Again // The Winter Soldier

seven.

Carmen woke up groggily in the back of a new car. She tried to clear her vision as she spotted Steve and Natasha upfront. She let out a groan as she felt her head rush. Natasha and Steve both glanced back to see the girl trying to sit up. "Good morning sleepyhead"

"What happened?" she uttered out, her voice hoarse. Steve turned the car into a driveway and pulled the keys out the ignition.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to blow us up, you bumped your head" Natasha bluntly explained and Steve rolled his eyes before getting out the car and opening the backseat.

"Cmon, let's get you inside" he helped the girl out of the car and she groaned again as her body ached with movement. It took her a minute to finally get her legs to bend as Steve shut the back door. Natasha waited for them at the front of the truck as he helped Carmen walk into the back yard. She didn't question it as they slipped through some trees into a different backyard and up a few steps to a small porch. Steve quickly banged on the glass door and it took only moments until the shutters slid up and the door opened.

"Hey, man" a tall darker skinned gentleman greeted. Natasha recognized him from the other day when she picked Steve up for work. Carmen on the other hand had no clue.

"I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low" Steve stepped forward as Natasha looked off embarrassed.

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us" the man looked through the dirtied and beat up faces of the group and he noticed Steve's pleading eyes as he held the brunette closely to him. She looked exactly the same as the pictures Steve had showed him.

"Not everyone" he said as he stepped to the side and allowed the three into the small house. Steve turned him and Carmen back towards Sam as he realized the large gash in Carmen's thigh.

"Is there somewhere we could clean up?" he gestured to Carmen and Sam nodded before leading them down a short hallway.

"Use the guest room and Natasha you can use my room" Sam instructed as he pointed to the rooms opposing each other at the end of the hallway. Steve nodded in a thank you as Natasha slipped into the other room. Sam watched as Steve delicately placed his strength under the girl to walk her inside without hurting herself much more.

"Let's get you taken care of huh?" it was a sight to see someone that huge take care of a woman as if she was a porcelain doll. Sam could easily see how much he really loved her. Steve set Carmen down onto the bed as he helped her pull the jean jacket off and the sandals that had to of been killing her by now.

"Can you get the zipper?" she asked quietly and he nodded and reached back to unzip the uncomfortable dress. Carmen let out a sigh as his fingers slowly brushed down her back. Sam gave a light knock to the door and then peeked his head in.

"I thought you might need this" he set a first aid kit down on the bedside table before disappearing. Steve got the dress off and laid her down. He didn't allow himself to think about her practically nakedness as he got the first aid kit and started cleaning her wound.

Carmen closed her eyes at the sting of her leg and Steve sent her an apologetic look as he rubbed all the dirt away and out of the wound. After a little bit he slowly lifted her leg up and wrapped a bandage around the whole thigh. Carmen hummed at the feeling of his fingers brushing along her leg and she wished for nothing more than for this to be over and lay down on this bed with him as all her worries swept away.

"I'm gonna get you a towel so you can clean up" Carmen opened her eyes to see him over her and he lightly pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. She nodded slowly as she stared down the man she loved. The line between the two had definitely blurred and had been since she showed up at his apartment. Steve wasn't sure how far he could go without it being wrong.