Surprises by patricia51
(Sequel to "Competition". Now that Steve and Nat have told each other how they feel the time has come take the next step in their relationship. But before they surprise the rest of the team by telling them of their feelings for each other suddenly Nat has a surprise for Steve. SteveXNat.)
Behind the closed door of an apartment near the top of the Stark Tower there was a deep female moan.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh."
The bedroom was carefully furnished, showing the obvious touches of a woman.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh."
An open dresser drawer had a pair of black silk stockings hanging from it. The closet doors were closed but the little black dress that hung from one of the door handles was short enough that even at that height the hem just barely brushed the pair of matching heels below it.
"Oh my God yes. Right THERE."
Other clothing was scattered about the room, most notably a pair of black leather boots tossed carelessly next to the bed.
"Don't stop. Harder. PLEASE!"
There was a grunt from one of the figures on the bed, a grunt of effort and in a completely different deeper voice; a male voice.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhfffffff."
The woman's voice takes over.
"More! Faster. Oh God that's it, that's it, that's IT."
The woman's voice rose to a crescendo for a moment and then dropped to a purr.
"That was incredible. YOU are incredible."
Natasha Romanoff sat up, swinging her legs to the floor so she could sit on the edge of the bed. She leaned her head against a firm shoulder as muscular arm went around her. She looked up into the face above her and smiled.
"Nobody but nobody Steve Rogers gives foot massages like you do." Mischief sparkled in her eyes. "Now it you would just let me massage something special for you in return..." she let the suggestive words trail off with a matching grin.
Steve couldn't help it. He blushed.
"Oh Steve," the former Soviet spy sighed, even though she knew perfectly well that was exactly how he was going to react. "Sooner or later you are going to have to join the Twenty-first Century. At least in certain areas."
"Could have been worse," the super soldier commented as Natasha slipped on to his lap, now resting her head on his chest as he circled her with both arms. "I could have been thawed out in the nineteen sixties. I suspect the era of free love would have overwhelmed me so much that I would have hunted for another glacier to climb inside of and hide for a few more decades at least."
No one who had known her at the height of her career as one of the most dangerous assassins in the world would have believed what happened next. Natasha Romanoff giggled.
"I can just see you sweetheart. Ho Chi Minh sandals and frayed jeans with patches sewn on them. Your hair cascading around your shoulders matched with a full beard and mustache. Oh and let's not forget the flowers in your hair. It would have been awesome."
"Nat!" Steve displayed amazement and disgust for a moment. Then he dropped his facade and laughed along with her. "Peace, love, dove," he quoted.
"Yes, you'd have been such a hippie."
The laughter faded from his face. "But I wouldn't have been. You know it."
She tightened her arms around his neck, looking up at him as she did. "No, you wouldn't. You'd have been moving through the jungles of Southeast Asia in jungle fatigues and boots with an M16. You'd have been an outstanding soldier, probably in Special Forces or one of the other elite outfits. You would have extended your tour, or rather tours because you would have kept going back again and again. You would have given it your all. At the same time no matter how sure you were that what you were doing was right you would have been worn down. No matter how firmly you believe in the words of Stephen Decatur you would have known the country was not behind you and even you might suspect that the war itself was a mistake if certainly not the efforts and bravery of your comrades-in-arms. You might have ended up broken and bitter, although I like to think you would have always held your head up high no matter what."
"I know Nat my love." He sighed. "The world is not as black and white as I once believed it was. Not that it ever was completely but certainly there wasn't the ambiguity that seems to fill it today as it did my war. I like to think though that now I accept Carl Schurz s revised version of that famous saying."
Nat shook her head. "Steve you always thought that way. You always stand up to be counted. You were never blind to the imperfections that existed back then. Or now. You don't excuse them. Perhaps a little gray has crept into your world but you still see the black and the white and you act on it. It's one of the reasons I love you so much."
A look crossed her face that Steve recognized. Before she could even start he laid a gentle finger across her lips. "No Nat," he said firmly.
"No what?"
"No you are NOT going to blame yourself again for what you did in the past. The moving finger has written. Let the past be the past. You are not that same woman and what you were back then was not your fault. Any evil that you did then has been more than made up for."
He looked embarrassed again, but a different embarrassment than she had teased out of him earlier.
"Nat I don't like to push my beliefs on anyone, least of all you. But I believe that when you sin first you repent and then you atone. And heaven knows sweetheart you have done that. You have risked your life again and again not because you had to but because what you were doing was needed, was necessary, and was right. Remember it's not how you start; it's how you finish that counts."
Nat told herself she would NOT cry. And she didn't but it was a close call. Once upon a time she would have considered crying in any form a sign of weakness, except of course when she was manipulating some man or woman in to spilling everything they knew without even realizing that they were being taken for a ride. But now with Steve it was completely different. She wanted to cry because never in her life, not in any dream or wild fantasy, had she ever thought she would find someone who believed in her as much as he did. But crying would get him upset. Silly guy that he was sometimes; he always thought it was something he had said or done.
A thought struck her. She tightened her grip. Oh God, where had THAT thought come from? Catching the change in mood Steve hugged her back.
"Nat, what is it?"
Now that the idea had popped into her head she liked it more and more, even though he might think she was insane for suggesting it. But nothing ventured nothing gained. God, now she was stiffening her resolve with cliches. Whatever it took she supposed. She took a deep breath. She was a modern woman; she could do this.
"Steve?"
"Yes Nat?"
"I have something to ask you; something important; something that might shock you."
"Nat you know that you can ask me anything." A grin touched his lips and warmed his eyes. "Whether I say yes or no is a different story."
She nodded. She wanted to take another deep breath, several of them in fact but the moment would be marred a bit if she passed out from hyperventilating. So she just plunged on.
"Steve Rogers I love you. Would you marry me?"
Elsewhere in the tower Clint and Tony were playing pool. Pepper was trying to explain the game to a rather baffled pair of Asgardians, attempting to make Sif and Thor understand that even leaving out the various insults most of the tactics used by the players were in fact forbidden outright by the rules of the game. Bruce was leaning back in a recliner with his feet up and an amused expression on his face.
"No that is definitely not part of the game," Pepper commented as Tony "accidently" bumped the back of Clint's cue stick just as the archer shot. Since she had said just about the same words moments before when Clint had broken into a extremely loud fit of coughing just as Tony had taken his shot she was pretty sure that her explanations were proving fruitless.
"Then why do..." Sif's puzzled query broke off as a piercing squeal of delight echoed throughout the top floors of the building.
"That was Nat," declared Clint, putting his cue on the table just in time to block Tony's attempt to sink the Eight Ball.
"Should we check on Lady Natasha then?" asked Thor.
"No need," replied Tony. "I suspect any moment we're going to find out anyway."
The group waited. And waited. It must have been all of thirty seconds for the elevator doors to open and a beaming Natasha and Steve to make their appearance.
"So?" asked Clint impatiently when the arriving pair didn't immediately speak.
"We're getting married," declared Steve happily.
"Congrats! Well-done. Good for you!" resounded from the group. Pepper and Sif rushed to Natasha, the former throwing her arms around the former assassin and squeezing for all she was worth. Tony looked slightly alarmed at the enthusiasm his girl showed for the announcement but since he admitted, if only to himself, that sooner or later it was going to be Pepper's and his turn he added his congratulations to the others. Thor would have knocked over anyone else in the room with his buffet across Steve's shoulders and in fact the super soldier rocked back and forth several times before regaining his balance.
"This is so wonderful!" Pepper exclaimed when she finally pulled back from Nat. "First thing tomorrow we'll start planning. Sif," she turned to the Asgardian, "would you like to help out?"
"Of course," the female warrior beamed.
"Well the three of us can get started at breakfast. I'll start making lists tonight. Oh and Steve?"
"Yes?"
"All you have to do is show up. So you're not invited. And Tony?"
"Hmmm?"
"You will NOT be planning the bachelor party."
"Spoilsport."
Eventually the newly engaged pair made their way back to Natasha's room, leaving the rest of the group behind. Once the elevator doors were securely closed everyone turned to look at Pepper.
"Jarvis?"
"Yes Miss Potts?"
"Open file 'Steve and Natasha Wedding Pool'."
"Done," the AI replied.
"Who was closest?"
"Doctor Banner. His selected date in the betting pool was off by only two days."
"Pretty good Bruce," commented Clint even as everyone pulled out their wallets and started passing twenty dollar bills to the scientist. Tony handed over two, telling Thor he could pay him back later while Pepper explained to Sif what a "pool" was in this case.
"About time," murmured Pepper, "We started that pool weeks ago. Who would have thought it would have taken them so long?"
"Obviously not you," teased Tony. "You picked three weeks ago."
"And NOT you since you guess is still two months in the future," Pepper shot back. She sighed happily. "Anyway they finally did it thank goodness."
"Yep," agreed Clint. "So then, fifty on when their first child is born? I've got nine months and two days."
(The End)
(Notes: Stephen Decatur, considered to be one of the founding fathers of the US Navy is credited with the phrase "my country right or wrong". The actual part of the toast he offered goes "May she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong. . I would think Steve would believe in the reference to it used by Carl Schurz, Union Army General, later US Senator and then US Secretary of the Interior: "My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.
"The moving finger" is from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the great Persian poet, mathematician and philosopher of the 11th/12th centuries.
"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit,
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
As translated by Edward Fitzgerald.)