Chapter 12

When Steve woke up it was 7am, he had a whole 13 hours until his date with Maria. He took a deep breath and sat up. Steve swung his legs around the bed and slowly stood up. He decided to go on his morning run around central park. He ran down the street and into central park. He ran around the morning sun shining down on him. He took a deep breath and breathed in the fresh air. He need to clear his head, he was getting nervous about his date. He wondered if Maria was feeling nervous about their date too. But then Steve realized that may Maria isn't nervous about it, she doesn't show any emotion at SHIELD. Steve took another deep breath feeling trapped a little. He was very excited though for the date. Steve just wished that nothing would go wrong, he had a feeling something will go wrong. He didn't know what, Maria changing her mind, the press coming. He ran quicker around the park until he was too tired to run anymore. He slowly walked back to the Tower. When he got in he walked to the fridge and got a drink of water. It was 10am now. Ten more hours until the date. Steve really should stop counting down, it was making him more nervous. He really like Maria, probable even more than Peggy. Steve sighed and went to sit on the sofa. He really did like Maria. He just hoped it would work out. It might not because if work and trying to keep it professional. Steve drank the bottle of water in one. Clint and Natasha where in the living room watching some spy movie. Steve decided he would relax for a bit and try and not be nervous so much.

Maria woke up in her office. Her head on the desk. She yawned and sat up. She had worked into the night, and finally fell asleep at about 2am. She looked over to the clock on her desk. It was 7am, she had gotten her normal five hours sleep. She was always working at SHIELD late at night, which meant she never really went to her apartment in New York. She just lived at SHIELD, weather it was in the Helicarrier or at the New York base. She slowly got up and put the files in the her desk. She straightened herself out. Brushing her hair with her fingers and making sure her makeup looked ok. She walked out of her office and down the corridor. She would go back to her apartment at five when she got off from work and get ready for her… date with Steve. Maria smiled to herself when she thought about the date. She wasn't nervous for it. It was going to be great, or she hoped it would be. She just hoped nothing was going to go wrong.

'Agent Hill,' Darcy shouted running down the corridor after her. She was holding two coffees in her hand and a tablet. Maria wondered if she was going to trip on the way towards her. Darcy stopped and passed Agent Hill her coffee and they walked down the corridor. Darcy passed her the tablet and they walked around the corner.

It was 5 o'clock. Steve had no idea how he had made it through the day. One moment he was watching a movie, the next moment Tony was dragging him down to his lab to come check out a new project that he was building. Steve stayed down and watched Tony worked. He would ask question, and Tony would ramble on about stuff Steve had no idea about. Steve just let himself listen to Tony and not think about tonight. So when it came to 5 and Tony wanted food, they walked back up to the kitchen that hey all shared.

Agent Hill looked at her watch. 5pm. She looked around her. The Agents were still trying to find Loki. One of them had thought they spotted him in England, but when one of the Agents that worked over in England got to the spot they had saw him, he was gone. Which was no surprise to Maria, Loki wasn't going to hang around. Agents where all on the computers working and she was sat at the large table doing paperwork, because that was the only thing she could do really. She had told Director Fury that she was fine and that she could walk. She wanted to go on a mission today with Agent Coulson, but Director Fury had told her that she wasn't fit enough to go yet, next time, he said. Agent Hill nodded, knowing that Director Fury was just looking out for her, but she really wanted to get back to going on missions, she missed it.

Agent Hill got up from the table and asked Darcy to put the paper work in her office. Darcy got up and took the paper work from Agent Hill's hands.

'Oh and you can go home after that,' Agent Hill said. Darcy raised an eyebrow.

'You going somewhere important Agent Hill?' Darcy asked with a smirk. Agent Hill got up and straightened herself out.

'Matter of fact, I am going somewhere important,' Agent Hill said leaving the table and Darcy followed.

'Am I allowed to know the name of the place you are going?' Darcy asked still smiling.

'Oh, I don't think so. It's a secret,' Agent Hill said. 'Goodnight Darcy.' Agent Hill walked down the corridor and then out onto the deck to get on of the drivers to fly her home.

'Stevie don't be so worried about it, you look fine,' Tony said standing in Steve's kitchen with a scotch in his hand. Steve walked over towards Tony.

'You think?' Steve said, pouring himself a glass of scotch.

'Well yeah, I picked it out,' Tony said and eyed Steve when he took the bottle of him. Steve drank the scotch.

'Hey that's god scotch, give it back,' Tony said grabbing the bottle back from Steve. Steve breathed in deeply.

'Hey you better get going it's 7:45, don't want to be late on your first date,' Tony said and pushed Steve out of the door and into the elevator.

'Good luck!' Tony shouted to Steve as the elevator doors shut. Steve walked the two miles down the street to the Italian. Many people looked at him when he passed, but he didn't really take notice. Steve worked into the restaurant and Maria wasn't there yet, so he went and sat down at a table near the back.

Maria unlocked the front door to her apartment and stepped inside. It was a big apartment. She put her keys down on the table to her right and went to the living room to watch TV for a bit.

It got to seven o'clock when Maria finally decided to get up and get ready. She got a shower. She strapped a knife to her right thigh and a gun to the other, just in case. Maria up on a red dress that came down to just below her knee, tightly fitted and put on some high heels. She did her makeup and pulled her hair back into a bun.

When she got to the restaurant, it was 7:59, just on time, Maria thought and parks her car. When she walked in Steve was sat at the table right the back, nearly out of sight. No-one was sat close to the table, so it was quite. Steve stood up when she walked over. Steve pulled her chair out for her and she smiled and sat down. She took a deep breath and Steve sat down opposite her.