Author's Note: I do not own anything from Marvel. Only the OC characters.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of you who have continued to read this story. I appreciate every comment, follow, and favorite this story has received. Sorry for the long wait for this new chapter.
Chapter 6:
As much as Anthea enjoyed her vacation, she was almost glad to be home. It was a relief to be back in her and Erica's apartment, and just back in the city in general. They got home the previous night, and they both immediately dropped down onto one of the couches. Both deciding to worry about unpacking tomorrow. Anthea was half convinced Erica was already asleep until she heard her talking. "So, now that we are back home, do you have any plans with our dear Captain?"
"You know you can call him Steve. Actually, please just start calling him only Steve. He always gets uncomfortable when you come up with your new names, starts getting twitchy." She sighed.
"Fine Steve, again I promised best behavior, but don't think I didn't notice you forgetting to answer my question."
"Steve mentioned spending a day together once I got back. Said he wanted to take me somewhere. I told him I would let him know when we made it home, so I'm sure he'll tell me about any plans."
Erica immediately sat up, "So you super attractive, hero match is taking you on a surprise getaway for the day?" she said while wiggling her eyebrows at her.
Anthea immediately threw one of the pillows on the couch at her head. "Erica I told you, just friends. Nothing more, please let it go. Also make sure not to make any comments like this around him."
"Fine, fine, but are you blushing?"
"ERICA!"
Eventually the two passed out in their beds exhausted. Anthea was currently trying to unpack when Erica burst in her room.
"Thea! You didn't tell me we were expecting a visit from the Captain this morning!" Erica whispered screamed.
"Huh? Steve's here, already?" she said looking up at Erica confused.
"Yes! Of course Steve is here, who else would I be talking about but you sexy match? Why didn't you tell me he was stopping by?"
Anthea stared at Erica for a minute trying to take in everything she was saying. Erica was currently throwing all her clothes that she just unpacked all over her room, muttering to herself the entire time. "Sorry, I forgot to mention it. Now would you stop throwing all my clothes around, I just unpacked them. What are you even doing?" she asked exasperated.
"Obviously I'm trying to find you an outfit, because you can't go meet your gorgeous match looking like that!" She gestured to her outfit, looking her up and down with a look of disapproval. "Honestly, we've been friends for 6 years now. You would think that living with me would have had some sort of positive impact on your wardrobe. Is that even your shirt?!"
Anthea looked down at herself. She was currently wearing a long sleeve NYU shirt that she probably stole from Jacob, and some loose fitting jeans. "Probably not, and I'm a big girl, I can dress myself. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go see what my friend Steve wants." She said, overstressing the word 'friend', as she walked out of her room.
She saw Steve standing in the living room, looking at the pictures on the wall with a smile on his face. She walked up to him and saw that he was looking at a picture of her graduation day. It was a picture with her, Erica, Clay, and Jacob all smiling in their graduation gowns. "That one is from graduation, NYU was probably happy to see us gone."
"Somehow I doubt that." He said as he turned to face her. When they were finally facing each other he smiled down at her, "Hey Doll."
She laughed, "Hey yourself."
Steve laughed and pulled her into a hug, "I've missed you Thea."
Anthea eventually pulled away from him, "You know, when you said you wanted to steal me away today, I didn't think you meant so early. It's 8:00, I haven't even had a chance to have any caffeine yet."
Steve just smiled down at her, "That was the plan, I plan on taking advantage of every moment on the day. Starting with breakfast, I wanted to take you out and show you the Brooklyn I grew up in. The Brooklyn that me and Bu.. The Brooklyn that I always wanted to show my match. That I always wanted to show you."
"Okay"
The day was perfect, beyond perfect. They got breakfast at a small diner, and then spent the day wandering around in Brooklyn. Steve pointed out buildings and landmarks that were familiar. When the passed the newer sections he explained what use to stand there. They kept walking until Steve stopped outside of a newer apartment building. Steve stared up at the building before turning to Anthea. "This is where I grew up, I lived here up until I went overseas. After my mother passed away, Buck came and moved in with me. Helped me keep the place running, and helped keep a roof over my head. I was so sick all the time, no one wanted to hire someone who looked like he was about to fall over dead with some illness." He trailed off laughing bitterly. "I always had Bucky though, he was the best friend I could have asked for."
Anthea reached out and grabbed his hand. "I'm glad you had him in your life, he sounded like he was a great man. Had to have been considering the positive impact he had on your life."
"You know, I was terrified when about my soul mark growing up. I was convinced that no dame would ever want a man who probably wouldn't live past 30. I was convinced that I would die before I ever had the chance to meet my match." Steve had a far off look on his face, and was back to staring at the building. "I was lucky that I had Bucky in my life, he wouldn't stand for any talk about that. Said that the dame that was our match would love us both equally, either that or she wasn't really meant to be our girl."
"This may not be how you imaged meeting your match, but I want you to know that I would have still like the 'pre-serum Steve'. The serum affected your physically, but from the stories you've told me you're still the guy who can't seem to keep himself out of trouble, only now you're slightly more capable of handling it." She joked, "and I really like being around 'Steve', not Captain America."
Steve looked down at her with a smile on his face, before it transformed into a smirk. He closed the space between them, with a mischievous look on his face. "What do you mean only slightly more capable? You don't think I can take care of myself?"
She looked up at him with a smirk on her face, "I don't know, I've seen how you eat. I think you may be letting yourself go. In fact, I bet I could take you on right now. It would be a piece of cake." Anthea laughed as she finished, raising her first up in a fighting stance.
Steve just smiled down at her as he looked at her raised fists. He brought his fist up to mirror hers, before charging at her and throwing her over his shoulder. "Still think you can take me?" He laughed as her spun her around.
"Steve! Steve, let me down!" Anthea laughed.
"I don't know if I can Thea. You hurt my feelings, I even think you tried calling me fat. I don't know if I can stand for such rudeness, I always did hate bullies. I'll just have to show you that I can still handle myself." Steve reach up and started ticking her sides, causing her to laugh uncontrollably.
She was nearly in tears when she was finally able to gasp out, "please Steve, I take it back. You're big and strong and can take care of yourself. Now please let me down!"
"Hmm.. I don't know if I can accept your apology, I mean, you didn't even mention about how handsome I am."
She just kept laughing and started beating on his back, "Steve!"
"Fine, fine I'll stop." Steve said as he started walking to a nearby park. He set her upright when he made it to a bench near the center of the park. It was getting pretty late, and the park was empty. Steve stayed standing in front of her as she sat down on the bench. He looked like he was caught up in his mind. Like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words he was looking for.
"Steve?"
"I um.. I actually needed to talk to you about something. Since I woke up I've felt as if I don't have a place in this new world anymore. Everything has changed so much, and the world has moved on from what I've known. The last memory I had before waking up is crashing a plane into the Arctic Ocean. I was prepared to die, I thought was dead. I left one war, only to wake up in a world I no longer recognized, that faced an alien invasion. Now that the world is settling down, I'm finding it hard to find my place. Finding my purpose for even being here. My purpose when I woke up was to lead a team against a god, but now my team is going their separate ways. The first few weeks after the invasion, I spent my time trying to finding my way to you. And now, I've found you, and I have you in my life, but I'm still missing a purpose. I'm a soldier out of time, and right now you're the only thing keeping me grounded. But you've got a life, you've got dreams, goals, ambitions. I just feel like I should be doing more."
Anthea reached up and grabbed Steve's hand, pulling him down towards the bench beside her. He allowed himself to be pulled down, but was avoiding looking at her. She turned to face him, squeezing his hand to get his attention. "Steve, what is it you want to do? What is it you're having a hard time telling me? I know there is something more you are not saying. You can tell me anything Steve, you can talk to me."
Steve turned and looked at her, finally meeting her eye. He grasped both of her hands more firmly. "Fury offered me a place at SHIELD, I would be an active agents."
Anthea looked at him a little shocked. With the way Steve was talking she was expecting something else. She was a bit confused as to what he had against the idea. "Steve that's great, I don't understand why you are seeming so hesitant to tell me this."
"The position Fury offered me is in D.C., I'd have to move away from the city. He gave me to the end of the week to decide what I wanted to do."
"What's holding you back from saying yes? Because from where I'm standing, this is exactly what you're looking for. So what's holding you back?"
Steve looked up at her in surprise, not expecting her response. He pulled back a little and his eyes looked they had a bit of hurt in them. "I don't want to leave you Thea, I've waited so long to have you in my life. Now that you are finally here, right in front of me, I'm having to decide whether or not to leave you."
Anthea moved to place her hands on the sides of her face, forcing him to look at her. "Steve honey, you don't have to choose. There isn't even a choice. I'm always going to be here, no matter where you go. Besides, D.C. is only four and a half hours away. That's nothing, I can easily make that trip a couple times a month. I already go down to the D.C. area one weekend out of the month to visit friends now. You have nothing to be worried about, you never will have to choose. I'm always going to be here for you, no matter the distance. There are plenty of ways for us to stay in contact while we are a part. Take the offer Steve."
He looked at her as if he was in shock. As if he couldn't believe what she was saying. Finally a small smile appeared on his face. "You mean that? You'd be okay if I moved to D.C. to work for SHIELD?" He asked.
"Of course Steve, besides, I only have two more years left of medical school. Like I said, I already have friends in the D.C. and I'm familiar with the area. I was actually considering moving there myself during my residency after I graduate."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For just being you, for just being so perfect. You know just what to say to help me, and I will forever be grateful to have you in my life. You mean the world to me Thea. Now come on, I think we've had enough excitement, lets head back." Steve stood up, and extended his hand for her to take.
"Okay."
