A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone! I'm going to try and update this one and all of my ongoing stories on Sundays! Please don't forget to fave, follow, and review to let me know what you guys think!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Katherine Howlett!

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As soon as the couple stepped into the party, they were separated. Katherine was never much of a party-er, much less a people person but she'd found her nitch with the institute and the Avengers. She smiled at people who smiled at her and said hello. She stopped briefly to talk to mutual friends of all of the Avengers as well as some people Katherine didn't even know but that's Tony Stark for you. She tried to be nice and polite to everyone. She had been in the party for about thirty minutes and Katherine was trying to figure out a way to excuse herself from an older military man when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around, smiling when she saw Sam standing there. She hugged him before turning to the man she was just talking to. She excused herself to walk over to the pool tables with Sam, where Steve was waiting.

"Thank you." She said, linking her arm with Sam's when he offered it. "I was trying to come up with a nice way to excuse myself."

"I could tell." The man said, smiling at her. "The look on your face just screamed, help me!" She chuckled and nudged him gently with her arm.

"Hey you." She said, releasing herself from Sam and walking the last few steps towards Steve. The man smiled when he saw her, wrapping his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. She leaned up, silently asking for a kiss to which Steve complied. She chuckled slightly when she pulled away; his lips were a very subtle shade of red. Sam was chuckling behind them.

"That's a good color on you." Katherine smiled wider as she used her thumb to try and swipe the color off. "You two up for a game of pool?" Sam asked as he racked the balls.

"I'm game." Katherine answered with a smile.

"Me too." Steve said, picking up a pool que. Katherine watched as the game went on until the very end. They both had one ball left but Steve's shot was harder. "Can you make that shot?" Steve asked the brunette beside him. She walked around the table, looking for the best angle before stopping and leaning down.

"I think so." Steve handed her the que and watched as she lined up the shot.

"I'm telling you Steve. She's as hot as fire." Sam said watching the woman. Steve chuckled. Katherine could admit it, she felt hot. She could feel the extra eyes on her not just from Steve and Sam but from the other partygoers.

"Don't I know it." Steve said. She made the shot, sinking the ball easily. As she straightened she heard Sam.

"Wait a second? What is that? Is that a ring on her finger?" He questioned. "Are you serious?!" He asked excitedly. Katherine looked over and saw Sam and Steve hugging. She could see the flush working its way up her finance's neck.

"Yeah, we've been engaged for about a year just slowly planning it piece by piece as we got the chance." Steve said, smiling as he wrapped an arm around Katherine's shoulder and pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Come on Princess, let me see it." Sam said, holding out his hand. Katherine smiled at the name before she placed her hand in Sam's allowing him to see the ring. He gently turned her hand this way and that as he looked.

"This is nice." Sam said. Steve leaned his head against hers.

"Yeah, it's similar to my mother's ring. I remembered a lot about it and got this one custom made to be as similar as I could remember." He said, looking at the ring as Sam continued to admire it. Katherine reached over with her free hand and patted Steve's chest, feeling the man smile against her head.

"Well, you did a mighty good job my friend. I'm very impressed." Sam released her hand and pulled her into a hug. She chuckled but hugged the man back. "Congratulations sweetheart."

"Thank you Sam." She said, pulling away from the man and offering him a bright smile.

"So since you guys have been planning this piece by piece I'm going to assume there isn't a date yet…" He asked and they both nodded.

"Nope." Katherine answered.

"And nobody else knows yet. We're waiting to tell everyone else when the party is over and it's just us." Steve said as they put down the pool ques and began walking towards the stairs.

"Your secret is safe with me." Sam said with a smile.

"Thanks." Katherine said.

"So what is the story about the scepter? I heard something about it from Barton but I didn't get the whole story." Sam said and Steve went about explaining everything that had happened during their mission to get Loki's scepter from Strucker. "Sounds like a hell of a fight. Sorry I missed it." Sam said when Steve concluded the story. As they walked up the stairs, Steve grabbed Katherine's hand, his fingers lacing with hers.

"If I had known it was gonna be a firefight, I absolutely would have called." Steve said to the other man.

"No, no. I'm not actually sorry." He said and Katherine chuckled. "I'm just trying to sound tough. I'm very happy chasing cold leads on our missing persons case. Avenging is your world." Sam said as the three of them came over to a glass wall that allowed them to look down at the party downstairs. "Your world is crazy."

"Be it ever so humble." Steve said with a fondness in his voice.

"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?" Sam asked taking a sip of his drink.

"I don't think we can afford a place in Brooklyn." Steve said, looking at the other man.

"But we do have a cute little place just outside of NYC, until we can save up enough for that place in Brooklyn." Katherine said, leaning her head against Steve's arm as she looked at Sam.

"Well, home is home, you know?" The man said before turning and looking back down at the party. Steve watched him for a moment before pressing a kiss to the stop of Katherine's head before turning to look at the party as well.

XXX

Katherine watched interested as Thor poured something in Steve's glass. He handed the glass to her to which she passed it to Steve. "I gotta have some of that." An older gentleman said to Thor, causing the three heroes to look up at him.

"Oh, no, no, no." Thor said to him, drawing Steve and Katherine's attention back to him. "See this… This was aged for 1,000 years in barrels built from the wreck of Grunhel's fleet." Thor poured some into her wine glass, just the tiniest bit, before passing back to her. She raised an eyebrow at the glass before smelling it. It didn't smell any different. She looked up at Steve who shrugged softly. "It's not meant for mortal men."

"Neither was Omaha Beach, Blondie." A war veteran said from where he was sitting on the couch beside Thor. "Stop trying to scare us. Come on." Thor turned to Steve and Katherine. The woman smiled and shrugged. Steve gave him a 'sure, why not' look. Thor tilted his head.

"Alright." He grabbed the man's glass and poured some into it before handing it back to him.

"Cheers." Katherine said, holding her glass out to the man.

"Cheers to you, pretty lady." He said before knocking back the drink. Katherine took a sip of hers. It honestly didn't taste any different.

XXX

Katherine leaned her head on Steve's shoulder as they swayed slightly to the soft music playing; she was relaying what she was hearing from Natasha and Bruce's conversation since she could hear it. "Come on." Steve said, making their way over to the bar. Katherine stepped behind it to grab a bottle of water and to get Steve another beer. She opened her water before popping the top off of Steve's beer. The man smiled as he watched her before taking the beer when she offered it to him. She glanced behind her as Natasha stepped around her. The redhead offered her a small smile before disappearing into the dwindling party. "It's nice." Steve said from where he was leaning against the bar, drawing Bruce's and Katherine's attention.

"What is?" Bruce asked, stammering at the beginning of his sentence.

"You and Romanoff." He answered.

"No, we haven't… That wasn't…" Bruce stumbled, trying to come up with something to say.

"It's okay. Nobody's breaking any bylaws." He said, chuckling softly at Bruce. Katherine smiled as she took a sip of her water. "It's just she's not the most open person in the world. But with you she seems very relaxed."

"No. Natasha, she's just… she likes to flirt." Bruce said, pointing in the direction that the redhead had gone.

"I've seen her flirt, up close." Steve said, grabbing his beer. "This ain't that." Bruce scoffed and Katherine came around the bar to follow the Super Soldier. "Look, as maybe the world's leading authority on waiting too long, don't. You both deserve a win." Bruce looks down and nodded. Steve smiled at him one last time before turning to Katherine and kissing her briefly. He smiled at her as he walked away, rubbing the lipstick from his lips for not the first time that night. Katherine placed her hand on Bruce's arm before something seems to click with the both of them.

"What do you mean "up close"?" They both asked at the same time, turning to look in the direction the other man had went.