Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. Only my OC, Agent Clarissa Melanie Connors, and her story line belongs to me.

I entered Howard's lab, trying to avoid all the clutter around me as I walked up to him playing around with some of the weapons Steve and the soldiers brought from the Hydra camp.

"How's it looking?" I asked once I was close enough to him.

Howard was fiddling with some type of gun before looking up and answering me.

"Well, just like that submarine, very advanced technology. This thing doesn't even fire bullets! It's core is this weird blue power source... I think I'll crack it open tomorrow. We've had a long two days." He sighed tiredly.

"Why don't you go out, do something fun tonight Mels." He said to me, looking less tired.

I raised an eyebrow at him "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I got you this a week ago, thought it would look really good on you."

Howard pulled out a white box from under his desk and opened it. I peered inside to see a beautiful, dark blue dress sitting elegantly in the box.

"Oh, Howard, it's beautiful!" I said to him, slowly taking it out of the box.

It was a short dress, shorter than most dresses nowadays. It would end up just a bit above my knees. It was fit from the top until it hit my waist, which then the skirt flowed out gracefully. The dress had a v-neckline which showed a modest amount of chest. All in all, it complimented my body.

"A little birdie told me a certain Captain is in the pub right now talking to his new team. Thought I would give you a chance to dress up and go to the pub to wind down." Howard informed me with a smirk.

"Well, thank you, Howie. Will I be seeing you later? We could have a romantic dinner tonight, maybe have that fondue?" I joked.

Howard laughed.

"I'll wear my suit. I'll see you there."

I put the dress back in the box, ready to go to my place to get ready before Howard called me back.

"Hey, Mels! Can you tell the Captain to be here tomorrow at 0800? I want him to try on a few items." He said.

I rolled my eyes "You're going there anyways, why not tell him yourself?"

He smiled at me sheepishly "I might forget."

"Fine, I'll see you later. Thank you again for the dress Howie." I told him, smiling genuinely and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

~0~

I stood outside of the pub, the music and chatter of people can be heard from here. I smooth down the front of my dress and fixed my hair, leaving it down in its waves.

When I entered the pub, all talking and music stopped. Everyone's eyes were on me, but the only pair of eyes I was looking for were that beautiful blue ones. Steve and his friend Bucky were immersed in a conversation near the door and only looked up when the pub became quiet.

Once Steve and I made eye contact he immediately stood up, his eyes leaving mine to look me over. I walked up to the two men, making eye contact with Steve once more.

"Captain." I greeted Steve with a smirk.

"Clary..." Steve responded with a small smile.

He just stared at me for a few seconds, cussing in my head because he made me blush. I coughed slightly to wake him from his stare.

"You gonna introduce me properly to your friend, Steve?" I asked, looking over at the man behind him.

"Oh, right, uh Bucky this is Agent Clarissa Connors; Clary, this is Sergeant James Barnes or Bucky," Steve introduced.

"Ma'am." Bucky greeted, nodding at me.

"Sergeant." I politely returned.

I looked around the pub, noticing and recognizing some of the men that were drinking. They were the soldiers Steve rescued from the Hydra camp.

"So, Steve," I said looking back at him "Howard has some equipment for you to try."

"Tomorrow morning?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, he said that we've had a long two days so we deserved a break," I said to him.

"Sounds good," Steve replied.

"I see your top squad is prepping for duty," I stated, a smile on my face.

"You don't like music?" Bucky asked me.

"I do, actually. I plan to go dancing with a certain soldier when this is all over," I told Bucky though my eyes are on Steve's.

"Why wait till then? I'm ready right now. What do you say?" Bucky flirted with me.

I looked at Steve to see him glaring at his friend. I laughed to myself.

"I'm sorry Sarge, but I already have the right partner in mind," I apologized, looking directly at Steve.

Steve smiled widely at me which I gladly returned.

"Mels!"

I looked back at the door to see Howard dressed up nicely in his suit. He walked over to us, greeting the two men with a nod and myself with a kiss.

"You ready? I got the room all set up for our dinner and fondue night," Howard informed me.

I nodded at him, turning back to Steve and Bucky for a final goodnight when I noticed that Steve had turned his glare from Bucky to Howard. I was confused as to why Howard deserved that glare from him.

I gently touched Steve's arm making his eyes soften.

"Steve are you alright?" I asked gently.

He looked at me for a moment before smiling slightly "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine Clary."

I didn't want to push on it so I left it alone.

"Alright, Howie and I will head out now. Gentlemen enjoy your evening but not too much, can't fight Hydra agents while being drunk off your asses right?" I told them, earning a chuckle from both soldiers.

Howard grabbed my arm and started going towards the door.

"C'mon Mels, I'm hungry let's go!" He grumbled.

"0800, Captain!" I reminded Steve as I was dragged off my Howard towards the door.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll be there." I heard Steve answer right before I left.

Dinner with Howard was wonderful last night. We definitely needed that night off. Fondue is literally my favorite thing on this Earth. It was a lovely evening and I was thankful for Howard for setting it up. Now it's time to work again. He figured out how to get the blue core out of the guns to inspect it. Right now I was watching Howard who was wearing safety goggles, playing around with the core that was safely inside a glass box.

"Emission signature is unusual. Alpha and beta ray neutral. Though I doubt Rogers picked up on that." Howard informed me, as I was writing down things about the core.

"Seems harmless enough. Hard to see what all the fuss is about." Howard said aloud, planning to touch the core with his mechanical tweezers.

"Umm, Howard, I don't think that's a good-"

I was cut off by the blast that came from the core. Howard and I were thrown back by the power surge. Broken glass rained on us from the box. I groaned as I sat up. I brushed the glass that covered me and helped Howard. Any cuts that I got from the blast healed itself at a rapid pace.

"Are you alright Howie?" I asked him, helping him sit up.

I looked up at the rest of the people in the lab "Is everyone alright?"

All the scientists nodded their heads as a yes.

"Howard are you good?" I asked him again.

He just looked at me shocked.

"Write that down Mels." He told be, slurring a bit.

I rolled my eyes.

"Will someone take over, I'm going to check if Steve's here." I announced, handing someone my clipboard. "And grab an ice pack for Howard, please!"

I exit the lab, going to the main room where I expected Steve to be when I saw something that made my heart break. It was undoubtedly Steve, his physique alone told me that, but the shocking thing was that he had his back turned from me, fully making out with a blonde assistant. His arms were rested upon her arm while the other one was on her waist. I composed myself, masking my face.

"Captain!" I snapped, surprising both of them out of their kiss.

"We're ready for you unless you're occupied with something, then I suppose we can reschedule." I sassed, turning around.

"Clary, wait!" Steve called, panic clear in his voice.

"I guess I need to find a new partner considering mine just bailed out." I spoke harshly, still not looking at him as I made my way back to the lab.

"Clary, it's not what you think, trust me." Steve pleaded.

"Oh, I don't think a damn thing, Captain, not a damn thing." I spat out. "You always wanted to be a soldier right? Now you are, just like every one of them. Let me guess, your new best friend is Hodge right?" I asked sarcastically.

The next thing he said made my blood boil.

"Well, what about you and Stark huh? Just yesterday you two were fondue-ing!" Steve accused me, trying to defend himself.

I stopped walking and looked at him, curiously wondering why he kept bringing up about Howard and I fondue-ing when suddenly it made sense. Dear lord. I narrowed my eyes at him and what he was insinuating between Howard and I. Howard's my best friend for goodness sake! I mean if someone were to look at us they would think we were an item, but that's just how we are. He and I are just very comfortable with each other, purely platonic.

"I guess now we know that the serum didn't affect your IQ. I'll make a mental note to change that. Here I thought you finally knew something about women. Guess I was wrong." I told him spitefully.

I entered the lab with a fierce look on my face, the scientist made way for me, afraid they'll be on the receiving end of my glare. I even glared at Howard, making him gulp and wonder what he did wrong for him to be glared at. I'll apologize to him later. I busied myself with the scientist who continued my work for me.

"Did you write down what Howard said?" I asked.

"Yes, ma'am. I even took the liberty of adding a few things I noticed when the explosion happened." He told me.

"Alright, that's good. I'll file this away with the other notes." I told him.

The scientist briefly looked towards where Howard and Steve were in the room.

"Looks like Captain America's getting a new shield." He informed me.

I rolled my eyes still annoyed at Steve.

"Okay, I'll just file this. Can you get someone to clean up this mess?" I asked the scientist, gesturing to the broken glass that was still on the floor.

"Yes, ma'am, right away."

I nodded and left the scientist, sighing as I realized I have to pass the two men on my way to the file room. Planning on ignoring the two, I winced internally when Steve called my name.

"Clary, wait! What do you think?" He asked me, seeming as though nothing went wrong between us.

He held up the polished vibranium shield with a smile on his face. My eyes went from him to Howard who looked at me as if saying play nice but I rolled my eyes. My hand glanced down at a table near me, guns lying on in. My hand found itself wrapped around one and fired at Steve who had the sense to cover himself with the shield. After firing 3-4 rounds, I set the gun down. Everyone looked at me with a mixture of shock and thankfulness; shocked that I would do that and thankful because I knew that the bullets wouldn't ricochet off the shield and possibly hit one of them.

"Hmm, I think it works just fine."

And with that I left to go file my notes.

AN: I just went to a concert tonight and I am in a very good mood, and to express my happiness I decided to update early again! This is sort of a two-part chapter. Originally it was just a full chapter but since I'm updating early I decided to split it to still be on track with my writing schedule. I know a lot of you guys have been waiting for jealous Steve and loved him in the previous chapter so here you go! A whole chapter that basically revolves around jealousy! The next part to this chapter will be posted on Monday as usual! Thank you for all the lovely and positive reviews! Make sure to follow/fave to be alerted! Hope to see you guys on Monday! -E