Chapter 10

Let's take a look at my life. In the past week I'd been rescued from being kidnapped (yay! But it meant I had been kidnapped), I'd had someone leave me a cat collar with my name on it and tag my car all over with the word "pussy," and I'd had someone try to gun me down.

And here's the thing, I was pretty sure that those were all separate people. The drive-by didn't feel like the "pussy" person.

The pussy person was probably angry, but they were going into this looking to enjoy the long game of messing with me.

Whoever had done the drive-by just wanted me dead. The sooner the better.

And as far as we could tell, I'd been kidnapped for scientific experimentation, so that was a third, entirely different can of worms.

But I didn't really care. Sure it was coming, but the night before I'd made Ranger take me out for dinner and gorged myself on delicious alfredo. I'd had to endure a few "Babe, that stuff will kill you," comments and looks, but it had been worth it to get my happy back after a hospital visit that had involved shots and stitches.

And then if that wasn't good enough (and really, it was), I'd also let Ranger tempt me back to his apartment for the night.

At the moment, I didn't care about the fact that it could only be sex between Ranger and I, nothing more.

The sex was amazing.

The sex was magic.

Ranger was very focused, attentive, and thorough in bed.

I didn't even care about the fact that I was about to walk into an apartment that was probably filled with anywhere from one to three Avengers. And Ranger hadn't reminded me to take out my comms until after we'd gotten to the Rangeman garage.

I wasn't sure if that was because he wanted some backup just in case or what, but they'd probably heard dinner and verbal foreplay. And I wasn't even embarrassed.

Okay. That was a lie. I was a little embarrassed.

But I couldn't do anything about it now, and I was riding on post-orgasmic bliss, so I was willing to pretend it hadn't happened as long as they did.

Ranger dropped me off in my parking lot and waited, watchful until I made it inside the building. I took a few steps into the building foyer toward the stairs only to stop short in surprise.

Bucky stepped out of a darkened corner, full jacket on covering his metal arm and hat pulled down low. I managed to keep the smile inside about how he and Captain Rogers used basically the same disguise as I waited for him to say something.

"You okay?" he asked.

Of course. Bucky may not have been around since the Avengers showed up, but he must have been running surveillance of his own on me as well.

"Yeah," I told him.

"Why do you let him treat you that way?" Bucky asked.

I was confused until I realized he meant Ranger.

"Were you listening to us?" I asked incredulously. Bucky shrugged, so that was a yes. I wondered HOW he was doing so, but then I figured it was better not to know. Maybe he had his own listening equipment, maybe he had hacked the Avengers. Either way, it was just one more set of ears and there were already plenty.

"Just want to make sure you're okay," he told me.

"And see how your buddy is?" I asked.

Bucky looked away and didn't say anything, so I thought that was also a yes.

"Ranger treats me just fine," I said after a couple beats of silence.

Bucky studied me as though trying to decide if I actually believed it. I did. Mostly.

"He ain't good enough for you. He tells you what to eat, even though you're beautiful. And he's not willing to make any promises for you. He doesn't treat you like you're truly precious to him."

If I looked past the creepy listening in thing, I could see that there was something sweet there. Something about how Bucky felt a woman should be treated by her lover. Like she was special. And he should support her unconditionally.

It was too bad that I didn't feel anything romantic toward him because Bucky would probably be a really good boyfriend.

A look crossed Bucky's face, and I had the horrified realization that I had spoken out loud again.

Bucky stared at me for a moment, face impassive. Then he said, "I'm too broken- probably for anyone. Definitely for someone as nice as you."

"You need someone who can understand better than I can," I told him. "Someone with shared life experience."

"And you deserve someone who will do right by you."

I thought about old-timey sensibilities and bristled saying, "I can take care of myself!"

"I know you can," Bucky agreed then added, "but you shouldn't have to do it all on your own if you don't want to. I just figured that you broke up with Morelli because he didn't want to get married, which probably meant that you did want to get married. There's nothing wrong with wantin' to have a partner in life, but Ranger won't give you that."

I really wanted to be mad at him and tell him it was none of his business, but here's the thing. Bucky wasn't saying anything I didn't already know. Anything I wouldn't already feel once the orgasm-induced euphoria wore off.

"Okay, no more Ranger sexytimes," I told myself, squaring my shoulders with resolve and meeting Bucky's gaze.

Whether I had said it out loud or he saw it in my eyes, Bucky was clearly satisfied as he nodded and said, "good. You deserve the best."

He said it more as if "The Best" was someone's title rather than an idea, or at the very least referring to someone specific, but I was choosing not to look at that too closely.

I'd only had one cup of coffee at Ranger's and I needed more if I was going to try to decipher spy talk and doublespeak.

Bucky's head tilted to the side a though he was listening to something, and with one more quick nod, he was out of there.

Captain Rogers came flying down the stairs moments later, and I felt a twinge of guilt at not having contacted him as I said, "you just missed him."

"Who?" He asked urgently, hands patting me down my arms as if checking me over but remembering to be gentle over the stitches. "Are you okay? Was it whoever painted your car?"

"What?!" I was offended on Bucky's behalf. "You should know better!"

"Wait, what?" Captain Rogers asked, obviously confused. "Who are you talking about?"

"Wait, what?" I echoed. Then I gestured vaguely to the back door. "Bucky? Didn't you come down here for Bucky?"

Captain Rogers rushed over to the door and looked out, allowing a small sigh to escape him when he clearly didn't see the man in question.

"You were quiet over the comms," he told me. "After Ranger dropped you off, but I just assumed you were thinking or something. Then it took you too long to get upstairs, even if you stopped to check the mail, so I was worried someone had ambushed you inside the building somehow. Bucky must have had a signal jammer on him."

"Oh," I said, a little flattered that Captain Rogers had seemed so concerned over me. "Well, someone kinda did, but it was Bucky. And he was lecturing me, not hurting me or anything."

A big grin broke out on Captain Rogers's face, and I was reminded how gorgeous he was. Total specimen of what a man could be.

He leaned against the wall casually and crossed his arms, which made all his upper body muscles ripple appealingly in his tight exercise shirt.

"I've had more than a few of those," he smiled as he spoke. "Which one was it?"

"The don't sleep with Ranger one," I blurted out.

Great, Stephanie. There goes any chance of pretending you didn't sleep with Ranger or not offending him if he didn't believe in premarital sex.

Captain Rogers's smile faltered a bit and he said, "wait. But are you and Bucky…?"

"What?!" I felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head, and I shook it wildly. "No!"

"Then it's none of his business," Captain Rogers said with finality. He didn't look like someone who was offended by the idea of one night stands. Or whatever the term was for my intermittent liaisons with Ranger.

"Right," I agreed. "But it was more of a 'you can do better' and 'you deserve to have what you want in life' pep talk."

"Ah," Captain Rogers smiled timidly. "I have had that one before. Though I got it when nobody was interested in me, and he didn't want me to give up hope that I'd find someone one day."

"Well," I said awkwardly pointing to myself. "Exactly. And I find it hard to believe that nobody is interested in you."

"I used to be small and sickly, and nobody wanted to be stuck with me. Back before the serum. Anyway, Bucky is right. You can do better than Ranger," he said. "He treats you like a girl, not his best girl."

"Well first of all, I'm not a girl, I'm a woman!" Captain Rogers's eyes raked down my body at that statement with what I thought was interest strong enough that I could almost feel it, which made the next part come out more like a question than intended, "and second it doesn't seem like anybody is interested in me? At least not seriously. Maybe I'm doomed to die alone in my apartment with my hamster. Probably it'll be death by firebomb."

"Guess we'll have to work on that," he said after studying me carefully long enough that I started shifting uncomfortably.

Then he just turned around and started back up the stairs.

"Wait, what?!" I said again. I started following him calling ahead trepidatiously, "which part?"

When I followed him into the apartment, I was surprised to find Natasha and Sam there both giving Captain Rogers knowing looks.

Weird.

"It was almost like he… but no! How many times must we go over this, Steph? Captain America is not interested in you!" I told myself. "He can have anybody he wants! Super models! The Black Widow! He's not going to settle for some disaster of a bounty hunter who lives in Trenton!"

Speaking (or thinking) of Black Widow, she was watching me extremely carefully, eyes very thoughtful. I may have made a suspicious face at her because she smirked a little as I walked past her.

I opened my bedroom door, heard a slight clicking sound, and bam! I was drenched in… water.

"We need to work on your reflexes," Natasha told me calmly. "And your techniques for entering and clearing rooms and spaces."

I spun around, pushing wet hair out of my face. "You-u-u-u-u-" I sputtered. I couldn't even put it to words.

Captain Rogers was staring at the ceiling, looking like it was taking a monumental effort not to laugh. Sam had his head down on my kitchen table, and his shoulders were shaking in what seemed to be laughter. And Natasha just looked completely bland.

"AARRRGGGHHHH!" I yelled in frustration. "You were here! I thought it was SAFE."

"Never let your guard down," Natasha told me.

"Are you telling me not to trust you?" I asked. I was completely fascinated by the idea.

"No," Captain Rogers said, finally under control enough to look at me, it seemed. "We want you to trust us, and we will do our best to protect you. But we were all in here and you have a fire escape off your bedroom window. Your apartment security is-"

"Abysmal," Natasha cut in.

"So you should always act like a room isn't clear until you've confirmed otherwise," he told me. "Unless you're willing to let us upgrade your security."

"Fancy security systems and I do not get along," I told them. "Do you know what happens to fancy security systems when they get put on my apartment?"

"No! What?!" Sam looked eager with his chin propped up on one hand, elbow on the table. I gave him a look of surprise and he exclaimed, "what? Your stories are always great!"

Normally people asked me to tell them stories because they wanted to laugh at me and found them amusing at my expense, but Sam seemed genuinely interested. All three did, really. And I remembered how they always made me feel comfortable, and nobody had made a single joke about the booby trap incident from the day before.

Sure, Natasha had used a similar set-up to make her point, but it wasn't because she found the situation funny. It was because she wanted me to learn from it.

With a sigh I said, "I can't work them. And then I get mad and I shoot them."

"You… shoot them?" Natasha clarified. "How do you shoot a security system?"

"Ranger's always have keypads or key fobs and shit, and they won't let me in and then I get angry."

"And you shoot them?" Captain Rogers said, voice tinged with… was that wonder?

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" I asked.

"But if you shoot them," Sam looked puzzled. "How do you get in?"

"Call Ranger and whoever installed it comes back and takes it off," I explained.

"What if there's no keypad, nothing complicated for you to deal with?" Captain Rogers asked. "If it's just as simple as you walking up to the door, and it opens."

"That sounds like no security system," I was confused. "Which I'm all for, but isn't that the exact opposite of what you were going for."

"Oh, it'll be there. It will just be so easy to use it'll be like nothing is there," he told me. I was sure my expression was completely doubtful, so he added, "I know a guy."

"Sure," I relented. "We can give it a try, but I reserve the right to shoot it if it makes me mad."

Natasha had the biggest smile I had ever seen on her before, as she clapped her hands and said, "I may ask you to do that at some point anyway." Then she stood with a look of anticipation and said, "so what's on the schedule for today?"

I rolled my eyes up as though I could see the hair on my head as I said, "I'm going to go deal with this and make sure it doesn't turn into an untamable mess. Then I have skips to go after. Since I already have the files, I'll probably call Connie to make sure nothing else major has come in but not go to the office. Hopefully I can avoid picking up Lula and make things a little easier in terms of you all not being seen."

I walked into my bedroom warily, eyes peeled for any more tricks. When I didn't immediately find any, I looked down at myself. My Rangeman shirt was wet, and although Ranger didn't seem to mind when I went out looking for skips for Vinnie wearing it, I preferred not to. It seemed like false advertising. I was also wearing pants that were a lot like the black fatigues Ranger often wore, just in my own size.

The whole get-up always made me feel like Mini-Ranger when I wore it, and I didn't think I really needed him on my mind all day while trying to exercise the "no Ranger sexytimes" plan while also not dating Morelli.

So I went over to my dresser and found a pair of jeans and tshirt, and I pulled my com out, setting it on top for the time being. Then I stripped as I walked across the room to the bathroom.

Once inside, I looked at myself in the mirror appraisingly. My hair always had a mind of its own that was difficult to control. And with only half or so of it having gotten wet, I didn't see how I was going to get it to all do the same thing without getting it all wet. I sniffed myself, realizing I also smelled of Rangers body wash.

Normally this wasn't a problem because Ranger always smelled great. And smelling like Ranger made me tingle in interesting places. But this too seemed counterproductive to my new plan, so… shower it was.

While I was soaping up, I thought about Captain Rogers, replaying pretty much every conversation and interaction we'd had since we met. Every look he'd given me and everything he'd said.

The conclusion I came to was that maybe I wasn't crazy, and maybe he WAS interested in me. Romantically.

I soaped my hair three times thinking about that and talking myself through how I felt about that before I felt the water starting cool. I rushed through conditioning, buffing, and polishing (just in case) before it turned completely cold. Maybe I put a little more effort into making sure I was soft and smooth everywhere than I would have anyway. So sue me.

I also took a little extra time to get my hair into good shape then brushed my teeth and dressed.

By the end of my routine I was thinking that if Captain America really was interested in me, maybe I wouldn't fight it. Sure, he was probably out of my league, but if he didn't realize that, I wasn't going to point it out to him.

Also he was really, really attractive. There was something about him that made me feel comfortable despite his size and sheer power, and he was sexy as all hell.

True, he wasn't exactly local. But New York wasn't far away at all, and for the time being, he seemed to be sticking close by. I mean, who even knew if things would work out. But if they did, New York wouldn't even be that long of distance. And it seemed like he had a pretty flexible schedule when he wasn't saving the world or taking down large swaths of the government.

For now, he was here. And I didn't even know for sure that he was interested. But if he was, then I was. Sure, it hadn't been that long since I'd broken up with Morelli, but if I was being honest, it felt like a lifetime ago in terms of experience. And I really hadn't been that sad about it. In truth, it had been a long time coming.

And Ranger had drawn his lines, and that was that.

As far as I was concerned, I was available, and I wasn't even in a rebound phase. I was ready for something new, if it were to come up.

I nodded my head purposefully and strode out into the bedroom. I walked to my dresser to grab my com, and I looked in the mirror above it to put in the earpiece. I froze. Someone had written on my mirror.

My hands shook a little as I realized who I was pretty sure it was.

The upper left hand corner had neat lettering saying, "you are strong." The bottom right corner said, "you are beautiful."