Chapter 4
Steve was sitting on the couch on the communal floor. The TV was running but he barely paid attention to it. In fact, he couldn’t even tell what was on if someone asked.
The only thing on his mind was his fight with Toni.
Toni …
After all this time and what they’ve been through, he thought he got the hang out of talking to her.
Apparently not. No matter how many times he tried to have a civil conversation with her they ended up fighting. He wasn’t even trying to rile her up, but he seems to push her buttons even though he wasn’t trying to. He actually tried to avoid those.
He didn’t actually blame her for what happened in the battle. But having a bunny explode right next to you nearly killing you … well even Captain America can be a bit shaken.
He knows that this isn’t a n excuse but that’s really all he’s got.
He really couldn’t talk to women. Especially mouthy brunettes who are probably the smartest person on the planet. And richest, not to forget. (Seriously, how can someone have so much money?)
How was he to know what topics to avoid? Toni barely talks about herself. Wait, didn’t Natasha say something about Toni’s file? Maybe he should take a closer look to it.
Having made a decision, he made his way to SHIELD.
He went straight to the file room.
Stark …, Stark…, …
Huh, there was no file. He kept looking for it. He even looked under A in case she was filed under her first name, but no, nothing.
Maybe the Avengers files are stored somewhere else.
Let’s see. He found Bruce’s file and Clint’s. Even his own. But where was Toni’s?
Maybe he should ask Fury. As the director he should know where it is.
In front of Fury’s office sat Agent Hill, but even she merely raised an eye brow and told him her boss was free.
Entering the office he saw Fury was on the phone. So much for being free. Maybe he and Hill had a fight, who knows? He honestly couldn’t care less.
Fury looked at him and simply raised his one eye brow. Does he has one or two, Steve wondered.
Not that he would ever ask. He would leave that to Toni. Insulting people with appearing-to-be-innocent-questions is her field of expertise.
Steve waited until the call ended. After just barging into his office this is the least he could do. The moment Fury put his phone down Steve started talking.
“Director, I would like to have a look into Toni’s file.” “May I ask why?”
Steve wondered why he would be asked that question. Toni is part of his team. He should have access on information of her.
“Simple curiosity. She is a team member and I like to know about her. I’m living with her after all.” Steve answered.
Fury just looked at him. “Why don’t you ask her yourself then? I think she can give you better insight than her file would. Or look her up on online. I assume you know how to use Google?”
Steve sighed. “Sir, I know first hand that not everything people write about yourself is true. I rather have facts than whatever the papers made up.” There are a lot of stories about Captain America, and not all of them are true. Sometimes he wonders how people can come up with that stuff.
Why won’t Fury just give him the file? What could possibly be in it that he needs to ask the director himself to get it.
“Besides, Director, we’re talking about Toni. You know she won’t tell me anything. If you haven’t noticed we don’t have that close of a relationship. And, well, she’s Toni.”
“So you want to read it to get closer to her? Or are you planning something else?”
“I’m not planning anything.” Steve started to feel a little lost. What on earth should he be planning to do?” With all due respect, sir, but why won’t you give me her file? I couldn’t find it in the file room. I worry about Toni and the fact that you hide her file because of whatever is in there does not sooth those worries.”
Fury sighed and looked at him.
“Captain, if Stark haven’t told you about it she doesn’t want you to know. And if she doesn’t want you to know it’s not my place to tell.”
“Fury, I already had a look into her file right before the Chitauri invasion. Why can’t I get it now?”
“Because it was an emergency. You needed to know about the people you fought with. It also was only a brief overview, so you knew who you were dealing with.” Fury said.” And if you read it already you should know the important stuff. So why want to have it now? Give me a good reason and you get it, else you’re wasting my time.”
Fury looked at Steve in a way that made clear he wouldn’t be convinced to hand him the file.
Steve didn’t know what else to say. While he made his way back to the tower he thought about what Fury said. Not the stuff about how Toni don’t want us to know everything or that Steve should already know. No, what really puzzled him is why the director wanted to know why he wants to get his hands on the file. Fury seemed almost protective of Toni. But he and Toni are always fighting and Toni does everything in her power to piss the director off. Wait, didn’t she also does that with Steve. And they don’t hate each other. At least he doesn’t hate her. Maybe she doesn’t like him. Considering all the things she did it kind of makes sense. But on the other hand it doesn’t. She did gave him a home, helped him acclimating to the future …
Toni really is an enigma.
Steve was so engrossed with his thoughts he didn’t realized he stopped walking and stood in the hallway for possibly some time now.
Right when he continued making his way back home, his phone started ringing.
He looked at the caller ID. It was Natasha. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone. All this thinking about Toni made his head hurt.He answered nonetheless.
“Hey, Natasha. What’s up?”
“Don’t whats-up me. Get your ass back to the tower. Now.”
That got Steve’s attention.
“I’m already on the way. Why? What happened?”
“There was an accident in the workshop. I don’t know what exactly happened except that Toni is in the med-bay.”
He got a bad feeling. Toni being in the med-bay means it’s bad. She normally gets out of there before she even gets in. Why is all he can do recently is worry about that woman?
“Do you know how bad it is?”
“No, they won’t tell me anything. Not even when I threatened them.” There was definitely a pout behind those words. “They will only tell you, the team leader, because of patient confidentiality.”
“I’m at SHIELD right now. I’ll be there in about half an hour.”
“Hurry up. You know I don’t like not-knowing what’s going on.”