A/N. Hi guys! This one's a short one. Hope you guys don't mind :S By the way, you guys are amazing! 48 followers, 41 favourites, 23 reviews, and almost 4000 hits! Gosh! You guys boost my self-esteem with every notification I get saying someone did any of these things xD Thank you guys so much! I reply to each and every one of my reviews, so if you have any questions or are confused about the story, you can put them there or you can PM me. Thanks a bunch and I hope you enjoy this chapter :D

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Get out! And if you value your life, you won't come back!" Jim screamed at her, face red and veins bulging. Tania stumbled out into the cold air of New York City and huffed as Jim slammed the door behind her.

"Stupid boss… I'm just going on my break. Such a drama queen…" she knew he wouldn't do anything drastic like fire her. Shaking her head at him, she began to make her way across the street to a book store. When she entered, she was immediately surrounded by shelves upon shelves of dusty old books with tattered covers and ripped plastic and folded pages or coffee stains. But it was her favourite shop, because she was one of the only customers it even had, so privacy was never a problem. All the books were also super cheap AND she could always spot the new arrivals, the ones with stark white pages that still smelled of ink and covers that were shining like glass. Those were her favourites, and they were so easy to find.

She immediately began to look for one, trailing her finger across the hundreds of novels, most of which she had already read. And that's when she saw it: the latest book by J.K. Rowling, the author of her absolute FAVOURITE series: Harry Potter. It was in mint condition and just perfect, sitting there, waiting for her to discover it. She rushed over and quickly took it from the shelf and took a moment to admire it.

Okay, moment over, time to go buy it.

Tania was practically giddy with excitement as she took it up to the cash where an old lady with round wire-rimmed glasses and grey hair in a loose bun was hunched over the register, tapping on an iPhone. Tania placed the book on the counter and smiled excitedly. The old lady whose name tag read Mary looked up at her over her glasses with grey eyes.

"Another one? You just bought one yesterday."

"I know, but I finished it."

Mary raised an eyebrow. "I should have expected as much. Alright, let me see here. Oh, you've got one of our newest and best."

"I know."

"Take good care of it."

"I will."

"I know." Mary rang up the book and placed it in a plastic bag, handing it to Tania when she was done. Tania grinned and took it, clasping the handles with shaky and excited fingers.

"Thanks Mary! Have a good day!" she called over her shoulder as she walked out of the store. The chilly afternoon wind caught her in its clutches yet again as she stepped onto the sidewalk and hailed a cab. She opened the door and got in, tossing her purse next to her and immediately reached for her book. She told the driver the address of her favourite restaurant to have lunch as her eyes skimmed the first page, anxious to become ensnared by the wonderful of world of fiction.

Completely absorbed by the captivating world created by a vortex of words, Tania didn't notice the driver's panic a few minutes later, nor did she notice the black figures flying through the sky and causing terror and destruction. She didn't notice, that is, until her cab slammed into one of them, creating a horrifying shrieking sound, and flipped over a couple times, eventually ending right side up.

Heart hammering, head pounding, eyes blurring in and out, Tania closed her book and hesitantly looked out the window that was now smashed to pieces and gasped as the dizziness faded. Dark creatures riding on some sort of floating scooters were swarming the area, zapping people with lasers from their alien staffs. They killed mercilessly and they were everywhere. Tania looked to the driver, only to see that he was impaled with a particularly sharp shard of glass right through his heart, blood trickling down his chest. He was dead. She shuddered and pushed the image out of her head as her survival instincts took over. She unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her purse, stuffing her book inside of it before giving the door a hard shove, causing more glass to fall and scratch her arms. She stepped out into the chaos reigning over her beloved city and sought out shelter, slamming the door behind her as she ran. A flood of people swarmed the streets, all running for their lives in the direction they saw fit, which happened to be all of them. Tania was being shoved back and forth by the tidal wave of people and eventually just decided to go with the majority and follow them.

She had never run faster in her life, and her legs were already burning as the sounds of lasers being fired and people screaming and explosions going off filled her ears. A particularly loud explosion knocked her off her feet and sent her flying to the ground a few feet away, sprawled on the pavement with the others. Her ears rang so loudly that it was all she could hear, but she could feel the ground vibrating from the explosion and see the orange flames engulfing the building just across the street.

Mouth open in horror, Tania realized that that was the restaurant she had been going to. Terror stricken, she slammed her mouth shut and pushed herself to her feet, her grip on her purse ever so tight that she swore that her hands were glued to the handles. She pushed her legs to keep going despite the burning in her chest and legs as she ran through the maze of what she assumed were aliens, dead bodies, and those trying to flee. She leaped over fallen debris (which was very hard to do in a pencil skirt) and dodged the lasers being fired at her, and suddenly she found that she was a target.

More and more lasers were zapping the ground where she had just been and she tried to move faster, but she physically could not do so. That was when she noticed a formation of black scooters passing over her, and at the head was a man so pale he looked like a corpse with raven black hair and weird battle armour. It wasn't until a few days later when she realized that it was Loki, and that they had made eye contact for a brief second before he smirked and zoomed away.

That was when everything went downhill, even more so than being in the middle of an alien attack. She found herself being tackled roughly to the ground and scraped her skin against the rough cement as she collided with it face first. She managed to roll over and come face to face with a Chitauri (which she discovered was its name much later as well). It was about three inches from her face when it screeched and began to claw at her body with its sharp nails and punch her arms that had long since blocked its way. With each hit she could feel her "shield" grow weaker and more bruised, and they would eventually break and she would be left defenseless and in pain.

She struggled to break from its straddle on her, but no matter what she tried it was not use, and just when she thought it would deliver its final blow, a blur of red, white, and blue flashed in front of her eyes and then the Chitauri was gone, howling a few feet away as THE Captain America beat the crap out of him. Tania could only stare at him in shock as he whacked the alien with his shield, knocking it unconscious before reflecting another blast from a laser and continuing in his fight, using his mighty weapon to guide him.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Tania knew that she would be safe in hiding and quickly searched for a spot she would not be in sight. She threw herself under a bent car just as another explosion went off. Tania covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, praying it would all be over soon and that she would be able to go home –assuming of course, that she still had one after this.

"So yeah, after that I managed to keep myself from view, changing hiding spots whenever my previous one was destroyed or found. I worked that way until it was over, in which case I called my brother and then reunited with him and together, we went to my apartment and watched the news." Tania finished off, avoiding Steve's gaze.

Steve seemed to be deep in thought, contemplating everything she had said and seemingly deciding very carefully what he was going to say. "I'm very sorry you had to go through that."

"Don't be sorry Steve, you saved me. Without you I might be in a cemetery right now." She said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. If anything, the atmosphere turned more serious as Steve frowned.

"I won't let that happen," he took her hand in his, "ever." He stared deep into her eyes, not imploring, searching, but pleading. Pleading her to believe him, to trust him. But she already did. She wrapped her fingers around his hand and squeezed, smiling at him thoughtfully.

"I know. And I hope you know that even though I can't protect you physically, (though that won't stop me from trying), I will be here for you for whatever you need, whenever you want. But if you get me in the morning before my coffee or after a hangover then good luck."

Steve laughed and pulled his hand away, using it to run his fingers through his hair. Tania was somewhat disappointed, but she shoved away the thought of why? And smiled back at him. Steve suddenly checked a pocket watch that seemingly came out of nowhere. "It's late, we should probably get some sleep." He leaned over and kissed her cheek before turning to leave, missing the darkest shade of red anyone had ever seen envelop Tania's face.

"Goodnight." She mumbled after the door closed behind him. She was alone. Alone with her thoughts and her swirling emotions… but it was late. Too late. She could think about all that tomorrow… or never.

She yawned and made her way to the bedroom, the door opening for her and closing for her as well. "Oh…" was all she could say as she took in the room. The walls were a fiery red and the floor was shiny hardwood. The bed had brand new yellow duvet covers and pillow cases (yes, she noticed the room was Iron Man themed, but she was too tired to care. She could redecorate later) and her old furniture were around as well as all of her bags and boxes just sitting in a huge pile on the left side of her room. On the other side was a large window that was about five feet wide and six feet tall with mustard yellow curtains. She took a few steps toward the window and saw her own reflection first, but once she adjusted her vision to look past that, she gasped. There were hundreds of colourful NYC lights that illuminated the dark shadows and silhouettes of the skyscrapers and buildings. She couldn't wait to see it during the day. The sky was pitch black, not a star to be seen. It was one of the down sides of living in the city, but that was okay. She'd see the stars one day, she had promised herself that when she was little.

She collapsed on the bed, letting herself become swallowed by the softness of the comforter. She didn't bother to change into her pyjamas, she didn't bother to close the curtains to the window, she also didn't bother to turn off the lights. That last one was going to bother her, but she didn't want to get up. She groaned. It was just too comfy…

"Jarvis?" she mumbled.

The A.I. answered her reflexively. "Yes Miss Banks?"

"Could you please turn off the lights?"

"Yes Miss Banks." The lights shut off and she was surrounded by darkness.

"Thank you." Maybe he's not such an ass after all…