A/N: So sorry that this is a day late, cause I wanted to try to upload on Fridays. But here's the chapter! I hope y'all enjoy!

Chapter 5:

The next morning, as I open my eyes, I am greeted with a slightly different view from normal. It takes me a moment to remember where I am until a large arm grabbed me and pulled me into a muscular chest. I smile up and the beautiful blond in bed next to me.

"Good morning." He says, placing a small kiss on my forehead.

I bury my face in his chest. "I wish we could just stay in bed all day like this." I muttered.

He laughs, the deep, throaty, delightful laugh that I love the sound of.

"Believe me, I do too, but aren't you hungry?"

I open my mouth to answer, but I am interrupted by my stomach growling. Steve laughs again, and I pretend to pout.

"Come on, let's go get some food." Steve yanks the blanket off both of us in one fluid motion, and I grapple for it to cover myself again, but Steve is too quick for me.

"Come on Steph, you're hungry, go ahead and get out of bed."

I mutter something along the lines of "just so I can punch you" and clamber out of bed. Steve immediately comes behind me and wraps me in a hug, which somehow manages to make getting out of bed worth it. I do manage to land a punch on Steve's arm after he releases me, which probably actually hurt me more than it hurt him.

After we finish breakfast, his tone turns serious. "I didn't really have the chance to tell you, but we've pinpointed the Hydra base and we're planning to fly out to Texas and raid it."

I run a hand through my hair nervously. "Who's the we in this situation?"

"Nat, Clint, Tony, Sam, Wanda and myself." Steve replies.

"That many?" I ask, cursing the fear that's seeping into my voice. Steve must have picked up on it, for he pulls me in, slightly crushing me against his chest.

"It's just a precaution, Steph. We're so close to finding out what it is about you that Hydra was so keen to get. We've done dozens of these raids before, it's nothing more dangerous than all the other ones."

I gaze up at him and smile. "Then go out there and knock 'em dead." I told him. He grinned back to me and turned to get ready.

Steve and the rest of the team were gone for the next three days. I tried my best not to worry too much, and it was actually easier than I would have expected. I spend a lot of my time with Jane, Darcy and Pepper, binge-watch Netflix shows and did a good deal of reading. The days pass quickly, and late Wednesday afternoon, three days after they left, I got a text from Steve letting me know they were on their way back now.

After said text, it became a lot harder to suppress my anxiety, so I do the one thing I know used to always make me feel better.

Bake cookies.

Something about the method and set structure of baking really helped to calm my nerves, so I busy myself with making my favorite chocolate chip cookies while I wait for the team to get home. When I do hear the quinjet outside, I head over to the landing pad to meet the team.

They all look a bit worse for wear. Clint has a bit of a limp, Nat has a gash down her arm, Tony's suit is banged up and one of Sam's wings is broken. I smile to see them all, but there's one person I'm looking for. He follows Wanda out of the quinjet and, upon seeing me, immediately comes over for the chance to swoop me up in a hug. I hear someone, probably one of the guys, whistle, but I just ignore it as I kiss Steve with the passion of three days without him.

I fiddle with the hem of my shirt as I walk to the interrogation chamber with Steve. Despite the fact that Steve has assured me I have nothing to worry about, I'm still incredibly scared for what he'll say. But I try not to focus on that and instead on Steve's hand, wrapped around mine, providing silent support.

Natasha's already there when we get down, as well as a level 7 agent who I've seen once before but really have no clue who he is. The agent carefully opens the door for us, and I follow Steve and Natasha inside.

The man inside doesn't seem particularly sinister. He has thick, dark hair and a dark beard. There's a long scratch down the side of his face, and his features are contorted into and expression of disgust.

Natasha stands in front of him and begins to grill him, trying her best to get the info out of him. He closes his eyes and seems to be ignoring her until he opens his eyes again and looks past Natasha to… me.

He sneered at the shocked expression on my face. "I've come to the conclusion there's no real harm in telling you about this little freak." He laughed mirthlessly and spat on the ground before continuing. "When her parents found out she was likely to die before she was even born, they were willing to do anything to get that child to live, including signing up for questionable experiments. The fools thought that we were truly trying to save their child, but the poor, poor idiots just didn't know what they had signed up for. Hydra scientists had developed a formula that they thought would recreate the super soldier experiment. The only problem was that that thought it would only work if the formula was injected in a mother who was carrying a child. But where would we get someone willing to test? Your poor, idiotic parents, of course."

"And it could have all worked. We would have taken the child and tested it once it was old enough and most likely have had ourselves a young super soldier we could mold and shape however we so desired. But alas, your dumb father managed to overhear a conversation between two of the doctors and escaped with your mother and her unborn child. They never showed up at our facilities again, yet two months later they gave birth to a happy, healthy baby girl."

He glared in my direction. "We could have still taken you, but your parents promptly uprooted and disappeared. It took us over twenty years to finally track them down, and we couldn't very well have them still around, so that's why we had to dispose of them. We then just had to track you down, which we did. However, your star-studded boyfriend beat us to you, not to mention, because of your worthless father, your mother never got the final serum. The doctors think that if they ever get their hands on you, which they will, they could insert the formula directly and it would still work. And we will find you, and when we do, not even your pristine super soldier boyfriend will be able to save you. Hail Hydra."

I hadn't noticed how tightly I had been clenching Steve's hand, or how dizzy I felt. I felt like I was about to faint, and the only thing actually keeping me up was Steve. He helped me out of the interrogation chamber and up into our rooms. There, we sat together on the couch in silence. I could tell Steve really wanted to say something, anything to make me feel better, but what could he possibly say?

Instead of speaking, Steve just opted to pull me into a hug. I buried my face in his chest and took a shaky breath. Steve's arms pull me tighter and he presses a light kiss to my head. A small sob manages to escape, and Steve pulled me away to look me in the eyes.

"Listen, I don't care about what he said. You're here, you're fine and you're safe. I swear to you, I will do everything I can to keep you safe. It would kill me to see anything happen to you, and I couldn't bear it if anything did happen. I would put my life on the line to see you safe because…" his voice got softer as his blue eyes bore into me. "I think I love you."

I can't stop the tears now, and they flow down my face freely. "I…" I choked on a sob, burying my face in Steve's chest. "I don't want to lose you."