Chapter two is up. Enjoy. Thanks for reading.


Cap A. POV

The next morning, I woke up at 5:30 AM with slight chest pains and difficulty breathing. I couldn't wrap my brain around why just the thought of going out was causing me to have a panic attack. I was frickin Captain America, for crying out loud. I had helped fight off Armies of humans and aliens, stood toe to toe with creatures that would cause others to wake-up screaming at night and here I was, panicking over going down the block for coffee. I knew we all had our fears, but this was just pathetic.

I got out of bed, took a long shower, got dressed in some of the 'modern' attire that Natasha had helped me buy and left the tower. It was just over a block and a half to the cafe and surprisingly, I felt good as I walked there. I used to make a habit of jogging outside, but after New York, I was much too recognizable and my outings usually drew more attention than I was comfortable with. I had gotten use to the treadmill at Stark tower.

Once I was in motion, however, I found my anxiety just evaporated. It was only when I allowed my brain to over think that I started to worry. I'd really have to work on not thinking so much.

I was in an excellent mood when I walked through the door of the cafe. It was relatively empty. There was a young man working on a laptop computer in the corner, slowly sipping his coffee and a middle aged woman reading a newspaper by the door. The place was quiet and smelled wonderful. I was going to have to thank Natasha for convincing me to do this.

While I waited for my coffee to be poured, I was regretting not bring my morning paper. This would have been a very nice place to sit and enjoy it. The man behind the counter recognized me, but didn't make a fuss about it. He merely told me he was a fan, thanked me for my service during the invasion and moved on. I signed an autograph for his son, thanked him for the coffee and turning to leave. I bumped into a young woman on my way out.

"Excuse me." I said politely.

"Not a problem, no harm done." She replied as I exited.

Well, that wasn't so bad, I said to myself as I walked home. I got a nice walk, got my coffee and even interacted with a random person.

It wasn't quite 7AM when I got back to the tower. I went into the kitchen to find Natasha sitting at the table in her pajamas, sipping a cup of tea and reading the entertainment section of the paper. Clint sat next to her, reading the cartoon page. He looked a bit disheveled, still wearing his mission gear. His bow and quiver full of arrows were at the end of the table.

"Wow, just getting back from your mission?" I asked the very tired looking man.

"Yeah, I was going to go right up to my floor, but I noticed Natasha down here being all perky and bright eyed, so I figured I'd take a few minutes to bother her."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Well, you can consider me sufficiently bothered. You may go to bed now."

Clint put the paper he was reading down and jumped up from the table, as if he had been waiting for her permission to leave. "Well, it's about time. I was wondering when you'd get fed up with me enough to tell me to leave." He picked up his weapons and headed to the elevator. "Night."

He was on the elevator and gone before we could reply. I chuckled to myself. Natasha and Clint acted like siblings most of the time. They harassed and picked at each other, but they also had each other's backs and trusted each other more than anyone else. Sometimes I wondered if there had ever been anything between them, romantically speaking. I doubted it, but sometimes something would pass between them when they thought no one was looking and it made ya wonder. I never had the balls to ask. Even I wasn't that brave.

I sat down at the table with Natasha, picking up the sports section.

"So, how'd it go?" She asked, taking a slow sip of tea and putting down her paper, so I could have her full attention.

"It was good." I replied happily. "You were absolutely right. I have no idea why I was acting so pathetic about the whole thing. I might just make it a part of my normal routine.

"That's great." She said, getting up from the table. She tossed her tea bag into the garbage and placed her cup in the dishwasher. "Now I'm going back to bed. I just wanted to make sure everything went alright with you. I was having a hard time sleeping in with it on my mind." She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "I'll talk to ya in a few hours."

Before the elevator door closed, I called back to her. "Natasha?"

She held her hand between the doors.

"Thanks." I said. She simply smiled at me as she allowed the doors to close.

If the rest of the world knew just how sweet the Black Widow could be, they wouldn't fear her as much.

That is until she kicked their asses.

To Be Continued…