Again || Steve Rogers

Fourteen

"Alright, we're here." Steve announced, waking up the two girls. Elizabeth yawned and rubbed her eyes as Natasha stretched out her arms in the backseat. 

"And where exactly is here?" Natasha asked Steve as they got out of the truck. 

"Well, we still have a couple blocks to walk. But I promise, it's a safe house." Steve smiled reassuringly as he took Elizabeth's hand in his own.

"Why do we have to walk? Why couldn't we have just driven in the truck?" Elizabeth whined as she slowly walked down the sidewalk in between Steve and Natasha. All three of them had put on hoodies and pulled the hoods up around their heads so no one could recognize them. "

It's more conspicuous if we go in the truck. STRIKE agents could also recognize it from the base." Steve pointed out.

The rest of their walk was made in silence. When they finally arrived at their destination, Steve nodded his head towards the back of the house. Elizabeth and Natasha silently followed him as he climbed over the fence and walked towards the back door. They all shared a glance before Steve raised his hand and knocked on the door. A confused Sam Wilson opened the door and stared at their dust covered faces.

"Hey, man." Sam spoke first, addressing Steve. 

"I'm sorry about this." Steve apologized. 

"We need a place to lay low." Elizabeth continued. 

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us." Natasha spoke lowly, explaining their situation a little more. Sam glanced over all three of them for a moment before he made up his mind. 

"Not everyone." he spoke before he moved aside to let them inside.

"There's bathrooms upstairs you can use to clean up if you'd like." Sam offered after he shut and locked the door behind the trio. 

"Thanks Sam. We really appreciate it." Steve smiled at him before he led the way upstairs. Elizabeth gave Sam a quick hug before she followed the other two upstairs. Steve and Elizabeth shared one room while Natasha took the other one.

Steve let Elizabeth use the bathroom first. Instead of taking a shower like she wanted to, all Elizabeth did was rinse off her face with water from the sink. She also rinsed out her hair in the shower. When she finished, she walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. 

"You didn't shower." Steve commented as Elizabeth looked at herself in the mirror above the dresser. 

"I didn't feel like it." Elizabeth shrugged. 

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Steve asked as he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. While he waited for her to answer, Steve rested his chin against her shoulder. 

"Nothing you don't already know." Elizabeth smiled reassuringly. 

"Everything will be fine, Beth. Why don't you go downstairs and get something to eat? I'm sure you're hungry."

Elizabeth's smile widened as she rolled her eyes. 

"I'm always hungry." she chuckled. 

"Exactly. I'll be down in a little while." Steve told her before he pressed a short kiss to her cheek and unwrapped his arms from around her waist. 

"I love you." Elizabeth called after him as he walked into the bathroom. 

"I know." he replied, a sly smile spreading across his face before he shut the bathroom door.

Elizabeth chuckled softly and shook her head before she took her hair out of the towel. She ran her hands through her wet hair before she hung up the towel on the back of the bathroom door. After that was done, she walked back downstairs into the kitchen. 

"Hey, Sam. Thank you, again, for letting us stay here for a little while." she spoke softly as she leaned against the door frame.

"Of course. You guys are always welcome." he smiled warmly at her before he offered her a cup of coffee. Elizabeth quickly obliged and took a seat at the table that was set up near one of the walls in the kitchen. While Sam got her a cup of coffee, Elizabeth finally let herself relax a little bit. She knew she was safe here, no one from SHIELD or STRIKE knew where she was. Although there was a little part of her that was nervous they would find her, she knew neither Natasha, Sam, or Steve would let them get her.

"Here you go. There's creamer in the fridge if you'd like it. And sugar is over on the counter." Sam set her coffee mug in front of her and gestured to where the creamer and sugar were located. 

"Thanks Sam, but this will be fine." she gave him a warm smile before she took a sip of her coffee. It tasted almost as good as Steve made it. Before she could get too lost in her coffee, Steve and Natasha came downstairs.

Sam had gone up to get Steve and Natasha for breakfast after he gave Elizabeth her coffee. They all silently ate breakfast before they started talking about what had happened recently. 

"So, the question is: who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Natasha mused as she glanced around at the people sitting at the table with her.

"Pierce." Steve was quick to answer. 

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." Elizabeth reminded him. 

"But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." Steve added. 

"So was Jasper Sitwell." Natasha chimed in. "

So, the real question is: how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Steve asked, irony lacing his voice.

"The answer is, you don't." Sam answered before he dropped a file onto the table. 

"What's this?" Elizabeth asked as she picked up the file to look through it. 

"Call it a resume." Sam chuckled. Elizabeth laid out the contents of the file on the table for Steve and Natasha to look through as well. 

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you." Natasha spoke to Sam before she turned to Steve and muttered quietly, "You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

Steve just shrugs like the thought hadn't crossed his mind. As he looked through the pictures, one particular one caught his interest. 

"Is this Riley?" Steve asked Sam, flipping a picture around in his hand to show Sam. 

"Yeah." Sam answers, a sad look filtering through his eyes. 

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?" Natasha asks inquisitively. 

"No. These." Sam replies before he turns around, picks something up, and drops another file on the table in front of Steve. Steve glances at Elizabeth and Natasha before he picks the file up and begins looking through it. 

"I thought you said you're a pilot." Steve chides Sam lightly. 

"I never said a pilot." Sam chuckles as he leans back on the section of counter behind him. 

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason." Steve spoke reproachfully. 

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." Sam spoke up, his tone cheerful for what he was asking to help with. 

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Elizabeth asked Sam as she peered at the pictures over Steve's muscular arm. 

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall." Sam replied. 

Steve shared a glance with Elizabeth and Natasha. The two girls shrugged before Natasha spoke up. 

"Shouldn't be a problem."

-

I apologize for the really long wait for the update but I have had no time on my hands recently. Hopefully I should be able to update more often now :)