Disclaimer: I don't own Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Agents of SHIELD, etc. I own Jamie.

Chapter 12
Outings

Late the next morning Jamie received a call from Natasha asking her if she wanted to meet up for lunch, indicating that Steve and herself had gotten back late the night before or that morning. Jamie found this odd, seeing as Steve had told her he would call her once they got back and she hadn't received a call yet. Normally he's call her the moment the landed back on a friendly base. He always planned to leave a message, but Jamie generally always answered her phone, no matter what hour.

Steve hadn't called her, but Natasha had? It was strange, either Steve was upset about something (that she had or had not done) or something bad had happened to him and that was why Natasha wanted to meet with her. Neither one made her feel at all at ease.

Jamie walked around the corner and spotted Natasha's red hair. They were eating at an outdoor cafe, with coverage of trees. Natasha wouldn't eat outside if there wasn't some sort of coverage or protection. Too many variables to consider.

"Hey Tash," Jamie greeted kissing the girl on the cheek before placing her bag on the table at her seat.

"Hey Jay," Natasha greeted right back as she scooted over for her.

"How was the mission?" she asked, taking her seat.

"Oh you know, as good as any." Natasha shrugged. "It kinda gets repetitive, you know?"

Jamie raised an eyebrow, questioning the woman before her. "And so Steve's okay?"

"Oh don't you worry, lover boy is just fine." Nat smirked at her.

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Okay, first of all, he's not my 'lover boy' and secondly, he normally calls when you land and he hasn't. So I was worried." Jamie cleared her throat. The waitress took their drink orders and left the women alone. "Any idea on why he hasn't called?"

"Well, I can tell you it has nothing to do with you," she assured. "It's me he's mad at and well, by extension, S.H.I.E.L.D."

Jamie sighed in relief, but also frustration. "What did you do this time, Tash?"

"My job!" Natasha retorted defensively. "Honestly."

"Then why would he be upset?" Jamie asked. "Steve's not one to be upset over nothing."

"Because I had a 'side mission' to handle during the real mission and I was ordered not to tell him." Natasha explained. "I was following orders."

"So he's more upset at Fury than with you," Jamie determined.

"I guess, though he's still pretty upset with me." Nat shrugged as if this didn't bother her too much. "But Steve will get over it."

"Yeah," Jamie agree. "That's a relief to hear. I mean, I thought I did something wrong, or worse, he got hurt during the mission and you were going to tell me over lunch."

"Nah, he's just sulking and knowing him that means he's working out somewhere." Nat said patting her hand.

"He pushes himself too hard sometimes," she said, taking a sip of her water.

"...Seriously? You're going to lecture him about that." Nat asked her.

"Shut up," Jamie grumbled. "Why did you want to have lunch though? Generally you have objectives for stuff like this."

"Well, I am here on behalf of what everyone is thinking." Natasha said seriously.

Jamie raised a brow again. "Okay, what the hell are you talking about?" Jamie picked up her glass and took another sip.

"When are you and Steve getting together?" Natasha smirked at her.

Jamie choked on her water. She quickly put it down and grabbed her napkin, covering her mouth as she coughed. "What?" she asked, once she was done with her coughing fit.

"When are you and Steve getting together?" Natasha sounded out to her as if she were stupid.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Red!" Jamie exclaimed, cheeks bright red. "There's no way we're getting together," Jamie growled at herself because she couldn't seem to form complete sentences. "Nothing's happening between Steve and I."

"Oh there is definitely something there!" Natasha protested a bit. "How could you not see it?"

Jamie leaned forward, looking at the girl with pleading eye to explain to her where all of this was coming from. "Tash, I don't know what you're talking about," she groaned. "What am I supposed to be seeing?"

"That you and Steve are totally meant for eachother. You'd be amazing together and it's obvious you want that to happen," Natasha said.

"What I want isn't the point," Jamie said quickly. "I mean, Steve's my best friend. And he's also the team leader. We work together. Plus, I really don't see where you get that he's into me."

"Because he shot down every other girl I suggested out right, except for you. When I said he made time to watch movies with you he simply said 'don't go there." Nat said.

"Well," Jamie muttered. "Listen to him. Don't go there."

"But why not? Why shouldn't I 'go there?'" She huffed at her.

"Because, like I said, we can't," she pressed. "We work together. Our jobs are dangerous. Getting involved complicates things. It makes things dangerous."

"Or it makes it great," Natasha said. "You both need somebody who understands what war can do, and maybe that somebody's each other."

"Okay, so what if that's what I want?" Jamie asked. "Steve would never do anything about it. And I can't do anything, as much as I want to. I mean, have you ever seen me on a date? It's not pretty. I suck at relationships. Take Colin, for example. And he's my best friend, he doesn't like me. I'm like the little sister he never had or something!"

"Oh you know that's bullshit!" Natasha scolded her. "You never know, maybe he wants you to do something and you want him to do something so in the end you're both just waiting on the other to do something," she scoffed.

Jamie just groaned, letting her head fall to the table.

"Come on now," Natasha sighed. "No need to make this difficult."

"B-" Jamie started to say, but stopped when her phone rang in her pocket. She glanced at Natasha, silently asking her if it was okay to answer. When the redhead nodded, Jamie picked up the phone after looking at the caller ID. With a bright red face, Jamie said in a slightly squeaky voice, "Hey, Steve."

"Hey, Jay." Steve greeted. "Sorry I didn't call earlier. Something came up."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Jamie said. "You're calling now, that's all that matters." Natasha smirked at the brunette, to which the girl replied with sticking her tongue out. "So how was the mission?"

"Well, it could have gone down a bit better but it worked out in the end." Steve said. "Hey, I was actually calling to see if you wanted to meet up with Sam at the VA."

"Sure, what time? I'm eating lunch with Tasha now," she said, "so I can meet you there."

"Umm how about an hour?" Steve asked. "Tell Natasha hello."

"Steve says hi," Jamie told the woman. "And that's sounds perfect. I'll see you then!"

"Bye Steve!" Natasha yelled before Jamie hung up. "So he ask you out?"

"Uh, no," Jamie said. "We're going to meet up with Sam at the VA."

"I should have known it wouldn't be that easy," Natasha huffed.

"Shut up," Jamie muttered.

"Tasha told me you were upset about some stuff that went on with the mission," Jamie admitted as the two walked down the street. Jamie had a hold of Steve's arm, which he had offered to her upon meeting up with her. They walked next to one another slowly, enjoying the slow pace of the afternoon. She squeezed his arm gently, reassuring him that she was there to listen. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really much to tell. I just hate being kept in the dark by supposed allies." Steve sighed a bit.

"I understand that," Jamie admitted. "Sometimes I wonder what it is I'm really doing for them, you know?"

"Yeah but, I mean, can we complain all that much? I mean it's kind of obvious that S.H.I.E.L.D has the best interest in mind even if they do some rather...questionable things at times."

"Yeah, I know," Jamie said. "And if it makes you feel any better, even though Fury's almost as Shady as they come, I trust him. I don't think he's ever really intentionally do anything to cause people danger. Innocent people, I mean." She glanced up at the blue eyes All American boy. "I can't say the same for every SHIELD agent, but I trust Fury. And I can deal with that for now."

They came to the VA and Steve politely opened the door for her. She smiled and thanked him, walking it just before he entered and waited for him.

"The thing is, I think it's getting worse," the woman in the meeting said. "A cop pulled me over last week. He thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED."

"Some stuff you leave there," Sam said. "Other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase, or in a little man-purse? It's up to you."

Jamie turned away, quietly walking away from the open door of the meeting. Steve was leaning against the doorframe, listening and watching. The brunette sighed, running a hand threw her long hair.

It had been two years since she had gotten back from captivity and never once had anybody said something like that to her. They told her she'd learn to deal, she might forget. She'd get over it. But she still woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat or gasping for air. She still hated crowds and loud bangs. She hated needles and doctors.

Nobody ever told her that she had to carry it. After hearing that, she thought of it as the suitcase, something she had to carry around every day. And some days it was so light that it seemed like nothing was in it, but then others she could barely lift it. Each day was different. And it was up to her how much of it she had to carry that day.

"Hey," Steve said, startling the girl out of her thoughts. "The meeting's over."

Jamie glanced around, noticing the stream of people leaving the room and in the hallway. She nodded, taking Steve's arm again as they waited patiently for Sam to finish talking to the people in the support group.

"Look who it is, the running man and glowing girl," Sam said, stacking some pamphlets on the table.

"We caught the last few minutes," Steve said. "It's pretty intense."

"It hit home, that's for sure," Jamie added.

"Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems," Sam said. "Guilt, regret."

"You lose someone?" Steve asked.

"My wingman, Riley," Sam informed the two. "Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op. Nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before. Until an RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch."

Jamie gulped. She knew exactly how that felt. She had watched so many people get dragged down that hallway to the furnace. So many people she had known for years and she watched them all wither away and die, unable to do anything about it. There was no other feeling like it. It was terrible.

"I'm sorry," Steve said.

"After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?" he said.

"But you're happy now, back in the world?" Steve asked.

"Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero," Sam said lightly. "So hell yeah. Are you thinking about getting out?" he asked.

Jamie glanced up at Steve. She wanted to hear his answer. She knew that he was hesitant about everything around him, the things he did. And with the conversation they had earlier, she couldn't blame him if she had at least glazed over the thought of retiring.

"No," he said. A moment later, he corrected himself and said, "I don't know. To be honestly, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did."

"Ultimate fighting?" Sam suggested. Steve laughed and Jamie pulled away from him, playfully throwing fake punches at the much taller blond man. "Just a great idea off the top of my head. But seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?"

Steve thought about it for a moment, glancing down at Jamie, who took up his arm again and back at Sam. "I don't know," he admitted.

"You love to draw," Jamie stated.

"See, roll with that. Do something with it. Sometimes it helps to get some of the thoughts out of your head and onto paper," Sam said.

"You could go back to art school," Jamie thought. "Or you could just be one of those people on the street that draws characters of people. "Get your picture drawn by Captain America!""

"Uh, maybe not. We might have injuries on our hands if we advertise that," Sam muttered.

"I don't think he'd be able to handle the whole Titanic style drawings though, do you?" the girl laughed, asking the brown eyed man.

"Tch, naw man, he'd pass out long before he could even start." Sam laughed. "Though maybe if he could practice with you first..."

Jamie moved away, punching him on the arm. Her face was beat red, the mental image permanently burned into the back of her brain. "Great, now we can't watch Titanic," Jamie muttered. "First you, now Natasha. When can a girl catch a break?"

"It's not like you could have showed it to him anyway with that scene." Sam scoffed at him.

"Nah, he'd be fine watching it," Jamie said. "He's getting used to it, a little. Some of the stuff we've watched and caught up on had worse scenes than that."

"What have you been showing this innocent man child?" Sam fake gasped at her.

"Nothing, I swear!" Jamie protested.

"What's happening in Titanic? The movie about the ship, right? What's wrong with that? I can draw ships," Steve sad eyebrows furrowed.

"It's uh," Jamie muttered, face red. "The reference isn't the ship itself, it's uh, well, the two characters, one..." Jamie trailed off.

"What? So I'm draw two people together just fine. For my parents birthday one year I drew them together." Steve said proudly.

"Uh, n-n-not like," Jamie said. She cleared her throat and turned Sam. "Help me out here."

"On your own, Cupcake," Sam said grinning.

"You son of a bi-"

"What is going on?" Steve groaned.

"Nothing!" Jamie squeaked far too quickly.

"It's obviously not," Steve huffed at her.

"N-Nothing you're ready for?" she tried again, biting her lip peering up at him threw her lashes.

"I am not a child." Steve argued. "I'm a grown man." he huffed.
"Fine then," Jamie muttered. "If you want to know so badly, go home and YouTube it."

"Youtube," he groaned. "You know that website gives me issues!" Steve argued but was obviously relenting.

"Well, you're a grown up, you can look it up on your own," Jamie retorted. Jamie's phone rang. The ringtone telling her that the number was SHIELD. Which only meant one thing: she had to work. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry. I've got to take this," she said. "Excuse me." She stepped away from the two men, answering her phone. "Yeah?."

"Solace, you have an assignment," the Agent on the other line informed her. "Report to the Triskelion effective immediately."

"Copy that," she said, hanging up. Jamie walked back up to the group, sliding her phone back into her pocket. "I've gotta head out," Jamie informed the two.

"No, I get it, duty calls." Steve sighed giving her a hug. "Call me when you get back?"

Jamie chuckled lightly. She pulled back and looked up at him, a gentle hand on his arm squeezing it reassuringly. "Don't I always?"

"I know, I know," Steve scoffed a bit. "Just be careful."

"You worry too much," Jamie laughed. "I'll be back before you know it." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before pulling out of his embrace. "I'll see you later. Nice seeing you again, Wilson."

"You too Roe." Sam smirked as he gave a wave. "Keep out of trouble."

"I make no promises!" she called back.

So, Jamie's heading off for a mission. Steve's a little peeved, but he's a bit more over it now that he talked to Jamie about some of it. Some heavy conversation with Sam and Titanic! A lot going on, but even more in the next chapter. Next chapter is really when shit starts hitting the fan. So we have that to look forward to.

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ: Okay, so at this rate, I have enough chapters for pretty much every day of the week for this week, so if people want me to post one a day, I can, but there's a catch. If I do that, there's probably going to be a gape between when the movie finishes, plus a chapter or so after the movie and then nothing until I Civil War come out because in order to do some stuff that takes place after the movie and between that and Avengers 2, I need to see some Bucky related info, so it's up to you. Choice 1) very quick updates and then a gap until Civil War comes out, or 2) have one of two updates a week and not so much of a gap. It's up to you.

Thanks go to the following for their reviews on the previous chapter:

xenocanaan- I'm so glad you liked it. Hope this on was as good as the last!

seasidewriter1- Steve makes everybody look bad, who are we kidding! And there was more interactions with Sam so I hope you liked that! I extended the scene, referencing Titanic and whatnot. Hope that was a cut little scene to embarrass Jamie. I love Sam, he's one of my favorite guys.

Jo- Of course Sam would go straight to teasing. Sam's awesome. I don't think the movie would be as good as it is without him in it. And for them getting together...Maybe, maybe not. I actually have already written the scene where they get together (with the help of StillDoll13), but I'm not saying anything other than that. But I really love how they're basically in a relationship without declaring or having the title. They just so cute. I agree.

CJ/OddBall- Oh trust me, both Nat and Sam bug BOTH Jay and Steve on the relationship stuff. Or at least he will. We're just kind of starting off. I'm not showing the whole boat scene, as you saw, but I did write a very brief skit at that part where he jumps out of the plain and he's talking to Tasha about dating. I can always send it your way if you want, but otherwise it's not going in. And if I meant pre-serum Steve...Hmm, I'd probably just try and give him some cryptic advice and hang out. Like be all "you're perfect the way you are. There will always be tough times, but always stick to your roots and what you believe in" or something like that.

Jedi Jelsa777- lol, I've watched it like three times so don't feel bad. And you have no idea how many times i"ve watched Cap 2. I mean, it's gotta be around 30 times. And that's not an exaggeration. That's not including how many times I have to go back and rewide it while typing scenes up so...Oh trust me, Trip will def. be in the story. I'll give you a little spoiler if you want, if you don't, don't read the italics: Jamie spends a good deal of season 2 in Agents of SHIELD for reasons I will not disclose so she's going to get to know the characters pretty well. Okay, end of the spoiler if you didn't want to read it. Not too much of a spoiler though. I'd tell that to anybody. The real reason for it is more the spoiler and that's something I'm not going to give away. You know how Mac, Trip, Hunter and Fitz are all kind of in the boys club and get to know each other well? Well, imagine Jamie thrown in with them. I feel like she'd fit in better with them than say...Jemma and Bobby, though Bob's kick ass.

KnowInsight- There won't be too much more fluster during the movie itself since there is so much action and stuff going on, but there will be a bit more after the movie...Then there won't be any at all...But not telling why! Mwahah. And I've already got through chapter 15 done do chapters will be more regular. Next week is Spring break for me, so if I don't end up finishing the movie this week/weekend, then I will hopefully finish it then. I'm still trying to only post one of two chapters a week, but I keep getting so excited that that's not really happening, so we'll see how that goes.

MidnightPenguin- I'm so glad you like their relationship. Trust me, there is so much to come from them so I hope you're excited and like what's to come. Thanks for the review!