AN: This alludes to what happens in CA2, but there aren't any real spoilers. Obviously, Nat/Steve. Duh. Disclaimer.
When her world fell apart, she couldn't help but feel like it was Steve's fault.
He'd been dealing with HYDRA a long time.
He was the one who found the guns that were apart of phase two during the New York deal.
The man who made Steve what he was had also worked on the original leader of HYDRA.
Steve connected back to all of her most recent problems. She should hate him. She should.
But, she doesn't and there's not a thing she can do to change it.
One of her biggest problems was that she was attracted to him in every way and she didn't know how to deal with it.
She wasn't ready for anything emotional. That was a problem.
Steve had caused it.
He wasn't ready for anything emotional, either, though.
And, he'd never given off any hints about what he felt towards her.
Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero. A big, flaming pile of nothing.
She was attracted to him, and she didn't want to be. She wanted to hate him.
They were opposite sides of a coin - she was tails. Steve was forever heads.
She was Russia, communism and vodka, while he was America, freedom and good ol' beer.
They were too different. They weren't stable in any possible way, either.
It would never work.
Oddly, it was Steve's good qualitys that so contrasted with her's that had set her off, when she first met him on the original helicarrier.
How ironic.
She'd let loose everything and ruined her chance at anything more.
Who even said that he reciprocated her positive feelings?
Her feeling like it was his fault didn't last long.
So, she kisses him on the cheek and figures it's all she's going to get.