Night transitioned to day without me noticing; I could sleep either way, so I had stayed around the training room. It had brought my constantly buzzing mind momentary peace, but as the time to meet Steve approached, I could feel the anxiety begin to take over my thoughts. What if he didn't listen to me? What if he didn't care? Thinking about it now, I wasn't sure what I would do if he rejected me. I had been so self absorbed in my own negative thoughts that I hadn't noticed him approaching.

He cleared his throat, drawing my attention to him.

"How long have you been down here?" I was surprised he had addressed me first, and even more surprised that the uncaring tone he had been given me yesterday was replaced with a more worried one. My eyes lingered on him for a second, before I turned back to the punching bag. I couldn't bring myself to look at him anymore as what he said yesterday came back to mind.

Maybe I didn't deserve his trust.

"Awhile. If I could ask…" I cracked my knuckles, my hands were sore but the pain was beginning to fade to nothing compared to what I was feeling now. To have to deal with a pain such as this… A pain that was purely mental, one that couldn't just be brushed aside… "What made you decide to come and hear me out? I wasn't sure you were going to listen to me."

"I took your advice, and got the files from Fury himself. Stark and Dr. Banner both seemed to agree with you about Fury not being entirely trustworthy, and I took their word for it. I read through the file and I confronted Fury about it."

"Why would you do that?" I whipped around, eyes wide. I approached him quickly, hands on my hips. "Do you know what could happen if-"

"I didn't mention your mothers file; in fact, I put it back in your room where Natasha told me it was. She came to me and thought I should be the first to investigate why you were acting weirdly." Steve sighed, running his hands through his golden hair. "I'm sorry for doubting you. This mess between us is my fault, and if anything, it shows you that I-"

I didn't want to talk anymore, all talking did was cause misunderstandings that led to pain. So I did the first thing that came to mind, following my own philosophy of actions speaking louder than words; I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down into a bruising kiss. He tried to soften the kiss by pulling back slightly, his hand resting on the back of my neck. His hands moved down to my back, keeping my in place and becoming a silent agreement that he wouldn't be going anywhere for the time being; the feeling of anxiety that had been building was quelled for the moment.

"Are you going to tell me the real reason for you coming now? I'm not a fool, and I don't believe that alone would make you come down to talk to me…" His expression turned darker, his eyes shifting to look down at the floor. After letting out a deep sigh, Steve leaned down so that his forehead was pressed against mine, our noses touching.

"I don't think I'd be able to stay sane if another person I cared about left my life." He smiled and I smiled back; it seemed smiles really were contagious.

"We're both hopeless, you know." I began to laugh at the absurdity of the situation; the more I realized that I was kissing my childhood hero the funnier it became. Who could honestly say this had ever happened to them? I was one in a million, a girl who had gotten to meet her hero, I was unnatural. But feeling the happiness it brought me now, I found all need for a normal life leaving me. There was nothing normal about me, and that was okay.

Because I had found someone who was seen as unnatural, just like me.

"We can be hopeless together." Steve chuckled. "If you forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive." I didn't want to leave the warm embrace he had had me in, but it was necessary. Unfortunately the two of us couldn't stay down here forever, and with the threat of Loki still lingering above our heads, we still had things that had to be done before we could rest. With a clearer mind, I thought again about Brianna down in the lab.

Questioning her, and getting any information from her that I could, would be my main mission.

"To what do I owe this visit?" Brianna smirked at me from behind her prison, her eyes glowing mischievously. It had been brought to my attention that no one had bothered questioning her, and the only contact she got was from the three meals a day that were delivered to her. She sat on the floor, day in and out, her knees pulled up to her chin and staring out as though waiting for something.

"If you have anything to confess now, just say it. The others won't be as nice as I am." She let out a laugh at this, shrill and uncaring. She tossed her head back, staring up at the ceiling with a bemused smile on her lips. It was when she faced me again that the smile left and was replaced with a hollow look.

"You want to know what's on my mind, then. You want to know what I think and dream about, doctor." She asked mockingly. Brianna stood up, walking up to the outside perimeter and placing her hand on the special glass. "Do you know what I think of at night? I think about the fact I killed another human being in cold blood. And do you know what happens afterward? I can't sleep."

"As more hours tick by of my pathetic life I begin to realize exactly while Loki calls us humans pathetic. Look at us. Look at how pathetic we are! Falling head over heels for pretty boys in tight suits, falling for men with God complexes, it's laughable how easily deceived we can be. And then it hurts because I had fooled myself into thinking that he really cared about me, and what I wanted. I thought that hurting you would bring me the peace I wanted, but it didn't." She clenched her fist.

"I'm so full of rage and hatred that I was blinded from what was really hurting me."

"I can understand that." I replied. "But you can help us now."

"I could." She looked towards me with a smirk. "But what fun would that be?"

"Still nothing?" Tony raised an eyebrow as I set foot into the lab, and I shook my head.

"Not a word about his plan has left her lips, but I can tell we're running out of time. She's still stalling for him."

"Wonder why that is." Tony shrugged his shoulders as he turned back to his computer, continuing what he had previously been doing. "What makes you think she'd crack so easily? Don't tell me you really thought she'd spill her guts to you on your first try."

My cheeks turned pink and I glared at the back of his head, wishing that I wasn't in a lab full of highly dangerous things so that I could throw something at his head without fear of everything around us bursting into flame. I chose to cross my arms and huff audibly, ignoring the snicker I got from him as I left the lab.

I felt like I was constantly being bounced back and forth all day, going to the agitating Brianna back to Tony in the lab for some tips on how to get information out of her. I eventually gave up, approaching Natasha and speaking to her about it. She was the skilled assassin that I didn't stand a chance against; perhaps she could get the information from her. I wasn't nearly as talented as she was yet, but in the future when we had more free time to ourselves, maybe she'd teach me a few things.

"Hey." Steve managed to grab a hold of me during a transition period, where my flustered self was heading back towards my room after a particularly embarrassing set of teasing remarks from Tony. "You and I have somewhere to go. Fury said this was the last time you'd have a chance to see your mother, and I thought you'd like that."

"You'll come with me?" He nodded. "It sounds good, then."

"Let's talk about something." Steve had taken control of the plane they'd given us to fly out with, and was now heading towards our destination as we spoke. He had admitted that these planes were enough like the ones he had flown back when he was at war that he could control them rather well, so we didn't need a pilot to accompany us. Fury had set a short time limit, in my opinion anyway, and had told us to come back prepared for battle.

"Like what?"

"Anything. I like the sound of your voice." He smiled while I blushed, looking down at my lap. What was there to speak about?

"How about I completely embarrass myself and I tell you why you've always been my hero." His cheeks turned pink from embarrassment, but he nodded.

"If that's what you want to be honest about, go ahead." I could detect the hint of curiosity in his tone. Well, Steve was still a man and probably enjoyed a good stroke to his ego every once in awhile, so I might as well embarrass myself while doing so.

"You've always been my hero because it's hard to find a guy out there who's selfless and amazing like you are." I could feel the blush on my cheeks rising. "I look up to you because you have all the qualities I want to have, and when I look at you, you give me hope. You give me the hope that I even though I'm young and abnormal, that I can help those who need help and become a hero."

"If you wanted to find someone selfless and amazing, you could've just looked in a mirror." He replied with a warm smile that made my heart melt. I turned redder, and I turned away so that he couldn't see the blooming smile on my face. For such a cheesy line, it meant a lot when it was coming from him.

"If you keep saying things like that Captain, I might actually start to believe you."

"You should believe me anyway." His light hearted tone was enough to cause the butterflies lying dormant in my stomach to start fluttering again. My face was going to be permanently red; I did my best to give him a smile but found it was entirely too awkward for me to handle. It only took one look into those deep pools of blue to feel better and much more confident; Steve was my saving grace, whether we were fighting or not.

"I know the timing may be inappropriate." I turned to Steve with a raised eyebrow. "I was wondering if you'd allow me to take you to dinner and a movie after all of this is over. Just you and me." It took me a second to process exactly what he was asking me, but when I had figured it out, a bright smile made its way to my face, one that couldn't be easily wiped away.

"I would love to go on a date with you, Steve."

Maybe there was still hope for us yet.