No wonder Nick Fury hired the pirates.

The more I dug into the disc, the more I felt the familiar feelings of something shady sink their hooks into me. "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that Shield developed to track hostile malware." Maybe that would work, or help in some way. "So if we can't read the file maybe we can find out where it came from?"

"Can I help you guys with anything?

Oh my God, why?

Clearly the red in my ledger was still wet because we were just not catching a break. Helpful Apple Store Employees were so not what I needed in that iffy nine minute window.

So I plastered on a smile and reached for Steve, because he was going to soldier on. "Oh no, my fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations." It was neither hard nor difficult to summon up some bubbly happy energy when your life was on the line. Hopefully Steve caught on to the signs I was giving him. To be sure I squeezed him, hugged him and went back to the computer display.

Indeed he did being that team player and all.

"Right…we're getting married."

Apple-Man stepped closer. "Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?"

Steve backed towards me, leaning in to both shield and look.

"New Jersey," he said, not quite believing it himself.

"Oh….." Apple-Man sounded surprised. A moment paused and I thought we were done for, up until I heard, "I have the exact same glasses."

I could neither contain my eyeroll or what came out of my mouth.

"Wow, you two are practically twins."

I was only half paying attention to them at that point.

But I did hear him refer to Steve as a Specimen and tell us his name was Aaron. Which was pretty close to Apple-Man. Maybe I had some kind of a gift?

Ever polite, Steve thanked him and off Aaron went to help real customers I could only assume.

A second later Steve was at my side lifting his sleeve, "You said nine minutes, come on."

Half my attention remained on the computer, "Shh, relax." A second or two later I couldn't hide my smile, "Got it."

Wheaton, New Jersey zoomed in on the map on the screen. It seemed to completely capture Steve's attention. Which slightly concerned me. He was just getting his sea-legs back it felt like. "You know it?"

When he told me, "I used to. Lets go," and pulled the drive out of the laptop I felt a smidge better. He was sounding more like himself. Things seemed to be making sense to him, or possibly falling into place.

Whatever it was, I was glad.

I was not wearing appropriate footwear to safely carry him if he got himself shot. I would so twist an ankle in my boots.

Leaving Aaron the Apple Man behind we headed out into the mall of people with Steve quickly spotting the Shield operatives.

Not that it was hard.

Even in a sea of shoppers they stood out.

Steve began to give me their locations, a fully formed plan of attack for him and escape plan for me which was so sweet, but so not going to happen. Not in a mall full of people with tons of cameras that could make him out to be some sort of crazed fugitive. There was a time and a place to fight. And sometimes there were better options.

Two Shield agents were approaching us from the front but I could tell that they hadn't spotted us. Whether our civvies were that kick ass, or they were trying to cover too much ground between them, I didn't care.

What I did care about was keeping him off the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. "Shut up and put your arm around me. Laugh at something I said."

This was not the course of action he'd anticipated, "What?"

"Do it," I repeated.

It felt like he waited till the last second, but he did it.

His laugh was a bit wooden but we could work on that later.

His arm stayed around me when we passed them and he looked to see if it had worked.

I was all kinds of proud.

I was also all kinds of looking for a way out while he focused on our surroundings. My hand snaked into one of his beltloops and I drug him behind me towards the escalator.

We could go down and out, grab the backpack and then find transportation to God only knew where New Jersey. How long that would take was just beyond me but it was a start.

For fucks sake.

Coming up on the opposing escalator as we went down was Rumlow.

Immediately I turned before I could catch his attention and looked up at Steve, who was way up there on the step behind me. "Kiss me."

He couldn't have been more surprised if I slapped him.

"What."

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," was what I told him, as if he knew where I was going with this line of conversation.

"Yes they do," he completely agreed with me.

In that minute I knew he'd gladly take on the entire Tac-Team again to avoid what I was selling.

Oh for fucks sake. I would shoot him myself.

Because I too was a team player I reached up, grabbed him by his neck and pulled him down to my lips. I kissed him. But it wasn't what I would call a kiss. There was no real lip action and his hand sort of hovered near my waist.

It only lasted as long as I felt was safe before I pulled away.

I'd met bank hostages who were less rigid then him at that moment in time.

Since we were getting close to the bottom, I asked as I headed down those last few steps. "You still uncomfortable."

I really hoped he was behind me, because I was on a mission to get out of that mall. Hopefully before it had more Shield agents than shoppers.

"It's not exactly the word I would use."

Oh good he was following me.

On our way our Macy's I grabbed the backpack where I'd stashed it in a display, flinging it on before he could grab it. It was a little heavy with the weight of his shield in it but I wasn't about to complain.

A couple times, I peeked back when I passed something with a reflective surface to make sure he was still back there and he was.

Steve only spoke to me when I pushed my way out the heavy glass exit doors that put us out on the street.

His voice came from somewhere behind me, "To the left."

To the left I headed.

I knew the Metro was up ahead and he'd mentioned using that to get out of the city. Since we had a destination it would be so easy to meet up there in a day or two to figure out what was on Fury's drive. So I headed to the metro assuming that Steve was either behind me, on his way, or would meet me in New Jersey. It wasn't like we had a ton of options.

Quickly as I could in heeled boots, I went down the stairs and had just made it to the bottom, when I was steered sharply to the right by the backpack.

In a reflective plastic of a Metro Map I caught sight of Steve. With that knowledge, I went where he shoved assuming that he had some type of a plan, or course of action. You know, something very Steve like.

For crying out loud, we were super legit on the run now.

Instead, what I got, was him hissing at me in a dirty corner of the subway station while people came and went around us. "Don't kiss me like that again."

My mind was unable to comprehend what he was going on about, "What?"

Was he made again?

Jeez, he was just going through the full spectrum of emotions and it wasn't even Happy Hour.

I didn't realize he'd yet again backed me into a wall until the backpack hit it. Even then, he didn't stop coming and I had to look up to see his burning eyes. "Don't kiss me unless you mean it."

I was at a total and complete loss for words.

"I'm not a mission or a target. Don't touch me or kiss me unless it's for real. Don't make me wonder if you did it because you didn't have the choice."

He might as well have slapped me.

I could feel the color leech from me. I could feel my mouth go dry as his words sank in.

I had no response.

We were supposed to be on the run not wading through my life's worth of baggage.

"Do you want me to touch you?"

We didn't have time for this.

Every second counted when you were on the run.

"Yes," came from me in a hoarse whisper that I couldn't be sure that he even heard. Up until he leaned down to kiss me.

When he did kiss me it was soft. It was gentle. His mouth was every bit a young guy from the good old days. Back when men held doors open for women, held back chairs for them and dancing was chaperoned. It was sweet and nice and not at all what I expected, or could have thought up.

It was respectful and not something I'd ever experienced.

His hands however were far from gentlemanly.

They slid down my sides and lower till his palms spread out on my waist. His hands travelled down my hips then around to pull me close to him. No space was between us as he held me tightly against him. It really surprised me and made me gasp against his mouth. Especially when his hands sank into my bottom and quite literally lifted me up off my feet to pull me up closer.

That was both new and unexpected.

His hands pulled me up off my feet and harder against him, like it was nothing. There was nothing gentlemanly about how he held me, touched me and I couldn't get enough of it. My arms wrapped around his neck. I kissed him softly, softer than I'd kissed anyone in my entire life. I let his lips brush over mine content with how hungry his hands were for that moment.

It felt so good to feel wanted, desired.

For a just a moment I forgot we were on the run. I forgot we were under the streets and surrounded by constantly moving people. I even forgot we had to go to New Jersey.

Who forgets they have to go to New Jersey?