When New Years Eve rolled around, Brooklyn found herself pinned up against the wall of a trashy dive bar by a lanky redhead with wandering hands. He groped her ass as he plunged his tongue down her throat, but she didn't mind. Brooklyn needed a distraction. A one-night stand, or a midnight kiss, anything really, to get her mind off of what she knew was the stupidest mistake of her life.
Steve Rogers, the Steve Rogers, Captain America himself, timeless gentleman and all-around great guy was about four stammering syllables away from asking her out on Christmas Eve, and Brooklyn turned him down. She told him she didn't want to ruin their friendship. She shot him down like a Thanksgiving turkey and he had the audacity to tell her it was okay so she wouldn't feel bad about rejecting him.
Brooklyn Hayes was without a doubt the stupidest woman on the entire planet. She should have mounted him right there on the couch and told him she wanted to have his babies, but then she remembered a teeny tiny detail about her affiliation with Hydra, the Nazi science division that was planning on murdering thousands of potential threats, including one Steve Rogers. As much as Brooklyn appreciated Hydra's attempts at world order, she knew Steve wouldn't see things her way, and he would most likely pummel her in a way that she wouldn't enjoy.
So, she turned him down, spent the evening watching old Christmas movies with him and talking about how New York had changed. He'd somehow miraculously forgiven her for lying to and betraying him, and then rejecting him, but Brooklyn was literally trying to save his life. If she could just keep her emotions in check maybe she could have a really nice friendship with the man. He was a really good friend. Brooklyn needed that, seeing as her other friends weren't nearly as good of influences.
"Brookey!" Jasmine's voice called over the pounding of the base. Brooklyn pulled away from the man who was grinding his pelvis against her just enough to see the blonde approaching with two champagne flutes, "It's almost midnight! Come drink with us!"
Brooklyn smacked the man's chest and he backed up, allowing her to weasel her way past him, "Thanks." She said simply to the guy as she took the flute from Jasmine and followed her to Mason and the other SHIELD operatives partying. She adjusted the bust of her tight strapless dress that was pretty much taped to her curves in a splatter of dark colored sequins. She'd spent two hours curling up her long locks into a flowing side pony, and now she was regretting not piling all that hair up on top of her head, "It's so fucking hot in here!"
"Maybe because you've been jammed in that corner for the past forty-five minutes." Mason hummed as he drank his beer, looking over to his boyfriend, "She'll take anyone after being with Captain America."
"Because he set the standard impossibly high, or because he gave her major blue balls for two months?" Jasmine taunted, causing the men to laugh and Brooklyn to simmer into her champagne glass. Jasmine seemed to notice her lack of reaction and decided to push further, "I bet he has a small dick. There's no way that would get super-sized."
"Scientifically speaking, it would actually make sense, because the serum targeted his muscles and his cells…"
"Can we not talk about this?" Brooklyn snapped at the agent as he drawled on, earning a wicked laugh from Jasmine and Mason, "He's a really great guy. He's going through a hard time, which is understandable, given everything he's gone through." Brooklyn paused, thankful she hadn't told her friends about the Christmas gift she'd given him, "Steve would be so embarrassed." She grumbled, which only caused her friends to laugh harder.
Brooklyn rolled her eyes, turning to the bar to order a shot of tequila to drown out the vapid noise coming from her friends' mouths. She should have asked Steve if he wanted to hang out. He hadn't told her about any plans for New Years, but he didn't invite her to keep him company either. He was probably still hurt from her rejection and wary after the stunt she pulled with Fury. Steve had been excited to join SHIELD, and she made the call to force him into a bland existence with all the other civilians instead of letting him help people.
"Looks like somebody isn't finished with you." Mason's boyfriend hummed as he nodded behind Brooklyn, gesturing towards the man she'd been previously making out with.
The smell of booze was heavy in the air as the redheaded man took in the shot glass that was sat before Brooklyn, "What are we drinking, Sweet Cheeks?"
"Patron. The cheap stuff." She snapped before tossing it back, letting it burn her throat as she took a deep breath through her nose. Her head was pounding from the alcohol and the music. The bright flashing lights from the DJ and the camera flashes weren't helping her situation, and Brooklyn was pretty sure the smell of vomit was mingling with the smell of sex in the air, making her nauseous.
The man nodded as he pulled out his Blackberry to check the time, "Four more minutes. Think you could spare a New Years kiss for me?"
"Yeah, probably." Brooklyn shrugged, deciding that indifference would sting worse than rejection for the man. She crossed one ankle over the other, tapping her heel against the barstool before turning to her friends and lifting her champagne, "How about we drink this now, and chug Everclear at midnight?"
"I like the way you think, Hayes!" Jasmine yelled before screaming her order at the bartender, ordering a shot for the four SHIELD agents and the random guy whose name Brooklyn already forgot.
As the shots were passed around, Brooklyn felt a buzzing in her bra. She pulled out her phone and smiled to herself at the message from Steve.
Hope you're having a good New Years. Let me know if you're celebrating and need a ride home. I'm not doing anything, I wouldn't mind.
Brooklyn was vaguely aware of somebody looking her shoulder when she heard a disapproving snort, "Seriously? You're talking to him again?"
The guy trying to win Brooklyn's attention scowled at Jasmine's words as he leaned his elbow on the bar top while Mason and his boyfriend watched with bated breath to see how Brooklyn would react.
She ran her tongue along the front of her teeth, eyes darting to the Everclear on the bar as the patrons around her began to countdown loudly from 11:59. Brooklyn grabbed the glass and tossed it back, then turned to the redhead and shrugged, "Sorry, I have to go."
"Are you fucking serious?" Jasmine barked as Brooklyn weaseled her way through the crowded bar, ignoring her friends calling her name to come back and ring in 2012 with them.
Bursting through the door into the freezing night, Brooklyn immediately regretted leaving as she heard the countdown reach twenty. She pulled out her phone and dialed Steve's number, not wanting to deal with her cold-hearted friends and the drunk asshole who wanted to take her home.
"Hello?"
His voice sounded genuinely surprised, and Brooklyn worried his offer to pick her up wasn't sincere, "Oh, hi! I…" She could hear the countdown reaching ten as the volume of the bar patrons went up by at least ten decibels, "I wondered if that offer you sent still stood? To come drive me home?"
"It's not even midnight yet." Steve chuckled, and Brooklyn had to wonder if he realized he'd be the one to ring it in with her, "Send me your location, I'll head right over."
"Five…Four…Three…Two…One…"
"I'd like that." Brooklyn said gently as she pressed the phone back to her ear, looking up at the sky at the sound of distant fireworks. "Would you maybe stay on the line with me? I'm outside already and I don't really want to be alone."
"Why are you outside? It's freezing?" Steve yelped from the other end of the line and Brooklyn smiled to herself when she realized he was already pulling on his jacket. She heard the door to his apartment closed before he added, "Go back inside with your friends, I'll be there in ten."
Brooklyn shivered, wishing she hadn't left her jacket inside with Jasmine, but she was determined not to face them again tonight. Going back in would be admitting defeat, and Brooklyn wasn't about to give her awful friends that satisfaction.
Even if Steve picked her up and drove her home, it would be better than spending the evening with them. She could still taste the weed the ginger had been smoking before they found their little corner. Brooklyn knew she smelled like sweat and alcohol and wondered if Steve would be appalled. It wasn't until she heard the revving of his motorcycle that she realized it was going to be a cold ride home, "You bringing the bike?"
"It's all I got!" Steve yelled into the receiver, and Brooklyn looked back over her shoulder as the door opened and another scantily clad woman left the bar. She sidled up next to Brooklyn and scoffed, as if finding the shorter, less model-esque woman disgusting. "Hey, I'm gonna let you go, I'll be there faster if I don't have to hold the phone."
"Okay," Brooklyn mumbled, "Drive safe." She hung up the phone and sighed, shoving it into her boobs before wrapping her arms around her chest in a vain effort to stay warm. It took her right back to the night Rumlow tried to kill her. Freezing in the snow, only to sell her soul to stay alive. She wished she had just frozen to death.
The tall woman with legs for days turned and looked down on Brooklyn, "Got a lighter?"
"Don't smoke."
"Figures." She grunted, digging through her clutch. "You waiting on a taxi?"
"Nope, someone's picking me up." Brooklyn answered sharply, not wanting to converse with the intimidating woman. Her hair clearly had extensions, because there was no way it could be that long, that thick, and that bleached and still look like she'd walked out of the salon. Brooklyn had the sneaking suspicion her boobs weren't real either, but she wasn't going to study them in an effort to find out. She rocked back and forth on her heels, sniffling as the cold froze the inside of her nostrils, "Should be here any minute now."
The woman finally found her lighter and lit up her cigarette, blowing the smoke in Brooklyn's face, "Sure they are." Her stony eyes scanned Brooklyn, taking her in with uncalled-for judgement.
Brooklyn groaned loudly as a shiver ran down her spine, "Do you fucking want something? Is there a reason you're bothering me?"
"I need a ride." She answered bluntly, pulling the cigarette away from her lips to smile at Brooklyn, "I was hoping maybe you'd let me take the first car."
"Well, I'm not waiting on a taxi, I'm waiting on my friend to pick me up. And there's not any room for extra." Brooklyn grumbled as the sound of a motorcycle rumbled over all of the cars zipping around from one bar to the next. Steve's Harley was nice, Brooklyn knew that much from the brief glimpse of it last week on Christmas leaving his apartment. That said, she wasn't expecting Steve to drive his way through the traffic with reckless abandon before sliding to a stop in front of the bar.
Brooklyn's face lit up when she saw him, but her happiness came crashing down when she heard a satisfied hum from the woman beside her, "Hey Handsome. Looking for a good time?"
Steve got off his bike and stared at the woman for a moment with the most adorable, confused expression Brooklyn had ever seen on a grown man, "No?" The word lilted up at the end, clearly a question as to why this stranger was talking to him. He quickly turned his attention to Brooklyn and slipped out of his brown leather jacket, "Where the hell is your coat?"
"Left it inside." Her teeth chattered as Steve tossed the fresh leather around her shoulders. Despite being a new jacket, it smelled like Steve, and Brooklyn practically purred when she pulled it around herself, "Thanks for coming to get me."
"Him?" Steve and Brooklyn turned to the bleach blonde in synch to see her shocked expression, "He's the one who's picking you up?"
"Yes?" Brooklyn asked with the same lilt Steve had used earlier, but her taunting grin showed she knew exactly what she was doing. Steve gave a curt wave to the woman before climbing onto his bike, then turned around to look at Brooklyn.
"You okay in that dress?" He asked quietly and she just nodded, looking at the bitch before climbing on behind him and sliding against his ass.
"Won't you be freezing? You hate the cold." Brooklyn said softly as she started to pull the jacket off her arms to give back to Steve.
Steve just shrugged and kicked up the stand, "So do you. Put your arms around me. It'll keep me warm and keep you on." He winked at her and she slid her arms through the jacket before tightening her grip, smirking at the stunned woman before Steve sped away.
That was the first time Steve picked up Brooklyn from a bad time, but it wasn't the last. She'd never admit it, but sometimes she'd say yes to terrible dates just so she could call Steve to come rescue her on his bike. He'd drive her home, or, if it wasn't too late, take her for drinks and snacks if the restaurant food had been as terrible as the company.
He did this three times before April. Out of her seven dates, Steve rescued her three times, and she went home alone once. The other three dates she went home with the men and let them try to seduce her. The sex was fine. She only saw one man twice- after a particularly spectacular tryst in bed, she allowed him a second date, and he took her to meet his mother. She called Steve from the bathroom and Steve arrived to pick her up saying he was her brother and had to take her to see their mother who fell in the shower. It was the most terrible lie Brooklyn had ever heard and she could barely keep the smile off her face despite her 'mother being in the slip ward' from the shower incident.
Work was fine. Most of her missions were minor, easy in and out in a day kind of missions. She was sent away twice: once in January to sleep with a married man, and once in April to extract information from a man who was close to a mole in a weapons trading ring.
The man, Greyson she thought, had bought her a nice dinner, and brought her up to his hotel room to show her his exclusive collection of vintage bullets that he'd brought to town for the gun show. Brooklyn feigned interest as best she could, eventually turning his attention to her low-cut dress and what laid beneath it. A while later, she laid her head against his chest, drumming it absentmindedly as he snored. He was a nice man. He'd treated her well. He'd made sure she was fully satisfied before even considering following her with his own release.
Maybe she could have a long-distance distraction from Steve?
Steve was totally into her. Brooklyn knew that. She knew that she was stringing him along and that he was head over heels for her, something she didn't understand in the slightest, but it flattered her to no end. The easiest way for her to deal with her own feelings for the soldier was to place him fully and firmly in the friendzone.
If Steve thought she was dating somebody else, maybe he'd try and find someone for himself? Brooklyn wanted him to be happy, she cared very deeply for him, but she couldn't be what he needed. Not right now. Probably not ever. She'd long accepted she would never get to ride Captain America like a rodeo bull, no matter how many times she imagined it. The least she could do for tricking him into trusting her was to make sure he was happy, right?
She locked herself into the bathroom and turned on the shower, something she'd often do to hide the sound of her sobs, but it also worked great for sneaking a quick phone call to Steve. It was late in New York, but Steve was a light sleeper, so she dialed anyway.
"Hello?" Steve's groggy voice greeted her, and she flinched at how tired he sounded.
"Hey, you busy?" She whispered loudly, and when Steve cleared his throat and answered no, she continued, "So, apparently the guy I'm looking for is dead. Had a heart attack or something. However, this guy I met, he's not too bad. He's actually not part of it. He's clean."
Steve grumbled in response, and Brooklyn felt guilty for upsetting him after waking him up, "Great. Good for him. Are you okay?"
He was always worried about her first and foremost, above everything. She knew if she told him she needed him, he'd be on the next plane to Phoenix to pick her up. Brooklyn needed him to put that devotion towards something productive, not a double agent. "Yeah, I'm better than okay." She heard Steve's breath hitch and her own heart clenched, "I kinda like him."
Steve waited for a moment to respond, and Brooklyn wondered if Steve would straight up tell her to choose him instead. "I mean, that's good, but you need to focus on the mission. Remember- what was his name? The guy who took you out for sushi? You thought you kinda liked him too after the first time. Then he took you to meet his Mom."
Captain America never forgets anything. It's a result of the serum enhancing his cells and his brain functions. Brooklyn hated when he used it against her.
"Yeah, well, this isn't like that." Brooklyn snapped, wishing Steve would get the hint that they weren't going to end up together. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.
"Hey Dana? You okay?" Greyson called from the other side of the door. She could hear his voice laden with sleep and wondered if she'd been talking too loudly.
Brooklyn took a sharp breath and held the phone away from her mouth, "I'm fine! Just cleaning up!" She knew she couldn't wait too much longer or he'd become suspicious, so she whispered quickly, "I gotta go. Talk tomorrow."
"Wai-"
She cut Steve off and shoved her head under the shower to wet her hair before turning off the shower and flinging open the bathroom door, "Hey! Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!"
Greyson's eyes narrowed, taking in her damp hair and dry body and the bathrobe she wore, "We're you talking to someone?"
"Probably myself. I do that sometimes." Brooklyn hummed, tilting her head and smiling coyly, "I can hardly think straight, honestly. After being with you."
Suddenly Greyson pulled a gun on her, causing her to raise her hands and gulp, "Okay?"
"Did a little research, turns out Dana Gatonia is a seventy-four year old widow in Kansas." He cocked the gun and smirked, "Looking good."
"Age is just a number?" Brooklyn shrugged as she took a step farther back into the bathroom. "Look, I don't want any trouble, I was sent here by the McMeyers to get intel on your boss. I have a recording device in my suitcase, they paid me handsomely to get to you and the sex was a bonus."
He shot her a dirty look and turned to leave the bathroom and check the suitcase, but Brooklyn unplugged the hotel's hair dryer and followed closely behind him. As he bent down to check her suitcase, she quickly swung the dryer by the cord around his neck and threw herself onto his back, causing him to fall and give her better leverage to pull. He scrambled with the gun, but she used her heel to kick it out of the way and pin down his arm as she pulled the cord until he collapsed.
She flipped him over, finding his face purple and his eyes open. Brooklyn pressed two fingers to his neck, finding no pulse, so she allowed herself to fall onto her ass and catch her breath.
So much for a long-distance distraction.
Brooklyn went to the bathroom and washed her hands, shaking them in an attempt to help her circulation after pulling the cord so tightly. A little part of her wanted to call Steve back, but she'd pissed him off and hung up on him. She'd give him until morning.
She couldn't sleep in the room with the body, so she filled the bathtub with scalding water and sat herself in it, hoping to at least relieve some of the tension in her back before flying home in the morning.
Around five am, Brooklyn's phone began to ring, and she woke with a start. She grabbed a towel and wiped off her hand before looking at the name, then answering it quickly, "Hello? Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. How's everything with you?" Brooklyn's sister yawned on the other end.
Brooklyn looked at the clock and realized it was four in the morning where Dallas was, "Why the hell are you calling so early?"
"I wanted to catch you before you went to work, and I know you go to work early, and work late, and just don't answer your phone a lot. I have to talk to you, it's important."
"Okay?" Brooklyn asked nervously, "What is it?"
Dallas yawned again, and Brooklyn rolled her eyes, wanting to go back to sleep as much as her sister did, "Are you familiar with Metro-General Hospital? I think it's on… uhhh… 58th Street?"
"I've heard of it, yes? Why, you need me to pick you up there?" Brooklyn teased, as she stretched her left leg out of the tub.
"Well, actually," Dallas said slowly, "I've been offered a residency there. In their neonatal intensive care unit." After a sharp breath, Dallas laughed, "I'm moving to New York! I'm going to be a doctor!"
"Dallas, that's amazing!" Brooklyn chirped happily, "You're going to be so close!"
Well, great, closer to my secret job…
"I know! I was actually hoping you could maybe take some time off of work to help me look for places to live? First week of May? I have the first through the eighth off to come look at apartments and I was wondering if you would be able to help me?"
Brooklyn scratched her scalp, wishing she'd shampooed it last night. "I, uh, maybe? I don't think I have anywhere I need to be, but I'll need to check with my boss…"
"Please do!" Dallas pleaded and Brooklyn could practically see her puppy dog eyes through the phone, "It would mean the world to me to spend some time with my big, important sister who's always too busy for me…"
"The pause between big and important offends me." Brooklyn sneered playfully and Dallas chuckled in response, "Fine, short, important sister, is that better?"
"Ha. Hardly." Brooklyn answered, sighing as she sunk deeper into the water, "I'll see what I can do. No promises though, that's only a few weeks from now."
"As long as you try, that's all I ask."
"Alright, go back to sleep. I'll let you know what my boss says."
Dallas hummed quietly, "Okay, bye bye. Love you."
"Love you, too, Dee." Brooklyn murmured before hanging up and letting the phone drop beside the tub. She groaned and massaged her temples, wondering how the hell she was supposed to get a week off without telling Fury who she was spending time with. She didn't want SHIELD to know about Dallas, Hydra already did. Dallas didn't know about SHIELD, and Brooklyn wanted to keep it that way.
She needed an excuse to take some time away and have some privacy so Dallas wouldn't realize what Brooklyn did, and SHIELD wouldn't realize who Brooklyn was with. And then there was Steve. Steve knew about Dallas, and Brooklyn had mentioned Steve to Dallas in passing and if the two met, Dallas would want to know why the hell her sister wasn't dating that tall piece of ass. Or worse, Dallas would want to date Steve. That really would be the worst-case scenario.
Perhaps Brooklyn could keep all parties in the dark. She could tell Fury she had a long-distance boyfriend coming to stay with her. It would make sense that she was dating somebody, seeing as she rejected Captain America. He would give her the time off work, and she could tell Steve she was going on a mission undercover so he wouldn't expect her to call. She could track his phone and make sure they didn't bump into him, and she'd tell Dallas she got the time off.
It was a reckless plan, but Brooklyn had a lot of moving parts to keep from colliding, and she couldn't put off seeing her little sister any longer without a valid excuse.