Hello Captain (Steve Rogers)

Meet the Avengers

Sarah's POV

I spent the weekend doing laundry and running errands, mildly surprised that I'd made it a whole week without seeing my next door neighbor again considering I'd met up with Kate several times in the hallway and had even finally met my last neighbor, Jake, yesterday on my way back from doing errands.

Funnily enough, I'd crashed into him as well; apparently I could only meet handsome men by embarrassing myself with uncharacteristic bouts of clumsiness. It was my own fault for not watching where I was going and reading a long, convoluted message on my phone as I climbed the stairs; Chloe, one of my best friends from back home, had been blowing up my phone for the last hour but wouldn't answer when I called.

"Oof," I huffed as I collided with a human wall a moment after reaching the landing and rebounded off it, leaving me teetering on the last inch of the landing as I tried to regain my balance.

"Careful," he murmured as he grabbed my shoulders just in time to prevent me from taking a nasty tumble down the stairs and pulled me closer to him, not letting go until he was sure I was good to go. "That last step's a doozy."

"I'm sorry!" I smiled up at him apologetically, having to look up a ways due to his height; he was at least 6'5. "I should have been looking where I was going."

He stared at me for a long moment, his forest green eyes searching my face with an unexpected intensity before he shook his blond head to clear it. I studied him while I waited, easily seeing why Kate was attracted to him; they would make a striking couple. He was only little older than her, though, and in excellent shape.

"It's okay; I wasn't looking either. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I am now. Thanks for catching me - that would've been bad. I'm Sarah Evans, by the way; I just moved in across the hall." I held my hand out to him and he grasped it firmly, his hand completely engulfing mine.

"Then I'm glad that you didn't fall, neighbor," he grinned, showing his cute little dimples. "It's nice to meet you, Sarah. I'm Jake McCartney."

"Nice to meet you, too, Jake; that takes care of everyone on our floor since I've already met Kate and Steve." I pulled my hand back when he would have continued to hold it and jerked a thumb at their respective doors. "Have a good day!" I chirped and turned to go to my apartment, brushing past him.

*    *

Monday morning I met Maria at our office at a little before 0800. "We only have a standard pre-op planning meeting today unless something else comes up, but it will probably take the whole day. Did you get everything unpacked this weekend?"

I followed her down the hall, not sure where we were headed; I really hadn't explored this floor much yet. "Yes ma'am. I didn't realize how much stuff I had; I swear my mom packed everything I might ever possibly need...and then some! I love my building – it's got character."

Maria laughed at my enthusiasm and gestured to the board room to my right. Although the meeting hadn't started yet, I could tell we were the last to arrive when everyone's conversations paused the moment we walked in. Suddenly, I had the undivided attention of all of the Avengers - minus Thor - and it was a little disconcerting; I was meeting my idols, after all.

"Good morning," Maria addressed the group calmly. "This is Agent Sarah Evans, level 7. She will be the new personal assistant that Director Fury says I need."

"Hello," I smiled, taking a moment to look at each person in turn as they stared at me.

I'd seen their pictures everywhere after the Battle of New York last month and watched videos of them in action as part of my Ops training, so their faces were familiar to me. Clint Barton nodded his head at me, but he seemed more interested in his coffee than anything else. Bruce Banner smiled back uncertainly, taken aback at my youth, which made Natasha grin. Tony Stark smirked as he gave me a once over, making it obvious he liked what he saw.