Chapter 4

"And you know Sam, she practically didn't talk to me for a week, going around the tower sulking about it," Steve stated smugly, only to be smacked by Natasha, who was sitting right beside him on the Falcon's bed. "Hey! What was that for?" He turned his head back annoyed.

"Seriously Steve? You just said the Black Widow sulks man, what'd you expect?" Sam took her side, earning a nod of agreement from her.

The two of them had made breakfast, and Sam had finally woken up, he still was pretty weak and in pain from the ordeals of yesterday, but he was doing okay, especially with Natasha having so much experience in dealing with gunshot wounds while on the run. There wasn't anything to worry as such, he would just take a couple of weeks to recover fully though, that was inevitable, they didn't have Dr. Cho's cradle underground now, did they?

And after checking up on his wound once again, the three of them shared an enjoyable but peaceful breakfast in Sam's room, reminiscing about old missions or sharing embarrassing stories and taunting each other (mostly by Steve and Natasha cause Sam wasn't strong enough to be his usual teasing self).

Steve stood up, taking the empty plates and glasses he headed out, and without looking back, he clearly stated, "don't you two start pairing up against me again," all while Sam and Natasha shared a knowing mischievous grin.

Boy, he knew them so well.

After enduring a bit of their teasing and cleaning the dishes alongside Natasha, Steve's mind wandered off, starting to figure out a plan for his team, figuring out the forthcoming couple of weeks.

Now that Sam was injured they'd have to wait at least a month before wading in their way into another set of explosions, though he knew Natasha and him could gather some intel and skim through whatever she had collected through their last mission.

And even though they did make it through, they were definitely overburdened with the technology the terrorist group was using and this time, he wanted them to be a step ahead, well prepared, maybe they could also bring in a little extra help from Wanda and be done with the few but the most significant last bits, finally bringing an end to the misuse of the Chitauri remnants.

"Steve where's your head at?" Natasha was standing beside him, the two of them were now placing the washed dishes back to their places.

"I was just thinking about what we are going to do now. I mean till Sam recovers. We could gather intel and set up our strategies, call in Wanda?"

"Yup. That's exactly about what our options are. Gather intel, definitely call in Wanda and oh, you forgot one," she said, making him look up at her tilting his head, questioning, "staying alive." To which his response was a simple smile.

"We need to get some supplies. We're practically out of food and meds. Thanks to Sam." She said the last bit rather loudly, wanting Sam to hear and, hear he did.

"You're blaming me for running out on your bandage supply?" came the cheeky response from his room, making both of them laugh, "you guys know that I just died, right?"

"So you're saying we go into the city to get them? I mean, I don't know Nat, with all the chaos that's already been going on, and we barely know the place and the language…I'm not even sure what it is really."

"We anyway need to have a look at the next bases' status and figure out their schedule. I'd say how about we club them both? I guess we'll manage with the place cause I can speak Persian and theirs is a close neighbor. I'll pull it off."

"Wow. Okay then, this is going to be our first mission, right? Where we're combining extracting information along with grocery shopping." He chuckled, making her smirk.

"In two days then?"

"Yeah. That sounds like a plan." Steve rolled his eyes, knowing that it sounded way more easy than is actually going to be, but with Natasha by his side, he wasn't particularly worried; finishing off with the dishes and before heading off, he lightly ruffled her hair playfully, just like he always did when he wanted to annoy her.

"Hey!" And Natasha was right, some things never really get old. Whether she was a red-head or a blonde, Steve would always mess with her hair to irritate her.

Two days later.

The two of them had the Quinjet parked a couple of miles from one of the biggest bases they'd had to deal with, trying not to gather any significant attention in the alienated area.

Their mission had followed smoothly, just as they had planned, they sneaked inside the intricate base without getting noticed, getting the major information they required from there: the level of their technologically enhanced Chitauri weapons, their dealings with previous bases the trio had destroyed, a brief layout of the current base they were in along with an estimate about their size, both in terms of men and weapons.

There was one moment of panic when they had been noticed by a group three men but, before they could raise an alarm, the duo treated them perfectly, just as they deserved and after that, they not just rather swiftly made their exit, but they also 'borrowed' one of the jeeps without gathering any suspicion.

They were two of the most famous Shield agents for a reason after all, their agility, coordination and meticulous planning skills were known to many in the world by now, soon it would be the members of this bases' turn to experience it.

They headed to one of the main markets in the city to get some grocery first, after which they had decided to head to some local chemist shop to get the medicinal requirements they needed. That would be a little more challenging because the kind of requirements they had in terms of dealing with their superhero-sized wounds would definitely raise suspicion and they didn't have any prescription too.

They were relying on bribing some local shopkeeper to provide them with the drugs and medicines, but that they decided to figure out later, right now they were in a crowded open marketplace figuring out what all they'd need.

Natasha had gotten friendly with one of the shopkeepers in the vast open market, pretending the two of them were an American couple, here to travel as a part of their mission to see the world together. She impressed him by making him believe that she had tried to learn a bit of their language whereas in reality both she and Steve could get the gist of what they were speaking because their's was a language closely related to Russian and Persian. While Steve only new the former, Natasha knew both like the back of her hand. She sneaked out some of the information about local chemists from him rather quickly.

"I've definitely heard a lot about the Kabuli Pulao," she showed her appreciation to him in a broken but utterly convincible language.

They continued engaging in light conversation while Steve, though not actively involved, continually nodded his head, whereas his mind elsewhere, especially when he saw a boy, must be around 10 years old. His gaze was lost and he looked like he was scared to death. He clung on to the half jacket he wore with his life as if he was sneaking something away.

Steve's eyes met his for a brief period, and almost instantaneously he hid his suspicion towards the boy and put a compassionate and soft expression, prying his secret subtly but gently out of him. The boy, for a very brief second, loosened his hold on his vest, revealing a complex set of wires beneath and to a mind trained like Steve's, it didn't take long to realize what was going on.

Steve's eyes suddenly moved up towards the neighboring buildings that were surrounding the open market space and very swiftly, he noticed snipers with their aim on the boy. Two words flashed in his head: Suicide bomber. But he was definitely unwilling to do it, to have revealed himself to Steve, his terror distinctly visible to him.

"Nat!" His hushed a whisper, gaining her full attention. A little point through his eyes along with him mouthing those two same words to her brought her pretty close to what was going on.

"He's scared." He further added.

"Figures. The snippers wouldn't have been there otherwise."

"You're gonna have to deal with the snippers. I've gotta get the boy, he trusts me."

She glanced a look at the two distant buildings that had them placed. "Alright. I'm gonna head to my right one first. 3 minutes. Keep him occupied and don't grab any attention, Rogers." She ran away, without spearing him another look. The both of them ignored the bafflement of the shopkeeper, knowing that it would soon be answered. There was going to be chaos soon. There almost always is, around them.

Natasha quickly made her way inside the building, attacking every single man she saw armored, making her way to the top floor. And one inside, even though she just had one of her guns, she easily shot him, startling almost each and every one of them, coming in like a storm, not sparing them a second to react or even realize what was happening before getting to them.

One he fell, she swiftly borrowed the large rifle that he had had and shot the sniper across, on the other building. Steve, knowing it was his cue, huddled the boy along with him in an isolated alley, rapidly getting him out of his vest, followed by the jacket that contained the bomb. The boy was almost shivering, his shudders both from fear and relief taking over. Steve could see the timer, 5:53. He sighed, enveloping the small boy in a brief hug after which telling him to sit beside. Steve was pretty sure that the boy was about to pass out but never the less, he continued his task, beginning to defuse the bomb.

At the same time, as Steve had thought, there was chaos in the marketplace with all the shooting going around. Natasha's building was pretty much empty but she had gathered significant attention from the opposite one and now was full-fledged engaging in combat.

In a couple of moments, Steve was done with the bomb, somehow managing to get through it, now he just had to get this boy to safety before joining Nat.

Simultaneously, Natasha was almost finished there, she too snuck in one of the alleys, avoiding the pouring members of the terrorist group from finding her. She ran inside, and all she could think at the moment was how she wished they'd had comms. But they didn't, and all she could do was hope she'd somehow find Steve and that he'd be okay.

He took the boy's hand and started off further in the alley, which had its complex structures of rights and lefts but both of them seemed completed alienated in the space.

Suddenly Steve heard footsteps. He hid behind the edge of the corner, holding the scared child close. One noise in moments like these and it all amounts to nothing.

Wanda and Vision stepped off their Quinjet, their hands filled with packets of supplies that Natasha and Steve had asked them to get. Entering their safe house for a moment both of them, who were chatting their way in, got startled, but right in the next moment the noise they'd heard easily got identified as Sam's hysteria.

The curious couple after placing the supplies on the table headed inside the room from where the noise was coming from, and though they already had a lot of questions to ask the trio, the sight in front of them made them only more bemused: Sam was almost crying, laughing so hard, Natasha was fuming and Steve was embarrassed but somehow still trying to control the situation, preventing Natasha from hurling pillows at Sam, while telling him to shut up.

"Um…hi?" Wanda was initially ignored by all except Sam, "oh my god! I feel so bad for you guys. You two just missed witnessing the most hilarious sight ever: Captain America and Black Widow performed horizontal Tango h-" before he could complete his face met with another pillow. "You're gonna shut up now."

What actually happened was while Steve was preparing dinner he had accidentally spilled some oil but couldn't find a rag, so he went around looking for one, but till the time he returned, Natasha was already nearing that spot and about to slip. He had rushed up and attempted to stable her but he himself started to fumble and then she tried to steady him but the two of them, losing balance, clumsily fell together and Sam with his door open had a great view of this and had been teasing the duo ever since.

In actuality though, Natasha was this raging mad because of how she felt when the two of them fell. She was directly on top of him, their faces inches apart, and even though she had been pretty close to him in a lot of previous missions, she had even kissed him, but this time it made her feel a little too different altogether.

The thoughts she had had the morning after their long conversation the previous nights had taken over once again. After their clumsy fall, it wasn't just desire she felt, it was so much more. Though her eyes did move to his lips a couple of times, but she also just wanted to snuggle up with him, holding him close, for being adorable enough to run towards her to prevent her from falling, for the way his soft baby blue eyes always made her feel wrapped around in the warmth of a cocoon and for his innocent yet astonishing sense of humour, one that expanded from dry humour to witty retort.

He'd kept her alive and given her the slight sense of hope that she too could someday have a life worth living, one that she could genuinely call hers, and where she could be a little selfish and not feel guilty about it.

But then she was pulled out of her mirage-like thoughts. The reality of who she actually was knocked her down once again, reminding her of her past, realizing how she couldn't deserve the pureness that was just inches away from her at that moment. And Sam's laughter to her represented the physical, audible jibe at her for even letting the thoughts of such a future enter her mind.

"Calm down, Nat. It's okay. Guys, I'd just spilled a little oil and we slipped. And Sam do you seriously want to annoy us right now? We've had a really long day, and unless you wanna sit your ass down this bed for longer than your gunshot wounds require, I'd suggest you'd better keep your mouth shut."

The entire room fell quiet for a moment. Steve had just taken his Captain America tone, Sam looked like a kicked, lost puppy and Wanda and Vision shared the look that they used to when Steve or Natasha got super mad during a training session.

Natasha breaking out of her state of consistent, incessant anger, realized just how childish she had been behaving. Suddenly she smirked, "that's not how you're supposed to talk to others, Cap. Gosh, where are your manners?" And the entire room burst out in laughter, including Steve who while trying to give her a look, failing miserably though, he couldn't help but chuckle.

The five of them were eating dinner at the dining table. Sam still couldn't entirely walk but Steve helped him, and the distance wasn't much anyway. Steve and Natasha were telling them what all had actually happened during their incredibly long day.

"Wait…wait…wait. So I'm confused. This just happened randomly? Out of nowhere in a completely jam-packed market?" Wanda asked, utterly disgusted by the reality of the situation.

"I feel extremely sorrowful for that child," Vision added.

"Yeah. He was petrified the entire time, and when I heard footsteps I felt like his shudders were going to land us in more trouble, but the moment heard Natasha's voice I felt so relieved." Turning his head in her direction, he lightly joked, "you almost scared the life out of me with those precise footsteps. If I didn't have super soldier hearing, I'd bet I couldn't make out the noise." Natasha smirked at that.

"Oh, I can still easily get you old man."

"So what happened to the boy?" Someone asked.

"The shopkeeper. As clichéd as it sounds, both the boy and the shopkeeper recognized each other, claiming that the shopkeeper is his father's old friend."

"So you two had a complete Hollywoody adventure? The power couple kicks ass once again," Sam teased, earning a glare from the them, he sighed and backed down, "oh c'mon man."

"But thank you guys for bringing all of this stuff. Sam here had been hogging up all of our supplies." Natasha's retort made him groan, "you guys know I just died right!?" Making all of them chuckle at his expense once again.

The former Avengers continued laughing and teasing each other throughout dinner. It was as if they were back at the compound, each of them felt oddly satisfied, knowing how much they had missed this and though except Vision, all of them were on Steve's side, there was absolutely no grudges or hesitances. They all had, in the time they'd spent away from each other, realized their own mistakes but also the inevitability of what had happened.

It was going to be well spent night for sure, and even though Vision had to leave the very next morning to get back to the compound, following his deal with Tony to return after spending the few months with Wanda, he couldn't feel more at home with all of them present.

A/N - Hiii guys! I know this chapter's a tad bit smaller than the others but I promise the next one's surely gonna be longer and I'm planning to write a good major flashback scene for it, so do you guys think that'll be good? It won't be from the movies but I hope it'll come out well and you all would like it. Also, let me know what are your thoughts on this chapter. Are you enjoying reading this fic? Any suggestions are welcome so please review guys! Thank you so much for reading!