Sooo this is my first full length fan fiction. Be nice :). I have an idea of where I want the story to go, but I guess it depends on the feed back. I will post two or more chapters after this one but I'll have to see if it is worth continuing.

I noticed there were no stories about Steve before the serum so I wanted to create a romance that followed him before the serum and who liked him for his character, and then follow the story line.

Tell me what you think. Reviews are always welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America (though I wish I did). Captain America belongs to Marvel :(

Today better be the day, Evelyn thought while weaving her way through the crowds hustling about on the sidewalk. Today would be the third time this month that someone offered to talk to her about a job that she had applied to forever ago (and had honestly somewhat forgot about until the phone call came in this morning asking to meet up with her). The unexpected phone call was part of the reason she was moving as fast as her heels could manage without tripping and staining her dress.

An unexpected shove from her side had her cursing under her breath as she fumbled for a second before finding her footing and not kissing the dirt. Turning she tried to find the jerk that hit her so she could give him her patented eyebrow raise of doom glare. This would be the one morning that she decided to be lazy and not move from her bed. And the one morning where everyone in the universe decided to conspire against her.

Making her way she eventually ended up being shoved to the point in the sidewalk furthest from the street. Perfect. Now she had to make sure not to catch her dress and tear (what she knew would be if it happened) the biggest hole ever to grace the front of a dress. Dirty people on one side, grimy, teary walls on the other. It was official; she definitely wasn't getting this job. Might as well quit while I'm ahead. Grumbling some more, which would have sent her mother into seizure like fits if she could hear how unladylike she was being, Evelyn spotted the opening of an alley and rushed towards it to catch a breather.

Standing there with her arms crossed she glared at the general spot in front of her. She was highly tempted to kick a can but restrained herself due to the fact that she couldn't see one around and the heels she was wearing were her favorite. After a moment of stewing she felt her anger drain away. Rolling her eyes she almost threw her hands in the air before gathering herself to begin shoving her way through the crowd and back to her apartment.

Right when she was about to step onto the sidewalk and prove herself to be the better shover a muffled noise from behind her caused her to pause. Turning Evelyn glanced down the alley. It was one of those types that didn't stop in a dead end but cut across the city block and opened on the opposite street. Garbage cans and other things she didn't want to take to close a look at littered the short cut from one end to the other. Straining for a minute she held her breath to try and hear the sound again. As the moment passed she was about to put the noise down as a cat doing whatever it was that cats do, before she heard it again followed by a soft yelp. Okay, that didn't sound like a cat.

Completely ignoring the fact that her dress would definitely get dirty and her favorite heels would probably receive at least one scratch, she started walking down the alley. It was probably some punk who thought beating up the homeless was a fun past time. Her blood boiled just thinking about it. She may not be able to physically kick someone's ass, but she could yield her tongue like a whip if needed. Looked like it was needed.

The sounds got louder more towards the middle of the alley, a location that people walking on the sidewalks wouldn't be able to see or hear what was going on. Moving around one particularly large garbage bin she found the source of the whimper.

Some meat head who looked like he didn't have two brain cells to rub together was blooding his knuckles against some poor kid's face. Screw tongue lashing this guy just got himself a one way ticket to never fathering children again!

Clearing her throat she waited to the brute to process the noise while she lifted her dress to her knees so she could swing her leg better. The lug looked over his shoulder with a glare and what she was sure to be a scathing comment before his eyes widened realizing that yes, there was a woman behind him. Letting go of the other guy's collar he turned around to face her all the while smiling like a moron. She could see him about to open his mouth and flirt with her like she didn't just see him beat the ever loving crap out of a defenseless man.

Before her IQ could drop listening to his blather she cut him off with a smile and said, "Can you help me please?" The ass wasn't close enough yet for her to deliver maximum pain to his family jewels. Swaggering forward he drawled, "How," before finishing it with a scream that went to such a pitch only dogs could hear. Falling forward and cradling his wounded appendage she hopped back a step the second before he kissed the dirt. Nudging his side with her toe she smiled when he moaning and tried to squirm away from her. "Have we learnt our lesson? Being a bully is bad," wagging her finger at him like she was scolding a three year old. Turning from the now pitiful mess rolling about in the dirt she focused her attention on the other guy.

He was slumped against the wall and his face looked like someone decided to swing a baseball bat at his nose. The blood from his busted up nose was slowly turning the white button down shirt he was wearing into a vivid scarlet and it looked like he would have trouble opening his left eye in the near future. Bending down and balancing her weight in her toes she waived a hand in front of the man to see if he was still conscious. His right eye opened fully while his left one was only able to lift a sliver. "Hey, how many fingers am I holding," wiggling two digits in his face she waiting for him to answer. After a moment that involved a lot of blinking, a hoarse, "Two?" answered her. Smiling she said, "Well it doesn't look like you have a concussion, that's good. What's your name stranger?" The last part of her sentence was muffled as she scavenged her bag for a handkerchief for the man's bloody nose.

Pushing himself up into a seating position he groaned before stuttering out, "I'm S-Steve," if he was going to say anything else after that it was quickly cut off by Evelyn's "Aha!" as she pulled a (slightly dirty, hey no one's perfect) handkerchief from her bag. "Knew I had one somewhere," she muttered before handing the cloth to Steve. Who absentmindedly took the offered gift and pressed it to his face while staring at her with wide eyes. The way he was looking at her was like he had never seen a girl take down a guy. Huffing and rolling her eyes she stood and held out a hand to pull Steve up as well. Staring at her hand and then at her he continued to sit against the wall with the handkerchief pressed against his face. Rolling her eyes (at this point she wouldn't be surprised if they just rolled right out of her head) and asked, "Come on now. Never saw a helping hand before?" Another moment and Steve grabbed her hand. Bracing herself she hauled and almost stumbled into the moron behind her. Steve was not as heavy as she imagined him to be. In fact, now that she got a good look at him standing, he looked like he weighed as much as she did. That thought made her pout. Here she was trying to lose those last pesky five pounds and some random guy ends up weighing less than her. Someone up there hated her. Well at least it looked like she was half an inch taller than him. She'd take her wins as they came.

Steve wobbled for a second before gaining his balance and began avidly studying his shoes. Giving the brute one last kick she grabbed Steve's hand and led him out of the alley. Luckily there wasn't a lot of people around; the morning rush was probably over by now. Turning to Steve she winced. The sun did a perfect job of making every bruise and cut stand out like the American flag. He was red, white and blue all over. She had to push down a smile at the thought. Can't have the person she saved think she was smiling at his pain. Cuz you know, she wasn't. She was smiling at her pun.

Apparently she didn't hide her wince quick enough because Steve's lips quirked as he asked, "That bad?" He said it so casually that she ended up staring at him long enough for him to squirm. Sheesh the poor man made it seem like this was an everyday occurrence. Wake up, have breakfast, get the stuffing beat out of me. Just the usual Monday morning. No biggie. And if that casualness of his situation didn't want to make her give him a bear hug she didn't know what would. Grabbing his hand again while simultaneously biting her lower lip and shaking her head, Evelyn dragged him down the sidewalk and back in the direction of her apartment.

That seemed to grab his attention. He didn't necessarily tug at her hand to get her to release him, but Evelyn got the feeling he wanted to. "Excuse me, uh, Ma'am, where are we going?" This was one for the books. The first question he ever asks of her is why she is kidnapping him and not her name. Evelyn shook her head. Maybe he was concussed after all. Not asking the correct questions at all. Her name was much more important than where they were going. It took all of two seconds to debate in her head whether or not to use sarcasm on him.

He was still letting her drag him behind her so she yanked him up to her side and proceeded to wrap her arm around his waist just in case he decided to faint or make a break for it or something equally stupid. Turning her head so she could talk to his face and not the empty spot in front of her, she started in on the sarcasm (hey she was only human), "Well I thought it was obvious. I'm taking you back to my place to have my wicked way with you before I dump your body in the Hudson." Cue eye roll.

Steve immediately jerked to face her and some of the red on his face was definitely from a blush. Not that you could tell from far away since half his face was covered in blood, but she was close enough to spot it. His mouth dropped open as well. Huffing she decided to tone down her personality. At the rate she was going the poor guy was liable to have a stroke over her lack of sensibilities. With her free hand she reached over and closed his mouth with a tap. Yep that was definitely a blush.

"Relax. Yes I'm taking you back to my place, but just to get you sorted out. What kind of person would I be if I kicked a meat head in his unmentionables and then left the guy he was beating up all by his lonesome?" She cut him off before he could respond, "Not a very good one. So pipe down … uh actually you don't say much to begin with do you? Pipe up and follow where I lead. We're almost there."

For the rest of the journey Evelyn decided to keep her talking to a minimum so Steve could get his two cents in, but he apparently didn't get the memo. When they eventually stopped outside her apartment building she patted him on his hip (her hand was there) and reached out with the other to open the door as she said, "We really need to work on your communication skills. Contrary to popular belief I am not a mind reader."

Dragging him through her apartment building she could have lived without bumping into her nosy older neighbor Mrs. Newman who was about to walk her high pitched yapping rat. The old lady gave a shriek at seeing Steve and caused her dog to try and out scream her. Ugh. She was also the biggest gossip this side of the city. Perfect. Shoving Steve in front of her she maneuvered him around the rat dog and owner, gave some half-assed excuse as to Steve's bloody countenance and slammed her door in Mrs. Newman's face after she managed to wrestle it open. All in all, the encounter went better than expected; even though she wished it had never happened at all. Dam the person who hates her from the clouds.

Her apartment was modest considering it was only her and "Dam!" she shoved Steve out of the way before her dog tore his way from her bedroom to jump on her. And there was Fenrir. Steve let out a yelp when the black streak rushed past him, but she was too busy trying to push her heavy as hell dog off her before her face was covered in drool to really care. "Fenrir! Get off you fat ass!" After a few moments of dodging the slobbering tongue she managed to knock him off with a particularly hard shove before pushing on his head to stand up. "Dumb mutt," she grumbled fondly while rubbing the tip of a pointed ear. Jerking her head towards Steve she told Fenrir in her most serious, no nonsense voice, "This is Steve. Keep him company while I go grab water and towels and bandaids or whatever," and with a firm pat on his head she left Fenrir with Steve. Whose expression was almost bordering on the verge of being terrified out of his mind by being alone with her friend, but she artfully managed to ignore it.

After rummaging about Evelyn decided to bring back anything that looked like it would help with a wound. She didn't have much (read anything) except towels and water so she decided they would have to do. It wasn't like she had to deal with wounds and whatnot.

Bringing the two items with her she laughed seeing Steve standing a good five feet from Fenrir who was staring at him with full blown puppy eyes. The ones that made women squeal about the cuteness and had small children giggling. Apparently Steve was immune. Weird. Cracking a smirk she informed him, "Fenrir doesn't bite unless I tell him too," before pushing him down on the couch and placing the bowl of water with the rags soaking in it on the table.

Grabbing the beyond salvageable handkerchief from him, she whipped out one of the water logged towels gave it a quick rung and proceeded to wipe away the now dry/flaky blood surrounding Steve's chin and throat. Steve, unsurprisingly, just sat there not saying anything while failing to keep a blush from staining his cheeks. Evelyn on the other hand talked a mile a minute. "I can't believe that idiot did this to you. Well, no I can believe it; the big always pick on those weaker than them. But that is the wild! Animals do that because they, you know, kinda have to. People should be above that. Even though the guy punching you looked like he didn't have two brain cells to rub together. I know animals that are smarter than that moron. Case in point Fenrir! Well, maybe I can't use him. He is smarter than the average human you know," and the next five minutes continued on in the same fashion.

Once Evelyn was satisfied that all the blood had been washed off she gave Steve a smile while throwing the last used towel into the now pinkish water bowl. "There we go! Almost as good as new." Gently touching his rapidly swelling eye she said, "That might take a while to go down. It'll probably be painful tomorrow. Don't envy you." Grabbing the bowl she dumped it in her kitchen sink to be cleaned later before plopping next to him on the couch. Fenrir padded over and placed his head in her lap, turning the puppy stare onto her to get her to scratch behind his ears. Rolling her eyes she did so.

"So Steve (they really needed to fix his lack of talking), I literally only know your name. And even then it's only your first. I've probably at this point given you half of my life's story so now it's your turn. Spill."

Aaand nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Steve just sat there staring. After a moment Evelyn nodded her head in understanding, "Ah I get it," patting him on the arm in a show of sympathy she continued, "Steve, I know I'm stunning and God's gift to man and while your staring is flattering I would rather you talk." Aaaand the blush returns with a vengeance. The silence continues.

"Alrighty then," standing up Evelyn pushes Fenrir's head away and makes her way into the kitchen to grab some coins. "I maybe asking a bit much. You have, obviously, been through a lot these past couple hours. Why don't you head home, come to terms with what happened and we'll meet again later and have a conversation," coming back to the living room she dropped a quarter on his lap, "Take this. There is a public phone on the corner of this street if you take a right out of the building." Grabbing his hand she scribbled her land line number onto it. "This is my number. Give me a call when you figure out how to regain the use of your vocal cords," after she was done she held out a piece of paper and the pen with the explanation, "Just so I can contact you in case you decide not to call. Come, come. Phone number man! Write it!" Writing down the number in a daze, he mumbled a quick thanks before stumbling out of her apartment.

Once the door was shut she turned to Fenrir and said, "You know he was kinda cute."