So this is exactly what I feared would happen, this story has occupied so much of my mind that I can't concentrate on studying. Lol I hope you like this chapter, and thank you all for your rates and reviews.
I do not own the characters, except the OC.
Enjoy :D
Lexi fell over the edge of the helicarrier. She fell off! Steve didn't know what to do. He froze on the spot. After a quick restart to his brain he ran to the place she fell. Looking down he couldn't see her. He couldn't see her! Panic began to set in, his heart rate spiked. He had vowed he would protect her, he made a vow! He dropped to his knees the tears slowly reaching his eyes. Self loathing rising with the bile in his throat. "Help" he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, reminding him of the beautiful woman he had failed to protect. "Help" but wait...it sounded so real. Looking down once more, his breath left him. A hand was seen holding onto a ledge. "Steve, HELP!" Steve quickly sprung into action, without a thought to his safety. He swung over the edge landing on a repair access platform swinging over the railing and inching his way closer to the edge. The wind howled past his ears, the cold and small pin pricks of condensed water hitting his face harshly, crouching down and extending his hand towards Lexi.
"Grab my hand!" Steve yelled. "I can't, I'll fall!" screaming over the sound of the wind and the wind turbines. "Trust me! You can do it!" Steve tried to encourage Lexi, yet her eyes were the size of saucers, panic and fear written all over her face. "Lexi, look at me! Look at me! I promise you, I will protect you." Steve held her gaze, keeping his promise and making others in the back of his mind, ones he hoped to tell her one day. He watched as her fearful look was replaced with determination and faith, and something else, but it might have been wishful thinking. She knew that Steve would protect her, she had to put her faith in him. She extended her other hand towards him, grazing her fingers with his. If she wasn't hovering in the air thousands of miles above the ground she would have blushed, attempting once again she barely grasped his fingertips before slipping.
Beginning to loss her grip on the helicarrier, she bit her lip and threw her arm and as much as her body would allow towards Steve, in the process letting go of the edge of the helicarrier.
Steve saw what she was attempting, and reached out, he grabbed hold of her forearm and yanked her towards him. Wrapping her up in his arms, and launching himself back onto the repair platform. He wouldn't let her go. He couldn't let her go.
Lexi was shaking so hard, the adrenaline and shock. She broke out into a cold sweat, it was slowly running down her face. At least she thought it was sweat, until a hand gently brushed it away. It wasn't until then that she realized that she was in fact crying. The hand came up and brushed her hair away from her face, then striking blue eyes met her green ones. These blue eyes calmed her racing heart down, they held a promise; everything was going to be alright, she was safe. She buried her face into Steve's shoulder and gave a shudder, as she tried to regulate her breathing from sobs and calm herself down. She was then lifted into his arms and carried back up to the tarmac, and back into the helicarrier.
Bruce looked up from his work as someone entered his lab. He was shocked at what he saw: Steve carrying Lexi who looked unconscious, with closer inspection he saw tear tracks down her cheeks and slight shuddering of her breath. He rounded the table "what happened?"
"She fell off the helicarrier, when it rolled, I had to grab her off the side. The adrenaline has worn off and she's gone into shock. I want you to look at her." Steve said in an authoritative voice.
Bruce cleared off a lab table, "place her on here, I'll take a look at her." Once she was on the table, Lexi gave a soft whimper when she lost the feeling of those two arms around her. She blindly reached out and grabbed the retracting arms sleeve, being selfish and needing the security those arms provided for her.
Steve looked down and his eyes softened at Lexi's actions, he unhooked her hand from his sleeve, and grasped her hand in his, sending her a reassuring glance. Bruce glanced between the two with a slight smirk on his face, as he quickly looked over Lexi, however it quickly changed to a frown as he noticed that her wound on her thigh had reopened. "I'm gonna have to take a look at that" pointing at her thigh. Lexi looked at what he was pointing at, she then had an idea. "Umm...actually if you can get me some water, I can fix it myself." Bruce nodded his head, he was perplexed by her requested but decided to humour her. Grabbing a bottle of water and handed it to her.
"Thank you." she unscrewed the cap then began to bend that water around her hand, earning shocked stares from Steve and Bruce, "what are you doing?" Bruce wondered. She smiled at his curiosity, She then moved her hand, now coated in water towards her thigh and then it began to glow. Two sets of jaws dropped in absolute disbelief, earning a chuckle from Lexi, than a sigh of relief as her healing water began to heal her wound. After about three minutes, she removed the water and placed it back in the water bottle. Bruce inspected the wound, it was completely healed, a small white scar in its place, but looking as if it was inflicted weeks ago.
"How did you do that?" Bruce questioned with unmasked curiosity. Lexi chuckled and decided to inform them of her abilities.
"I am able to manipulate the elements, and each element has different abilities."
"how long have you been able to do that?" Steve finally managed on asking. "Since I was young, my grandmother taught me to interact with my surroundings, becoming one with the elements. I discovered that I was able to manipulate the elements and spent more time in the forest near my village honing my ability, as well as learning from those around me." "Those around you?" Steve wondered "Yes, there are more than just human beings on this planet. I learned from my villagers like any normal person would, however in my training I shadowed the animals of the forest, listened to the whispering of the trees, the movements of the river, and ultimately the spirit of the forest." Lexi had grown bolder during her statement of how she learned things, taking pride in her abilities and having people finally understand what she was capable of. She had no reason to hide anymore, these people had rescued her, twice. She could offer them that much.
"Huh, why didn't you tell Fury any of this before?" Tony asked as he had been eavesdropping from outside the lab. Lexi looked over to him, "because, I didn't like how he was looking at me." "And how was that?" "Like I was either expendable or bait." Lexi said while leveling a glare at Mr. Stark, to be honest she didn't know if she liked him. He was difficult to read. "Whoa there sleeping beauty, I agree with you on not letting patched know about your abilities, however I'm pretty sure he knows now, since we are on his boat." "Boat?" "Uh...yeah this is a boat." "It doesn't look like any boat I've ever seen, and it's in the air not on water." Lexi was very confused. Sure she hadn't been past the surrounding forest other than sneak peeks at the closest town, and she had seen things flying through the sky on occasion, but this place, with all its bright shiny surfaces that made noise was unlike anything she had ever seen. "And what's with all the shiny surfaces and beeping noises?"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Do you not know what any of this is?" Tony gestured around the room at the various equipment, he was shocked by her comments. Was she seriously asking him about technology?! Lexi shook her head. Tony placed his hand to his forehead, "my god, this can't be happening! I didn't believe that this could happen!" Steve was getting annoyed at Tony's attitude. "What's wrong with that?" Steve finally asked. "I couldn't believe that there would be someone who knows less about the 21st century than you Capsicle, but low and behold, here it is." Tony gestured to Lexi, who lowered her head and blushed slightly at that comment. Steve noticed this and sent a glare at Tony which in turn earned him a smirk back. Bruce just stood off to the side, watching the exchange, placed his hand on Lexi's shoulder "I can get Natasha to find your clothes for you. And find somewhere to sleep, you must be exhausted from today's events. However I'm pretty sure that Fury is going to want to talk to you regarding your abilities. I suggest sleep first, makes it easier to handle him."
Lexi smiled at Bruce, "thank you, I would appreciate it." "No problem," he comm'ed Natasha requesting her clothes. She arrived with her clothing in hand, which she gratefully accepted, changing in a vacant room. She exited with a sigh of relief feeling more like herself with her own clothing on. Upon coming back to the room, she noticed that everyone had gathered in Banner's lab, that included Fury. With holding a sigh she entered the lab, making everyone stop their various conversations and looked at Lexi. She offered a weak smile, and turned her attention towards Fury. "I don't appreciate your withholding vital information Miss Taylor." "I apologize, however after my first encounter with you, you can't blame me for not informing you." Giving him a little bit of lip service seeing how far she could get under his skin. Everyone smirked at her attitude, they were impressed that she attempted to hold her own against Fury. His eye twitched, "yes well, I think now that the 'cat's out of the bag' you can inform us of everything else you've been withholding."
"I have told you everything I know about the men that captured me, however I didn't tell you about my abilities." She retold what she had said to Bruce and Steve and apparently Tony. Upon her completing the tale, she looked Fury square in the eye "I apologize, however that it all I can tell you. Now if you don't mind, I have used a lot of energy in one day, and feel like I might pass out, can you tell me where I can get some food and somewhere to sleep." That comment earned a chuckle from Tony and Clint. "I like her. I can take you to the cafeteria." Clint offered. She gratefully accepted, and followed after him.
Steve watched Lexi leave the lab with a wide smile on his face, impressed by how she was able to stand her ground against Fury. He had learned a lot about this woman in the past 3 hours then he had ever hoped. "Yo Capsicle, your face is going to split in half if you smile any wider. Care to share? Wait never mind, I think I know what your smiling at." Tony gave him a knowing smile. Steve rolled his eyes and exited the lab.
He was happy, there was no doubt about that. He had found a strong willed woman, with amazing abilities, and with an added bonus; knew as little about the 21st century as him. Also helped that she was breath takingly beautiful with expressive emerald eyes, and porcelain white skin, and midnight black hair. He knew that there was something about her that caused him to react like a teenager on his first date. He obviously had no skills with women however Lexi was so easy to interact with. She didn't say much but her body language expressed everything.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice where he was going when he rounded the corner of the hallway, and something bouncing off of him. He looked down and saw the very same woman sitting on the floor looking shocked at how she ended up there. "I am so sorry, ma'am. I wasn't looking where I was going." Lexi offered a slight chuckle at how flustered he had become. "It's alright, and please call me Lexi. And I also wasn't looking where I was going." She grabbed his offered hand and allowed him to pull her off the ground. She blushed lightly when he wouldn't let go of her hand. "If you would like I can walk you back to your room." "I would appreciate that." She offered a kind smile which reached her eyes. Steve noticed that they had a slight twinkle to them causing him to blush and take a small step away from her.
He took her to where she was to be rooming, unsure as to what to say. An awkward silence ensued as both were trying to figure out what to say to the other. Lexi and Steve both turned to each other "Umm..." "I..." they both spoke at the same time. Causing them both to blush a deep crimson. "Please go ahead." Steve offered. Lexi smiled at his kindness. "Umm, well thank you again for saving me, and I apologize for withholding important information, especially since you saved me." "It is quite alright. I would have done the same if I was in your position." Lexi smiled at his comment. Then the unexpected happened.
"regardless, thank you." And watched as Lexi reached on her tiptoe and planted a delicate kiss to his cheek. Causing him to blush which he believed reached all the way to his ears and back of his neck. Lexi blushed at her sudden action blushed, offered a small smile, "goodnight Steve" and turned around and entered her room.
Steve's face broke into a grin that reached from ear to ear. He looked at her door, causing his blush to return as he just relived what happened. He couldn't believe it. "Goodnight Lexi." And turned around and started to head to his room, knowing he wouldn't have any nightmares for the first time since being woken up.