CHAPTER 1: A Fear and the Future
The skies had opened up and the rain was coming down hard. It was pouring down in sheets, and lightning was coming down fast and hard with booms of thunder every minute or so. The storm wasn't quite directly overhead but it was close and getting closer.
It was late in the evening at Stark Tower, the new headquarters of the Avengers. Everyone was gathered in the common area enjoying the light show from the height of the building. It was a view that very few people were able to enjoy. As the time passed and hours stretched further into the night, the Avengers grew tired and they all headed for their respective floors of the tower. Tony jokingly blamed Thor for the awful weather; after all he was the God of Thunder. However, Thor protested his innocence and everyone had a good laugh before going their separate ways for the night.
In the confusing, tiredness of the moment, no one noticed that not all had left the common area. Most had departed but one stayed behind.
She was watching the weather from the chair near the biggest window. Once everyone was cleared out and she was all alone, she pulled her knees to her chest and watched in fright as the storm raged on. Nothing caused her more fear in this world of super villains, aliens with plans of world domination, and good-intentioned experiments gone rogue than thunder storms. But her being who she was, would rather face it head on. She tried to overcome her fear but she could not make herself go to her floor. The thought of being wholly alone in her apartment during this storm shook her to her core. So she stayed were she had felt safest only moments before surrounded by her friends. It was a good idea in theory but now that everyone had emptied out, she was alone in the dark with the storm.
On most days or nights, she was a nightmare in itself but not tonight. Tonight, she was Natasha Romanoff, stripped of all her Red Room training and years of combat experience. All that was left was a scared little girl trying to face her fear.
She sat there for the longest time trying to face her fear but it was not working. She was more scared than ever. She was jumpy and any small sound in the common area just added to her constantly mounting fear. So when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she did not need training, she had fear and adrenaline. So it was not a surprise when she did what she did and that was… Attack!
She grabbed the strange hand in the dark by the wrists and jerked the body forward causing them both to crash onto the floor hard. In less time than it took for lightning to flash, she was on top of this brave but stupid human being before they had finished falling to the floor. Her punches were raining as hard as the night sky, each landing straight in the face of her unknown assailant.
She could feel the blows connect solidly against their soon to be mush of a face and she had no intentions of stopping. Not that she really could, her adrenaline was running too high in the moment. So it took the strength of the person reaching out and grabbing her wrists to force her to stop raining blows upon their face.
They sat like that for a minute, with her straddling him in the dark and him holding her wrists until the lighting lit up the room again and it was then that she realized what she had done. She had pounded Steve Rogers, Captain America, in the face…repeatedly. She went wide eyed because if it had been almost anyone else they would be severely injured or worse… dead, but not him. He didn't have a scratch on him. She stared at him with a shocked blank expression on her face not knowing what to do or how to react.
Luckily he was not shocked into silence. He spoke first, "Miss Romanoff, are you okay?" His voice was so gentle and comforting, like he was speaking to a spooked horse.
She couldn't help but laugh just a little. It was just like him, his only concern was for someone else, in this case her. He always put others before himself. Even now, after having his face smashed repeatedly, his worry was for her.
Her laugh died when the thunder made itself known in the realest way. The sound exploded right next to them. The storm had moved right above the building. She jumped and then curled down into his body trying to make herself as small as possible. She actually started shaking.
Of course, he did what he always did… he protected her, as he had done when Loki attacked and during the fall of Shield. Little did she know that he would always protect her, her above all others. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. With her head resting on his chest she could hear his breathing, it was even and steady, which helped calm her fear. He always had that effect on her, as she had the same effect on him.
His sturdiness made the shaking subside. She hated to admit it but he felt safe. She had never felt that type of safe before. She knew safety from bad people and flying bullets but this type she had never known, a comfortable safety, a lasting one. Natasha had only felt it here in his arms. On pure reflex she shifted to the side and pressed in as close to his side as she could get, putting him between her and the thunder. She had never done anything like that before, put someone else between herself and danger.
He didn't know how long they had lain on the floor but he waited for a break in the storm. She was scared. He could feel her stiffening every time the thunder boomed. When the storm was a little more distant he got them up off of the floor. "Come on, Miss Romanoff, you can stay with me tonight," he said with the sweetest, most genuine smile she had ever seen.
She wanted to protest, she really did, and she would swear to that in court, but the protest died on her lips when she looked at that damn smile. She understood why women melted for him but it wasn't until that moment that she fell victim to it too. "Okay," was all she could mumble in response. She could hate herself in the morning.
She looked deep into his crystal blue eyes and he looked directly into her jade green eyes. She would swear that at the moment she could see something that she had never seen before… A future. Not the future. Little did she know that he saw the same thing and it scared him just as much as it did her. They were frozen, staring into each other's eyes.
A sudden explosion from another crack of thunder went off, making her shake. Instead of hugging her and telling her it was going to be okay, he picked her up in his arms and carried her toward the elevator. Again the feelings of safety and security swept through whole body her. So much so that she was asleep by time they reached his apartment.
He had only a little trouble opening the door to his place and making his way to his room where he gently placed her in his bed and covered her with a blanket. Once she was settled he started toward the living room couch, when she started to stir with the noise from the thunder. He pulled a chair next to the bed and tried to make himself as comfortable as was possible in the old solid wood chair.
When she made a sound of fear, he took her hand in his, to let her know that it was okay, that she was okay, but most importantly that he was still there and was not going anywhere. And that's how they slept, holding hands…
In the dark