I'm so sorry for being unable to update for such a long time!

Left Field
by mynameisvaleria

If I could tell you, I would let you know.

2.

She came out of the faint like how she woke up- slowly and knowingly. Her mind became conscious before her body, and she was again stuck in that annoying phase between sleep and wake.

And then slowly, her vision came back like someone had gone over a smudged iPhone screen with a towel.

She groaned- her head ached like (for a lack of better words) a bitch. For a moment, Romana Song thought she had had a night out last night and had gotten batshit drunk. But at the steady sound of beeps that sound suspiciously like a heartbeat monitor, she suspected it was something much more severe than a hangover.

Now that she thought about it, her chest also hurt like someone cracked a beer bottle on it.

It all came back to her very quickly.

She groaned again, thinking it was all just her luck. Just as she did, the door opened to reveal a certain Jaime Price. 'Got knocked over by Captain America, didn't you? Bet you couldn't resist it.'

Rolling her eyes, she felt her ribs. 'I think he broke one of my ribs.'

'He broke two, actually- and you have a mild concussion.'

Carelessly, he tossed a bouquet of flowers onto her bed. She glared at them, unable to sit up and get them away from her feet. 'Why don't you make yourself useful and get me some Advil?' she retorted, massaging her temples wearily.

Jaime laughed, but retrieved a glass of water and a pill for her anyway. She accepted, and swallowed the little life-saver. 'Ugh, I'm already on pain-killer, I'm guessing, so this is going to kill my nerves system.'

He grinned. 'Well, Siren, I suppose you're not as tough as you thought.'

'Hey, I never claimed I was. And you'd probably lose more ribs if you went against him anyway.'

'Might I remind you that you never fought against him. You never had any chance. And if you had, the damage would have been way worse,' he chastised, that stern look present on his face.

There was a knock at the door.

Jaime grinned. 'Rogers has been drenched in guilt the moment he realised what happened. That's probably him.'

'Come in!' she called.

Steve Roger, aka Captain America stood in the doorway in a t-shirt and khaki pants, holding another bouquet of flowers. He had the face of an apology, and she decided it was attractive anyway. He held up the flowers, and then eyed the ones on her bed.

'Hi, Captain.'

He winced. 'I'm really sorry about that,' he said, taking the flowers on her bed and together placing both bouquets in the glass vase next to her bed. She gave Jaime a 'look'. He simply grinned.

'You mean the ribs and concussion?'

Rogers winced again, and then nodded.

She laughed and brushed it off. 'It's nothing. I've had worse. Believe me, when I say worse, I mean worse. I'm with SHIELD, after all.'

He smiled, but it was forced. 'You look... different,' he commented, eyes flitting across her features.

Romana grinned. 'Yeah. They wanted me to look like Peggy Carter- I thought it was insensitive, but I'm not really one to be complaining. I'm only level 5.'

'Level 5?' he frowned.

'Level 5 clearance,' she answered promptly but shortly, not revealing anything else after this detail she had kindly offered. 'But that's not something that would interest you whatsoever, trust me.'

He nodded, understanding her need for privacy.

She's a spy, Steve told himself, spies have millions of secrets they would never dream of telling you. Don't get attached to her- don't even trust her.

Steve stared at her smile again.

Nevertheless, 2 weeks after the incident, Steve was standing in a coffee shop in New York with Agent Song. She was limping slightly, the occasional sharp pain digging into her ribs- but other than that, she was fine. He had one arm around her waist, the other supporting her arm.

He had slightly embarrassed himself and amused Romana when he blushed profusely as he asked her if it was all right to put an arm around her waist. She had said, 'Well, we've been more intimate than this, Steve' (referring to when he punched her and slammed her into the cupboard) and laughed. Then, the blonde-haired superhero had merely blushed again.

'An espresso and caramel macchiato, please,' he ordered.

'Whoa, you're ordering for her already?' the brown-haired man grinned. 'When did you two begin?'

'He's just a colleague,' she smiled, and the brown-haired man gave her a little smirk that said I won't tell. She sighed, and let it be. She knew what these people wanted- the more she denied, the happier he would be.

She glanced over at Steve, observing his red face. 'You know, you don't have to be embarrassed. This is the 21st Century. No one really gives a shit to whether we're dating- well, if they think we are... fuck them.'

Steve looks slightly uncomfortable at her usage of swearwords.

Romana shrugged sheepishly. 'Sorry, I'll try to tone it down. I'm sorry, I'm just used to it.'

He shook his head. 'It's all right. It just...' he turned to look over at her intensely. 'It just reminds me how I'm not from this century, you know.'

Romana Song didn't know how that felt, so she didn't know what to say. At her loss for words, Steve shook his head and smiled like a gentleman. 'That's all right.'

Just as she turned to grab a seat, she caught a glimpse of light blonde. 'Whoa, Hayley! I haven't seen you in a while!'

The ombre-haired girl looked up, a smile already plastered on before she knew she needed it. 'Hi!' she exclaimed, standing up to greet her. 'Wow... I never thought I'd meet you here.'

'Me neither,' Romana smiled. She gestured to Steve and introduced them. 'This is Steve Rogers, he's a colleague- Steve, this is Hayley Grace, my best friend from high school.'

Hayley stuck out her hand, and Steve shook it with his award-winning smile.

'So what have you been up to?'

Hayley shrugged, but nevertheless, looked at least slightly uncomfortable. She looked like she did not want to reveal certain agenda. 'Nothing much. University- I'm only here for summer holidays.'

'Where's your uni?' Romana asked curiously.

Hayley tried to be modest, but Romana saw through it. 'Oxford- UK. How about you? Moved onto work?'

Romana chuckled. 'What can I say? You were much better at academics than I was,' she simply commented, waving away the fact that SHIELD had merely gotten to her earlier than the universities had.

'It was great meeting you, though,' Hayley smiled. Then she tensed up immediately, eyes narrowing at the bronde boy that was making his way towards them.

Romana followed her gaze. 'You're still with Tate?' she frowned, an element of shock present in her tone. She didn't really know what to say. She had never been fond of Tate Edwards. He had never been good for Hayley.

She nodded. 'Well, he's always been there for me.'

The temporary redhead wished she could say something more about the subject, but it would be rude- and Steve Rogers would definitely not be the one to overhear their conversation. Besides, Romana Song never learnt how to do these things- especially after SHIELD had gotten to her.

There was still one thing left she could do.

'Well, keep in touch? I've still got your number,' Romana suggested.

And then Hayley waved, and left towards Tate Edwards.

Romana's face hardened as soon as Hayley left her view. 'He's a Class A piece of shit,' she mumbled under her breath, and watched as Steve gave her a wary look.

She only smiled sheepishly. 'Sorry. I hate him.'

Steve frowned. 'Why?'

'I've always had a bad feeling about him. He was a jock at school- you know, the kind of kid that always thinks he's the best. I've always disliked him, but Hayley likes to fall for guys with muscles and a brain.'

'But why do you hate him?'

Romana looked calm- too calm. 'Because when I still didn't know about a lot of things, he tricked me into falling for him. It isn't anything... bad, it's just that I don't trust easily and when I fall in love with someone, I don't normally hold back. But he knew that and he thought of me like a challenge.

'I still had some sort of innocence back then, you know? I still thought the world was good, and I still believed in humanity. And singlehandedly, he managed to wreck that imagination,' she answered honestly, looking straight into Steve's eyes.

For some reason, Steve Rogers was someone you trusted whole-heartedly and without any doubts.

'I have the same belief in you now, so don't wreck it.'

Her words sounded emotionless, but he could feel the implication of pain and hope behind them. At that moment, he certainly was glad that he was the one to give her that hope.

He looked away for a while, and stared straight into her dark eyes, aware of the hurricane brewing inside. 'I would never dream of it.'

She smiled, the curve of her lips touching her eyes. She wondered how long it had been since her smile had reflected how she felt inside, and that alone brought yet another small smile to her face.

Without speaking, Steve handed her the cup of coffee. She sipped it slowly, the warmth of the coffee stinging her tongue. 'I usually don't drink coffee,' she suddenly commented. 'Tea usually does it for me. But today my head honestly is killing me.'

Steve smiled. 'Coffee is a life-saver,' he replied, downing his in minutes.

'Well, not as much as you, I'm guessing.'

He laughed. 'I'd like to say the same for you, Romana Song.'

'I'm a spy- an assassin, not a hero.'

He went quiet, and Romana Song regretted her words at once. 'I just... you know, I don't save people. SHIELD leaves that job for you to do. I'm the one who eliminates the unfavourable people. I'm not the kind of people that you point to and praise.'

'Well, someone's got to do that.'

'Yeah, well, Romanoff's better at it,' she laughed.

He grinned at her, silently agreeing to her statement. He wondered what it was with Romana Song, because she was much more different with other people, but he felt like he had a friend now.