Chapter 14

Loki didn't bother trying to escape while we waited for SHIELD agents to arrive. When they did they cuffed his hands and put a muzzle over his face. I was thankful for the latter because I was tired of his incessant protests about how 'he was a king' and we 'shouldn't treat him as such'. He was escorted from Stark Towers by a small army of men. I was watching all of this from my spot on the couch. It was less of a spot and more of a hostile takeover, as I had flopped across as much of it as possible. Right now it was the most comfortable couch in the world. As soon as the agents left with the demigod in tow, Tony nudged me with his foot.

"Come on Cherry Bomb, if I can't lie on my own couch right now then neither can you." All he got in response was a groan and no movement. "Come on, time to go. You can sleep later." He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a sitting position.

"No thanks, I'll stay here." He pulled harder and I tried pulling away. "But Tonyyyyyy! I'm tired!"

"Come on you can rest on the carrier." I grumbled some colorful words inaudible to everyone else and stood reluctantly. I think Nat may have picked up on a few of the things I said because a poorly concealed smirk graced her face. I followed everyone to the elevator with a sigh.

"So, how are you feeling?" I jumped nearly ten feet in the air at the sound of Steve's voice. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." I took a deep breath and put my hand on my chest willing my heartbeat to slow.

"No it's fine, I wasn't paying attention. I'm okay, a little sore though. My back is on fire and I'm physically drained. That gash looks pretty nasty." I pointed to the four inch cut that ran deep along his side.

"I'll be fine. Nothing I can't handle."

"Okay tough guy." I said with a smile, making him return it. We had made it to the ground floor and two black SUVs were waiting for us, presumably to take us back to the carrier. Clint, Natasha, Thor, and Fury climbed into the first one leaving Bruce, Tony, Steve, and I to the second one. I sat at the far back corner propping myself between the seat and window. Steve occupied the space next to me and the 'science bros' sat in front of us.

"So, uh…" Steve began nervously, shifting in his seat. He played with his thumbs for a moment looking like he was unsure of what he was going to say. "Um, so you and Tony?" He whispered so the aforementioned man couldn't hear. He was talking animatedly to Bruce though about his lab, telling him it was like candy land and he should come by once all this was over. He wouldn't hear anyways.

"Me and Tony what?"

"Are you two, you know, seeing each other?" My eyes doubled in size.

"What? No, no, no."

"Oh, haha, okay." We sat in silence for a minute and Steve looked out his window, trying to hide the red in his cheeks that I had already seen. His eyes wandered back over to me.

"Do you…. like him?" I cringed as though I had eaten something sour and waved my hands in front of me.

"Oh no, definitely not like that!" A look of relief spread across his face and he smiled.

"Good! I mean, not that it's good or bad. I mean, you two seemed a bit close is all. I was just curious, is all." He tripped all over himself, barely saving it. I smiled to myself looking out my window. I was a bit happy to know that it wasn't a one sided crush I had been having. Now I wanted to have a little fun.

"Were you jealous?" I asked without looking back. Steve stuttered for a few seconds before Tony cut him off.

"Are you kidding me? Capsicle's had a crush on you since the day you walked on the ship. He's just too chicken to say anything." I couldn't believe Tony put him on blast like that. Steve was red with anger and embarrassment. While this news made me infinitely happier I had to even the odds and take Tony down a peg too.

"Don't be mad, Tony's just jealous no one wanted to kiss him." Bruce and Steve laughed at this, and Tony laughed mockingly. Steve looked at me with a glimmer in his eye, and I hoped that meant he understood the underlying message in there. 'I want to kiss those gorgeous lips!' I wasn't going to say that though. I instead settled for more banter.

"I'll have you know women line up at my door to do more than just kiss me."

"I didn't see any."

"Well, not right now. But they do!"

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Whatever you say Tony."

We pulled up to an undamaged Quinjet where we all boarded to be taken back to the helicarrier, and Steve sat next to me again. The jet was a little crowded with Loki and his escorts on one side, the rest of us on the other. Being that it was so cramped he sat very close, his leg brushing against mine. I tried to keep my mind off of it but it was more distracting then I thought it would be. I looked anywhere but at him. Every time he moved his arm would brush against mine making butterflies rustle in my stomach. I suppressed the urge to giggle like a school girl at the basic contact. What the hell is wrong with me? I have much more composure than this. I needed a distraction.

"Now what?" I asked, looking at all of the Avengers.

"Well we will be debriefed by Fury and then we will return Loki to Asgard." Clint responded.

"No, I mean after that. Where do we all go from here?" the silence was deafening as the weight of my question settled in. I figured Clint and Nat would stay at SHIELD as they were full time agents and continue on with missions. Tony would rebuild and continue with his clean energy project. Bruce, I knew he wanted to originally return to Calcutta but now maybe he would change his mind and hang around Stark Tower's labs. Thor will probably be returning to Asgard with his brother, but would he return? What about Steve? I didn't even know where he lived or what he was doing before any of this.

I would most likely have to return to Chicago. Not that I didn't like the Windy City, I loved it. It was just so far away from my new friends. Over the course of a few days I had become close with these people, and I was going to miss them greatly. Especially Steve. Things were just beginning to get interesting between us too. I should have known better then to get myself into something like this, whatever this was. I was sad now, no longer feeling the butterflies in my stomach.

We landed on the carrier and took seats around the meeting table where Fury debriefed us. I was only half listening as I was still thinking about having to leave all of this behind. I looked at Tony sitting on my right, and Steve on my left. My friend, and my something more than a friend. Hopefully we would at least keep in touch.

We were dismissed to our rooms to pack our things. I had never really unpacked so all I had to do was close my bags and wait until it was time to go. I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling again. This would be the last time I would see this ceiling, at least for a while. Life was going to be very lonely from now on. I was used to being alone before, but now everything would seem too quiet without Tony and the rest. I would be returning to my mundane life of working all day for minimum wage and barely making rent. A knock on my door pulled me from my reverie.

"Hey Cherry Bomb, time to go." I threw one bag over my shoulder and carried the other one in my hand, following Tony out the door. The walk was silent, which was unusual for Tony. Perhaps he was feeling the same sadness as I about separating. We loaded ourselves back onto a jet that took us back to New York. No one said a word. We went to Central Park where we would all be parting ways. Thor held the Tesseract in a container in one hand and gestured for the still bound Loki to grab the other end. They twisted the handles activating the cube and with that they disappeared, back to their own world.

"We still have to go to Shawarma soon, my treat." Leave it to Tony to make me smile in a bittersweet moment like this. He leapt into one of his expensive sports cars with Bruce and took off. Clint and Natasha did the same in a SHIELD vehicle. This only left Steve and I. I smiled sadly as he approached me.

"So I was thinking, maybe you would do me the honor of letting me take you on a date sometime?" I wanted to cry.

"Oh Steve. I would love to, but I have to go back home now. It's kind of a far drive." His face fell slightly, disappointed in my answer.

"Well SHIELD got me an apartment in the city, but I don't mind going out of the way to pick you up. Where do you live? Brooklyn, Queens, Coney Island?" He grabbed both of my hands with sincerity saying this, making me frown.

"Chicago." His face fell, and the sadness in his eyes was hard to take. "I'm sorry Steve." I couldn't look at him anymore and looked at our feet instead. We stood there in silence for what felt like hours.

"Can I call you?" I looked up at the sound of his voice; he was smiling even though his eyes still held sadness. I returned his smile and nodded my head.

"I would like that." A black car pulled up, Agent Hill beeping once. "That's my ride; guess it's time to go." I pulled a pen out of my pocket and wrote my number on his palm. He looked down at his inked hand, and then at me. He put his other hand through my hair and pulled me in, leaving a gentle kiss on my forehead. "Don't forget me now. I'll be looking forward to your call."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Hill honked again and I sighed. "Guess you better go. Have a safe trip."

"You too." I watched him climb on his bike and ride off before getting into the car. She took me to another helicopter that flew me to O'Hare and another car took me back to my apartment. I took the elevator to the 13th floor. Unlocking my door, I dropped my bags on the floor and flopped onto my raggedy couch. Exhaustion was finally allowed to take over me and I fell asleep, one lone tear falling down my face.