Chapter 10
Coulson ended Bucky's solitary confinement and he was allowed to roam the tower but unfortunately still not allowed to leave it. He and Nat visited him and trained with him on the gym floor. He could see how happy Bucky was that he could at least move around the tower freely. He didn't want to spar but he let Natasha teach him some yoga. Steve busied himself with weight lifting so he didn't get too distracted by Natasha's flexibility. Ever since she started to actually enjoy sex with him again and didn't just sleep with him to push him away, his libido was back at full force. Natasha bent and displayed her cute round ass to him, looked through her legs and smirked at him before she told Bucky to change his position.
After they showered and changed they went up to the roof to enjoy the nice weather. Natasha made him drag a lounger into the sun so she could sunbathe, he felt like her mother when he asked her if she applied SPF because her fair skin got so fast sunburn. She rolled her eyes and said yes and then laid down in her bathing suit (he had no idea she had taken one with her to the tower) and pulled her sunglasses down. She really looked breathtaking like this and he was itching to draw her. He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and walked back to Bucky who was sitting on one of those giant cushion chairs and sipping a beer. Steve was pretty sure it was his first one in decades. He took a seat next to Bucky and took a beer out of the cooler.
"I see things are better between you two now?"
"Yes. We talked and Nat went to a therapist."
"Dr. Garner?"
"No, Dr. Bakshi. He also works for SHIELD. She's working on herself."
"That's good. I'm glad she's getting better. She didn't deserve what HYDRA did to her." Bucky said grimly and sipped on his beer. His facial expressions changed and he smirked. "How is your sex life now? Better or is she still just using you for sex to distract her and you?"
He rolled his eyes and leaned back against the cushions. "I'm not talking with you about this."
His smirk got wider. "You don't have to. I heard you in the showers. You both sounded very...enthusiastic. I never thought you would have such a filthy mouth, Stevie!"
He knew he was as red as a tomato. "Shut up! You can be such an ass sometime, you know that?"
"You love me like this." Bucky said with a grin and drank his beer.
He left with Natasha when the sun was going down and she used his arm for support in the subway since she couldn't really comfortably hold onto the support strap in her flats. He leaned down from time to time to give her a short kiss.
She smiled up at him and then poked him with her finger into his pec. "I know you talked with James about me. About us, about our problems."
He felt immediately guilty again. "I'm sorry, Nat. I know I shouldn't ha-"
"It's okay. I'm glad you have someone to talk to. I'm not mad." Her finger circled his nipple through his shirt. "But I think some kind of punishment is in order." She gave him a heated look and he swallowed.
"Yeah? What kind?"
She smiled like a Cheshire cat. "You'll see when we're at my place."
He didn't see how spending the next hour or so with his face buried between her thighs was punishment but he'd do anything to make his girl happy and he personally loved to go down on her. Nat had teased him more than once with the claim that he had an oral fixation. He looked up at her and her eyes were closed, her skin was flushed and her small hands were grabbing the sheets beneath her. He sucked her clit into his mouth and she gave him a gasp that turned into a loud moan. He smiled and pressed his face harder into her sex. Maybe she had a point.
Much later that night she got out of bed, slipped the kimono on he got her ,because the colors of it fitted perfectly to her skin and hair, and came back with paper and pencils. He sat up on the bed and looked at her with curiosity.
"I want you to draw me like one of your French girls, Rogers."
"Really?" He'd drawn so many pictures of her, some even a bit sexy but never completely in the nude.
"Really." She put the drawing utensils on the mattress and let her kimono slide off her shoulders. "Only if you want to, of course."
He got out of bed and picked the notebook and pencils up. "I'd love to draw you, doll." She smiled and asked him how she wanted him to pose. He moved her a few times until he was happy. God, she was a goddess.
"You're so beautiful, Nat." He rasped out while he moved the pencil over the paper to capture her beauty and essence.
She blushed a little bit. "Thank you."
He didn't know how long he drew her because it had to be perfect but his sweet girl fell asleep and he joined her in the bed after he was done drawing her and covered her with the blankets. She made little sleepy noises and snuggled against him in her sleep. He kissed her head and fell asleep soon after.
He could tell that something was up by the way Natasha was acting all day. She was looking at him like she wanted to tell him something but she didn't know how. Did she change her mind and wanted to move in together after all? They were at the farmers market buying ingredients for dinner because Natasha asked him to teach her one of his mother's dishes. She had asked him with a cute blush on her face and told him that she wanted to be able to make something that reminded him of home. He had told her that she was his home which made her only blush harder. She didn't return to culinary school but she agreed to cook with him to learn a thing here and there. Not that he was a master chef himself but his ma taught him a few things.
Natasha wore one of her maxi dresses again and he noticed that she only wore them when she was with him. She walked a few steps in front of him and stopped at different booths to try things and bought different foods and put them in her basket. He didn't think she realized that most things wouldn't taste good together but he let her have some fun. She looked over her shoulder from time to time and smiled brightly at him. God, he was so in love with her, it was getting ridiculous. Natasha stopped at a cheese stand and the old man selling the cheese was flirting with her like there was no tomorrow. He knew he had no reason to be jealous but he still joined Natasha and put his hand on her waist to pull her against him.
"You found something, sweetheart?"
Natasha chuckled and pinched his ass, he tried his best not to react to it. "In fact I did, sweet cheeks." She pinched his ass again and smiled innocently at the old man. "I'd like a pound of mozzarella and half a pound of Saint André."
"Anything for the beautiful lady. I'll even give you a discount." He gave Nat a charming smile, the cheese and Steve paid for it. "Found yourself quite a gorgeous girl there, son."
Steve was pretty sure that he was older than the man but he was also glad that he didn't seem to recognize him. "I know."
He took her hand for the rest of the walk through the farmers market to scare off any men who thought they could flirt with his girl. "Why do men always have to hit on you?"
Natasha seemed amused. "You mean the man at the cheese stand? He didn't actually mean that! He flirted with the woman before me, too. And he gave us 10 % on the cheese."
He squeezed. "I know...It's just...And I know that you'll never cheat...It's just I hate the way men look at you. Like you're some piece of meat."
She made him stop and turned him to face her. "Just ignore them. I know I do. And have you ever noticed how women look at you?"
"Huh? No?" What was that supposed to mean? "I only look at you, Nat."
She smiled and tugged on his collar so he would lower his head because she was too small to reach his lips in her flats. She kissed him softly and he really wanted to go home to kiss her more and do other stuff that wasn't tolerated in public. "Good answer. But do you seriously not see how people look at you?" She put her hand on his face and turned his head into the direction of a group of women. They blushed and immediately looked away. "See? I'm sure they were saying filthy stuff about you. One more hungry stare and I would have had to go over there to mark my territory. Nobody gets their hands on my man except for me."
Possessive Nat really turned him on but he still needed to tell her that there was nothing to worry about. "There will never be someone else."
She smiled. "I know. I feel the same way about you. No one will ever compare to you."
They went to his place and to his disappointment Natasha did not walk into his bedroom but into the kitchen to start making his ma's lasagna. He couldn't stop imagining his ma teaching Nat to make her lasagna and them both teasing him to no end. Natasha was stirring the tomato sauce and he moved to stand behind her shoving her hair out of the way and started to kiss her neck.
"Stop that!" She chuckled but tilted her head to the side so he had better access. "I don't want to burn the sauce!"
"I thought women were masters of multitasking?" He mumbled against her skin and began to suck on her pulse point.
Natasha laughed but elbowed him and he stopped. "We'll have time for that later, Rogers."
He grinned and put the noddle plates into the baking dish while Natasha put the sauce in it. He pretended not to notice how she shoved half the mozzarella into her mouth instead of putting it on the lasagna. He sometimes wondered how so much food could fit into such a tiny person. He put the dish in the oven and set the timer.
"Okay, are you gonna tell me what's on your mind?"
"Huh?" Natasha was licking the sauce of the wooden spoon and he never thought he would find something like this as hot as he did.
"I feel like there's something you want to tell me but you don't know how."
She put the spoon back in the pot. "Am I that transparent? Yes, you're right. There is something..." She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him with big eyes. "Please don't get mad."
"Why would I-"
"I wanna work for SHIELD again."
His heart sank and he started to panic. SHIELD had sent her on that mission and then HYDRA had gotten their filthy hands on her. What if something like this happened again...What if she wouldn't come back to him one day at all? What if-
"Shh." She rubbed her small hands over his chest. "It's okay. What happened to me in East Europe won't happen again. I've worked for SHIELD for almost a decade and something like that only happened once to me. I talked to Bakshi and he said it's a good idea. It's like when you fall off a horse and they tell you to get back into the saddle. I will be fine."
"Okay. I can't tell you what to do." He kissed her deeply and made a decision for himself. "I will rejoin SHIELD."
"What? No, Steve. I know you're still pissed because of the...because of the whole Natalie Rushman thing."
"Doesn't matter. I'll come back under one condition..if you're okay with it. I want to be your partner."
"Are you sure this is what you want, Steve?"
He nodded. "Yes, it's gonna be fun."
Natasha called Fury the next day and after they were both evaluated and signed countless papers, they were both working for SHIELD again, as partners. That way he could look after her and make sure that HYDRA would never get close to her again. He would rather die than let her go through that hell again.