A/N. Hey guys! I'm gonna be honest, I'm not too proud of the way I wrote this chapter. I don't know what's wrong really I just... I don't like it that much and I don't know how to fix it. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy :D

Disclimer - I do NOT own the Avengers and will not EVER own them.

CHAPTER IX

The second Tania stepped off the jet she saw Steve and Graham waiting for her on the helipad. She dropped her suitcase and ran at her boyfriend. He caught her in his arms and swung her around a few times by the waist. She buried her face in his neck as he let her down and snuggled into his chest. Had it really only been twenty-four hours since she'd last seen him?

When she pulled away from him, she jumped on her brother. There was just something about having a brother hold you, one who was related to you by blood that made you feel better. At least in her opinion anyway.

When they broke apart, Graham kept an arm around her shoulders and grinned. "So did you kick his ass all the way to China?"

She laughed. "No, not that far. I'd say he probably made it to Hawaii."

"Nice."

The three of them walked inside to the party deck. It was obvious from the way Steve was fiddling with the cuffs of his sleeves that he was itching to ask her about her well-being, but he held it back. Seeing this, she grabbed his hand on the opposite side of Graham so that she was shared between the two of them.

When they walked in, she was greeted by everyone else, who apparently had been waiting just behind the doors. The Avengers each said hello and made sure she was okay before resuming their positions wherever they were.

"Okay, our first act should be to gather in the lab on the top floor," Tony said, taking charge and leading the way. "Jarvis, remind me to have two more elevators built into the Tower so that we can all go to one place at the same time."

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, Tania will obviously be taking the elevator. That means Cap and Graygray over there will be going with her. Natashalie and I will also go in, seeing as no one else can fit. Everyone else can take the stairs." He waved them away as the ones he mentioned entered the elevator.

The others grumbled but complied. Tania resented having to take the elevator because she was a little beat up, but she didn't complain. Her ankle did still hurt and she didn't really want to climb the stairs. Graham rolled his eyes at being called "Graygray". He had made it very clear when he moved in that only Tania was allowed to call him, "Gray". Tony had then taken to trying to find a loophole, naturally. Natasha was a little surprised that she had been included in the little group of the elevator. After all this time, she was still the most reserved of all the Avengers. Perhaps it was because she was a girl and Pepper wasn't there for the brunette at the moment. Steve agreed with Tony in that he should go because there was no in hell he was ever leaving her side.

When they all arrived at the lab after some time, Tony immediately stood up at the front of the room as if giving a speech. "Okay. Now that we're all here, take it away little Miss Piggy."

Tania rolled her eyes but stood up limped (a little) to the front of the room and took Tony's place. This did not go unnoticed by anyone. She cleared her throat. "Okay, well… um… I'll start with this morning, I guess. Don't worry, I'll go quickly. We came to Arrow, we spent all day in a meeting, nothing was decided, we came back to the hotel late at night. Pepper and I ordered Chinese take-away and it arrived an hour and a half later. I was tasked with going to get it.

"I made my way to the lobby where there was a non-Asian man waiting for me with me food. We exchanged small talk and he was really friendly and he said his name was Hal. As soon as my hands were full with the food he'd given me he had a knife against my throat. He told me… he told me that if I made a sound, I'd die.

"Oh, and the manager was on break or something, just so you know. The lobby was empty except for the two of us. Anyway, as soon as we got to the door, I managed to step on him and throw the food in his face to get away. We had a bit of a battle before someone came in and pulled the fire alarm. He tried to shoot me a couple times but I managed to stop him each time. He threw me into the front desk so hard that I broke it. People started coming in at that point and he ran away.

"Someone called the ambulance and they had me checked out. And because I'm sure you're all wondering, I have a concussion, a bruise on the side of my face, a now splinter-free arm, another bruise where my abs should be, a cut near the back of my neck, and a swollen but otherwise not twisted or sprained ankle, hence the bandage and the limping. Some of those things sting but it's easily ignorable. I'm just glad I don't have a black eye this time." She attempted to make a joke.

She swore she heard crickets. She looked around the room. A lot of them looked pissed: Steve, Graham, Thor, Clint, and Bruce were probably the angriest. Tony, Betty, and Natasha all had varying ranges of worry on their faces.

Tony stood up again, taking a grateful Tania's place as she sat down in Steve's lap. The Stark lab was big, but with so many people, there weren't enough seating arrangements so a lot of the couples had to sit together on random chairs or tables.

"Okay," the billionaire started, one hand in his pocket and the other gesturing wildly along with his speech, "First thing's first. Tania, did you tell him your name during this encounter?" She nodded. "That means that he knew it was you, which meant he was more than likely specifically targeting you. It wasn't just random."

She shivered and snuggled closer to Steve, who wrapped his arms around her protectively. "I won't let anyone hurt you," he whispered in her ear. She knew it was a promise he couldn't necessarily keep but it made her feel better anyway.

Tony continued. "Right. So if someone wants to kill you, we've got to find out who it is and stop him in his tracks. Jarvis, get the feeds of all security cameras of the lobby of the hotel Tania was in when the attack happened."

"Of course, sir."

One screen popped up from a camera above the entrance to the hotel. They watched as a man in a baseball cap entered the building and asked the manager to call someone, presumably Tania.

"He's talking to Pepper," the brunette filled in. Tony's leg twitched almost unnoticeably.

The man, "Hal," pointed to the other side of the room to another door and the manager nodded. He pulled a sign that said, "be back in ten minutes" from under his desk and put it on top. He walked off in that direction. Not long after, Tania entered.

The Avengers tensed as she moved forward and shook his hand. They had a good view of her face, but not his. He had yet to face the camera. They watched as the battle wore on, but even when the two of them faced the doors, the baseball cap prevented them from getting a good look at his face. They winced when Hal punched her in the gut and then her face, flinging her to the floor.

When she sprang back up again, Clint fist-pumped her and Natasha smiled at her with pride. Her spinning kick ignited hums of approval from around the room, even Steve, who began kissing her neck as she watched. She threw her head back and bit back a moan. The others were still entranced with the video in front of them.

When she crashed into the desk, she flinched but didn't look away. She remembered that moment vividly. It had hurt like hell. They watched as she threw a knife, seemingly from out of nowhere, at her attacker. Surprised eyes and raised eyebrows faced her and she blushed. On the screen, the knife missed its target and people started to flood in. The man turned and ran beneath the camera, still never getting a good look at his face.

When the lights came back on, Tony stood up again. "Well that was absolutely pointless. We didn't get a look at his face. Although I have to admit Sonata, that you have some serious potential as a super hero and/or SHIELD agent."

"No thanks," she declined for the millionth time.

"What if she drew him?" Graham piped up. Everyone turned to look at him as he repeated his question. "She has awesome drawing skills, would that be enough?"

Tony hummed and rubbed his chin with his index finger and thumb thoughtfully. "It might, depending on the details of the picture and the way it's drawn. It's worth a shot. Then we can have Jarvis run it through facial recognition. Can you draw him, Tania?"

She nodded and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Yeah, but it might take a few hours. Sketches take time."

He nodded. "Okay. I'll need you to draw it now so that we can scan it into Jarvis. The facial recognition system will take a few hours, a few hours we can use to sleep. You get to work on that while the rest of us go to bed – I'm sure we're all tired. It's like, two in the morning."

She yawned and nodded again. "Okay, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Or later today, I guess."

"And Tania?" She looked up at him. "Glad you're okay."

He patted her on the shoulder as he and the others slowly filed out of the room. Betty gave her a hug. Bruce gave her a look with his eyes that said all he needed to say. Thor gripped her shoulder (rather harshly but she managed to hold back a wince) and nodded once, promising revenge on the man that had hurt her. Clint squeezed her hand reassuringly and Natasha surprised everyone by hugging her as well. Graham grabbed her in a teddy bear hug and lifted her off her feet before setting her down, laughing as she reached up on her tippy toes to ruffle his hair. He winked at her and exited as well, following the others out the door.

It was just her and Steve. He slowly moved forward and raised his left hand to cup her cheek. She looked up at him, letting him see the vulnerability she didn't want to show in front of the others. His eyes softened and he pulled her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around his back gratefully and sighed into his body. She could feel one of his hands resting between her shoulder blades and the other stroking the back of her head.

His other hand brushed against the cut and she flinched. He froze briefly before pulling away slightly. "May I see?"

She nodded and brought his hands down to the hem of her shirt. He pulled it up and over her head so that she only had her bra on. He blushed (still adorable after all this time) and she turned around, letting him see the band aid the paramedics had applied. He yanked it off. She barely felt it. His large, warm, fingers traced the cut that ran from just to the left of her spine, diagonally down towards her shoulder blade. That was where one of the pieces of wood from the desk had dug into her skin. His hands moved up her back to her neck and gently pulled her hair away from her back, tucking it in front of her right shoulder.

He kissed the back of her neck before heading for the first aid kit on the wall to their right. With all the explosions the Science Bros had caused, Pepper had ordered over a dozen first aid kids to be placed in each lab in case of emergency. Steve was thankful for it as he grabbed it and placed it on the lab counter.

Tania hopped up onto it like she did with the ambulance and swung her legs back and forth while he searched for a new bandage and threw her old one into the garbage. He placed a new one on before walking around the counter to the other side so that he could face her. He twisted her face to her right so that he could observe the bruise growing on her jaw.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, afraid to touch it.

She shook her head. "Not unless I move it the wrong way when talking."

He hummed. "Did you want some ice for that?"

"No, I think I'm good. I'm already patched up. I don't see what any of this is for."

"I guess it's more for me, than for you." He sent her a sheepish smile as he let go of her chin and looked down at her stomach before frowning. An even larger bruise was turning black and blue just below her belly button. He softly pressed his hand to it and she hissed. He immediately pulled back as his eyes darkened. The bruise was in the shape of a fist.

He wanted to kill that bastard that had dared lay a hand on his Tania. He would do it himself when they found him – he would make sure of that. One thing was for sure though, if his girlfriend had become a target, then the shooter must be eliminated.

She took his face into both her hands and tilted his head upwards so that he was looking at her. It was a nice change to be taller for once.

"I'm okay," she promised, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. He grabbed her wrist and pulled away, looking down.

"I know," he responded. "I just… I need to really know."

She nodded and let her hands drop back into her lap. "I get it." She held her left leg up. "Go for it."

His eyes flicked up towards her. "I don't know how to rewrap it."

"Then just look."

He gingerly took her foot into his hands and looked at it from all different angles. The bandage was wrapped tightly but it was still a bright white instead of stained with dark red. Her ankle was obviously swollen but otherwise it seemed fine.

"Anything else?" he asked as he set it down.

She shrugged and held out her right arm. "It was practically covered in protruding splinters before, but it's okay now. I'm fine."

"I've always hated those words."

"What? I'm fine?"

"No one is ever fine when they say that."

She rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Well then, I will be okay. Is that better?"

He smiled a little and stepped forward so that he was in between her legs and almost chest to chest with her. "Yes ma'am."

She grinned and leaned forward to kiss him, capturing his lips with hers. Her insides exploded with embers, just like the first time, and she felt nervous butterflies inside of her stomach that she didn't think it would ever go away. But that was okay. They were part of what made kissing him exciting.

He ran his hands up along her thighs and one along her back, tracing small circles against her spine. She shiver and sat up straighter, scooting closer to him subconsciously. He trailed his kisses down her throat again and this time she really did moan. She leaned forward, only to let out a squeak when she fell off the counter. She needn't have worried, Steve was there to catch her. The man emanated warmth and love and she could feel her legs around his waist. Hoping she hadn't broken the moment, she pulled her head away from his shoulder and looked at his face.

His eyes were twinkling. "Even though you were fighting for your life, was it wrong of me to think that you looked… what do they call it these days… Hot?"

Heat pooled in her stomach and her heart fluttered. She shook her head. "No, that's… I find myself thinking that whenever you're in uniform."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

She blushed. Why did she just say that? Still, she nodded.

"It seems the tables have turned, then. Because that spinning kick honestly just did me in." He pressed his lips to hers and spun her around. She giggled as the moment allowed him to switch her position so that he carried her bridal style.

"Steve… my shirt."

He paused in his route to the door, debating whether or not to go back. He shrugged. "We'll get it in the morning."

"What about the drawing?"

That brought him up short. "Oh."

She sighed. "Put me down Steve. I'm too tired for sex now anyways, no matter how much I would love to."

He set her on her feet and she groggily walked over to her shirt. She slipped it on, buttoning up the front and made her way back to him. He held the door open for her and they headed for the elevator. "I'm sorry," he apologized once they were inside and headed for their art gallery.

She shook her head. "Don't be. I wanted to, I want to, just as much you do. But I don't think it's a good idea. One, because of the drawing. Two, because I'm kind of really tired. And three, because of my, quote unquote, 'injuries'."

He grabbed her hand. "You know I would never hurt you, right?"

She sighed. "Of course, Steve. You've been exceedingly gentle with me ever since that night you crushed the counter in your hands."

His hold on her tightened. "I know. And I have good reason."

She leaned into his arm. "But you know I'm not made of glass right?"

"Of course. That spinning kick to that man's side was too powerful for someone made of glass."

She rolled her eyes. The doors pulled apart and they stepped onto their floor. Once they reached the art gallery, Tania settled onto the bench to the right of the door and sat back to back with Steve, who had decided to stay up with her and sketch as well. With her knees tucked into her chest and her feet propped up on the seat, Tania placed her pad and pencil in her lap and began to furiously draw the face she remembered from a few hours before. Had it really only been so short a time?

She began the outline to his face. As her pencil flew across the paper, she had to focus hard on Hal, and in doing so, the flashbacks came with it. When his punch snapped her jaw the pencil in her hand snapped as well, mirroring her thoughts.

She felt Steve's back muscles shift as he turned to see why she had snapped her pencil. Her fist was clutching the bottom part of so tightly that her knuckles were white and her entire arm was tense up to her shoulder. He placed a hand upon it and gently pushed it down, trying to soothe her. She took a deep breath and nodded, slowly releasing the pencil from her iron grip. It clattered to the floor. Steve wordlessly offered her his utensil instead and she whispered a quiet, "thank you".

She started on his facial features, going for the dip in his nose and the almond shapes of his eyes. He looked Caucasian now that she really saw him. Not that that helped much… When she finished drawing his long, skinny nose, she began colouring in his eyes. She drew on the baseball cap because she didn`t know what his hair looked like without it. Still, she sketched the little strands that she remembered peeking out from underneath the accessory.

After finishing his mouth, she ran her pencil down his neck in long lines, creating the folds of his skin and began dotting his chin and cheeks for stubble. She remembered the crows' feet he'd had when he's smiled at her. It had seemed so genuine at the time. Now it just seemed fake.

About an hour after she'd started, she deemed it finished enough that she didn't know any more details to add. She brandished it to Steve, who scowled at it. "It's a very good drawing," he commented before averting his eyes. His reaction instigated a chuckle from her. It was weird to see a scowl on someone's face followed by a real compliment.

"Thanks. If I didn't know any better, from the look on your face, I'd say you didn't like it."

He smiled closed-lipped. "It's not that. You're a wonderful artist. It's the man you drew that I don't like."

She nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. I don't suppose by some miracle, you recognize him and can go track him down?"

He chuckled and shook his head.

"Dang."

He turned around his own sketchpad so that she could see what he had been drawing the entire time. It was a picture of himself – but it wasn't. He was shorter, skinny, dressed like he used to, and undoubtedly happy. Beside him, a good head or so taller than him with an arm around his shoulders, was obviously Bucky dressed in his military uniform. They were both grinning and staring at you through the paper as if posing for a camera. It was incredibly life-like.

A smile crept onto her face. "It's beautiful, Steve. And you were so cute!"

He rolled his eyes. "At my age, a man doesn't want to be called, 'cute'. You can see why Bucky got all the attention."

She nodded her head. "I can. But I know that if I had been in that time and even if you hadn't gotten the serum that I would have fallen for you anyway. I'm not one to judge a person by their looks."

He smiled. "I know. And I'm sure Bruce and the others, including myself, are grateful for it."

"Good. You know what?" She swung her legs over the bench and stood up to stretch. She winced when the bruise on her abs stung with renewed vigour and she immediately lowered her arms.

"You okay?" he asked immediately, setting down his drawing and standing up next to her.

"Yeah, but you know what I was going to say? We should put that picture on that wall over there." She pointed to the framed picture of her and Steve at the coffee shop. "I think we should make it our Wall of Fame, so to speak. We'll put up pictures that really mean something to us there. Like the one of us, and then one of you and Bucky, and I think the one you drew of all of you eating Shawarma is a good one to put up."

"But those are all my sketches. What about yours?"

She shrugged. "I'll put up the one I drew of Howard and Peggy, if you don't mind, that is?"

He shook his head. "Of course not. That's a great idea."

"Cool. I also have a painting a Avengers Tower I think we could put up there."

"Perfect."

"You know, I really could go on about this forever, but I really do need to have Jarvis scan this picture."

"Right."

"Jarvis?" She looked up at the ceiling.

"Yes, Miss Banks?"

"Could you please run this picture through the facial recognition software?" She held it up towards his voice.

"As you wish." A red light appeared seemingly from out of nowhere and scanned the picture before disappearing.

"Thank you." She turned back to Steve and settled down on the bench again. "Now where were we?"

"It's almost morning."

"I know. But I don't really feel like sleeping."

"Tania…"

"Steve." She put her hands on her hips and crossed her legs, determined.

He raised an eyebrow. Before she could react, he swooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the room. She squeaked and began to struggle. "Hey! Put me down!"

"Not until we get to bed."

"Steve!" she cried out exasperatedly.

"Sorry, but you wake early every day as it is. You are going to bed. It's three thirty in the morning."

She groaned. "But I don't wanna!"

He laughed as the door to the bedroom opened for him automatically. Her childish side was making an appearance. "Well that's just too bad because I will hold you there myself until you are fast asleep."

She sighed. "Fine. You win."

He smiled. "I know."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

A/N. I don't know what's wrong with this chapter but I actually hate it and I don't know what to do. Do you guys have any ideas for improvements on this chapter? I'll take them all into consideration. Oh and that was part of the reason this was so late btw, I couldn't figure out what to write :/ Sorry!