Another chapter, yay! Please review.
After Gao left, no one said anything for several minutes. Finally, Tony broke the silence.
"So Steve, where do you live?"
Steve looked strangely startled at this simple question, and answered haltingly, "Oh, um, I live in Brooklyn."
"Brooklyn, that's nice." Stark continued. "Where exactly in Brooklyn?"
"Um…"
Seeing how uncomfortable Steve looked, Natasha stepped in. "It's okay, Steve, you don't have to answer if you don't want to." A clearly relieved look appeared on his young face, only to disappear three seconds later when Thor asked, "Young Steven, how did your eyes become impaired?"
Nat jabbed Thor with her elbow. "You don't have to answer that one either, Steve."
"No, it's okay," he said. "My mother got really sick while she pregnant with me, and I was born prematurely. There were a lot of complications, and even more consequences. Long story short, I ended up blind with about forty other medical problems." The room fell silent once more.
"Ms. Romanoff? Do you know where my friend Bucky is?" Steve asked timidly.
"Um, Bucky is…not here at the moment," Nat stammered, unsure of what to tell him, since Steve still didn't know that he was no longer in 1937. Using frantic eye signals, she asked the others what they were supposed to do. They shrugged like typical clueless men, all except Bruce.
"Bucky is in school," he said. "He won't be able to come for a while."
"Oh. Did he get in trouble again? I wish he would stop trying to fight those guys, I can take them on my own."
"What guys? Bullies?" Tony asked, suddenly very interested.
"No, it doesn't matter, it's fine." Steve said quickly.
"Steven Grant Rogers, are you getting picked on?" Tony asked incredulously.
"It's nothing, sir, I can handle it."
"Damn, you're polite." Clint exclaimed. "I don't think anyone's ever called Tony 'sir' before."
"Hey, feathers, you're forgetting Jarvis. Jarvis calls me sir all the time."
"Yeah, because you programmed him to, not because he likes you."
"Oh, you want to get it on, birdbrain? It is on! You-"
"Guys!" Natasha yelled. "Will you please shut up! There's only one child in the room and he's ten times more mature than both of you."
"Come on, Nat, he's America's star-spangled golden boy, of course he's mature," Tony complained.
"You know what, Tony, why don't we take a walk, maybe see about getting Steve released, okay?" Bruce suggested. "Clint, Thor, maybe you guys should come too, maybe give Steve a little time to get adjusted." Bruce practically pushed the three men out the door, all of them complaining about wanting to stay. Nat silently thanked Bruce, and closed the door after them.
"I'm sorry about that," she said as she sat down on the bed beside him. "They can get a little crazy sometimes."
"Yes, ma'am," Steve replied. "But I think I like them anyway."
"You don't have to call me ma'am, Steve. Natasha or Nat is fine."
"Are… are you sure, ma'am?" he asked timidly. "I don't want to be disrespectful."
"It's not disrespectful." After a few minutes of friendly silence, Natasha asked, "Do you want to change out of that hospital gown? I'm fairly positive one of the nurses left some clothes in here that should fit you." Nat began looking through the cupboards. "They should be here somewhere… aha! Success." She pulled out a set of clothes and laid them in Steve's outstretched hands, then moved to cover the window in the door to give him some privacy.
"Um, Ms. Romanoff, can you… help me?" The last part came out as an embarrassed whisper as Steve's whole face turned bright red.
"Oh, sure, I guess."
Less than ten minutes later, Steve was much more comfortable in jeans, a T-shirt, and a pair of star-spangled high tops. Natasha looked at her phone.
"It's past five thirty," she said, quickly dialing Tony's number. "I wonder where the boys are."
Tony answered after the fifth ring. "Hey, Nat, what's up?"
"Where are you guys? You've been gone more than half an hour."
"Yeah, well, we were all a little curious about Cap's life at this point, so we're digging through some old S.H.I.E.L.D. files to see what we can find."
"Okay, did you at least check with the hospital to get Steve released before you left?"
"…No." Natasha groaned.
"Just once, I wish you could do things right," she said. "I'm going to get Steve out of here, and we'll be back at the compound in twenty minutes. All of you had better be there."
"Yeah, okay, fine, whatever. Hey guys, I think I found something!" Tony called to the other Avengers on the other side of the phone.
"Stark! Are you listening to me?" Nat just about lost her patience at this point.
"Yes, be back at the compound in fifteen minutes, I got it. Bye Nat!" Tony hung up.
Natasha took a calming breath. "Okay," she said, "let's see about getting you out of here."