A/N: This is based on the trailer for "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which I have watched at IMDB dot com, though I'm sure you can find it on YouTube and elsewhere. The part in the italics at the beginning is straight from the trailer.
What's in a Name?
"You do anything fun Saturday night?" Agent Natasha Romanoff asked, as the quinjet approached the drop zone.
"Well, all the guys in my barbershop quartet are dead, so, no, not really," Captain Steve Rogers answered, as he put in his earpiece. Despite his words, there was no bitterness in the voice of the World War II hero who had been frozen for nearly seven decades and awoke to the strange, new world of 2012.
"You know, if you asked Kristen out from Statistics, she'd probably say, yes," Natasha told him.
"That's why I don't ask," Captain America replied, while he walked toward the rear door that was slowly opening.
"Too shy or too scared?" Natasha teased her solemn teammate.
"Too busy," Steve replied and stepped off the platform to drop — without a parachute — toward the dark waters far below.
The spy knew there was something more behind Steve's reluctance.
"This isn't over, Cap," Natasha said to herself.
Later, when all the furor of the mission was over, Natasha revisited the question.
"Hi, Cap," said the tall, beautiful blonde from Statistics when they passed in the hall.
"Kristen," Steve said politely, dipping his head in acknowledgement.
Passing Steve, Kristen met Natasha's eyes and heaved a silent but visible sigh of disappointment. Natasha shrugged.
Natasha hurried to catch up to Steve, then tugged him into an unused office, locking the door behind them. Steve regarded her warily.
"What is this?" he asked.
"Why won't you ask Kristen out?" Natasha asked. It sounded more like an interrogation, than a friendly question.
"I didn't know she was that good a friend of yours," Steve said.
Natasha shook her head impatiently. "I'm not worried about her. I'm worried about you," she said frankly. "You never have any fun. All you do is work. It's not healthy. I didn't pick Kristen because she's beautiful, but because she's the nicest person I know in this organization of spies and killers. And she's reserved, so I thought she'd suit your old-fashioned sensibilities. But if you don't like her, I know other women, or men, if your tastes run that way, but I don't think they do."
"No."
"Then, why not Kristen? I'm not telling you to elope, just one date — coffee after work, dinner and a movie, whatever."
Steve shook his head at her persistence.
"I'm warning you," Natasha said in tones that meant business. "You're not getting out of here without giving me an answer."
Steve knew his only choices were to continue to refuse to answer or to tell the truth. Lying was out of the question. Natasha was too good an interrogator for that. But the truth sounded like whining and Captain America didn't whine — but that was the problem in a nutshell, wasn't it?
"She calls me 'Cap'," he answered abruptly.
She blinked. "But everybody calls you 'Cap'."
"Exactly." He met her eyes without flinching and waited for the penny to drop (though it would probably be a quarter in this inflated economy, he thought sourly).
"But it's ..." She almost finished with "your name," but realized it wasn't. It was a nickname, a nickname for a pseudonym.
Steve raised his eyebrows, acknowledging her achievement.
"Oh," she said.
He nodded and started past her toward the door.
"But Steve ..."
He whirled and shook a finger at her. "No," he warned. "You don't get points when I have to give clues."
Natasha's whole posture demanded more information. Steve sighed. "Kristen wants to date Captain America. You know him — man out of time, muscles out to here." He gestured widely.
"Uh huh," Natasha agreed. "Pretty face. Devastating smile that he keeps hidden. Yeah, I know him."
"Everybody knows him. Everybody has a job for him. Nobody cares about Steve Rogers. He's just a dumb jamoke who wears old-fashioned clothes and has trouble operating the microwave. Do you know, since I came out of the ice, only one person who knows about Cap has called me Steve. One person! And he turns into a giant green rage monster!" Steve controlled his ranting with an effort. He tried to leave but Natasha blocked the door again. Steve seriously contemplated gripping her by the arms and setting her aside, but his gentlemanly nature (and his respect for the Black Widow's prowess) prevented him.
"Now you know," he said tightly. "May I leave. Please."
"What do you want, Steve?" Natasha asked.
"I want ... I want my life back," Steve confessed sadly. "I want a chance with Peggy, who liked me before I became this." He gestured at his powerful body.
"You can't tell me she didn't admire the muscles," Natasha teased.
A rare, honest grin lit up Steve's face as he remembered coming out of the capsule and seeing Peggy all flustered at his change. "No," he admitted. "She liked the muscles. But she knew Steve before she knew Cap. That will never happen again with anyone. There will never be anyone who sees me first. But I know I can't go back. Wishing won't make it so. I can only go forward. I can't have what I want, so I try not to want." His gaze challenged the woman.
"I don't understand," she confessed. "Maybe I can't understand. I've had so many names, they don't mean that much to me. Natasha Romanoff is an Anglicization of Natalia Romanova, the name I went by in my Red Room training, but I doubt that's the name I was born with. I have been so many women since then, sometimes I find it difficult to be myself," the undercover operative said. "I have to make an effort to be myself and not con the people around me. Sometimes I think they'd like one of my undercover personas better, but if I want them to like me, I have to be myself. So, if you want people to see Steve, you have to be Steve. I hardly ever see anyone but Cap."
"No one wants Steve Rogers. They want Captain America." He sounded defeated. It wasn't a good look for the hero.
"Show them Steve Rogers and let them see what they're missing."
Kristen was analyzing data on her computer when a shadow fell across her desk.
"Hi, Kristen."
She looked up and might not have recognized her visitor if she hadn't known the voice. Instead of Cap's usual blue, he wore a green plaid flannel shirt over a white T-shirt. His slacks were gray and his hair was more loosely styled than usual.
"Hi, Cap," Kristen said happily.
An emotion she couldn't identify shadowed his eyes for a moment, but he smiled and offered, "Please, call me, Steve."
"I'd be happy to," she said, pleased at the offer. "Can I help you?"
Steve rubbed the back of his neck. "I wondered if you'd like to go out to dinner Friday night after work. I know this little diner just around the corner."
"Friday night would be great."
He made arrangements to meet her when she got off and started to leave.
"See you Friday, Steve," she called after him.
He smiled, gave her a little wave, then walked away whistling.
Shadowing him unseen in the hallway, Natasha smiled.
A/N: I don't want any hate mail from the people who ship Steve and Nat. I know everyone is excited about "the kiss," but in the trailer Nat is trying to set Steve up with Kristen and I don't want to argue with the Black Widow, do you?