I wake up slowly - praying and hoping it's all some horrible dream - and take a peek at my man. I sigh quietly when I realize we're not in our obscenely large bed. Nope, not at all. Instead we're still in medical with a bunch of machines beeping and whatnot surrounding us.

I roll over onto my side and brush some hair away from Steve's face. I chuckle softly as I take stock of him. "Um, dude, it's totally not fair that you're rocking morning wood and unable to use it. Just saying."

A voice coming from the darkness makes me jump and cover Steve's body with my own. "And I'm just saying, if you want to molest a national icon, treasure, whatever you wanna call him, I just ask that I be allowed to videotape it and have all the marketing rights."

I glare at Tony and can't help but cop a feel on my man's morning junk as I roll back to my side of our makeshift bed. "You're such a douche, Tony. What the hell are you doing here anyway? Hiding in dark corners like a perv?"

He raises an eyebrow at me. "Says the girl who was about to use our boy here as a dildo."

I bite back a groan because the idea did cross my mind briefly, but I blame that on a lack of sleep and nerves. Don't judge me. Steve's wicked hot and all mine. All nine inches of him. Yeah, I said nine. I shake the pervy cobwebs from my head when I realize Tony's still speaking to me.

His smirk tells me he knows exactly what I was thinking. "Ya done there, Champ?" I wave my hand for him to carry on. "Anyway, I had Jarvis monitoring you. He gave me the heads up that your sleeping patterns were changing indicating that you were about to wake up."

I gape at him. "He can do that?"

Jarvis answers me, "Of course, Miss Lewis. It's one of my more unexciting talents."

I smile as I sit up, stretching my back, pointedly ignoring Tony ogling my boobs. "Jarvis, you know there's not a damn thing unexciting about you."

Tony throws in, "Ugh, if you and my AI are done flirting, you should go and take a shower, eat something and see Jane."

I am about to protest, when he cuts me off, "She's worried, Darcy." Uh oh, he used my name. "She's worried, which in turn makes me feel worried and we all know how I hate any other emotion other than sexual gratification. Well, any emotion that has the word sex in it."

I blink a few times when he throws open the curtains letting in the sun. I'm tempted to scream like a vampire, but stop myself. He's right. I should go see Jane, if not to stop her from worrying, then to give Tony and the others a chance to visit with Steve. So far I've been the greedy girlfriend monopolizing all his coma time.

I take a quick shower and head up to the penthouse Jane now shares with Tony. She envelops me in a hug that rivals getting one from Thor. We eat a quiet brunch that Tony had set up and watch an episode of Mob Wives. It's a semi-relaxing couple of hours, but she can tell when I'm itching to get back to Steve. She offers me a waning smile and I hurry back to him.

Tony and Clint are sitting beside him bickering about the Yankees when I walk in. Clint gives me a quick hug before walking out. Tony hangs back for a bit, asking me about my visit with Jane. We chitchat for a while before he walks over to me and presses a kiss to my forehead. He walks out and I climb into bed beside an ever-restful Steve. I lovingly stroke his cheek.

I smile when I say, "Remember that time I almost slept with Tony?

So me and Steve? Totally best buds and all that. We watch ridiculous amounts of TV together, eat most meals together, talk about this and that, read together, and wander about NYC like a couple of vagabonds. This has been going on for about six months now starting from the day I met him. I believe I have been in love with him for five months and three weeks of said six months, give or take a few days.

Right now I'm in my room fussing with my hair. I bite my lip as I take in what I see in the mirror. Since it is February I have on a rather frumpy looking sweater paired with a pair of dark jeggings. I just shake my head like a wet dog and roll my eyes at how my hair settles. I slip on my Uggs and glasses. I grab my older than Steve pea coat and grab my scarf before heading up to his floor.

Of course with my luck Tony's in the elevator. He looks at my rather frazzled self and smirks. "Babydoll, we're going shopping. You're in desperate need of some TLC - Tony Loving Care."

I snort. "That sounds like a bad porno. Although, I have been meaning to do some shopping..."

He cuts me off, "But the apocalypse happened?'

I roll my eyes and give him the middle finger salute as the elevator doors open. I step off but he grabs my hand, preventing the doors from closing. "Shopping after whatever it is you do with Captain Virtue."

I laugh at him. "We're going to the matinee showing of Motown the Musical."

He lets the doors go and gives me one last parting shot, "You two date more than Pepper and I ever did."

I grumble at the closing doors, "But at least you were getting laid."

Then it's his voice I hear behind me, "What are you mumbling about?"

I jab furiously at the elevator button, hoping that my blush isn't too noticeable. I mumble again, "Nothing, just bitching about Tony as usual."

I dare to look at Steve who has a pensive look on his face as we step inside the elevator. He looks at me and I try smiling and pray that he can't hear my heart thundering in my chest or the wings of the butterflies in my tummy. "Did he say some..."

I cut him off, "Nah, he was just being, ya know, himself."

He just nods and offers me a small smile. "You look nice and toasty."

And my heart just cracks. Nice and toasty? If there ever was a way to say I see you as nothing more than some kid sister type or I'm not at all interested in you sexually that was totally it. I button up my coat and wrap my scarf around my neck. I yank out my gloves as we step off the lift and head through the crowds of people in the lobby. I head straight to the car at the curb and hop in, not even bothering to see if he's followed.

I don't even look at him as we ride over to Broadway. Some thirty minutes later we pull up in front of the theater. I dig in my bag and pull out our tickets. We quickly sit down and I pretend to be absolutely riveted by my playbill. I can feel Steve staring at me, but I'm too afraid to look at him. I'm pretty sure I'll burst into tears. I mean the man must think I'm PMSing. Maybe I should just go with that.

I finally glance his way and he's got the most serious expression on his face. I'm about to say something when the lights flicker. The show starts and the music is pretty great. I sing along and am pleased as punch when I see Steve bobbing along as well. The show ends and we head outside. I'm about to get in the car when Steve tells the driver to head back to the tower because we're going to grab an early dinner. Okay then, prolonging my torture. I always knew he was truly an evil mastermind and not the wholesome slice of American pie he tries passing himself off as.

We wind up walking for a bit and decide to eat at that small restaurant under the Grand Central Terminal overpass thingie. We are a bit surprised at how crowded it is since it's not the dinner rush. The hostess reminds them that it is, in fact, Valentine's Day. I feel my stomach plummet to the floor. Steve's stammering that he didn't know while the hostess looks bored with us both as we decide whether or not to stay.

Steve ends the argument with, "Well, we're friends, right?"

That takes the wind right out of my sail. Much more than the nice and toasty comment from earlier. We're shown to a table in the back and I finally realize that it is, in fact, the day of love. There are roses all over the place, dim lighting provided by tons of candles, and I'm so uncomfortable that I think I might actually choke on it.

Our waitress comes by and introduces herself as Beth. She's sickeningly cute and blushing when Steve talks to her. She takes our drink order and excitedly blurts out, "You saved me."

Steve smiles his "Captain America smile" as she further explains that she was in one of the buildings he helped evacuate during the BoNY. They engage in small talk and I'm left feeling like a third wheel. I'm the slightest bit giddy when my phone rings. I see its Tony and excuse myself, fearful that he's blown something - or someone - up again. Not that the two pieces of Americana even notice.

I answer the phone, "Hello, Tony."

His voice is terse when he speaks, "Thor's back."

He hangs up and I rush back to the table. Beth is off getting our drinks, I assume. Steve looks at me quizzically. "Look, I have to head back. But since that waitress is totally into you and she just might be as sweet as you are, you know the whole white picket fence and the two point three kids in the burbs cute? Hang out for a bit." I swallow hard and pray I don't puke as I get the next sentence out. "Flirt. Ask her for her number. Maybe you'll actually have a real Valentine instead of being stuck with toasty me."

I practically run out of the place and hail down the first cab I see. I'm back at the tower in no time flat. Tony's in the lobby with a beer in hand. Fuck.

He raises it to me and I plop down in the seat next to him. He mock salutes me with it. I see the pain in his eyes and don't even dare ask. I rise to my feet and as he takes a long pull from the bottle.

I palm my face, thinking this has to be the worst freaking Valentine's Day in all the Valentine's Days ever. Worse than back in 7th grade when I found out that Jerry Brooks only asked me to the dance because he wanted to get a look at my mom's boobs. He had seen "The Graduate" a bit too many times or something. Worse than when Michael Ross dumped me on Valentine's Day back in high school to go steady with my best friend at the time a few hours later. Yeah, this one blows even more.

I look at Tony and smile. "You mentioned shopping."

He drops the beer bottle to the floor a la Thor. The glass breaks and luckily my Uggs escape unscathed. He jumps to his feet. "I did. Now let's get you into something slinky and me into something debonair and show those suckers what they're missing."

We head outside into the waiting car. Happy gives me a wink in the rearview mirror and I sigh as I watch the world pass us by. This includes people holding hands and flowers and balloons and ugly ass teddy bears. Ugh, are there really that many people in love in NYC?

We pull up to Barney's and there's a sharply dressed gentleman waiting for us curbside. He introduces himself as Giovanni and whisks us inside. In no time flat my coat has been hijacked - never to be seen again according to Tony - and there's a flute of champagne in my hand. Tony and Giovanni grab this and that and I'm thrown into a dressing room that just might be bigger than the first apartment/studio I ever rented.

I get into the novelty of it all just before I sneak a peek at the price tag and march my ass out of that dressing room to where Tony's sitting on some plush couch sipping his Moet. Never mind that I don't have a shirt on and am rocking one of my crappiest bras. FML.

Tony just raises an eyebrow. "So I see we're in need of lingerie as well. Ms. Lewis, what the hell have you been doing with the overly generous salary I have provided you? Supporting an illegitimate child? Do you have a serious drug addiction? Really, what can you be doing with all that money that has you standing there in a bra that looks like you found it on the streets after the aliens invaded New York?"

I huff at him, hands on hips. "Tony motherfucking Stark! These jeggings are fucking three hundred dollars! Dollars!"

He looks bored by my outburst while Giovanni looks delightfully thrilled with the whole thing. I turn and face him. "If a picture of me in my bra finds itself on the internet or on ET later on tonight or any day thereafter I will skewer your balls and feed them to the Hulk after grilling them. You feel me?"

Giovanni just nods as Tony laughs. Tony shoos him away. "He won't. He wouldn't. I own the majority of this fucking store and he knows it. But the mental image of you doing what you just threatened is quite appealing. Plus, they make your ass look almost as good as your rack."

I roll my eyes and check myself out in the mirror. I look at him through the mirror, smiling. "They do, don't they?"

We spend about two hours in the Women's Department. In the middle of trying on clothing a lovely older woman comes in and takes my bust measurements. By the time we make it to the register Tony's dropped an obscene amount of money on me, but the girls have never looked so good or perky.

We're back in the car, heading home when Tony starts talking. "We didn't even need the freaking Rainbow Brite bridge. He popped up on the roof and we rushed up there. He barely greeted me before he swept her up into his arms. I left when I saw his mouth heading towards hers."

I place a hand on his. "I'm sorry. I really am. You're a great guy Tony. Jane knows that."

He shrugs, "Yeah, but I'm not an alien god that happened to pop in on Valentine's Day. He's got me beat there."

So what do two heartbroken people do on Valentine's Day when the unrequited objects of their affections are probably boning others? Drink ridiculously expensive bottles of champagne in Tony's penthouse in their new lingerie - Tony too. He's rocking some sexy silk boxers that leave little to the imagination. Damn, Jane's missing out.

There are no champagne flutes here. We're guzzling four-hundred dollar bottles of it like we're in some fucking rap video. Music is blasting as I twirl around in my new ribbed shorty-shorts and matching blue tank. Yeah, it's Captain America blue. Sue me. Wait, better yet, sue Tony. He's better than any fairy godmother.

We're dancing and singing and collapse onto the couch next to each other. There's an electricity in the air and our mouths find one another's. Bottles fall and I can sort of hear the liquid gold seeping into his carpet. We pull back to catch our breath and...

...laugh.

We laugh so hard I don't think either one of us is actually breathing. I fall to the floor and crawl over to the wet bar to get some paper towels or something to sop up the mess. Tony's still laughing and clutching his stomach as he points at me.

He finally gets his bearings and wipes the tears from his eyes. "Dude, that was..."

I finish for him, "Epically creepy a la Flowers in the Attic?"

He's nodding furiously. "God, yes! I mean, you're hot as sin but there was absolutely no chemistry there."

I nod, equally enthusiastic. "None what so ever, although you do possess some rather fine kissing skills, Dude."

He nods sagely. "Likewise, my friend."

Someone clears their throat and we both jump up. Jane's standing by the elevator. Her eyes are a bit shiny but she's trying to smile. "Well, I for one am really glad that kissing one another was like kissing a sibling, especially in the state of undress the two of you are in."

I smile woodenly. Yeah, she's my homegirl, but Tony's my pimp-daddy and that trumps homegirl. Plus, she sort of broke him and I know she's crushing on him just as hard as him on her. Really, for a pair of freaking geniuses they're both quite daft.

Tony goes to what he knows best, sarcasm. "I didn't think we would be seeing you tonight, Ms. Foster. You know, with the god of thunder here. I figured you would be busy getting nailed by his mighty hammer."

Jane flushes and stammers, "Uh, um, no actually there was no hammering of any kind." Then she gets her mad face on. "And if you had just stayed for bit longer you would have known that."

Tony snorts. "Stayed to watch the two of you make out on my helipad? No, I really didn't think that was a wise course of action."

She rolls her eyes. "Tony, we didn't make out. Not for lack of trying on his part. He's really grabby."

Tony plops back down on his couch. "Do I really need to hear this?"

Jane walks over to him and falls to her knees, prying his hands away from his face. "Yes, because I told Thor that even though I'm happy that he's back he is so not the guy for me."

Tony looks at her seriously before leaning back on the couch. "He's not?"

Jane rises and sits beside him and I feel like I need some popcorn. She tells him, "He definitely is not. Turns out I'm not at all into immortal gods who swing a mighty hammer. It seems I'm quite fond of billionaire, playboy, philanthropist types that like spending huge amounts of money on those he cares about even if he sometimes drinks a bit too much."

He quirks his lips. "Define drinks too much."

She laughs and there are tears and kisses and that is totally my cue to bounce. I grab a bottle of champagne and shimmy my fine booty to the elevator. I shout out my goodbyes that are answered with muffled ones in return. I laugh and press the button for my floor.

Did you know that between my floor and Tony's lies Steve's? It does. So imagine my surprise - not really though because look at the day I've been having - when the elevator stops at his floor. And I'm in the elevator in my Captain America blue skimpy loungewear and my Uggs.

His mouth drops open and he manages to get on the elevator. I smile and pray the elevator moves just a smidge faster. Imagine my surprise when he presses the emergency stop button halting that train of thought.

He's in my space and I have no choice but to look up at him. He asks through tightly clenched teeth, "Were you with Tony?"

I swallow thickly. "Uh, yeah I was. He needed a friend."

He takes a step back and punches the wall to the side of us, denting the metal. I can't help but jump. "What the hell was that?"

He says nothing and next thing I know he releases the emergency stop button and we're on my floor. I step off and then shove my hand between the closing doors. He might be stronger than me, but even the super strong aren't immune to a good old fashioned ear twist. I drag his huge ass with me to my door.

"Goddamn it, Darcy! Let go of… owww! Damn it!"

I let go once I've entered in the code to my apartment. "Now what the hell was that in the elevator?"

He's rubbing his ear. "It was... it was nothing. I know times have changed and I just need to mind my own business. I just have to ignore that you and Tony are - what did Clint call it - oh yeah, friends with benefits or fuck buddies or whatever title you want to use. It's none of my business. I'm sorry."

With that he steps around me and starts to open my door, but slams it shut and whirls around. He steps closer to me, eyes blazing. "You know what? No, it is my business. You're both people I care about and I don't want to see you get hurt by his callousness or be used when... God, Darcy, you're so freaking incredible and worth more than warming Stark's bed. You deserve flowers, and dates and a guy that worships the ground you walk on."

I fight back the tears that have sprung to my eyes. "Well, that's great. Really it is, but it seems that's not in the cards for me. Also, Tony and me? We're not fuck buddies. He's crushing on Jane and vice versa. Right now I'm pretty sure she's the one warming his bed. Or possibly his couch because that's where I last saw them."

The wind goes out of his sails at that. I wipe my eyes. "Look, why are you even here? I thought you were going to have a real Valentine's date. Look Steve, just let yourself out. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

As I walk towards my bathroom, he speaks again. "I was." I turn around and look at him. "I was having a real Valentine's date, but she walked out on me to go running to Tony Stark and left me blubbering to some waitress who thinks I'm the biggest dweeb around."

I bite my lip. "You are pretty dweeby."

He laughs as he steps closer to me. "See I had it all planned out. A nice musical, early dinner and finally I would confess my feelings to this glorified intern I've been crushing on for the last six months. Thing is I then thought she and Stark were carrying on an illicit affair as she ran off when he called on Valentine's Day."

I mumble, "Thor came back and he thought that Jane would be riding his mighty hammer and he couldn't handle that."

Steve lets out a soft laugh as he drops his forehead to mine. "God, and we're the ones supposed to be protecting the world?"

I laugh and kiss his cheek. "Yeah, you guys might want to rethink that."

He cracks his neck and I can feel the tension leaving his body. "Well, Clint and Natasha seem to have their stuff together."

I shrug my shoulders and wrap my arms around his waist. "Yeah, but they're master assassins that speak with some weird telepathic eye lingo thing."

He nods as his eyes find my lips. "Yeah they do that, don't they?"

I just nod and am about to speak when his mouth tramples mine. All I can think is finally. His hands are in my hair, trying to bring our bodies closer together. My hands are trailing the topography that is his very muscular back. Can backs be considered hot? His so is, just saying. We pull apart and smile stupidly at one another.

I press a soft kiss to his lips. "Best Valentine's Day ever."

He laughs and then his face gets serious again. "Um, but why are you dressed like that if you weren't, um, carrying on with Tony?"

I laugh and pull him towards my couch. "See, what had happened was..."

I ruffle his hair. "You didn't find the situation as funny as me, but you're still the best Valentine a girl could ever ask for. Although we didn't have epic day of love sex and you did punch Tony later on. Oh well. Now all I ask is for you to wake up."

He doesn't. I sigh and curl up beside him.

As always, many thanks to my beta, krystal214, for being awesome.