Author's Note: Ya'll, this chapter is a beast, but it's one of my favorites! I hope you all enjoy!
"If I don't get Loki, you can't go back to Mason."
That's what Steve Rogers said to Brooklyn before throwing himself out of the back of a plane to fight with a couple of demi-gods and Iron Man. Brooklyn hadn't expected that level of selflessness, even from Captain America. She'd stood there in stunned silence as he jumped headfirst, unable to speak until Romanoff called back to her to take a seat so they could land nearby.
Brooklyn would be the death of Steve, and yet his sole mission in life seemed to be making her happy and it was driving her mad. He was so damn good, and Brooklyn knew that she'd break his heart someday if he lived long enough to realize she was Hydra. A small sliver of her wished he'd been killed by the God of Thunder, but she knew that was a lie.
When Steve scaled the mountain top to where they were apprehending Loki, Brooklyn lost it. "I can't believe you did that!" She yelled as she punched Steve in the side, pushing him closer to the edge. "I told you not to."
"I told you I had to, so…"
"You scared me. You could have died." Brooklyn snapped back after pushing him towards the rocks again. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she struggled to catch her breath, too scared of losing the man in front of her to register that she didn't have as much control over the situation as she should have.
After a moment she straightened up as Steve passed her, going to speak with the other Avengers, but Brooklyn wasn't having it, "I wasn't talking about diving out of the plane. Stop ignoring me." She spat as Steve restrained Loki to the seat. She eyed the God of Mischief nervously, feeling her skin crawl as he studied her with a smirk.
"You got something to say?" Steve barked at the god, but Loki just smiled and told him no.
He may have had no words, but Brooklyn could tell Loki was having plenty of thoughts, and she had a sneaking suspicion they had to do with her and Steve.
Needing some space, Brooklyn moved to the other side of the jet so she could get a grip on herself in private. She wasn't used to having so many people around all the time. She could focus for the duration of her mission, but then she needed time to release, preferably alone. The tears were perched at the corners of her eyes, waiting to spill out if she gave in to the fears that haunted her.
"I'm not going to apologize for doing my job."
Brooklyn sniffled, itching the underside of her nose before turning to look up at Steve, "He could have killed you. He could have literally crushed you beneath your shield, and you didn't even flinch. I was so scared. I thought you were going to die."
The weight of her words seemed to slide right off of Steve, but Brooklyn realized that Captain America had become a problem. He'd become her weakness, and would lead to her destruction if she didn't get a hold of herself, "I messed up. I should have never asked to be your handler."
"Why?" Steve croaked and Brooklyn hated herself for being so vulnerable with the soldier. She glared at him, needing him to know that she was bitter about what he'd done to her normally cold heart, "Because now I have a weakness. If you died, I don't know what I'd do."
Steve stood up straighter and snorted, "Gosh, get off my dick, Hayes."
Brooklyn couldn't keep her jaw from falling at his crude words, but any fear had been driven away by the mocking expression on his face. "What? Do you have something to say?"
Can't get off something I haven't gotten on? I think about riding you every night?
"I have a lot of things to say, but with your soft disposition, you'd be appalled." Brooklyn teased back, trying to fight back the fantasy of straddling Steve's dick until she couldn't feel her legs. She blinked quickly, beaming up at Steve as she inhaled sharply, "Well played Rogers. Didn't think you had it in you."
Brooklyn looked over her shoulder one last time before strapping herself in beside Natasha, trying desperately to hide her smirk.
"Вы без ума от него." Natasha murmured in Russian, and Brooklyn smiled softly to herself as she looked through the clearing clouds.
"Ты можешь меня винить?" Brooklyn purred as she spared a quick glance over her shoulder at Steve.
Natasha chuckled and shook her head, "No, I don't blame you at all."
When they landed the quinjet on the helicarrier, Maria Hill was there to meet them. She told Steve and Thor to head to the bridge, but grabbed Brooklyn's forearm and told her, "Not you."
Brooklyn nodded a little, looking over at the others, "May I take some time to rest?"
"You can do whatever you want, as long as you aren't a distraction for Captain Rogers."
"Listen, Fury sent me to help him get ready. That wasn't me-"
"Doesn't matter. Focus up. This is bigger than your crush." Hill answered before turning and walking away.
Brooklyn sighed, not too upset about being able to go call Dallas and get some room to breathe without Steve's intense presence sucking the life out of her. Nobody else was fazed by the super soldier, but when he was around, nobody else existed for Brooklyn.
"Everything okay?" He asked gently once Hill was out of earshot.
"Yeah, probably. I'm going to try and sneak off for a few minutes. I have a call to make." Brooklyn said quietly, not wanting to seem too eager to get away.
"Mason?"
Steve's voice was so gut wrenchingly sad. Brooklyn sighed as she explained that 'Mason' believed she worked for the American Embassy. Dallas had believed that for the past seven years, basically since Brooklyn got out of the academy. Even to this day, Brooklyn couldn't make up a verifiable excuse for her absence in her sister's life, but Dallas seemed to take it in stride and was proud that Brooklyn was doing something so important.
"So, you're lying to him?" Steve asked, "Your relationship is built on a fake life."
"No, our relationship is built on mutual respect and care for one another. My job is none of his business. When I'm there, I'm all his. Nobody can know I'm a SHIELD agent. It would put them in danger."
Hydra wouldn't think twice about killing Dallas if she knew…
Steve looked sad, and Brooklyn didn't want his pity. She started to put up her walls as Steve whined, "But they'll never know who you really are-"
"What do you suggest I do? Date somebody here?" Brooklyn snapped, fully aware of what he would think.
Date you?
"I can't date somebody from SHIELD, we die off too easily. Agents are just bodies borrowing time amongst the living in the name of what's right. Eventually, we all wind up dead, and we leave behind everyone we love. Could you imagine loving someone who you're scared won't see tomorrow?"
Don't you understand this is why I can't be with you? Because you're going to die.
Brooklyn could feel her legs shaking, wanting to tell Steve how highly she thought of him and how much she cared about him and that she couldn't support him rushing into a fight that he couldn't win. If Loki didn't kill Steve, Hydra would.
They both looked up as Maria Hill called Steve's name, and he mumbled, "I've got to go. I'll talk to you later. Could you put this away for me?" Steve said as he held out his arm bearing his shield.
"I can do it." Brooklyn murmured as she carefully slid the shield from his arm, holding it delicately despite it being the strongest metal on Earth. She clutched it to her chest as Steve walked away.
If admitting that she could never date one of her coworkers didn't push Steve away, realizing that SHIELD was using Hydra weapons and Brooklyn didn't tell him did.
Steve stormed towards Banner's lab with the weapon in his hand, wielding the heavy thing like it was a feather. It made Brooklyn nauseous to see Steve so bitter and cold. He looked dangerous for the first time. This was Captain America, the man who slaughtered Hydra until they were all dead or captured and his fury was now aimed at her and the organization she worked for.
The worst part wasn't that he'd realized Brooklyn's lies, it was that he thought she didn't like him because she knew him. He might as well have cut her heart out and stomped on it when he told her she wouldn't give him the time of day because she knew his personality. It both exasperated and destroyed Brooklyn, but there were more important things to worry about than Steve's hurt feelings.
"Steve, let me explain." Brooklyn said as she grabbed Steve bicep, but he ripped it away and turned on her fast enough to make her stumble backwards. She'd faced some terrifying men and women in the past ten years, but nothing compared to having Captain America's stony gaze piercing through her.
She tried to grab Steve again, trusting him to not hurt her despite how angry he was, but he turned around and muttered deeply, "If you touch me again, I'll break your hand."
Brooklyn trembled as she pulled her arm away, seeing she'd gone too far this time. He'd forgiven her for too much and she couldn't ask him to forgive her for this.
"Agent Hayes, I'm going to need you to remove yourself from the situation." Director Fury ordered Brooklyn, pulling her attention away from Steve for the first time since they'd entered the lab. "In fact, go back to New York. You're nothing but a distraction and a nuisance."
Distraction and nuisance? Since when was Brooklyn Hayes unwelcome? When did she become a joke? Maybe Jasmine was right, she should have killed Steve Rogers back at the Retreat and saved herself the trouble, because now she'd lost the respect of Nick Fury. Everything she'd worked for was crashing down because she'd wanted to save this aggravating, old-fashioned asshole so he could live a little longer. All Captain America had done was cause problems and uproot Brooklyn's life, and she was done.
"You know what, I'm done giving you chances, you piece of shit." She turned to Steve, her jaw so tight it hurt, "Get your head out of your self-righteous ass and realize that sometimes life isn't black and white." She glared over at Fury and Romanoff before adding, "I'm going home."
Brooklyn stormed out of the lab towards the barracks, needing to pack up what few things she had before taking one of the quinjet back to New York. Maybe she'd tell Dallas what she was. Maybe she'd ask her sister to carve the tracker out of her neck so she could run away and live her own life.
If she did that though, Hydra would use Dallas to find her. They'd always find her, one way or another. If they killed Dallas, that would be on Brooklyn. Hydra owned Brooklyn Hayes, and that was her mistake that she had to live with.
She'd only made it halfway to the barracks when she felt an explosion shake the helicarrier. Brooklyn whipped around, seeing smoke from the direction she'd come from.
"Coulson, initiate official lockdown in the detention section. Hayes, if you're on comms, make your way there as back up."
"Yes, Sir." Brooklyn answered back robotically, not even considering pretending not to hear Fury's orders. She took off sprinting towards the detention center, passing agents running to their emergency stations.
"Hayes?" Jasmine called as they passed, stopping in the hall to watch Brooklyn run.
"I'm heading to the detention center!" Brooklyn called back as she slid to a stop, pressing her hand to the pad to open up the door to the center of the carrier.
As the panel slid to let her enter, Brooklyn came face to face with Loki outside of the glass cell. She swallowed and took a step forward, looking to the side and seeing a SHIELD agent standing by the controls.
"You let him out?" Brooklyn hissed, but Loki just laughed and surged forward as the agent grabbed Brooklyn's arms. He held his scepter up to Brooklyn and she squirmed, pulling as far away as possible as the blue glowed against her olive skin, "What do you want with me?"
"I want to kill you." Loki said simply as he grabbed Brooklyn by the neck and picked her up. She grabbed his bony hand as she tried to kick him, but he was too strong and held her away easily, "Imagine the look on Captain America's face when he realizes you're gone. His precious handler."
He walked Brooklyn up to the cell and dropped her unceremoniously onto the ground. She scrambled back, staying low but getting her feet under her as she looked up at the god, "How do you know that?"
"Barton didn't know much about you, but he was very helpful filling in the blanks about the others. Agent Johnson told me you asked to be his handler, but it was Agent Thomas, I think, who was able to explain why."
Brooklyn watched as Loki paced in front of her, taunting her as the Hulk's roar echoed through the detention unit. She didn't need to waste time. If Loki was going to kill her, she wanted him to get it over with, "What are you waiting for?"
"For company." Loki hummed as he continued to block the entrance to the cell. "You know what Agent Thomas told me?"
"I don't really care."
"He told me that you're a double agent, and that's why you asked to be the soldier's handler." She swallowed when Loki's smile broadened, seeing he'd struck a nerve, "What would your precious Captain think if he knew you were always planning on killing him?"
"Please don't-"
Suddenly, Loki split in two, sending one apparition away and leaving the other to guard the entrance to the cell. Brooklyn watched in terror as Thor appeared in the doorway, crying out when he thought his brother was escaping.
Thor charged forward as Loki prepared to fight, but Thor flew right through and crashed onto the floor in front of Brooklyn, standing quickly to face Loki as he stood outside the cell with his hands behind his back. "Are you ever not going to fall for that?"
"Shit!" Brooklyn said as she sprinted forward to join Thor at the glass, "Let us out!"
Thor slammed his hammer against the glass, cracking it but causing the cell to tremble. Brooklyn steadied herself against the side, staring at him wide eyed as he realized what was about to happen. Loki opened up the panel below and the wind began to wisp around the cell. The sight of the ground thousands of feet below made Brooklyn's stomach clench. It seemed like a terrible way to die.
"The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?"
"Please don't!" Brooklyn screamed, pounding her fists against the glass, and causing the cell to shift again. Thor grabbed her wrists and gently pulled her away, shoving her behind him as he faced off against his brother.
Before Thor could figure out how to escape, Coulson appeared wielding one of the Phase 2 weapons, "Move away, please." Coulson spared a glance at Brooklyn and Thor, then looked back to Loki, "You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?"
Coulson fired up the weapon, but suddenly Loki's scepter speared through his chest, knocking him to the ground. Thor yelled as Brooklyn's legs gave out, but she was struck by the realization that this is what Hydra would do. Take out Fury's band of believers one by one until they were ready to reveal themselves to the world. With any luck, they'd never have to, and they could live in SHIELDS shadow forever.
Loki's hand hovered over the release button, and Thor stepped back as he looked down at the Earth below. Brooklyn snapped her head up and punched the glass moments before Loki hit the button and sent them hurtling towards the ground.
Brooklyn's feet left the ground as they plummeted to their death. Thor grabbed hold of her and she wrapped her arms around his chest as he got his footing against the side of the glass, situating himself before flying forward and smashing the glass moments before the cell crashed against the rocks.
The God of Thunder lost his grip on the agent and she went flying through the air, sliding against the grass as the dust clouded overhead. She coughed and pushed herself onto her elbows, trying to catch her breath. Brooklyn laid her head back down and closed her eyes as she counted to ten, trying to focus past the pounding in her brain.
Considering the helicarrier hadn't crashed down on top of them, Brooklyn assumed they'd fixed the engine and were still in the air. She'd barely seen what was happening. She'd heard two engines were down. She heard the Hulk roar. She didn't know what happened to the Avengers; what had happened to Steve.
"Director Fury?" She groaned into her comm, "Do you copy? Does anybody copy?"
There was nothing but silence from her comm, so she pulled it out and discarded it, huffing as she sat up and looked around at the shattered glass and remnants of the cell strong enough to contain the Hulk. Had Thor not been tricked into joining her, Loki would have killed her like he planned.
"Thor?" Brooklyn called, grabbing her throat when it barely came out as a squeak. She cleared her throat and coughed, calling louder, "Thor?"
She stumbled to her feet, throwing out her arms to get her balance as she looked towards the trees, seeing the God of Thunder reaching down for his hammer. Taking a tentative step forward, Brooklyn tilted her head to get a look at his disappointed face, "You okay?"
"Son of Coul is dead because of my brother's vengeance. I should not have been distracted by the humans' petty arguments." Thor studied her for a moment, then carefully grabbed her side, "You're hurt."
Brooklyn looked down to her right rib cage and realized that a chunk of glass was sticking out of her uniform. "Shit." She muttered and unzipped the SHIELD uniform so she could get a closer look. "Barely pierced the skin. I'll be fine." She stripped out of the rest of her uniform, discarding it to the side before turning to Thor in her undershorts and tank top. He had, as she expected, a questioning look, "There's somebody back in New York who can't know what I am."
"We have bigger problems. Loki means to rule your world. If he brings his army, there is no way your people will survive."
"Where will he go?" Brooklyn asked sharply, but Thor just hung his head and stared at the spring grass. She pulled her phone out of her sports bra, seeing it was already seven-thirty. Her battery was at ten percent. She could call Dallas and meet her in Manhattan, or she could try to get a hold of Fury, or Steve, but she couldn't do both.
"I don't know."
"Try harder, Thor, where will he go? You found him on the quinjet, how will we find him again?" Brooklyn pressed impatiently, but he didn't answer. After a moment of waiting, she groaned loudly, "Fine. I'm going back to Manhattan. I need to check on-" She paused and Thor looked up curiously. Brooklyn sighed, "my sister."
Thor nodded, placing his hands on his hips and taking a deep breath, "I was once close with my brother."
"That's great, so can I get a lift back to New York?" Brooklyn snapped and Thor grinned in response.
"Very well." Thor raised his hammer to the sky and lighting struck the god, lighting him up and causing metal scales to cover his arms. Brooklyn jumped back and watched in awe as her smile grew, until he turned to face her. His long, red cape swished around him in the breeze, making him look every bit the god he was.
"Wow. Impressive." Brooklyn breathed out, clearing her throat, and scratching her scalp, "Really cool."
"I won't tell the Captain." Thor said with a wink.
Brooklyn blanched and shook her head rapidly, laughing, "Oh, Steve and me? No, no there's nothing there…" She trailed off, staring at the ground and wondering if Steve was still alive. The last thing she'd called him was a piece of shit and that she was done giving him chances. If Brooklyn had one more chance, she'd tell Steve she loved him.
Thor held out his arm for Brooklyn to take and she held him tightly, trying not to blush as he wound his hand around her waist and told her to hang on tight before soaring upward into the sky.
When Thor landed in the middle of Times Square, everyone and their brother turned to see who had fallen from the sky. Brooklyn ignored the gasps of bystanders as she stood in her booty-shorts and tank top, "Thanks." She told the demi-god, holding onto his metal-clad arm to steady herself as she got her bearings, but before she could start towards the hotel, a flash of blue light erupted from the clouds to the top of one of the buildings. "What the hell?"
"Loki." Thor murmured and Brooklyn pulled her cell phone out of her bra, quickly dialing Dallas as Thor left to find his brother.
"Dee? Dee, where are you?" Brooklyn asked when her sister answered.
"In the hotel? Why? Where are you? Are you back?"
Suddenly, small figures began to fly down from the swirling portal in the sky. Brooklyn's eyes widened as she understood that Loki's alien army was about to descend on Manhattan, "Hey, how about you meet me in the lobby, okay? Somethings happening."
"What kind of something?"
"Can you see Stark Tower?" Brooklyn's jaw quivered as the figures grew closer to the ground and disappeared behind the buildings. "Dee?" She looked down and saw the call had dropped moments before several aliens swooped towards Broadway.
She sprinted barefoot into the lobby of her hotel, looking around at the panicked tourists who leaned against the windows to get a better look at the alien invasion. Brooklyn caught a glimpse of a woman on the phone with a gym bag talking about what she was seeing. While the woman was distracted, Brooklyn carefully unzipped the side of the duffel and removed the woman's tennis shoes, finding them a little big, but they'd be better than running barefoot.
Screams echoed from the outside streets. Several of the aliens launched themselves from their flying machines and aimed their weapons at the pedestrians threateningly. One of them seemed to notice the crowd in the hotel and blasted out the windows, causing glass to shatter everywhere and everyone to run away in terror.
"Brooklyn!" Dallas hissed and the older sister turned around and sprinted towards her, grabbing her by the mouth and pulling her down. The taller girl panted as they hid behind a couch, watching as a second alien came and waved their gun at the humans to lure them outside, "What's happening?"
"I don't know, but we have to get out of here." Brooklyn answered as she looked over her shoulder towards the deserted hallway. As she tugged on her borrowed tennis shoes, Dallas seemed to finally realize her sister wasn't wearing clothes, "It's a long story."
Dallas inhaled quickly and shrugged, "Looking forward to hearing it if we survive."
"We're gonna survive. Do exactly what I say, okay?" Brooklyn grabbed her sister's chin and turned it to face her, "Dallas, do you understand? I'm gonna get us out of here!"
"How?" Dallas whimpered as the shrieking cry of the aliens grew closer.
Brooklyn carefully leaned around the couch, seeing the aliens herding the hotel staff towards the front door. She narrowed her eyes on a wobbly lamp near the broken windows and pulled out the hair band holding her bun. She put her finger to her lips to tell Dallas to hush before kneeling over the couch and snapping the band at the lamp, causing it to shatter and distract the aliens.
"Go, now!" Brooklyn snapped as she grabbed her sister's hand and dragged her towards the hallway to go deeper into the hotel. They passed by others who were hiding, but Brooklyn didn't stop until she reached the elevator.
"You want to go up to the room and hide?" Dallas asked, but Brooklyn knew if they went to the fortieth floor, they were sitting ducks. They had to stay on the ground where they could run and hide, not in a skyscraper that could be infiltrated or destroyed.
"No. Let's go out the back door. Head towards Stark Tower."
"You want to go towards the alien invasion? Are you out of your mind?" Dallas hissed as her sister grabbed her wrist and continued to lead them towards Midtown. "Bee, what's going on?"
"It's a long story. I haven't been completely honest with you." Brooklyn admitted as they reached the door, finding 6th much quieter. Brooklyn tried to pull her sister, but Dallas dug her shoes into the concrete and refused to move. "Dee, not now, I'll explain-"
"No, we're about to die. Explain now."
"I'm a secret agent, okay?" Brooklyn yelped as a massive creature came into view and smashed into a building in the distance. "I work for the government, but not for the Embassy. I'm a spy with SHIELD. I got called away because we knew this might happen and we tried to stop it."
"Well, you fucking suck at your job!" Dallas shrieked as they darted across the street as a taxi came skidding towards them. Brooklyn was able to easily keep up with her taller sister, despite Dallas's blind sprint in the direction of Stark Tower.
"Thanks. It wasn't like it was completely my fault, Steve fucked it up pretty well, too."
"Steve?" Dallas skid to a stop when they reached the New York Public Library. Brooklyn grabbed her arm and pulled her down behind one of the lion statues. She held her hand over Dallas's mouth as several aliens flew by shooting the cars lining the street and causing them to flip. Once they were gone, Brooklyn lowered her hand and looked around to see if they could safely keep running, but Dallas had her mind on more important things, "So you work with Steve?"
"Yes. Kind of."
"Is he a spy?"
"Not really." Brooklyn answered thoughtlessly as she stood and motioned for Dallas to follow her.
Dallas followed her sister across the street, pausing when one of the massive flying aliens flew between the buildings up ahead, "But like, how was this his fault?"
"Because he's hardheaded and wouldn't listen to reason." Brooklyn snapped, but Dallas wasn't about to give up her questioning, so Brooklyn added, "I was an ass to him, and I hurt his feelings."
"Ughh, why are you so bad with men?" Dallas groaned and Brooklyn raised her brow curiously.
"You know nothing about a single one of my relationships."
"And whose fault is that?" Dallas snapped and Brooklyn turned around to face her. The younger woman sighed, gesturing around, "It took the end of the world for you to tell me who you really are. You know how much this sucks? I thought we were close, but I don't even know you."
"Dee, I did this to protect you."
"I feel really safe." Dallas mocked as she threw her arm toward Stark Tower, "I was twelve when you left. Do you have any idea how alone I felt? The girl with no parents whose sister graduated high school early to join a government internship program on the other side of the country." Dallas shoved her fingers through her short air, looking up at the sky in terror, "I just wanted to spend time with what little family I had left, but you never picked up the phone when I called.
Brooklyn looked up at the sound of another wave approaching, seeing the leviathan soaring overhead as hundreds of the aliens leapt from its side and slid down the skyscrapers around them. Dallas bolted towards the sidewalk and Brooklyn followed suit, sliding to a stop when several people came running out from a deli being chased.
They were pushed into the crowd, following them in their mad dash to safety until several of the aliens shot towards them, herding them into a two-story bank. "Great, was this part of your plan? To get captured?" Dallas said as she crossed her arms, glaring at her older sister while Brooklyn tried to find a way out.
She looked up when she realized there were several aliens on the balcony overhead aiming their weapons at the people, "If we can get under the ledge, we'll be out of the line of fire."
"And then what? We just wait until they get bored and kill us all?" Dallas snapped, lifting her chin defiantly, "You know, I took this residency so I could live closer to you. I thought maybe we could bond since you're between here and D.C., but clearly you have no intention of spending time with me."
"Dallas," Brooklyn said desperately as she grabbed her younger sister's arms, "You will never understand the lengths I've gone through to keep you safe. I've done horrible, terrible things to make sure nobody hurts you. I didn't want to burden you with my secrets. I'm sorry that you felt alone but know that I did everything for you."
Suddenly, everyone snapped their heads towards the ceiling as a metallic alarm began chirping, "They have a bomb."
Dallas started to back away, but Brooklyn surged forward when the aliens turned their attention away from the civilians and started blasting at someone on the upper level. Brooklyn strained to make out who their savior was, assuming it was someone from SHIELD or the Avengers until one of the aliens was thrown over the balcony to its death.
"Everyone, clear out!"
"Steve." Brooklyn gasped out, surging forward as her sister's arm grabbed her shoulder to pull her back. She turned back to Dallas, who's attention kept flying to the balcony, "I have to get up there."
"Who the hell IS Steve?" Dallas yelped as the chirping grew faster and the bomb went off above them, causing glass to shatter and alien body parts to shower the people below.
Brooklyn shook in place for a moment before ripping herself away from her sister to flee the bank along with the other people. The moment she reached the outside world, she looked up at the shattered window, then to the dented in car below it.
Her heart began to race as she sprinted towards him, "Steve!" He pushed himself off of the car as the cops yelled at her to stay with the group, but she ignored them as she got closer, "Steve!"
He wobbled a little as he blinked slowly, not seeming to realize she was there until she grabbed his cheeks and forced him to look down at her. She felt the tears streaming from her eyes, but she wasn't about to let go of him to wipe them away.
"Brooke?" He said quietly as he placed his hands on her shoulders to steady himself. She pushed back his hair, quickly looking him over to see if he was okay, "I thought you were dead."
"I'm here. Are you okay?" She said quietly as she stroked his cheeks, trying to wipe away some of the dirt.
The sound of screaming pulled Steve's attention away from Brooklyn and she felt jealous of whoever he was about to race off to rescue, "I have to go…" Steve stumbled as he tried to walk, and Brooklyn held him tighter as his hand landed on her upper thigh, catching a handful of skin that he clearly wasn't expecting. "What are you wearing?"
"Don't worry about it. I'm more worried about you." Brooklyn insisted as she pushed her fingers through his hair again before holding his jaw tightly. She gazed into his hazy eyes, seeing how exhausted he was.
Dallas shoved past the cops and moved to join her sister, despite the cries of the policewoman trying to direct traffic. Steve raised his head and told the policewoman to give them a minute as he ran his fingers thoughtlessly side to side on Brooklyn's lower back. He seemed to zone out for a moment before turning to Dallas, "Can I help you, miss?"
"You're Steve?" Dallas gasped at Brooklyn, gesturing wildly to the man between them, "Your Steve is Captain America?"
Brooklyn's eyes widened and she shook her head, telling her sister not to make a big deal out of it, but Dallas was practically bouncing on her heels as she looked Steve up and down like a steak she couldn't wait to devour.
"Steve, this is Dallas, my sister." Brooklyn said nervously as an explosion went off over their heads. Suddenly the older woman was being clutched by both Dallas and Steve Rogers, and she smiled to herself as they held onto her tightly.
"Get out of here." Steve told Brooklyn sternly, and she shook her head as he stepped in front of her and held up his shield.
This was it. This was her chance. She might not get another one. Brooklyn hoped she and Steve would live past this battle, but she didn't know if that could come to pass. She tentatively wrapped her arms around Steve's stomach and rested her cheek against his back, saying quietly, "Please don't leave me."
She felt him quiver in her grasp and he raised his head defiantly, having clearly already made up his mind. Running away with her wasn't a possibility, "You gotta go."
Dallas grabbed her sister and gave her a tug, motioning with her head over her shoulder to the subway station everyone else was hiding in. Brooklyn tightened her grip around Steve and bit her lip, silently asking her sister to give her another moment.
When Steve realized that Dallas was trying to remove her from his side, he sighed, "Brooke, please. I have to finish this. I have to know you're safe, or else I won't be able to focus. Please, go where they tell you. If I make it, I'll find you."
If.
"If you don't make it, I'll kill you…" She smiled weakly as she grabbed Dallas instead, "I have faith in you."
The younger woman darted first, practically dragging her sister towards the station when Steve's voice called after them, "I love you."
Brooklyn turned around in shock, wanting to run back and tell him she loved him and she wanted him to be okay and that she'd rather die than let him sacrifice himself to save them, but the only thing that Steve heard was the sound of an alien blast that went off several feet from Brooklyn and Dallas.
Stumbling down the stairs, Brooklyn grabbed her chest and panted, looking up as the dust continued to swirl around the station. It took a few minutes for her to catch her breath, and that's when she looked to Dallas, finding the woman nodding approvingly, "What?"
"If you don't date him, I will. Captain America? Seriously? And he loves you. He loves you, Brooklyn! This is the best day of my life!"
Brooklyn tilted her head in confusion, letting her tangled hair spill over her shoulder, "Why?"
"Because I'm going to be related to Captain America and I feel like that'll be fun. Like, will we get to meet the President? Or Iron Man? Shit, does he know Iron Man?" Dallas asked as she jumped up and down and clapped.
"Yes, they hate each other."
Dallas shrugged, wiping her brow with the back of her hand, "It's fine. One day at a time. But Captain America loves you. That's really cool." She smiled down at her older sister, running her tongue along the bottom of her teeth before asking, "Do you love him?"
Brooklyn looked around, seeing all of the dust covered people shivering in the subway station. It was a reminder of why she didn't want to date Steve- because he was going to die. If he didn't die today, he'd die by Hydra tomorrow, or some other larger-than-life threat the day after that. All roads led to Steve's death, and Brooklyn couldn't fall in love with a man who she couldn't have a life with.
But if she was going to have a brief and passionate affair, she'd want it to be Steve. If she had one night, she would choose Steve. If she was going to open up her heart and her life to somebody who knew the real her, she would pick Steve Rogers as that person to trust with her secrets.
Well, not all her secrets.
She breathed deeply and nodded her head, knowing she couldn't deny her feelings now, not after thinking she'd lost him. Had Steve died, she wouldn't think twice about telling Dallas that she'd loved him. Brooklyn shouldn't wait until after he was gone to tell him, "Yeah. I do."