AN: This is the General Audience version. If you want to read the Mature Version hop on over to AO3, the same chapter is posted there under the same name but without the General Audience friendly editing. There isn't a whole lot of difference in this chapter. There will be more in the next. J

Thank you Ozhawk for the beta!

Chapter 4 Strategy

Steve couldn't help the groan that slipped out as Jemma nipped lightly at his chin. He'd pulled back, ending their kiss with the intent to tell her that their 15 minutes were nearly up and that she should get to the lab, but she was distracting him with her clever little tongue on him and was making it very hard to get a word in edgewise.

When they'd finished getting his gear from the Black S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV and had arranged for the loaner to be picked up, he'd noticed on his watch that they had barely 8 minutes left. He didn't want to get Jemma in trouble so he'd intended to kiss her goodbye and secure a promise that she'd have lunch with him when she got a break. This woman made his good intentions fly out of the window along with most of his higher brain function.

"Jemma, I'm only human and I'm not dead. If we don't stop, I'm not gonna be able to let you outta that door." Steve told her, finally resorting to gently holding her away from him. She looked up at him with a smile. Her gorgeous eyes were wide, the pupils dark.

"What if I don't want you to let me out of this room?" She asked. Her words making her own cheeks flame red. "Though I've never disobeyed an order quite so blatantly before," she told him, her voice dropping.

"And I don't want you to now." He told her. "But if you were to check in and work for a little while, that would give me time to make a few calls and get the ball rolling on Coulson meeting the Avengers."

"But if you call them without telling them exactly what is going on, won't they be curious and bother you until you tell them?" She wasn't wrong about the curiosity factory.

"No, they won't bother me. They know they won't get me to budge once I've made my mind up, they will start trying to track me and Tony and Natasha will hack every system they can find." A thought occurred to him. "You don't have anything to do with the security systems in the computers do you?"

"No, that's Skye, May and Coulson…. Oh you devil." She said as she figured out what was happening. "Everyone will be so busy fighting off the Avengers' curiosity, they won't have time to monitor me." Her smile lit up the room. "But what if they call you and tell you that you must come help?"

"They won't do that. Everyone assumes I'm helpless with a computer. I'm not sure why, I've been out of the ice for over a year and I am capable of learning." It always bothered him that 8 year olds learned to use a computer but a lot of people just assumed that he still couldn't. "And Coulson knows he can't push me when it comes to my team and what's right. The best he'd hope to get from me is pointing out that he wouldn't have this problem if he'd been honest in the first place."

"He won't want that." She agreed with a thoughtful look. "Don't you feel the least bad about putting the Avengers on the team?"

"No," Steve was quick with his answer. "Clint blames himself for the arrow that caused the chaos resulting in Phil Coulson's death. He has suffered more than he ever should." It was hard to hold back the anger. He'd always been protective of his team whether it was the Commandos or the Avengers, but what Fury had allowed a good man like Clint Barton to go through was unconscionable to Steve. If the Avengers gave either of the two S.H.I.E.L.D. men a headache, well there was something to be said for having Tony on his team. That man by himself was a headache in the making.

"Well then, you make your call and I'll go wave at the camera." Jemma had her hand on the door.

"I'll go make us sandwiches," Steve had seen a galley when Jemma had introduced him to the team specialist, Ward. "It wouldn't hurt us to eat and get to know each other." He wanted her to know he didn't expect anything from her that she wasn't ready for. There was a big difference in kisses after just meeting your soulmate and demanding more than that. Now if he could just keep his body under control and his mind focused on more than the amazing adorable woman fate had decided was the other half of him, he'd be doing good.

"Yes, that's a good idea. We'll need our strength. Your metabolism alone must burn through food at incredible rates. Perhaps you should make a few." Steve felt his face flame hot but Jemma wasn't seeing it. She'd already closed the door. What got him the most about the direction of her thoughts was that she didn't seem to realize what she was saying. She'd worked through the problem, assumed he was going to need calories and suggested he bulk up for the duration. His pants were suddenly much tighter than they had been a few moments ago.

..

Jemma entered the lab with a minute to spare. She waved to the screen barely able to use the hand signal Skye was so fond of when she was angry, but thought better of it at the last minute. Fitz was in the other room. When he looked up and saw her, he came running in.

"I'm sorry, Jemma," he told her. "I didn't think before I spoke, but I never expected you to be with anyone, let alone sitting on Captain America's lap." She could feel the flush of embarrassment work its way up her neck. She'd never been an overly demonstrative person, but she couldn't seem to keep her hands off of Steve from the moment they met.

"It wasn't intentional, Fitz," she told him. "You've nothing to apologize for."

"I'm not sure Captain Rogers feels that way." Her poor partner looked crest fallen. He'd always been a little in awe of the First Avenger.

"I'm sure he isn't upset." Steve hadn't mentioned anything. "It was just an honest mistake. I'll bring Steve around later and you can see for yourself that he isn't upset with you."

She was glad to see the relief on her friends face. As he turned back to his work there was a smile growing. "What?" she couldn't help asking him.

"I get to meet Captain America. My partner's soulmate is Captain Steven Rogers, the leader of the Avengers." That surprised a laugh out of her. She knew Fitz admired Steve, but she didn't know he'd be that happy.

"I'll be sure to bring him around, but now if Coulson comes looking for me…"

"Jemma, I'm too busy to be keeping track of you. I will be sure to set Agent Coulson straight on that if he comes by inquiring." He nodded with a small smile and turned back to his work. Jemma patted him on the back and glanced at the camera again. It had turned off right after the wave and wasn't on now.

Jemma smiled all the way to the kitchen. The hall was fairly deserted. Perhaps the Avengers had already started to try to find their way into S.H.I.E.L.D's systems or the Bus's. She wasn't sure, but she wasn't going to try to find out. If they were wrong and Agent Coulson caught her spending time with her soulmate, she'd set him straight. She should have been off duty a half hour ago and she was old enough to make her own decisions.

Putting the four sandwiches she'd made onto a plate and grabbing a couple of bottles of water, Jemma made it all the way to her quarters without anyone noticing. Doing a quick touch up on the light bit of makeup she had on and freshening up, Jemma pulled open her door, grabbed her supplies and headed to what she hoped would be uninterrupted time with the drop dead gorgeous man that was the other half of her soul.

She hadn't even raised her hand when Steve opened the door. She kept forgetting about his enhanced hearing. She'd have to try testing it at some point. She'd love to know just how much he could hear. Steve's laughter broke her from her thoughts. "I guess you thought we'd both need quite a lot of fuel?" He was eyeing the stack of sandwiches.

"One is for me. The other three are for you. I don't have a baseline for your metabolism, so I made a guess based on the research I did for …" She was interrupted by Steve's lips on hers. She would have dropped the plate if he hadn't taken it from her hands and set it on the dresser without breaking the kiss. One of the bottles of water was taken from her left hand and placed into her right.

"Hold these," Steve instructed, pulling back from her slightly.

"But I can't use my hands if I'm holding these," she protested.

"I know," he agreed, leaning in again. "I want to kiss you, but your touch tends to get me carried away. I can't think so well when you're touching me."

She didn't have time to argue. His lips were back on his and his tongue was asking for entrance. Jemma opened to him as Steve slid one heavily muscled arm around her back, pulling her closer to him. The way he explored her mouth felt like he was trying to learn every inch of her. Her moan turned louder when he slid one of his hands into her air. It sent little shocks across her scalp and made gooseflesh stand up on her arms.

Jemma wanted so badly to touch him back. She started to bring her arms around him, but realized the cold water bottles would not feel good against his back. She didn't want him to stop. Reaching slightly, she went to put one down on the bed beside her. She'd barely moved when he hummed hu-hu into the kiss and sucked her tongue into his mouth, biting lightly in warning.

A thrill went through her and settled very wetly between her legs. She straightened up immediately, keeping the water in her hand, but squeezing her legs together against the want that was pooling there. Steve groaned and pulled back studying her eyes. His were dark with emotion, not nearly so clear blue as they had been. "I could lose myself in you, Doll," he confessed, bringing his hands to her face and holding her gently. She blushed at the thoughts racing around her head. She wanted to tell him that's exactly where she needed him, inside her.

"You're my soulmate, it's OK, Steve. We won't get lost in each other, we'll find the other halves of ourselves." His eyes warmed in such a way, she thought she could see forever in their blue.

"I don't know how a kid from Brooklyn got so lucky, Jemma," Steve told her, his voice choked with emotion. He pulled the water bottles from her hands and placed them on the dresser. When Steve reached for her and lifted her easily she instinctively wrapped her legs around his hips. In two steps he had her trapped between the strong sculpted muscles of his chest and the wall beside the door. The feel of him straining against his zipper gave her something to press her heat into.

Steve growled against her neck where he'd been kissing his way across her throat. "Jemma, I want you," he told her. "I don't want to rush you. You need to tell me to stop if you don't want that too." His words made her feel lighter. He was the gentleman she'd always heard him to be but right now she didn't want the gentleman, she wanted the man that was barely able to keep his hands off of her.

"I want you Steven," she told you. "Take me to bed, please." She rolled her hips, sliding herself across his length once again. A thrill went through her as he seized her lips with his own and turned to the bed. He carefully sat her down on the edge without breaking the kiss and slid to his knees between his legs.