A/N: I don't own Cap or any of the characters, but I do like to take them for a spin every now and again…

I know, I know, I'm evil. I shouldn't have left you guys on such a cliffhanger. Here it is, the rest of the scene as promised.

"I don't know how to test the waters without drowning, so I'm going all in. I care about you, Natasha."

She swallowed past a mouth that'd gone dry. "I know, we're friends."

The furrow on his brow deepened to an angry V. "It's more than that, and you know it." His hand closed around her arm, fingers biting deep when she didn't reply. "Say it. Admit that we're more than friends."

Her lips parted, but the words wouldn't come out. She couldn't love him, not the way he deserved to be loved. That part of her was long gone. He couldn't ask that of her, didn't he understand that? She stared back at him, eyes glistening as she fought against her conditioned response.

Steve's jaw thrust forward as he swallowed back the answer in that lack of a reply. Slowly, his hand unwrapped from her arm and dropped to his side. "Then I guess there's nothing more I can say."

~ Natasha ~

Panic sliced through her at the slump of defeat in his shoulders as he turned away. Still, the words didn't come. Not when he walked away, not until he reached the door and she realized that he might really leave and never look at her the same way ever again. And that was a dark place she didn't want to go to. "Okay, it's more than that," she blurted out, darting across the room to press the door shut when he pulled it open.

Instead of the regret she thought she'd feel at the admission, she felt cleansed, lighter for having shared it with him. Until she realized that the essential facts hadn't changed, she'd jumped in way over her head. "The trouble is, I don't know how much more. I'm not... I can't..." Christ, she'd talked her way out of trouble in eighty-seven countries and she couldn't find the words to express to the one man that mattered why she wasn't free to love him the way he deserved.

Luckily, Steve didn't seem to need it. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "It's okay. We'll figure it out together."

He seemed so certain. How could he be? "Are you sure you want to try this? I'm..."

"You're what?"

"I'm broken."

"Everybody is, to some extent."

"No, not like this. You don't know." Once he did, one he knew, he wouldn't want her. Not anymore.

"You're right, I don't. I've read your file, but I can't guess at what it's done to you inside."

Her lips parted on a sharp intake of breath. "You read my file? All of it? Not just the ops we revealed when we exposed Hydra?"

"You're on my team," he replied as if that explained everything.

"Fury gave you access to my sealed file?"

"No, he didn't."

"Then how did you...?"

Steve shrugged a single shoulder. "You're on my team. It's my job to know who I can trust."

"And you read my file and decided you can trust me?"

"No. I got to know you and decided I can trust you."

"Then you know..." She couldn't even say it.

"I do."

Natasha looked away, unable to meet his gaze. What he must think of the life she'd led, the things she'd done. What had been done to her when she was too young to make the choice for herself, and the choices she'd made since. "And you still want to start something with me?" It didn't seem possible.

"You're more than your past. We all are. Plenty of other girls were put through the same paces, they didn't end up where you are now. You chose to turn your life around. You chose to become the person you are today."

"It doesn't erase the things I've done." I've got red in my ledger.

"No, but you're on the right path now, and that's all that matters."

He made it sound so simple, but she knew it wasn't. "It's not enough. It'll never be enough to make up for the lives I've taken."

Steve reached up to stroke the underside of her jaw with his thumb. "We all do things we have to live with. Things we're not so proud of. Do you really think I don't understand what it is to regret taking a life? Or to live with the knowledge that the choices I made might end up costing innocent lives in the future? I know that better than most."

Surprised to hear the dark words coming from Captain America, her brow furrowed in confusion. "You're one of the good guys. You deserve better." Better than her frozen heart could give.

"Look at me." He tipped her head up so she couldn't escape the power of his gaze. "You're one of the good guys too. I wouldn't be here with you if I didn't feel it deep in my heart." When he said it like that, she believed him, especially when he set her hand over the thump in his chest. "All these years I've been looking for the right partner. I guess it took a while to figure out that the right partner doesn't mean perfection. It means we're a good fit." His lips stretched into a crooked grin. "I may be a simple guy at heart, but I think we're a good fit."

Natasha's resolve crumpled under the power of that smile. It might be selfish and the biggest mistake she'd ever made, but more than anything, she wanted him to keep looking at her like that. Like she was worthy. Still, honor demanded she make one final attempt to remind him what he might be in for. "I may never be able to give you what you deserve."

"I have a good feeling about us." His smile stretched wider, as if he sensed her near surrender. "If there wasn't any risk, it wouldn't be worth doing."

There was plenty of risk alright. It was probably the riskiest mission she'd ever undertaken. But Natasha felt good about it too. Mired in self doubt, but strangely eager to see where it led. She took a long breath, squaring her shoulders for battle. "So we're doing this? We're... dating?" The word left a bad taste in her mouth.

"If you want to put a label on it," he grinned. "Mostly, I just want to be able to kiss you again without risking a boot in my trachea." He leaned in, but she darted her head to the side.

"Dating doesn't mean you can kiss me whenever you want to."

"Yes, it does," he replied, strong and sure.

"No it..."

Steve slipped his hand beneath her hair, cupping the back of her head as he captured her lips for a searing kiss. Binding her to him with more than words, he showed her what the reward was for the leap of faith they both took. "Yes, it does," he rumbled when the kiss drew to a close.

"Yes, it does," she whispered, utterly astonished to find that she didn't feel threatened by the sudden intimacy; she felt oddly safe in his embrace. He could kiss her like that any time he pleased. Except that the thought opened up another can of worms. "Ah... can we kind of keep it to ourselves? At least for now?"

His rapid blink told her she'd caught him by surprise, but he was more puzzled than anything else. "If you want to. Why?"

"It's just... I don't want to upset Barton if it fizzles out in a week, and I'd hate to have to kill Stark when he shoots his mouth off."

Steve's chuckle reverberated through her. "Sure, it's nobody's business but our own, we can keep it under wraps for now. But it's not going to fizzle out in a week."

Ever the optimist, Natasha just wasn't wired that way. "You can't know that."

"Yes, I can."

"How?"

He brushed his lips over hers again. "Something like this doesn't come along every day."

She couldn't argue with that logic. "No, no it doesn't." She'd kissed more than enough men to know that the fire that sprang up between them was definitely out of the ordinary. Eager to feel that burn, she tipped her lips up to his, the surrender coming more naturally to her now that she knew she could trust her feelings.

The kiss went on and on, until Steve pulled away, inserting a few needed inches of space between them. "I think I should head on home for the night."

Confused, she didn't fight to make him stay, but had to ask, "What for?"

"Now that we're dating, I think I should move back to my place."

"Why?"

"Because as much as I want to respect your personal space, I am a man."

Her eyes traveled the length of his body to the unmistakable bulge in his pants. Definitely all man. It was cute the way he wanted to protect her virtue. If he only knew what she wanted to do with him... but she'd promised to take things slowly. Especially if they were going to throw emotions into the mix. But if she was safe with anyone, it'd be Captain America, the perpetual good guy. "I'm sure my honor's safe with you."

There was nothing of the boy scout in his reply. "I'm not."

"Maybe I don't want it to be."

Steve swallowed hard. "Yep, I'd better get going."

It made her smile, this power she had over him. If he thought he was tempted now, he was in for a big surprise if she decided to turn her full seductive persuasion on him. But she decided to cut him a break. "You can relax, big guy, I'm pretty sure we can handle sleeping in the same bed without tearing each other's clothes off. We've been doing it this whole time, haven't we?"

"That was before you kissed me like that."

He had a point, but Natasha just smiled, threading her fingers through his. "Come on, Steve. Let's go to bed, I'm tired. And... I don't want you to leave." That last part was more difficult for her to add, but it turned out to be just the thing to get him to relax.

"You go on and get ready for bed then," he said, turning her by the shoulders and giving her a gentle push in the direction of the bedroom before he headed for the kitchen. "I've got some dishes to do."

A/N: Okay wow, these last couple of chapters ended up heavier than I'd first intended. So much angst! But good progress for them, I think. It seems to me like Natasha would have to deal with some of her baggage like this before she was ready to jump into something real. What do you guys think?

~ Feedback is Love ~