Captain America: The Winter Soldier fic

Pairing: Captain America (Steve Rogers)/Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff)

Spoilers: Captain America: The Winter Soldier film

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Marvel

Summary: Steve comforts Natasha after returning to Sam's house. Steve/Natasha. One shot.

Trust in Eachother

Steve and Natasha arrived at Sam Wilson's house, nervously glancing over their shoulders in fear that they had been followed. The pair of them looking dishevelled and covered with dust from the impact of the blast. As soon as Sam invited them into his home, he insisted they use the bathroom to get freshened up and sort themselves out. Steve, being the gentleman that he is, allowed Natasha to go first.

Sam was clattering around in the kitchen as Steve came in and sat at the breakfast bar.

"Want some tea, coffee, or maybe something stronger?" Sam asked, holding up a bottle of whisky.

Steve gave a small smile "Tea will be fine, thanks."

"No worries" Sam replied, as he started boiling the kettle before turning to the super soldier in front of him "So, gunna tell me what happened?"

"Long story" Steve fidgeted in his seat, as he removed his jacket.

"You don't have to tell me, it's fine; I mean we barely know each other. And maybe it's best I don't know. But if you need help Steve, you can rely on me."

"I appreciate that" Steve gratefully said "I just don't know who I can trust any more."

"Well you can trust me" Sam said seriously "I don't know what's happened, but it's serious, I can see that. And if you need a place to crash for a while then you're more than welcome here. Both of you."

Steve knew he had made the right decision in choosing to come to Sam's house to lay low, Natasha had her reservations when Steve told her of the plan, but she was in no fit state to argue at the time.

"You're one of the only very few people I feel like I can trust right now, that's why I chose for us to come here."

"And what about Natasha?"

Steve frowned "What about her?"

"You feel like you can trust her?" Sam questioned.

Steve glanced briefly in the direction of the bathroom, where the woman in question was evidently having a shower by the sound of the water emanating from that direction, before saying.

"Yes. I wasn't sure to begin with, but I know now I can trust her. One hundred percent."

Sam had a curious look in his eyes as he handed Steve his tea "What's the deal with you and the red head anyway, you guys together? I never asked before."

Steve almost spluttered out his drink "No! We're ... " Steve paused as he tried to find the right words to define his and Natasha's relationship "Friends. Team mates. Comrades. Whatever you want to call it. But no, we're not ... involved in that way." Steve was starting to feel a bit flustered under the interrogating gaze that Sam had on him.

Sam smirked "You sure, Cap?"

"Yeah why wouldn't I be? Nothing's ever happened between us."

Sam was finding this hard to believe and he pressed further "Nothing at all?"

"Well we have kissed, once, but that was purely as part of our undercover operation."

"How was it?" Sam had a playful look in his eyes.

Steve shrugged, thinking it an odd question to be asked but he answered nonetheless. "It was ... fine. Yeah. Good. Just fine." He was definitely blushing now and he quickly took a drink of his tea to try and hide his quickly blushing complexion. "I haven't given it much thought." A complete lie of course, but he wasn't going to admit that to Sam. Not that he need to.

Sam laughed before he took a drink of his tea "You can't lie if you tried, Steve."

Steve rolled his eyes "That's what Natasha keeps telling me."

Sam shook his head as he smiled "She's got you sussed hasn't she?"

"Nothing gets past Natasha. She's as sharp as they come."

"Can't be that smart if she hasn't figured out that she likes you yet."

"That's because she doesn't" Steve said, as a matter of fact "She doesn't get involved with people. Her work is her life. And anyway she can't like me in that way; she's the one who keeps trying to set me up with dates!"

"Well I may not know you very well, and I don't know Natasha at all, but I have a feeling all that will soon change."

Steve just laughed awkwardly and drank more of his tea, not knowing what to think of Sam's words.

Cap left the remainder of his tea, as Natasha had now just finished in the bathroom and so it was Cap's turn to clean up. He left the bathroom not long later and he saw Natasha sat on the bed, a towel in her hands as she was drying the very ends of her hair.

"You alright?" Steve asked with a caring tone as he sat directly opposite her.

Natasha gave the smallest of smiles; it was barely visible "I'm still alive."

"Yes, and I'm glad" Steve admitted "You had me worried for a moment when you were unconscious, that blast could easily have killed us both."

"Well if it wasn't for you protecting me with your shield, I definitely wouldn't be sitting here now in a stranger's bedroom talking to you."

"Sam's a good guy, we can rely on him" Steve said sternly "Trust me, Natasha."

"I do. Do you think I'd still be here if I didn't?" She said as she looked down at herself, picking at her fingernails for a second before looking back up at Steve with a look he couldn't quite decipher the meaning of. "Both of our worlds are crashing down around us, the people who we believed in, the people who we worked for, the organisation that we trusted, is all now dust. I don't know what to think, who to believe or who to trust right now. But I do know one thing, I trust you Steve. You saved my life. And I won't ever be able to repay you for that. I just hope you know that no matter how bad things get from here on in, I'll always have your back. Always."

Steve looked at her with all seriousness; her eyes were swimming with a mixture of emotions ranging from tiredness, concern, upset, determination and something else which Steve couldn't quite put his finger on. The vulnerability the Black Widow was showing was very surprising to Steve; he had never seen this side of Natasha before. She was opening up and letting him in a bit more, he knew how hard that must be for her.

Natasha said one other thing, one thought that had been bugging her and one that concerned her greatly.

"Steve, if it was up to me to save your life, and you be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?"

Steve answered her with a tone that would settle all doubts in her mind "I would now. And I'm always honest."

Natasha gave a smile, a smile of relief, and Steve reciprocated that smile as he took hold of her hands. Steve didn't care what the gesture meant, and for that moment Natasha didn't care either. Steve then quickly came and sat next to Natasha on the bed and put his bare arm around her, and Natasha leaned into him. They needed this closeness, they needed each other. For this solitary moment, the Black Widow was letting her guard down.

Tears began to fall from the infamously tough Black Widow, and Natasha quickly tried to brush them away. Steve spotted this and made Natasha look at him. He brushed the tears from her cheeks and then kissed her forehead, before bringing her back close to him again and wrapped both his arms around her this time, as she rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"It's all going to be okay, Nat" He wasn't sure if he was even believing his own words, but he was trying to be as comforting as he could for Natasha's sake "We'll get through this, we have to."

"I know you're only trying to make me feel better Cap, remember I know you can't lie" Natasha said with a smile in her tone of voice as she sat up to look at him.

Steve chuckled "I really need to work on that don't I?"

Natasha smiled "Oh I don't know, it's nice to be around someone who is genuinely honest, and a good hearted person. Captain America should never change. Not for anyone."

Steve smiled "I'd say the same thing about you."

A realisation smile formed on Natasha's face and Steve proceeded to cuddle Natasha again, both of them now smiling as they knew they understood eachother. Truly.

...

Thanks for reading.