"So, they just offered you the job? Just like that?" Clint asked as him, Wanda, Natasha, and Maria sat in one of the local bars that they frequently went to. It had become something of a tradition for the four of them to grab drinks and greasy bar food on Friday nights. It was a good way to wind down from the week and catch up with one another, which wasn't always possible during the week considering how busy they all were.

Natasha nodded her head, taking a sip of the drink in front of her. "Just like that. Stark didn't ask for a resume, my qualifications, anything. He just took Nick's word for it that I was good enough for this job."

"I didn't even know that we were merging with Stark Industries. I can't believe he didn't tell me," Maria said, shaking her head.

"I got the impression that it's supposed to be pretty hush-hush until I meet with the Stark Industries representative and we start working out exactly how this all is going to go down," Natasha replied. They all paused their conversation for a moment as their waitress brought over their food. It wasn't until they'd all murmured their thanks to the waitress and gotten a few bites into their respective meals before Wanda spoke.

"So, what do you know about this guy that you're going to be working on this with? Did Fury or Stark say much about him? Do you even know his name?"

"Um, Steve Rogers. I don't really know that much about him yet. Stark said something about him being ex-military." She paused and laughed, "his exact words were actually 'ex-military. All-American good guy.'" She shrugged as she plucked one of the fried pickles out of the basket from the center of the table.

"Damn, he's going to have a rough time working with you then," Clint teased.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'm sure there's more about him in the file that Stark gave me. I'll have to look it over before I head out there on Monday. I'm also supposed to get together notes to leave for Rumlow since he'll be acting in my position while I'm doing all of this other stuff."

"Rumlow?" They all called in unison, varying degrees of disgust coloring their faces at the mention of his name.

"Unfortunately, he's a junior executive in my department, which means he gets to take over while I'm gone."

Wanda groaned, "I hate working with Rumlow. He makes me so uncomfortable."

Clint threw and arm around her, "if he gives you too much trouble, you let me know. I'd love a reason to put him in his place."

Maria guffawed, tossing her head back as she did. "Now that's something that I would pay to see."

"Don't worry about it Wan, I'm only going out for a couple of days this time. I'm supposed to meet Rogers, get a tour of Stark Industries, we'll make a game plan for how we want to proceed, and I'll be back. Besides, I doubt I'll be itching to spend time out there, especially if this guy is as much of a boy scout as Stark says he is." Natasha put her hands down on the table and pushed herself up, tossing the group a mischievous smile as she did so. "Now, to the important stuff. Next round of drinks is on me. We're celebrating tonight, after all!"


At 7:30 the next morning, Natasha found herself sitting on one of the bar stools in her kitchen while she nursed a steaming cup of coffee and an awful hangover. She silently cursed Clint for knowing just what buttons to push to get her to convince her to drink way more than she needed to (Come on Tash, aren't you supposed to be Russian? I thought Russians could hold their alcohol). After allowing herself a few minutes to sulk about the fact that she was awake, she pulled her laptop over to her so she could get working on the notes Rumlow would need when she left for New York. She'd be damned if she came back to find her department a mess because of his incompetence.

Once she was satisfied with the detail in her instructions, she pushed the laptop aside in favor of grabbing the cream-colored file folder closer to her. She hesitated for a moment, shaking off her slight apprehension about this being some kind of breach of privacy and reassuring herself that the guy had probably seen everything that was put in the folder, just like she had when Stark took a file of her own back for Steve to look over. She flipped open the front cover and immediately dove in to the information.

Name: Steven (Steve) Grant Rogers.

Age: 30.

Education: West Point. Major: Business. Minor: Art. Graduated from West Point at the top of his class.

Special Forces. Served with the Howling Commandos in the Army. Honorable Discharge at 25.

Natasha hummed to herself, her eyebrows furrowing as she re-read the information. She had to admit, she was already impressed. While she didn't know much about the military, she did know that getting into West Point was exceptionally difficult and to graduate at the top of his class was formidable to say the least. She was curious about his honorable discharge, but she figured that since the information wasn't in the file, it wasn't something he wanted to share, at least not immediately. She took another sip of her coffee before diving back in.

She read that he was fluent in English, Gaelic, French, and Spanish. Again, she found herself impressed, if not a little proud that she's fluent in more languages than him. There were some more basics in there about him. Things like when he started at Stark Industries, his promotion dates, accolades he's collected within the company (as well as some from outside the company). She flipped over the last page to find a small picture of what she assumed was Steve with Tony. She picked the picture up to examine it further.

Steve was positively handsome. He had these gorgeous blue eyes that looked like they probably could pierce through her soul. On top of that, he had a crooked smile that had Natasha smiling to herself over. That wasn't even taking into account the promising outlines of muscle thinly veiled by the tux that he was wearing. Natasha would bet her (considerable) salary that while that tux was doing wonders for him, he'd look just as good, if not better, in just a t-shirt and jeans. She mentally scolded herself for ogling him, while simultaneously wondering if the picture that was chosen for her file did her enough justice.

Placing the picture safely back in the folder, she grabbed the final piece of paper which had been carefully folded in half. Natasha looked it over, noting that the paper was different from the others within the folder. She unfolded it, noting that the page was handwritten, the careful press of pen leaving indentions in the paper. This piece seemed to have been torn out of a notebook of some kind, almost as if it had been added to the folder as an afterthought.

"Ms. Romanoff, I am thrilled to hear that you and I will be working together through this merger process. Both Mr. Fury and Mr. Stark talk so highly of you and your skills, so I'm pleased to hear that you'll be joining our team. Have a safe trip out here. If you have any questions or anything before Monday, my number is below. See you soon! -SGR"

Natasha found herself smiling at the note. She had to admit that it was a really nice gesture. She sighed, setting the note down in front of her. Stark was right, she hadn't even met the guy yet, and she already found herself intrigued and liking him. Grabbing her phone from its place beside her, she unlocked it, immediately going to her messages and inputting his number. She paused for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip as she tried to decide what she should say to him. Eventually, she decided that she should just go with something simple.

Hi Mr. Rogers, this is Natasha Romanoff. I just wanted to say thank you for the note that you left in your file. I'm excited to join your team and have heard good things about you, too!

After a slight hesitation, she pressed send. She smiled to herself, proud of the amount of work she'd already gotten done. She looked back down at her phone, seeing that it was only 8:15 in the morning. Immediately the smile fell from her face. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought. She unlocked her phone again and quickly typed out a message.

I am so, so, so sorry for messaging you so early. Different time zones and everything. I didn't even realize it'd only be like 5 a.m. there. I'm so sorry if I woke you.

She pressed send again feeling better for a moment before groaning and dropping her head on the countertop. Good going Romanoff, if you didn't wake him the first time, you probably woke him this time. Stupid. She was lightly banging her head against the cool marble of her countertop when her phone dinged.

You didn't, don't worry (: I'm usually up by this time.

Natasha breathed out a sigh of relief, knowing that she didn't wake him, but surprised to hear that he's usually up at such an ungodly hour. She was just about to type out her response when she got another message.

Also, it's Steve. Hearing Mr. Rogers reminds me of old men in sweaters and cardigans.

Natasha laughed out loud, a bright smile on her face as she hunched over her phone slightly and responded.

Oh, so you're not an old guy in a sweater? That's what you look like in this picture Tony sent. And it's Natasha.

She only had to wait a few moments before his response came in.

He didn't.

Another second later, her phone buzzed again.

Please tell me he didn't.

Another second, another message.

Natasha, please tell me you're joking.

Natasha grinned, she fingers swiftly moving over the keypad.

I'm joking (: But something tells me it wouldn't be the first time he did that?

Natasha got up and put her coffee cup in the sink. She had just sat back down when the next message came in.

It's an ongoing problem. You SURE you want to take this job? ;P

Grabbing her phone, Natasha walked into her room to ready herself for a bath and grabbing some ibuprofen. She sent a message off to Clint, telling him that she would meet him at their usual spot later in the day for dinner, before responding to Steve.

Oh, I'm sure I can suffer through it. (;


The rest of the day carried on much like that, Steve and Natasha texting each other back and forth, getting to know each other a little better. She now knew things about him that weren't in his file. Like that he was born and raised in Brooklyn. His favorite food is his Mom's stew, though he also would never turn down burgers or steak. She also found him to be quite funny, making her laugh or smile on more than one occasion, something that she found surprising.

The next morning, Natasha woke up at 7:45, knowing that she had a lot to do that day to get ready to head to New York. She rolled over in her bed and plucked her phone off of her night stand to see that she already had a text from Steve.

Good morning! Got everything in order for your trip tomorrow?

Natasha couldn't help the small smile that came to her face. That was another thing she'd already noticed about Steve, he was unfailingly sweet and kind. She did frown a little when she saw that the message had come in around 7. Didn't the guy ever sleep?

Well good morning to you too! I think so, I think all that's left is for me to pack and double check the flight details that Stark sent me. I have to ask though, what on earth are you doing up at 4 a.m.?

She laid in bed for a while, scrolling on her phone before deciding that she should stop wasting time and get started with her day. Crawling out of bed, she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and run a brush through her hair. After she was satisfied with that, she grabbed the dirty laundry that was scattered throughout her room and tossed it into her clothes basket. Setting it on her hip, she plucked her phone off of its place on her nightstand and headed out into the living room. She set the clothes basket down on the counter in the kitchen to get some coffee started. After she had tossed in the laundry and poured herself a cup of coffee, she sat herself on one of the stools in her kitchen. She checked her phone a few times, finding that Steve hadn't messaged her back yet, and moved on with her other tasks. Natasha set about making herself a checklist of the things she would need to pack to take with her, but found herself continuously glancing at her phone, hoping that it would light up with a message from Steve. At that realization, she chided herself. He's your co-worker, Romanoff. Don't even go there. You don't even know this man.

Forty-five minutes later, the washer sounded, and Natasha quickly got up to turn it over and put in a new load. When she came back into the kitchen, her eyes immediately went to her phone, she sighed inwardly before reaching out and picking it up. To her surprise, there was a notification of two new messages from Steve. Willing herself not to smile, she opened them.

Morning person. Always have been. Plus, it's a nice time to get in a run.

I'm pretty sure you're taking the Stark Industries jet. Do you know who's picking you up from the airport?

Natasha furrowed her brows and pulled her computer over to her. She hurriedly searched through her mailbox for the email from Tony with her flight information on it. Sure enough, Tony said she would be flying out on his personal jet and that a car would pick her up at the airport to take her immediately to SI. He'd have one of his assistants drop her things off at the hotel she'd be staying at nearby.

Just checked the email, you're right. The jet leaves at 8:30 my time and I should be landing in NY around 8:30 your time. He's sending a car to pick me up.

She paused for a moment before smiling and sending another message.

Morning people are unnatural, you know that? Morning people that go for runs? Even more so. I bet you don't even drink coffee.

Moments later, she had another message from him.

Hmm. What would you say to grabbing breakfast at this little diner close to Stark Industries?

Her phone buzzed again as she read the message.

With me. I should've clarified that.

Grabbing breakfast, with me.

I could just come with the car to pick you up at the airport and we could grab a bite before heading to SI.

If you wanted.

If you don't that's fine, too.

Please don't feel pressured to.

The messages had come in one after another. Natasha giggled to herself, she didn't even have to see him to know that he was probably fairly flustered.

Hmmmmm, I don't know….. with you? I suppose I could suffer through that, as long as this place has some good waffles ;P

There was a split second where Natasha was worried that he might not understand that she was joking, but those fears were squelched when she read his reply.

Oh, Stan's has the absolute best! I promise they'll be more than enough to make up for dealing with me :P

And for the record, no. I'm not a coffee person, never liked the taste.

Natasha rolled her eyes, her lips turning up.

Well, if these waffles are as good as you say they are, I may be inclined to overlook the fact that you aren't human.

The conversation went on like that throughout the day. No matter how many times Natasha tried to stop herself from checking her phone, smiling at his stupid jokes, and wanting to know more about him, she couldn't. He's just being nice because he's your co-worker, she kept reminding herself. Despite repeating that as a mantra in her head, she struggled to tamp down the butterflies that had found their way into the pit of her stomach. They hadn't even met, and she was already in trouble. That night, as she fell asleep, even she couldn't deny that the smile on her face and the excitement in her veins was all because of Steve Rogers.


Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm still super busy, but I was in need of some time to decompress and found myself using this story to do that. Hopefully I will have more chapters for all of my works in progress soon!

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