Make You Feel My Love
~Book III~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 3~
Avengers Assemble

Her eyes scanned the file of her father. It had taken some digging, though Tony had finally managed to get a hold of it. Earlier on, all Maria had found was a report from a man who had been following Artur around. In the report, it said Artur had previously worked for her father, Erik Dalton. That was until Erik suddenly was transferred on request from her father. Why that was, it never really said.

Maria was currently reading through some of the work her father had done. Apparently, he was quite the genius, working for Hydra as a scientist specializing in cloning. Though he hadn't worked for Hydra his entire life. At first, he had actually worked for SHIELD. It wasn't until a couple of years before he had left her and her mother that he had gone over to work for Hydra who, already back then, existed under the noses of SHIELD. The reason he had left was unclear though. He had asked for a transfer to Germany which was all it said about him.

Although Maria now knew where to look for her father and his facility that he was currently running, she felt as though there were details missing. Why had he suddenly asked for a transfer when he had a family to take care of? And why was his name on almost every single document of Hydra? And why had Zola known his name as though he wasn't just a simply scientist?

"Dalton?"

Maria jumped, turning around in the sofa she was seated on and letting the PAD rest on her knees.

"Yeah?"

"They've arrived," said Tony before turning towards the elevator.

Her heart started to beat faster, knowing exactly who Tony meant. Bruce and Thor both walked down the stairs towards them while Maria hastily stood up, standing beside Tony as they waited for the elevator to get to the top floor they were currently on.

A sudden uncomfortable feeling took a hold of Maria, causing her to feel conscious about everything about herself. Her hands started to fuss with her shirt, the fabric of it not wanting to sit as she wanted it to, before her hands started to fuss with her hair. Tony gave her a side-glance before rolling his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Steve's coming," said Maria quietly as she continued to fuss with her hair.

"Quit fussing," snapped Tony, slapping her hands away from her hair, causing her to glare over at him. "You look fine."

"Great… just fine."

"You look wonderful, Maria," said Bruce with a soft tone to his voice. "Steve's a lucky man."

A soft smile etched onto her lips at his words when suddenly, the elevator let off a soft ding, letting the four heroes know that they had arrived. As the doors opened, Steve, Clint and Natasha exited the elevator, all holding a duffel bag each with, most likely, their gear and some extra clothes. On Steve's back, his shield was resting and as his eyes looked over at Maria, everything stopped moving.

At least, that was what it felt like for Maria and Steve. When Steve removed his shield from his back, letting it fall to the floor along with his bag without caring, Maria started to move towards him. For the two of them, everything felt as though it was moving in slow-motion and the two of them moved as fast as they could towards each other. Meeting up half-way, the two embraced tightly. It was no comfortable hug for either of them as they both struggled against the others hug in order to be the one to hold the other.

Closing their eyes, they relished in the feel of having the other's warmth pressed against the other, the familiar scent of the other making them both smile widely as they simply stayed standing there, holding onto each other.

It felt as though each of the lovebirds had been a lone song during the time they had been apart and when they embraced, the two lonely songs started to play together in harmony again.

Reluctantly, Maria leaned back from the hug, Steve's arms staying around her waist to keep her near him. She smiled widely up at him, seeing his smile mirroring hers. As she placed her hands against his cheeks, Steve's eyes fluttered closed at the touch briefly which only caused Maria to let out a soft giggle.

"What, are we not getting any love?" asked Clint from beside Steve, causing Maria to look over at him, smiling widely.

"Of course," she replied before blowing a kiss his way to which he rolled his eyes.

Ignoring Clint, Maria laid her head against Steve's chest, her hands resting on his upper arms. She heard his quick beating heart, feeling relieved that her heart wasn't the only one going crazy at the reunion.

"So, why are we being gathered?" asked Natasha, her arms crossed over her chest while she cocked her head to the side, looking at Tony.

Maria turned around in Steve's arms, resting her hands on his who now were clasped together over her belly. Neither of them had any intentions to let go of each other yet.

"Thor came back with some… alarming news," said Tony, gesturing over to the Norse God.

"Loki's sceptre is missing," said Thor, taking the gesture as his que to start talking. "I have not found it anywhere in the nine realms after his death and its powers are too dangerous to leave behind anywhere. They belong on Asgard, locked away where no one can use them."

"His death?" asked Steve, his voice rumbling against Maria's back to which she wanted to smile. However, she fought against the impulse as the moment wasn't right to smile.

"Loki died while helping me in one of my tries to defeat Malekith," explained Thor.

"Wait, are you talking about the stuff that happened in London last year?" asked Maria, earning a nod from Thor. "Oh, yeah… Martin was there to clean things up after you guys. You know, back when SHIELD was a thing."

"So, what can these powers do?" asked Clint, his gaze moving from Maria back to Thor.

"Destroy the world," said Tony and Thor at the same time.

Maria watched Tony after he had said this. His gaze fluttered down to the floor and she furrowed her brow at the look in his eyes. It was one she had never seen before. One filled with what looked like fear.

"And the other nine realms as well," nodded Thor.

"Great… Where do we find it?" asked Natasha with a sigh.

"Well… We've figured out that, whatever is left of Hydra, must have the sceptre since it was last seen at the helicarrier before the battle of New York," said Bruce before grabbing the PAD Maria had been using earlier, from the couch. "So, we've tracked down a facility in Germany that has a possibility of holding the sceptre."

"Hydra base?" asked Steve, earning a nod from Maria.

"Yeah… My dad runs it."

Silence followed her sentence to which she wasn't surprised. Both Tony and Bruce looked at her with a worried glance while Bruce handed the PAD to Clint, showing the location of the facility, Nat looking over Clint's shoulder to look at the PAD as well.

"Not too close to civilisation," commented Clint before looking at Maria. "I thought your dad was dead?"

"I never said dead…" replied Maria. "Just not present during my childhood."

"You okay with this?" asked Steve, her hands curling around his which still were clasped over her belly.

Maria's only response was a nod.

"Your room is bigger than mine," said Steve, earning a soft chuckle from Maria as she plopped down on the bed.

"Still not over the fact that Tony gave us separate rooms," said Maria, earning a chuckle from Steve.

"I don't think he's comfortable with someone else getting it, as they say today, rather than him," said Steve.

Silence filled the room after his sentence and Steve's eyes widened. The both of them blushed deeply as they glanced over at each other, Steve standing at one end of the room while Maria stayed on the bed. Her palms became sweaty. The last time she had... It had been with Artur. She truly didn't know whether or not she was ready for that yet and by the looks of it, Steve wasn't either even though he had just, quite awkwardly admitted, that he thought about it.

"I-I mean cuddling," said Steve to which his cheeks only started to blush even more.

Maria cleared her throat, nodding her head as she looked down at the floor. "Yeah, of course."

The air around them felt heavy as they continued to stay where they were, neither of them looking at the other.

"So-"

"Yes?"

"So…"

"Uhuh…"

Maria looked up at Steve finally, wanting to do nothing else but make the uncomfortable mood in the room disappear.

"So, how did the mission go?" asked Maria, putting on a smile as she looked over at Steve.

Her smile faded, though, as she saw the look on Steve's face. It was serious, the usual look that he has as he works on a case as Captain America. Though there was something else lurking in his eyes, a hint of worry.

"We had a lead… But it went cold in Brooklyn," said Steve, the pressing feeling of the air around them disappearing as Steve joined Maria on the bed, leaning his arms on his knees, hunching his back slightly. "Sam's still working on it. But I doubt we'll get anywhere soon."

"I'm sorry…" said Maria, placing a hand on his.

Steve looked at it before he grasped her hand, intertwining their fingers.

"We got close once," said Steve, his gaze still fixed on their intertwined fingers. "I thought I saw him, standing on the opposite side of the road. He had just been there, staring at me and Sam as though he was in full control of this chase… When we reached the spot he'd been on, he was gone."

"You think he knows you're searching for him?"

"Definitely," said Steve. "And I don't think we'll find him until he wants to be found."

"Maybe he just needs time," said Maria softly. "After what I've read about the Winter Soldier project, I've understood that they enjoyed erasing his memory whenever he remembered too much. Maybe he just needs some time to take it all in."

Steve nodded before glancing over at Maria. "We'll see… How have you been?"

"Oh, you know, same old boring life," said Maria, earning a smile from Steve. "I stayed with a friend in Hell's Kitchen after Tony and Bruce told me I'm apparently a mutant."

"I fought with mutants in the war," said Steve, a smile on his lips. "They're honourable people."

"I don't know if they're all that accepted in today's society," said Maria with a shrug. "Though I suppose I can just not mention that part unless they see me recover from a bullet through the brain."

Steve nudged Maria, causing her to look at him again. "Don't hide who you are. And if anyone has a problem with you, then they have a problem with me and probably the others too."

"Thank you…" said Maria quietly. "Same goes for you, you know. If anyone has a problem with you, whether they are friends of us or not, they'll have a problem with me too."

Softly, Steve smiled at her, leaning forwards ever so slightly, their noses touching.

"I love you…" said Steve before pressing his lips against Maria's, leaving a tingling sensation on her lips as he pulled back again, much to her dismay.

"I love you too."