Let Me Love You

Admitting

Steve's POV

I stand outside of Kate's room, my hands shaking nervously. What am I going to say to her? Is she even in here? I shake my thoughts away and knock on her door, my nerves growing with each passing second.

After a few moments pass I decide to give up and go to my room but stop in my track when I hear her door creak open to revel her in one of my t-shirts.

"Steve?" She asks, sounding half asleep.

"Oh, I.. I didn't mean to wake you up." I apologize.

"It's fine." She says, rubbing her eyes.

"I um.. I actually expected you to be with Tony." I admit.

She sighs at my comment and crosses her arms. "Did you have an actual reason to wake me up?"

"Yeah, I um.. I just wanted to apologize." I look down at my feet. "For everything with the mission. You deserve to be out there as much as the rest of us. I hope you can forgive me."

"Really? That's what you have to say?" She stifles a laugh. "I understand your motives, I forgive you for that, Steve."

"Wha-? But.. Why do I feel like you're so upset with me?" I ask, beyond confused.

She shakes her head. "If you haven't noticed, I like you too Steve--like more than a friend." She begins and I feel my heart jump in my chest. "I thought that would've been clear after what happened the other day but since then you've been weird around me and blowing me off."

"Kate, I.. I didn't mean to make you feel that way. I just didn't want to put the rest of the team in an awkward position." I explain.

"Of course. It was silly of me to think you'd actually try to find a relationship for yourself after Peggy." She sighs. "Poor Steve, still in love with a ghost."

"Don't talk about things you don't know about." I warn her.

"But I do know about it. And you know I'm right." She looks up at me. "Goodnight Steve." She says, walking back into her room and closing the door.

My head hangs low as I walk back to my room. How could I be so stupid? Of course I wasn't worried about the team, they all want Kate and I together. What I'm more worried about is losing someone that I care so much about, again.

Kate's POV

I wake up around 4 in the morning with a strange feeling in my stomach. I jump out of bed and run to the bathroom. I lean over the toilet just in time to throw up. To my surprise, it's not vomit, it's blood. My eyes widen and I feel another round coming up so I lean over the toilet again.

Once I think I'm safe to leave the bathroom, I wash my face and walk out of the bathroom. I feel a sensation throughout my body and look down at my hands to see my veins glowing faintly before fading away. I furrow my eyebrows and convince myself that it's nothing, until I remember what that woman had said about the injections.

Looking at the time, I decide to wait until later in the day to ask Tony about it and crawl back into bed. I curl up under the blankets and ignore the faint pain as I try to go back to sleep.

***

I change into a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt that I partially tuck into my jeans to accentuate my waist. I brush my hair, letting it flow naturally, and slip a pair of black vans on before walking out of my room.

"Good morning, doll." I meet Bucky in the elevator.

"Good morning." I force a smile.

"What's wrong?" He asks. I forgot he was good at reading people.

"Nothing.. Just a lot on my mind." I speak vaguely.

"Come on, Shortcake. You can talk to me." He says, pressing the button to the 10th floor.

"When I was taken by HYDRA, they injected me with something called the Extremis Virus.. I'm not sure what it is exactly, I planned on asking Tony and Bruce, but this morning I was vomiting blood and my skin was glowing a little bit out of my control." I take a deep breath before continuing. "The woman told me that everyone else they injected wound up.." I pause and up look at Bucky to see his worried expression.

"They wound up what, Kate?" He asks, needing to hear me say it.

"Dead.." I look down at my feet as Bucky inhales sharply. "But I'm not really sure if that's what's happening to me, I don't want to worry anybody for no reason."

Bucky sighs. "You need to find out. Before it's too late."

"I know." I press my lips together. The doors open to revel the rest of the team sitting at the table, talking while they eat.

"There's our girl! Kate, tell Wanda and Vision about what you did to that lady trying to kill Tony yesterday!" Clint says, his mouth full of toast.

"I um.. Shot her with a fire blast?" I say awkwardly. I take a seat next to Tony, who smiles at me.

"Hey, you okay?" He asks, probably noticing how tense I am.

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?" I ask, faking a smile.

"You just seem a bit tense is all." He explains, looking me in the eyes.

"I'm fine." I lie before grabbing some food.

Usually I'd pile food onto my plate but today I grabbed only a single piece of toast and two pieces of bacon. I took my time eating, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in my stomach. Once I finished, I got up to wash my plate and nudged Bruce on my way to the sink. Luckily he caught on and met me at the sink with his plate as well.

"Hey." He says, leaning against the counter. I quickly wash my dishes and his before pulling him out of earshot of the others. "What's wrong?"

"I think I'm dying." I say, looking him straight in the eyes as his widen and fill with worry.