Okay, so I'm sorry about the fourth kiss, because after I finished writing it, I counted it and realized she had only kissed him four times, so I sort of quickly whipped that up. Anyway, I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: If I owned anything I certainly wouldn't be writing for a fanfiction site...
Steve sighed from his seat on the Quinjet; they were on their way to the Antarctic to stop some threat about some crazed scientist who was trying out some new invention that was harming the environment. Just another day in his life, except this one was different, because the mission site was only eleven miles from his crash site.
He looked out the window at the blur of white that was gently falling to the sky and it brought back so many memories, it was physically painful. He shut his eyes tightly and clenched his fist along with his teeth, praying that the memories would leave him, but they only came stronger.
"Hey, you alright?" A soft voice came from beside him and somebody placed their hand on his, causing him to jump, before opening his eyes and seeing a familiar beautiful redhead next to him looking at him as if he was on display. But he was used to Natasha trying to read him and find out what he was thinking, so he put on his-starting to get worn out from over usage- stoic expression and smiled.
"I'm fine," He said and she nodded, obviously not buying it.
"Okay, we're ready to land," Clint said over the speakers, and before long everyone was rushing out of the Quinjet with their weapons in hands. Bruce and Thor weren't here, because Fury didn't think the Hulk was needed, and Thor because he was in Asgard at the moment.
Tony immediately flew off with Hawkeye to the base, while Widow and Cap were just going to run there, because Clint was going to scout it out along with Tony, and then Steve and Nat would attack.
Steve bit back a gasp as soon he stepped out into the white and freezing cold atmosphere. The cold immediately went after his bare skin and then weaved it's way through his thermal uniform.
He gritted his teeth as he and Nat started heading out in the direction of the base, able to take their sweet time because it would be awhile before Iron Man could spot the base, let alone check for a bunch of ways to get them in.
He sighed as he looked around him, thinking of how only two years ago, well, actually seventy-two years ago, he had plunged a HYDRA plane into the ice that was only a few miles from the very spot where they were standing.
He shivered as he wrapped his arms around himself, afraid of going into the ice again. About thirty minutes had passed, and they both knew it wouldn't be long before they were sent the signal to go in, right now they had stopped at the location given to them, and could already see the fairly large base.
He closed his eyes against the cold winds and tried to force himself to think of anything else, but nothing worked. A hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to jerk again and open his eyes to meet concerned green ones right in front of him.
"You okay?" She asked softly, and he just nodded with clenched teeth. She gave him a glare that informed he had better tell her the truth or he would end up regretting it. With a sigh, he started explaining about how he had crashed only a few miles away from where they were standing.
"And this freakin' cold, it's just, it's..." His voice trailed off when he couldn't think of a word to describe it, but she filled in for him.
"Haunting you?" She asked, and he slowly nodded, not bothering to look her in the eyes.
"Yeah. It is." He said as he looked down and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the tear that slowly ran down his cheek while doing so. Warm hands suddenly cupped his face and he looked up to see Natasha standing right in front of him with her hands on his face, and her thumbs gently stroking the tears that unwillingly continued to stream down his frozen cheeks.
"It's okay, Steve, you're okay." She said and he slowly shook his head, because he was here, on the ice, just a few miles away from where his whole world had shattered. "Steve, you're alright, and I swear to God that I am not letting you get hurt again by this stupid ice, you understand me?" She spoke in the way that always let him know when she was dead serious about something.
She spoke again, but this time her voice was a little softer, "I'm not gonna' let you get cold again, Steve." She declared, and he was about to say something, when suddenly warm lips landed on his in an oh-so-sweet kiss.
And after realizing that the kiss was more than just a sympathy kiss, he slowly kissed her back, his hands slowly gliding to her waist as he gently tugged her closer to him, deepening the kiss.
Warmth exploded all throughout him in a way that could only be described as joy. Her lips tasted like cinnamon and vanilla and he savored the kiss, never wanting to let go. But their moment of contentment was ruined by Tony's voice crackling through their headsets, immediately separating them in a flash.
"Okay, guys, got the perfect place for you to head in, it's near the entrance actually, I'll send you the coordinates." He said and they both started heading over there quickly, yet Natasha was ahead by a little ways, and he could hear her mutter under her breath, "Perfect timing, Stark," but Steve just smiled, no longer feeling the cold.
The famous Black Widow and Captain America had been avoiding each other for weeks because of the kiss, and everybody had noticed but had no idea why. Right now, they were both on a mission-issued by Fury because he believed the two needed to work through whatever was going on between them-to take down a gang of terrorists that really didn't seem like a big enough threat for the Avengers, but still a fairly large enough threat even for the two master fighters.
"You ready?" Nat asked, interrupting his thoughts. He nodded.
"Yeah, let's do this." He said right before they simultaneously kicked the door down to where the terrorists had set up camp. Guns started firing form both ends and there were lots of metal pings from Steve's Shield as he dodged the bullets and yet somehow managed to knock out several guys.
Within just a matter of minutes, they had knocked out or wounded, but not killed, because S.H.I.E.L.D had wanted them all alive for interrogating reasons,all the terrorists. Steve, while heavily panting, spoke through the comms to Nat, who had been separated from him during the fight. "Is everything okay over there?"
"Yeah, I think we got them all, what about you?" She asked, also out of breath.
"Well, I think everything is oka-" Suddenly, he was cut off by a loud gunshot ringing out, and that's when he felt a white flash of pain tear through the skin in his chest. Immediately he collapsed to the ground,with everything fading to black, and the last thing he heard was Natasha's voice shouting for him.
"Steve!? Steve, answer me right now!" Nat yelled as she started jumping over crates, looking for Steve. She did a back flip over one crate and looked around frantically for her partner. She cursed when she couldn't find him anywhere. They had just been talking through the comms, when suddenly a loud POP sound had went off and Steve had stopped talking, an eery silence taking it's place.
But now she could hear strangled gasps for air, and she was partially relieved to at least hear something that signaled he was alive, but it also terrified her that those gasps for air were coming from Steve, the man she... She let her thoughts trail off because she wasn't quite sure what she felt. She knew she liked him, but did he like her? Was there anyway he could ever love someone like her?
Or was there any chance he would ever get over his lost love? She shook her head, ridding the thoughts from her brain as she jumped over one more crate, desperation sinking in. She looked over to her right where she saw a guy leaning up against the wall for support with a gun in hand, and she made quick work of him with a bullet to his head, ignoring S.H.I.E.L.D's orders. She quickly looked to her left to see Steve laying on his stomach in a puddle of blood.
"Steve!" She yelled as she ran over to him as fast as she could, ignoring all of the fear in her heart. Black Widow didn't get scared, and yet somehow. She checked for a pulse and sighed with relief when she felt a faint one.
At least it was there. She gently rolled him onto his back and noticed how pale his lips were, the lips she had kissed so passionately only a few weeks before... She shook her head, hoping to rid herself completely of all these thoughts filtering to the surface, as she pulled out the little encased button from her pocket.
Tony had created it in case something similar to this had ever happened, because this would be much quicker and more efficient than calling S.H.I.E.L.D.
She looked back down to Steve who lay lifelessly on the ground beside her. She slowly moved, gently placing his head in her lap, and started stroking his hair while humming a slow song in Russian. She prayed to God that Tony's little device would work.
Steve tried to open his eyes, but for some reason it was immensely difficult, but somehow he had managed to sluggishly open them, and then slam them back shut because of the bright lights. As soon as his eyes had opened, that's when all the pain had come rushing in like a tidal wave of agony.
He blinked his eyes a few times to adjust to the lights and looked around, his eyes finally landing on the figure next to him. A slow smile spread across his lips when he realized who it was. She looked up and returned her smile, and if he didn't know any better, he'd say there were tears in her eyes. "Hey," He said, noticing how hoarse his voice is.
"Hey."
"What happened?" He asked, just now fully taking in his surroundings; he couldn't remember what had happened exactly, just that they had been on a mission. A look of pure anger and fear entered her eyes as she stood up next to him.
"You had to get yourself shot. You know, just because you're a Super-Soldier doesn't mean you're invincible. And yeah, I know you didn't do it on purpose, but so help me-"
"Nat, Nat," He said, efficiently cutting her off while he feebly took her hand in his, "I'm alright, Nat. I'm here, and I'm okay." He said, because to most other people, they'd be afraid of her little angry rant, but he knew better, he knew her better.
She was scared, it was evident in her eyes, even though she tried to cover it up with a glare at first, now she had softened and those tears were back in her eyes. "I'm okay, Nat." He said and she sighed with a small nod. "I'm sorry for scaring you," He said, feeling awful that he had caused her all this.
Because she was the strongest woman, maybe even person, he knew, and for her to be like this, well, it had to have been bad.
"I'm just glad you're here and okay," She whispered as she placed a hand on his cheek.
"But are you?" He asked and she tilted her head in confusion. "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt did you? I knew we should have stuck together, you could have been killed, Nat! And it would have been all my fault and-"
"Steve, stop," Nat said, now being the one to cut the other off. He looked up to see sparkling green eyes looking back down at him. "I'm okay, and you're okay, let's just forget about that for right now." She said with a sad smile as she stroked his cheek with her thumb, reminiscent of when she had kissed him back in Antarctica.
His gaze went down to her lips for a moment before it went back up to her eyes and he noticed that her eyes were on his lips, also, before going back to meet his gaze again. He hadn't even noticed how she was somehow getting closer until he could feel himself leaning up just about an inch or so; since he was injured.
His eyes fluttered close as his lips welcomed hers in another warm and soft kiss that still sent electricity coursing through his veins. His hand slowly came up to cup the side of her head and his fingers played with her burning red hair.
This kiss, however, was a little slower and deeper, and more soulful than the last one. He finally broke the kiss and leaned their foreheads together with a smile. He separated their foreheads for just a moment to place a kiss to her temple.
"I really like you, Nat," Steve said, apprehensive of her response, but instead of her immediately pulling away from him and running out of the room, she kissed him again, making him feel elated. This one was more passionate than the last two, and he couldn't help but smile as he kissed her, he had loved her for a long time.
At first when they had first met, he had a crush, which, of course anybody that had ever met her, and considering he had just been in the ice for seventy years, would most likely have a crush on her. And then when they started working together with their first battle, then the feelings started showing up.
And then finally, when they were paired together in D.C., that's when he realized just how much he liked her, loved even. She slowly broke the kiss and smiled at him.
"I like you, too, Steve," They both shared a smile, "Now, move over." She said as she stood up and started climbing in. He chuckled at her while moving over as far as he could so she could crawl in and not fall right back out. Once she did, she pulled the blanket back up and laid her head on his chest with one of her arms, carefully, draped over his stomach.
And he had his left arm wrapped protectively around her as he looked down at the Angel in his arms. He didn't know how Heaven had given him such a great gift, or why, he was just thankful to God He gave her to him.
Tonight was December 24, which means that Tony Stark would be throwing a huge party, except this time he surprisingly wasn't. But that was perfectly fine for Steve and Natasha. They just wanted to get together with a few close friends and no one else, and thankfully their secret wishes were fulfilled.
They had decided not to tell anybody they were dating yet, because they weren't quite sure how everybody would react, and if Fury would let them be together since he could effect their team.
So, right now all the Avengers, plus Pepper, were all sitting in the Stark Tower living room drinking egg nog, which Tony was upset about until he found out what was in egg nog.
Natasha was on the couch straight across from Steve, next to Pepper and Clint, while Tony was in the chair speaking about how one time him and Pepper had some horrible mishap, in where he had to pretend he was just a fisherman instead of Tony Stark, and it was all because of a prank from Pepper.
And of course, Clint had to fire back with one of his own mission stories. But Bruce and Thor were out of town; Thor with Jane and Bruce with Betty. So, Steve, Rhodey, and Maria Hill were all sitting on the other couch. Steve looked over at Nat who was looking at him and smiled, earning a smile back from her.
He so badly wanted to be with her that it was killing him not to, and he knew it was killing her too. He held her gaze for a few more seconds before looking back at the rambling billionaire and the scowling Archer.
Steve chuckled at his two friends' banter as he took another drink of his eggnog, finishing it off. He looked over at the pitcher to see it was empty, perfect opportunity. He stood up and grabbed the pitcher.
"Hey, Nat, could you help with this, please?" She looked up at him and smiled, understanding what he meant.
"Sure," She said, with a simple shrug as she stood up and followed him into the kitchen. She looked behind her as she went into the kitchen doorway to make sure nobody followed, before turning back around to see Steve leaning on the counter smiling at her.
She immediately walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him, and he eagerly accepted the embrace, thankful that this kitchen was closed off. She hugged him tightly as if her life depended on it.
"God, this is killing me," He whispered as he also tightened the embrace. They hadn't been able to be around each other for about two weeks, and then when they were actually able to see each other, somebody else was always around.
She could feel his warm breath on her neck as she snuggled into his embrace, savoring every last little bit off it.
"Tell me about it," She mumbled against his chest. She sighed, and it was half happiness, and half sadness that this was going to end soon.
She closed her eyes in contentment as he kissed her neck and murmured something about how beautiful she was. Suddenly, someone's voice broke off their moment, again, and they immediately separated, cheeks flaming with red.
"Excuse me, sorry, but Tony was wondering what was taking so long, and well, I tried to tell him not to go see, so he made me do it," Pepper said with a look of sympathy, before reaching in the fridge and grabbing the container egg nog.
She started pouring it into the pitcher, and Nat gave Steve a look that he knew exactly what it meant, they needed to cover it up somehow.
"Pepper, I-" Steve started saying, but was stopped abruptly when Pepper just waved him off with a gesture of the palm of her hand.
"Don't worry about it, I knew something was up." She said with a small smile, making Steve and Nat look at each other in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Nat asked and Pepper chuckled.
"Oh, come on, it was so obvious. Especially tonight, the way you guys were constantly looking at each other and smiling, I knew there was definitely something between you guys. So why do you hide it? Because I'm almost positive there is something now." She said and Steve sighed with a nod of his head.
"There is. But how could you tell?" Steve asked and Pepper just rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please, the way you two have been acting, practically the whole state of New York could tell."
"But the others didn't." Nat pointed out and Pepper nodded.
"Yeah, sure, but Tony is so self-absorbed that he wouldn't notice anything other than the market or something, and Clint, well, Clint wouldn't know romance if it slapped him in the face." Steve and Nat both chuckled. "And Thor and Bruce aren't here, just leaving me to figure it out. So, why wouldn't you tell anybody?" Pepper asked and Nat decided to say something now.
"Because we weren't sure how everybody would react, especially Nick. He might have us break up because of us both being Avengers."
"Yeah, and we just wanted to enjoy some time together without being constantly made fun of by the others, but it looks like our plans have failed. This is our first time to be together in over two weeks." Steve said and Pepper just shook her head.
"Well, I guess I understand that, but I think I have an idea on how you two can spend some time together. Follow my lead," Pepper stated, before walking out of the room, leaving the pair confused, but they quickly regrouped and followed her out into the noisy living room. "Well, it looks like we are out of eggnog." Pepper said, loudly so everybody would hear her.
"What? But we bought a whole bunch," Tony said as he stood up and started heading to the kitchen, only to be stopped by Pepper's hand to the chest.
"Believe me, we are out." She said firmly, "So, these two are going to go uptown and get some, considering the other stores are probably out of eggnog or closed. So they'll be back in about a half an hour or so." Steve smiled gratefully at her, just long enough for her to see, but no one else.
"Well, I guess we'd better be going if we want to get some before they are all out." Steve said while grabbing his and Nat's coats. He helped her put her coat on before walking out the door and into the unusually quiet New York City.
They were immediately welcomed by the frigid winds, but paid no attention to it as they took hold of each other's hands. "Let's go for a walk in the park." Steve suggested, and as soon as they got there, they noticed that it was covered in snow.
Nat took off running into, dragging Steve along with it, who was surprised by her sudden burst of energy. She immediately fell to her knees in it and started making snowballs. "Nat, what are you doing?" She didn't say anything, instead she just continued to make more snow balls. Just as he started walking over to her, she spun around and threw a snowball, which he easily avoided.
"Whoa, Nat," She threw another one, and this one hit him on the shoulder. "You have a messed up idea of a walk!" He said as he quickly went down on his knees to make some snowballs to fire back with.
He dodged several more snowballs and quickly stood up, attempting to hit her with a few snowballs of his own, only one hit it's mark on her back as she tried to run behind a tree. He bent down to make some more snowballs since she was in a hiding spot, and when he was done, he quickly darted out from his own hiding spot, to find she was no where in sight.
He slowly slinked over to the tree she had been hiding by, to find she wasn't there either. He wondered where she could have gone, when suddenly he got his answer.
About ten snowballs came barreling at him as he turned around, pummeling him in the chest, and before he could regroup, a certain fiery redhead charged at him and grabbed him, sending them both tumbling to the ground, each rolling a few times.
Laughter rung out in the air and he could feel his arms being pressed to the ground, and he opened his eyes a=to find Nat pinning him to the ground. "I forgot I was dealing with a spy," He half muttered and she laughed.
He could feel her warm breath on his face as she continued to pin him to the ground, only letting his hand up to brush one of her, now soaked, locks of hair, that framed her perfect face, behind her ear.
"I think the cold just might be my new favorite thing," He said with a slow smile, earning a genuine smile back from her. She slowly leaned down and pressed her lips to his in yet another sweet and sensational kiss.
He gladly returned the kiss and he felt her smile against his lips as he mumbled something about how amazing she was. He had no idea a simple kiss could make a person feel so incredible, she was the missing part of his life he had thought he'd never find. After a little while she broke the kiss and smiled down at him, joy glimmering in her emerald green eyes.
"I guess we should probably be going again," She said sadly, and he nodded. She unpinned him and helped him stand up, before they each wrapped an arm around each other and headed down the sidewalk, with her head resting on his shoulder and his head gently resting on her luscious red curls.
He kissed the top of her head and his right hand gently caressed her right hand that was around his waist. His left hand was wrapped around her shoulders, keeping her as close to him as he could. He sighed when they eventually got to the Tower, but couldn't help smiling at what had just happened.
They reached the top floor and entered the kitchen, hearing the bustling noise from the other room. He looked in the fridge to grab the eggnog that waited for him there, and they headed into the other room, catching everybody's attention.
"Whoa, what happened to you guys? You're soaked!" Tony exclaimed, and Steve looked down at himself to find that, indeed, they were both soaked all the way through their clothes.
"Oh, um, we accidentally slipped and fell when we were walking on the sidewalk." Tony nodded with a brow raised, and Pepper stifled a chuckle with her hand. "We'll go change now," Steve said as he Natasha each went to their room, and he couldn't help but chuckle himself at what had just happened.
Natasha always seemed to bring an ordinary day, something unique and special, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
"So, you're going away, for a month?" Natasha asked as she clung onto her boyfriend in the middle of the Tower's living room. The rest of the Avengers were away, so it was only them.
"I have to, Natasha, Fury's orders." He said with a sigh and she looked up at him, green eyes meeting blue eyes.
"I'm going to miss you," The spy whispered and Steve smiled sadly.
"Not as much as I'll miss you." She went up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his in a sweet yet electrifying kiss. After a while she reluctantly broke the kiss with tears in her eyes. "I'll see you, Steve. Be careful." She said as she clung onto him for just a moment longer, before releasing him and watching him head towards the door.
"Goodbye, Nat." Steve said sadly as he walked out the door, waving goodbye. She sighed as she sat down on the couch, hoping the mission wasn't going to be that difficult and maybe he could even come back sooner. She sent up a few silent prayers for Steve's safe return, and just waited for her love to come back.
Natasha couldn't hold back a smile as she walked into the kitchen, expecting to see Steve, but was met with nothing other than the appliances. She frowned, confused as to where Steve might be.
He had just gotten back from a one month mission in England, and she couldn't wait much longer to see him. But he wasn't here, which meant something was up. She walked into the living room and looked around, once again being met with nothing.
She sighed in slight frustration as she walked down the hall towards his room. Something was going on, he never did this, and especially now that they were dating, something had to be terribly wrong.
She carefully entered into the doorway and froze at the sight before her; Steve in his civilian clothes, sitting on the edge of his bed, looking like he had just been through hell and back, physically and emotionally.
"You can come in, Nat." Steve said without ever looking up, voice barely above a whisper. She slowly walked over to him and sat down next to him, taking in his appearance now that she was closer. He looked like someone had beaten the crap out of him. She gently pushed his dirty and grimy hair out of his eyes, and he didn't even bother looking up.
"I missed you," She said, and watched as his eyes stayed blank, but yet she could see all the emotion in them. After a few more moments of silence, she decided to try again, "Did you miss me?" She asked and he sighed while standing up and walking over to the window.
"Of course I missed you, Nat. You wouldn't believe how much I did." He looked back at her once, before returning to the window of the darkening city below.
"Then why the heck are you avoiding me?" She asked out of frustration as she stood up and walked over to him.
"Nat, I'm not avoiding you." He said ever so quiet.
"Then speak to me, Steve. Did something happen on the mission?" She asked, her tone softening, and she saw his jaw immediately tense up and he looked down.
"I don't want to talk about, Nat." She sighed.
"Steve, please, you can trust me."
"Nat, I said I don't want to talk about it!" He practically yelled, and when he saw her take a step back out of slight fear, even though she knew he would never hurt her, he sighed while raking his hand through his hair.
He looked over at her and took her hands, leading her to the bed where they both sat down. And after several long moments of tensed silence, he finally spoke up. "Nat, I'm sorry, it's just," He sighed, "The mission was really hard for me."
"Do you want to talk about?" She asked quietly as she continued to hold one of his hands in hers.
"I guess I probably should." He took a deep breath before looking her in the eyes, and his sparkling baby blue eyes felt like they were piercing into her soul with so much unreadable emotion.
"As you know I was on a mission in England trying to stop some crazy drug dealer. He set a suicide bomb." Steve said as he closed his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opened them she could see the tears in them so clearly. "I was told to disarm it, and I failed." His voice broke on several different syllables.
"And I had a choice on rather to save a couple of young children, or adults." He swallowed hard as he closed his eyes, and she knew that the images were flashing before his vision right now. "And I chose the kids. But the adults,I just-" He couldn't even finish his sentence as tears started streaming down his cheeks.
She immediately wrapped her arms around him, fingers tracing comforting circles in the middle of his back as she whispered comforting words to him.
"I couldn't save them. I failed them." He said as he wrapped one arm around her and nuzzled his face into her neck, seeking all the comfort she could give him.
"Oh, Steve..." Her voice trailed off as tears dotted her vision, too. Why did he have to suffer through so much? "It's not your fault. Steve, you have to believe that this is not your fault. You did what you could, and there was no other way."
She said as she moved back and placed a hand on his cheek. He looked into her eyes, tears now just pooling in his eyes, before closing them and leaning into her touch. She gently rubbed the tears away with her thumb.
"It isn't your fault." He sighed and slowly shook his head. "Steve, look at me." She demanded, and he did as he was told. "It. Was. Not. Your. Fault. Okay?" She asked and he slowly nodded. "Good." She said before she gently pressed her lips to his. His arms slowly came around her and they both leaned together, deepening the kiss.
Her other hand came up to grip his shoulder and she carefully pulled him even closer to her. She reluctantly broke the kiss and smiled as she noticed a little bit of joy in his solemn eyes. And that's when she noticed the contusion breaking out on the side of his face. She brought the hand on his shoulder up and gently touched the bruise, noticing how he winced when she did so.
"Steve, did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine, Natasha." He said before sighing at how she didn't believe him and how she also started checking him to see if there were anymore damaged areas. He grabbed her hands, stopping her from checking him and looked her in the eyes.
"Nat, I'm fine." He stated firmly and she rolled her eyes.
"You know I don't believe that for one second, Steve." She gently pressed her fingers over his ribcage and frowned when she felt them shift underneath the pressure. She heard Steve intake a sharp breath of air that sounded more like a hiss of pain.
She carefully lifted his dirty light blue shirt up a little from his chest and shook her head at the sight of his entire torso covered in contusions and some blood. She put the shirt back down and looked back up at Steve's tense face. "Steve..." He sighed, "What else is broken or bloody?" She asked.
"Nat, it's not important. I don't need anything; my Super-Serum will heal them in no time."
"Yeah, but you're in pain and at least maybe we could give you something to help." He shook his head and she frowned in confusion.
"My Super-Serum will eat right through them. And I'm fine, honestly." She rolled her eyes again and smirked.
"You're a terrible liar." He chuckled at the familiar line. "But seriously, what else is hurt?" He sighed.
"I think I sprained my ankle, and I have a fairly bad gash on my leg, and a few smaller gashes in other places, including the back of my head." He said, and she frowned at all the injuries, even if they were relatively minor. She gently placed a couple of fingers on his chin and carefully made him turn his head so she could see the gash.
She sighed when she noticed that one spot of his hair had a bunch of dried blood. Her hands then went to his ankle, and the first one felt fine, but when she felt the second one, that'd when she knew he had definitely sprained, maybe even broken, it.
It was swollen and she heard Steve hold back a groan of pain by clenching his teeth when she gently squeezed it. She looked back up at him.
"You should really get that checked out." She said and he sighed.
"Nat, it'll be fine, and besides, I really don't feel like going in right now for no good reason and having to debrief the mission." He spoke as he looked into her eyes, and his eyes were filled with so much sadness and hurt, it was almost painful to look at them. She nodded with a sigh.
"Fine, but if I see you in any serious pain whatsoever, I will personally drag you to the hospital, understood?" She asked and he chuckled, earning a small smile from Nat. "Now, you should probably get some rest." She said as she lightly patted his knee and stood up to leave, but stopped when he grabbed her hand.
"Natasha, is there any way, maybe, if-" She watched as he stuttered over his words.
"I'll wait outside so you can get dressed and then I'll be back." She said with a smile as she went out and closed the door, waiting for him to change. A couple of minutes later, he opened the door, wearing clean clothes, and she smiled as she came in.
"Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S? Let us know when the Avengers are on their way home, will ya'?" Nat asked and waited for the A.I's response, before they both laid next to each other on top of the bed, not bothering to pull back the covers.
They each laid so they were facing each other. She scooted closer to him so she could drape an arm over the side of his waist, careful that she didn't hurt his ribs any. He slowly brought a hand up and brushed one of her fiery red locks behind her ear.
"I love you, Natasha." He said so quiet, that if it weren't for her incredibly good hearing, she would have missed it. She smiled slightly.
"I love you, too, Steve."
Natasha stormed out of the S.H.I.E.L.D weapons room and down the hallway, muttering Russian obscenities under her breath. She couldn't believe what she had just saw. How could he do that to her? Every person she ever got close to always betrayed her, but she thought he was different.
And yet, he was exactly the same as everyone before. She ignored him calling her name and running down the hallway after her. She had just seen him kissing Sharon Carter, and had run away right after that. She ignored the heavy, running footsteps behind her as she trudged on down the hallway and out to the Helicarrier deck.
"Natasha, wait!" Steve pleaded as he grabbed her arm, which she just yanked free as she looked up at him.
"Just leave me alone, Rogers." She said, anger lining each and every syllable. She started walking away again, when he grabbed her arm. She tried yanking herself free again, but he held on to her arm with such strength, she didn't think she'd ever be able to. So instead of running away, she just stared at the ground, ignoring him.
"Natasha, listen to me. I didn't kiss her. She kissed me." He said and she scoffed and shook her head. Steve sighed and looked around, noticing how almost everybody was looking at them. "Come on." He said before he practically dragged her over to a Quinjet and they both climbed in, Nat being a lot more reluctant.
He closed the door, checking to make sure they were all alone this time. "Nat," She just stared out the window, "Nat, come on, look at me." He said as he gently took both of her shoulders in his hands and forced her to look at him, an act he would probably regret later.
"Nat, I did not kiss her. I would never kiss her. You are the only woman I ever want to kiss, understand me? I love you, Natasha and nobody else. Okay?" He asked as she shook her head, causing him to sigh. But that's when he got the perfect idea. "Fine, Nat, you don't believe me, but maybe I can help you with not being so angry with me. How about we spar?" He asked and her eyes widened just the slightest of bit from her narrowed gaze.
"What?"
"I asked, how about we spar? Maybe that will help you stop being so mad at me." A light smirk played at her lips.
"You're on."
Steve sighed as he walked into the gym to see Nat already in the ring waiting for him. He really did not want to do this, but he had no other choice, and she sure wasn't going to believe him if he didn't. He took a drink of water and then climbed into the ring.
"You sure you want to do this?" Natasha asked with a full out smirk, and he couldn't help but grin himself at the thought of his little plan.
"Yeah, I am." He said, and then they started. Each throwing punches, and each dodging the punches. They'd throw in some of their own moves, but nothing worked, because they knew the other person too well.
She tried to knock his feet out from under him, but he moved out of the way and went after her, but she only dodged it with sliding underneath him.
Truth be told, he wasn't really trying to hurt her, but she sure was going after him. And finally came the moment he had been waiting for; she jumped on his back and flipped him onto the ground to pin him.
Only he quickly flipped the pin, so he was on top of her. Breathlessly, she struggled to get free, but it was of no use. She groaned as she tried even harder. "It's not gonna' work, Natasha." He said with a small smile as she excepted defeat. Suddenly, realization flooded over her.
"I feel like this is an all too familiar situation, Rogers." She said with glare that didn't even faze him. He just simply shrugged as he continued holding her down, because he knew if he even gave her the slightest moment of freedom, it'd be over, and there was no way he could allow that to happen. "You did this on purpose didn't you?"
"Maybe. But now you have to listen to me, Nat." She sighed, "I did not kiss her. There is no way in the world I would ever kiss her. Why can't you believe that?" He asked helplessly.
"Because, you're just like everybody else, you just use me and then throw me away like trash." She said and he shook his head.
"No way would I ever, ever, ever do that! I love you way too much to ever do that. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and look at what all has happened to me, Natasha. I love you, Natasha, and even if it means you will never forgive me, and I'll never get to see you again, I'll accept that fact if that is what you want, Natasha, even if it kills me." He stated with a sigh. "I want you to understand how I feel about you, so, please, listen to this;" He took a deep breath before continuing, "Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you, it was beyond my control."
"Steve," She said, her voice breaking with that one syllable. "I didn't know... I'm sorry, I-God, I'm so stupid." She said as she closed her eyes and a single tear rolled out from underneath her eyelid. "I should have never have thought you'd do that. I'm so sorry." She said, voice cracking in almost every word.
"Natasha," He said, and she shook her head, not even bothering to open her eyes, so he took this chance to do it. He slowly leaned down and captured her lips with his. After several seconds, she slowly started to kiss him back.
He gradually deepened the kiss and it turned more passionate and more electrifying than the others had been. "I love you so much," He mumbled against her lips and he could feel her smile. After a while, he hesitantly broke the kiss and opened his eyes to look into beautiful emerald eyes that only belonged to the woman he loved.
"I love you, too, Steve." She said with a slow smile. He unpinned her and helped her stand up much like the other day in the snow.
"Now, we are going to go and tell the others that we are dating so something like this doesn't happen again, okay?" He said and her mouth fell open slightly.
"Really? You think we should?" Steve nodded.
"Nat, it can't be worse than what happened toady because nobody knew about our relationship. Maybe things will be easier. I can only hope so." He said as he took her hand and they started waking out of the gym and to the elevator.
They stepped into the elevator and Steve used his free hand to push the number in. The doors closed, once again giving them privacy. She leaned against the wall in amazement.
"I can't believe we're actually going to tell them." She said as she looked up at Steve who just chuckled as he closed the distance in between them and cupped the side of her face.
"You better believe it," He whispered before gently pressing his lips to hers. He pulled away and caressed the side of her cheek with the back of his hand. She closed her eyes and savored his touch.
After a little while longer, the elevator dinged and they parted, incase anyone was waiting for them in the living room. When they saw no one was, the took each other's hand and walked over to the couch, where they sat down next each other.
"Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S, can you ask everybody to come to the living room? It's important." Steve said before looking back at his girlfriend. "You ready?" He asked and she smiled.
"More than ready." The elevator dinged, signaling someone was about to enter the living room, so they let go of the other's hand. Pepper and Clint came out and took their seats.
"So what's this all about?" Clint asked.
"You'll see," Nat said. Pepper gave them a questioning look with a raise of her perfectly trimmed eyebrow, and Steve nodded, earning a smile back from Pepper. Next came Bruce and then eventually Tony.
"So why was I brought up here from my very important work?" He asked in annoyance as he sat down on the love seat next to Pepper, who scolded him for having so much grease on his clothes and sitting on the furniture.
"This is very important, too, Tony." Steve said, and once everyone was seated and quieted down, Steve cleared his throat and started talking. "So, the reason we called you guys up here, is that there was an incident today, and we thought maybe if we voiced this important news, that we wouldn't have another incident like that." Steve said, making sure he looked at everyone in the room with solid eye-contact; something he learned while he was in the army.
"And that important news happens to be;" Nat said while taking Steve's hand in hers and smiling. "We're dating." They said simultaneously. Pepper smiled, Clint's jaw dropped, while Bruce just sat there dumbfounded.
"What? How the heck did I not know this? I'm always snooping on you guys..." His voice kind of faded out at the end as he realized what he had just said.
"I can't believe this. How long?" Bruce asked after a few moments of silence.
"Three months." They both said in unison.
"I already knew." Tony said smugly and now everybody was looking at him in shock.
"What? What do you mean?" Pepper asked and Tony rolled his eyes while outstretching his arm on the couch.
"Oh, please, you know I have J.A.R.V.I.S and security footage, right?" Tony asked and Steve and Nat both blushed furiously.
"I can't believe that you knew, too." Pepper said.
"What do you mean, 'too'?" Clint asked, and Pepper sighed.
"I knew they were dating."
"What? So you guys trusted these two blabber mouths, no offense Pepper," Clint was saying, and Tony scoffed and put his arms out in a gesture as if to say 'what about me?', "And yet not us? What did we ever do to you?" Clint asked.
"Clint, remember the mission we shared in Australia?" Nat asked.
"Yeah, and my motorcycle?" Steve asked, also, and Clint opened his mouth to rebut, but then clamped it shut and looked down at the ground. "So, anyway, we figured it was time to bring that out into the open." Steve said as he looked over at Nat and smiled.
"Oh, boy, we're going to have to get used to you to completely grossing us out, aren't we?" Tony asked.
"Yup," Nat said as she scooted closer to Steve and wrapped her arms around him. "Sometimes we might just do it to disgust you guys, too." Nat said with a smirk and Steve chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm leaving." Tony said as he stood up, causing Clint to follow.
"Me too." Pepper and Bruce soon stood up, too, once the others left.
"Congratulations, you two," Pepper said as she smiled and then walked out of the room.
"Yeah, I'm happy for ya' guys, just don't forget that when you tell Thor, he'll crush you both in a bear hug." Bruce warned before leaving the room. Steve and Nat chuckled.
"Oh boy," Nat mumbled in amusement. Steve placed a couple of fingers lightly on her chin and tilted her head up so she looked him in the eye.
"We can finally be an official couple." Nat smiled at the words.
"Thank you, Steve, for doing this. I'm sorry I got so mad at you."
"Don't be. You had every right to be mad at me, Nat. I'm just glad that that is in the past." He said before he brushed her hair out of her face. "I love you."
"I love you, too, Steve." She said before their lips joined in a breathtaking kiss. His hand slowly wrapped around her waist as he gently tugged her even closer to him, and her grip on him tightened. They were so into the kiss, they never even noticed Clint walk in and mutter something about the two of them needing to get a room. They were in love, and that's all that mattered.
Whew *Wipes imaginary bead of sweat of forehead*, got that one done. I hope you liked it! Please R & R, I love hearing your guy's thoughts! Until next time! *Mocks a salute*