Red White and Blue

Chapter 3: New Job

I limp to Steve, giving him a light shove, "Wake up! I made breakfast! Peggy's going to be here in an hour!"

He sits up, hitting our heads together. He grabs my arm, apologizing profusely.

"Haven't I been through enough?" I ask him.

"I said I'm sorry!"

I wave him off, limping back to the table. Steve follows, sitting in his seat and eating. He takes a sip of his coffee, raising an eyebrow, "Where's your cup?"

I groan, "At the counter," I tell him, levitating it to me. I take a sip, sighing, "Much better!"

"Alice!" Steve scolds, "You need to stop doing that! The government will experiment on you or something!"

I let out a quick huff of laughter, "Funny. Last I checked you signed up to be an experiment, chucklehead. I think I'm safe,"

He shakes his head at me. I wink at him. He sighs, reaching across the short distance of the table to grab my hand, "I'm serious, Allie. Be careful. I don't want you getting caught. Who knows what would happen to you then?"

I give his hand a squeeze, looking him right in the eye, "I promise to be careful, Stevie,"

He sighs, "Thanks,"

I softly smile at him. He absent-mindedly runs his thumb over my fingers. I have to bite my tongue to keep from smiling too much. Holy Mackeral, I've got it bad for Steve. Unfortunately, he seems to be the only guy alive I can't seem to flirt with. Ironic, isn't it?

I take in the apartment while I eat. I won't be seeing it for a while. We'll be back once we win the war though. Then everything will be back to normal. It'll be Steve, Bucky and me, as it always has been. Sure, it might be a little different. War changes people, but otherwise? Nothing will change. I can't wait to have both of them back.

"So, excited to work with Howard?" Steve asks. He has this certain tone when he asks one thing but implies he asks another.

"I'll be good, Steve," I promise.

He shakes his head at me, "No, you won't,"

I gasp, "Hey! I made a promise!"

He puts up his hands, "Right, of course. My bad," He says, a smirk on his face, "You always keep your word when Bucky says to be good."

I lightly kick him under the table, "Don't be like that!"

~

Once we got to this super-secret spy base type of place, Steve and I were separated faster than every enlistment officer had even been able to tell him "no".

"Good to see you again, Miss Bentley," I hear from behind me.

I turn and smile, "You as well, Mr. Stark. And please, if we're going to be working together, call me Alice,"

"Then you can call me Howard," He leans against the counter. "So, may I ask what convinced you to take the job? Peggy said you agreed easily. She said she didn't even have to convince you."

I glance down, realizing that was rather stupid of me. I look back up, smiling again, "I've got to try to keep an eye on Steve,"

"I'm sure he'll be safe here. He seems to have kept himself from falling apart," He tells me, looking me up and down, "He didn't show up limping."

I wave him off, "He fights anythin' that moves,"

Howard laughs, "You look like you fought a tank,"

I nod, "Three, actually," I joke.