Avengers The Captain's Secret

Part 12: I O U

CAP POV

We just stared at each other.

"Come again?" I said.

"I was watching and I wanted to be on the Helicarrier, and then--" she shook her head ruefully. "I was there. Luckily, Dad spotted me first."

"So you--beamed-from Earth to the Helicarrier?"

"The word is 'teleported.'" She was completely tense and staring at me, waiting for a reaction. "I went back home."

I frowned at her. "And you saved me, saved my life?" I had to hear this.

"You rescued a large group of people from those creatures. They threw a bomb at you."

"Yes, but--"

"The blast should have carried you into the building across the street," she said quickly. "You could have broken your neck, your back." Her look was that of concern and chastisement.

"What did you do?"

"Slowed down the blast," she said, lowering her eyes for a second, and then looked at me. "That slowed you, too."

My breath caught. "Slowed down the blast?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know how," she said quickly. "Teleporting to New York was only my second time-technically third-doing it. Slowing the blast was more about slowing or countering the wind around it." She looked away. "Fury doesn't even know about that."

"You were at SHIELD."

"I was, but I was watching surveillance, saw you were in trouble."

"Did you help Tony?"

"As much as I could, he was falling so fast," she said. "I was really tired. Teleporting takes a lot out of me."

"Fury doesn't know you can do that."

"Teleport?" she whispered. "No!" She shook her head. "No, I hope not. Truthfully, he doesn't know half of what I can do, unless he has been able to tell when I faked."

"So Phil told you to fake."

She nodded.

"To protect you?"

"Fury is aware of the realms, has been for some time," she told me. "There has always been this feeling of fear and dread about them. He is always trying to find new tech, new weapons, to protect Earth."

"You're a person--"

"Maybe, but does the phrase 'needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few' sound familiar?" She smiled ruefully. "Dad didn't believe that, at least, not where I was concerned. I think he was hoping I would be an Avenger someday."

I just looked at her.

She sighed, and rose. "I'll leave you alone, now. You probably have some thinking to do. All I ask is that you don't tell Fury no matter what--"

I watched her dark eyes widen and as I rose in front of her. She took a step back, putting her hands up to defend herself, but I gently caught her hands and pushed them down. "Hey, relax. Your secret is safe."

She shook her head, her eyes glistening up at me. "You--you aren't sure--"

"Phil asked me to protect you if anything happened to him." I watched her go still. "So that is what I'm going to do."

She snatched her hands away and turned to go. "You don't have to do anything. I can take care of myself--"

"Whoa, whoa, there!" I caught her by the waist as she tried to move away, and drew her to me. She seemed to sway as if weak. "What are you sensing?" I got the feeling closeness was sort of a weakness to her, and I needed her to be truthful with me.

She took a deep breath and exhaled. "You're overwhelmed." And she was ready to let me go, the sadness in her eyes told me that.

"Naturally."

"Maybe...like you'd wish you'd never known?"

"More like adjusting to a truth," I told her. "I've been learning a lot these past few days. You've got to give me time to adjust." Our gazes lowered to our joined hands. No mistaking it; I shouldn't have even grabbed her like that, but I did. This was a mutual attraction; I didn't need any special talents to know that. Her eyes rose to mine, and I bent down, unsure of what I'd do next. She edged up to meet me.

Suddenly a chime sounded, one I'd never heard before.

Eve gasped, startled by the interruption, then frowned. "Hawkeye?"

I followed her to a console and in seconds, Clint strode in. He stopped in midstep, and looked at us. It was then I realized that I was standing close behind her, really close behind her.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at us.

I took a step back from her. "Just going over facts."

Clint's eyes went up and down in observation. "Uh-huh." He stood before us in definite Hawkeye mode. He turned on music in the room and mouthed, this room could be bugged.

Eve and I looked at each other and back at him. He pulled out a small device and began sweeping. We watched him go around the living area. Nothing. He went in her room, and in moments waved us in. We came to the doorway, and he pointed under the lip of the bed.

For one distracting moment, I just took the room in. It was fantastical. I could tell the comets were like night lights. I could tell that bed looked really comfortable, and for some reason, that idea was the most distracting of all. That shower looked like it could fit two people, and did I see a small hot tub in there?

Clint left the room, and brushed past us, giving me a look. He knew I'd never seen it before, or been in there, and he seemed to know my curiosity was a little more than passing. I realized that the same moment he did. We followed him to Coulson's room, and I found myself poring over that room, too.

As Clint walked through it, I saw the tradition and warmth of the room. The painting over the bed bore the inscription, Happy Father's Day, Love, Evie on it. Clint lifted the vase, set it down, and moved on. He looked under the chair at his desk, the monitor. His fingers glided under the lip of the bed, and he stopped at the foot, stepping back, and pointing.

I watched Evie get angry, and I held her hand. It's okay, I mouthed to her.

Clint went in the kitchen and found another in a cabinet behind the tea. The only place where he couldn't seem to find one was the living area.

We need to talk--Clint mouthed. Off base.