A/N: I know the timeline is all screwy with this story but lets just learn to live with the fact that nothing is going to be on the true Avengers timeline, nor is it going to follow the story exactly. Anyway... enjoy the next chapter! Reviews are wonderful and I always respond to PMs.

STEVE'S POV

I was furious.

No.

Furious didn't even begin to describe how I felt. I was one hundred percent pissed off. When S.H.I.E.L.D had released me from the ice after all these years, I would have never guessed that I was about to become part of an era where men disrespected women so openly.

Then, there were the girls that just threw themselves at men. When I had showed up at the bar this evening, a young lady named Alyssa forced her way into the center of my attention. If I were anything but a gentleman, I would have pushed her out of my way.

"I've never seen you around here before. You must be the new guy up at Bell Ranch." She said in what she probably thought was a sultry tone as she approached me. I had been on my way to the table I had seen Kit sitting at when Alyssa had put herself in my way.

"Yes, ma'am. My name is Steve." I responded in introduction.

"I'm Alyssa Hanley, and as the daughter of the Mayor, it is both an honor and a pleasure to welcome you to Riverton." She introduced herself.

"Thanks." I said dismissively as I glanced over to the table where Kit was sitting. Alyssa followed my gaze and let out a laugh that sounded awfully arrogant.

"You know, just because you are stuck at the Bell residence, doesn't mean you have to associate with them in a social setting. They're an… odd… family." She began before turning back to me. "Now, if you were to spend time with me…" she trailed off as she ran a hand down my chest. I felt violated and just wished that she would leave me alone.

"I don't mind the Bell family. They are all really nice."

Alyssa let out a scoff at my words. I was growing tired of her attitude. The music changed to a very distasteful song and I looked up to see that Kit was no longer at her table.

My eyes roamed the drunken crowd until I finally saw her. She was in the arms of a man and was struggling to get away from them but the man wouldn't let her go. Where the hell was her friend, Amanda? Without another word, I stepped around Alyssa.

"Hey! Where are you going?" she called after me but I ignored her. My mind was completely focused on Kit.

I pushed my way through the crowd of undulating bodies before reaching my target. The stranger had his lips pressed forcefully against Kit's and, even though she was struggling to break free from him, he would not let up. Trying to keep from using my full strength, I pulled the man away from Kit by his collar and placed a protective arm across Kit as I stepped slightly in front of her.

"I believe she said no." I said, trying to keep my tone even. "You should just leave."

"Who are you to tell me what I should do?" the man spat back at me.

"That does not matter. When a lady says no, you respect that."

"She liked it." The man said with a nasty smirk as he gave me a look that was obviously meant as a challenge to me.

It was then that I noticed that Amanda had finally decided to show up. "Amanda, will you take Kit to gather her things?" I asked her. She nodded and led Kit away from the scene.

The stranger's nostrils flared as he stepped up until he was chest to chest with me, even though it was more face to chest. The bar had become incredibly silent, no music was playing, and everyone was watching me and this stranger.

"Just give it up. You're not even worthy of a gal like her." I said quietly.

That set him off and he tried to throw a punch at me. However, he was no match for me as I caught his fist and flipped him around so that I had his arm pinned behind his back. I pushed him toward the table where Kit and Amanda were waiting.

"Apologize to her." I told him.

"I'm sorry." He said though I knew he wasn't being truthful.

"Say it like you mean it." I demanded, increasing the tension on his pinned arm.

"I'm sorry for not respecting your personal space." He corrected himself through clenched teeth.

I nodded in acceptance of his apology before releasing him and punching him back into the crowd.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked Kit as I turned back to her. I could no longer stand to be in that atmosphere.

Kit responded with a soft "Yes" before proceeding to follow me out of the bar and over to my bike.

In silence we rode off back to the farm.

When Kit and I had arrived back at the ranch, I instantly took off toward the barn to allow myself time alone to cool off. Finally alone, I relaxed my stony exterior and allowed the anger to flood my body. My fists dug themselves into the nearest stack of hay bales as I punched out my frustrations.

"Steve?" I heard Kit's voice softly call behind me.

I took a deep breath before turning around to face her. Her face was furrowed in concern and she played with the ends of her hair as it tumbled over her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" she asked me as she stopped twirling her hair in her fingers and took a hesitant step toward me, taking in her surroundings as she neared me.

It was then that I noticed that hay had nearly exploded from the bales I had been punching. There were piles of it scattered all over the floor and I instantly regretted releasing my anger in such a way.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Katheryn." I began to apologize as I stepped around her to grab a broom that sat just inside of the tack room.

"Steve, you can call me Kit." She said from behind me before I remerged from the tack room.

"Right. I'm sorry, Kit. I just… I couldn't let that man violate you like he was doing. It was inappropriate and not the proper way to treat women." I explained to her as I swept all of the clean hay into a pile.

"Thank you." Kit responded sincerely. After that, she fell quiet and, for a moment, I believed that she had left me alone.

I was wrong.

While my back was turn, I felt something hit me in the back of my head and then tumble down my back. When I turned around, Kit was standing with her eyes wide in surprise, another handful of hay in her hand.

"What was that for?" I asked. I wasn't angry, but I was confused as to what had compelled her to throw the hay at me in the first place.

"I…I don't… know." She stumbled out as she dropped her handful of hay. It was obvious she was embarrassed of her behavior when she turned around and made to leave the barn.

"Wait, Kit…" I called after her as I scooped up my own handful of hay.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I wasn't…" she began to apologize as she turned around only to meet the face full of hay that I tossed at her.

This time I stood there, to move a muscle as Kit stood there calculating the situation. It only took her a few moments and suddenly we were in an all- out war tossing handfuls of hay at each other. The floor of the barn was littered with our mess, but neither of us cared. All that mattered was that the events of the night were behind us and, for once, I felt like I belonged.

In our playfulness, Kit managed to slip on a small pile of hay and she reached out for the first thing to keep her from falling. Unfortunately, that was my unsuspecting person and she ended up only pulling me down on top of her as she fell. For a moment, neither of us moved as we lay there, Kit's tinkling laughter shaking the two of us. I stared down at Kit underneath me and I was lost in her brown eyes.

"Uhm… Steve?" she said hesitantly and I snapped out of my daze.

"Yes?"

"You're… uh… crushing me…" she said with an apologetic look as if she had insulted me.

"Oh… I… uh…" I couldn't speak as I pushed myself up and off of Kit before holding a hand out to help her up.

Kit brushed off her clothes and ran hand through her hair to shake any stray pieces of hay out of it. There was one piece that would not shake free so I reached forward and plucked it from her hair, my hand grazing her cheek gently as it passed. Kit sucked in a breath as it happened and I quickly retracted my hand, thinking I had done something wrong.

"I… uh… you should probably go into the house. Your dad is probably wondering where you are." I said, clearing my throat. I didn't mean to tell Kit what to do, but I was not sure how to handle the situation.

"Right… are you coming?" she asked me.

"I should probably sweep this all back up again…" I said in explanation.

"Okay… well… goodnight Steve. Thanks, again." Kit replied. She stood there for a moment as an awkward silence fell over the both of us. After a moment, she turned around and left the barn, leaving me alone inside as I cleaned up the mess we had made.

************3 MONTHS LATER***********

KIT'S POV

Time had flown by since Steve had first started helping us out at the ranch. It had only been three months and it already feels as if he had been a part of the family all of his life. My father loved having another hardworking man around the ranch who never complained about the work that was given to him and who did such good quality work. Today was Steve's birthday and we all had something planned for him though he didn't know we had plans.

Noon was nearing and I was finishing putting together a few sandwiches and glasses of water for the men who were busy at work. I grabbed the tray of food and walked out onto the porch. "Steve? Dad? I have your lunches." I called.

Steve was just off the front porch pulling weeds from our driveway. He wasn't wearing a shirt and I could see his sweat glistened muscles. He picked up his discarded shirt walking toward me while putting it back on.

"Thanks, Kit." He said as he picked up a sandwich off of the tray along with a glass of water and sat down on the porch steps.

"You're welcome" I replied as I sat down next to him and placed the tray behind me.

We sat in silence for a while until my brother, Hunter, walked through the gate. As he got closer I noticed he was trying to cover his eye from my view.

"Hunter Alan Bell, what happened to your eye!?" I asked him with concern, standing up to pull his chin up to where I could see his eye.

"It was nothing Kit. Just a small incident at school." He tried to convince me. Normally I would have questioned him further but, with Steve observing, I withheld from doing so.

"Let's get you inside and put some ice on it. Mom would be pissed if she got home and saw this." I said indicating his eye.

"Kit…" Hunter said with a groan as he pulled his face away from my hand but I ignored him.

"I'm sorry," I apologized to Steve as I turned to face him, "I will be right back out after I take care of this" I explained to him before turning toward the house after seeing his nod of understanding.

STEVE'S POV

I watched Kit go into the house before I let out a sigh. I needed to get a grip, I barely knew her and here I was falling for her. Her beauty was just so hard to resist. The way her brown eyes drew me in was so enchanting that they haunted me in my sleep. The power they held was so strong and irresistible.

It was then that Richard walked up to the porch from one of the fields.

"Happy birthday, Steve." he greeted me as he grabbed his sandwich and took a long drink from his glass of water.

"Thank you, sir" I responded with a polite nod.

"None of this 'sir' business, Steve. You've been here long enough to know that Richard is the name." he said with a chuckle.

"Sorry… Richard."

There was a silence but before it could get awkward, Kit returned from inside the house with her siblings in tow.

"Sorry it took…" but before she could finish Lizzy came bounding out in front of her.

"Happy birthday, Steve!" she exclaimed, bursting with energy and giving me a hug as I stood up.

"Thanks, Lizzy" I chuckled in response as she released me from her grip.

"Can I give him, my gift now, Kitty?" Elizabeth asked her older sister.

"Not until after you wash up" I heard the response from inside the house. Mrs. Bell continued by saying, "And that goes for all of you."

Everyone went inside to wash up and change out of work clothes. When Kit and I were done, we went back out onto the porch.

"Happy Birthday, Steve." she said softly as she turned toward me. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth and took all of my self- control to not reach my hand out and stroke her cheek.

I don't know where all of these urges came from all of a sudden, but some of the thoughts that ran through my head were not very appropriate. I felt as if, even though I wasn't speaking them out loud, I was dishonoring Kit. But it was as if she didn't even know how attractive she was.

"Thanks, Kit" I said leaning forward settling on just giving her a hug. When she didn't pull back immediately, my heart began to race and I had no doubt that she could feel it.

"Steve, I… "She began, but before she could finish what she was going to say, her mother called her from the kitchen.

"Kit, come set the table" Caroline called.

"Yes, mom!" Kit responded. She gave me an apologetic look before turning and going back into the house. As she left, Hunter and Lizzy came back out onto the porch. The swelling on Hunter's eye had gone down a little bit, but I could see he was having trouble opening his eye fully.

"Here's my gift!" Lizzy exclaimed handing me a lumpy package.

"Thank you" I said as I took the package from her hands and began to undo the package to find a knitted… mess.

"It's a sweater." Hunter spoke quietly into my ear so only I could hear and I looked at him in disbelief.

"Thanks, Lizzy, I was in need of a… sweater. It's… wonderful." I thanked her, although I was unsure how to go about doing so without encouraging her to knit something else for me.

Lizzy giggled and then ran into the house.

I waited until I was sure the door was shut and she was out of earshot before I turned to Hunter.

"A sweater?" I asked, still in disbelief

"Yeah… she wouldn't stop talking about how she was making it for weeks" he said as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Listen, I know it is kind of out of my place to ask but… would you ever go out one evening with my sister?"

"Why would I do that?" I grew very defensive at his mentioning of Kit. When I realized how rude I had sounded, I went back and corrected myself, "I meant, why do you ask?"

"Oh please, you think you're hiding how you feel about Kit? You two have become rather close, have you not?"

"It's not what you think." I began to take defense, "we're friends."

"She's sweet isn't she?"

"Definitely sweet."

"Kind…"

"Caring…" I began to daze

"Beautiful…" Hunter was trying to coax my admission of my feeling for Kit out and he was doing a good job of it. Of course, I didn't notice this until it was too late.

"Unbelievably so…" that's when I caught myself, "wait a second…"

"I knew it." Hunter said with a smug look on his face.

"Well, I'm not blind. Anybody can see that your sister is beautiful." I responded trying to defend myself.

"But you aren't falling for her?" Hunter kept pushing.

"No, I can't be, and even if I was, it wouldn't be right."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm your guest, Hunter. I'm hired help around here. I can't risk any romantic entanglements... especially if SHIELD… never mind." I stopped myself before I revealed too much.

"Just give her a chance, Steve." He responded, seemingly oblivious to my slip up.

Before I could respond back, Kit walked back onto the porch. Hunter gave me a look and then walked inside, leaving Kit and I on the porch.

"What's up, Steve?" Kit asked, probably noticing that my cheeks had reddened.

"Nothing." I responded.

"If you say so." Kit said as she placed a gift box in my hand. "I didn't know what to get you… so I hope you like this."

I unwrapped the gift and pulled out the most attractive leather jacket I had ever seen.

"Kit," I began but I couldn't find the words to describe what the jacket meant to me "thank you… it's wonderful." Is all that I could manage to get out as I pulled her into a hug after setting the box down.

"Well try it on." She said as she pulled away from the hug.

I pulled the jacket out of the box and then put it on. It felt very light and moved easily, as if it were a second skin.

"It fits beautifully." Kit observed and I could see the sparkle of happiness in her brown eyes.

It was in this moment that I decided I was going to man up and do what I had been dying to do for weeks now. I was going to ask Kit on a date. I took a deep breath to steady myself.

"Hey… Kit?"

"Yes, Steve?"

"I …er… well you see… I… er… I was wondering if maybe you would… you know… like to go someplace with me after dinner… just you and me?" I slowly got out like a bumbling fool.

"You mean like a date?"

"Uhm… yeah…" I said, worried her answer would be no.

"Of course, Steve, I would love too." She said as her face lit up and the most beautiful smile graced her face.