Chapter 11

"I have enhanced hearing," Captain Rogers blurted out as soon as I stepped foot outside of my bedroom. "I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner."

I looked around and saw that Natasha and Sam seemed to have disappeared once more, and then I focused back on Captain Rogers.

"Okay," I said slowly. I wasn't really sure why he seemed so nervous. "Is that a good thing or not? I mean, I could see that being kind of annoying. Do you get headaches a lot, Captain Rogers?"

He studied me carefully and said, "no, but sometimes I overhear things without meaning to. I'm usually pretty good about tuning it out, but if there is not a lot going on, sometimes I forget and do it without noticing."

He gestured around him as he mentioned not a lot going on, and I got the impression he was talking about that moment.

When I clearly was still puzzled, he clarified, "you were talking to yourself."

"Oh." Well. That was awkward. Again. "Hear anything… interesting, Captain Rogers?"

"Couple things," he said with a small smile. "I am interested, but I think you'd talked yourself around to seeing that in the end."

I gave my own shy smile and a nod, so he said, "and you might be mutually interested."

The awkward was still there, but he was back to making me feel comfortable again. And I thought about my mirror, taking the plunge and squeaking out, "yes. I am. And it's not a-"

"Rebound thing," he finished. "I got that."

"So…" I asked cautiously.

He shrugged and said, "we get to know each other more while keeping you safe."

"Okay," I agreed. Then for some reason I stuck my hand out like he was going to shake it. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

His grin turned into a full blown smile and he paused with his hand halfway out to mine bargaining, "you have got to stop calling me Captain Rogers though."

I laughed at that and nodded in assent as he folded my hand in his. His hand was so warm, and I wanted to look down at it, but my eyes seemed to be stuck locked to his instead. Ever so gently and slowly, he used my hand to pull me into him, gauging my reaction as I approached.

Our clasped hands slid out to the side next to his shoulder, and he swooped down. His free hand cupped my face gently, and he brushed a kiss to my lips so light I almost wouldn't have thought it had happened if not for the way my whole body buzzed with awareness.

I may have been reading too much into it, but he seemed a bit reluctant to step away. Still, he did, but his hands lingered where they were and his voice sounded somehow deeper as he said, "now, don't you have some bad guys to catch?"

"Me?" I laughed at that, feeling so much lighter than I could ever remember feeling before. "What about you, Ca- Steve?"

His eyes darkened when I said his name, and I smirked in satisfaction.

"I really only have bad guys to catch if they make a move on you," he said simply. "So I'd rather just watch you do your thing."

Oh crap. Right. He watched when I went after my last skip, and I didn't really see how he could still be interested. He'd be watching as I went after more today. I really hoped I didn't embarrass myself.

"You really just don't see it do you?" he asked in wonder.

"See what?" I asked.

"How amazing you are," he told me. "You're a fighter. A survivor. Sure, your techniques and execution could use a little improvement. But you're good at what you do because you're tenacious as hell. It's… appealing."

I felt my mouth working open and shut, not really sure of how to react to that. Apparently deciding to cut me some slack, Steve reached up and gently pushed my chin to shut my mouth then took a full step back and said, "so who are you going after today?"

"Hold that thought," I responded, holding up a finger and pulling my cell phone out of my messenger bag, dialing.

"Hello?" Connie answered.

"Hey, anything new come in?"

"Well if it isn't Steph!" Connie sounded delighted. "Lula said that when she left Edward Herman's place yesterday, you and Ranger were looking mighty friendly."

I grimaced and flushed, eyes widening as I looked at Steve in horror. He just smiled and waved off my concern.

I wasn't ashamed of my night spent with Ranger, even if the timing was a little weird considering Steve's newly declared interest. And the kiss we'd just shared. But if Steve wasn't going to be bothered by it, then I wasn't going to let it get to me either.

"Hello? Stephanie? Are you there?" Connie was saying over the phone. "Is he there?"

"Uh, no," I answered. I was pretty sure I'd even sounded convincing. Which was good because Ranger wasn't there. It was true. "Tank took me to the hospital for stitches."

Also true.

"Uh huh. Sure," Connie said. "Nothing new came in, you've got all your open files minus Herman. And it is a lot of files. We're in the red, and Vinnie is freaking out. He's starting to make noises about bringing in another bounty hunter again. Maybe even Joyce."

"Ugh, is she back?" I asked.

Joyce Barnhardt was my archenemy. We'd both grown up and gone to school together in the Burg, and we'd pretty much gotten along like oil and water. Then Joyce had grown up in all the right places, and she'd turned into a giant slut.

Normally that wasn't a term I liked to use, and I really wasn't one to judge. But she'd slept with my ex-husband Dickie before the ink had even dried on our marriage license. She'd made plays at Ranger and Morelli before in my presence.

And she had stun gunned me a number of times.

Rumor had it Joyce was willing to do… anything… in bed. There were even tales of trained dogs. Anytime she was bounty hunting for Vinnie, she was also doing favors for him. I'm sure she did disgusting things, and in return he let her take all the best cases. She'd taken skips from me right after I'd captured them and taken the fee for herself.

I hated Joyce Barnhardt. No way did I want her on the team again. Not that she really knew how to be on a team.

"Understood." I told Connie. "I'll get it done."

"Lula is here," Connie told me. "She said your Jeep exploded, and she wants to know if you need a ride or backup."

"Nah," I told her. "Tell her I'll call if I need her, but I'm good for now."

"Okay," Connie said. "Good luck!"

Connie didn't want Joyce in the office either.

I had the skip files in my folder stacked up in the order of highest or most urgent first, so I pulled the top one out and opened it on the table. There was a picture, a sheet with the basics, and a couple post it notes from Connie, which I spread out.

Steve watched curiously over my shoulder as I read everything over again.

Rob Hindley was 40 years old and an assistant to a carpenter. He was wanted for breaking and entering as well as burglary. Apparently he'd pawned something, then he wanted it back but didn't have the money. So he decided to take matters into his own hands. It was his first offense, so I was hoping he'd be reasonable.

I called his sister's number and lied my way into verifying that he was staying there, but he was currently at work.

"Alright," I told Steve. "I'm assuming I'm going to call my dad and get him to give me a ride to my parents' house. Then I'm going to borrow my grandma's car to use until I can get a new one."

"We have a car for you in the lot," Natasha told me over my earpiece.

"You can't just… give me a car…" I protested.

"Really? And after you and Cap came to such a beautiful understanding just minutes ago?" Sam asked.

"You were listening to that?!" I felt my face heat up once more, and Steve stepped behind me and put his arm around my waist.

He pulled me into him in a sort of hug and pressed a quick kiss to my head as Natasha and Sam answered in unison, "of course!"

I harrumphed a little, but I let it go.

"The car is bullet-proof," Natasha enticed me.

"Fine," I relented easily. It would be easier than Big Blue in several ways. Especially because it would allow me to avoid my parents' house a bit longer and the inevitable confrontation with my mother.

And somebody had just shot me and would most likely be interested in doing so again. I was not opposed to having something bulletproof between me and them if they did.

When I stepped out into the parking lot a few minutes later, I let out a low whistle. Natasha was leaning against a BMW X5, and she just said, "Cap's tall" by way of explanation as she tossed me the keys.

It was dark grey, but otherwise probably wasn't going to do the best job of blending in.

"This is going to get stolen so fast," I murmured.

Steve had already climbed into the passenger seat, seemingly interested in getting out of sight quickly, so it was over the comms that I heard him reply, "no it won't."

"One of Ranger's porsche's got stolen with me in it one time," I countered.

"What happened then?" Steve asked conversationally.

"The guy said I had a fat ass, and I lost it." I climbed into the driver's seat and gave Steve a grin as I added, "I made him crash it."

The woodworking shop at which Rob Hindley worked was about a 15 minute drive from my apartment, but I was on pace to make it in about 10 minutes.

What could I say? It was a sport model car, so I was pretty much obligated to put it through its paces, right?

And Steve didn't really seem to mind. We just happily traded getting-to-know-you type conversation back and forth, ever aware that others were listening in but unwilling to let a stretch of time in which nothing crazy was happening pass us by.

With only a couple miles to go, a ringing sound started up in the car.

"Is that… my phone connected?" I asked Steve.

He pointed to the screen in the dashboard where it displayed that Ranger was calling, and I groaned slightly before hitting the button to accept.

I didn't super want to have whatever this conversation was going to be with an audience, but I also didn't want it to seem like I had anything to hide from Steve. Because I really didn't.

"Yo," I said when the call connected.

"Babe," Ranger responded, clearly amused. "Need a car?"

"I already have one and I'm almost to Hindley's workplace," I told him.

"Lula riding shotgun?" he asked. "Do I need to prepare my men and put them on alert?"

I fumed a little to myself, but replied with a short, "no. I left Lula at the bonds office. I have Steve with me for now."

There was an unnaturally long pause at that, and I used the opportunity to get the SUV parked in a spot just down the street from the address I was looking for.

"Steve?" Ranger asked.

"Yeah…" I said slowly. "You've met him. Tall. Muscles. Leans a little toward the overly patriotic?"

"Babe."

Ranger wasn't terribly amused and seemed to think I'd missed some sort of larger point.

"Anyway, I'm here, Ranger. What's up?"

There was another, even longer pause. And finally Ranger said, "I, uh, I'm going to be in the wind for a couple days. Try not to get kidnapped again."

"Alright," I said. "Try not to get shot."

"Pot, kettle, Babe," Ranger said. Then he hung up on me.

"I swear. That man is so strange," I said looking over at Steve. "And I've never heard him say 'uh' before. Wonder what was up with him."

I shrugged to myself and leaned over to reach into the backseat of the SUV for my bag.

"You called Cap 'Steve' not 'Captain Rogers,'" Natasha said. "You've called him Captain Rogers every time you've talked to him or mentioned him until today."

"That doesn't have to mean anything," I argued.

"But it does," Sam pointed out. "And Ranger can read you easily."

"Alright, well, whatever," I said. "I've got a skip to catch. Are you guys nearby too?"

"Affirmative," Sam told me.

"Well, Steve will need a ride once I get my guy," I told them. "If we don't want him seen."

"I like the confidence," Steve told me. And I smiled at him.

"Vest in the trunk," Natasha told me. "Wear it. And I loaded your gun earlier."

"Awww, you like me," I teased.

"You're alright," she responded.

I smiled some more as I rounded the back of the SUV and opened the trunk. I pulled my jacked off so I could put the kevlar vest under it. Steve was watching me through the back, and I winked at him mouthing, "she likes me."

Steve's mouth quirked into a grin and he gave me two thumbs up.

I slammed the back of the SUV shut, and strode toward the shop feeling like I could DO THIS.

When I got inside, I looked around a little. I was trying to scope out the place. There was a small shop, and a door a short distance behind the counter with cashier. I figured that would take me to the woodworking area. Whatever that was called.

After I'd taken only a couple steps inside the room, a middle aged man who wasn't my skip came out of the back and asked if he could help me with anything.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Stephanie, and I'm looking for Rob Hindley? His sister said I could find him here?"

"Sure," the man agreed. "Come on in back."

I nodded my head in thanks and followed him. I wasn't particularly handy myself, but as we walked through the work area, I observed Rob. I was pretty sure he was sanding.

Sanding was good. Sanding was safe. He didn't have a saw in his hand, or anything like that, which I had been a little worried about.

"Rob," the man called out.

Rob looked up, and then caught sight of me. I had never met him, but it seemed that he knew who I was. I saw a look of recognition on his face, and he was on the run.

"Damnit!" I yelled. I moved the other man to the side bodily and yelled, "Stop! Bond enforcement!" as I took off after him.

There was a bright light momentarily ahead of me, and I realized he made it out some sort of back door. So I followed.

What I wasn't expecting was that instead of continuing to run, Rob had stopped and pressed himself flat next to the outside of the door. When I cleared it, he grabbed onto me and threw me forcefully into the wall.

The angle he grabbed and pulled at me from turned me so I hit it head on.

"Unh," I let out as the breath whooshed out of me and my forehead bounced of the wall a little because I couldn't quite bring my arms up fast enough.

THAT pissed me off.

Seconds later I'd reoriented myself and spotted Rob rushing away, looking over his shoulder at me. I took off after him once more, and hollered, "give up, Rob! I just need to get you rescheduled!"

Much to my surprise, I was gaining ground on him. Either Rob was in even worse shape than me, or my rage at the header I'd taken into the concrete block wall was giving me an extra gear.

Probably it was a little of both.

When I judged that I was close enough, I took a flying leap and tackled him to the ground.

As I sprung up, I could hear footsteps behind me but ignored them for the time being. Rob had rolled over and was attempting to continue to put up a fight, so I reared back and punched him in the face.

Damn, that hurt.

He made a choked sound and his hands reached up, grabbing onto his nose. And they came back with blood on them. It wasn't that much though. I was pretty sure I hadn't broken it.

It was enough to stun him though, and I was able to shove him over, pull his hands behind his back, and wrestle him into cuffs.

I turned around, shoving Rob in front of me, and I could see Steve leaning against the wall in the distance, huge smile on his face.

Not wanting to call too much attention to him, I gave him a quick nod and pushed Rob to the SUV. When I opened the back seat, I was pleased to note that it had shackles in the floor.

Fifteen minutes later, swiping at leftover sweat from my sprint and fight as I drove, I was pulling up to the Trenton police station.

When I walked inside, my friend Eddie Gazarra was standing there talking to the other cop working the desk.

"Jesus Christ, Steph!" he exclaimed. He rushed forward and grabbed my skip asking, "you alright?"

I was confused because I hadn't even gotten so much as a drop of water spilled on me in the process. It had been a relatively straightforward, clean capture.

"Yeah?" I replied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Eddie passed the skip off and gestured to my head saying, "you're bleeding!"

I rolled my eyes upward but, of course, I couldn't see anything. Then I looked down at my arm. Great. It hadn't been sweat I'd been wiping off while I drove. It was blood. Which was now all over the arm of my jacked.

"Damnit, Rob!" I scowled at my skip as he was taken away. Once he was locked up, the cop came back, and I handed over my paperwork for inspection and started working on the process of getting my body receipt from him.

Eddie had apparently run off for a first aid kit, and, despite my attempts to shove off his concern, he cleaned up the cut on my head and applied a butterfly bandage.

"I don't think you need stitches," he told me. "But you might want to go get checked out anyway. You don't have a concussion do you?"

"No, geez," I complained. "Who are you my mother?"

"Alright, alright," he said. "See if I care next time!"

He was all bark. He really would care next time. I gave him a playful shove then collected my paperwork and headed out.

When I got back to the X5, I nearly had a heart attack when I climbed in and found Steve in the front seat and Natasha and Sam in the back.

Nobody said anything as I drove the short distance to the Bonds Office. I went inside solo, and Vinnie happened to be standing at Connie's desk when I walked in.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "You didn't shoot anyone, did you?"

"Cripes," I said. "I didn't shoot anyone."

I handed over the paperwork to Connie, and Vinnie read over her shoulder.

"Rob Hindley, is good. I need more though. You need to go faster. Do you have any idea how behind we are right now?!" Vinnie was all worked up.

Connie rolled her eyes to me then set about quickly preparing my check. "You okay?" she asked as I handed it over.

"Yeah," I looked around. "Where's Lula?"

"She went to pick up lunch. You can call her if you want her to get you something. She only left five minutes ago, so she shouldn't have ordered yet."

"Thanks, but I'm good." I pointed to my head and then the blood on my arm. "I'm going to go clean up a bit more."

"I'm not paying you to clean up! I'm paying you to catch skips!" Vinnie told me.

"And I'll catch more," I told him. "I'm just not going to do it covered in blood."

"Why not? You do it covered in everything else. The way I hear it yesterday it was maple syrup and feathers?"

"Dirty rumors," I told him.

It was a fib. I hadn't bothered to figure out exactly what I was covered in the day before, and as far as I knew, Vinnie had it right about the syrup, but I was pretty sure I remembered saw dust or some kind of dirt being blown on by the fan. Not that it mattered anyway.

I didn't feel like heading down that lane of conversation again though, so I grabbed my check and waved over my shoulder as I strode back out of the office.

The SUV was still parked safely at the curb, it probably had three Avengers in it, one of whom was I was possibly heading into a relationship with, and I had a fresh capture check in hand. It was a good day.

A/N: I haven't been feeling well at all. I owe you a chapter for the 15th and the 22nd as well as this coming week (I'll be out of town on Friday), so I'm planning to give you three days in a row of chapters to make up for delays!