Winter's Fire. ~Book Three~

Chapter Eight: Rescuing SHIELD.

It had been two weeks since Red had been rescued from HYDRA, and as it turned out, Fury had them come back to DC so that he, and other agents, could keep an eye on her, Steve and Levinia, to make sure that nothing went bump in the night while she recovered. She just needed another day or two, then she'd be good to go. 
Red currently had a phone pressed to her ear, talking to Tony as she sipped her coffee. "My ribs are healing fine, I'm just sore." Red said with a smile. "They are healing up nicely." 
Tony chuckled. "All right, I'll stop bothering about it, just be careful, and for God's sake-" 
"Use the tech you gave me, I know." Red said with laugh as she leaned forward to set down her mug. 
"Sounds like you have it all covered." 
"Yeah, for the most part." 
He sighed, it sounded like a content sigh, like he was at ease or happy. "Well, I'll see you later tonight, right?" 
"Of course," she said with a small grin. "Assuming everything goes according to plan." 
"Right." He said, sounding annoying. "Because SHIELD might have other plans." 
"Yep. Agent first, anything else second." As frustrating and dangerous her life in SHIELD was, she wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world.
Red glanced up as Steve left the room to get ready for his morning run while Levi rinsed out her cereal bowl and went back to her room. She was probably heading back to bed, that was her usual routine. Red got out of her armchair, opened a window and crawled out onto the fire escape. 
"Well, I'll hopefully see you tonight." 
"Hopefully." 
"All right," Red could hear the smile in Tony's face. "Bye, Red." 
"Bye, Tony." She said before she hung up the phone. 
With a smile, Red slid her phone into her back pocket and leaned against the railing of the fire escape, looking over the little spot in DC that they had together. Fury got Steve, Levinia and herself a larger, and safer, apartment since the HYDRA incident from a few weeks earlier, and when the three of them moved in, Tony had come in and hooked JARVIS up, even built little compartments into their walls so that the weapons and tech that they had, would stay hidden until it was needed.
Since they got from New York, everything had been quiet, the agents Red and Fury had sent out to sweep for HYDRA had come back with nothing and they hadn't seen neither hide nor hair of the hopefully still extinct organization.
There was a part of her that wanted to hope that maybe what happened to her was an attempt to scare her and SHIELD, but the bigger part of her saw the bigger picture that was laid out in front of her: It was only a matter of time before something happened, something big, something seemingly unstoppable.
+++
Before his morning run, Steve took the time to check on Levi and Red, he always wanted to make sure that they were safe and resting before he left. 
Before they moved in, Red was having terrible nightmares about Bucky and the place she was being held in, and while those had stopped recently, he still had the habit of checking on her during the night and early in the morning to make sure that she was still where he left her. He didn't think that there wouldn't be a day where he wouldn't be afraid of her being missing again. 
And then there was Levinia... she always left him feeling confused but he loved everything about her. She was always there to greet him when he got up at, as she put it, 'stupid early o'clock' and then went back to sleep when he was leaving, he liked that about her. 
His usual running spot was the Lincoln Memorial, he liked watching the sunrise as he ran around the lake, and he liked that it was always the same every morning. Except, this morning, when a new face joined him. 
"On your left." Steve said as he ran past the new guy for the second time. 
"Uh-huh. On my left. Got it." He said. 
After a few more minutes, Steve started to approach the other man again, grinning as he tried to keep up. "Don't say it!" The man yelled. "Don't you dare say it!" 
"On your left!" Steve called over his shoulder with chuckle. 
"Come on!" 
After a while, when he decided that his run was over, Steve found the man sitting at the base of a tree as he tired to catch his breath. "Need a medic?" He said as he approached him. 
He gave a strangled laugh. "I need a new set of lungs." He looked up at Steve, looking more amazed than annoyed with him now. "Dude, you ran like thirteen miles in thirty minutes." He was desperately holding a stitch in his side, trying to relieve some of the pain he was feeling from his run. 
"I guess I got a late start." Steve said as he glanced around them, he was almost surprised that someone from SHIELD, or Natasha, hadn't come to pick him up for a mission yet. 
"Oh really? You should be ashamed of yourself." He said, clearly joking as he gestured around them. "You should take another." he looked up at Steve as he laughed. "Did you just take it? I assume you took it." 
Steve laughed before nodding toward him, noticing the air force logo on his sweatshirt. "What unit are you with?" 
"58, pararescue. But now I'm working down at the VA." He nodded back. "Sam Wilson." 
Steve smiled as he reached down to give him a hand up. "Steve Rogers." In the back of his mind, he was thinking about happy Red would be when he told her that he made a new friend, and then he thought of Levi, and wondered if she would like him too. 
"I kind of put that together." Sam said as he took Steve's hand and let him help him back to his feet. "Must have freaked you out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing." 
Steve nodded as he took a look around them again, still no sign of Natasha or anyone else from SHIELD, maybe today would be a quiet one after all. "It takes some getting used too." He smiled as he got ready to take off again, he should go home and shower before he took Levi out to breakfast. She needed more than that bowl of cereal. "It was nice to meet you, Sam." 
"It's your bed, right?" Sam asked, causing Steve to stop in his tracks. 
Steve turned around to face Sam again. "What's that?" 
"Your bed, it's too soft. When I was over there, I'd sleep on the ground, and use rocks as pillows, like a caveman." He explained with a shrug. "Now, I'm home, lying on my bed and it's like-" 
"Lying on a marshmallow. Feels like I'm gonna sink down to the floor." Steve said before he chuckled. "Of course, Levi doesn't sleep all that much either." Mostly because she's still feeling from leaving Thanos. Sometimes, Steve slept in her room with her, he was happy to help her feel more at peace, and it was nice having someone else in bed with him.
"Girlfriend?" 
"I uhh... I don't know." He said with some hesitation as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. "How long?" 
Sam looked like he wanted to ask more about the Levi more, but he dropped it as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Two tours. You must miss the good old days, huh?" 
"Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything." Steve said easily, thankful that the subject of Levi was dropped. "No polio is good. Internet, so helpful, I've been using that a lot, trying to catch up." 
Sam smiled at him. "Marvin Gaye, 1972, 'Trouble Man' soundtrack, everything you've missed jammed into one album." 
"I'll put it on the list." Steve said he took a small notebook and pen out of his pockets so that he could write it down, he had been composing a list of everything he wanted to try since he'd been back. 

I Love Lucy (Television.) 
Moon Landing. 
Berlin Wall. (Up and down.)
Steve Jobs. (Apple.)
Disco. 
Star Wars/Trek. 
Nirvana. (Band.) 
Rocky. (Rock II.) 

He quickly wrote down the album and its artist as his phone buzzed in his locket. With a sigh, Steve put his notebook and pen back into pockets before he took it out. It was a text from Natasha. 

Mission Alert. Extraction imminent. Meet us at the curb.

Steve decided that he really shouldn't have thought that today was going to be quiet one. "All right, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run." He said as he shook hands with Sam. "If that's what you wanna call running." 
"Oh, that's how it is?" Sam said with a chuckle as they walked together toward the cub. 
Steve chuckled with him. "That's how it is." 
"Okay. Anytime you wanna stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know." 
"I'll keep that in mind." 
"Okay." 
Just then, Natasha pulled up in her car Levinia in the passenger seat, Red pulled up behind them on her motorbike and took off her helmet.
"Hey, Fellas, either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? We're here to pick up a fossil." She said as she rolled down Levi's window. 
"That's hilarious." Steve said with a chuckle as Levinia laughed. 
"No, it really is." Levi said as she got out of the car and moved the seat back so she could get in the backseat. 
"How you guys doing?" Sam asked from behind him. 
"Hey." Natasha said with a small smirk. 
Levi shrugged. "I'm doing just fine." 
Red chuckled as she out her helmet back on. "Don't push your luck." 
"Yeah, Red over here's dating Tony Stark." Levi said as she got settled in the back. He started to feel bad, he should've offered to take the back. 
"Can't run everywhere." Steve said as he got into the car and got buckled in. 
"No you can't." Sam said as the group drove away and toward their newest SHIELD mission. 
+++
Red silently stood shoulder to shoulder with Steve, Levi and Natasha as they geared up and got ready to handle the next thing Fury needed them to take care of. As they made their way to the drop zone, Red made sure that she did grab the tech Tony had made her. 
"Rumlow, what's our target?" She asked as she watched her gloves form over her fingres. 
"Agent North, our target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, ninety-three minutes ago." Rumlow explained. 
"Any demands?" Steve asked. 
"A billion and a half." 
"Why so steep?" 
Levinia glanced up from betting her belt buckled around her waist. "And why us?" 
"Because it's SHEILD's." Rumlow told them.
Red glanced toward Levi. "And that's why they chose us." 
"I see," she said as she looked at Red, Steve and Tasha. "Is this what it's like to be one of you?" 
"Yeah, most of the time." Red said with a grin. "Unless you're an Avengers, like the three of us." 
"Well, hopefully after this, I'll be an Avenger." Levi said, looking proud of herself. As she should be, she had been working tirelessly to prove that she can be an Avenger and an Agent of SHIELD, like Red had. 
"We'll see." Red said, feeling proud of her daughter as well. It was nice finally being able to watch her go through her achievements. "But you could be a good fit for the team." She glanced toward Tasha. "Tasha, thoughts?" 
"I agree with Red," Tasha said. "We'll see how this goes, Levinia, and then we'll see what Fury thinks." She turned to face Steve. "What do you think?" 
"I think that you have a set of skills that would benefit the team," he said with a chuckle as he reached out to pat her head. Red could tell that this opinion meant the most of Levi. Steve smiled down at her before he got serious again and looked at Rumlow. "But it's not off course, it's trespassing." 
"I'm sure they had a good reason." Tasha said as she went back to her work. 
"You know, I'm starting to get tired of being Fury's janitor." He retorted. 
"Relax, it's not that complicated." Natasha shot back. 
"She's not wrong, it gives us something to do." Red said in a tone akin to one that Bucky had used when he was telling her and Steve not to fight. "And we're going our job, Steve. We have to do something when we aren't saving the world." 
He chose to ignore them as he focused on Rumlow. "How many pirates?" 
"Twenty-five. Top mercs, led by this guy." He showed Steve something on an iPad. Red floated above the ground to look over Steve's shoulder and saw a picture of the man they were after, they both stayed silent as Rumlow explained. "Georges Batroc, ex BGSF." Levinia gave Red a questioning look, which she answered with a shrug as he continued. "Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's red notice; before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill missions. The guy's got a rep for maximum casualties." 
"Hostages?" Steve asked as he handed back the tablet.
"Uhh..." Rumlow glanced at Red, as if he was asking for permission to tell him. When she gave him a small nod, he said. "Mostly techs, one officer, Jasper Sitwell," he pulled up a picture of Sitwell. "They're in the galley." 
"What's Sitwell doing on a launchship?" Steve asked as he looked over his shoulder and at Red. She quickly got busy putting on her belt and lacing up her boots. She guessed that he would likely ask her about what he wasn't telling him later. With a sigh, he moved on to another thought. "All right, I'm going to sweep the deck and we'll find Batroc." He looked to Natasha and Levinia. "Nat, take Lev, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions." He turned back to face Rumlow again. "Rumlow, you sweep AFT, find the hostages and get them to the lifeboats. Get them out." He stood next to Red as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Lets move." 
"STRIKE, you heard Cap. Gear up." He looked down at Red, she couldn't help but feel ever so slightly off when he looked at her. Red, who had fought side by side with this man for nearly a decade, couldn't even plain to herself why she felt her fight or flight responses kicking off as she locked eyes with him. "And it's good to have you back on the team, Ma'am." 
Red smiled as she stepped ever so slightly closer to Steve. "Thank you, Rumlow, it's nice to be back." 
And with that, Rumlow walked off to finish getting read, leaving Steve, Natasha, Levi and Red to finish setting up their com systems. 
"Secure channel seven." Steve said into his wrist. 
"Seven, secure." Tasha said as she clicked a few buttons at her station. "So, you guys do anything fun on Saturday?" 
"Well, all the guys from my barber shop quartet are dead, so... no, not really." Steve said with a tight smile. 
"That's not true!" Red yelled with a massive grin. "We watched Netflix." 
"Yeah! And we got food." Levinia said, giving a grin that reminded Red of Loki. 
Tasha chuckled. "What kind of food?"
"We got Chinese and watched Bones." Red said as she put a gun in a holster on her thigh. "It was quite enjoyable." 
"See, looks like you did have fun." Tasha said before the pilot radio clicked. 
"Coming up by the Drop Zone, Cap. North." He said. 
That was their que.  As they went over to the hatch, Red could feel the thrill of being on a mission coursing through her veins, the adrenaline pumping through her body was starting to make everything more and more clear. She felt her body getting gears up and tensing in all the right places as it got her prepared for the upcoming fight. And she was looking forward to every moment of it. 
This was her first mission being back and Red really couldn't be more excited. 
+++
Levinia could tell that Red was all too ready for this, it made her happy to see her bounce around excitedly, but even she knew it would stop the moment she and Steve jumped out of the jet. She glanced at Steve as she finished making sure that she was suited up. He wasn't happy about their newest mission, she could tell by the way his shoulders were set, how he looked more stern than usual. But this was his job, and hopefully after this mission, it would be hers too. 
"You know, if you ask Krysten out, from statistics, she'd probably say yes." Nat said as she finished making sure their communication line was secure. 
That statement sent a thrill of unwanted and unneeded jealousy through Levi. Why should she care that Nat was trying to set Steve up with someone else? It's not like she and Steve had anything special going on, and as much as she wanted them too, she wasn't brave enough to confess her feelings for him. 
Slowly, Levi turned her attention to Rumblow and the rest of his STRIKE team. There was something off putting about the team she'd possibly be joining after this mission, especially Rumlow. She'd met plenty of snakes while working with Thanos, she knew what to look for, and Rumlow was just like them. He was a very good looking man, but most snakes were pretty to warn others that it was poisonous. 
"That's why I don't ask." Steve said, relieving some of the jealousy Levi was feeling boiling up inside her. 
"Too shy, or too scared?" Nat said as she glanced between Levi and Rumlow. She really hoped that Nat didn't think she was checking him out and proceeded to try and get the two of them together, she shuddered at the thought of having to go on a date with someone like him. 
"Too busy!" Steve yelled as he opened the hatch and looked at Red. She activated her helmet, which formed over her head as they gave a final nod to each other, they jumped out of the jet and plummeted toward the water below. 
"Were either of them wearing parachutes?" A STRIKE Agent behind Levi asked. 
Rumlow stood beside Levi with a slight smirk playing at his lips. "No," he said. "No they weren't." 
Levi smirked and gave him a playful bump with her shoulder. "Not that Red needs on, of course." She can't let it be known that she thought he was slimy. Levi glanced back down at Red and Steve, just in time to watch her mother scoop the captain up and toward the shop moments before the two of them hit the water. 
"Of course." He chuckled. "When this job is over, we should get a drink, Levinia." 
"Oh, but I wouldn't want to break any bylaws." She said with a smile as she joined Nat's side to prepare for their part in this mission. 
Levi decided that, until she was shown differently, her feeling about STRIKE was just her nerves about the mission getting the best of her. 
+++
The moment their feet touched the deck, Red and Steve got to work. They quickly split off in two separate directions with the intention of meeting back up in the middle when they took out the pirates that were guarding the deck. 
Red quickly jumped from person to person, using the boosters on her boots to make her flight more efficient. It was an oddly pleasurable feeling, being able to take them out so easily. It was even better when the armor Tony made for her was able to keep her from getting shot and protected her from getting hit as much as she usually did without it. 
She was only vaguely aware of Steve fighting on the deck below her as she got into it with another one of pirates that had invaded the ship. Red ran at him and flipped over him as she summoned her staff and used it to sweep his legs out from under him as she landed on the ground. 
She spun the burning wood in her hand as she hit him over the head with it, then opened her hand to throw a ball of fire at him. Only, as the fire was leaving her hand, he suddenly got to his feet and it hit the ground where he was previously prone. 
He grabbed her her wrist and twisted it around as he brought her arm down onto his thigh, a very obvious attempt at trying to break her arm. "That was a bad move." She said with a wicked grin as she grabbed his wrist and flew up, using the leverage to twist his arm around him pop his shoulder out of the socket, causing him to scream in pain. 
Red looked up at the sky as the rest of the team arrived on scene with Levinia being the only one without a parachute. 
"So, how do you want him?" She asked as she approached Red and the pirate. 
"Extra crispy, I like 'em crunchy." Red said with a wink as she flew off, hearing the sound of Levi's electricity zapping him to know him out. 
After a few seconds, Red joined Steve, Natasha and Rumlow. 
"What about that nurse that lives across the hall from you guys?" Tasha was saying as she landed. "She seems nice." 
Levinia flew back down to the small group as they started to jog across the deck and split off, with Red and Steve on one side with STRIKE, and Tasha and Levi on the other. 
"Secure the engine room, then find me a date." Steve said over the coms. 
"I'm multitasking!" 
Red just hoped that it would go smoothly, not that it didn't have a high chance to, but it was still Levinia's first official job, and this was her her chance to prove herself to Fury and the rest of SHIELD. 
+++
Levi and Nat went under the deck, where they found Georges Batroc and another one of his pirates in the engine room. With a nod, they split up as Levi took off her gloves and sent a bolt of lightning into the power system. The group of pirates looked at them in confusion as their systems started to glitch and crash, this was something she always loved watching. 
Georges turned to look at them, rage quickly replaced his confusion. Levi grinned at him as she gave a mock flitter of her fingers. 
"Hey, Sailor." Nat said before the two of them launched into battle, both of them moving quickly and seamlessly together as they took out the surrounding enemy. As Nat ducked to avoid a bolt of lightning that fired from Levi's hand, she clipped a line to Georges's belt, using it to anchor herself as she jumped down the stairway and fired at the pirates on the stairs below them. 
When it was clear, Levi flew down and joined her side, still grinning as her electricity crackled between her fingers. "What about you, Levs, anyone catching your eye?" She asked as Levi landed. 
Without her permission, her cheeks flared up and turned pink as the thought of the nights she and Steve shared came to mind. "Yeah, I mean, I guess so." She said as she cleared her throat and looked around them. 
"So, who is it?" She asked as the two of them slowly made their way through the engine room. What was with her, and her weird and nosey need to set up her friends?
"Can we talk about this when we aren't on a mission for Fury?" Levi was desperately reaching for a subject change. 
"You and Steve are no fun." Nat said before she fell silent for a few seconds, then said. "But I don't think it should be Rumlow." 
"Neither do I." 
Luckily, and thankfully, Levi was saved from further questioning about her love life when more of Georges's men showed up. Thank the Gods above. 
+++
Steve and Red stood above as they watched the STRIKE team get into position, Red's eyes nearly glowed with the power of her fire and the fight that they had just finished. 
"STRIKE in position."  Rumlow said over the com system. 
Meanwhile, down below, Levinia and Natasha continued to fight their way through the engine room. They had several bodies surrounding them as they had to give up their capture only endeavors.
"Natasha, Levinia, status?" Steve said over the system. He was nowhere near being aware of what was happening down in the engine rooms. 
"Hang on!" Natasha yelled as she ducked and weaved around the would-be soldier's attacks. 
"We're in the middle of something!" Levinia yelled right before she was thrown, painfully, into a pillar. Luckily, the pair was able to take out everyone in the room, and caught their breath. 
"Engine room secure." Natasha told Steve and Red. 
Rumlow and his STRIKE team got ready to break into the room Georges's team was keeping the SHIELD agents. As Red got into position with STRIKE, Steve readied himself. 
"On our mark." Steve said as he nodded to Red. 
"Three..." Red muttered as she activated her boots. 
"Two..." Steve continued. 
"One!" Red called as she flew down and crashed through one of the many windows with STRIKE beside her. "Move! Move! Move!" She yelled as they moved through the room. 
+++
As Red crashed into the room with the rest of STRIKE, glass exploded around them and Steve quickly followed them in. Together, the quickly dispatched the pirates in the room, fire and bullets mixed as Red flew over a counter and landed in front of Jasper Sitwell, her staff in hand and held at the ready as she protected the officer. 
As her flame surrounded her, the pirates in the room either died or surrendered. "I told you," Sitwell said from behind her. "SHIELD doesn't negotiate." 
"Red, keep an eye on Sitwell." Steve said as he left the room to take care of the next thing. 
"On it." Red said and met eyes with Rumlow. With Sitwell staying behind her, they start to get the previously captured agents out of the room and into the jet above them. 
As they were slowly shuffling in, Red tried to get on the coms with Tasha and Levi. "Tasha, Levi, where are you guys? Two minutes 'till rendezvous." 
The job was done, right? There was no reason that they should be taking this long to get top side with the rest of them. As she shared a worried glance with Rumlow, she decided that Steve would probably find them. 
+++
As Red and Strike got the hostages off of the ship and to safety, Steve spotted Batroc as he ran passed a window. With a sigh, he took off running after him, job's not done until they captured Batroc and put him in prision. 
"Hostages on route to extraction. Romanoff and Lokidottir both missed the rendezvous, Cap. Hostages are still in play." Rumlow said as Steve gave chase. 
Still in pursuit of Batroc, he got on the communications system with Nat and Levi. "Natasha, Levinia, Batroc's on the move. Circle back to Rumlow and Red, protect the hostages." When he got no reply, that's when he started to panic. As his heart pounded against his chest, he worried that something had happened to them. Was Levi hurt and waiting for him to come and get her? Or was she already dead with Nat still fighting for her life? 
He didn't have time to think of another scenario where one of the two of them wasn't okay as Batroc suddenly tackled him and they fell down to the deck with a loud and painful thud. Steve got painfully to his feet with shield held at the ready. 
As soon as his opponent got to his feet, they started to fight back and forth, mostly with Steve blocking and evading attacks from Batroc. It was more of an annoying fight, rather than a painful one. 
Finally, when Batroc had been knocked down to his knees, the two of them started to speak. "I thought you were more than a shield." He said as he raised his hands. 
Steve shrugged and put his shield on his back before he reached up to take off his helmet and dropped it to the ground. "Let's see." 
They quickly got back into the fight, but it only took Steve seconds to kick the man through a nearby window and knock him out... An that was where he found Nat and Levi, who were both very much alive and very much going through two of the computers. 
For a moment, he felt relieved to see that Levinia was alive. In his mind's eye, he saw himself sweeping her up and into his arms, kissing her without a care in the world because she was safe and sound. Of course, that was before the reality of what he was looking at caught up with him and he realized that they had a side mission. 
"Well, this is awkward." Natasha said, not even pausing in her computer work. 
"Very." Levi agreed, also not pausing. 
Steve set his hands on his hips as he looked at the two of them. "What are you doing?" His unneeded worry was quickly replaced with anger. who wouldn't be pissed off when they realized that there was a side mission that they didn't even know about? He'll be happy to see Levi alive later. 
"We are backing up the hard drive." Nat said as she glanced at him. "It's a good habit to get into." 
"Rumlow and Red needed your help." He said as he strides across the room to look over their shoulders to see what was so important. "You're saving SHIELD intel." 
"Whatever we can get our hands on." Nat said. 
"Steve, it's fine, okay? Just don't worry about it." Levi said as she glanced at him. 
Steve could only stare at her. "I expected more from you." He saw guilt flash across her face as she swallowed hard before she looked back down at her keyboard. He decided that he'd address it later. 
"You can talk to me about it when we get home." Levi said, her voice thick with what he assumed to be tears, as she finished finished up her half of the work. 
Steve narrowed his eyes are her as he crossed his arms over his chest. Was there more that she wasn't telling him? "Our mission was to rescue hostages." 
"No, that was you and Red's mission." Nat said as she finished her part of the download. "And you two have done it beautifully." She took a hard drive out from the port and put it into one of her pockets before she started to leave the room. 
Steve quickly stopped her as he took hold of her arm. "You guys just jeopardized this whole operation." 
"I think that's over stating things." Natasha said in a cold, but hushed tone. 
Levi was the only one out of the two of them that decided to stand down as she looked up at him with her unbelievably blue eyes. "Steve... no one got hurt-" she would never finish that sentence as Batroc suddenly woke up and threw a grenade at them as he ran out of the room. 
Steve quickly deflected it with his shield as he took hold of Levinia and held her against his chest as he threw the two of them through a window and into the next room, with Natasha quickly following behind them. 
Levi had landed on his chest with his hands on her waist to keep her stable, he looked up at her as she started to sit up. She was safe, the only wound she had was a cut on her cheek from when the glass had gotten her. 
"Okay," Nat said as she slowly rolled to her feet. "That one's on us." 
A blush spread across Levi's cheeks as she carefully got to her feet and rubbed one of her arms. "S-sorry, Steve." Stuttering was something Levi rarely did, and under different circumstances, he would've thought that it was cute. "It's out bad." 
Steve got to his feet and reached out to wipe the blood from her cheek, not even hesitating as he did. "Damn right it is." He said as he left his hand fall before he left the room. 
He almost felt guilty for leaving Levi behind like that, he even started to feel bad for how hard he was about to be on her when they all got home. 
Red probably wouldn't be all that pleased either. 
+++
Levi sighed heavily as she forced herself to follow after him, her cheeks were still flushed from when she landed on his chest. It was nothing, he was just saving her from getting blown up, it wasn't anything beyond that. 
As she walked, Nat put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her from leaving. "It's Steve... isn't it? 
Levi looked down at her feet as she took a breath. "Yeah..." She almost smiled as she thought about the other night, when they had shared a bed. "Sad, isn't it?" 
She gave Levi a small, yet sad, smile. "Only a little, but I think he likes you too. Maybe he'll open up to you." 
"Maybe." If I'm lucky, she added silently before she shrugged off Nat's hand and finished walking out of the door. "I have to pick up food before heading home." 
As Natasha silently followed behind her, she could tell that she was very smug about having been right about someone's feelings, but it was something that Levinia couldn't think about right now.