I tried to make a bit of an action scene...let me know what you think of it.

Steve had finally bitten the bullet. He was going to 'hang out' with Tina's friends. At least he wouldn't have to sneak out of the house this time. Clint and Natasha were on a mission, Thor was in Asgard, and Tony, Pepper and Bruce were at a science convention in DC. He got JARVIS to disable some of the security cameras, too, just because they freaked him out. Tina had promised that it was going to be easy. Just a movie. Not that bad. Steve was still really nervous. He wanted her group to like him. Steve knew that Tina didn't care whether her friends approved of him or not, but he also knew that she would be happy if they all got along. He desperately hoped that the college kids wouldn't think he was too weird. Her crew was waiting around outside her dorm when he got there. Tina was surrounded by Abby and Emma, her two roommates. While Abby was tall, with dark, straight hair, Tina's opposite, Emma seemed to be a compromise between the two. She was tall like Abby, but with chestnut brown hair that had a gentle wave in it. Three guys stood in the back of the group, tossing a hacky sack.

"Hi," Tina greeted Steve with a smile.

"Hey," he gave her a hug. "Hi, Abby. Hi, Emma."

"This is, oh. Hey guys," Tina called too quietly to be heard over the boys' ruckus.

"OI!" Emma screamed. They all stopped and trudged over. "That's how you have to do it, Chris," she chastised. Tina shook her head as if to say 'never' but continued introducing her friends.

"Steve, this is Pete," she said pointing to a lanky, tall guy who wore hipster glasses and a flannel shirt. "Cooper," a shorter boy with black hair shook Steve's hand. "And Mickey," a blonde with a seemingly permanent grin waved.

"Movie time?" Abby asked pleadingly. Tina laughed and nodded.

"Oh no!" Pete interjected, "There will be no film whatsoever without the proper snackies." Emma rolled her eyes.

"You didn't think of this before?"

"I did!" Pete said proudly. "I came to the conclusion that we should all go together to get said snackies."

"So that we all get what we want," Cooper clarified.

"Oh good," Tina said, "People always forget how much I love anchovy flavored popcorn." Steve gagged involuntarily. Ew! Tina immediately laughed, and the soldier realized she had been kidding.

"Next time I'm taking you out to a bait shop instead of a nice restaurant," he quipped. The group laughed, and Steve felt a glow. He was disproportionately proud of his little joke. Thank god I'm not embarrassing Tina…or myself.. They headed off to the corner store to buy food.

Tina stood in the front of the store behind the counter with Emma, comparing packs of gummy bears that hung on the wall. Steve leaned on a rack next to her, listening to Pete's rant on beef jerky with an amused smile. Mickey and Cooper were busy tickling Abby as she attempted to reach the bag of chips they held over her head. Then all hell broke loose. Four men in black burst into the store, guns out.

"Down! Everyone! Down on the floor! Put your hands out in front of you where I can see them!" one of the men shouted. The other three dropped the window blinds, then turned their guns on everyone else. In seconds, everyone was on the floor like the men had asked. Steve's brain was pumping out escape plans like a machine. There was only one flaw: he was terrified to move from his position. He was currently acting as a human shield, holding his body over Tina's. He could feel her breathing and heartbeat speed up. A tiny whimper escaped her and it made Steve even more reluctant to expose her.

"Oh, here we go. You!" the leader of the robbery kicked Steve in the ribs. It made a loud thunk, but Steve didn't make a sound. "Hey!" Another kick, this time followed by an ominous cracking sound. Steve's body tightened in, but he refused to allow the man the satisfaction of knowing that. "Move!" The man bent and put the barrel of his gun to Tina's temple. Steve immediately shifted himself off of her, eyes on the man the whole time. The thief lifted Tina by her neck. "Open the cash register. And the ATM. Now!" Tina gasped and tears began slipping down her face.

"I-I-I c-c-c-can't," she mumbled, eyes wide.

"DO IT!" the man screamed in her face, "I SAW YOU BACK THERE! YOU'RE THE CASHIER! NOW OPEN IT GODDAMMIT!" Tina began to sob. The man moved the gun from her head for just a split second, as he gestured toward the register wildly. But that was all the opening Steve needed. He pulled his knees under him and lunged forward in one smooth movement. The soldier sprung for the gun, ripping it out of the man's hand. With the same momentum, he snapped the man's wrist backwards and was rewarded with a scream of pain. Using the counter as a springboard, he changed direction and dove at the man by the door and took him out by slamming his head backwards into the wall. He lifted the criminal's unconscious body and threw it as hard as he could at the two remaining men. He flipped over the rack between himself and the robbers, landing on one man's torso. Steve stomped his foot, and used the other to deliver a simple but effective kick to the head; hard enough to knock him out cold, but not hard enough to kill, although it was tempting. He finished with a quick punch to the head of the last man, then stood to reexamine the scene. Each of the men was completely out of commission. Tina was pale and shaking, her eyes locked on Steve. The soldier made his way over to her, recognizing instantly the signs of shock. Many things seemed to happen at once. Just as he reached her, her eyes rolled back and she passed out. Noise returned to the store. Everyone who was previously silenced by terror was now shouting in confusion and panic. Steve grabbed Tina as she fell and cradled her in his arms. Steve looked around and realized that before he could concentrate on anything, he needed to restore some semblance of order.

"QUIET!" he shouted. Silence ensued immediately, and all eyes were trained on him. "You, call the police, and I need you to confiscate the weapons. Put them on the counter. You. Use those twist ties to secure their wrists and ankles," he pointed each person with authority, directing them to their various jobs. Steve turned his attention back to Tina while everyone else bustled around. He was fairly sure she had just panicked and blacked out, and didn't think that she would sustain any brain damage, but he wanted to be sure. He knelt on the ground and shook her gently. "Tina? Hey, sleeping beauty. Tina." Tina's eyelids fluttered and opened. Steve breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Hi, sweetheart. Can you tell me your name?"

"Tina."

"Can you tell me how many eyes I have?" Steve methodically asked questions designed to check the functioning of each part of the brain.

"Two," she whispered.

"Do you remember what just happened?" Tina began hyperventilating again.

"I-I-I but they h-h-had me a-a-and," she sobbed. Steve held her closer and rocked her.

"Shhh. No, you're okay," he soothed. "It's over. You're fine." Tina buried her head in his chest, still shaking uncontrollably. Tina had absolutely no control. She thought she was going to die. And she was scared, scared, scared. She wanted to hide under the covers forever. But not where it was dark. And she wanted Steve. She wanted him to stay and make her feel less afraid. Her attempts to stem the flow of tears were met with consistent failure. She tried instead to match her breathing to Steve's steady rhythm. "It's okay honey, I'm right here now. I would never have let them hurt you. Ever. I promise," Steve whispered comforting words to her. Tina hung on every one of them. She was conscious of him talking to other people. She didn't really listen. She didn't want to hear about 'shock' or 'robbery' or 'guns'. She tuned out the words and just listened to the thrumming bass tones emanating from his chest. She was aware of movement. Tina could feel Steve walking but she didn't really care where. As long as she stayed cuddled close to him it was okay with her. Eventually she realized that he was trying to talk to her. "Baby. Tina. Do you want to go back to your dorm? I think you should probably get some sleep, sweetie." Tina shook her head violently. No way. No way was she letting him drop her off in there. He'd leave her. And she didn't want to answer questions or talk about it any more with Abby and Emma. But she was so tired. And cold.

"I'm tired, Steve," she whimpered almost inaudibly. Even in her current state she thought her voice sounded pathetic. Tina sounded like she might burst into tears again at any given moment.

"Okay, Tina." Steve continued walking, for the first time consciously realizing that his feet had been taking him to the Stark Tower all along. Well at least there's nobody home. Couldn't have been luckier that way. He resolved to delete any security footage with Tina on it. JARVIS would do it if he asked. For some weird reason the AI had taken a liking to him, and it was something Steve had learned to capitalize on. He brought Tina into his room and tenderly set her on his bed. He felt a little awkward. Steve had never had a woman in his room before. She held onto a fistful of his shirt and her eyes flew open when he tried to let go.

"No, please," she begged, "Stay?" Steve lay down on his side next to her and she curled up against his chest again.

"I will. I promise." Steve ran his fingers through her hair with one hand. The other arm held her close. He could feel that she was still shaking. She wrapped her delicate arms around his neck and pressed her face into his shirt, still attempting to hide her tears. The captain wiped them away gently with a fingertip. "No one can hurt you here, Tina," he whispered in her ear, "No one can ever hurt you when I'm here. I'll keep you safe. I promise."

"I know," Tina lifted her head to meet his gaze. "You're my superhero, right?"

"Right," Steve replied, kissing her forehead.

As she fell asleep in his arms, Steve felt an immense guilt settle on him. She had to know. He had to tell her sometime. Just not now. Not when she was already dealing with so much emotionally. The soldier resolved to talk to Tina about his identity soon, but first, he wanted to ask someone for advice. Not Tony. He wasn't about to steal a microphone and shout 'I am Captain America' for the world to hear. Maybe Natasha? She was pretty good with subtleties. Plus, Steve had found that he genuinely liked the assassin. She didn't follow him around, annoying him with overprotective whining about how naïve he was. He knew he could trust Natasha. Steve laid his head down and closed his eyes, still hypersensitive to any movement from his girl, but strangely glad she was there.

…

As she walked off the Helicarrier, Natasha went straight into another mission. This one was called: Why is Steve Acting so Weirdly? She checked the coordinates that he'd visited multiple times. Most of them checked out, no problem. Central Park, a smaller park near the river, a coffee shop, some restaurants, a few art museums. Only one was exceptionally weird. A college dorm, by the looks of it. Natasha walked into the lobby and stopped the first person she saw.

"Hey, you," she stopped a gangly kid with fashion glasses. He stared at her in obvious awe. She patted herself on the back internally. Being pretty made for easy manipulation of men. "My friend told me he needs something he left in a room here. He just didn't tell me which room," she laughed as if to say 'what a dope'. Although some would chalk up her seemingly authentic laugh to acting ability, that sentiment was real…but it was directed at the still-gaping college kid. "He's tall, blonde, very muscular. Little dorky…kind of quiet. Seen him?" The guy nodded with a big smile, which Natasha returned to encourage him.

"Sure, Steve, right?" Natasha grinned. Bingo.

"Yep that's him." The guy told her which room, and before he could say anything else, she flew up the stairs. The spy opened the door, which had been stupidly left unlocked, and looked around critically. Nothing immediately hit her as incriminating, so she stared to search drawers. Who was this girl that had somehow wrapped Captain America around her finger? The assassin ripped apart closet storage, under the bed and every desk compartment in search of something. Then, the door creaked open again. Natasha's eyes widened. Oh damn.

Oh noes! Nat got busted! But by who? Steve's two worlds are going to collide very, very soon. Reviews, please!