Avengers The Captain's Secret

Part 19: Rite of Passage

LESEDI EVELYN POV

Sick, I may be, but not dead.

I was trembling in his arms, and it wasn't from my apparent heatstroke and minor burns. It was Steve. I rested my head in the crook of his neck and exhaled. Now I knew what Natasha meant about "butterflies in the stomach" and stuff like that. I tried to relax and read him.

Anger. Fear. Worry. Protective. There was an emotion there I couldn't read, though it reminded me of Dad a little. It's a knot of different ones that takes too long to untie, yet it was all one piece.

Steve brought me home and laid me on the couch. He knelt on the floor next to me, our faces inches apart. He rubbed my shoulders. "Sedi?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Stevie?"

He rolled his eyes, a small smile finally forming on his face "I take it you're alright then?"

"I could use some water."

He rose quickly to get some.

"With ice."

He turned and gave a small smile before going to get the water. The few seconds that he was gone, I kept thinking how much that heat and light hurt after it got into the eighties, and at the hundred degree mark, I froze the entire room out of self preservation. He returned to me, handed me the water.

"I don't get it." I thought aloud.

"There's a lot not to get at the moment."

"You."

"What?"

"You're not afraid?" I searched his eyes, which softened into affection. "You're not afraid of me."

"I've been reading your file," Steve shrugged. "and what I saw was that you felt mortally threatened. He forced you to use your powers in a way he'd never seen before. You also turned blue."

"What?"

"Your skin had a blue tint to it for awhile, but you turned back to--well, a more human color-by the time we got off the elevator." He was quiet for a moment and exhaled heavily. "I guess we just got a glimpse of your frost giant side."

"You're not afraid?" I shook my head at him. "I am. I've never done that before, never had a reason, but I was scared."

He came up from his kneeling position on the floor and lifted my legs so he could sit on the couch. He brought my legs across his lap. "I'm sorry, that won't happen again."

"It's my fault," I told him. "I think we both underestimated Fury." He nodded in agreement. "I don't think my father ever did. They would meet for hours sometimes depending on what the test would be. I sat in on them, thought them boring. We did it in a few minutes. I should have known better."

"Well, at least this was a lesson we could come back from," he said softly, his hands running over my calves.

I was staring at the ceiling. I closed my eyes. I became aware of his hands caressing my calves, and let out a sigh of pleasure. "That feels nice."

"Thank you. You were jumping around quite a bit." He was quiet for a moment. "What got me was how calm Fury was, like he got the results he wanted, or saw what he needed to see. Makes me uneasy, Sedi, makes me uneasy."

"Yeah, willing to bet you're knotted up."

"Huh?"

I sat up, and said, "Lay on the couch."

He frowned but as I thought, curiosity got the best of him. We switched positions.

"On your stomach?"

"Uh...okay." He was getting nervous again, not like he did at the test, but a different kind. I sat on his rear. He had something to sit on back there, a little cushion. I suppressed a giggle. "Hey, what's so--" I began massaging his neck. "Ohhhh."

"I used to do this after missions for my dad, neck and shoulders," I told him.

"Really?"

"Yep, he said that I should think of being a professional masseus," I said softly, letting my hands run over his back. "Wow, you're really tense!"

"Was Coulson--"

"No, always neck and shoulders. He usually sat at his desk while I did it," I said quickly. "but remember his job hasn't been as physical as yours." I read about massage. I read about everything. Between youtube and articles, the world was my oyster of knowledge. "Okay..." I began kneading his back.

"Ohhhh, oh, wow."

I loved how his voice sounded at the moment. It sent waves of something through me. I kept going.

"Uhhhnnn, that's...good."

I leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "Good?" Another sound of pleasure came from him. "Good." Whether he didn't realize it or not, I was getting a lot out of this. I had never touched anyone except Dad like this before, and it was worlds apart in how it felt. And ever since we met, I felt these waves of something that made me tremble inside, but not from fear. Sometimes I felt out of breath when he looked at me. And now...

He turned onto his back surprising me. He caught my wrists. "Sedi..."

I was breathless again. "What?"

He pulled me down for a kiss.