A/N: AP exams are oveeeeeer.

Chapter Seven

They were all still sitting around the table when Tony Stark—billionaire, genius, philanthropist, playboy, Iron Man—showed up.

Of all the larger-than-life figures she'd encountered today, Tony Stark had to be the largest. Or, at least, the most awe-inducing because he was certainly not the most physically imposing; that accolade went to either Thor, who refused to even look at her now, or Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, who could probably kill her with a pen cap. Nevertheless, Tony Stark made a grand, unannounced entranced by sauntering in and making Hannah feel stupid and poor.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria Hill, the intimidating woman in the black S.H.I.E.L.D jumpsuit, asked him with narrowed eyes.

And Tony Stark, being Tony Stark, simply answered "last night" like it was no big deal.

While Stark and Dr. Banner were having an elevated conversation concerning the science behind the Tesseract, Hannah tried to reflect on what had just happened. Before Stark arrived, they'd all been watching Fury interrogate Loki. Just hearing his voice sent shivers down Hannah's spine, but it was when looked into the camera with a smirk saying he's already won that Hannah felt herself grow weak. Hearing someone talk about how pathetic humanity was should've repulsed her, but it didn't. Rather, when he looked up into the camera with a glint in his jade-colored eyes, she found she couldn't look away.

And that was what scared her.

"And what do you do?"

Hannah looked up to find Tony Stark next to her seat. She blinked. "Hannah Frost," She introduced herself for the tenth time. "It's kind of a long story—"

"Miss Frost is here to help us get to Loki."

Fury strode over to the conference table like he owned the place (which, technically, he probably did). Though the director freaked her out just a bit, she was glad she didn't have to explain her situation another time since she was still dealing with the repercussions from the first; she didn't know what she had done to Thor, but he acted as if she were invisible.

Tony shrugged. "Fair enough. So, you don't do anything, though? Blow things up? Levitate? No cool powers?"

Hannah shook her head.

"Then she's useless, Fury." He said, and Hannah wasn't sure if he was joking. "Can't even blow things up."

"That's rude." Captain Rogers commented, but he, too, seemed a little exasperated with the whole situation. The part about Loki's alien army and the Tesseractt, in particular. Hannah wished she could look as composed as he did, though, since she felt more stable just sitting next to him.

Fury rolled his eye.

He then proceeded to discuss more strategic stuff with everyone else. Hannah zoned out, not even beginning to comprehend what they were discussing (what the hell is a hydra?), but her own thoughts were a dangerous place. To keep herself distracted from thinking about… Her life at the moment, she focused on one of the tech guys play Galaga on his computer.

"Miss Frost, are you alright?"

Everyone had left the table to do whatever it is they were doing; Stark and Banner left for the lab, Fury probably went to go spy on someone, Natasha left long before, and Thor had stormed off to brood about Hannah's existence. That left her alone with the captain, who was still sitting next to her.

She nodded, but it probably wasn't very convincing. "Yes. Thank you, captain."

"Steve."

"… Hannah."

They sat in silence for a couple of seconds. Hannah could feel the exhaustion creep into her limbs; she hadn't had a proper sleep in two nights and darkness was beginning to descend on the carrier. She yawned, but then quickly rushed to cover it when she remembered who she was with.

"Excuse me." She said, trying to blink sleep out of her eyes. "I'm just really tired. Time zones and all."

"It's been a long day, right?" Captain Rogers—Steve—suggested.

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Seems so. God, it's just so… So weird. I'm too normal to be hanging out with S.H.I.E.L.D to help them supposedly save the world. This kind of stuff just doesn't happen to girls from Milwaukee."

He nodded. "And boys from Brooklyn don't become super soldiers. That's what I told myself after they injected me with the serum."

Hannah then remembered that he'd been frozen in ice for seventy years, and that the last time he'd seen the world it was at war. She tried to imagine what his life had been like in the forties and how different it must be from today. But somehow, she couldn't get past the star-spangled spandex and the all-American good looks, making it difficult to believe that he'd once led a normal life.

"I'm sorry." She said instinctively, even though she didn't know what she was apologizing for.

He cocked his head. "What for?"

"I… I don't know." She shrugged. "I was just thinking it must've been hard for you. Waking up after seventy years and realizing the world had changed so much."

"The first thing I did was ask if the Allies won the war." He joked. "But there's no going back now. There's no time machine that can take me back. I think. I have to tell myself my life is here and that there's no escaping it."

"Maybe I should tell myself that." She agreed. "I should just accept the fact that I'm not a normal girl from Milwaukee. That maybe there's something different about me, or that I'm supposed to do something with my life."

She looked up to meet his eyes. They were the blue of the sky on a cloudless, happy day that reminded her of family picnics and days at the lake. That deep, sparkling blue was a stark contrast to the pale, cool green she'd been enraptured by earlier.

"I think there's something special about you." He admitted thoughtfully. "And not just because everyone tells you that you should be dead after Stuttgart."

She laughed. "Is that what they told you?"

"Many, many times. I was a sick kid growing up."

Sitting there with him, she considered telling him about what had really happened at Stuttgart. After all, perhaps it was better for her to just accept that she wasn't as normal as she thought, and that this was the status quo. But there was just so much mystery surrounding Loki and her absolutely terrible attraction towards him that she didn't want to voice it. Plus, she was scared Steve would find that unacceptable, and she didn't want him to leave.

"You should get some sleep." He advised. "You look ready to pass out."

"Good call." She yawned, getting up and stretching. Her legs felt like jelly from sitting for so long. "Thank you. For talking to me."

He smiled softly. "Goodnight, Hannah."

"Goodnight, Steve."

A/N: Please please please review! Thank you for sticking with me for eight chapters!