"No matter what, hide under that table. Don't make a sound." Footsteps echoed around Alba's head, the words bouncing around her skull until she was able to concentrate on the one in the room with her.

"She awake?" A voice rasped just up ahead. Alba opened her eyes bit by bit, trying to adjust to the dim lighting of whatever room she was in.

"Not yet. I think he gave her too much sedative." She saw another figure standing by a pair of giant, squeaking rusting doors. Her vision was too blurry to make out a face.

"Good. Less work for us." The man by the doors made his exit then, clanging the rusting pieces of metal together and locking Alba and her captor inside the room.

Where the hell was she, anyway? She looked at the ground first. Cold, wet limestone met her face. This building was old. She was laying in some type of old fashioned holding cell. The rusting, black bars surrounding her on all sides made escape impossible.

She rolled her shoulders experimentally. Nothing hurt too much, save for her back when she was dropped into the van. Well, more like thrown. Alba tested the handcuffs restraining her hands behind her back experimentally. Unfortunately, they weren't lose enough for her to wiggle out of them. She sat there for a long moment with her eyes closed.

Her purse, or any way of outside contact with the outside world was left back in that ballroom. These people had plans for her. Bad ones. And unless she did something, she doubted Steve would be able to find her. Not before it was too late. She'd be dead by the time he managed to track her down to this hell hole. Alba didn't even know how long she had been traveling. It could've been days or hours. There were no windows, just bricks of limestone carefully stacked on top of one of another into a dank cellar.

Think Alba, think! She urged herself. It couldn't have possibly been that long since she was taken. Her limbs, although a little sore, felt fine. The pain in her back was still fresh. If she had been traveling for long, it would've been a distant pain, not a constant twinge. She knew the first twenty-four hours of a kidnapping always meant the most. She was determined to get back home.

She sat up quietly, easing her head again the cold wall at her back and trying to ignore the pain blooming in her head. If only she could get rid of these annoying hairpins—

Hairpins.

She froze. If she could get her hands on one of the pins in her head, she would be able to get there stupid handcuffs undone. It was a start. Alba started shaking her head earnestly, not able to contain the glimmer of hope when she felt the damn hairpins of her up-do sliding down to her shoulders. She fidgeted until she had one of the pins that had fallen to the ground in her hands and got to work.

Alba could tell her captors weren't very smart. If they'd done their research, they would know not to ever put a detective's kid in handcuffs. She picked handcuffs for fun as a child. Her father was the one who taught her how to do it.

It took her a few moments to shake the cobwebs from her lock picking skills, but Alba was confident. She'd only done this her whole childhood.

With a soft click, the handcuffs restraining her wrists gave way. She placed them on the floor behind her, quiet as a mouse. It helped that the guard was sitting away from her, facing the door. If she was fast enough, she would be able to use that to her advantage. She could not be heard. The last thing she needed was another shot of that sedative they had pumped into her.

She came to her knees carefully, then froze. Why was there water trickling down her legs?

No, no, NO!

She glanced down at her skirts. No blood. Alba breathed a small sigh of relief. She wasn't having any pain or cramping. But she knew that the cramping always came…later. She swallowed thickly, determined to keep the tears at bay. She could not lose peanut. She couldn't.

She had to get them out of here or die trying. She had no choice now. She needed a doctor to check on her peanut.

Quietly, she extracted another pin from her hair and got to work on the padlock of the holding cell she'd been confined to. The guard shifted suddenly. She sat back, shoved her hands behind her back, and closed her eyes. Whether he glanced back at her she'd never know, but he made himself busy by watching the live football match he was missing on his phone.

It was better than Alba could have hoped for. The background noise helped her pick the padlock faster. It took a few long, arduous tries. This lock was the most complex thing she'd ever pick. She was an amateur, after all. Sweat was beading on her brow. Alba fought the urge to run her hands across her forehead and instead continued picking at the lock using steady, precise movements.

Her legs almost collapsed under her when she felt the soft 'click' of the lock giving way under her fingers. She gave her captor a cautious glance. He was still captured in his game to notice her slip off her heels and ease the door open. Alba prayed the rusty thing wouldn't squeak on her and get her caught. She managed to slip through unnoticed.

Now, a weapon.

She didn't have to look far. An empty fire, old fire extinguisher was thrown haphazardly under a table next to her cell. She had taken on enough cases in court to know a fire extinguisher made an excellent weapon.

Alba loomed over the man who was supposed to be guarding her, frozen in fright. Her hands her shaking. Her whole body was. She didn't want to kill the man. But if she didn't strike him hard enough…

She shook her head, mentally preparing herself. She had to swing as hard as she could and worry about the consequences later. She couldn't afford to make a mistake. Not with her baby's life on the line.

The guard turned to face her just as she swung the extinguisher. The impact of the metal on his face made a sickening sound of bone crunching as his head snapped back and fell out of his seat. The phone in his hands clattered to the ground. Alba gaped. She was trying to hit him hard, she just didn't realize it was going to be that hard.

Shit. Was he dead?

She rushed to the man's side and pressed a finger against his neck. A steady, thumping pulse ran along the pads of her finger. He was fine. The football game on the discarded phone caught her attention. The cell phone.

She took it in her hands and got to work before the phone's locking mechanism went into place, shakily typing in Steve's cell number as fast as her fingers could move. She briefly thought about calling the police, but decided against it at the last moment. They would take forever to get to her, siren's going off all the way. Besides, she didn't know who was behind this yet. NYPD wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Her late father had taught her that.

No. She needed Steve. He would know what to do. Alba just prayed he happened to have his blasted phone on him.

"How are we on finding her?" Tony fiddled with his holograms for a moment before shaking his head with a sigh.

"Hard to tell. Facial recognition came up empty. The van parked in a blind spot, so we don't have any vehicles to trace. The only clue we do have is the identity of a known convict who was spotted at the scene. No trace of that idiot either." He muttered irritably. Tony wrecked his mind for another clue, another way to find Alba. This is the most useless he'd felt in a really long time.

Steve tried not to put any more stress on Tony than he was putting on himself. The man was always his worst critic. If he was being honest with himself, frantically scouring the city for Alba was the only thing keeping his sane at the moment.

Law enforcement on the scene had been more than helpful. When NYPD heard it was one of their own who had been kidnapped, daughter of their fallen friend, they assured Steve that he had the full support of the police force in finding her. He was appreciative, but he doubted their resources would outmatch those of Stark. Nonetheless, he promised to alert them if he had any information that would speed along her recovery.

"See, this is why I always have a tracking chip on Pepper. You can't ever be too safe." Steve shook his head, too distracted to muster a grin of amusement. Somewhere in the workshop, he heard Pepper scolding Tony on the concept of privacy.

There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that refused to dissolve. This wasn't just a mission. This was his girl. Their baby. His family. Steve dropped his head into his hands, running his hands across his hair frustratedly. He had to find her.

Back when Steve had come out of the ice, he thought long and hard about why he was still in the fight. He even considered retiring. He had after all, already given his life once before. Not many people, if any, got another chance at it. But he could never quite find what he would do if he ended up getting out. He didn't have someone to come home to, someone to keep safe. He didn't know what made him happy.

And so, he threw himself into being the best Captain America he could be. He figured, if he couldn't figure out what he wanted to do with his life, he would make sure others could live theirs freely. But now…he might've just found something that made him happy.

Steve had always had problems fitting in. Ever since he could remember, he felt like an outsider. Too sick, too skinny, too idealistic. He had found solace in the shield, but he felt like his place as Captain America was out of necessity. People accepted him because they needed him.

But now for once, he didn't feel like a man out of time, looking in at the world from the outside. For the first time since he could remember, Steve Rogers felt like he belonged. Steve finally had a place and a person that felt like home, and he was on the verge of losing her. Alba would be fine. She had to be. If she wasn't…Steve couldn't bear to think about it. This was all his fault. He brought his enemies to her front door. Maybe if he had kept his distance, things wouldn't be the way they were and Alba and their baby would still be safe.

"Steve, stop beating yourself up over this. For all you know it had nothing to do with you."

The captain chuckled dryly. "Alba was perfectly safe until I crossed paths with her. Things are always like this for us, Tony. I don't know why I thought a family was in the cards for me." Tony threw himself into his chair, rolling his eyes. It was clear he would rather be anywhere else than in the middle of Cap's emotional mess.

"Look, I'm not good at this stuff, so I'm only going to say it once. You are Captain America, you can do whatever the hell you want. Will it be dangerous? Probably. There isn't a day where I don't worry about Pepper at least ten times a day. But she makes me happy. You always have this notion that your happiness and wellbeing is what puts others in danger. It doesn't. Stop beating yourself up for wanting to be happy. You deserve to be happy, Steve." He nodded half-heartedly, but Tony could tell his words weren't sinking in.

Just then Sam raced through the lab doors, taking in a defeated looking Steve and frustrated Tony.

"I heard what happened. I'm ready to go when you guys are." Steve's mouth pulled up weakly on one side.

"Thanks. We haven't been able to get a location on Alba though. It might be a while." He nudged to empty seat next to him and motioned for Sam to join him.

"Captain Rogers," F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice rose cleanly from the speaker set up all over Tony's lab, "You have an incoming call from an unknown number. Would you like to accept it?" Steve felt the pockets of his pants. He must have left the phone down somewhere in the middle of the explosion.

He thought about rejecting the call for a moment, but changed his mind at the last minute. For all he knew, it might have been relating to Alba. "Patch it through."

"H-Hello? Steve?" The whispering voice on the other end of the line shot Steve to his feet. Everyone in the lab suddenly came to life. Tony jumped to his feet and skidded over to his hologram station, no doubt tracing the signal of the call. Sam went off in search of his suit.

Steve was too busy taking the biggest sigh of relief to respond.

"Steve?"

"Alba. Are you okay?" She paused. This couldn't be good, thought Steve. He felt a swirl of nausea swirling in his stomach. He couldn't bear for anything bad to happen to her.

Alba took a shaky breath before replying. "I got thrown into this van…I think something's wrong, Steve. I'm worried. I think something happened with my water." She tried to keep a strong voice, bless her heart, but her emotions won out in the end.

Steve swallowed his rage. The only thing he could do was wait on this tracking so he could race to her side. It wasn't fair. They couldn't hurt him. It was never about him. It was about the innocent people connected to him. For a brief moment, he wished he was normal Steve, able to live without a mob of enemies coming for everything he cared about.

"Alba, Tony is tracking you now. We're gonna be there in no time." On the other end of the line, Alba clutched the phone to her ear and took the biggest breath of relief. Steve was coming. Everything would be okay. A little bead of moisture caught at the edge of her eye. She brushed it away and sniffled shakily.

"I hope you guys aren't far. I picked my way out of these handcuffs and knocked out this man watching my cell. I just hope he doesn't wake up anytime soon." Steve couldn't contain the small grin on his face.

"That's my girl. Does he have a weapon on him?" There was a rustling before Alba's voice warbled back out of the speakers.

"Yeah. A handgun." The Captain stood a little straighter, formulating a plan for Alba to keep her as safe as possible until he could reach her.

"Use the handcuffs on him. If he wakes up, threaten him using the gun. Don't stand stand within arm's reach, you don't want him to attack you for control of the weapon." A location flashed on the holograms before them. He strapped the shield to his back and took a cleansing breath.

"We have your location. I'll be there soon, Alba. I promise."

Alba heard the beep signaling the call had ended and the turned to stare at the man unconscious by her feet. He was still out cold, so she took that opportunity to race into her cell and retrieve the handcuffs. Once she had the man handcuffed, she felt the pockets of his clothing for anything else that may have been of any use to her. She found an extra clip of ammo for the handgun, and a syringe filled with a clear, unmarked liquid. She was willing to bet it was another dose of whatever sedative they had used on her. She took the items and placed it on the table next to her, picking up the gun and turning it over in her hands.

She had never been more thankful in having a father who prided himself in giving his daughter practical skills, like lock picking and gun safety. Thankfully for her, she knew her way around weapons and was a decent shot. She couldn't imagine going through this and fumbling with a gun she had never even held in real life.

Alba paced around the room, resisting the dark swirl of thoughts that circled the corners of her head. She worried about Steve not being able to find her, of Steve getting hurt, or worst of all, of it being too late for their baby. She gave up on pacing and settled for easing into the cold, metal chair in the center of the room.

She winced as her back met the cold, unyielding metal of the chair beneath her. It's not like she had a giant bruise blooming on her back. She suspected the floor might be slightly more comfortable a position that this stupid chair but pushed through it anyway. She liked being able to watch over the man on the floor.

It felt like only a few moments had paused before the man started stirring on the ground. He groaned quietly moving his head back and forth in increments before glancing up and meeting Alba's eyes. She made sure the man got a good look at the barrel of the gun being aimed at his head.

Her captor laughed weakly, groaning when the injury in his head started throbbing. Served him right. Alba debated beating him over the head again.

"You're pretty fucking smart, I'll give you that. But now, you've reached the end of the line." He jerked his chin towards the giant, rusting doors. "That thing is locked from the outside, and there's about ten men guarding it. You won't be walking out of here any time soon." Alba almost wanted to laugh. He really thought she would be dumb enough to try and fight her way out of here. She might've been dumb enough to lay his ass out, but she wasn't that dumb.

"Your little group just plans on holding me here forever? Ask for a ransom?" The scariest option, the one she refused to admit even to herself, was that she had been taken by H.Y.D.R.A. If they ever found out Steve had a child, it wouldn't be past them to try and dissect Alba and the baby. They were much more calculated though. She couldn't attribute this to them. For all intents and purposes, H.Y.D.R.A. was a lot more covert, and a whole lot smarter.

"Oh, you'll be dead soon enough. There's someone who wants to meet you first." He fidgeted along the hard, damp floors. Alba pretended not to see the man slithering closer to the metal doors. She had an idea of what he was planning.

Before he could alert his buddied beyond the door, she took the syringe with the sedative, poked the needle into the exposed skin of his neck, and watched the transparent medication disappear into his body. Within seconds, the captor's eyes glazed over before closing altogether.

Alba took a seat on the metal chair once more, clutching the gun in one hand and the cell phone in the other. Who the hell was trying to meet her? She wracked her brain for a face and remembered the bombing a few weeks ago. Had Gonzales really gone through all this to get to her? If he was really out of prison and on his way to meet her, she had to make sure Johanna was okay. She was surprised he wasn't going after her first. Alba uttered a soft prayer for the young girl and counted down the seconds until her rescue group showed up.

The rush of air roared into the back of the open quinjet. Steve looked over the quiet grounds of Upstate New York and clutched the shield a little tighter to his chest. Each minute to reach this godforsaken place felt like an eternity. The three men in the back of the aircraft jumped into open air without hesitation. Steve had done this a million times. The cool air racing around his body did little to temper the tension etched into his body.

He landed quietly a little more than a quarter mile away, waiting for Tony and Sam and bring up the flanks. Tony viewed the heat sensors inside the abandoned building and paused before opening his helmet.

"There's five doing perimeter checks, four at the entrance, and about ten leading up to the corridor on the second floor. I'm assuming Alba and her knocked out warden are the two heat signatures at the end of that hallway." Steve nodded, formulating an action plan in seconds.

"Sam, you're taking out the perimeter guards. Once you're done make sure the exits are covered. I don't want them trying to sneak Alba into another location while our backs are turned."

"Copy that." The man extended with wings and ran a few meters before taking off into the night. Steve turned to Tony.

"We're going through the front door. They need to go down quick, I'm not risking having one of them sound the alarm." Tony, now shielded behind the Iron Man mask, nodded once with finality before launching into flight. Steve didn't worry about Tony's approach. He'd get the job done.

Steve moved across the shadows of the mild May night. It wouldn't been a really good night to enjoy a walk around the neighborhood. Maybe after he got Alba back home safe and sound he could take her for some ice cream in the morning. He put the thought out of his head as the abandoned Asylum building came into view. If he wanted to protect her, he'd need to keep her at arm's length.

"Uh, Cap, we might want to hurry. Sensors are picking up on some kind of commotion on that second floor." Steve's heart dropped in his chest. He felt the cold tentacles of dread sneaking up the base of his spine, nearly paralyzing him.

He shook the feeling in a fraction of a second, springing towards the entrance as fast as his feet would carry him and laying into the first target that crossed his path. He turned to face his second target, a man who was scrambling to aim his automatic rifle in his face. Steve took the spare second to bash the edge of the shield against the man's skull. He crumbled to the ground without a sound.

The men wasted no time racing into the building. Steve didn't even need to look at a map to know where he was supposed to go. The shouts of men rang out on the second floor.

"Guys, we have incoming." Sam's voice broke through the comms. "Three vans full of armed men, and they're pissed. I need a hand out here." For the first time in a long time, Steve bit back a curse. He gave Tony a worried look. He looked between the corridor and the entrance downstairs, for once taken unawares. Tonight, he didn't have a good plan. His thoughts were all occupied with getting Alba out alive.

"I'll take care of the men outside. Go get your girl, Cap." He needed to further encouragement. Tony rocketed out of the old, vandalized building, crashing into the angry mass of mercenaries outside. He was met with heavy gunfire on all sides, taking to the sky for a moment so he could come up with a new plan of attack.

Two floors up, Steve emerged atop the stairs, frantically following the voices at the end of the corridor. He heard shouts and angry roars, but no gunshots yet. He counted nine men piled against a rusting metal door. The corrugated material groaned under the weight of the men, who were too preoccupied banging on the doors to notice him—or his shield. In seconds his shield was ricocheting against the solid walls, knocking out guards as it went. It returned to Steve's side just as he faced the men's gunfire.

He had managed to knock down four of them. The last five began encroaching on his territory, using up the last of the ammunition before crowding around him. Steve rolled his shoulders as he took in the enemies circling him.

They pounced at once, trying to pin him down. Steve kicked out sharply at a man trying to pry his shield away, dislocating his knee and sending him flying to the ground. He struck out only to have his opponent dodge out of the way at the last second, taking a punch to the gut and then the face.

A scream from the other side of the doors caught his attention. It was Alba. He shook the haze clouding his vision and focused on his targets.

Steve usually preferred to incapacitate his targets instead of killing them. He didn't believe in senseless killing. He worked most missions on pure restraint, using enough force to knock out his opponents but being mindful of using too much force. Tonight, that wasn't the case.

With renewed focus he tore back into the group, laying waste to the last four men circling around him. He struck out mindlessly, catching the first man with a uppercut so strong he heard something snapping in the man's neck.

Steve flipped behind the man swinging at him next, jabbing him in the spine and paralyzing him. He caught the next one mid-punch, grabbing his wrist and snapping it. The man cried out, too distracted to counter Steve's sharp jab in the throat. He fell to his knees, clutching his collapsed windpipe.

The last one planted himself in front of the rusting doors, holding his ground with shaking hands. If there were any other mission, Steve would have given props to the kid for standing up to him.

"I don't want to hurt you kid, but you're in my way. I would move, if I were you." He ignored Steve's bidding and charged straight for him.

He caught him mid-air and slammed him against the limestone wall. He was knocked unconscious instantly.

Steve checked the perimeter for any more threats, snatching his shield off the floor and using it to bust the lock on the metal doors that were holding Alba hostage. What he found inside had him frozen on his feet.

Alba, aiming a gun at a guard who had been forced onto a metal chair, and another unconscious man at her feet. She glanced at him as he burst through the door and gave him a relieved grin.

"Please tell me I'm not dreaming." She said, lowering her weapon and ignoring the man sitting in front of her.

It all happened so fast. The guard jumped from his seat, leaping on Alba and grappling for the weapon.

Steve leaped into action. He threw his shield to the ground, using the man's distraction to charge into him. He was knocked out of balance, momentarily forgetting about the gun as he got punched squarely in the nose.

The guard collapsed against the rusty black cell, shaking his head to clear the explosions of pain bursting in his field of vision.

Alba paced into the far end of the room, giving Steve room to work. She was shaken by how deadly he looked. Gone was the kind, easygoing man who smiled at all of her antics. He had been replaced by a soldier with one mission. His dark blue uniform clung to his arms and shoulders as he dipped and jabbed with the precision of a professional. It was like he knew where the guard was going to strike next long before it happened.

He took advantage of the pinned guard, using the metal rods holding the cell together as a wall. Steve ducked out of an incoming punch, grabbed the man's arm, and twisted it behind his arm. He struck out with his leg right behind the knee, bringing the guard to his knees with a sick crunch. The man looked up, eyes terrorized, as Steve grabbed his head and slammed it back into the metal cell. He stopped struggling after that.

There was a sudden silence in the room as Alba looked on in shock. Steve took a moment to make sure all was safe in the room before pacing over to Alba and taking her into his arms. He made sure there wasn't a scratch on her, gently tilting her face this way and that.

"Are you okay?" Alba swallowed and gave him a shaky nod.

"I think so...but I think something's wrong with my water." Steve looked down at her white dress, suddenly noticing the damp spot along her legs. His heart pounded, blood rushing through his ears as he took in the sight of his girl. He couldn't be sure about her condition, he wasn't a medical professional, but he understood that their baby was in danger.

"Come on, let's get you checked out."

Alright ya'll, this is my longest chapter to date. Five thousand words! I hope you guys enjoy it. If it's too long let me know, I can always split them into two chapters next time.

QUESTION:How did you guys feel about the action scenes? This is my first time really writing them, I'm not so sure how I did.

Next chapter is going to be very interesting...it will also be up next Sunday.

Until then have a lovely week friends!