Disclaimer: Cassie is pretty much the only thing involved here that belongs to me.
In the end Steve walks Cassie home because of course he does. It's the kind of thing a guy would do in an old movie which makes it the kind of thing Steve does on principle. However, he also walks a little slower than he might normally. He's stiff and clearly in pain so Cassie sends him home once they reach the block her hotel is on with a kiss on the cheek. Cassie's enhanced vision barely lets her see the flush the action brings out on Steve's face through the dark they stand in between the streetlamp.
Once she's inside going to bed seems to be the only logical next step. Cassie happens to be smart enough not to question logic in this moment so she kicks her shoes off by the door and collapses on to her mattress in her pajamas. Her head is buzzing as she mentally reviews everything she and Steve have said that night but this is one night when even her own brain can't talk loudly enough to keep her awake.
When she comes back in to consciousness, it's a much slower process than it normally would be considering that it only happens because someone is pounding on the door of her hotel room. Normally sudden noises have Cassie jolting in to awareness and reaching for the nearest available weapon within seconds. However, this morning she's warm and her mattress is bathed in sunlight.
Waking up feels like slowly floating up through water until her head breaks the surface. Which is to say, it's gentle and pleasant until the moment she's forced to gulp for air and start treading water to prevent drowning. Given some of her father's poetry, Cassie's actually fairly proud of that descriptive analogy.
With a groan and a run of fairly diverse mental cursing Cassie rolls out of bed with considerably less grace than she normally uses in her daily navigations of the world. She has to pause for a moment after she's upright as the sudden movement triggers a head-rush and she makes a mental note to mainline some water. Cassie is familiar with the symptoms and effects of dehydration and she isn't interested in re-experiencing them too thoroughly.
After the dancing black spots clear out of her vision Cassie makes her way to the door. "I didn't ask for housekeeping today," she calls through the door. "I put the little sign tag thingy on the door handle."
"Well now I'm a little insulted," says a cocky, familiar, male voice from out in the hall. "For one thing I have never once done a single day of housekeeping in my life, though I admit I may look fetching in maid costume. For another, implying that a, what did you call it, 'little sign tag thingy?' has ever deterred me is insulting on an entirely separate level."
The sound of that voice freezes Cassie where she stands as her mind spins. She's generally good at recognizing voices, better than most people at any rate, and certainly better than she is at recognizing faces. However, in this situation she's willing to believe she's wrong is anyone can offer her a different solution to the one she has in her head. In all honesty she's sincerely hoping that someone will.
Because otherwise she has to figure out why in the name of every known cultural region of hell adjacent afterlife Tony Stark is outside her hotel room at seven o'clock in the morning on a Saturday.
Crap, she has a shift in four hours.
Well, they say seeing is believing and Cassie certainly wasn't believing at the moment. With that phrase in mind she pulls herself up a little ways to look through the peep hole in the door and groans at the sight. Improbable as it may be, Tony Stark is sure as hell standing in the hall of her hotel room at seven in the morning.
The world is either tipping off of it's axis, she's in a parallel dimension, the sky is falling, or some combination of all three.
She sighs as she pulls the door open. "Why in any known version of hell are you here?" she asks. The gene for being subtle may have been somewhat bred out of the demigod pool. On her good days Cassie can reign in that particular portion of her nature and keep her verbal filter activated. This isn't looking like one of her good days.
Stark doesn't seem in the least bit put off by her less-than-warm welcome and just smirks at her. "Now that's a greeting," he says, voice thick with a brand of sarcasm that's a class more refined than what she experiences on a daily basis. "You know I was just wondering a little while ago about the manners of young people these days. People say they're going to hell in a hand basket but you," he gestures at her with both hands. "Fresh and lovely as a springtime daisy."
Cassie blinks at him and comes to the conclusion that she needs to up her mental word processing capacity if she's actually going to try to have to have a conversation with this man. "I need coffee," she mutters turning her back on Stark but leaving the door open behind her. She pads softly back through the room to the miniature kitchenette there and turns on the hotel provided Kurig.
The coffee brews and percolates with a promising bubble and steam hissing noise and the smell begins to fill the air. She never looks back at Tony Stark but she trains her senses to keep track of him as he moves through her temporary space. He flits through the hotel room, tapping the rattling air conditioning, peering out the window, and examining the solitary bag she has with her.
"Saw you on TV," he says as he moves. "You've got some moves, some interesting abilities." Cassie doesn't speak. She knows enough about psychology to know when someone is fishing for a response and at the moment she isn't really in the mood to give one.
Stark keeps talking, ignoring the fact that she has yet to participate in the conversation. It means he's having more of a monologue than anything else, but that doesn't seem to bother him so Cassie lets him run with it as her coffee brews. "I didn't recognize you at first but you looked familiar so I had a good look around in the old rolodex here," he taps his forehead. "Don't mean to brag- well no that's a lie, but I'm kind of a genius. Eidetic memory and everything so eventually I figured it out. You're that med student chick who fixed us up after the Battle of New York."
Her coffee finishes brewing so Cassie pours it in to a mug and cradles it to her chest, cooling the scalding liquid to the point where she can drink it. The taste isn't fantastic but the warmth emanates through her hands and in to her chest. The coffee is still too hot for her to drink practically and it burns her tongue and the back of her throat but at least she's awake now.
"What do you want Mr. Stark?" she asks, finally turning to face him as she leans back in to her counter. She won't drink the rest of her coffee just yet, the slightly blistered feeling in her mouth taught her that lesson. However, the hot liquid and even the mug she has it in could potentially serve as an improvised weapon if she turns out to need one. If she can catch him off guard he won't have time to suite up. On the other hand, she isn't planning on fighting anyone this morning if she can help it which means in all likelihood she won't be attacking first.
Stark pivots and meets her eyes. He can't seem to stop fidgeting and Cassie quickly diagnoses a healthy dose of ADHD to go along with his eidetic memory. On principle, she makes a mental note to try to avoid having this man ever meet Leo Valdez. She has a feeling the resulting fire ball and mushroom cloud would be hard to deal with. "Who says there's something I want?" he asks. "Can't I just want to have a nice conversation on a Saturday morning?"
Cassie rolls her eyes. "Don't bull shit me," she says flatly. "I'm not the one who showed up unannounced early in the morning at the doorway of someone I met once two years ago because I saw them on TV. I don't know you, and you don't know me. You have no reason to put in the work to try to find me and no reason to show up here unless there's something that you want. So," she looks him dead in the eyes and tries to pin him where he is with just a look. Annabeth does this better than her but Annabeth isn't here right now so Cassie's version will have to be good enough. "I'm going to ask you one more time. What do you want Mr. Stark?"
He narrows his eyes at her, seeming to take her in. Cassie almost wants to laugh as she remembers that Leo once told her he understood machines better than he did people. Stark is still trying to figure out what makes her tick, assessing her like a machine or an equation. It's almost a relief. As long as he keeps not seeing her as a human being he won't ever really be able to figure out how Cassie operates.
With demigods, and with most people in general there is a balance between guts, head, and heart. Cassie's personal ratio isn't quite as skewed as some people's are. However, she's always done a bit more with her heart and her gut than she ever has with her brain. It's one of the reasons she, Annabeth, and Piper operate well together.
"I'm here to make you an offer," he says. "For a job. Pretty lucrative one too. Housing and benefits included. Vacation time might be a bit spotty but seeing as you're currently living out of a hotel instead of crashing with a friend I'm thinking you aren't the type to try running a social life."
It's hard to argue with the truth so Cassie doesn't say anything and inclines her head the tinniest bit in acknowledgement. She also raises her eyebrows at the job offer of it all. "I'm not a businesswoman," she says, injecting a note of calm blankness in to her voice. "I'm not a secretary and I'm sure as hell not any kind of genius so I guess I'm confused as to exactly what kind of job it is you're offering me."
Stark's own eyebrows shoot up at her words. "What kind of not a genius graduates medical school two years younger than anyone else with some of the highest grades in their class."
"A homeschooled one," she says tersely. "And I haven't graduated yet." Her coffee has called enough to drink at this point and by now she thinks it's unlikely she'll have to use her morning beverage as a weapon so she takes a cautious sip. When her tongue isn't any more burned than it used to be by the liquid she takes a larger sip and shifts so she's a little more comfortable. "So what exactly is the job you're offering me?"
He leans forward more intently and Cassie focuses on his words. His shift in body language tells her he's coming to his point and she wants to make sure she doesn't miss it. "If there's one thing this whole thing," he gestures expansively with one hand. "Has proved, it's that we are never going to be able to do what we do without casualties. People are always going to get hurt. We need someone around who knows how to patch us up afterwards. Someone who can run triage."
Cassie feels her mouth drop open but manages to recover her shock quickly enough to pick up her jaw before it can be bruised by the floor. Suddenly, she has a pretty good idea of where this conversation is going, and as with every other time she's had pre-knowledge, knowing the destination isn't making the journey any more pleasant. "And you want that someone to be me?" she asks, skepticism dripping from her every word. "I don't normally like to ask this because it is so not in my wheelhouse, but are you insane?"
"Maybe," he says without missing a beat. "Maybe not. But I know you patched Rogers up after what happened with SHIELD. The doctors at the hospital say if you hadn't been on scene he might not have gotten there super serum or not. And you patched all of us up after New York. You looked at two super assassins, a literal living legend with exponential healing, the Hulk, and a Norse God and you didn't bat an eye or ask a question. You just did your job. I want you to keep doing that job, only in New York, and for money."
"I'm not even a fully qualified doctor yet," Cassie says, almost laughing at the absurdity of this conversation. "Why are you asking me? I still have exams and boards to take. I have to be an intern and do a residency. There are a million qualified doctors out there in the world who would jump at the chance to go work with you people. I'm just a medical student."
Stark shrugs. "Why not you?" he says. "You're an M.D as soon as you pass your exams. You obviously know what you're doing with triage. Besides, if you try the job for a while and hate it I will personally see to it that you get a medical internship at any hospital you want."
Cassie stares at him. She opens her mouth and shuts it again as she tries to marshal her thoughts and translate them in to words. "So... what I'd just be your team doctor?" she asks. "What would I do the rest of the time? When you guys aren't on missions and are just being," she waves her hand vaguely. "Whatever it is you people are when the world isn't ending. What do I do then?"
"Research?" he suggests. "Volunteer at a clinic, monitor mental health for the people working at the Tower, hell," he says with another shrug. The second one in as many minutes. "Cure cancer if you want. I'll pay you for whatever you want to do. You would just need to be on call to help civilians and run relief in crisis zones and be there to patch us up if we get banged up by the bad guy of the day."
With a sigh Cassie lets her head fall backwards and rotates her neck to try to work out the kinks. A part of her mind wonders weather this is a very complicated and improbable dream. Given the things she's actually lived through already it's highly possible that her mind is rifling around and scraping at the bottom of the barrel for some original material. The majority of her brain tells her that this is in no way the most bizarre thing to ever happen in her life and she should probably just roll with it as per usual.
She looks back at him, squinting her eyes a little. As her vision focuses in on him she picks out details she hadn't noticed before. Stark's eyes are wide and dilated and there are bags beneath them, sure signs that he hasn't slept recently and is relying on some kind of energy drink to keep himself awake. His suite, though expensive and high end is crumpled from sitting in the plane or car he used to get here. Mentally Cassie calculates and works out that he must have come here almost as soon as he had seen the news on TV. Briefly she wonders if he's gone to see Steve yet.
"Do I need to decide right now?" she asks. If she can play for time then maybe she can at least pretend to herself that she's making a carefully considered decision.
Oh wait. She's a demigod.
Demigods don't consider things.
Thought out decisions are for mortals and normal people.
Silly Cassie.
Stark pulls a manilla folder out of the front of his suite jacket and drops it on the counter in front of her. "Contract's in there," he says easily. "Take today. Read it over. There's a phone number in there to. Call it when you have an answer for me." He moves for the door and slides through. "Move in day is the end of the month," he calls over his shoulder. "Drag Rogers back with you when you come won't you? Man's a New Yorker. He shouldn't spend too long outside the mother land."
With that comment he's gone, pulling the door behind him.
Cassie is left holding her half full coffee cup and staring at the folder beside her. She feels like she's standing on the edge of something and might be about to fall off if she doesn't decide to jump. Gods, and just yesterday she was talking to Steve about believing that she had a choice.
With a resigned sigh, Cassie reaches out and takes the folder, sliding it closer to her. It's a lengthy contract and given her dyslexia reading it is going to take a while so Cassie settles in for a long morning. She still has three hours before work so maybe she can get this day back on schedule after all.
By the time she's done reading the contract her coffee is cold and she has to hurry to get dressed and ready to go. The contract is open on her table and it stops her on her way out the door. "Gods please don't let me regret this," she murmurs fervently. With three short strides, she's back at the counter, pen in hand. She signs on the dotted line with a flourish and pulls out the piece of paper with Stark's number.
She dials the number in to her phone with almost angry jabs of the buttons and holds it to her ear. In her mind she's running through a mental dictionary of every swear word she knows in several different languages and is starting to thinks she's been doing that too often. Maybe she needs to start expanding her vocabulary. Cassie adds it to her to-do list and wonders if Natasha might be willing to teach her more. After all, they might end up seeing each other a lot in the near future.
The message she leaves on Stark's answering machine is two words. "I'm in."
And with that she becomes the Avengers part time personal physician effective upon her graduation from medical school.
Until she graduates she continues working shifts at the diner though she cuts down from what she had been working before. One of the benefits of her new job is a truly exorbitant salary. She'll be making more straight out of school than graduates who have been out for a decade. The other benefit is an incredibly secure privacy contract. She can't talk about her work, but no one she works with can talk about her either. From now on her files are either deleted or sealed from everyone who doesn't work for Stark, including, she's been assured, the government.
Basically, she's anonymous starting at the beginning of June. And very well paid.
She tells Steve about the new job she's taken working with his team and he smiles and congratulates her on her new employment. He also tells her that he's moving back in to the Tower himself pretty soon. Like her, almost everything he owns is still in storage after the fall of SHIELD and he's been crashing with Sam Wilson in the interim.
Cassie actually sees Steve pretty often at this point. She spends her days studying and ding exam prep and he spends his in depositions, interviews, and other meetings with important people in the government. When he's not doing that it's relief work and not a day of the news cycle goes by without Steve's face popping up on TV for one reason or another.
She gets several phone calls from Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Reyna, and Rachel when a picture of her pulling Steve out of the mud and to an ambulance surfaces in the news. It's blurry and indistinct so only someone who knows her well would be able to use it to identify her so Cassie isn't all that worried. Besides, it's a good test of the privacy agreement in her contract and she wants to see exactly what Stark and the Avengers will do. Her name never comes up and the story she's involved in is killed discretely in less than twenty-four hours. In her book, that equals test passed.
The phone calls that she returns are mostly to reassure the people who care about her that she's okay and to tell them that she's moving back to New York. The news is greeted with happiness and Sally Jackson is borderline ecstatic to hear that one of her babysitters will be back within walking distance. Rosie Blowfiss is most certainly a hand full, but she's a great kid and non-superpowered so Cassie was always able to handle taking care of her without too much trouble.
Steve makes it a point to walk her home from work once or twice a week. He pesters her for her work schedule, pushing the matter gently until she relents and hands him a print out with the stipulation that her schedule is subject to change most of the time. Steve just grins as he takes the paper and tells her that he likes to plan things. From a guy who helped plan the storming of Normandy, that statement has some solid weight behind it.
Cassie rolls her eyes at him but doesn't make any of the jokes that she could and starts her walk home with Steve beside her.
These walks and the occasional stop for coffee are when they spend the most time together. They talk about anything they can think of. Cassie asks about Stark and the rest of the Avengers team and Steve asks her more questions about her background and abilities. Some of the questions he asks makes Cassie think he's been reading up on Greek and Roman mythology and she wonders when exactly he's finding the time.
She's glad and a little gratified that Steve is doing his best to understand her. However, some things in modern versions of mythology, especially things that have ended up on the internet are a little bit difficult to explain to an outsider. Like, if she ever in her existence has to explain how all of the gods are actually related-only-not to one another it will be way too soon.
Godly DNA and familial relations goes above her pay grade. And considering her new salary, that's saying something.
Between everything else going on in her life, she doesn't get to patrol all that often. However, she's not getting attacked very much and most monsters seem to be steering clear of the city for the time being. She figures the world can continue to exist in safety without her searching out additional trouble.
Cassie spends the week leading up to her exams in a nearly impenetrable bubble of academia. Her hotel room becomes a veritable nest of papers and review notes and Cassie spends hours on end lying on her back staring at the ceiling as she listens to audio recordings of her professors giving lectures. She discovered long ago that that was the best revision method to employ given her dyslexia. She throws a tennis ball against the wall and catches it again repeatedly to stave off the ADHD and all in all that covers her review sessions and makes them productive.
It takes Steve knocking on the door of her hotel room with takeout in hand to break her from her study coma and Cassie lets him in. As he steps inside and looks around Cassie follows his gaze and for the first time in days she actually sees her hotel room. It's a mess of papers and notes and housekeeping hasn't been in for a few days so her meager possessions are scattered around the place.
"Hey," she greets. "Uh, sorry about the mess."
Steve smiles gently and gives a slight shake of his head. "It's no problem. I know you're busy studying." He holds up his takeout bag from which a delicious smell is wafting. "I just thought maybe you'd want dinner."
Cassie smiles back and moves to clear off some space at the coffee table. "Thank you so much," she says sincerely. "I don't think I've eaten anything real in like, days."
Once space is cleared Steve grabs dishes out of the cabinet and sets them out in the cleared table space. Then he begins to dish out the food and Cassie grabs her portion eagerly. "You have your first exam tomorrow right?" he enquires.
"Yeah," Cassie nods. "One per day for the rest of the week. Then I get a day to decompress on Sunday and Monday is moving day." Steve nods back and they both spend the next several minutes digging in to their food. Steve eats at least four times as much as a normal person because of his metabolism and Cassie is hungry enough to consume a cyclops' portion so the silence persists for quite a while as they eat.
When she's finished Cassie sits back and draws her feet up off the ground so that she's sitting criss-cross applesauce in her chair. Steve is still eating his noodles and Cassie reaches for a fortune cookie. She pops open the little sealed bag it's in and cracks it open, pulling out the little piece of paper inside. "You may find that your goals are soon within your reach," she reads out when she's worked out the words. "Huh. If I were playing the fortune cookie game that might be entertaining."
Steve frowns and swallows. "What's the fortune cookie game?"
His confusion brings a smile to her face and Cassie begins to explain. "It's just this thing someone made up to make fortune cookies inappropriate. You add the words 'in bed' to the end of each fortune." She shrugs and pops half of the cookie in to her mouth. "It's not real mature or anything but it's a little entertaining."
"Huh," Steve says. He pushes away his now empty plate and reaches for a fortune cookie for himself. He breaks it open and squints down at the fortune printed there. "Never be afraid to try new things," he reads. He glances up at her with raised eyebrows. "In bed."
It makes Cassie laugh which seems to have been Steve's goal because he smiles and pops the rest of his own cookie in to his mouth. "Are you moving in the same day as me?" she asks. "Or are you still going to be stuck here clearing things up? If not I figured maybe we could take the train together."
Steve tips his head. "I'm moving in the same time you are so that works. I'm just not sure how long I'll be staying in the city for."
"Barnes?" Cassie guesses. "You're starting to look for him." Steve nods and Cassie shifts so that she's sitting straighter in her seat. "Do you know where you're starting from?" she asks.
He nods, sketching his fingers across the table like he's drawing out his own mental battle plan. Cassie has seen Annabeth do the same kind of thing since she was ten years old. "You mentioned that you sent him to the Smithsonian to see the exhibit when he pulled me out of the river so I'm starting by reviewing the museum security footage for that one exhibition hall for the two weeks since SHIELD fell. Even if all that does is give me a time stamp it's a start."
Cassie considers this. "Are you sure you won't have any kind of problem with getting the footage? I'm not exactly sure what the museum policy is but most places are a little bit stingy with just handing out their security video."
"I do on occasion, abuse my celebrity," Steve admits with a combination of sheepishness and grim resignation. "I've been plastered all over the news lately. I figure it must be good for something. Besides, most of the exhibit is technically mine." He reaches for his glass. "Trademarking and all."
She gives a half smile at that. "Being you has it's advantages," she states, quoting from a Harry Potter movie. Steve gives a one armed shrug as he takes a sip of water. "So you're starting with the video footage," she says. "That's good. You'll be able to put a time stamp on things. I'm guessing you're big problem will be figuring out where he went after that."
"Exactly," Steve agrees. "Natasha is going to be sending me anything she can find. Sharon- you know, are not-a-nurse neighbor- is apparently working at the CIA now so she's discretely digging in to anything she can find on the Winter Soldier. Stark has his tech people doing the same with everything that got revealed in the SHIELD dump. Hopefully between all of that they'll be a lead I can follow to something more substantial."
Cassie reaches out and covers one of his hands with hers. "If you need my help just say so," she tells him. "I promised you that I'd help you find your friend if that was what we needed to do. So, just say the word and I'll tell Stark I can't start yet and you and me can hole up here after I graduate and go through leads and footage and whatever the hell else."
Steve brings his other hand over and covers hers, flipping the hand below hers to hold her hands between his. "And I can't ever tell you how much I appreciate that," he tells her, blue eyes wide and truthful. "But until I know where we're going to be looking, I don't want looking for Bucky to get in the way of you having a normal life."
"I've never had a normal life," Cassie says with half a laugh. It isn't actually funny though so she stops herself quickly. Steve doesn't crack a smile, just looks at her. The pressure of his hands around hers increases marginally. "I like that you want me to have a life," Cassie tells him. "That's more than a lot of the people I've been in contact with. But you should know after everything I've told you that I haven't had anything close to normal in my life since I was eight years old. When I said I'd help you I made a promise, and I plan on keeping it."
"Thank you," he says with a nod after her words have hung in the air for a moment. "I promise you I'll call the moment I have something."
The next half hour or so is spent on lighter conversation topics, like her upcoming exams and the reconstruction work Steve's been doing. She worries out loud over her exams and Steve reassures her and then together they verbally abuse a few different bureaucrats who are making life difficult for people they care about who are trying to do the right thing. It's therapeutic and by the time Cassie walks Steve to her door she feels lighter and happier and less anxious than she has for days.
As Steve passes in to the hallway he turns back to her to say goodbye and Cassie leans some of her weight against the doorframe, tilting her head to look up at him. It's possible she should start investing in some comfortable platform shoes or heels. Her feet might hurt but her neck would probably thank her in the long term. That or she should start carrying around a collapsable step stool. Surely Leo would make one for her.
"Thanks again for coming over," Cassie says. "And for bringing me dinner. I haven't looked away from or heard anything except for my exam notes in literal days. Taking a break was uh..." she isn't quite sure what the most appropriate word is. 'Nice' doesn't seem adequate, 'lovely' is too formal. "Reassuring," she says at last. Steve smiles and something in her that she hadn't known was out of place before shifts and settles.
He leans a bit on the wall outside the door, curling his shoulders over slightly to reduce the space between them. "You're welcome," he says softly. "I wanted-" he swallows. "You're always helping me. I wanted to do something for you."
Cassie gives him a small smile, making it as warm as she can. "You like taking care of people," she notes out loud.
Steve shrugs. "I always wanted to help people," he admits. "Before the serum I wasn't able to most of the time. Since then I can, and as soon as I started actually fighting I had a team of people to lead. First the Commandoes and now the Avengers." As he talks about his role his shoulders straighten and he stands to his full height, military posture engaging. "My team is my responsibility."
She cocks her head to the side. "I'm no one's responsibility but my own," she tells him, her voice light but firm. "That's how it's always been. I don't care who's team I'm on. My choices and actions are completely my own."
"I know," Steve says hurriedly. He shifts his weight uncomfortably, putting his hands inches pockets. "I meant-"
Cassie doesn't let him find whatever words he wanted. In all honesty she's about done with words for the moment. She thinks maybe it's time to provoke actions instead. "What exactly do you see me as Steve?" she asks. "Am I your teammate? Your doctor? Your friend? Do you see me as your responsibility? Because if tha-"
This time it's Steve who cuts her off.
One moment he's standing almost a foot away and the next he's so close he's filling her vision and she can feel the warmth emanating from his body and nearly wrapping around her. In the next second there's no 'nearly' about it and one of Steve's hands is cupping her cheek. Then his lips are pressed over hers and Cassie can't see anything any longer because her eyes have shut.
The world stops.
Steve lets out a shaky exhale that ghosts over her lips and Cassie finds that she's of the opinion that being far enough apart for them to breath separately is too far right now. With that in mind she surges upwards on to her toes, gripping his shoulder with one hand to haul herself upwards and closer to him. Steve rightful takes that as a cue to move his lips against hers, his tongue brushing lightly against the seam of her mouth.
Cassie opens her mouth against his and then everything is warmth and the cold electric burn of sensation making every square millimeter of her skin come alive below Steve's fingertips as his hands move, almost dreamily over her. One hand moves, sliding back from her jaw line and in to her hair, his fingers tangling in the golden strands. The other hand slips over her side, tracing each of her ribs through her shirt.
Her own hands aren't at all idle. With slow, easy, movements her fingers curve over his shoulders, cupping his neck, his jaw, and burying her fingers in the silken softness of his hair. Eventually she has to use one arm to loop around his shoulders and he takes her weight without question. She braces her other palm against his chest, pressing her palm over his heart. The beat pulses through his skin and in to her own fingers and acting without conscious thought her instincts or maybe powers, shift her own heartbeat to match his.
Sooner than she's like, Cassie's toes and ankle bones won't support the strain she's been putting them through and she begins to try to regretfully extricate herself from the embrace. Steve makes a quiet, instinctual noise of protest and grip he's taken on her hip tightens, keeping her pressed tightly to his body. The movement scrunches up her shirt and his fingers land against her bare skin. Cassie shudders as a wave of sensation washes over her skin and collects in the very center of her being. Another small noise transfers from his mouth and in to hers before it can ever great the open air and Steve's hand flattens against her skin, trailing upwards along the sensitive skin of her spine.
"Steve," she manages to murmur the next time she can draw breath. "Steve you're too tall... Can't reach..." Cassie is trying, though badly to explain that her toes are killing her and there's only so long the muscles in her legs will support this position. It's possible that he gets the point despite her lack of thorough description because he lets out a small hum that she feels in his chest. However, instead of breaking the kiss, he drops both hands to her hips and lifts her straight up.
The shock of the movement makes her gasp against his mouth but Steve seems too intent on kissing her to notice. He holds her a solid six inches off the ground at his head height with seemingly no effort, her body crushed in to his. Well she thinks that's certainly one method of problem solving. And oh, Cassie is most definitely a fan of this method.
Unfortunately, no matter their collaborative problem solving skills, there comes a point when they both need to breath. When that moment comes they break apart slowly and regretfully and Cassie absolutely hates that this moment is ending. Steve doesn't go far though, leaving his forehead pressed against hers as he lowers her slowly back to the ground and they both try to get their breath back.
The fingers on her spine move slowly back down and Steve tucks her shirt back in to place before pressing that hand against the wall. His other hand moves from her hip up to her cheek. Steve's thumb brushes over her lips, bruised and tingling from his kisses and the movement is damn near reverent. He holds and touches her like she's precious, but not necessarily breakable and if Cassie had her choice she would never move from this spot or this moment.
She closes her eyes to try to hold on to the feeling, burning every detail about this one moment of time in to her brain. Steve brushes another kiss over her mouth and Cassie sighs when it's too brief a gesture to lean in to. "You're my girl," he says simply, answering her question from what feels like a lifetime ago. "If you want to be."
He almost blushes as the words leave his mouth and the fact that asking her too be exclusive makes him feel awkward when minutes ago he had his tongue in his mouth makes Cassie smile. "I would very much like to be your girl," she tells him. She can practically feel herself glowing and the grin on Steve's face makes him light up like a Christmas tree. She doesn't feel like she has to tell him that it's a two way street. Cassie knows that being his means he's hers and the feeling is both hugely all encompassing and very much small enough to be hers and only hers.
"I should go so you can get some sleep," Steve says but he doesn't make any move to back up.
Cassie nods. "Yeah, yeah you probably." She doesn't move either.
Steve lets out another rushing breath and kisses her once, twice more before tearing himself away. "I'll call you tomorrow," he promises.
"You'd better," she responds, her smile still in place.
He's backpedaling down the hallway away from her and his eyes have yet to leave her face. "I'll help you move!" he calls. "Goodnight!"
Cassie waves goodbye and when he's rounded the corner and out of sight she practically falls back through the door in to her room. The door closes behind her with a clack and Cassie stares blankly at the papers and all of her notes scattered throughout the space. She gives a deliberate shake of her head and decides to screw studying for the rest of the evening and just go to bed.
She wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway.
Despite that she takes her first exam the next morning and continues to take them as the week goes on. Sometimes Steve picks her up when the exams let out but when he doesn't Sam shoes up to do it instead. Privately, Cassie thinks it's possible that Steve's worried that someone will figure out who she is and how she's connected to him and come at her. He's been picking up a lot of media coverage lately and not all of it is positive.
Cassie doesn't try to bring it up. She knows she can defend herself and she's pretty sure that Steve knows she can too though not to what extent. Making sure someone walks her home from her exams when she's mentally exhausted is basically just a step to make him feel like he's doing something. She knows how frustrating it is to feel like your life's out of control and you have no way to protect the people you love so for now she's willing to play along. Besides, she can actually ditch Sam if she has to and Steve has told her in no uncertain terms that his next line of defense is Natasha.
Eventually her exams are over and she's passed them all with high marks. This means she's officially a doctor now and she celebrates the end of school with the rest of her graduating class. Everyone is happy and excited and spends most of their time telling each other what their plans are now. Most are becoming interns at different hospitals around the country or starting research positions. When people ask her what she'll be doing, Cassie tells them that she's starting a job in private medicine that comes with a strict NDA attached. Technically that isn't even a lie and she's not the only person who had to sign a contract promising they'd keep their mouth shut or be sued.
Steve, Sam, and Nat all come to her graduation but hang back from the crowd. No one from Camp could make it but the night before she'd received multiple cards and phone calls to congratulate her. Sally Jackson sends her and Paul's support with a large sack of all blue candy and a card that she's sure was illustrated by Rosie. Annabeth sent her a large congratulatory book and Percy sends a string of ocean pearls. Cards come from all of her other friends and her siblings in the Apollo cabin surprise her with an official card telling her that a star has been named after her.
When people ask her if she has anyone there for she tells them that her boyfriend is coming in late and will probably take a space at the back. When her name is called for her to walk across the stage and pick up her diploma she scans the crowd and catches Steve's eye and he grins at her, clapping hard. That should be all but as she shakes the last hand in a long line she glances back at the crowd and sees the last face she would ever expect to see at her graduation.
There in the front is her father Apollo, god of music, healing, and prophecy. He's fully restored to godliness and the form he's taken for the occasion is that of a man in his late twenties. It's better than him turning up as a teenager so Cassie won't complain but she won't lie and say she isn't a little shocked. His hair is a mass of carefully styled blonde curls and he's wearing sunglasses and a white button down over suite pants with a shiny golden tie.
Cassie blinks and when she opens her eyes again he's gone. She tries to shake it off and focus on he speech that the President of the college is making. At that moment it's her dearest hope that her father's presence here is nothing more than an idle wish on his part to check up on one of his children during an important milestone. Personal visits from gods have never in the history of time worked out well for demigods without repercussions.
Her father doesn't speak to her personally but she does see him again until just after she's thrown her graduation cap in to the air. She sees him standing ten feet away through a crowd of graduates jumping up and down in celebration. When he sees her looking Apollo grins and gives her a thumbs up. Then he points at her and she feels a warmth in her pocket as the tip of his finger glows slightly. Next he points over her shoulder and Cassie follows where he's pointing to see Steve waiting for her. Nat and Sam apparently had to duck out.
When she looks back her father is gone again but when she checks her pocket she's unsurprised to find a golden envelope addressed to her. She breaks the seal on the envelope with no small amount of trepidation and looks down at the writing. It takes her a moment to decipher the writing but when she does it reads;
Dear Cassie,
My kid is so smart
She graduated today
I am so proud
P.S. I'll see you soon.
Cassie isn't quite sure how to feel. On the one hand, her father actually came to her graduation and is proud of her. Proud enough to actually say so in those words. On the other hand, the promise at the end of the letter hangs over her head like a dark shadow. Also the haiku is one syllable short.
She walks to Steve and he catches her up in to a kiss, spinning her around with her feet off the ground. For a moment she lets herself loose her worries to the celebratory feeling in the air but when Steve sets her down he immediately notices the paper gripped in her hand. "What's that?" he asks.
"It's a letter," Cassie tells him, proffering the paper so that he can read it. "From my father. He was here today."
Steve's eyebrows shoot up at that. "Your father the god?" he clarifies. Cassie nods in confirmation and Steve returns his eyes to the paper, reading the words much more quickly than she had been able to herself. 'What does that mean he'll see you soon?" he asks when he's done.
She bites at her lower lip. "I don't know," she admits. "I really want to hope that it's just because the gods like hanging out in New York. Remember I think I told you Olympus is anchored above the Empire State Building?" Steve's expression of slightly shocked confusion tells her that maybe she didn't but the information is out there now. "Knowing my luck it's probably not just that though," she says resignedly. "With gods it almost never is."
He reaches out and grips her shoulders, pushing her blonde curls back off of the shoulders of her gown. "From everything you've told me that's true, but there's also not a lot you can do about it." She opens her mouth to say something but he cuts her off. "We can worry about what it means tomorrow," he tells her firmly. "Today," he gestures at the happily excited crowd. "This is a victory." He smiles down at her and presses a sweet kiss to her temple. "Let's enjoy it okay?"
For a moment Cassie wants to push it but she also knows that the issue will still exist to worry about later so for the moment she gathers all of her stress and releases it on a long exhale. She looks up in to Steve's blue blue eyes that are looking down at her with warmth and pride and maybe more and manages to smile back, nodding once. Steve pulls her along to Sam's place where he and Nat have managed to throw a small celebration and Cassie lets herself be distracted with excellent food, cake, and the fact that she's spending an important day with people who care about celebrating it with her.
However, nothing can quite push her fathers words out of her head.
P.S. I'll see you soon.
A/N: So there you have it. I'm really sorry about the gap in posting but I've just started college so I've been pretty busy. Because of that updates are a likely to be farther apart from now on. Anyway, what did you guys think? I wanted Cassie to start being more involved in the team and I thought it was about time for her and Steve's first kiss. Did I write it okay? I'm open to notes. Review for me! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxxox