"Damn it," I hissed. Another nightmare got the better of me, waking me up for the third time in the span of a few hours.

The sun was starting to wake over New York, the sky was changing into interesting, beautiful colors. I loved when the sky did that. It brought a beauty to Earth, one that most ignored because they were always so focused on what was ahead of them that they didn't bother to look up.

I pushed the hair away from my eyes, shuffling out of bed to the window. The latch was locked. I thought back to our intruder a few weeks ago. She hadn't made a reappearance, and Todd and I hadn't had any problems since. Maybe it was just a fluke. Maybe it was nothing. But the whole scene itself was off, a few things still didn't make sense.

Right now, that was so far behind me that I didn't really care anymore.

I heard my phone vibrate. Yawning, I went to it. It was Steve. Message: Are you awake?

I rubbed my eyes, squinting at the unnecessarily bright light. How is he awake right now? I wrote back: Can't sleep?

His response: Nope. You can't either, it seems. Coming by soon.

This early? I wrote back.

No point in trying to fall back asleep if we know it's pointless to try.

I would give Steve credit for that. At this point, I had no intentions of sleeping again.

I threw on what I could, making some toast while Todd slept in his room. As long as I heard his snoring, I knew things were in order in the apartment. I munched on my small breakfast as I waited. I'd made sure to leave a small note for Todd. I didn't want to leave a text message, as the noise or even the light from his phone would disturb him.

When I heard the familiar soft purr of a motorcycle cut off, I knew Steve was here. I met him outside.

"Well, aren't you a morning person?" I teased him lightly. "Really couldn't sleep, huh?"

"You couldn't either," he reminded me. "So, want to get going?"

"Sure. Got any places in mind?"

"Nope. We're just gonna drive, see where the day takes us. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll let you take it for a spin."

I looked apprehensively at the sleek vehicle. Not that I hated the motorcycle, I would just prefer being a passenger than the driver.

"You'd be in good hands, I won't let you drive her blind," he told me, patting the bike affectionately. He tossed me a helmet. "Let's go."

"I'm not sure I need this. I'm Asgardian, I can take some rough hits."

"Safety first, Kiara. Humor me."

I did by strapping on the damn contraption.

Steve climbed onto the motorcycle, with me getting comfortable behind him. I flinched at the roar of the bike. I was better with it the third time around. We looked to make sure traffic was clear before pulling out.

I kept my arms respectively around Steve so I didn't go flying off the motorcycle. In turn, Steve didn't make any sudden knee-jerk reactions to send us flying or into an accident. He was careful in his driving.

Once we got through the worst of the New York traffic, Steve let the motorcycle go a little faster, let her breathe a little more.

I watched New York go by in blended blurs. When we moved with the bike, it was almost like time stopped or we were moving awfully fast compared to the rest of the world. When the lights held us up, we were part of the busy New York life. During our brief still periods, I took note of the fancy, upscale, very tall buildings. All that time and effort put in to create such massive architecture. This wasn't Asgard, but New York had its own sense of beauty.

As our drive extended, the sun woke up to greet the world. I kept my face towards the sun, letting it warm my face. I'd always liked the warmth, ever since I discovered my fire ability. I despised the cold. Ironic, really, considering the man I had loved—or possibly still loved, but for now loved was being used in the past tense—was a Frost Giant by blood. An heir to the throne of Jotunheim. The man I loved was, currently, residing in Asgardian prison. I had no idea of his fate, or what Odin would decide. I knew it wouldn't favor Loki, not with what he'd done. Influenced under the scepter he'd found or not, he had done awful things.

Steve drove us to the outskirts of the city, to a more open area of the state. It wasn't often you found an area of New York that wasn't overcrowded with cars, buildings, and foot traffic. Once we were on some sort of backroad, he pulled off and cut the engine. I hopped off, shaking out my helmet hair once I took the damn thing off.

"So, now what?" I asked. "We're just stopping? Did you need a break?"

"Well, I thought about letting you test drive the bike," he said, shrugging. "I know you won't break, but the bike might."

I opened my mouth in shock. "You have a lack of faith in me, Rogers." I chuckled. "Face it, the only reason you're letting me take it for a spin is because we got ourselves lost."

"On purpose."

My eyes narrowed. "Why on purpose?"

"Somedays you just need to let go and see where you're taken to, you know? No set schedule. No routine. No plans. Just a ride for the heck of it."

"That sounds nice." I offered him a smile. "All right, so, you want to teach me how to drive this thing or what?"

I moved up to the driver position while Steve went over the mechanics of the bike. My ears were tuned to his voice, not to the car or two that travelled on the road, or my phone buzzing, or any sort of animal noises. I made sure to ask all the right questions so I knew what I was doing, somewhat.

"You think you're ready?" Steve asked.

I reluctantly strapped the helmet back on. "As ready as I can be."

"Well, you know what to do. Start her up."

I revved the bike, and the vibration shook me more than it had when I was riding with Steve earlier this morning. I took in a few breaths.

The bike took off under me, and I barely had time to react and managed to hold on. I let out a peal of terrified laughter as I zoomed down the empty road.

Being in control of the bike was different. The wind hit my face hard, but I welcomed the cold air. It made me feel like I was flying. Now if only I could fly, like Stark believes I can. With a little training...

I now imagined myself soaring high in the sky, flames flying behind me, out of my palms, acting like the thrusters on Stark's Iron Man suit. Using my own fire power to get to places quicker. No more leaping buildings, no more running—

"Kiara!"

I pulled from my thoughts, and I panicked as I saw the truck heading my way, blaring his horn.

Move away, move away! Do something! But my body wasn't responding, and I had no idea how to slow the bike down or brake. I knew Steve told me that information, but it suddenly decided to flee from my brain—at a time where I needed it most.

Panicking, I jerked the bike hard to the left. The truck driver honked his horn loud in my ears, and before I knew it, I found myself in pain, with my body and the bike sliding along the dirt road. I gasped, feeling my left side being crushed by the bike's weight. As far as I knew, I didn't hear the truck stop, didn't hear the driver come out to make sure I was okay. He kept on driving. Ignorant bastard.

"Kiara!"

I pulled myself out from the bike with a grunt as Steve got it off me. The engine had cut off the second we'd toppled sideways. The wheels were still spinning slightly, but Steve wasn't worried about his motorcycle. He was helping me to my feet.

"Are you okay?" he panicked.

I pulled off the helmet, ruffling my hair. "No scratches. See?"

"Tell that to your leg."

I looked down. "Oh." My pant leg was torn on one side, and the tears were weeping small beads of blood. "It's not as bad as it looks."

Steve bent down to look through the tears. "They're not deep, just scratches." He picked up something nearby. "Yikes. Time for an upgrade, Kiara."

"Oh, come on," I groaned, taking my broken phone from Steve. The screen was cracked. I tried to use my phone, but no matter what I tried, the device was unresponsive. "Great."

"At least you wore the helmet. See? Safety—"

"Yeah, yeah," I waved him off. "I'm okay. I'll just have to use your phone to get in touch with Todd." If I can remember his number. I knew it, but right now, I couldn't pull it out of my head. "Hmm, yeah, I prefer walking over motor vehicles." I wrinkled my nose.

"Do you want to keep going, or...?"

I pursed my lips. "You know, how about you drive us and get us even further lost? At some point we'll find our way back, right?"

"If you insist."

I stepped away as Steve righted the bike. I held the helmet in the crook of my arm. "I got to ask. Have you ever gotten into an accident on this thing?"

"Not yet." He threw a leg over, steadying himself on the bike. He looked to me expectantly. "Well, come on. Helmet back on."

"I still think it's only fair that you wear one too," I protested as I strapped on the helmet once again. I adjusted and put my arms around Steve.

"Unlike you, I have experience with this."

I didn't bother to argue with him once he got the bike started again. Instead of moving further down the road, we turned around and headed—somewhat—in the direction we'd come from.

* * *

After sometime of getting lost, Steve and I decided we'd had enough for one day. We had to use his phone to figure out the GPS system since mine was broken thanks to my one-time try at driving the motorcycle. We found ourselves back in the city by the time the sun was practically gone.

We'd decided to grab some fast food on the way back to the apartment, and by fast food I meant the greasiest hotdogs in all of New York and perhaps Earth itself. Nevertheless, I didn't complain. Healthy or unhealthy, it was getting consumed either way.

As we were munching down, Steve's phone rang. Surprisingly, no patriotic ringtone (if there had been, he would have never heard the end of it). Since Steve had his fingers lathered in grease, I quickly wiped off my fingers and answered his phone for him before he got a chance to take it from me.

"Steve Rogers' phone," I said.

"Kiara, thank God."

"Todd? How'd you get this number?"

"Doesn't matter how I got it. I've been trying to reach you all day, and your phone went straight to voicemail."

"Oh." I swallowed. "About that. Yeah, I, uh, kind of broke it in a motor vehicle accident."

"You what? Are you okay? Are you at a hospital? Do I need to come get you?"

"Todd, relax. I'm okay, and so is Steve, thanks for asking. It was a minor incident, although I do want to hunt down the truck driver who sped off."

"Did you get hit?"

"No. I swerved and the bike collapsed on me."

"Wait...you drove Captain America's motorcycle?"

"Todd," I groaned.

"You never drive anything!"

"I wanted to try it. Never again. I prefer being a passenger." I shifted, avoiding passersby from running into me like some ignorant people were trying to do at the moment. "I'll be back soon, promise. Steve and I just grabbed some food. We should be maybe twenty minutes out or so, give or take traffic."

"All right." Relief was evident in Todd's voice. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Not that I don't trust Steve or anything, Kiara, it's just..."

I bit down on one of my fingernails. "Todd, I appreciate the concern, but I'm me. You don't have to worry. I can handle my own. Even if I can't, I've got Steve to back me up." I threw the said person in discussion a small smile. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

"I'll be waiting."

"Who was that?" asked Steve as I ended the call.

"Todd." I sighed.

"You didn't let him know earlier, did you?"

"I forgot." I flushed slightly. Once Steve was done his dinner, I handed him back his phone.

Side by side, we blended in with the crowd as we sought out the motorcycle. Sometimes it baffled me, how I blended in so seamlessly. It was almost too easy. This was my new normal now. In Asgard, it would be similar, only our attire was much different. I remembered what I'd been wearing the day I'd met Todd. He'd thought I was someone looking for the nearest comic book convention or something.

I hadn't even know it at the time, but that was the day I'd found a true friend in the most unlikely of people. And I was grateful to still be good friends with him even now.

"You sometimes miss normalcy, Steve?" I asked casually. I side-glanced at a mother trying to herd her children together so that none of them wandered off, especially into traffic. "I mean, I guess I'm asking if you miss pre-serum you."

He shrugged. "A lot of the times, no. I don't miss normalcy, because really, I've never had that. You read my file, you know my background. I never led a normal life." Right, with all of his health issues pre-serum. "Do you miss it?"

I pursed my lips. "Some aspects, yes. My parents I miss. But since the Bifrost hasn't been repaired..."

"Couldn't you reach out to them, with that mind thing that you do?"

I laughed. "I'm not sure how they'd react. For all I know, they could assume I've been dead."

"Did you fake your death or something?"

I grimaced slightly. "No. I just...That's a story for another time. My file that S.H.I.E.L.D. has probably made on me by now is nowhere near as full as yours or anyone else's."

Steve suddenly swayed, nearly knocking me off the sidewalk and into traffic. I reacted, trying to heave him upwards. But he wasn't standing upright. Instead, he was crumpling to the ground, face contorted in pain.

"Steve!" I panicked.

I set him on the ground, and a crowd started to gather. His eyes were rolling into the back of his head, and he was twitching. I tapped his cheeks to keep him awake, but he was unconscious. I looked up, frantic.

It wasn't until I saw a desperately fleeing figure that I knew this hadn't been an accident.