lips quirked into a smile, tenderly returning the kiss. When the kiss broke, they didn't move away from one another; shifting the position in which she sat, Art craned her head upwards and kissed him for a second time. They both hadn't had much time to explore their relationship beyond nights in that ended with dancing to the record player. Steve had been meaning to plan a real date night, one where they went out for the evening, but just when he was about to propose it, all of… this came up. But, just like always, they took what they could get. That was just what they did, even from the very beginning.

Steve's hand slipped to the back of Art's neck, drawing her closer than she was before. A quiet sound resonated in the back of her throat, and one hand fell to rest over his heart. Unlike the shorter, gentler kisses they'd shared, this one was longer and edged on fervent. There was a steadily increasing intensity to it; but the intensity was still considerably gentle. Art's arm crept around Steve's neck, her fingers brushing against the skin just above his collar. His hand tentatively came to rest on her hip, gliding gently up to the dip of her waist.

"Oh! Oh, god! PDA!" Tony exclaimed as he walked in. Surprised out of their moment, Steve and Art drew out of the kiss and looked towards the door. Tony pretended to shield his eyes while making a beeline for the refrigerator in the kitchenette. Removing his hand-blinder, Tony peered at them with a smirk. "Making out like teenagers, I see; and blushing like you got caught by your parents. Don't mind me, I'm just grabbing some snacks; carry on if you like." He reached into the fridge and withdrew a silver bag that was filled with cranberries.

Art sighed and bowed her head, which brought it to rest on the middle of Steve's chest. Steve clasped a hand to the back of her head, kissing the top of it gently. Tony watched for a moment as he, quite loudly, worked on opening the aluminum packet of fruit. Clearing his throat, he popped a few of the berries into his mouth and wiped his fingers off on his pant leg. It was still quite strange to see them alive and wandering about, acting at full capacity as they once had. They'd just been his bedtime stories, the occasional bane of his existence and source of envy; they'd been figments of the imagination, ghosts of times past, but now they were full-blown people again.

"Hey, Lieu." Art slowly raised her head with a pinch formed between her brows. She could only presume 'Lieu' was short for 'Lieutenant,' which meant she was two-for-two on Tony's nickname list. "Sorry 'bout earlier. I've been told I don't play well with others." Art nodded her response, a brief, flickering upturn of her lips appearing. With that, Tony fixed Steve with a look and left, tossing cranberries into the air so he could catch them in his mouth.

"What happened earlier?" Steve asked.

"He… tried to test the severity of my trypanophobia; and he got what was coming to him," Art replied flatly. Steve felt a rumble of displeasure in his stomach. Stark was just digging himself into a bigger, deeper hole…

"Speaking of Stark… he seems to think that Fury is hiding vital information from us."

"Really?"

"So convinced, in fact, that he's hacked into their… internal database or whatever he said it was. He's trying to dig up their confidential files, see what they're hiding…" Steve trailed off, gaze becoming distant. His lips became pursed and his forehead creased in concentration; it was the look he wore when he was forming strategies, making plans. Playing the role of second-in-command again, Art looked over at him and knocked her elbow into his.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"I think that it wouldn't be the first time an organization hid something from its employees," Steve replied, voice quiet. Art rose to her feet, slipping her arms back into her suit's sleeves. As she began to redo the buttons, she looked down at him with both eyebrows raised.

"Reasonable doubt is a good thing, Steve."

"And that's why I was about to ask if you'd accompany me to see what's in storage. Computers may be the thing to use nowadays, but we're probably quicker."

Steve watched as a smile appeared on Art's face, her fingers slipping the last button through its hole; next, she pulled her gloves back on and secured them around her wrists tightly. She didn't bother to retie her hair and instead nodded towards the door.

"What are we waiting for, then?" she asked, sounding in a much better mood than she'd been in. Steve returned the smile brightly, which gave her pause. Reaching up, she pushed a stray strand of hair off his forehead and then stretched up onto her toes and kissed him. "You should really smile more… I miss your smile… you've become more somber, you know. Not saying it doesn't suit you, but, it's just not… you. Now, c'mon, we've got a computer to beat."

Afterword: So we've got some nice down time before shit hits the fan next chapter. Like… it REALLY starts to spiral out of control next chapter, but that's all good fun! There's an upcoming chapter I'm very much looking forward to posting, and now we're just one step closer…

Review replies!

PorcelineLady: Your review from a couple chapters ago got, like, eaten up and I couldn't find it to reply to last time, so, I found it again, and am now replying––I love that you enjoyed the Wizard of Oz reference! I had a blast thinking of what Art would say and thought that would work well! Also––fan art? Oh, that's so sweet, and absolutely amazing! If you do make some, definitely let me know/send the link/tell me where to find it, and I'll take a good, long, appreciative look! Thank you, once again!

sarahmichellegellarfan1: I hope you enjoyed Steve and Art's time together in this chapter. I rewrote it round about two or three times because I couldn't settle on a definitive tone for their moment. But I think it turned out pretty alright. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

weasleylover10: Yeah, Loki and Art as a couple would just be… unnatural. Really unnatural. And the whole Kriegerin thing is something that shall remain in play for a while… a good while. I've had fun vamping off that idea. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

grapejuice101: Art and Thor was a fun scene to write, since I feel like she just doesn't know how to interact with him. And Loki's got plans, which may or may not be revealed in a chapter or two. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

Jojo657: Hmmm… perhaps they did… ;) I hope you enjoyed the chapter––thanks again!

heroherondaletotherescue: I had initially intended Steve to appear last chapter, but it would have been a bit lengthy. He was probably searching the Helicarrier for Art to see how she was doing, but kept getting held up or lost––he also totally wandered into the lab after Art wandered out. Missed each other by an inch. Tony is the main point of tension for her right now, as it rightfully should be. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

shugokage: Yeah, Tony overstepped his boundaries just a smidgen. A big smidgen; and Art's reaction is something to be kept in note. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

LMarie99: I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter––she and Thor will have a good, fun relationship as time progresses. And she will face the music at some point in the nearing future, just maybe not the way you think. Maybe in a bit more feelsy way. But we shall have to wait and see. Thanks again! Hope you enjoyed!

shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod: Aw, thank you, so much! I'm beyond flattered that you think that the Art-Loki scene could have been in the movie. I tried really hard to keep them in character and make it as intense at it needed be to fit the atmosphere of the movie at that point; I'm glad that I succeeded :) Tony needs to get taken down a notch or two sometimes, and Art was happy to oblige. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

oXxgeorgiaxXo: I figured we had to get the first ass-ery interaction with Tony out of the way, and it seemed to fit as a closer for last chapter; I'm glad you picked up that Art wasn't quite herself there at the end of last chapter. Keep that in mind… it's gonna be important. I hope you enjoyed! Thanks again!

darck ben: I thought last chapter was a good character interaction chapter for Art, since she didn't get to interact with the whole of the team one-on-one at the beginning. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

Nik1804: It's totally fine! :) Commander!Artie is fun to write, especially when she gets to scold people. And we did get to see a different side of Artie last chapter what with taking Tony down. Some of it was definitely the trypanophobia, the PTSD, and herself, but there was also an element of something that wasn't quite right, like Tony picked up on. Also, I felt like it was important to mention she still uses her glasses––there were a lot of things that the serum enhanced/fixed, but her eyesight was not one of them, ahaha! Neither were her scars, which I think are an important part of her character. Also, super happy you like the suit! She's definitely going to get set aside from the Dynamic Duo after the events of the Avengers, 'cause it's sort of her first real appearance AS Lieutenant Liberty. And I'm trying to figure out a symbol or signature THING for her to have… it's wicked difficult, though. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

isanna: I'm glad you've been enjoying the story thus far! I've had a lot of fun with coming up with this storyline/plot and I'm enthralled that you're enjoying it as well. Later on we'll get to see how the whole Captain America/Steve Rogers shift affects their relationship. I haven't addressed it yet 'cause they hadn't been thrown into a situation like this one since waking up. But I have a couple scenes planned :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

RJNorth: I figured that since she's already faced off against Schmidt, who was so far off track she knew there was no reasoning with him, she wanted to believe that there wasn't a force as evil as him in the world again. Alas, she was wrong. And Loki's words were meant to hurt, and they're gonna keep on stinging; but you're right––they each took a different path from vaguely similar roads. We'll get to see Steve's thoughts about watching the whole thing from surveillance in… two or so chapters, if I'm adding it up right in my head. Artie suggesting drinking games is gonna be hilarious, 'cause some of them are gonna be surprised she'd suggest it. It'll also be funny because she can't get drunk, but she'd still participate. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

tkczombie: Tony saw her actions as uncharacteristic because he, like many other people, only know her through the stories that they heard as children/growing up/her legacy as being calm, collected, and in control. Also, just through how he's interacted with her thus far, she's been fairly gentle/reserved/'Lieutenant Liberty'-esque. So, when she takes him down and he notices there's something in her eyes that isn't very her, that's why he thinks it' uncharacteristic. But she has been very emotional thus far, and they don't really know each other that well, so judgements probably are coming a bit too quick and fast amongst them. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again! :)

Jo: I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter and the direction I took it to; I figured it would probably be best for Art to interact with Tony and Bruce w/out Steve there. It helps their relationships w/the others develop separately and in their own way. It was also a fun way to introduce some plot points ;) Thank you, once again, and you are awesome, too, my friend!

Thank you to all of those who added this to their favorites/follows, it means a lot to me, and makes me smile!

So next chapter we start getting into the meat of the story. Shit goes down––downhill, that is. I'm getting SO close to posting the stuff that I've been looking forward to posting since I was halfway done writing In the Dawn of Change. Like… I've had this story planned for FOREVER. And we're getting to the bits I'm so excited about! Ahhh! Anyway, I should get the next chapter up soon, since it's written and all ready to go (I've actually got up to chapter 15 written––I'm so impressed with myself for writing that far ahead!) Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, the calm before the storm. Thanks again, all! You all rock!
~Mary