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And here I thought I'd have to steal a car, Juniper thinks to herself as they ride in silence, Steve behind the wheel while she relaxes in the passenger seat.

"I didn't know Captain America dabbled in auto-theft." Juniper finally speaks, turning to look at him.

"We're borrowing, not stealing." Steve corrects her.

"Mmm, right, right, of course." She nods seriously before rolling her eyes. "And where'd you learn how to do that, Captain Bootcamp?" She raises a brow.

Steve keeps his eyes on the road. "Nazi, Germany." He answers.

"Mmm, how fun." Juniper deadpans, repositioning herself as silence falls over the truck once again.

Steve clears his throat. "Can I, uh, ask you something?" He breaks the silence this time as Juniper plays with the ring on her finger.

"You can. Doesn't mean I have to answer." She answers simply, turning to face him, awaiting the question.

"Have you ever been in love?"

The question stuns her, slapping her across the face like cold, harsh wind.

"Oh, wow." She mutters. Well, I wasn't expecting that to come out of his mouth.

She takes in the question deeply, replaying Brock entering the training center, watching her closely. She replays her knocking his ass to the mat. She replays when they went out for drinks, and dinner. When he got her a necklace, earrings, shoes... The nights they spent in together while she cooked him dinner. The laughs they shared. Their first time- wow, was that steamy.

When he proposed, God, it was gorgeous, their wedding, their honeymoon...

But then, she thinks of all the times he's yelled at her, grabbed her wrist, her arm, thrown plates, wine glasses, at the wall, punched the wall beside her head, swearing he was just mad, stressed, uptight, that he loves her, that he would never lay a hand on her...

"Juniper?" Steve's voice breaks her of her thoughts.

She shakes her head, snapping her eyes to meet his. "Hmm?"

"I'm sorry." He holds the gaze for probably a moment too long before finally looking back at the road. "I shouldn't have-"

"I thought so." She interrupts him, looking down at her hands. "I thought I was, in love." She lets out a sigh. "But now I'm not so sure."

"Did he-" Steve hesitates, his fingers flexing on the steering wheel as he tries to control himself for gripping so hard to tears off, turning his knuckles white at the thought he's about to say out loud. "Did he ever lay a hand on you?"

"Who?" She dares, the thickness in air suffocating her as she's breathing.

"You know who." Steve states.

"No." She says, chewing the inside of her lip. "Not like that." She inhales, sighing heavily. "He'd- grab me too hard sometimes or throw things around the house, but..." She trails off, letting out a small chuckle. Who was trying to convince? "So, what about you?" She asks, looking back up to him. "Has the great Captain America ever been in love?"

Steve pauses, brows furrowing sitting on the question that he proposed. He thinks hard looking back over his life- not much lived since he went into the ice.

"I thought maybe I had." He answers honestly, chuckling. "What did I know? No, no I haven't. I- had someone, back in the day, that I thought might could be, but I definitely wasn't in love." Steve didn't know Peggy, like truly know her- though where was the time? He worked with her, she gave him recognition. He thought about it, but he wasn't in love with her, he never was. And it felt freeing for him to admit that, almost like he felt he had to love her since she was pretty much the only woman that ever gave him the time of day. But, as he acknowledged when he visited her, being with Peggy and living out his life back then was not what he was meant to do.

"Do you think you ever will?" Juniper asks him, pulling him from his thoughts as he did her.

To love someone means knowing them deeply, maybe more than they know themselves or want to show.

"I think so." He glances at her. "Maybe one day. If I'm lucky." Juniper nods. He looks away. "I'm sorry."

"You say that a lot." Juniper tells him.

"Well, I feel it a lot." Steve admits.

She hides a snort. "Sorry for what?" She bites.

"About Brock." Steve says. "He's your husband. I know that couldn't have been an easy decision to make." He's still unable to wrap his head around the fact that the beautiful woman sitting next to him is married to a man who treats her so harshly. And that's only what he's seen in a week.

"He hasn't always been like that." Juniper responds, twisting the ring on her finger once again. "At least, not to me. I know he's... aggressive. But when an attractive man tells you all these nice things and buys you all these nice gifts, well-" She chuckles. "You take it."

"I think you deserve more." Steve voices strongly, shocked he let the words slip out, but doesn't regret that they did.

Juniper's shocked as well, bluntness having not been a trait she's seen much from Steve Rogers these past few days, but one she respects a whole lot more than the rest. She also liked his choice of words, different than what's she's heard before... the common 'you could do better' or 'you deserve better' No. 'You deserve more.'

"How did you do that, in the tech store?" Steve moves along to the next question, lightning up the conversation a bit.

"Do what?" Juniper doesn't understand the question.

"Lie like that, so easily."

"Well, when your whole life is a lie, you kind of get use to it."

After that, the rest of drive is quiet. An answer like that was enough for Steve to not dare ask anymore questions, the ones he did ask doing plenty to keep both him and Juniper occupied in thought the rest of the ride...

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𝟶ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀʙɪsᴄᴜɪᴛ𝟽 sᴘᴇᴀᴋs!

Hey, heyyy... it's been a minute, welcome back to THOA14!!

I come baring gifts with an update for a special occasion which is... A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY GIRL, OUR QUEEN, THE ONE & ONLY... JUNIPER FOX <3333

I've been sitting on this scene for literallyyy everrr, like I kid y'all not this was one of the FIRST scenes I had planned for this book, ahhh, & it's here!!! I think this is SUCH an important & telling conversation for both Juniper & Steve & I'm so excited y'all finally get to read it!!

So, I hope y'all enjoyed!! Don't forget, & pls don't afraid, to comment your thoughts, questions, & reactionsss, especially on this chappp, & until next time, mwah!! ;)