Semper Fi Ch. 40 (Captain America: TWS)

Diana
 
 I had two missed calls from Steve. I'd felt my phone buzzing in my pocket, but I had a briefing, so I couldn't answer. As soon as the meeting adjourned however, I was on the phone with Steve.
 "Diana," He said, voice deathly calm, "There's been an accident. I was following Lester's transport to the Raft and he killed the driver and escaped while we were passing through Hell's Kitchen. I think he's gone insane."
 "Are you sure?" I demand. I can almost hear Steve nod.
 "I'm positive. The way he was laughing... he's mad."
 "Can you track him?" I ask.
 "No," Steve says, "I'm bringing in someone who can though, and I'm going to make sure that he's put away. He didn't seem hell bent on killing you though. He was acting crazy, but he said that speaking to me would give away your cover. Anyways... how are things with the Crew?"
 "I just had a meeting with Pierce and Schmidt." I say, looking around me to make sure no one was listening. "The attempt on Rumlow's life happened at eighteen hundred hours. Schmidt had a meeting with Marie at fourteen hundred hours, and it lasted two hours. That gives her three hours of uncharted activity as she didn't return until 1900. She's as good as convicted." I feel a sinking in my gut. Could I incriminate her? Yes I could. Like she said, she had never done a thing to make me trust her, and hell, she'd been a pain in my ass since I met her. Of course I could place blame in her. It was logical. Justified. All the clues pointed to her. Maybe she'd be pegged with Ben's 'assassination' as well. "I love you, Steve." I say quietly, almost to myself.
 "I love you too. Get back to me, alright?" Steve says it like an order despite phrasing it as a question.
 "Of course." I reply. I hang up the phone and turn to head back to Rumlow's room. There is a Nurse cleaning the wound and dressing it. She's young, probably in training. I smile at Brock, and he smiles back.
 "You can leave it." Brock says to her, "Diana can finish up."
 "I'm Medical Corps." I reply. The Nurse nods and hands me the dressings. I sit on the bed in front of Brock and look at the two ugly wounds left by the bullet. I clean the one on top of his head. The area around it is shaved, and I smile weakly. "Looks like you're going bald early, old man." I tease.
 "Maybe I'll just buzz it the rest of the way." Brock chuckles. I give him the most horrified face I can muster.
 "But..." I say, touching the awkward little puff of hair at the front of his scalp. "I love the little coiff thing you do." Brock pulls my hand away from his hair and grabs the back of my head, pulling my lips to his for a desperate kiss. I place a hand on his chest, sighing happily.
 "I love you." He whispers. I kiss him again, then pull away, going back to dressing his wounds.
 "I love you too."
 "Diana," Brock says, looking to me and holding my chin with his hands. "I told you a long time ago that you could leave me if you wanted to. I know... we're engaged and everything, but you can still break it off with me... whenever you want." He kisses me gently once more, "HYDRA has some new augmentations they want to try on me. A form of the Super Soldier Serum, among other things. They said my injury would make it easier for them to study me, because I'm at a weak point. They want to see if it would make me stronger. But there's a lot of room for error. I could end up looking like Schmidt. And... I wouldn't ask you to be with me if something went wrong and the serum altered my personality... and  how I feel about you."
 "Brock, I love you." I say forcefully, "And if something goes wrong, I will personally murder whoever is responsible." I place a light kiss on the tip of his nose. I finish up covering his wounds and sit more forward, almost straddling him. "I want you well again. Now... I have to go for a few days, make sure Steve isn't on to me. But promise me, you'll let me know when it's going to happen, so I can be there, okay?" Brock nods, leaning back and smiling up at me.
 "I'll let you know, babe." He assures me, "I love you. Now go on with the mission. I'm so happy that we're on the same side on this matter... I'd hate it if we had to be opposing each other. I love you, and I don't like arguing with you. I know it usually ends badly for me."
 "Damn right." I tease, sliding off the bed. "Get some rest, Brock."

 I'm back with Steve within the hour. We decided to get a hotel room, keep moving so HYDRA wouldn't be able to nail us down. Steve is sprawled out on the couch, and the TV is on. It's showing a documentary on World War II. Steve is invested in the program, and I'm curled up against his chest, one leg over his thigh, my arms folded up to my own chest, my face buried in his flannel shirt. One of his arms rests over me, and I feel so at ease, so comfortable in his arms, and I just relaxed completely, dozing off against the warmth of his body. He was stroking my hair with the hand that wasn't resting over me, and it felt so good. When the documentary ended, Steve picked me up, moving us to the bed. I look outside, it's dark out. I slide out of my clothes until I'm wearing only panties and a bra, and I steal Steve's flannel shirt from him, wrapping the shirt around my shoulders. He smiles, sliding his jeans down. He wears blue boxers. His cute little butt is well defined in them, and I, as usual, fail at not staring. He kisses the top of my head and we crawl under the covers.
 "How is Brock?" Steve asks. I look up at him, placing my hands on his chest.
 "He told me something that worries me. HYDRA has a variation of the Super Soldier serum and Brock is going to be the one who gets it." I feel Steve go rigid under my hands.
 "That's not good. I need to call Fury."
 "No." I tell Steve, "You need to let him get that serum. If it works, I could get the formula for SHIELD." Steve thinks on this, worry etched on his brow, before he nods.
 "Okay." He says, "Good plan." He pulls me closer. "How are you, with all of this?"
 "In truth... I hate that I'm framing someone else. And I'm worried about what Lester will do now that he's free. Doc List said that an injury to the frontal lobe could change someones personality entirely. Brock isn't any different, but by what you described, Lester's gone insane."
 "Hell of a thing." Steve says, "Your ex wants me dead and your friend is rogue." He shakes his head, "Things are weird right now... but I'm glad you're here with me."
 "Me too." I reply honestly. "I only regretted two things when I left SHIELD... breaking Bucky's heart... and leaving you behind. You were my best friend. I should have been able to trust you and told you what happened... why I had to leave. Maybe all of this could have been avoided."
 "Hey, I don't blame you for a damn thing." Steve assures me. "I love you." He kisses the top of my head and we doze off.

 "I loved you, Diana."
 "I love you too, Brock... please... I did what I had to do."
 "No. You did what you wanted. Just like always." His face and voice are hidden behind the skull mask he wears. He's taller, stronger. His hand pins both of mine above my head. He looks down, and the knife he holds in his opposite hand slips between my ribs. Searing pain shoots through my body as I slump around the sharp metal. "Heil HYDRA."

 My body twists on its own, trying to get away from imaginary pain. I look down at my ribs, only to see that I'm perfectly alright, that nothing has truly been injured. It was just a vivid dream. I roll over, the bed is cold. I glance at the clock and groan out loud. It's barely six. I hear a crinkling noise and I sit up slightly, yawning. There is a note.

Diana,
Left at around 4:30 to go for a run. Be back around 6:30, going to bring coffee and donuts.
                                                                                                                                      ~Steve

 I sigh, rolling onto my back. Steve would hopefully be back soon. The hotel I now notice, is plain, white walls, white sheets. The carpet is hard and brown, and there are a few prints on the walls of places in the city. I stare at the ceiling for a while, just trying to sort through all the things that had happened, and all of the things that would be happening soon. Steve comes back and finds me on the bed, staring at the ceiling, hands folded over my stomach, eyes pretty much blank. He sets down a box of donuts and brings me the coffee he'd purchased. I look at the clock.
 "You're late." I tease. Steve comes over, a little sweaty from his run, and hops back into bed with me. He kneels above me, one hand playing with my hair, the other supporting himself. His legs are on either side of mine and my arms go to his shoulders.
 "Had to pick the cashier up off the floor." Steve chuckled, "He passed out when Captain America came in for donuts." I let out a small giggle, tipping my head forward to capture his lips with mine.
 "Yeah well Captain America has a date with me. One that involves this bed and a whole lot of noise complaints." I reply. Steve blushes deep red, kissing me again. I slide out from under Steve, making a beeline for the donuts. I snatch up the chocolate covered one with rainbow sprinkles and smirk at Steve's feigned look of hurt.
 "Did you do that so you could eat my favorite donut!?" He demanded, coming over to me. I shake my head furiously.
 "What on earth are you talking about!?" I tease back. I slowly move the donut towards my mouth and take a bite.
 "NOOOOO!!!" Steve jokes. He swipes up one of my favorites, the jelly filled, and I give him my look of hurt. He pouts.
 "Switch?" I ask as innocently as I can manage. He fakes deep thought and then nods eagerly, swapping donuts with me. We finish the donuts we have and then demolish the rest of the box. A super soldier metabolism tended to make you hungry... pretty much all of the time. We chase down the donuts with coffee. After both cups are empty, Steve and I take a quick shower together, then we dry off and spend a few hours together making sure the sheets don't get too cold. Steve was amazing, he was more confident now, and was learning what I liked and disliked. After our... quality time, Steve and I move to the couch to resume our places from yesterday, Steve watching documentaries, me cuddled up to him, dozing, but not asleep. I'm not going to lie, sex with Steve was fantastic. He had pretty much endless energy, which translated into stamina. But just being around him made me so happy. It was something I realized had started to die with Brock. I had to fake more smiles as time went on. And it seemed like we had more sex and less communication. When Rumlow was leading the Crew, despite having no one following him, he was gone a lot. I spent a lot of time alone and when he was around, he'd plant one on me and go to bed, or we'd have sex but he'd be gone when I woke up in the morning. He wouldn't even leave a note like he used to, like Steve had this morning.

 We stayed prone on the couch until around three, when we both got cabin fever. We got dressed, and headed to the park for a jog. It was more of a dead heat than a jog, each of us trying to out-sprint the other. My strides are long, steady, and rapid. The wind from the speed rips through my hair, and I smile. Steve keeps pace, running beside me. We've made countless laps around the small park that lay across the street from our hotel. Steve hasn't broken a sweat, and neither have I.
 "Just for fun," I look to him, smiling, "We should go do all the schools. SEAL, Ranger, the like."  Steve grins, pulling ahead of me in the sprint.
 "They'd hate us." Steve jokes, "They'd order a thirty mile sprint and we'd finish and loop around to meet the stragglers."
 "But we'd be a source of inspiration!" I toss back, pulling ahead of Steve for a few strides before he evens up with me. "Look at those two! Always happy to be here, always eager to get on with the day!" I let out a loud laugh, and so does Steve. We've been running at a full sprint for more than two hours now. Steve slows, as do I, not panting yet either of us. He smiles.
 "Sure," He says, "Let's do it. As if being SHIELD agents and Super Soldiers isn't enough. Let's also be SEALS and Rangers and everything else, and hell while we're at it, I'll run for President!"
 "I'd vote for you. I'd kill to see your perky little butt in dress pants." I tease, poking him in the abs. He pulls me to him, pressing his lips to mine, and I kiss him back.
 "I'd be a terrible President." He says, blushing. "And... you don't have to kill to see me in dress pants."
 "What do I have to do?" I ask.
 "Go out to a nice dinner with me?" He asks. I bite my lip, then nod.
 "I'd love to." I tell him, "But that means I have to go buy a dress. And you should get a shower." I poke him again, and he lifts me up, spinning me for two turns and then stopping to kiss me again.
 "Come with me?" He asks. I tap him on the nose, tightening my legs around his waist.
 "Carry me." I order. He obliges, tapping my thigh to get me to loosen my grip, and I do so. He tosses me over his shoulder and carries me to the bathroom.

 I hastily throw on some clothes and tie up my still-wet hair. I make a run for the boutiques, searching for the perfect dress. I look at some, not even considering some of the brighter colors or floral patterns. Steve knew what I was about, and I knew who I was. I didn't need to wear bright colors for him. I select two dresses to try, one is black, and one is olive and white. In the dressing room, I scrutinize every inch of the black dress once I've put it on. It fits well everywhere except my shoulders. They are so broad that it looks strained across them, so I discard it and try on the olive and white dress. The skirt is olive green, and the top is blouse-like, with a thick brown belt at the waist. I slide in to it, and smile at my own reflection. The dress fits like it was made for me, so I decide to get it. I pair the dress with some simple brown flats.
 "Someone have a hot date?" Asks the cashier. I nod, and look up, taking a small step back in surprise. The register beeps and Ben slips the dress into a garment bag for me. "This one is on the house. I am in the presence of a war hero, after all." He moves aside his hair, and I can see the scarring area from the bullet.
 "Thank you." I say, trying to stay composed. "Ben, you know you're a wanted man, right? Both SHIELD and HYDRA are looking for you." I whisper. Ben chuckles slightly, tipping his head down.
 "Yes," He says, "But nobody is close yet." He winks, shooing me out the door. "Go on now. I'll look after myself."
 "No," I say, curling my lip, "Tell me why, Ben."
 "Why what?"
 "Why did you shoot Rumlow?"
 "I honestly thought you would thank me." Ben says, his voice even, posture relaxed. I shoot him a deathly look, slinging my garment bag over my shoulder. Ben smirks.
 "Why would I thank you?" I demand. "I may not love him, but the last thing I want is for him to be dead. You disobeyed orders twice, Ben. I thought we were partners."
 "We are. And partners make decisions together." Ben shoots back, "You made calls that I didn't agree with. And you might be the leader, but I'm the best marksman. I knew that if I sent a concussive round through you, Rumlow would know the sound. And I knew that if I shot Rumlow in the shoulder, he'd come after me."
 "Not if you had just stood back and let me handle him." I snap. "Everything was in line." I shake my head slightly, groaning. "If we cross paths again, you should know that I don't intend to let you walk."
 "I wouldn't want it any other way." Ben replies, "I'd think you were going soft."

When I return to the hotel room, there is a single rose and a note left for me.

Diana,
Meet me at The Old Ebbitt Grill at 7. I'll be the man with the other eleven roses.
                                                                                                ~Steve

I smile, checking the time. It's five. I jump in the shower for the third time today, washing quickly and then slip in to the dress. I slip on the shoes, dry my hair with the hotel blow dryer, and look at my reflection in the mirror. There is a part of me, growing smaller by the second, that wants to be dressed up like this for Rumlow, but the larger part of me was telling me that Steve would love the dress. I check the time again, and brush myself off, smoothing the dress down. I told myself that I was going to have a good time, that I loved Steve, and that everything was going to be fine. I grab my small handbag and the single rose Steve left for me before stepping out the door to take a cab to my date.