Chapter Two – Finders Keepers

"This is really good, how'd you know about this place?"

Elaine grinned as she watched Steve take a massive bite from his steak, groaning slightly in delight as he did so. She had ordered herself a steak and was in the process of cutting up, eating it slowly.

"Sarah, the employee at my shop, recommended it. She says her boyfriend loves it here, so thought it might be a great place to try. I'm glad you're liking it. The steak just melts, hey?"

Steve nodded as he swallowed. She thought it was funny as he was a little confused, and maybe even a little grossed out when she had gotten her steak blue rare. But if she was going to eat a steak, she might as well get it as rare as possible. The food itself tasted great, but she knew that even if she felt full, she couldn't get any of the nutrients from the meal. The venom would break down the food completely, taking nothing and she would have to feed later on tonight.

She had also picked this restaurant because it was further from the Stark Tower. She was right that Damien was entirely pissed she was taking it as far as she was, but when you're alone for centuries, being around someone felt amazing.

The 'date' was going well. They could talk and laugh, ask questions that got to know each other more without revealing anything too deep.

Still, something was missing and Elaine couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe it's been too long since she's been on a date? Was it because everything about them was fake since they were both hiding things from each other?

They walked through Central Park, enjoying the beautiful weather. They were currently debating who was more iconic; Ella Fitzgerald or Louis Daniel Armstrong.

"Oh man, I might have to ban you from the Café if you insist on Armstrong."

Steve laughed as she shook his head. "C' mon, he has so many classics!"

"Shh, Steve. I will hear no more of this nonsense from you." Elaine said with a wag of her finger at him. Steve laughed softly once more, his eyes softening as they continued to walk. He looked downwards to see his gloved hands swinging lightly by her side. His tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth as he made the decision to grasp her hand, his palm sliding softly against her palm, but before he could fully lace their fingers together, Elaine pulled back.

Steve pulled away immediately as he looked at her. "Oh, god, I'm so—I'm sorry. I thought—"

Elaine shook her head quickly at him. "No, Steve—it's not that. I'm..." She paused, pursing her lips together as she crossed her arms to hide away her hands. "I'm just...a really private person, Steve. What we have now—it's good. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do to move on from friendship."

Steve gave her a small slanted smile and nodded. "Alright, I get that. But...do you see me as anything else other than a friend?" He watched as Elaine tilted her head as if to consider his question.

She stared into his blue eyes with her own light brown eyes. He always thought that her brown eyes reminded him of a latte on a rainy day, it was warm and kindness seeped through when she looked at him.

"I could," Elaine finally says, not elaborating anymore as she turned straight forward again and continued walking.

Miraculously, the rest of night continued on as normal. Steve was dropping her back at the Café so she could get her car and relieve the babysitter she had gotten for Allison. Like a gentleman, Steve walked her to her car to ensure she would get in safely.

Elaine turned on her engine with the car starter, turning back to Steve. She did, she really did like Steve. He was funny, gentlemanly, and definitely not hard on the eyes. Yet for some reason, she felt like she couldn't take it to the next step. It wasn't like she hasn't dated humans before while keeping her secret. She couldn't understand.

"Thanks for coming out with me tonight," Steve said, almost too politely and it made Elaine chuckle.

"It was lovely, Steve." She replied, watching as Steve's eyes crinkled at the corners from smiling. She sighed wistfully. Stepping forward, she put her hand gently on Steve's cheek, tippy-toeing to kiss him softly on his cheek. His face immediately flushed red, traveling all the way up to the tips of his ears.

"Goodnight, Steve. See you later." With that, Elaine got into her car, driving off.

"Thanks again," Elaine said as she handed the money to the babysitter. The young lady waved it off and left. Allison was thankfully already put to the bed by the sitter and Elaine quietly checked on the young girl to make sure everything was fine. Once she was satisfied, she shut the door and made her way to the basement.

Down there, there was a fridge that had a lock on it. Once unlocked, she grabbed out a bag filled with blood in it. She used her teeth to tear the corner and tipped the bag into her mouth. After the long swig, she lowered the bag, sighing.

Suddenly, there was vibrating in her pocket and she pulled the phone out, answering it without even looking.

"Hey, Damien."

"How'd the 'date' go?" He immediately asked, a slight disapproving tone in his voice. Elaine didn't even dignify it with an answer. Instead, she took another mouthful of the blood bag.

"Do you have enough supply over there, Damien? If not, I'll send another shipment over from the hospital to you."

Damien makes a noncommittal sound, indicating he's fine, so Elaine moves on. "Any updates then? Not like you to call me to check on my dating life."

Damien snorts, "Only when I think it'll put you at risk. But, you're right. I do have something."

Elaine sat up, readjusting herself to sit straighter as she finished up the bag."

"Got two things for you. First, I've got some intel that HYDRA has an escapee. They call him The Winter Soldier, a man with a metal arm." Damien says as Elaine switches the phone to her other ear.

"Where was he last seen?"

"Europe, but looks like he's heading towards America."

Elaine hums. She had heard about HYDRA over the years, it was another organization that she needed to keep an eye on, lest she wanted to be caught by them. She never had to deal with them directly as to when they became a problem, Captain America came to be and 'handled' it.

Maybe that was the problem. It was difficult to be with Steve knowing she couldn't talk to him about anything. Was it guilt that was stopping her?

"Keep me updated on that situation. Let me know if you catch sight of him." Elaine said, getting up to throw out the empty bag before making her way to her private bar to pour herself a drink.

"Already surveilling. Second thing...I think I've found the descendants of Athanasia."

Elaine's grip slipped slightly, slipping the liqueur out of her glass slightly.

"What?" She breathes out shakily.

"They're in Sokovia. I'm waiting for a little more intel to come in."

"Send me everything you have and the second you get more." Elaine breathes steadily, wiping the spilled liqueur and resumed her pouring.

With nothing left, Damien hangs up.

Athanasia...

Flashes of silk and a peal of feminine laughter passed through her. Elaine quickly shut it out and downed her drink.

"Everyone clear on what their duties are?"

With a collective yes, Fury had ended the meeting. The aftermath of the invasion was still affecting many people. Tony had set up a foundation for families who were directly affected by the invasion and donated millions. Bruce had a side research assignment for SHIELD while helping with cleanup when he could. Thor had left immediately with Loki and they were unsure when he would return. Steve was doing a lot of interviews and press reviews to help the Avengers look better in the public's eye. As Nat and Clint were spies, they needed to keep unknown to the public, so Nat went back to being Pepper's PA, and Clint, well Clint left.

Steve was already leaving, thinking about heading over to the Café to see Elaine. He didn't have anything scheduled until tomorrow and he had a feeling after that, he would be tied up for a while. As he was walking down the hall, Natasha came up next to him and fell in step.

"Where are you heading to?" She asks casually.

"Just out."

"To the place you've been mysteriously disappearing to every day for the last two weeks?"

Steve looked surprised. "Not every day..."

He looks around to make sure no one else is there. A part of him was still wary about Natasha, but she trusted her and she trusted him.

"I met a girl at a Café two weeks ago, you know, when Bruce recommended me that book?" He says as he turned his attention back to her.

"Dating?" She says as if almost impressed by it.

Steve shook his head. "No, she doesn't know I'm Captain America. I mean, I took her out on a date last night, but starting to get that vibe she's not looking to date."

"Because she doesn't see you like that?" Natasha asked.

Steve rubbed the back of his head. "She doesn't not see me like that."

Natasha raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed but Steve waved it off. "It's fine. It's better like this for now, to take it slow and what not."

She looked like she wanted to say more, but before she can ask anything else, an intern interrupts them saying she needs Steve.

Natasha stopped walking, clicked her tongue as she tapped her foot and looked at Steve walking off with the intern.

Steve wasn't able to visit Elaine for a few days due to all the PR he had to do, but now that he was back, he planned and seeing her right away. The moment he entered; he noticed a familiar redhead sitting with Elaine.

There Natasha was, sitting at a table with Elaine, drink in her hand as they chatted away. He furrowed his brows and frowned as he walked over to them, grabbing their attention. Natasha smirked at him and he gave her a look. Elaine called out to him and he nods his head at her but turned to Natasha.

"What are you doing here?"

Elaine looks surprised as she looks between the two of them. "Oh, you know Miss Rushman here?"

"Natalie," Natasha corrected. Steve gave her another look that she shrugs off.

"We're acquaintances," she explains easily, keeping Steve's secret. Elaine hums a small 'o,' and it's silent again. It seems almost tense for a second before Natasha gets up, stating she's got to go back to work.

"It was great meeting you, Natalie. Come by again for life-changing coffee." Elaine bids her goodbye, getting a brief smile from the redhead.

Once Natasha is gone, Elaine turns back to Steve. "Your acquaintance is nice."

Steve only laughed awkwardly.

He had his peaceful hour with Elaine before leaving. When he got back to the tower, he found that it was only him, Tony, and Bruce in the building.

It wasn't until late evening that Natasha returned.

"What the hell was that today?" Steve immediately asked, catching Natasha in the common area kitchen while no one else was around. It looked like Natasha had freshly showered and changed, coming in to get a late-night snack.

Natasha sighs as she faces Steve and uncrosses her arms. "Look, I'm sorry Steve, but I just want to make sure she's safe for you, okay?"

Steve's face softened and he was pacified by Natasha's underlying words that she cared about him and this came from a place of concern.

"So," he says after a moment. "What did you think?"

He watched as Natasha shifted, hesitating to tell him what she honestly thought, but with the look on his face, she knew better than to lie to him about it.

"There's something off about her," Natasha finally says, shifting her weight onto one foot and crossing her arms.

"Off about her?" Steve questions with a raise of his eyebrow. "Like...secretly..."

He had heard of Tony talking about his own past experiences before he had met Pepper. Something about aborting if it's a stage 5 clinger.

"No," Natasha replied, rolling her eyes slightly.

"I mean, she's hiding something."

There was a degree of surprise for Elaine when the Black Widow had shown up at her café. Though, she supposed it was bound to happen with Steve showing up as often as he was. She just expected it to be another Avenger.

When she heard about the Avengers Initiative starting up from Damien's intel, he has sent her files on the candidates. Natasha Romanoff's file, as expected, had nearly nothing in it. She got her birth name, occupation, and a really shoddy photo from a street camera.

This was going to be a problem, Elaine thought. Damien really would want her to disappear if the Black Widow was going to be involved. She would have to convince Damien that disappearing would be even more suspicious and warrant the spy to look more deeply into her if she left without a trace. She just needed to be normal because even if she tried to look Elaine up, nothing out of the ordinary would come up anyways.

Elaine put on a friendly face as Natasha came up to the counter. "Hello, how what can I get you today?"

"Just looking for a little pick me up, but not something that will have my hands shaking." Her voice was husky and Elaine licked her lips.

"Sounds like a long day," Elaine said, starting to make the drink. She had a lot of customers who came through asking for something different like it was a bar, but she didn't mind.

There was a delicate but husky chuckle in return. "And it's not even halfway through."

"Name for the drink?"

"Natalie."

Elaine hummed quietly, writing on the cup in a cursive font.

There wasn't much more chatting after that as Elaine focused on making the drink. Natasha noticed right away walking in that Elaine was beautiful, there were no physical imperfections about her. Even the way her chestnut hair fell seemed to fall perfectly in place. She was about 5'3" and looked no older than 27. Natasha had also noticed the strip of flour on the girl's cheek.

"Guessing hectic day for yourself?" Natasha said, breaking the silence. She watched as Elaine's brows furrowed with her lip slightly jutted out in a pout as she looked at the redhead.

When Natasha pointed to her own cheek to mirror where it would be on Elaine, the girl quickly swiped the area with her gloved fingertip and then checked with a small laugh.

"Oh, yeah. My one and only employee has called in sick today. I'm starting to think I should hire another one."

Natasha tilted her head. "Oh, you own this place?"

"Sure do! I'm Elaine Vanderwood. Nice little shindig I got here, right?" Elaine grinned and Natasha smirked in return.

"I'll reserve my thoughts until I try the drink."

Elaine lightly laughed, putting the finished drink in front of the redhead. "Fair enough, but not to toot my own horn, but this drink is going to give you a happiness you'll never be able to achieve anywhere else. If that's the case, this tip jar could use some friends."

Natasha gave a friendly snort, not replying as she took a sip and immediately moaned involuntarily.

"Oh shit, is there crack in this?"

Elaine let out a burst of full laughter, the kind that reminded Natasha of a warm day in a meadow—whatever that means.

"No crack, unfortunately, but it will get you through the day without your heart going 100 miles a minute."

Natasha smiled slightly, pulling out a Benjamin and throwing it in the tip jar, clearly overpaying for the drink, but Elaine didn't say anything and grinned. The redhead looked around and found a lot of shelves with books on them on the other side of the café.

"Bookstore as well? Busy, busy, I see."

Elaine hummed. "Sort of. I don't really make people buy books here. There's a college nearby and I have a lot of students come here. I get a lot of textbooks and then let students rent them out. They book a security deposit on the book, which is 100% refundable provided the book isn't damaged."

"Quite the lucrative business you've got going on," Natasha said, mildly impressed and Elaine shrugged.

"Well, I'm not too sure what an accounting major would do with an Intro to Anthropology textbook if they had to keep it, so I guess everyone wins in this situation."

Somehow after that, they had moved over to the table to continue talking, most of it being light banter.

Still, Natasha found her odd. A master conversationalist recognizing that Elaine had the same skill, which meant that she was incredibly talkative, though there was nothing personal about their conversations. There was no asking where Natalie worked, or what she was doing around this neighborhood since she wasn't a regular. She could see this was not Elaine's goal to pry for information.

There was the thing with the gloves as well, but Natasha did not ask and Elaine did not explain even if she found Natasha staring.

After she left when Steve showed up, Natasha looked back at the café on the corner of the street.

She had to admit, she did not mind Elaine, she was cautious if anything. She could see why Steve would have a crush on the girl, but Elaine did not give any vibes that indicated to Natasha that she was a girl with a crush herself.

Still, Steve liked her and Steve was family.

And she would always protect her family.

A/N: Who do you think has more chemistry? Steve/Elaine or Natasha/Elaine? Send a review if you can :)