AN: Hi guys, sorry its been so long, but this and the upcoming chapters were hard to write, so they took me a bit, but its here now! Hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, as depressing as that is.
Once we finally made it off of the floor of my bathroom, we dressed and got ready, Steve throwing on his now clean clothes from the day before, and me agonizing over what the hell I was supposed to wear to an Avengers movie night. Did I go super casual, or a little dressed up? If I went too casual would the think I was a slob? If I went too dressy would they think I was trying too hard? I sighed and rolled my eyes. I was a grown ass woman damn it. I was not a teenager meeting his parents for the first time. I was going to a movie night. That was it!
Grabbing a soft dress, a pair of leggings and a sweater, I dressed huffily, earning a few bewildered looks from Steve. I was going to be comfortable dammit. Looking at myself in the mirror, I braided my hair into a french braid that started on the left side of my head, ending with a fishtail to contain my thick and unruly hair. I touched up my face briefly with make up and nodded softly, trying to squish the nervous bubble in my stomach, telling myself that I was 27 years old and I had handled much harder things than this in my life. I breathed deeply, standing and smiling at Steve who sat patiently on my bed, petting Penelope absently. He smiled over at me, that thousand watt smile making my heart clench absently.
"You look great. Ready to go?" he asked. I nodded.
"As ready as I'll ever be," I answered.
"It'll be great, you'll see. Now I only brought the bike, so we'll have to ride that to the tower, if that's ok?" Steve asked hesitantly. I nodded.
"Yeah, I'm mostly over that. It's not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I actually kind of like it," I admitted sheepishly. Steve grinned.
"All right then, here we go," he said, passing me a helmet. I clicked in, straddling the bike before we took off into what little traffic there was on a Sunday afternoon. We raced uptown, the brisk early December air racing by me. I breathed in deep, smelling that crisp edge to the air that had me thinking of snowflakes and hot cocoa. We drove into the parking garage, parking in Steve's spot.
"Good morning JARVIS! How are you today?" I asked happily as we entered the elevator.
"Good afternoon Miss Samuels," JARVIS corrected gently, "And delighted as always. To Captain Rogers' level today Miss?" he asked. Steve cut in before I could answer.
"Actually JARVIS, could you take us down to the labs? I want Charlotte to meet the scientists first." he said. I looked up at him in surprise. "Thought it might be an easier transition for you to meet the parts of team with more of a science background first, since that's what you studied." I smiled.
"Sure," I replied, still slightly shocked at how well Steve seemed to know me already.
"I'm sorry Captain, but Miss Samuels does not have the clearance to access the laboratory levels," JARVIS replied.
"Can't I clear her for that?" Steve asked.
"I'm sorry sir, the only one with the clearance to give anyone access to the laboratory levels would be Mr. Stark." JARVIS replied. Steve sighed shortly, slightly irritated.
"Could you ask Stark to give her the clearance?" He asked.
"Unfortunately Captain, Mr. Stark is not awake or receiving requests at the moment." JARVIS replied.
"Well wake him up! It's half past 1 for godsakes!" Steve replied.
"This really isn't that big of a deal. I can meet them later can't I?" I asked.
"No, its fine, really. And I think you'll really get a kick out of the labs. They're pretty impressive. And if it means I get to wake Stark up on a Sunday, that's just icing in the cake," he said. I chuckled.
"Okay," I replied warily.
"Captain, Mr. Stark is unwilling to communicate with you at the moment or give proper approval. He suggests however that you wait in the screening area for his decision," JARVIS answered. The doors of the elevator opened to a clean, sterile looking white room with long white couches.
"I'm going to kill him," Steve muttered, stepping back onto the elevator, "Just wait right here. I'll be back in a minute." The elevator doors closed and he disappeared. I sighed and turned away, look for anything of interest in the incredibly sterile room. Finding nothing I plopped down onto one of the couches, exasperated.
"Are they always like this?" I asked aloud.
"Unfortunately Miss, they are. Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers have a, difficult relationship." he finished, finding the right term. I sighed, at least finding relief that this argument was just one of many.
"Can I go in yet?" I asked.
"Not quite yet Miss. Captain Rogers hasn't quite succeeded in persuading Mr. Stark." JARVIS answered.
"Just let her in JARVIS!" came Tony Stark's irritated voice over the intercom, "There, you happy now loverboy?" the feed cut out, but not before something broke loudly on the other side. I cringed, but the doors to the lab opened nearly silently. Unable to quench my curiosity, I walked in to find a huge lab space, all made of glass and plastic and steel. Each surface was meticulously kept, with all the state of the art equipment a scientist could want sitting patiently. The scientist within me jumped up and down, noting the carefully spaced out counters, divided into separate work spaces, algorithms and formulas scrawled out in dry erase marker on clear plastic dividers. Feeling distinctly like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, I wandered around aimlessly, careful not to touch anything, though my fingers itched to touch, to correct, to study, to solve.
I turned the corner, noticing a cubicle where a man was hunched over his desk, unruly black hair nearly curling over his collar, hands typing quickly, consumed in his work. My eyebrow quirked when he didn't turn, even though I knew the small heels on my boots clicked on the spotless floor. I turned to the board dividing him from the next cubicle, equations scribbled messily, and in my not so humble opinion, wrongly. I huffed quietly, standing closer to the board, searching the numbers and symbols, isolating the wrong sections in my mind. They glowed blue in my head, and my fingers twitched slightly, needed to correct them, but not wanting to tread on another scientists turf. Unable to stop myself I sighed loudly.
"This algorithm is wrong," I stated. This finally earned a look from the man at the desk. he looked up, dark eyes watching me warily, showing no signs that I had surprised him by being in the lab. So he had known that I was there, but chose not to acknowledge me. Rude.
"Excuse me?" he said.
"This algorithm is wrong. Its the reason you keep getting irrational numbers at the end of this. I'm assuming that you want actual results at the end of the formula." I answered.
"Yes, of course, but that's not why the algorithm isn't working. There are quite a few more factors than mathematical accuracy in this formula,"
"No there's not. Math is math. It's one of the small beauties in the world. Math is always math. No matter what."
"Not always. This might be a little over your head." he replied, turning back to his work. My brows drew together in a huff.
"Over my head? I have a PhD in Advanced Mathematics. I can figure my way around what frankly looks like rudimentary calculus." I returned.
"Rudimentary calculus?," he exclaimed, "This is not rudimentary, I've been working on this algorithm for the better part of a week!"
"Well then its been a waste of time, because any student in an honors level Calc class could write this out and make the same damn mistake," I said, my voice rising.
"There is no mistake in this algorithm, I'm telling you," he returned, standing up. He was only slightly taller than me, but somehow intimidating. I scoffed and grabbed the dry erase marker.
"Don't do it," he warned.
"What? Help you out? Save this formula?" I replied cheekily, deftly erasing the wrong parts and replacing them with correct figures. He began to protest, but stopped abruptly, leaning down to examine the figures closely.
"You, you fixed it," he said, dumbfounded.
"I told you. It was wrong. Plug that in and you'll get actual results this time." I replied, stealing a chair from the next cubicle and crossing my arms smugly. He rushed back to his computer, rapidly typing in the revised formula. I studied him, hunched over, dark brows knit together. He looked older, almost early forties, but I couldn't deny that he was kind of attractive. He had an interesting older man, professorial, nerdy appeal, but something within him screamed danger. It was an odd mix to say the least. He finished typing in the formula and entered it, watching the computer analyze the results. He sat back in his chair, one hand buried in his thick black hair.
"I can't believe this," he murmured. I smiled.
"Believe it. You really should get an actual mathematician in here, or at least someone with more than just a few math courses under their belt. I passed three more equations back there with major flaws." I finished. He looked over at me, completely bewildered, and about to answer me back when two women strode into the room. I recognized the taller, slimmer one immediately as Jane Foster, and shot up in my chair. The other was a short, curvy girl with dark hair, sleepy blue eyes and glasses. My curvy girl instincts nodded shortly in solidarity. Jane Foster walked over to the man at the desk, looking concerned.
"What's going on Bruce? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Jane said. My brows knit together; Bruce. Could this be Bruce Banner? Had I just yelled at the Bruce Banner? I stood up quickly.
"Bruce? Bruce Banner? Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you!" I scrambled. Bruce looked up at me, as if finally seeing me for the first time. He shook his head slightly and gave me the slightest smile.
"No, don't worry about it. Jane, she solved the equation, we had it all wrong," he told her, pointing to the scribbled dry erase marker. She leaned in, looking closely and then laughing.
"Ha! She did. I knew there was something off about this one. I just couldn't put my finger on it," Jane replied, looking over at me.
"How did you do that?" she asked. I blushed deep scarlet, excited that I had just outsmarted two of the finest scientific minds of my generation.
"I don't know, the mistake was all I could see when I looked at the board. There are a few more wrong ones back over there too if you're interested." I added. "I'm sorry, you're Jane Foster, right?" Jane looked at me, slightly puzzled.
"Yes, I am. How do you know that?" she asked.
"I got my physics degree at Culver a few years after you graduated. You're a legend on campus. It's how I recognized you, not to sound like a total fangirl, but your theories on Einstein-Rosen bridges is what inspired me to get my mathematics degree." I finished, trying and failing to control how red my face was getting.
"Really? When did you graduate?" she asked, her face friendly.
"2008. I went somewhere else for my PhD though. I liked Culver, but not enough to be there for another two years."
"Sorry to interrupt this whole reunion, but who are you? Why are you here?" the curvy girl who came in with Jane spoke out, one dark eyebrow quirked suspiciously, hand holding a taser loosely at her hip.
"Darcy!" Jane reprimanded quietly.
"No, its fine, I'm Charlotte Samuels. I'm with Steve." I heard the words come out of my mouth and felt the strangeness of them wash over me. It was the first time I had admitted to anyone that Steve and I were together. "He was supposed to bring me down here to meet you guys but he had to go speak to Tony about something. It's really nice to meet you all though, really." I turned to Bruce, "'I'm so sorry if I upset you at all-"
"Don't worry about it, it's nice to not be treated with kid gloves," he smiled at me, standing up and shaking my hand gently. There was something so sweetly sad about Bruce and I couldn't help but grin back at him.
"Oh, so you're the one boffing the Captain. Nice." Darcy grinned, giving me a high five. I laughed and grinned back.
"I guess you could put it that way," I answered.
"It's nice to meet you Charlotte. I'm glad Steve's found someone, especially a Culver girl," Jane winked conspiratorially at me before turning to Bruce. "I hate to tear you away from this now that you've made a breakthrough, but Tony's finally awake and he wants everyone up in the penthouse."
"Movie night?" Bruce asked, only slightly exasperated.
"That's what he said. He's up there rigging screens and the sound system 'properly'" Darcy said, adding air quotes and rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, we're doing a sweep. We were going to go pick up Steve on his level but I suppose we can just go straight to Clint and Nat's." Jane suggested as we made our way back toward the elevator.
"Charlotte, which one's are incorrect? You said a bunch were wrong when you came in but didn't specify," Bruce asked.
"Well, that one for sure. I don't know what middle schooler you let into your labs, but the whole equation is off. And that one too. I thought Stark Industries was supposed to be a hub of intellectual genius?" I replied.
"JARVIS, level 30 please," Jane asked.
"Right away Dr. Foster," JARVIS replied and the elevator hummed as we began to move.
"It is, according to Tony. A lot of the scientists that I've seen here are specialized in engineering and tech, which would mean they should have some basic knowledge of equations. Actually, one of those that you pointed out back there was Tony's." he answered. The doors swung open and we found ourselves in a small hallway, impeccably decorated and with two doors on each side. The names 'Barton' and 'Romanov' were engraved on plaques decorating the doors.
"Really? Oh, that's fantastic. Please let me be there when you fix Tony's equations," Darcy begged, "I can just imagine his face." I grinned and nodded as we turned toward the door that said 'Barton'. The archer, if I was correct. 'Hawkeye' as he was known in the press. I was learning more and more every minute I spent in that damn tower.
Jane knocked courteously, and we waited. 15, 20, 30 seconds passed, no response. Darcy huffed impatiently and strode up to the door pounding loudly.
"Yo, Katniss, get your ass out here. It's time for movie night!" she yelled. The door opened almost immediately and a shorter, blue eyed man opened it, dressed in a black t-shirt and dark jeans. He was built like a boxer, short and barrel chested and holy biceps Batman. I couldn't help but drool a little bit. How was it that every member of this damn team looked like they should be on the covers of magazines? He did a cursory glance around at all of us, entirely steel faced until his blue eyes focused on me. He brows narrowed and I almost flinched from the intensity of the stare.
"Who's she?" he asked curtly, never taking his eyes off of me. I gulped nervously and what had to have been loud enough for everyone to hear. I opened my mouth to answer but Darcy cut in.
"Uh, rude. Don't even say hi to the rest of us. That's Charlotte. She's dating Cap. Stop staring at her, you'll scare her," she demanded. I cleared my throat and straightened.
"No, Darcy, its fine," I stepped forward, my hand outstretched. "Charlotte Samuels," I introduced myself as he continued to stare at me. A pause stretched out between us and I struggled to ignore the temptation to squirm under his scrutiny.
"You're short," he said curtly.
"Yeah, I am. So?" I answered, just as succinctly.
"Shorter than small fry over there," he said, motioning to Darcy. She scoffed in response.
"I am not short! I'm fun sized." she retorted and I smiled, nodding in agreement.
"Exactly, fun sized," I responded, "Are you going to continue creepily staring at me and calling me names or come watch a movie with us?" He continued staring at me for another moment before the corner of his mouth quirked up ever so slightly. He huffed in approval and uncrossed his arms, shaking my hand firmly.
"So you're the one that Cap has been all moon-eyed over. Figures he would fall for a short stack like you." he responded, finally letting go of my hand and stepping out of his apartment. I smiled and blushed smugly.
"Figures," I responded as another door opened behind us.
"Having a party and didn't invite me?" the voice was female, low, and sultry, oozing sex appeal. I turned and saw the semi-petite redhead standing in the door frame. My eyes widened slightly. If I had ever thought of myself as curvy, I had been wrong, this woman was curvy in the true sense of the word and unbelievably sexy, even in a pair of jeans and a v-neck shirt. Long lidded green eyes looked out at us lazily, plump lips quirked into a small smirk. Once again, I found myself bombarded by the sex appeal of the Avengers. Barton slid past me and walked over to her.
"They just came up to grab me for the movie and introduced Cap's new love interest." The woman's lips quirked further and she looked around the archer at me, her green eyes raking my body, expression unreadable. She stepped out, closing the door behind her and strode over to me.
"Charlotte?" she asked. My brows shot up in surprise.
"How do you know my name?" I asked.
"Steve told me. He needed a little bit of help with your first date, but I'm guessing he didn't do too badly then, did he?" she replied. I looked at her, slightly speechless and she extended her hand, "Natasha Romanov, its nice to finally meet you in person." I nodded and shook her hand wordlessly. I had never been struck speechless by another woman before, but Natasha exuded danger and sex, but at the same time I was completely at ease.
"We should probably get going, shouldn't we?" I asked, "Though, I have no idea where Steve is. Oh shit, he probably went down to the labs looking for me."
"No Miss, Captain Rogers is currently on the Penthouse level with Sir, Miss Potts and Sir Thor," JARVIS answered. I smiled.
"Thanks JARVIS," I replied.
"Anytime Miss." he answered. The group began to slowly make their way to the elevator, everyone making conversation between themselves. I hung back, observing them all. Natasha and Barton walked closely together, whispering nonchalantly. Bruce and Jane seemed to be discussing something scientific, and Jane's brow was furrowed ever so slightly in thought. Darcy hung back and saw me watching everyone, looking, I'm sure, more than slightly overwhelmed. She smiled and walked by my side, nudging me with her elbow.
"You alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, its all just a little bit-"
"Insane?" she supplied. I nodded wordlessly.
"Does it ever get better?" I asked.
"Not really. I've known these guys for almost a year. It's been just about 2 since thunder thighs came crashing into Jane and I's life, and I still don't really have a handle on it." she admitted. I groaned quietly and Darcy grinned, ushering me into the elevator gently.
"Don't worry. At some point it gets slightly manageable. And then Tony blows something up and its a free for all. Good luck!" she finished. I stared ahead at the metal doors of the elevator and gulped loudly.
AN:Why do all of the Avengers have to be so damn sexy. Read and review.