"Skin to skin contact is what's needed, I think."

The suite we had retreated to doubled as a holding cell, but when there wasn't a villain in residence, it was appointed as a spare bedroom. It did mean that two of the walls were viewing windows. Currently, they were blacked out, the glass shaded to bar observation from either side. But, to make myself more comfortable, I went to the recessed pocket in each corner of the room, and drew out the hidden curtains, pulling them all the way across the windows. With the curtains drawn, the room felt smaller, more cozy.

Looking at the Captain's colour, I decided to skip the niceties, and just strip down as quickly as I could. I slipped my blouse off the top of my head. I kicked off my shoes and, bending down, shimmy out of my pants and underwear, leaving them on the floor. A brief shyness came over me, to expose myself naked to another person. I'd just been stripped down, showering in front of a couple faceless assistants in hazmat suits, but this was different, more intimate. This wasn't a clinical safety measure; this was offering myself up to someone else. At least I was as clean as I had ever been. Knowing that time was of the essence, I purposefully set aside my self-consciousness, shoving it to the back of my mind.

I rose and looked at Steve on the bed. He finished untying his patient robe and shrugged out of it. I climbed on the bed, kneeling beside him and took it from him, setting it on the nightstand. I stretched my body out, pressing it against his, to try to maximise contact. As I did, I felt the hairs on my body rise, like touching a static charged balloon. I didn't know if it was an interaction of our bio-fields, or just the sexually-charged energy I felt full to the brim with. Steve's lips and hands were starting to get a blue tinge, like he was suffering from hypothermia, but as I stretched out against him, his muscles were hot beneath my touch. I ran my hands up the sides of his torso, and then down the lengths of his arms, lowering my body down onto his. He may have been too weak to rise from the bed, but his muscles were firm and hard as I explored them with my fingers. I rested my body against his chest, trying not to lean too much weight on him. Reaching down his arms for his hands, we intertwined our fingers together. I snuggled my head into the crook of his neck and listened to his breathing. After a time, it evened out, and it seemed like he wasn't struggling as much. I raised my head, and caught his eyes. The pain in them had eased.

"Well," I asked, "shall we do this?"

"Only if you really want it," he answered.

"I do," I said, and bent down to kiss him, bringing my arms in, cradling his head. As I thought about how I wanted his arms around me, he lifted them from the mattress, holding me close.

"Are you ready?" I murmured, drawing back again.

"What about… protection?" he asked, hesitantly.

"I'm on a birth control pill for other medical reasons," Who knew PCOS would come in handy? "So I won't get pregnant. I had an HIV screen last time I came back from Africa, but that's mostly moot, since this is my first time having sex."

"Mine, too." And I was slightly surprised that a man of his fame and valor had made it this far with his virtue intact, but pleased that we could share this together. "And I didn't think I could get sick anymore. Well, until this."

"Alright. Let's start slow."

A thrill of emotion, different from arousal ran up my breast. This was our moment. This was the start of something new.

Our lips met, hungrier than our first kiss. I melted into him, and for a time, nothing else mattered.

After, it took me a moment to come back into myself, and I found that Steve had rolled onto his side beside me, and was gazing over my face and body as if he was seeing me for the first time. I was suddenly self-conscious under this scrutiny, and all I could manage was shy glances in his direction, until his breathing slowed to a normal rhythm, and his eyes began to droop in sleep.

I pulled up a soft blanket over Steve's slumbering form, then gently shuffled off the bed, careful not to wake him.

I made a graceful exit to the bathroom. Once there, I stood in front of the sink, and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like a wanton woman. My cheeks were still flushed in the afterglow of pleasure, my lips red and swollen from Steve's passionate kisses, my hair mussed at the back of my head. It made me feel desired, and sexy in a brand new way. I sighed with satisfaction, then hopped into a quick shower, confident that the containment safeguards build into the suite would keep the last traces from making it into the environment. I was going to have to check that the radiation wasn't being transmitted by body fluids. I stepped out of the shower, toweled dry, and bundled into a soft, white fluffy robe.

I slipped back into the bedroom and checked that Steve was still sleeping. I wasn't quite ready to face the outside world yet, or deal with the million questions I was going to get... or Tony's teasing. Not wanting to wake Steve, I curled up in the easy-chair next to the bed, and watched him sleep. His slow, regular breathing assured me that he was healing, or at least doing better, and as I watched, I found myself nodding off to sleep.

I woke and checked the time. I'd been dozing for about half an hour. I sighed softly, and began to gather up my clothes from where I had tossed them, shaking them out, and getting dressed again. I steeled myself, and then quietly slipped out of the containment suite, and back into the lab.