Steve gently turns my wrist over to see a slash in the sleeve of my sweatshirt, which is damp with blood. The knife must've slashed my forearm when I was turning Knife Guy's arm over in the armbar.

'Well that was sloppy.'

"It is my blood, isn't it?... Is that why I feel dizzy? But it doesn't even hurt." I also feel quite tired suddenly. Hmph.

Steve tears my sleeve open (yeah, he's buff) as he explains, "probably a combination of adrenaline and shock."

I quickly turn my head away; I don't want to see it. If it's as bad as all the blood would seem to insinuate, then that added to how lightheaded I already feel, might make me faint. And I refuse to faint. That'd just be embarrassing. "Well?" I ask, keeping my head turned.

"It's your blood all right." Steve sounds somewhat ominous. I don't like that. I hear more tearing as he removes my already torn sleeve.

"What are you-" I cut myself off with a sharp hiss of pain.

"I need to slow down the bleeding. You've already lost a lot of blood." Steve's words are clipped and I feel like scolded child. He wraps the fabric tightly around my arm and knots it securely.

"Ah, yeah, I think that adrenaline is wearing off. Yep. This is highly unpleasant." My arm, which I had been almost completely unable to feel, is now roaring to life. My head is swimming, my legs and hands are shaking, and everything feels cold. "Steve," I start quietly as I turn my head back to face him. "I don't feel so good."

"Go sit down by the wall. Paramedics should be here soon." His expression, while still serious, is awash with his concern. "You'll be okay, all right? Just sit still until they get here and keep your arm elevated."

I nod as I slump against the wall, cradling my arm to my chest. It's on fire. Tongues of pain lick up my arm. "I thought if I ever saved someone's life, which I never thought I would do but that's beside the point," I stop to inhale and exhale through my shaking voice and the pain that's snapping at the edges of my mind. "I thought it would make me feel good. But that guy was such a little turd bucket. He ran off as soon and Knifey McStabby here started on me." I pause again for the breathing. "And now I feel like garbage." My head is no longer a solid. I'm positive it has morphed somehow into a gaseous state. I shut my eyes to keep my vision from being so watery and rest my head against the bricks. "How do you do it all the time? I mean, you're amazing at it, so it probably takes more than a little paper cut to make you feel faint. But, still...I bet it's the spangley outfit...It's the spangley outfit, isn't it?...If I looked that good in such a goofy suit, I'd probably be totes amazing too..."

'I don't remember how I got to this point in the conversation...'

I pause again and open my eyes only to see spots. "Whoa. Trippy." Instead of looking at Steve, I look at Knife Guy. The asphalt around him is dark and stained. He's very still.

"Is he...dead? I thought I just, broke his nose...but that's a lot of blood." I glance up to Steve. The small movement makes my head spin. He's moved to crouch next to me.

Steve smiles grimly. "Just unconscious. Most of that's your blood."

I make a face before humming in thought. "You know, I thought adrenaline was awesome. It made me confident and sassy and I totally kicked that guy's butt and I couldn't feel any pain...it's like I was the superhero version of me. But the crashing afterwards is really no fun."

Steve is quiet for a moment, thinking. When he starts to answer, the sounds of sirens stop him. He says instead, "I'll be right back. Don't try to stop a shooting while I'm gone." He stands and runs off to flag down the police officers and hopefully the ambulance.

The next bits are a blur. The officers ask me a couple questions, but when the paramedics get there they swoop me up into the ambulance and take me to a hospital. Steve rides with me.

I have to get stitches. I'm not exactly surprised, but that means I'll be in the hospital a lot longer than I'd hoped. The make-shift tourniquet that Steve had tied apparently did a great job at keeping me from passing out. They tell me that I did lose a lot of blood, but not enough to need a transfusion or even to stay the night. Although apparently I will be really tired for the next couple of days and it's very important to eat plenty of protein and some sugary things and drink a ton of fluids.

'Sounds like I'm calling in sick tomorrow and having another marathon. Maybe 'Stargate' this time?'

We've been at the hospital for several hours. I have no idea what's taking so long, but I've already been stitched up and a couple of police officers have already taken Steve's statement and mine as well. The three of them (the two officers and Steve) looked almost insultingly surprised when I told them what exactly had happened.

'Can you really be insulted that they're surprised? I mean, look at your arm. Would you think that you could take him down?'

Once the police have left, Steve asks me, "how did you handle that guy as well as you did?"

"That class at the gym that I'm interested in is self-defense. I've been taking classes like that for the past five years. Obviously I need to keep taking them," I say, glancing at my lacerated limb. The doctor had injected something into it to numb it up before stitching it closed, but the feeling is coming back with a vengeance.

"Anne," Steve sounds hesitant as he starts in a low voice. "I wanted to ask what exactly you meant when you-"

"There you are!"

My head whips to the door of the exam room.

'What the frosted fudgeballs is he doing here?'

"What are you doing here, Tony?" Steve and I are apparently on the same wave-length.

"Geez Gramps, don't get your Depends in a twist. I've been trying to get a hold of you for the past two hours. When I ran a trace on your phone, it showed that you were in a hospital. Naturally, we were all concerned. But I guess we shouldn't've been worried about you," he adds as he glances at where I'm sitting on the exam table.

"'We'?" Steve asks through clenched teeth.

Tony grins and steps in the room, holding the door open. "Why, the gang, of course."

In walk Dr. Banner and the redhead and the man that had purposefully terrorized me in my own apartment building just a few days ago.

'And here I am, covered in my own blood, beyond exhausted, and in desperate need of a shower. Oh, and I only have one sleeve. Not awkward at all.'

Dr. Banner looks slightly apologetic to be bothering us, or maybe just Steve, I don't know. "Guys, should we really be here, you know, all together? Cap's fine, we should just go before we draw too much attention to ourselves."

Steve glances at me. "I think Dr. Banner is right. You should all leave before-"

The redhead cuts him off with a wave of her hand. "Oh please, Rogers. Anne already knows everything. Don't you, Anne?"

This has everyone staring at me.

'Thanks so much scary lady whose name I should probably find out at some point.'

"What are you talking about, Nat?" Steve turns to me. "What exactly do you know, Anne?"

I swallow guiltily under his gaze and look to the floor.

'Oi! Why are you feeling guilty? You aren't the one hiding a superhero alter-ego from your supposed best friend, are you?

You're right. Thanks, inner Donna Noble.'

I turn back to look straight into Steve's blue eyes. "I know you helped save New York two months ago. And I know that you still go out on missions saving who knows how many people every week. And I know you're a member of the Avengers. And I know you're Captain America, I know you're the Captain America from seventy years ago, although I don't know how that's possible. And," I add in a softer tone, "I know my best friend didn't trust me enough to tell me exactly who he is." Steve looks so guilty and shattered before I finish, "and I know that I forgave him as soon I figured out he was trying to protect me, as stupid of a way to go about it as it was." I smile at Steve to reassure him. I just hope he won't be upset that I've known for a while now. "And I know that I'm never, ever going to save someone's life again." My arm is once again throbbing and burning and just feeling all of the pain. "Especially when they're little turd buckets who run away without so much as a, 'thanks for not letting me die from a horrific knife wound to the guts, possibly one of the most painful ways to die. I appreciate it. Call me sometime and I'll buy you dinner. Heck, I'll buy you dinner and dessert because you earned it.'"

When I hear Tony snort, I remember that it isn't just Steve and me in the hospital room.

"How long did you-"

Nat cuts Steve off again. "Nevermind that. You look like death and Steve looks untouched. What happened?"

I glance down at my blood stained sweatshirt and now gnarly arm. "Oh, this old thing? Just feeling nostalgic about my Halloween costume – one of the victims of Jack the Ripper."

Steve scoffs at my avoidance. "She saw a mugger who was going to stab his mark so she tried to stop him and he start slashing at her. She beat the tar out of him. Broke his nose and probably his pelvis. He managed to catch her arm in the struggle, though. But Anne didn't feel a thing and knocked him out cold all before I got there. She saved that guy's life." He finishes with a proud smile.

"I'm not sure why you look so proud of me. I wouldn't have even noticed I was bleeding out if you weren't there. Besides, most muggers are idiots and have no idea how to fight or even use the weapon they threaten people with."

"Well," the man next to Nat starts with a smirk. "Figuring out Cap's secret with apparent ease, putting your life in danger to save a stranger's life without a second thought, taking down a bad guy with only basic training...sounds like agent material to me."

Steve and I both look at him like he's lost his mind.

'Although maybe he is mentally unstable. Maybe that's his shtick. I don't know him.'

"Are you nuts? She's not a soldier. She's just a civilian, Clint."

'Well, gee, thanks for that Steve... You aren't wrong though.'

"Steve, relax. He's obviously messing with you. He just wanted to see how you'd react. It's like the bullies at school: if you don't react, you take away their fun. Except for the really sadistic bullies who like to beat people up just because they enjoy inflicting suffering on others." I pause and look around the room to see them staring at me again. "They gave me something for the pain. I'm not usually like this, I swear."

'At least, not out loud.'

"I like her. Why have you been hiding her from us, Spangles?" Stark looks to Steve with a raised eyebrow, completely serious.

"Gee, let me think about it," Steve replies flatly.

Stark gasps. "Is she the one who's been reintroducing you to the land of the thawed? She is, isn't she? That makes so much more sense now. No wonder you've been skipping on hanging out with us, when you have-"

"Oookay, I think we all get the idea, yeah?" Bruce tries to interject.

"-her to warm you up." Tony finishes with a satisfied smirk.

I'm mortified and Steve is livid. I'm sure he's about to smack Tony when I put my hand on his arm. It takes a second, but he looks at me, his expression softening. "Could you please find out what happened to the doctor? I'm pretty sure they need to wrap this before I can go and I really want to go home." I pull out my strongest puppy-dog eyes.

Boom. Their effect is instantaneous. He crumbles like, like, I don't know, stale bread? Dried mud? The sugary glaze on an old donut? Anyway, the point is he crumbles.

"Of course. I'll be right back." As he heads to the door, he gives them all a 'behave' kind of glance.

Once he's gone, I turn back to them. "So I know Tony is Iron Man, because really, who doesn't? And I'm pretty sure Dr. Banner is, is the green guy." I don't really want to call him what the newspapers call him 'The Hulk'. It just seems so rude especially when he's so sweet.

"Why is he 'Dr. Banner' and I'm just 'Tony'?"

"I'm sure you ask yourself that a lot, don't you?" asks Nat with a sly smile.

"Which would mean that you must be Black Widow," I say, looking at Nat, who nods once. She's the only girl in the group after all. "And I'm guessing that you're Hawkeye?" I ask Clint. There weren't very many good pictures in the news or online of Steve from the fight and none at all of those who people called 'Black Widow', 'Hawkeye', and 'Thor'. There were just a couple of clear pictures of the angry green giant and a ton of Iron Man. Of course.

Clint scoffs. "What, I don't look like the type to be the Norse god of thunder?" He pauses dramatically. "Well that's a relief."

I can't help but smile. "I already told Tony, but thank you guys for saving the city from an alien invasion and that weird guy with a thing for eyeballs. There's a sentence you don't hear everyday."

"Well, maybe you don't," Tony deadpans. "And I think I'd like a new 'thank you'. Mine was right after you called me a little butt cheek."

Clint looks at me with raised eyebrows and a smile. Bruce is biting his lip, trying not to laugh at the memory, and Nat is just smirking.

"Actually, I believe I called you a 'pompous little butt cheek'." That pushes the boys over into laughter and Nat is sporting a full grin.

"I agree with you Tony, I like her too. She should definitely come by the tower," Bruce jokes as his chuckles cease.

'At least, I think he's joking.'

Clint adds, "Yeah, and maybe we could show you a couple things and refine your technique. Wouldn't want that," he gestures to my arm, "happening again."

Steve answers for me, "it won't be happening again." He enters with the doctor and the others are quiet.

The doctor looks over my chart before setting it on the counter and sitting next to me with some wraps. She begins bandaging my stitches, telling me how to care for them. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Tony snag my chart.

"Tony!" I growl. But I know it won't do any good. It's already too late.

"You're first name isn't Anne," he says, trying and failing to not snigger.

"Tony! Don't you dare, you soggy graham cracker! I'll replace your arc reactor with AA batteries!"

"It's Éowyn!"The room dissolves into laughter once again while I wish that I could just dissolve.    

------------------------------------------

A/N: I had originally planned on using a serious picture of the Avengers looking all threatening and imposing...but then I came across the pug-vengers and that was that. They're hypnotizing.