A/N: Okay, this is kind of a plain chapter, leading up to a more exciting chapter. Wanted to get it out of the way, hence a very early update. Still kinda cool. Either way, here it is.

Chapter Eleven

Steve's POV

I thought it would be good to get Elena out of the tower for a little while. I knocked on her door, she spent a lot of time in her room. I heard her say come in.

"Hey," I greet. "Are you hungry?"

"Um, yes?" She says, although it comes off as a question. People in the tower have different schedules, so we usually don't eat together, and I realize that none of the rare occasions we do have popped up in the past week. I also realize that I haven't really seen her eat anything other than cereal.

"We could go get something, outside of the tower."

She nods.

"What do you like to eat?"

"I like Froot Loops."

"Okay. Anything Else?"

"I don't know," She answers.

"That's okay." I answer. "We can go to a diner I know."

We walk out of Elena's room as Sam is coming down the hall.

"Hey, what's up?" He greets.

"Were going to have dinner. Want to come?" I ask.

"Nah, I have plans, but have fun."

"Cool. You too."

We pass more people along the way and so far, no one wants to come. Elena says nothing the entire way as I talk to the people we pass.

Then, I think maybe I should ask Bruce and Tony if they want to come, I've asked everyone else who's in the tower. I tell Elena we're going to lab real quick. It'll give her a chance to know where it is too. We walk there and I open the door, and only Bruce is there.

"We're headed to dinner, want to come?"

"I would love to," Bruce says, barely looking up from his experiment, "but I can't. This is a time-sensitive experiment. If I don't get the micro-"

I feel bad, but I interrupt him, not wanting to get too deep in the science talk that I barely understand. "Well, that's okay, good luck. Have you seen Tony?"

"He went to the training room to put away some device he was working on."

"Thanks, we'll go check in on him." I say, exiting with Elena. I turn to her, "that was the lab, where you can find Bruce and Tony most of the time."

She nods.

"We'll go to the training room next." I say. "You're welcome to use it whenever you feel like."

We get there pretty quick and see Tony rummaging through the weapons case. "Tony," I say to get his attention.

He looks back to see us. "What are you two doing here?"

"We're headed to dinner, want to come?"

"I'm a little busy."

I turn to Elena, "why don't you walk around a bit while I talk to Tony for a moment."

"Okay," she says, giving us some privacy.

Tony turns to me in a huff when Elena is out of earshot. "What?"

"Come with us. You need to spend more time with her."

"I spent plenty of time with her."

"When?"

Tony pauses. "Fine, whatever. I'll come."

"Gee, thanks."

Tony's POV

We walked to the diner. I hate walking places, especially in the summer. It's hot, I get sweaty and that sucks.

Steve is talking to Elena, telling her information about Manhattan. She listens as she looks around at all the buildings.

I tune him out. Most of what he says about the buildings are things he only learned recently himself. It's not as if the majority of the buildings were standing in the 40s. If we were in Brooklyn, maybe he could point out what was there 80 years ago.

God, why did he pick a restaurant so far away.

We were headed to this tiny diner. I had never been there, but apparently Steve had with Sam and Sharon.

"Here we are," Steve announced after 30 minutes of walking.

It was pretty mediocre looking on the outside, but inside had that classic feel to it.

We walk in and sit in a both near the window. Steve and I sit on one side and Elena scoots into the other.

A lady, around 30 years old, comes by and hands us menu. "Hey Steve." She greets. "I see you have new friends this time."

"Hey Anne," He says back. He then introduces us. "These are my friends, Tony and Elena."

She smiles at us and I see the recognition in her face when she looks at me. "You're Tony Stark, right?"

"Yep. One and only." I smile.

"That's cool." She says grinning. "These are your menus, which I let you look over. Can I get you something to drink in the meantime?"

"I'll take a water, please." Steve says.

"Me too." I say.

The waitress, Anne, looks to Elena, who says, "uh, me too."

"Perfect." Anne says, "I'll be right back."

I look over the menu for a few moments. I know what I'm going to get, but I still like to look.

"So, what are you going to get?" Steve asks Elena.

Elena rubs her arm, saying, "I don't know, what are you getting?"

"I'm going to get the grilled cheese and some fries. It's good, if you want to get that too."

"Okay, that sounds good." She says, "What are you getting, Tony?"

"Cheeseburger with fries. Can't go wrong with that."

Anne comes back with our drinks and asks if we are ready to order. We are, so we do. When she leaves, there's some awkward silence.

Surprisingly, it's Elena who breaks it, "this place is nice."

"Not the first one I would have chosen, but it's not bad." I say.

"It's a nice place." Steve says. "Lots of good people, too."

The conversation easily lulls into silence once again. Steve brought me here to spend time with Elena, maybe I should ask her a question.

"So… Elena, what kind of food to they have at Hydra?" The second it's out of my mouth, I regret it. It was a stupid question, but what do you say to a girl who was a Hydra asset. Steve doesn't say anything, he knows at least I'm trying.

She doesn't look upset by the question, "I usually ate oatmeal and bread, two times a day."

Okay. This is fine. "Anything on it?"

"What would you put on it?" She asks.

"Well, there's cinnamon or raisins."

"Oh. No, I just ate it plain."

"That's cool." I say. I wish I wasn't here, I should have said no. Let Steve deal with this on his own.

Steve's turn to say something. "You said you've never been to New York, have you been anywhere else?"

"I don't actually know if I've never been to New York, I don't know any of the places I've been."

"What do you mean?"

"I was never told where we were." She said. "I only got information relative to the assignment."

"Okay, what about before Hydra?" I say, hoping that maybe she would open up about her past more.

She rubs her arm again. "I was born in Bulgaria and I lived on the outskirts of this small town."

I was about to inquire more, when I was interrupted by Anne with our food. "Thanks" I say as she places the food in front of me.

We eat in silence.