Author's Note: I do not own anything of Marvels. Only the OC characters.
Sorry for the disappearance act. Life has been crazy busy, and it was a struggle to find time to write.
Chapter 8
Life in D.C. was beginning to fall into a routine. The majority of Anthea's time was spent at the hospital, but every third day or so she would get some time off. She tried to dedicate that time to spend with her friends, but even that was becoming a challenge. She was able to spend time with Erica when they were both working a shift at the hospital, but for the most part her friends were hard to track down. Clay was hard to find outside of the pharmacy he worked at, and Jacob was usually busy till the evening. Steve was also hard to track down, it seems like despite having an apartment in the D.C. area, he never actually spent time in the area. He was constantly away on missions, to the point where even he was getting frustrated. But it was not just the missions that were bothering him, but also the people he was working with at the agency. He confided in her once that he felt as if he couldn't trust any of the people he works with, that there is constantly some secret agenda that they are working on. All the while keeping him in the dark. The last mission had really sent him over the edge.
Today however, they were both free from their obligations. Steve sent her a short message saying he just had to report on his mission and then he would be over. Anthea was making breakfast when she heard the knock on the door.
"Come in!" she shouted as she began to move the food off of the stove. "I just finished breakfast, coffee?" She turned around when she didn't get a response from Steve. He was leaning against the counter, and looked completely drained. "Steve?"
He finally looked up once she called his name, attempting to fake a smile. "Hey, smells good in here. Coffee would be great, thank you."
Anthea could obviously tell that something was not right. Something happened on his mission last night. She could tell from his message earlier that something was wrong, but this was a whole new level. She turned away from him to pour him so coffee, and then grabbed a plate and set both down in front of him. Suddenly losing her own appetite she could only stomach the coffee in her hand. "Steve, what's wrong?"
He sighed, as he turned down to pick at his food. "It's nothing Thea, nothing for you to worry about."
Anthea could feel herself starting to get worked up, "Nothing?! You expect me to believe this is nothing? Steve, look at yourself! How do you expect me not to worry? I'm worried about you!"
Steve looked up, annoyed, "Damn it Thea, this just doesn't concern you! This isn't something you can help, let alone even know about! It's classified! I can't talk to you about this, you're just a civilian. You wouldn't understand, hell I don't even understand. This feels like everything I've spent my life trying to fight against."
Anthea felt herself explode, "Just a civilian?! You do understand that even though I may be 'just a civilian,' it's us civilians that usually end up getting hurt by decisions made for us. That we don't even deserve the right to know about. Look at New York, we received no warning. Nothing to let us know that the world isn't safe, and look how many 'civilians' were harmed by that decision. Oh and just so you know, your life fucking concerns me. I care about you Steve, you're my match for fucks sake."
"Just forget about it Thea! I don't see why you're so concerned, it's not like you even wanted a match." Steve spat out.
Anthea flinched back, she felt as if he physically dealt her a blow. She tried to hide the hurt on her face, but she knew she obviously didn't do a good enough job. She could see the regret on his face. "Thea, I'm.."
Anthea cut him off, "Stop! Just stop. Look, I'm going to head out. Before we both say more. Help yourself to finishing your breakfast and coffee."
Steve started to get up, "Anthea, please."
Anthea just raised her hand, silently asking her to stop. "Steve I can't, not right now. I'm just going to go on a walk. We can talk about this later tonight, but I just can't do this right now."
As she left the apartment, she could have sworn she heard the sound of glass breaking.
Taking the day to herself helped with clearing her mind. She was still sitting in the same spot she had been hours before. The sun had set awhile back, and it was getting past a safe time to be out in the park. Anthea felt as if she couldn't move though, she kept replaying her argument with Steve today. But not just todays argument, because what was said today had been building up over months. They both had just been tiptoeing around the subject.
For the past few months Anthea had watched as Steve went on mission after mission. Steve would be gone for days, or weeks at a time. And Anthea waited, and worried. She never knew where he was, what he was doing, if he was even safe. If he was even alive for that matter. And then he would come back, and she would watch as he pretended. As they both pretended that he was just Steve Rogers. Just her friend from Brooklyn, nothing more. And while that is who he is to Anthea, he's Captain America to the rest of the world. And Captain America has the world to look after and protect. And she is just one person living in that world, and has no claim to Captain America. He was right, she didn't understand. And she wasn't sure she ever could understand, because she could never be a part of that side of his life. As much as he likes to pretended, he's not two different people. They are the same person, and she will never be able to relate to his other persona.
She was interrupted from her thoughts from her phone ringing. She looked down to see a picture of Steve lightening up her screen. She stared at it for a few seconds, before deciding to answer.
"Hello?"
"Anthea!" Steve practically shouted, she could hear relief in his voice. She could hear him breathing heavily on the other side of the phone, he sounded almost frantic. "Anthea, where are you? Please tell me you are home?" he rushed through both questions.
Anthea instantly became on edge from the tone of his voice. "No, I'm not home. I'm at the park near the apartment. Steve what's going on, you are making me nervous."
She could hear him sigh heavily when she told him she wasn't home. "Thea I can't explain much right now, I just need you to trust me. I need you to get home as fast as possible, and lock all the doors. It's not safe to be out right now. There is a man, a very dangerous man out not far from where you are. Promise me that you will head home now, avoid anyone suspicious. Keep me on the line as well."
Anthea felt a chill run down her spine. Whoever this man was had him on edge, and for Steve to be worried, the man was more than dangerous. She could feel her breathing becoming heavy, and she felt as if she was struggling to breath. She felt her mind wandering to New York two years ago, and she felt that terror enveloping her.
"Anthea!" Steve shouted, trying to get her attention. It immediately snapped her out of her trance, and forced herself to get up from the bench she'd occupied for most of the day.
"Yes! Yes, I'm here. I'm leaving right now. Steve where are you?" She attempted to push down her panic as much as she could, but even she could hear it in her voice.
"I'm on my way to the hospital. This man took down someone from my agency, he's in surgery right now. I just need you to make it home, it's the safest place for you right now."
"Are you hurt? Please tell me you are okay? Did you fight this man?" She could feel herself getting hysterical.
"No, I'm not hurt. I did engage the man, but I'm fine. Where are you now, are you almost home?"
"Yes, I just got to my building. I'm on my way up to the apartment now. I promise, I'll triple check that all my windows and doors are locked. Steve, I'm scared though. Do you think this man will come after you next?" She just reached her apartment, and attempted to unlock her door. Her hands were shaking so bad. She finally got inside, locking the door immediately. She felt herself slide down the door and just sat on the floor, attempting to control her breathing.
"Look you don't have anything to be scared about. I'm at the hospital now, but I promise I will head over there as soon as I can. I don't know anything about this man, or who he may target next. I promise to keep you safe though, and please don't worry about me. I'm just glad you made it back." She could hear how tired he was in his voice. Anthea almost felt like laughing when he told her not to worry about him, she's constantly worried about him.
"If you think after the past 20 minutes I'm not going to worry about you, then you're as stupid as..." She broke off as she looked up. She stared in shock, almost like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. There sitting in a chair in her living room was a man. He was dressed entirely in black, in some sort of combat gear. He was wearing a mask to cover his face, that almost resembled a muzzle. As she stared at him she noticed the most notable thing about him was his arm, it was entirely made of metal. She looked back up to his face, and saw a pair of light blue eyes looking at her. Looking through her. She felt herself start to panic as she saw him getting up. Distantly she could hear Steve screaming her name through the phone, but it was muffled. Almost as if she was underwater, she felt like she was as she could barely breath. The man approached her, finally stopping to crouch down in front of her. He reached out to her to grab her arm. He was gently as he held her arm, pulling her sleeve up so her soul mark was showing. She felt him trace the mark on her arm, before reaching up with his metal hand to remove his mask. She stared up at him, petrified to move.
She watched as he looked back down at her arm, tracing it lightly. Then he looked back up, and looked her straight in the eye. And then he spoke the one word that sent chills down her spine.
"Mine"
