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"Uh, I could use some backup right about now!"

Hazel's eyes dart along the street behind her to Sam's last known location. The battle between man and bot this time has destroyed the peaceful city of New Orleans. It's a wreck, but at least they're saving lives.

Again Sam calls for help—this time, specifically from her, "AMBROSIA!"

She can hear his voice in her ear but sees nothing but rubble and smoke.

"Where the hell are you?" she asks into the earpiece.

"Above!"

At the reply to her call her gaze shifts upwards. Sure enough, there in the sky, is a brawling Falcon and similarly winged robot foe. They're engaged in a wrestling match mid-air with metal pieces clanking like silverware.

"PLEASE STOP STARING AND DO SOMETHING!" Sam squeals.

Hazel drops down onto a knee. The material of her green and gold suit is ripped along the seams, but she doesn't notice that now. Now her only concern is getting a giant rooted tree to sprout from the cement and into the sky—

Like a bullet from a barrel of a gun, the foliage shoots upwards. It knocks Sam's battle buddy straight out of the sky. Sam's hoot is all she can hear in her ear.

"Would you two stop messing around? We need you here." Tony Stark sounds more impatient than usual through the communication device.

"What!? We are working our asses off over here!" Is Sam's reply.

Ignoring both the idiotic men, Hazel asks, "Can I hitch a ride, Sammy?"

"For five bucks, sure."

Before Sam can fly off in one direction or another, Hazel has sprouted up hefty vines to latch onto his pack. She wraps them around her wrists like a trapeze artist—suspending herself a bit above the cemented ground. She looks elegant but dangerous as her long hazelnut locks flutter in the breeze around her bruised, stoic face. The green color of her fingertips melts into the sleeves of the suit in the shame ivy shade.

Arriving on scene, Hazel sees why it's so urgent that they come. The whole team is hashing it out with a thousand bots between these two crowded streets.

"Where the hell did these guys come from again?" Sam snorts as he drops to the ground. Hazel rolls to her feet beside him.

"No clue," Hazel admits. Her eyes scour the scene for a place to start. "I honestly wasn't paying any attention during our last debriefing."

"I know," Sam scoffs. "You were too busy daydreaming about Cap. We all saw you staring."

Hazel gasps, "What!?" But Sam's already jogging away—laughing all the while. He takes down two bots on his way towards meeting up with Tony.

"Clint might need you for evacs, Ambrosia." It's Steve's voice that Hazel hears next in her ear. Immediately she spots the blond super soldier amongst the grey rubble. Like a dream he appears in blue and red from the ashes. He's trying to keep five 200 pound robots from crawling up his shield. They make to claw at his pretty face. The silver beasts that are crafted to look like varying animals have the intelligence of any smart man. They strategize his weak points while he battles to keep them down. And while he's distracted with those ones, a shimmering silver lion is creeping up on his six. It stalks him with slow, calculated steps and a red glow to its electronic eyes.

Vines race across the ground. They end in a knot that ties around the lion—caging it in bright foliage. The roar is mechanical and strange, making Hazel's hairs stand on end.

Easily the robot snaps through the vines with razor blade claws. No longer interested in taking down Steve, it turns to set its beady gaze on Hazel. The ground shakes as it breaks into a run towards its target—a girl in green and gold with a flicker of fear in her eyes.

Hazel raises her hands to try and fight. Her mind races with what she'll do first—how she can try to take down this clearly complex beast. Vines won't stop it nor slow it down. Her gun? Yeah right—those don't work on these things. The lion moves far too fast to penetrate with one of her trees.

Thinking only of one option, Ambrosia sprouts a slender, sturdy tree to her left hand side. Snapping it from the ground the end is sharp and jagged—looking similar to a spear.

She's thrown one of these before. Once or twice... messing around with Nat in training. But she can do this.

She can at least try.

Steve knocks down his last immediate opponent just in time to see the lion nearing Hazel at the end of the street. His heart lodges up in his throat in a way it's yet to do during a battle before. There, in fighting stance with only a stupid twig to protect her, stands the woman he loves.

He can't stop himself from screaming her name. "Hazel!"

Distracted by Steve's call, Hazel's attention falters. And in that split second the lion leaps. Midair it strikes down for her—claws dragging across her chest. She falls back with only enough time to draw the spear upwards just as the beast drops atop her—its body crushing hers.

Steve breaks into a frantic run. Any robot that tries to step in his path now gets a swift decapitation from his trusty shield.

The lion is nothing but smoky, flickering metal parts when Steve arrives. He shoves the mangled monster from atop Hazel's body—cringing because the thing has to weigh at least 250 pounds and it's just been smothering the girl beneath.

Blood coats the underbelly of the robotic beast. It comes from Hazel's chest that now bleeds dark red through her ripped suit. The spear that she'd luckily aimed in through the flaw of metallic armor is still clutched in her white-knuckled hands. Steve tries to pry it from her hands as she rapidly blinks.

"Haze? Are you okay?" Steve holds onto the back of her neck while she tries to sit. She grabs his arm and his eyes widen as they rake over the blood that seeps out of her soft skin. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry... I should've..."

"I'm fine." Hazel coughs and then grabs at her wounds with both hands. She peers up at Steve behind long lashes. "If I pass out, shake me."

"What!?"

Then she sets to work healing herself. The warmth from her hands spreads over the gashes while she whimpers. In a matter of moments she's scarred and tender but no longer bleeding.

Steve stares at the girl with wide eyes. She prompts him to help her stand, which he does without second thought at her command.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Steve sounds worried as hell.

"I'm fine," she replies curtly. "I just want to get this over with, go home, and lay on the couch for two solid days straight."

Steve manages a small smile at the one they teasingly call Pixie. "Can I join you?"

Hazel smiles up at the soldier. "I'd love that, Steve." Her smile is momentarily wiped away as she spots the robotic kangaroo racing towards them. "A kangaroo? You've gotta be kidding me." She grunts—vines leeching out to pick up Steve's shield from the ground. She hands it to him and then readies herself with ropes of leaves winding between her fingers. "Good luck out there," she says.

"No, no, no," Steve positions himself directly beside Hazel. "We're staying together." He doesn't know how else to play this besides being worried about her. "We'll, uh, work better as a team."

Hazel grins back at him just as the monsters start to crawl—noticing the two unoccupied heroes in the middle of the road. "Alright, Captain."

...

With a sigh Hazel settles down into her fluffy couch. Positioned in front of the big TV screen she drags a soft blanket up her pajama dressed body. It's only eight PM and everyone else seems to be doing their own post-mission activities: like paperwork and more training. But it's been a whole day since they got back from Louisiana so Hazel deems it an appropriate amount of time to start being lazy. She deserves this, dammit. She worked her ass off down there.

Knock knock knock.

The triple knock on her bedroom door is followed by Friday announcing who's come to Hazel's room. "It's Captain Rogers, Miss. It doesn't appear to be urgent."

"Let him in," Hazel responds. She eats a Skittle and flips around channels on the TV.

Steve's footsteps are soft as he floats into the room like a dream. "Hey."

Hazel looks back to the Captain. He's also dressed for bed in pajama pants and a tight white t-shirt. She allows herself only a moment to gawk before remembering Sam's teasing from a few days before.

"Hey, Steve. What's up?"

"I came to see if you still wanted some company for sitting around and being lazy," Steve explains nervously. He smiles. "I think we deserve some down time."

"You read my mind," Hazel laughs. She scoots over enough to make room for the large bodied Steve to one side of her. "Come on. I'd love the company." What's even truer is that she'd love HIS company. He's quite the looker, and the biggest sweetheart. She still gets emotional when she thinks about how he'd doted after her on the plane ride home after she'd been struck by that mechanical lion. Sure, she'd healed herself, but there was still cleaning and tending to be done. Steve did it all for her—not even blinking as she'd been half-dressed in front of him with dried blood and bruises everywhere to be seen. She was a total mess, and he thought she was beautiful.

"What are we watching?" Steve lets out a comfortable sigh after settling onto the couch. Hazel throws some blanket up to cover his long legs as they stretch out on the ottoman.

"Not sure. I was thinking maybe a comedy. I really don't feel like anything serious right now," Hazel says. Tongue sticking out of her lips slightly she tries to pick a title from the screen. Steve isn't looking at the titles, he's too busy admiring her adorable face. "What do you think?"

"Whatever you wanna watch, doll."

Hazel nearly shivers at the sweet nickname. She manages to contain her excitement, though. "Oh—okay." Hurriedly she clicks on the first thing she sees: When Harry Met Sally.

"A romantic comedy it is," Hazel says. She cozies back into her couch cushion and her shoulder brushes along Steve's side. Neither of them makes a move to pull apart.

The two platonically share skittles and couch space for the duration of the movie. Then Steve gets the next pick, choosing a Sandra Bullock one because he remembers Hazel likes that actress, and he can't help but shuffle closer towards her side of the couch. The arm he has strung up along the back of the lounger starts to drift until fingertips brush her neck. She shivers, he notices, and then they're both coyly looking at the TV screen to avoid acknowledging anything.

Suddenly, during one of the more boring scenes of Miss Congeniality, Steve speaks. "I never got the chance to thank you for what you did with the lion down South this week. You threw yourself on the line for me; so thank you."

"Of course. That's what a team does." Hazel smiles over at him softly. "Thank you for worrying so much about me after I did it. You sure know how to make a girl feel special," she sort-of jokes.

Steve replies, "Of course I was worried. I'll probably always worry about you."

Hazel frowns. "Why? Because I'm the baby?" she wants to roll her eyes at the joke everyone teases her with: being the youngest, the peaceful Pixie, the newbie...

"No," Steve interrupts her thoughts. "Because... because you're important to me." For lack of better words this is what Steve chooses in this moment to say. It's not the most honest response, but for now it'll do.

Hazel smiles. Without a word she shifts closer to Steve on the couch. Her body moves around until she can rest the side of her tired tempt to Steve's shoulder. She lets out a long breath when his arm finally drops to encompass her body completely. He hugs her against him while the movie continues to play and their breathing evens out in slow, steady melodies: sleep being the only thing keeping them from admitting the truth now. It's only a matter of time until the super soldier and the fairy girl admit that they've fallen head first into a big messy thing called love.