Fire and Ice

•14•

The trees, houses, crosswalks, and monuments out the window aren't new to Kate anymore. After an uneventful six months of being in New York, Fury transferred Steve, Kate, and Nat to the Triskelion in D.C. for some bigger projects and missions. It's smaller and cleaner, especially on certain streets. At the monuments, history seems to be sewn into the air — but maybe that's just Kate. She doesn't go around there often, anyhow, not having the time and already having the memories.

They've been here a year and a half, Nat and Kate mostly calling Clint while he's sent on small missions in between being with his family. They visited them six months ago, and luckily Steve didn't ask any questions Kate couldn't answer truthfully. She's pretty sure Nat lied up a storm, though.

Kate glances over at her now, in the driver's seat, and she's disappointed to see her with her phone in her right hand, texting as she glances back and forth from her screen to the road.

"Natasha Romanoff, don't you dare text and drive."

Nat rolls her eyes, holding the phone out to Kate. "At least I can drive."

"If I could, I wouldn't text while I was doing it." Kate takes the phone, unsurprised to see she's texting Steve; they're going to pick him up from his morning run near the Washington Monument.

"Press send, you big baby."

Kate reads the text first. 'Mission alert. Extraction imminent. Meet at the curb. :)'

"A smiley face?" she says.

"What, what's wrong with a smiley face?"

"Nothing, Nat." She presses send. "But you never send me smiley faces."

"You aren't a smiley face person."

"And Steve is?"

"More so than you." A few moments later, they spot him talking to a random guy on the sidewalk, and Nat pulls over smoothly, putting the car in park and rolling down Kate's window. She leans forward. "Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? We're here to pick up a fossil."

"That's hilarious," Steve deadpans.

Kate gestures to the back. "In the backseat, relic. I called shotgun."

"Hey, I'm an antique, thank you," he protests, walking over to the car.

The guy he was talking to shrugs. "More like a mummy, if you ask me."

Steve sighs, getting in the car. "That's Sam, by the way."

"Natasha," she says. "That's all you get."

Kate plasters on a smile. "Dr. Kate Carson, at your service." She holds her hand out to sell the joke.

Sam chuckles, shaking her hand, glancing at it before his eyes return to hers. "I know."

"You a science man?"

"No, military. I just saw a lot of footage from that alien invasion thing in NYC."

"Huh," Kate says, squinting at him. "You know, I've seen that footage, too, and I wasn't in a lot of it." She was mostly keeping away from civilians, and people focused more on Cap, Iron Man, or Thor rather than her. Not to mention, she wasn't even on the ground at the end of the fight. "So it's almost like... you'd have to be looking to even find me."

He shrugs, an easy smile on his face. "Maybe I was."

Kate tries to figure it out, that smile. If it means something. It worries her, forms a tightness in her chest. "What for?"

"I think it's really cool — what you can do," he replies, easing her worries a bit.

"Yeah... I get that a lot."