Chapter 1: Undercover
Steve and Natasha have been hiding out at Sam's place for a few days recovering from the attack at Camp Lehigh. While Natasha is out with Sam, searching for Intel, Steve sits alone thinking.
"Ever since New York, Natasha has been the one constant in my life. 66 years frozen in ice and I wake up in a world I don't fit into. Back during the war it all seemed so easy, who was good, and who was bad. You were given the mission and your orders and it all made sense. The battle of New York two years ago, aliens, Gods, outer space, Peggy was right, we can never go back. I still remember the first conversation Tasha and I had: "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"
"Trading cards?"
"They're vintage, he's very proud."
"I saw this woman do things in the battle I immediately admired her for. Getting a running jump off of a destroyed car onto my shield to catch onto one of the Chitauri's flying craft. It took a lot of guts for her to make that leap. In the end just before Tony flew the nuke into the portal, it was Tasha up there on the tower saying she can close it. That wasn't what caught my attention though, it was her simple "Come on Stark" that made me realize that under the assassin exterior she cares, even though she barely knew some of us. Two years later and she is still a mystery to me, we've become partners and friends. She's constantly trying to set me up with women from Shield. I can't help but feel that even though the spy in her is deflecting the attention away from herself, she wants something from me. Then there was that kiss on the escalator. She'll say it was all a cover to prevent Rumlow from seeing us, but the banter afterward in the car on the way to my old army base was undeniably flirtatious. We both however tried to put it aside for the mission. When we were attacked, I protected us both from the fall out with my shield. She was out cold, and she looked so vulnerable, I doubt anyone has actually seen her that way before, not even Clint. I know I shouldn't be thinking this way, we're team-mates, and technically as Avengers team leader I'm her superior. Looking back with Peggy, our story never began. I've never felt this way before. I'm not sure how to handle this."
At that moment, Natasha and Sam come back in from the recon they were doing.
"Steve?" Natasha calls out. "Hey, how are you doing? You took the brunt of the explosion at the base."
"Still a little weary." Steve replies. "Even with the serum in my blood that was a lot to take."
"I hope you're not talking about carrying me all that distance Rogers," Natasha jokes.
"We had a half ton of rubble dropped on us, but you still come out looking like you're ready for the next mission." Steve gives her one of the shy smiles he is so famous for.
Tasha looks him in the eyes and can tell something is wrong.
"Steve what is it? Something has got you shaken up pretty bad. You know you can talk to me."
Sam breaks in for a moment: "Hey guys, I have to take this call, may help plan our next move."
"Tasha, I…"
"Come on spill it Rogers. We've been partners for two years now. We always have each-others back." Natasha says. "We have some down time right now. Talk."
"Tasha, there's never any down time, not for people like us, it's always the mission. I can't help but wonder though; do you ever want more than this? A life outside of the missions, a chance to just be normal? I've been a soldier for a long time now, even when I was sick, it's all I wanted to be. When I went under, one of my last thoughts was that I would never have the chance for a life, a family, someone to love."
"Steve, I think I know what this is about and I can read you just as well as you can read me. As friends, the set-ups I try to make, the dates I try to get you to go on, it's because you, more than anyone of us, deserve a normal life. You missed out on so much being frozen."
"Tasha, sometimes I hate that you know me so well. That kiss though…"
"Steve, don't. I can see it in your eyes and I know the kiss meant something to you, and as much as I want to say it was just for cover…, there are things I've done in my past, things that I am still trying to atone for. Even Clint, who knows a lot about me, he doesn't know everything. Truth be told I don't even open up like this to him. I promise this is not the end of this conversation, but you were right we have a mission."
Sam comes back in: "Guys we have to move."
Steve becomes all business again. "Let's go, time to get that jerk Sitwell."
Natasha thinks as they get moving: "I hope there is a later for us to talk again."
Sometime after, Natasha has revealed everything to the world. Shield, Hydra, the corruption in the government. The helicarriers were brought down thanks to Captain America, The Falcon and Agent Maria Hill. Steve, Sam, Tasha and Fury all meet at the cemetery as the former director of Shield and one of his top agents prepare to go off the grid.
The last message Natasha sent Steve as his hunt for Bucky began was a simple: "I'll be back."
Steve looks at Sam and asks: "You think she'll come back?"
"You know Steve, for someone as bright as you are; you ask some stupid questions sometimes. Did you see the way she looked at you when she left? She'll be back."