Hide & Seek – Eleven

There had been at least a solid minute of silent disbelief before Steve spoke again.

"…Tony Stark is your godfather?"

"Believe me, if I could have chosen, I would have gone a different route. Probably someone a hell of a lot more responsible. I'm not sure what my parents were thinking…"

"Does he know you worked for SHIELD?" Steve asked. "I gathered that he didn't care much for Fury or SHIELD all that much."

"Well, he knows now," Sharon replied. "Tony also thought I was a nurse."

"He has the resources to find out the truth."

"Tony chose not to. He's been dealing with his own shit since New York," Sharon said.

Still trying to internalize all the information, Steve started walking again. Sharon paused for a minute and then jogged to catch up with him.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, Steve. I…"

Steve shook his head. "It's really not a big deal, Sharon. He and I just don't see eye to eye. And I don't want this to turn into the Tony Stark Show once we tell him what we're doing. He doesn't exactly like to blend in."

Sharon tried to stifle a laugh and failed.

He cast her a sideways look of confusion. "What?"

"It's funny that you think you blend in," she said. "I didn't tell Henry Crego who you were; he just knew. And every teenage girl in America has a Captain America pillow in their bedrooms now. You aren't exactly good at blending either, sir."

A blush crept across Steve's face and he pulled down the bill of his baseball cap.

"Pillows?"

"All kinds of Avengers stuff is available for purchase."

"Don't I have to sign off on my likeness?"

"Your likeness?" Sharon echoed. "Spend time reading up on copyright law?" Sharon asked.

"I've been reading up on everything. I think I've finally mastered the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek, too."

Sharon held up her hand in a Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper," she smiled.

"Spock, right?" he said, unsure of himself.

"You got it," Sharon smiled again.

…

The Crego's farm was about two miles outside of the little town of Cooper. They had made it maybe a half mile as the darkness between to fall.

"Are there bears in Nebraska?" Sharon asked.

"Um…"

"I'll admit my knowledge of the animals of the central Midwest is lacking."

"I would have to say mine isn't all that great either," Steve laughed. "I was always more into art in school."

"Aunt Peggy told me she'd seen you sketch before…said you were very good. Do you still draw?"

Steve shook his head. "Not much lately. And I was always just goofing around…"

"I doubt that very much. Aunt Peggy said you always had an intense look on your face when you were drawing."

"Did she talk of the war often?"

"The war – no. You – often. But only to me. Even in the last few years as her memory started to fade, she spoke of you clearly and often. She loved my uncle very much, but she loved you, too."

Steve grew silent as they continued down the dark road towards Cooper. He already knew the things that Sharon was telling him, but hearing them out loud was totally different. And it was confusing the feelings he was having for Sharon that seemed to grow with each minute they spent together.

Steve wasn't upset by what she'd said, though, and he certainly didn't want her to think that he was. So, in an act of boldness, he reached down and took Sharon's hand in his own. Steve waited for her to pull it away or react somehow similar, but instead she simply left her hand there. And it stayed there for the entire duration of the trek back to Cooper.

…

Sharon and Steve made the rest of the trip in comfortable silence. But Steve could tell that Sharon was tensing as they drew nearer to the location of their car.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Something about this town…it makes me uncomfortable…I just wish we could have taken a look around the medical buildings. Who was doing the experimenting? Was Bucky actually treated there at one point?"

"I think we can safely say that Bucky was here at least at one point in the past as well as within the last twenty four hours. I don't think is a coincidence that the Farm SHIELD facility and this building were so near each other. Pierce or someone planned that."

"I think you're right."

They finished the rest of their walk to the car and Sharon pulled her phone from her pocket. She was lucky that the thing still worked after being through the explosion and the falling. Sharon pulled up an app and began running a version of the device that she could check for tampering. The actual device was still locked in the trunk…hopefully.

Something beeped and Steve looked up at her for an explanation. "I think it's a good thing that we have this…" Sharon told him.

"Why is that? Did you find something?" Steve asked.

"Let's just get our things from the trunk and get out of here," Sharon said hurriedly.

Steve used the remote to pop the trunk and they each grabbed their bags quickly.

"Aren't you…"

"We need to get back," Sharon said.

She grabbed Steve by the wrist and dragged him away as the car burst into flames starting somewhere in the front dashboard area.

"I'm probably not going to get the rental deposit back," Steve said.

…

They stood the short distance away, staring at the flames that were now engulfing the car. Sharon nodded, as if she'd seen this whole things coming. Then she sighed loudly.

"So, we'll need some other way to get out of this town. I could call Tony, but he'll…"

"Don't call Stark yet," Steve said adamantly as the car continued to burn brightly against the darkness that surrounded them.

"So what would you suggest, Captain?"

"We could borrow something."

Sharon turned to stare down the Captain. "You're suggesting we steal someone's car? I can't believe it."

"Borrow," Steve said again. Although he didn't quite believe that this one would make it back to its owner any better than the truck before had. "There is a small used car lot down the other end of town. They'll probably have something that would do."

Sharon smiled. It seemed like that was their only hope of getting out of Cooper that night.

They began to walk and truthfully, Sharon was going to be happy to be in a car again. She was tired.

"May I borrow your phone? I would like to see if I can get a hold of Sam to update him."

"Sure," Sharon said as she pulled it from her back pocket. "Yours dead?"

"In pieces, actually. That call I got from Natasha? I'm pretty sure that wasn't her. I didn't want someone to be able to track me, so, I, um, destroyed it," Steve told her.

"Anger, huh?"

"More like stupidity."

He dialed the number from memory a second later. It rang several times before a sleepy-sounding Sam answered.

"Hello?" he yawned.

"Sam? It's Steve," he said back to his friend.

"Oh, hey. Hold on."

There was a rustling sound and a door closing before Sam came back on the line.

"I'm so sorry to wake you…"

"No, no, man. What's going on? Found anything?"

"We picked up a lead in Nebraska and it looks like we missed Bucky by a day or so. And someone else is not happy that we're both on his trail."

"Whoa…what happened?"

"I don't want to talk too much on the phone, but we're getting a car and heading for California. We'll send you the address when we get there. How are things with you?" Steve asked, switching gears effortlessly.

"It's a good thing I came out here. People are being idiots. And by people, I mean my family. The funeral service is tomorrow; I can probably leave here Saturday."

"Take your time, Sam. Your family needs you."

"Thanks, Cap," Sam said. "Keep me posted. Oh hey – how are things with Sharon?"

Steve and Sharon were almost to the used car dealership and Steve turned to look at Sharon who was pulling her hair up onto the top of her head and not paying any attention to him. "Good. Very good," he smiled.

Steve finished talking to Sam as they approached the dealership. Sharon was already ahead of him looking at the makes and models available to her.

"Do you think it would too cliché to take this one?" Sharon pointed to a bright red vehicle next to her.

Steve read the model in the darkness. "Avenger? Probably."

Sharon laughed. "This dude's got a little bit of everything," she said as she continued her stroll.

"We need something sturdy and not too flashy," Steve said.

"Are you going to kick the tires?"

"Only if you want them to go flat," Steve replied.

They both looked around the lot and finally in the back they both spotted it. A generic gold sedan that would be perfect for a road trip.

Sharon reached under the car and slid her hand around and came back with the key.

Steve stared. "Why would they do that?"

"So he wouldn't have to walk all the way back to the building for the keys. I'm guessing that this guy wasn't all that concerned with theft. Or exercise."

The both of them put their things in the easily-unlocked car and Steve turned over the engine. It didn't explode. The both of them took a deep breath of relief in unison.

Steve flashed the headlights on and pulled out of the lot. No alarms. No guards. No dogs chasing them.

"California, here we come," Sharon said.

… … …

"How could that not have killed the woman?!" the Red Skull shouted. He'd seen the surveillance footage at least a half a dozen times and still couldn't believe that the explosion hadn't killed her. "Where are they going?" he shouted into a second monitor.

"They're still on the Winter Soldier's trail, but they ned the wings fixed up," Rumlow told him. "I think she'll take 'em to Stark."

"Good, we'll kill three birds with one stone."

…

Author's note: thanks to everyone who's been reading! A big thanks to the folks that review and let me know what they like and don't like. I try to fix mistakes as best I can.

Anyway, hope this chapter was to everyone's liking! Not sure when I'll be able to post again in the next week or so due to limited internet availability, but I will be able to get some major writing done!

Thanks again!