Chapter 34- Broken Home

"They would yell, they would scream, they were fighting it out. She would hope, she would pray, she was waiting it out holding onto a dream. While she watches these walls fall down, sharp words like knives, they were cutting her down. Shattered glass ike the past, it's a memory now. Holding onto a dream while she watches these walls fall down. Hey mum, hey dad. When did this end? Where did you lose your happiness? I'm here alone inside of this broken home."

~Broken Home, 5 Seconds of Summer


Nick was right. Laura Barton made the best twice baked potatoes Bethany had ever had, and that was saying a lot. The team had spent the majority of the afternoon recovering, taking showers and naps and coming to terms with what had happened or might possibly happen. They all had their own ways of dealing with this, but Bethany found comfort in being with Clint's daughter. Lila had asked Bethany to play a board game with her, and after a lot of coaxing, Steve joined them. While being with Clint's kids was painful because she couldn't even be with her own baby, there was something so innocent about Lila that it was really comforting and overpowered the cons.

Bethany hadn't missed the looks Steve kept throwing at her, none of malice or anger, but that soft expression he used to wear when they first met. She would never be able to explain it exactly, and she knew she would have to ask him about it one day, but for now she was content with not knowing.

She was exhausted. Despite having a quick cat nap, she couldn't bring herself to sleep anymore. She was so stressed about her son that every time she tried to sleep, even if she fell under for a few seconds, she would dream about Jamie and wake up in a panic. Bethany was relying on caffeine and adrenaline at this point and would continue to do so until she was with her son again.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Nick revealed after dinner. Bethany had assumed as much, considering what Ultron wanted was to kill them. He had the opportunity to when they were out, but clearly he wanted to do it on a public scale, just like Loki had tried to. "My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked, leaning up against the door frame adjacent to Bethany.

"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere," Nick explained. "Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."

"Well, he's smart enough to cover his tracks as best as he can," Bethany added.

"He still going after launch codes?" Tony asked, twirling a dart in his hand.

"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway," Nick reported.

Bethany frowned, Tony backing up her confusion when he replied with "I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."

"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that," Nick continued.

"NEXUS?" Steve interrupted.

"Uh, it's the global internet hub based in Oslo, Norway," Bethany explained. "It's the center of everything."

"Every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth," Bruce added.

"So what'd they say?" Clint pressed on, weighing a dart in his hand.

"He's fixated on the missiles," Nick revealed, but this wasn't news to them. "But the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony pressed on, a dart narrowly missing his face as it sunk into the cork of the dartboard. Alarmed, he looked accusingly to Clint who only shrugged.

"Careful," Bethany found herself warning.

"Parties unknown," Nick continued.

"We have an ally?" Natasha asked, her exhaustion evident in her voice.

"Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing," Fury reminded the group. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo," Tony said. "Find our 'unknown'."

Bethany nodded. "He, she or they may know something about Ultron's plan that we don't. Something vital."

"Well, this is good times, boss," Natasha began. "But I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."
"I do. I have you," Nick corrected, sounding very confident and hopeful. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream of."

It wasn't a secret that Bethany missed those days. It wasn't necessarily the missions, but the security that SHIELD provided her. Now, it was just them. No one else could step in if they fell, whereas at SHIELD, there were always more agents, scientists, technicians and doctors ready to jump in when needed. That was the real flaw of the Avengers. It was just them. No second stringers ready for their chance.

"Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world," Nick continued. "Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction."

Bethany closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about that curly haired boy back at the Tower, waiting for her. If Ultron wanted global destruction, the extinction of the Avengers, and possibly of the entire human race, Bethany knew that Jamie would survive all of that, just like she would. And he would be left alone in New York while the world around him crumbled into a million pieces. As much as she knew she had to stay with her friends and fight, she couldn't ignore the possibility of Jamie being alone while the rest of the world died, Bethany needing to fight Hell and high water to get back to her son. She was already regretting leaving him.

"All this, laid in a grave," Nick's words continued. "So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha replied, tossing Steve a soft smirk.

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve warned, but his inability to be really angry about it keeping it light.

"So what does he want?" Nick pressed on.

"To become better," Steve supplied, pushing off his place from the door frame and taking a firm grip on the back of Bethany's chair, his presence supplying her with some sort of comfort Bethany didn't know she was lacking. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," Tony reminded them. "The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"When you three programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha pointed out.

Bethany kept her thoughts to herself. In all terms, Bethany had no actual part in programming Ultron. She knew about the project, yes. And she was invested in its success, of course. But she didn't lift a finger to help them. She couldn't take the unwanted credit for creating a blood thirsty droid ready to take over the world.

"They don't need to be protected," Bruce spoke softly. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury asked.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" Bruce answered, Bethany immediately cringing.

"Goddamnit," Bethany whispered, her head falling into her hands in despair. On one hand, they knew Ultron's next step. It made sense. Steve had told Bethany at one point that one of Ultron's bots had started to attack Helen, but then stopped. At that point, Bethany just assumed it was because Ultron just wanted to hurt the Avengers, but the destruction of their apartment said otherwise. On the other hand, Ultron's plan was ingenious. He wasn't just going to use the vibranium to upgrade his current body. He wanted to create a human body made out of vibranium, and Helen Cho was just the person to help him with that.

"The good thing is, we know where he'll be," Steve said, mostly to Bethany.

"Hopefully," Bethany nodded. "We should get going before he moves again."


After a quick brainstorm and a costume change, Steve was ready to go to work. He noticed that Bethany hadn't switched into her body suit, despite him bringing it to her from the quinjet. She held the burgundy material in her hands, twisting it softly, still wearing her maxi dress. Her face revealed that she was stressed, heavily contemplating a million things at once.

"Steve…" She said, moving towards him slowly. "Bruce is going back to the Tower and… I'm going with him. You don't need me as much as I need Jamie and as much as he needs me. Does that make me a bad person?"
When he had created the battle plan in his mind, he just assumed that Bethany would come with them. Sending Bruce back to the Tower made sense since asking Bruce to Hulk out after the accident seemed like a cruel and unusual punishment, not to mention would make the media have a field day. Steve knew how much Bethany wanted to go home, but she wasn't one to abandon a mission before the job was done. But if she was making this decision, Steve knew he couldn't stop her. This is what she needed to do, just like this was what he needed to do.

"It makes you a good mother," Steve replied truthfully. And isn't that all she wanted to be? A good mother? And that's what Steve wanted her to be too. He'd much rather her be a good mother than a good hero or spy. "No, go. We've got this."

"You sure?" She checked. If he begged, he knew she'd tag along, but he couldn't do that to her. They could do it without her. It would be easier with her, but not impossible.

"Positive," he replied with a small smile.

"Don't do anything stupid," Bethany warned him, her tone indicating that she was one hundred percent serious.

"Same goes for you," he whispered, cupping her face and giving her a soft kiss.

"All ready?" Tony asked, walking up to them.

"I'll take Natasha and Clint," Steve said with a nod.

Tony looked to Bethany, a soft frown on his face. "You going home?" After Bethany let out a soft nod, Tony continued. "All right. Strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, I'll join you as soon as I can."
Bethany picked up Steve's shield which was resting against a chair and secured it on his back. "If Ultron is really building a body," Steve began.

"He'll be more powerful than any of us," Tony finished. "Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."

"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me," Steve told them truthfully. He earned a smile from Bethany, it not quite reaching her eyes, enough of a confirmation that she was going to be okay. He worried about her more than he knew he should, but she didn't make it easy on him.

"I'll drop Banner off at the Tower," Nick said as he walked by them.

"I'm going too," Bethany spoke up.

Nick let out a 'hmpf' in acknowledgment. "That's no surprise. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?"

"She's all yours," Tony promised before turning bitter. "Apparently. What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know," Nick said honestly. "Something dramatic, I hope."

Both Nick and Tony left them to prepare for departure, but Bethany's heavily concerned frown encouraged Steve to sigh before pulling her into his arms. "This may be the hardest decision I've ever made," Bethany revealed. "I don't want to leave you. Every time we separate, something bad happens, Steve."

"Nothing bad is going to happen," Steve tried to assure her, but Bethany could see right through his lies. No one knew what was going to happen. "I have a million reasons to come home in one peace."

"You have two reasons," Bethany mumbled.

"Well, those two reasons mean everything to me," He reminded her, tilting her head up to look into her eyes. The worry danced around in her green irises and all he could do was lay a soft kiss upon her forehead to try and smooth out of the wrinkle that rested there. "Just go home and take care of our son."

"I love you," she whispered, a tremble in her voice. This time, Steve cupped her cheeks and kissed her lips, passionately, enough to make Tony groan if he were still lingering around. That kiss wasn't just for her. It was for him as well. He would use it later to regain some strength. Despite the fight being a vital part of his life, he didn't think he'd be able to breath if Bethany wasn't giving him his strength. She may have given him the muscles and the agility, but the second that she wasn't around, the second that she was in grave danger, it was like he was just that skinny little boy from Brooklyn.

Being in love with her was pure agony. Every good moment made it worth it to stay with her forever, even if those moments were far and few in between. But the agony of them fighting, of them not being together, all of the bad was on occasion, worse than physical pain. Steve had almost lost her in that explosion half a year ago and he had never felt so weak in his entire life. The very idea of her slipping away from him made it so much easier to understand her change in the years without him. As much as he believed Jamie would keep her from turning to that dark woman again, there was no assurance of what would or wouldn't happen. Coming back home wasn't just for him. It was for them both. He wouldn't put his soul mate in that kind of agony again, not if he could help it.


The ride back to the Tower seemed to last for days. She had called in, only to find that Jamie was sleeping. She reminded herself that him sleeping was better than him crying out for her, but she really needed to see his smile. Soon, she reminded herself, confident that he would reward her with a million smiles when they saw each other again.

"Bethany?" Bruce asked softly, quiet enough that Nick wouldn't be able to hear him.

"Yeah?" She replied, looking over to him. The man looked considerably better from when they picked him up after the Hulk incident, but heavy bags still took place under his eyes. However, Bethany was certain those same bags were present under her own eyes.

"Have you ever thought about… running away?" Bruce asked carefully.

Bethany was shocked at first, her instinct telling her to immediately say no, but then remembering that to this day, that's still what she wanted. Ever since the secret of HYDRA being inside SHIELD came to light, that was all Bethany wanted to do, every single day. She had even asked Steve to run away with her, before the battle at SHIELD. Bethany wanted to run away with her child and husband and live the life they deserved to have as a family. Even now, that's what she really wanted if it meant keeping them safe and together.

"Yes," she finally answered.

"Did you ever ask Steve to run away with you?" Bruce pressed on.

Bethany nodded, slowly looking down at her lap for a second. "It's not something I'm proud of, but yeah. He wasn't too thrilled at the idea, or the fact that I actually asked him to do that."

"Because he probably assumed you were thinking it on some level, or he was thinking it himself, but you actually asking him made it real," Bruce summarized. "Obviously he said 'no.'"

"I knew that he would," Bethany said with a sigh. "I can see the struggle when I ask him to do things that'll make me happy, but a lot of other people will suffer. He always does what he believes is right, which scares me because I know that one day, I'll lose him again because of this."

"A lot of the other members of the team will never stop fighting," Bruce continued, looking to the wall. "But you and I want what we'll never get. Science has been our passion for years, but it's also our downfall. We want to be normal, but we can't."

"Why'd you ask about running away?" Bethany asked softly. "Are you thinking about leaving? I wouldn't blame you Bruce. I'd applaud you, if you did it for the right reasons."

"Natasha and I were talking about it," He revealed. "It just got me thinking."

"You care about her, you don't need to hide that from me," Bethany promised him. "I know what it's like."

"But it's different for you," Bruce reminded her. "You get to have the children and the happy marriage."

Bethany scoffed, shaking her head. "I have it, and I'm grateful for Steve and Jamie. But it only makes my life more difficult. If Jamie wasn't born, I'd be by Steve's side. And our marriage isn't exactly happy. We love each other, but we both know that it takes more than that to be happy. I'm not saying you have it better than me. I know you don't. But my life isn't this big fairy tale with a happy ending. And you know that too."

Silence fell between them, Bethany wondering whether or not Bruce would run away. Not just Bruce, but also Natasha. Bethany knew that she couldn't run away, as much as she wanted to. Going back to the Tower was the only running she really could do. She wasn't going anywhere unless Steve was going with her, and she knew that he would continue the mission until the very end, even if that meant him never returning home.

Bethany closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to push all negative thoughts away. All she needed to focus on now was that Steve would come back to her, and that she was about to be with her son again. If she focused on the negative, she wouldn't be able to cherish the positive.

Bethany could feel the aircraft starting to fall as it came to land. She had sprung up and started running towards the Tower's elevator before the cargo bay door even finished opening. Her heart was pounding wildly as she made her way down to the safe room where her little boy was waiting for her. Bethany couldn't stop her foot from tapping on the ground impatiently. She took in a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves and stop her hands from shaking violently. As the elevator doors opened, however, Bethany froze. She could see the door to the safe room, cracked open just a little. Maria must have disabled the auto lock as the aircraft came close to the Tower in preparation for this.

She could hear the light murmur of the television or maybe even the radio, followed by Jen and Theo's voices. Taking a few shaky steps forward, Bethany could begin to hear the soft babbles that could only belong to her son, which only gave her the strength to push forward confidently.

Pushing through the door weakly, she almost cried when she saw her son. He was sitting on Jackson's lap, holding onto his Hulk plushie, but looking at a picture frame sitting on the table beside the couch. Bethany recognized the frame and knew that it was a picture of her and Steve inside. "Jamie?" She called out, barely a whisper, but loud enough to get everyone's attention, including the little boy. A loud squeal of delight sounded from him, his arms flying up in excitement, his Hulk toy falling to the ground in the process. Letting out a cry of relief, Bethany quickly moved forward to scoop her little boy from Jackson's arms, holding him close to her. Jamie's face tucked itself in the crook of her neck, his wet pink lips lightly pressed against her skin as his little arms clung onto her. Lowering herself onto the couch, afraid that her legs would give out, she cradled him close to her, a comforting hand rubbing his back.

Bethany knew that the only way to make this moment more perfect would be if Steve was there with them, his long, strong arms wrapped around the both of them, making Bethany feel as secure and safe as her own were providing to Jamie. "Momma's home, baby," Bethany whispered, unable to keep the tears at bay. She was flooding with emotion.

"Momma," Jamie repeated, his small voice a mere mumble as it was spoken against her skin, but no less being the most beautiful sound Bethany had ever heard.


It was quiet in the Tower. Bethany knew that she should head up to see if there was any news, but the time was flying by her, and she kept convincing herself that they would call her up if they needed anything at all. It wasn't until Steve called her that she realized just how much she missed while spending time with her son. She felt a little guilty, but Jamie's little chubby face kept her from feeling full-on shame for her absence.

"Slow down," Bethany prompted into the phone. "I don't follow any of what you're saying."

"The cradle is at the Tower, yes?" Steve asked, frustration clear in his voice. She wasn't sure if the frustration was directed at her or not, but she knew that he would only continue to grow frustrated when she admitted that she didn't know. "Wanda believes that Tony is going to use the cradle and the vibranium to create a new version of Ultron."

Bethany frowned slightly before deciding that she needed to become involved in the situation again. Jamie clung on tightly to her shirt as she made her way to the elevator. "And you trust her?"

"She has a point about Ultron not knowing whether he's destroying or fixing the world, Beth," Steve pressed on. "Tony is the same way."

She couldn't hold back the scoff. She was getting real tired of Steve's clear disapproval of Tony's methods. The kid made a lot of mistakes, but at least he was trying. "Sometimes the only way to solve something is to try again, but this time to fix the mistakes-"

"You cannot be serious right now," Steve expressed. "Bethany, this will only make things worse!"

"You don't know that!" Bethany insisted. "And if we had it your way, we'd never find anything out. You don't want to try new things because you're so afraid of it not working out. You don't give things a chance-"

"That's not true," he stressed. "Why can't you see that this will just-"

"Why can't you?" She interrupted, but her voice quiet. "Steve, we made a mistake with Ultron, yes. But if people gave up after a mistake, we wouldn't get anywhere."

The line was quiet, but even with a considerable distance between the two of them, Bethany could feel his disapproval. "I'll go and talk to them," she finally conceded. "But I can't promise anything, Steve."

"They'll listen to you," he replied softly, seemingly happy that she was willing to do this in order to make him happy.

"I'm not so sure about that," Bethany disagreed when the elevator doors opened. She could see the men in the lab, fussing around what could only be Helen Cho's regeneration cradle. "But I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

"I'll see you soon," Bethany replied before hanging up. She was happy to know that Steve was okay. He had mentioned that Ultron had Natasha, but right now, due to the issue with the cradle, that wasn't their first priority, and if it was someone else in Nat's shoes, the redhead would be the first person to remind them all that the cradle should come first, the prisoner second. Getting the prisoner wouldn't necessarily help the mission, but finding a way to destroy Ultron would indeed help getting the prisoner.

And then there was the fact that no one knew where Natasha was. But Bethany believed that Natasha was alive. It was clear that Ultron wanted to kill them all in a public setting. If he had killed her, the entire world would know by now. Natasha was one of the best spies Bethany ever had the pleasure of meeting. They'd find her, in one piece, ready to exact her revenge against Ultron, and everyone was certain of this.

"What's going on in here?" Bethany asked when she entered the lab. Both men stopped, looking like two deer caught in headlights. Obviously them not bringing her into the situation wasn't just to allow her time with her son. They didn't want her to know for fear that she'd stop them.

"I can explain," Tony finally offered, reminding Bethany of a little boy trying to scramble for answers.

"You don't need to explain, it's obvious what you're doing," Bethany said with a roll of her eyes. "I know what you're doing and why you're doing it."
"Okay, then I'm confused," Tony admitted, both men continuing their work. "Why are you asking?"

"Steve thinks this is a bad idea," Bethany explained.

"Right, but you don't," Tony concluded.

Bethany sighed, looking into the window of the cradle. Jamie, also curious, took a peak but immediately cowered back, burying his face into Bethany's chest. "I don't know what I believe anymore," she admitted. "It's risky, Steve's right about that."

"But if we never take risks-" Bruce began, to which Bethany shook her head.

"I know, I already pointed this out to him," Bethany breathed. "But what is going to make this any different?"

"JARVIS," Tony said matter-of-factly.

Bethany visibly flinched, a brief moment of silence taking over them before she shook her shock away. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh, um he was the one protecting the military's nuclear codes," Bruce stumbled to explain as he went about his work, sparing her a brief glance as he maneuvered around. "Ultron was intimidated by JARVIS because of what he's capable of, so JARVIS went into hiding, or at least, as much into hiding as a computer system can get."

"He did everything he had to so Ultron wouldn't find him," Tony continued, picking up where Bruce left off. "But he still had his programming, his protocols."

"Which includes protecting the nuclear codes," Bethany murmured to herself.

"Exactly," Tony nodded. "J did such a good job of burying himself deep, he didn't even realize that he was still in there until I found him and stitched him back together."
"So we do have an ally," Bethany summarized, thinking towards Natasha's earlier statement. "And you think putting JARVIS, someone we already know and trust into a vibranium body will be, what? The saviour we originally asked for?"
"Theoretically," Tony allowed.

Bethany looked back down through the window of the cradle, looking at the lifeless body that laid inside. "What's that?" She asked, laying a single finger against the glass, pointing to the yellow jewel on the body's forehead.

"Huh?" Tony asked, looking at to where she was pointing for a moment before shaking his head. "Nothing."

"Well obviously it's not nothing," Bethany said with a roll of her eyes. "Ultron put it there for a reason."

"The sceptre was a casing for something important inside," Bruce theorized. "Maybe Ultron got it out. Maybe that's what it is."

Bethany's eyes shot open, looking between the two men in panic. "I'm sorry, and that doesn't concern anyone?!"

"Bethany, either help us or don't," Tony said with a shrug. "But we're busy working, and I think you already know that nothing you say or do will stop us."

Bethany gave a frustrated roll of her eyes, her jaw clenching in anger as she shifted Jamie from one hip to the other. He was right. She did possess a fair amount of strength, but she wasn't going to force Bruce away from something, not while Jamie was in the room, or even in the proximity. Tony could easily call to his suit if she just went after him and she wouldn't stand a chance.

She was SHIELD's greatest spy once upon a time, for ability like stealth, flexibility, an amazing shot and her willingness to do what needed to be done. But these people around her weren't ordinary people, or fellow spies. They were superheroes, cases Bethany would have been a part of, but would have been back-up. She didn't even need to run the different scenarios through her head to know that this was a battle she couldn't win. But at least she could tell Steve she had at least tried. Maybe not that hard, since part of her, a big part, agreed with what they were doing. But the other part was torn because Steve also had a point.

Bethany hated not knowing exactly where she stood in this matter. It didn't help that two people she loved where on polar opposite sides of the situation. But if she had to choose a side, she would side with the scientists for the mere reason that she had been a scientist before anything else, and her curiosity, to consider wondering if whether or not this would be successful, would eat her up.

She looked down at Jamie when he let out an uncomfortable series of whimpers. One glance at him and she knew that he was in a desperate need of a diaper change. The smell quickly followed, Bethany silently leaving the lab, feeling pretty helpless, but also not caring. Knowing that she didn't want to go back down to the safe room, and that she really just needed to be alone with her son, she went down to the apartment.

Bethany kissed the top of Jamie's head as she carefully made her way into her home. She had forgotten just how badly Ultron's bots had ruined her home. Sighing heavily, she decided to change Jamie before she looked around her broken home.

"Here we go little man," Bethany cooed, trying to look and sound happy, as she placed him down on the changing table. "You are one stinky little baby, did you know that?"
Jamie's lips split open in a big wet smile as he let out a bubbling laugh. "Oh, what?" Bethany played along as she changed him. "You think it's funny that you smell? At least pretend it's not you silly, that's what all the men in this building do. All of them. Although your daddy will at least leave the room subtly." Jamie only continued to smile up at her, as if this was the most entertaining thing in the world. When she secured a new diaper on him, she pulled him up and peppered a million kisses onto his face, his laughter bubbling up again. "There you go, smelling just like new."

Pulling a folded blanket from a shelf, she casually wrapped it around Jamie while still holding him before finally venturing out to see her home. Bethany began rubbing Jamie's back, not for his sake, but for her own. What caught her eyes the most was the scattered records on the ground, many of them shattered. Bending down, she picked up a large shard, reading the name that had clung onto the piece. It was a Glenn Miller tribute vinyl, one that Steve had picked up at a thrift shop when they were still living in D.C. She tried to hold back her emotions, to convince herself that this wasn't something worth crying about, but she couldn't convince herself of that. It wasn't just any old vinyl. None of them were just vinyl. They were all little memories, some irreplaceable, now shattered on her living room floor.


Bethany lifted a hand to the back of her neck, massaging it lightly. She had been craned over paperwork for hours now. Her paperwork didn't take too long to complete, since she was always on top of it, and had now become routine. It was Steve's paperwork that was taking so long to complete. Back during the war, Steve had completed his reports on time but for some reason, he was less than enthusiastic when it came to completing SHIELD's reports.

He continually complained that it was too much work, answering repetitive questions and that it was ultimately a waste of time. But Bethany knew that the paperwork needed to be completed and took pity on her husband-to-be, so she told him that he just needed to give her the summary of the situation and she'd answer all the questions she could with the information he gave her. If she left anything blank, Steve would answer it afterwards. Fury couldn't care less if she did it or if Steve did, as long as the work was done and preferably filled out before the deadline.

"Someone needs a massage," Steve stated, having just come in from a two-day mission.

"You better be referring to me," she teased, rolling her head to try and loosen her neck. Bethany got out of her chair and threw her arms around his neck giving him a kiss with a giant smile on her face.

"Hmmm," Steve let out, smiling back at her as his arms wrapped around her waist. She could feel a plastic grocery bag hitting her thigh, but she was too enamoured with the man in front of her to question it. "I was, actually. You looked tense."

"Well, your paperwork keeps piling up," Bethany reported. "And I guess since you're back from another mission, there's more, right?"

"Yeah, sorry," Steve admitted giving her a smile. "But I can think of more than one way to make it up to you."

"Oh yeah?" Bethany asked with a flirtatious smile on her face. "I can too. Starting with your head in between my legs."
Steve's brows rose up slightly in surprise, but his growing smile indicated that he liked this idea. "I was actually thinking of a romantic dinner to go with that neck massage, but your way sounds a lot more fun."

"Mmmm," she hummed, kissing him softly. "Well I had a lot of spare time on my hands the last two days. My mind wandered a little. And maybe my hands did too."

Bethany could see Steve swallowing hard at the image of that. "You-you…"

"Of course, my imagination isn't as good as the real thing," Bethany teased, moving a hand to push his hair back into his coif, the blond strands silky between her fingers.

Steve let out a deep breath of air, shaking his head. "You really are a vixen."

"Shall we get started?" Bethany asked excitedly.

"Actually," Steve began, his hands slipping away from her waist. Bethany's arms slipped down, feeling a slight twinge of rejection, but knowing that it was only because he had something else up his sleeve. "I bought something today."

"Oh?" Bethany asked, watching as he brought the plastic bag in between them and opened it.

"Look," Steve exclaimed with a huge smile. Bethany reached in and pulled out a vinyl, it's casing having seen better days. "I got it for fifty cents at a yard sale!"

Bethany couldn't help but laugh at his adorable smile and the pride in his voice. "Glenn Miller Band Tribute?"

"I thought it would be fun to listen to at dinner," He explained.

Bethany turned the record around and looked at the track listing. "And romantic as hell. Oh, In the Mood!"

This time it was Steve who was laughing at her adorableness. "I know it's one of your favorites."

"Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman have my heart," she reported. "All the other Big Bang conductors suck."

"That's your opinion," Steve reminded her. "So you approve?"

She chuckled again, looking up at him. "You spent fifty cents on this, love. It's not like it's setting us back at all."

Steve laughed in response, shaking his head. "No. No, I mean about my idea."

"Oh," Bethany said as understanding came over her. "So what you're saying is that you want to listen to the Glenn Miller Band Tribute over having sex?"

"Maybe," Steve said, earning a shocked gasp from Bethany. "Orrrr we can listen to it while we have sex."
A single brow lifted in amusement, Bethany nodding slowly. "Okay, that's not a bad compromise. As long as I don't need to get up to flip the vinyl when it's done."

Steve shook his head, unable to keep his smile off his face. "I do love you, Bethany Stark."


**A/N: Again, this is a little early, but I just finished writing the Battle of Sokovia and I guess I'm excited :) Shout-out to my betas for being amazing and allowing me to post this now :)

anonymouscsifan: They will... eventually. I actually made a definite (and let me tell you, it's the best decision I've made in regards to this story) decision about when and how that'll happen. And I'm dead set on my plans for the air between the couple between the movies, so you'll just have to wait and see what happens ;)

FeliciaFelicis: Agent Carter played here already :D It was actually... really good? Like I wasn't too excited to watch it, but I was strangely impressed? I'm looking forward to the next episode. I really want to start writing one-shots of Bethany during Agent Carter? I'm just not organized to do that :P

Jo: It's probably online somewhere! You should definitely watch it, it was very enjoyable.