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Secret Bit of Right From Wrong	By : ChrisCross Category: Marvel Verse Movies > Avengers, The Views: 9417 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or The Avengers. I make no money, and live on reveiws alone

Chapter List
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A.N. Thankfully I got the edit done on this chapter, I was a little worried there for a while.
I first wrote an incarnation of this chapter intending it to be a short little epilogue. When I got to 2,000 words, and still had things to say, I realized that this was going to be a real chapter. When I got to 3,000 words, I realized it was going to need to be a chapter and an epilogue. When I was pushing 4,000 words I said "what the hell?" and made it into two chapters. Even having split it up, this is still the longest chapter so far. The bulk of this chapter was done weeks ago, but splitting a seamless story into chunks is rough going if you want it to not feel like you've taken a hatchet to your work. I realize that editing after the fact is not my strong suit, so with that in mind, please let me know if it comes across rough.
P.S. Otaku, I figured it was dark in the cell and she was a little more concerned about the “murderous lunatic” potential concurrent to finding a naked guy chained to the ceiling of a dungeon cell, but you’re right, only a woman made of stone or totally not into guys could witness a naked Wolverine without serious need to change her panties.
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While Karen was sleeping the sleep of the dead, Steve was charged with debriefing the team. He did so in a briskly military way, careful to avoid any mention of the new relationship between the two. He did this for two reasons, for one thing, it wasn’t anyone else’s business, and secondly, he wanted to have a conversation with Karen first. Being a costumed hero wasn’t a safe job, especially for loved ones. He really wanted what formed between them to last, but first she deserved the full disclaimer. He was mentally constructing how he wanted to bring that topic up when Tony noticed the far-away look in his eyes. Rather than making a quip or an innuendo, though, the inventor just made an excuse about needing to run another diagnostic on Steve, something he’d forgotten. Bruce didn’t think they’d forgotten anything, but Tony rarely admitted to having missed something, even when he had, so no one questioned his claim. When they were alone, the normally brash man spoke with uncharacteristic kindness.
“Something more happened, didn’t it? Something you’re keeping secret.”
“Oh for Pete’s sake, Tony…. There’s a difference between private and secret, you know.”
“I don’t need to know details, nor do I want to know details. I just want to know if you’ve thought about what this means, long term. I’m in a bit of a unique position to understand the issue here. Bruce and Betsy had been on again off again from when he got his powers until the Battle of New York, and Thor is in the very definition of a long-distance relationship, and both of them are virtually indestructible. Clint and Natasha, I can’t tell half the time if they’re just partners or an old married couple, but they can both fight. I’m the only one on the team with a steady, non-combatant girlfriend who worries herself sick over me being Iron Man. I can tell you from experience, Karen’s going to have to make some pretty big adjustments if you want this to work, and that means you will too.” Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, realizing how many things Steve would need to think about. “Please tell me you’ve thought it over.”
“I was just thinking about it when you said something about a CAT scan. Mainly just warning her about the hazards of going steady with a Super Soldier.”
“I think maybe being locked up in a Latverian dungeon gave her a good idea of the hazards.”
“Good point. What else are you thinking?”
“Well, as you know, she’s going to be a target, so living here would be the best way of keeping her safe.” Seeing the protest form on his friend’s lips, he cut in quickly. “Not in your room until you both feel comfortable with that, just inside our defense tech. She’s already in a guest room; we can give her that one. I’d also recommend offering to get her basic self-defense lessons. Pepper’s been taking Aikido classes, I can sign her up for the same ones if she’d like. I’ve noticed I get nagged less for reckless behavior when she’s fresh from the dojo, must be an ‘equalizing of power’ thing. Oh, and communication is key. I have cell service built into the suit so I can call home and let her know I’m ok after a mission, and do I ever get chewed out when I can’t call her.”
“Ok, so, live here, self-defense class, communication. That all?”
“Off the top of my head, yes. I’ll also ask Pepper later if I’ve missed something, maybe ask her to suggest a girl’s night for them.”
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The next day, Karen was finally waking, sometime in the late afternoon by the light. *Oh god, have I really been asleep all day?* She looked about the room for a clock, finally spotting a slim glass digital clock on the dresser. The time she saw there startled her. “Holy fuck, it’s three twenty?”
“Actually Miss McCann, it is three nineteen” said a polite British voice, causing her to jump a bit, clutching the comforter up to her chest. Looking about to ask who the hell he was, she couldn’t see where the voice was coming from, but the speaker seemed to know her question. “Allow me to introduce myself; I am Jarvis, Mr. Stark’s personal AI program, I handle any needs related to the tower, among other functions, such as guiding visitors new to the tower.” There was a slight pause, almost reticent. “It helps some people to think of me as a butler, although that is a gross oversimplification.” The voice sounded mildly aggrieved, an impressive subtlety in a machine. The humanness of the AI made Karen a little more at ease for some odd reason.
Karen climbed awkwardly out of the enormous bed, now she knew there wasn’t a peeping Tom, or at least one that would care about her state of undress. Her pajamas were what she’d been wearing when they got sent halfway round the world, and at this point unfit to wear, and although Cate had her regular clothes, she’d slept in a sleep shirt borrowed from Natasha. It barely came to mid-thigh, and any large body movement flashed her favorite bright blue panties bearing the legend Baby Got Back across the butt.
In the bathroom, she found a new toothbrush and cinnamon toothpaste, not her favorite flavor, but beggars can’t be choosers. After taking care of the beyond-morning breath, taking another long, hot shower, and toweling dry her hair, she re-donned the clothes she wore in and went back out into the bedroom to get dressed. Still a bit self-conscious, she told herself to quit being silly and allowed herself a good stretch as she entered, but misjudged the distance between the dresser and her foot, catching her big toe on the hard wooden frame. Holding her foot up, bent over it, she let out a startled string of cuss words.
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Steve was getting worried about Karen. Missing breakfast was to be expected, and even lunch could be explained by extreme exhaustion, but it was close to four thirty, and she’d yet to leave her room. There was nothing for it, he decided, but to go see if she was alright. A light knock on the door yielded no response, and he was about to knock a bit harder, when he heard a yelp of pain and Karen calling someone a ‘mother-fucking son of a bitch’. Panicked, he burst into the room, only to be struck dumb by the sight of Karen’s bare legs, and the attention catching blue undergarment. He stood there for a moment that felt like forever, before she turned and he saw tiny tears at the corners of her eyes. Instantly he rushed to comfort her, getting her to the bed to sit when he saw her favoring one foot. In tiny bits and pieces the two of them got the full story put together, finally ending with laughter at the way the world sometimes works. They also had the conversation Steve had been planning the night before. Karen was more than happy to stay in the luxurious quarters she was in, and Aikido sounded fun, but she had some strong opinions of her own about the need to communicate.
“I want to know when you leave to go out and fight bad guys; no disappearing on me. I also want to know where you’re going to do it and which bad guy you’re fighting. I’m going to be doing some research on them to give me an idea of the threat level. As to post-fight info, just come home safe, and don’t worry about letting me know the instant you’re done. I would certainly like to hear you’re safe, but knowing you, you’d spend five hours looking for a nonexistent pay phone.”
“Oh, come on, last I checked there had to be nearly a quarter million payphones in New York City alone.”
“By any chance was the last time you checked in the thirties? Everybody has cell phones now, and the payphone is a dying breed.” To herself, she thought *I’m dating a time-traveler. This is like the premise of a bad rom com.* She chuckled softly at that idea. *Although we haven’t exactly had a normal date yet, so are we really dating?*
As though he read her mind, Steve’s next words were “Would you feel up to going to dinner with me?”
“Right now? I suppose if you give me some time to get dressed I could handle dinner. I doubt the rest of the world wants to see me like this.” She gestured to her bare legs, but Steve caught her hand in his.
“Every inch of you is beautiful. I know you were joking just now, and yes, the place I was thinking of would prefer a bit more propriety, but I need you to know you are beautiful, and I love you.”
“Whoa there, where’d this seriousness come from? All of a sudden you’re all Saturday afternoon special.”
Ignoring the last bit, which he didn’t understand, Steve answered the question, which he did. “When you didn’t come out for lunch, I got worried. So I asked your sister if that was normal for you, and it led to a conversation about certain parts of your situation, and I’ll admit I don’t know how to best help you, what to do, but I thought maybe just letting you know how I feel…”
“There’s not much you do. Chronic depression is something that I handle myself, with a therapist and a psychiatrist providing professional advice. But you just being there is a big help. I’m doing alright right now, though. Cate pumped me full of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills when we were on the plane home, and I had my standard night meds last night. I’ll take my daytime doses in a minute.” She squeezed his hand before releasing it to pat his knee. “But now is not the time for giving you a crash course in the care and keeping of nutty girlfriends, now is time for me to get dressed. Where are we going, I want to dress right.”
“I was thinking about this place I’d heard good things about, I think it’s called Epitome. I don’t think it’s a black tie sort of place, but not a dive either. You’ll look beautiful no matter what you wear.”
“Alright, let me get dressed and then we can go.” Inwardly, she was pondering the male species tendency to completely fail to understand that simple question ‘what should I wear’.
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An hour later, after much debate, Karen was finally ready to go. She finally settled on a pale lavender peasant blouse and simple black trousers. As the couple got into a car pulled from the Avenger’s motor pool, Steve took a moment to appreciate the beautiful woman beside him. She’d lightly dusted her lids with a shimmery gold powder, and her lips had some sheer peach substance; he was never clear what all the products were called, the secret magic potions of women remaining a mystery. He could have spent days staring at her beauty, but dinner reservations had been made, so he pulled his attention back to driving.
Epitome was located in a beautifully restored theater, and their seats on the balcony gave them a phenomenal view of the ceiling mural. Karen had been mildly concerned when she saw the luxurious setting and grew more so when the menu she received had no prices listed. *If this is like yachts, where if you have to ask you can’t afford it, then I definitely am out of my element.* Nervous about the potential cost, when Steve asked what was looking good, she tried to fool him into thinking she really could get by with just the calamari appetizer. Not falling for it, he reassured her.
“We just spent three days on starvation rations, most of which was fish. You can’t tell me you really want just calamari.”
“I know, but my menu doesn’t even have prices, and I don’t want to spend too much.”
“What did you really want? Don’t worry about cost, just start with what you want.”
“Steak sounds divine right now, as does the spaghetti bolognaise, but I really don’t think I could finish the porterhouse, and I saw someone with the pasta on our way in; it’s huge.” A thought dawned on her. “Why don’t we split the bolognaise? I get the feeling that normally they’d frown on splitting, but with spaghetti, it’s a romantic thing.”
“Romantic? Sounds messy.”
“Ok, we need to spend like a week getting you caught up on pop culture. Just trust me; splitting spaghetti is connotative to romance in the current cultural zeitgeist.”
Indeed the waiter didn’t even blink at their order, and when the food arrived, just after the bottle of Chianti, Steve saw that Karen had been right; there was no way one person could eat all that. He hadn’t wanted to seem stingy, and his bank account had been gathering interest for seventy years, so he could afford it, but he did appreciate her frugal instincts. It meshed well with his own Depression Era outlook.
The date passed well, the two of them laughing over various things, a story from Karen, an impression of Tony from Steve, and for one evening all the horrors they’d gone through were like a bad dream, easily forgotten.
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Eventually they arrived back at the Tower, both pleasantly full and wanting the moment to last forever. They walked slowly to draw out their time together, and Steve insisted on walking Karen to her room, although it took him to the wrong end of the hallway.
“Well, here we are. Thank you for tonight, it was wonderful.”
“I’m glad you had a good time. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous, never having done this before.”
“I had a fantastic time, and don’t worry, the nerves didn’t show much. Although I still can’t believe that you’d never been on a date before.”
“Not a date like this one, no. Bucky dragged me on some double dates, but I never asked a girl out.” He smiled shyly. “Did I do alright?”
“You did more than ‘alright’, you were a perfect gentleman.” Biting her lip nervously, she contemplated her next move. They hadn’t discussed how the physical side of the relationship would progress, and the time by the lake aside, he was certainly old fashioned.
As Karen was considering giving him a goodnight kiss, Steve was trying not to stare at her lower lip, where it tucked in as she bit it. It was entrancing for some reason, and when he noticed her leaning in toward him a bit, he seized the opportunity and quickly kissed her. He wasn’t sure if that was the proper thing to do or what the protocol was, but far from being upset, she kissed him back with enthusiasm. He held her in his arms, kissing, for what seemed like an eternity but also an instant. He would have continued, but a cough from behind them interrupted.
“Sorry to intrude. I don’t exactly have a porch light to flick on and off.” Cate stood in her doorway, having commandeered the room across from Karen. “If you want to make-out with my sister, could you please not do it in front of my room? Thanks.”
Seeing that her sister was just going to stand there and glare at them if they continued, Karen pressed one quick kiss to Steve’s lips, before opening her door and slipping inside. Steve blinked a few times before turning around to go back to his room. Settled in his comfortable bed, he drifted off to pleasant dreams.
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A few weeks passed, and Karen adjusted to life in Avengers Tower. She didn’t stay cooped up though. Pepper had called some contacts and gotten her an interview at a charity children’s theater, which led to a job. Steve had privately gotten peeved that she wouldn’t just accept the fact that there were perks to dating an Avenger, but was wise enough not to say anything, going to the workout room instead. After he’d cooled down, he realized that having a job would help Karen feel in control of her life, and feel less like a kept woman; he certainly didn’t want that to ever be something she felt about their relationship. He showered quickly, before heading to the kitchen where Karen was baking a batch of celebratory double chocolate cupcakes. He found it both charming and detrimental to his waistline, but Karen baked when she was excited. In the kitchen, Karen was getting ready to wash the mixing bowl when strong arms snaked around her waist, and Steve leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“Not planning on washing that without licking the batter, are you?”
“Steve!” She smacked his hand as he reached for the bowl. “There’s raw egg in there!”
“And? You’ve never had eggnog? A little cake batter won’t hurt anybody.” He successfully swiped up a little bit of the dark brown goo on a finger, popping it in his mouth. The rich flavor of the batter exploded across his tongue, almost intoxicating in its intensity. The only thing he’d ever tasted that exceeded this was Karen herself. On a whim, he pressed a kiss to her lips, her surprised squeak allowing him access to her mouth, where he dipped his tongue, tasting both chocolate and Karen at once. Coming up for air, he smiled at the dazed look on her face “Yup, that’s better. Chocolate and you, the two best tastes in the world.” He took her in his arms, pressing them close to the counter. At first he’d had a hard time making the first move, but time and encouragement had led him to a happy balance of sorts, and he wasn’t as hesitant. Still smiling, he scooped up a little more batter and held it to Karen’s lips, where he was happy to note, she barely paused before licking it off his finger. Then, grinning, she snagged the bowl and used her fingers to dab a little batter on his cheek. She giggled and kissed it off, but he retaliated in kind, and soon the bowl was bare of any batter at all and they both had sticky faces. Fortunately the sink and a dishcloth remedied the latter state.
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Twenty minutes later the cupcakes were done and cooling on racks when Jarvis informed them that Steve was needed in the meeting room. Apparently a villain named Whirlwind was robbing jewelry stores at top speeds. Karen gave Steve a quick kiss as he left the room, then went to the nearest room with a TV so she could watch the battle on the news.
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Secret Bit of Right From Wrong