A/N: I am unapologetic about the length of this chapter. Once again, thank you all for those of you that have continued reading, as well as all of the new favorites. And reviews, of course. A special thanks to LiebenMadchen, who caught one of Sam's character traits I was going for. Sam is trying really hard to seem like a Mary Sue in front of everyone, but I promise she's not. In a few chapters Steve is going to discover that himself. Disclaimer: I have been asked to cease and desist my frequent calls to Marvel. Apparently they're touchy about the whole "rights to the Avengers" thing, so it's still their's. Oh, and one more thing. plummuffins drew some wonderful fan art of Sam and Steve, so here's the link to it if you all are curious to see her amazing talent. plummuffins,deviantart,com/art/Steve-Rogers-and-Samantha-Harper-319405479 If anyone else draws any fan art I will get super excited and post it on here. ^^
"Try this one," Pepper called to Sam over the racks of dresses. They were at a nice formal wear store. Pepper carried a few dresses in her arms as she held up a gold ball gown.
Sam smiled at her choice. She already had several dresses of her own. "Alright. Let's start trying them on."
The next twenty minutes were spent in a mini fashion show. Sam tried on dresses in different colors and styles and did a little runway walk for Pepper, who would make comments on how the dress moved or what jewelry to wear. She was halfway through the pile of dresses when she tried the next one on. As she zipped it up she looked in the mirror and smiled.
"This one," she announced as she exited the changing room and did a turn for Pepper.
"I couldn't agree more," she said. "Now all you need are some heels and a mask."
Back at the Avengers Tower, Steve was stuck in 'Blue Danube' hell. The waltz tune played on repeat as Natasha tried instructing him again. He actually wasn't too bad at it, but Natasha was a perfectionist.
"Honestly, Steve. I don't know how you've survived without knowing how to dance," Natasha said.
"It was never really necessary," Steve replied. She was starting to get into dangerous waters now. He really didn't want to bring up the memories.
"At least you know now," was all Natasha replied.
A few hours later Natasha was finally satisfied with Steve's dancing skills. He left the gym without preamble. Natasha was nice as a teammate and all, but as a dance instructor she was terrifying.
Dinner was served when Pepper and Sam got home. Sam quickly hid her dress and accessories in her closet before heading up to join the others around the table.
"Where's the dress," Natasha asked. "We don't get to see it?"
"What's the point of a masquerade if you know who I am? You'll just have to figure it out," Sam teased.
"First person to find her gets a prize," Tony immediately stated.
"I'm not Waldo," Sam objected.
"You mean it's not red and white striped," Tony asked.
"Nope it's- oh,oh! I see what you're trying to do there," Sam mocked. Like she would fall for that.
"Play fair, Tony. No cheating," Clint said.
"Oh, whatever Legolas," he replied.
"Great. Now I want to watch Lord of the Rings," Sam said.
"No," Tony groaned. "Everyone has seen it about a million times."
"But they're my favorite movies," Sam protested.
"I haven't seen them," Steve pointed out.
"Exactly," Sam said. "How can we deny Steve the pure magic that is the Lord of the Rings?"
"You're going to keep this up until we watch it, aren't you," Tony asked.
"I'm prepared to start a poetic monologue," Sam replied.
"Ugh. Fine," Tony complained. "We'll watch it."
"Hi, Pot. It's nice to meet you. You can call me Kettle," Sam said. Tony stuck out his tongue.
After dinner they all piled into the communal living room and JARVIS started the trilogy. Somehow, Sam and Steve ended up on the couch together. When the Fellowship ended Bruce politely excused himself and dragged Tony down to the lab with him. Natasha then asked Pepper if she would help pick out jewelry to match her dress for tomorrow night, and the two headed off to Natasha's room.
They were ten minutes into the Two Towers when Clint got a text from Natasha. Clint! What are you doing? Get down here!
But this is my favorite part, he texted back.
I had to convince Bruce to disappear with Tony. If you're not down here in five minutes I'm going to physically drag you from the room.
Won't that be a little obvious?
The next response he got was a picture text. He opened it and an image of his bow sitting next to a can of pink paint popped onto his screen. Clint quickly slipped out of the room with his phone pressed to his ear.
Sam idly noted the other occupants leave the room, but didn't think much of it. Group bonding didn't really successfully happen unless they were shooting at something. Likewise, Steve was completely wrapped up in the movie. He didn't notice a thing.
Sam had shifted into a more comfortable position on the couch. She loved these movies. It reminded her of movie marathons with her family, in more peaceful times. And of course, the Great Popcorn War between her and her sister during the final battle. Sam smiled at the memories.
Steve was watching the movies in awe. It was absolutely amazing. The second movie bled into the third, and he got caught up in the battles. He couldn't believe how realistic the giant spider was. When the final scene was over and the credits ended he glanced over at Sam.
She was curled up on the opposite side of the couch, asleep, with a small smile on her face. Steve wasn't sure what to do. Waking her up seemed like an option, but he didn't want to disturb her. Finally he settled for grabbing a spare blanket and tucking it around her. As he left he had JARVIS turn off the lights.
Sam jerked awake at two in the morning with no clue where she was. Oh, right. The living room. She had actually managed to fall asleep during the movie. Then she had a nightmare of running through a labyrinth of hallways. It was so realistic that her heart still beat too fast. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes.
Her right hand was wet. She looked down on the floor and saw a bowl of water. Tony. She sighed and moved the dish to the sink before going down to her own room.
The next morning Sam was unusually chipper in the gym. "You seem happy today," Steve noted.
"Yep. I just heard a great joke last night," Sam replied.
"Do I get to hear it," Steve asked.
"You will. Later," Sam laughed.
Everyone was present at breakfast except Tony. Normally he stumbled in late, but breakfast was over and he still wasn't there. "Where's Tony," Bruce finally asked Pepper.
She rolled her eyes. "He has the day off for the benefit tonight, so he's sleeping in like a teenager." Sam started to laugh as she put her empty bowl into the dishwasher and headed off to the elevator.
"Should we be concerned," Bruce asked. That laugh sounded a little too devious to him. The rest of the team just shrugged in response.
Some time later Steve was sitting in the living room on the couch while watching the Discovery channel to help get him up to date. Suddenly Sam rounded the corner, vaulted over the back of the couch and ended up lying down with her head resting on a very surprised Steve's lap.
"Oh, hey Steve," Sam said out of breath. "Just pretend I'm not here."
Before Steve could respond Tony came barreling in and stood ten feet behind the couch, catching his breath. His hair was the exact same shade of red as his Iron Man suit.
"Spangles, have you seen Sam," he asked. Sam looked up at Steve and shook her head.
"No, I haven't seen her," Steve said. "What happened to your hair?" Tony glared at him and left the room.
Sam sat up and grinned. "Thanks."
"What did you do," Steve asked.
"Well, I woke up with my hand in a bowl of water, so I snuck into Tony's room and dyed his hair. Don't worry, it washes out," she said as she got up. "I'm going to go get ready for tonight. See you later."
Sam disappeared into her room for the rest of the afternoon and Pepper forbid Tony, whose hair was back to normal, from getting revenge while he had the benefit to worry about. They were all dressed and ready to go on time and climbed into a limo. Sam, of course, was going separately.
Once they showed up the bet to find Sam started. In the end, Steve spotted her first. She had on a stunning, deep purple, floor length strapless gown with layers of delicate ruffles. Her long brown hair cascaded in curls around a glittery silver butterfly mask that covered the top half of her face.
Of course, the Avengers weren't supposed to hang around her all night or someone might get suspicious, so they kept their distance. Steve kept an eye on her though. It felt weird for him to have a teammate separated from them like that.
Sam spent most of her time near the bar drinking a soda, because there wasn't much else to do. After a while a man in a black half mask who looked a few years older than her joined her and they had a nice conversation.
Steve watched as the man chatted with Sam. That was when he noticed Sam distracted by another couple as the man in the black mask poured something into Sam's soda.
"He just put something into Sam's drink," Steve announced to Bruce.
"Are you sure," Bruce asked.
"Positive," Steve said as he began trying to cross the dance floor full of couples to reach the bar.
Sam grabbed her drink and began to raise her glass when suddenly she wobbled on her three inch heels. She went off balance and ended up drenching the black masked man with her nearly full glass.
"What the hell! This suit is Gucci," he yelled.
Sam leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "You have two options. You can either excuse yourself like a gentleman and leave the premises or you can wait until Captain America," she pointed at Steve as he crossed the dance floor, "gets over here and I tell him you spiked my drink."
"Good night," was all the reply she got before he disappeared. Steve walked up to her.
"Are you alright," he asked.
"Everything has been taken care of," Sam smiled. "Thank you for the assistance."
"Would you like to dance," Steve asked before he could stop himself.
"I'd love to," Sam said, surprised.
They walked out to the dance floor and joined the half finished song that was still playing. It finished and Steve started to pull away when a new slow song came on. Sam stopped him.
"Please just one more dance. This is one of my favorite songs," Sam said. It was 'Iris' by Goo Goo Dolls. Steve just smiled in response and put one hand on her hip, which was only slightly awkward, and took her right hand in his as she rested her left hand on his shoulder.
Bruce smiled as he watched Steve and Sam slowly turn on the dance floor. Yes, he did see what Natasha meant.
When the song ended Sam smiled up at Steve. "Thank you."
"Of course," Steve said. They both paused for a second, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally, Sam took a step back and walked away. Steve ran a hand through his hair, knowing he had just missed his chance.
The rest of the evening passed by in a blur, but as Sam drifted off to sleep in bed later that night, 'Iris' played softly on repeat on her iPhone.