Make You Feel My Love
~Book IV~

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

Chapter 6

"Did you sleep outside or something?" asked Natasha, pulling a few pieces of grass out of Maria's hair.

Blushing, Maria smoothed down her hair, avoiding eye-contact with Steve. She knew Natasha noticed her reaction and she knew that Steve was reacting the same, telling Natasha exactly what she needed to know. She heard Nat chuckle softly, letting the grass fall down to the floor of the living room before Steve cleared his throat, changing the subject quickly.

He slid a PAD over to the two of them, showing a picture of Rumlow – former SHIELD agent secretly working for Hydra under Fury's nose. Both women looked at him expectantly, wondering where he wanted to go with this.

"The new mission for the New Avengers," explained Steve. "They wanted to train out in the field – what better way to start things off then with the man who has a vendetta against us superheroes?"

The living room was still empty of the others, seeing as it was early in the morning and the sun had barely begun to rise yet. Both Maria and Steve had been slightly surprised to see Natasha already up and about – though it was not too surprising seeing as Natasha was very dedicated to her work. Now, the three of them were sitting around the kitchen table, trying to work out a plan for the New Avengers to train their team-work.

"I didn't know he'd survived," said Maria quietly.

"He did, barely," explained Steve, showing some pictures to the two women while he continued talking about Brock Rumlow. "A while after things had settled down again in Washington DC, Rumlow woke up in the hospital bed. Upon hearing the news of Hydra's failure, he attacked his nurse and ran off. Ever since then, he's been trying to find ways to avenge himself and the damage that was done to him. So far, he's managed to attack several police stations here in America. Unfortunately, he's begun to terrorize the rest of the world as well."

"My God," breathed Maria as he saw a particular picture on the PAD. "Did he do this?"

"Unfortunately, yes…

Six months later

"He managed to infiltrate a former SHIELD laboratory and steal multiple tools. When he then tried to sell them on the Black Market, he managed to get in contact with what was left of Hydra. Though it was all just to lure them out so he could kill them all," explained Steve.

The three Avengers were stood in front of the New Avengers – all but Rhodey who was currently working on something with Tony, apparently something important Tony had been working on for a while now – showing to them the pictures Steve had been showing to Maria and Natasha the year before. Outside of the room they were in, spring had just begun. The grass once more turned green while tiny spring-flowers popped out of the ground. The past six months had been intense on all the Avengers as they had been training harder than ever in order to become stronger and better. They had been going on smaller missions together to train while Steve, Maria and Natasha tracked down Rumlow in secret.

A new lead on Rumlow, or Crossbones as he enjoyed calling himself, had appeared and Steve had decided to let the New Avengers in on the mission they had been training for. The picture shown to the New Avengers was a picture of several dead bodies lying unmoving in an alley. It still made Maria look away, even though she herself had done much worse things than that.

"Now, we believe he's trying to lure us out," informed Steve, switching to the next picture which was a simple picture taken from a security camera, showing Rumlow in his new uniform. "And he's going to succeed, though not without losing the fight."

"Where is he?" asked Sam.

"Lagos, Nigeria," said Maria. "We're going there in about an hour."

"But first, you need to be prepared for what's to come," added Natasha, handing out leaflets to the New Avengers; reports on what Rumlow and his men can do.

"As far as we know," began Steve, crossing his arms over his chest as he briefed the team, "He's a world-class hand-to-hand combatant with experience in various sorts of street fighting, in martial arts and in military combat techniques. He's fuelled by anger, which makes him unpredictable and dangerous. Meaning, he can't know we're after him until we know for sure what his plan is."

"What is our theory so far? What's he up to?" asked Wanda, looking up at the three Avengers before her.

"Seeing as he's been targeting police stations lately, we believe he's going to target Largos' police station. Though, we're not sure," said Natasha.

"Also," added Maria. "His injuries have left him almost immune to pain, which means he won't stagger or react to punches the way you're used to. Remember that."

The New Avengers nodded their heads.

"We need to go in stealthily," said Steve before he looked over at Vision. "Which means we can't bring you along, Vision."

"That's alright," said Vision with a nod of his head. "I'm not exactly stealthy, after all."

Maria smiled an apologetical smile at him before nodding her head, "Get ready. We leave in an hour."

The Avengers all left, except for Vision, Maria and Steve.

"What will you do once you capture Rumlow?" asked Vision.

"Hopefully, we'll place him in prison, with my father," said Maria before mumbling, "Where he belongs."

"And if you can't capture him?" asked Vision.

Maria tensed up, looking over at Steve who stayed calm at the question, "So long as the people of Largos are safe, we'll have to do whatever we have to do."

Vision simply bowed his head in recognition of the meaning behind Steve's words, though Maria could easily see that Vision was not all too happy about the answer. As he left, Maria turned back to Steve who was fumbling with the cables attached with the PAD. She walked over to him and gently placed a hand over his, making him stop fumble. Gently, she helped him remove the cable, all the while staring intently up into Steve's eyes.

"The briefing went well," she complimented, her hand still hovering over his. "I noticed you're used to doing them."

"They were all part of my duties back in my time," said Steve, earning a frown from Maria.

He sighed, placing two fingers underneath of her chin, "Don't frown… You look cute, but it always means you feel bad about something."

"Steve," she said, gently leaning against his two fingers while brushing a hand over his arm all the way up to his shoulder. "This is your time too. You belong here now. With us. With me."

Over the past six months, their relationship had grown back to what it used to be before the engagement. Only a month ago, Steve and Maria had moved in together. Of course, that only meant that they had one room together, so the move was not all that drastic for Maria as she had simply had to move to the room next doors. But it was a symbol for how far they had gotten in their relationship. It was a symbol for the fact that they were finally back where they left off.

It had made Maria very happy to have Steve back and she was intent on never letting him go again. Although that feeling was rather scary to her. After all, she had always been loyal and protective of Steve, but she was afraid that her feelings to him could make her become too loyal and too protective this time. She could already feel that her feelings were even more intense than they were earlier, and somehow she could see that in Steve's eyes as well. She was afraid that she would follow him no matter where even if it meant her own death, and that her protectiveness might lead to nasty feelings such as jealousy. Though her being aware of this danger always made her think she would be able to be strong when such a situation arose. At least, she hoped she would be strong enough to always make her own decision and not just base them on what Steve's decision was.

"I know," said Steve, making her come back around to reality. "But I can't help but think about the past as my time. It was back then that I had been the real me. Not the muscular me you see now. It was back then that I had once had parents, my best friend… my alma mater. Everything. It's just-"

"Home," she finished for him, his blue eyes immediately beginning to search hers for something. "I know how it feels. This is home to me. This here is my family, you and the others. When I was over at Xavier's school about a year ago or so, gosh it feels like yesterday – I was with my own people. I was with those who understood every single fibre of me. And although it was home for me then and although I felt almost as good as I do when I'm standing next to you, it just wasn't home. So, yes, I understand."

Steve moved his hand from underneath her chin to her cheek, gently caressing her cheekbone.

"Once you would have said that Hell's Kitchen is your home. That Matt-"

"Don't talk about him," she said, looking away from Steve.

"You can't keep a grudge against him… He's your friend. He did so much for you," said Steve before sighing as she kept looking away from him. "At least end your relationship on a good note."

"Logan said I should just let him be," mumbled Maria, finally looking back up into Steve's eyes again where he could see the pain and confusion she felt over the situation. "Though he used some more, uh, rough words. But Matt… All he did was have feelings for me. But it just feels weird. I don't love him."

"Makes me happy to hear that," said Steve with a soft grin.

Maria rolled her eyes playfully at him before shaking her head, Steve's hand moving to her shoulder. "I'll think about it."

"Good," said Steve with a nod. "Now, let's go get ready."