Tour Guide | Steve Rogers ✓

Chapter Sixteen

Quinn Greene couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face as she watched the Volkswagen Beetle slowly creep closer to where she stood leaning against her own car.

"Gee, you guys really don't understand the general concept of a getaway car, do you? That's slower than the tractor on my grandad's farm."

"It's low profile."

"Considering that car is almost the same age as you, I don't really think so."

"Quinn," Steve replied with a smile.

"Alright, fine. Great meeting spot, by the way, this stuff generally tends to draw a crowd." Quinn joked once more, opening the trunk of her car which was filled to the brim with all of Steve, Sam and Aquila's gear.

"I owe you."

"Sharon helped me get it all out. So you owe her as well."

"You know they're probably going to come looking for the both of you."

"I think I can manage a few government officials."

"I'm sure you could." Steve replied as Quinn turned back to her car shutting the trunk. "Quinn?"

"Yeah?" Quinn asked turning back around to face the Captain.

"I know that we've lived in different states before but these last few months of you living here in a completely different country has made me finally admit to myself what I've known for a long time but I was just too scared to tell you. I've really missed you."

"I really missed you too, Steve. It just wasn't quite the same."

"What I'm trying to say is that I love you, Quinnie and I'm not scared of admitting that to you anymore."

"Well, this is awkward." Quinn joked with a playful smile.

"What's awkward?" Steve asked not meeting Quinn's eyes out of embarrassment.

"I was going to tell you something completely different."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Quinn. Please don't feel pressured or anything." Steve rushed to apologize. "I just thought you should know."

Quinn all of a sudden leaned forward in a burst of confidence even she didn't know that she had. Her lips colliding with Steve's all of a sudden, their teeth clashing together with the force. 

"Wha-" Steve questioned, the second their lips ended up separating.

"God, all that apologizing." Quinn teased. "Had to shut you up somehow."

"That means," Steve replied still reeling from the kiss.

"Uh-huh."

"That you?"

"Uh-huh."

"God, I'm so going to get you back for that someday," Steve replied with a chuckle pulling Quinn into his arms. 

"We will see about that," Quinn replied with a grin. "Do you think they know that it's rude to stare?"

Both Steve and Quinn looked behind them at Aquila, Sam and Bucky all squashed into the Volkswagen Beetle, smiling at the two of them with identical grins.

"Probably not," Steve replied. "I probably should go."

"Yeah, go save that world of ours," Quinn exclaimed with a smile, that familiar line falling from her mouth easily now. 

Quinn Greene tried her best not to fret about the fact that she had received no news from either Steve, Sam or Aquila about how it all went down. 

Work had too often become a distraction for Quinn but she had never been more glad for it then in that exact moment. She had been leading tours all afternoon, bumping her usual schedule of a tour every two hours down to one keeping her ten times busier than normal. 

But the worse part about all of it was that she couldn't even talk about it with anyone. No one would even know what she was talking about. Most of her colleagues had known to some degree how closely affiliated Quinn had become with the Avengers but just how close none of them had any clue. 

However, upon finishing yet another tour, with the usual stream of questions that came at the completion, the last thing that Quinn was expecting was to see Tony Stark's face pop out of the crowd, heading straight towards her. 

"Tony, you are in my workplace yet again." Quinn said softly, gesturing the remaining people wanting to ask questions to one of her colleagues who understood and had come over to see what all the commotion was about. 

"Can we talk?" Tony only asked her, and that was when Quinn knew something was really wrong. No humor, no sarcasm, just a simple question. Not to mention how worn out Tony looked from head to toe, he almost looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days and this wasn't the type of fatigue that he could hide so easily. 

"Yeah, of course," Quinn replied, leading Tony once more up to her office away from prying eyes. "What did you need to talk about?"

"I was coming to you in hope that you knew where Steve was."

"Tony, even I haven't heard anything from anyone. I'm not like you guys, what makes you think that I would know anyway?"

"You are always going to be the first person Steve goes to for everything. He never shuts up about you. I honestly believe that he trusts you more than he even trusts himself, of course, you would be the first person he would go to."

"Tony, I'm really sorry but there's really nothing I can do."

"You know Barnes, the fugitive he's hiding. He killed my parents and he knew, Steve knew that he killed them but didn't tell me. So please if he contacts you, let me know."

"I'm really sorry for everything, Tony. I can't defend Steve's actions, but I'm sure he probably believed that he was protecting you, it was with good intentions. But I won't betray Steve if he does end up contacting me. I can't."

A few moments of contemplating silence fell between the two of them before Tony continued to speak.  

"You know even after everything that went down, I'm really glad Steve found you. Someone to confide in, someone to love unconditionally, everyone needs someone like that." Tony said with a small smile before turning to leave. "I heard that you are leaving for the States once again, so maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"Tony," Quinn said getting his attention one last time. "I know that it might be a little easier said than done at this point but don't beat yourself up too much about all of this. It wasn't entirely your fault. And no good person ever got anywhere by taking everyone else's faults and putting them on their own shoulders. At the end of the day eventually, this whole thing will blow over even if it doesn't feel like it at this exact moment."

"God, I see can see why Cap keeps you around, you are rather good at that."

"Take care of yourself, Tony."

"You too, Quinn."