The Savior

Chapter 5

Steve's place was nice. A little plain for Peyton's taste but he was a man after all. He kept things clean and organized and she instantly felt like she was intruding.
"Look, Steve I don't want to mess things up here. Maybe I should just stay at my place-"
"Don't be ridiculous. You're more than welcome to stay here. I already told you, you'll have your own space and as you can see there's not much here to mess up."
His smile gave her a little reassurance but she still wasn't sure how this was going to work out. She put on a brave face as he led her to the guest room. The room was spacious with a full size bed and two dressers and a walk in closet. The curtains were drawn when she entered the room but Steve walked over and threw them open to let the room fill with daylight.
There was a full bathroom adjacent from the bed and a linen closet too. Damn this place was nice. Steve left her to settle in and said he was going to prepare some lunch. He figured she would be hungry for real food after eating lousy hospital food for a few days.
She unloaded the clothes from her bag into the dresser drawers and placed her travel bag on a shelf in the closet. She took her toiletry bag into the bathroom and laid out her toothbrush and tooth paste and put her shampoos in the shower stall. After putting her makeup and other necessities in the cabinet above the toilet she headed back out into the bedroom.
Peyton plopped down on the bed and fell back into the soft mattress. Laying on the bed looking at the ceiling her mind went back to the men who had attacked her. She could remember every detail, the staleness of the mans breath, the fingernails digging into her arms. She didn't even know who they were or why they attacked her. There had to be a reason. Was this a random occurrence? Perhaps she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then her mind began to turn on her, did she provoke these men? Her skirt could have been too short, her top cut a little too low. Could a friendly smile have been misinterpreted into something else? She was going to go mad without any answers.
When she walked back to the kitchen Steve was cutting vegetables for a salad and had cold cuts out for a sandwich. He looked up from cutting a cucumber as she walked in and gave her a smile.
"Salads and sandwiches okay?" He asked and she nodded her approval.
"Steve," she wasn't really sure what she wanted to know but she knew she needed some answers if she were going to get past this, "Steve, I need to know about the men who attacked me." She finished after a minute.
"What about them, exactly?" He sounded unsure.
"Why did they attack me? What was the motive? And who were they?"
"Just some thugs as far as I know. But you don't have to worry about them they're locked up and put where they belong. As far as why they attacked you, I can't really say. If you're worried about whether or not you provoked them, Peyton, get that out of your head now. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He placed his hand over top of hers soothingly.
He asked how she was feeling as he finished up their meal. And she made small talk as best she could while they ate. She didn't have much of an appetite, but knew Steve would have something to say if she refused her meal. By the time she was finished with her sandwich she was feeling better about the whole situation, Steve was adamant about her knowing and understanding that this attack was nothing more than poor excuses for human beings trying to gang up and over power women. Still she was scared beyond belief but she felt more secure, knowing the men were caught and in jail.
"So shouldn't you be out saving the world from aliens or something?" Peyton asked Steve as they both settled into his sofa to catch up on some TV. She was beginning to become fond of Steve. She really loved seeing him smile, which was something he didn't to as often as she'd like, but now she was rewarded with a smile and a small chuckle.
"I'm actually working on a few things state side at the moment. Trying to track down an old friend."
She gave him a funny look, thinking to herself that he had only recently in the last couple years, been thawed from the ice that had entombed him for 70 years.
He then went on about the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D. and how he discovered his best childhood friend Bucky was still alive and was a super soldier for Hydra. It was much more than she thought he'd ever share with her, but there has been this pull between them, this invisible magnetism since the first day at the coffee shop. She owed him so much, but knew he'd never ask her for anything in return, so if nothing else she would be a friend to him. She got the feeling that he didn't open up much, so she'd take in every word she said, and be there for him to talk to as long as he needed.
"I hope you find him. I can't imagine what that would feel like."
"I'm not really sure myself." He said with a smile.
After sitting in comfortable silence and watching an old black and white movie that was on the channel when you turned the TV,  Steve asked her about her family.
"Well you already know I grew up in a small town, just a few hours drive from here. My parents were great. Dad was the coach to my sister and I for softball, my mom was cheering for us at every game. We did family vacations every summer. It was nice. It still is. I call home as often as I can and actually I should call sometime today and let them know what happened." She was smiling fondly, though that smile began to fade as she knew the story she would have to retell.
"I'm sure they would like to know." He smiled "I can give you privacy if you'd like to call them now?" He offered. She smiled but declined, saying she could call them later tonight.
After catching up on the world news, and part of a show on the History channel about Amelia Earhart, Peyton decided to turn in for the night.
"I think I'm going to call it a night, Steve. Thanks again for doing this, it means a lot to me." She gave him a small smile and walked over and kissed his cheek good night, and retired to her room. She took a quick shower without washing her hair, and dressed in pajama shorts and a t-shirt. Throwing her hair up in a messy bun she charged her phone and settled into bed. She slid down beneath the down comforter and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
___
Peyton dreamt of work, and sealing the deal with her new client. She met her client for a celebratory dinner with the firm, and while waiting for the first round of drinks to come Peyton was yanked violently to the floor from her chair. Her head collided with the tile flooring, and she saw stars. Feeling dazed, she looked around frantically and then suddenly she was the alley way again crawling on the hard pavement as the men crept toward her. She backed away as far as she could, until she hit the wall of the building. The two men who had once had her pinned reached over to hold her down as man number three began to undo his pants. She pushed and pulled, twisting her arms to try and break free from their holds. The more she wiggled to get free the tighter their grips on her arms became.
She was shaken awake as she still clawed and pushed trying to break the holds from the men who assaulted her, but this time it was Steve she was struggling against.
"Peyton, wake up! Wake up! Please!" Steve looked petrified as he tried to wake her from her nightmare.
Her eyes were still glazed over, and she looked around scanning the room as she finally remembered where she was. Her eyes then landed on Steve's face and she broke down in tears. He held her in his arms, gently trying to comfort her.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay." He kept whispering to her as he rubbed her back trying to heal the wounds in her mind, and take away her pain.
She sat up with tear stained cheeks and pulled the blankets back, eyes pleading for him to stay in bed with her. He hesitated a moment and she knew then that he was a true gentleman and this is something that was outside his comfort zone.
"Please, I don't want to be alone." She said to him.
Not quite sure what else to do he crawled under the blankets with her. As she settled back down into the bed he pulled her close and held her until she cried herself to sleep.