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Chapter 14

Evie did not have the heart to leave her room for the rest of the day. Several times, she heard Steve or Tony knock on her door, begging admittance, she ignored them. In the evening all of them came, asking her to come out and eat, but She just could bring herself to get up and leave the safety of her room.

She just knew if they could tell how much her brother's leaving was affecting her, they would be exasperated or mad. Most of the people she knew did that when she was upset, so she assumed Tony, Bruce, and yes, even Steve would be the same. Oh, she knew that they would be understanding at first, but she could not believe that it would last forever. It never did.

That night, she finally drifted to troubled sleep curled up in the center of her bed, her fingers curled around Clint's tags.

Around, three in the morning, Steve woke suddenly to a small scream from the room next door. He jumped up, dashed to Evie's door, accidentally breaking the closing mechanism as he burst through. He found Evie curled up her bed, sobbing so hard that she had trouble catching her breath.

Steve quickly knelt by the bed and gently touched her shoulder. "Evie, what as it?" he asked softly. "Was it another nightmare?" Evie nodded. "Tell me about it?" he asked. She shook her head firmly, and turned over with her back to Steve.

"Evie, please?" The only response he received was the sounds of Evie trying to gulp down her sobs. It nearly broke his heart, but it was clear that Evie wanted to be alone. He so wanted to just hold her and tell her everything would fine, but he managed to refrain, though it took all of his will power and mental reminder to be a gentleman and not take advantage of her in this vulnerable state. Instead of giving in, he simply pressed his lips to her temple and left, slowly closing the door behind him with a prayer that maybe she would be willing to talk in the morning.

However, in the morning, Evie was very quiet and subdued. Steve missed the cheery humming he had grown accustomed to hearing from her as she cooked breakfast. As soon as she had eaten, she shut herself back up in her room.

"Anyone know what's wrong with Evie?" Tony asked. He had tried many times during breakfast to get Evie to talk or even just laugh, but all attempts ended in failure.

"She had another nightmare last night," Steve said heavy. "But she won't talk about it."

"She will when she's ready," Bruce said, laying a reassuring hand on Steve's shoulder.

"I know," Steve began. "but it just hurts to see her like this." He blushed ever so slightly, glazing down at his plate. "for me, anyway."

"It bothers all of us," Bruce answered. "but we can't force her."

Steve sighed heavily. "I know. I think I'm going down to the gym." Slowly he rose, put his dishes in the sink and went to get his workout equipment. Bruce went back down to the lab, but Tony went to find Evie. He knocked on her door, and Evie answered it with a silent, questioning look.

"Follow me," Tony motioned for her to come with him. He took to newly completed balcony just off what would be the "Common Room" floor for the Avengers. Standing side-by-side, they leaned on the rail, gazing out over the city. They just stood like that for a while before Tony finally broke the silence. "So, Steve tells me you had a nightmare last night."

Evie nodded and bit her lip, tears already spilling from her eyes. Suddenly, Evie felt the need to tell someone about her dream, or she would burst. "A helicopter landed on a newly finished roof of the Tower. Nat climbed out, but then, she turned and watched two other agents carry a stretcher out with a white sheet completely covering the person on it, like they do for casualties. She came to me and the guys with stretcher followed her. She told me it was Clint." At that point, Evie was overcome with a sob. She gripped the rail so tightly that her knuckled turned white.

"Oh, Evie." Tony ran hand down his face. He had no idea what to do with a sobbing female, so he just did the first thing that came to mind. With one arm, he pulled her into his side for a hug. "It's gonna be okay, Short Stuff," he told her. "Hawkeye more than take care of himself, and Nat is there to watch his back. The only way he could be better off is if I were there in my suit to help." Tony thought he heard a slight chuckle, but he might have been mistaken. Evie put her arms around Tony and let him rest his head on top of hers. "It's gonna be okay."

"I know, but I'm still so scared for him."

"Ooo, she does still have a voice," Tony quipped. "We were beginning to wonder."

"Tony," she groaned.

"What?" he asked. "it's true! We were, especially Steve. He's awfully fond of you, you know."

Evie blushed profusely and release Tony. "I know." She hugged herself and look out to the horizon. "I care about him too, more than I probably should. It's just…I…can't—I mean—I'm not…." She bit her lip again. "I'm not over Charlie," she finally said. "I broke it off with him only a little over a month ago."

"Just how serious was it between you and this Charlie?"

"I'd known him since we'd moved here to New York." she answered. "Aunt Beatrice was expecting a ring anytime."

"Wow, that's pretty serious," Tony answered, gulping. "but you found him cheating and sent him packing?"

"Yeah," Evie sighed. "What else was I to do? He had seemed a lot like Steve: so sweet and gentlemanly; but then I found out he'd been going around with other girls off and on almost the entire four years we dated," she continued. "That's not something you get over in a month or two."

"You dated him for four years?" Tony asked in astonishment. That kind of commitment was rare in young couples anymore. His respect for the young women beside him went up quite a bit. "You're right, it's not something you get over very quickly, but I can guarantee that Cap will not be doing that."

"No, I can't imagine it, but it could something else," Evie said. "He might meet someone more exciting; a fellow agent that can work beside him, relate to what he's going through. I can't do that."

"No, but I really don't think that's the kind of girl that he wants," Tony answered. "I think he wants a girl that he can protect, look after, provide for, cherish. He doesn't want a comrade-in-arms. He's awfully old-fashioned about these things, you know." Evie nodded. Tony grasped her shoulders so that she was facing him and looked into her eyes. "You may not be able to kick bad guys into next week, you can be there when the bad guys are gone. You can be an anchor to ground him when the missions start to overwhelm him. Sometimes all we need at the end of the day is a loved one to hold us and tell us everything's okay." Tony said earnestly. "Now that, I know you can do." He pulled Evie back in for a quick hug before leaving her with her thoughts. "Just think about it, okay?"

Evie looked back out over the city and sighed. She should at least apologize for last night; she probably came across as rude. Pushing off from the wall, she went back down to the gym floor where she found Steve working on a punching bag.

Steve often used a punching bag and the rhythmic motions of his boxing to distress. He could think about a lot of things while he did it, and he often felt a lot of his tension disappearing when he was done.

Today, Steve was thinking about Evie. Knowing she was in pain, physical or emotional, put Steve on edge. He wanted to do something to take it away, but could think of no way of doing it. The more he thought about it, the more helpless he felt and the wilder his punches became until—BAM—the punching bag went flying. Sand oozed out of the rip in the top as it landed in a corner. As he turned to get another, he spotted Evie standing near the door with wide eyes.

"Evie, are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

Evie nodded. "Are you?" she asked with concern. "That looked painful."

"Stings a little; it's nothing really." Steve shook his head. 'What's wrong?"

"Well," Evie began, twisting her hands nervously and biting her lip. Steve would have found rather cute if he was not so focused on finding out what was going on. "Um, I wanted to explain last night."

"It's okay," Steve answered quickly, "You don't need to. I understand that you need space."

"It's just I wasn't ready to talk about it," Evie gushed. "It had just happened, and it was so sc-scary, and-and seemed so….real, and….."

"Evie," Steve cut across her. "It's okay, when you're ready, I'm here."

"Do you have a minute now?"

"Of course." Steve sat down on nearby bench and motioned for her to join him. Evie sat down and told him everything about her dream, staring down at her hands which were still twisting in her lap.

When she was finished, he reached over and covered her hands with his own. "It's okay, we all have nightmares," he said, swallowing thickly. "I still dream about the day Bucky….."He ducked his head, swallowing hard again. "You're not alone," he finished, looking into her sad eyes and squeezing her hands. He tried to draw her into a hug, but she jumped up and away. "Evie?"

"I'm sorry, Steve, but I just can't." Evie sounded close to tears. "Ch-Charlie—he—"

"What about him?" Steve asked.

"He…well….he…..it's just…."

"Evie, you can't let him continue to get to you—"

"Says the guy still in love with his sweetheart from 70 years ago."

Steve shook his head. "I don't know I was really in love with Peggy or not, Evie. I didn't have that much time with her. Besides, she moved on; I'm trying to do same."

"Well it wasn't like that for Charlie and me," Evie cried in frustration. "We've know each other since high school! We dated for four years!"

"Four years?" Steve was stunned. He knew most girls didn't date a guy that long these days.

"If you asked Aunt Beatrice, we were practically engaged! She and most of our friends were expecting a ring any day!" Evie ranted, pacing in agitation. "I thought myself to be in love with him, and I believed he loved me! That's not something you get over in a few months!"

Steve could do nothing but stare. He had had no idea that it had been so serious between her and this Charlie. That, that...Steve could not even think of a bad enough word to describe this Charlie. Evie was the most gentle, sweet, tenderhearted, beautiful young woman Steve had ever met. To Steve, winning her heart would be to gain a priceless treasure. All Steve's pent-up anger and disgust for this Charlie magnified by a hundred fold. "That—that…..cad….." Steve rose, clenching his jaw and beginning his own restless pacing. "How dare he?" he hissed. "How he do that to dame like you? You're…."

"Steve!"Evie yelled above his rant. "It's okay—"

"No it's not! He had you, the most—"

"Steve, please!" Evie pleaded. "I just need time to work past it. Please?"

Steved gulped down his fury and unclenched his fist. "Of course," He gently took one her hands in his. "Whatever you need to put this…man…..behind you, I'm willing to do." Slowly, he raised her knuckles to lips then let her hand go "I mean it, Evie."

His unbelievably blue eyes bore into her green-gold ones, and the look he gave her was so gently yet intense at the same time that Evie found that she could only meet his gaze for a few moments before lowering her eyes. She felt herself blush profusely.

Thank you, Steve, for understanding," she murmured.

"It's nothing," Steve answered unashamedly. "You are worth it."

I'm sure that this is a terrible place to stop, but I'm trying give you guys a little something to until I get back from vacation. I hope you enjoy it such as it is.