Chapter 23

The Tuesday after the gala Steve was busier than normal at work. He had time to drop off Livy at her ballet class, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to pick her up. All of his friends were working today, so he couldn't ask one of them to pick her up. He contemplated asking Natasha if she could stay with her but that would be inappropriate. He then got a brilliant idea. For so long, he's been wanting Sharon and Livy to have a girls' day, but something would always get in the way. He knew that Tuesdays were Sharon's least busy days, so he didn't think there would be a problem for her to pick Livy up. He called her once he got to the office, and thankfully for him, she agreed to pick her up and spend time with her. Once he got that established, he called the front desk of the ballet school to let them know.

Natasha had just dismissed Livy's ballet class when Daisy came in. "Miss Romanoff."

Natasha turned to face Daisy as she had her back to her. "It's Natasha for you. What do you need help with?"

"Mr. Rogers called earlier to let you know that he wouldn't be able to pick Livy up, but he's sending his girlfriend. I believe her name is Sharon."

"Oh, yes, I know who it is. Thank you for letting me know."

"Just doing my job," Daisy answered before returning to the front desk.

Soon, Livy and Natasha were the only ones left in the room. "Miss Nat, my daddy hasn't come yet."

Natasha crouched down to Livy's eye level. "Your daddy called saying that Miss Sharon is going to pick you up today."

Livy's face showed fear. "I don't want to go with her. I'd rather stay here with you."

"I know you do, but it's what your daddy said. If you want, I can wait with you in the lobby. I still have some time before my next ballet lesson starts," offered Natasha.

Livy nodded eagerly.

"Let's go to the lobby then."

Natasha and Livy walked hand in hand to the lobby and sat on a couch together. While they waited, they played hand games such as "pat-a-cake." Natasha's next students began to arrive, and Sharon still hadn't arrived. "Wait here, Livy. I'm going to call your dad to find out what's going on."

She got up, walked to an empty room, and dialed Steve's number.

"This is Steve Rogers. How may I help you?"

"Hi, Steve. It's Natasha."

"Hello, Natasha. I'm quite surprised you're calling me. If it's because Sharon is there, I called ahead and told Miss Johnson Livy's supposed to go with her."

"Yes, Daisy told me but that's not the problem."

"What is it then?" Steve asked confused.

"The problem is that Sharon hasn't come yet, and I have to start my next class."

Steve cursed under his breath. "I'll call her and see what's taking her so long. I'm sure she's just running late."

"Ok, call me back. I'll start my class once I know."

"I will. Give me five minutes."

Steve hung up the phone and immediately called Sharon.

"Steve! Why are you calling?" Sharon answered with her usual cheery voice.

"Where are you?"

"At my office where I'm always at. I'm working, remember?"

"Oh my word! Sharon, you were supposed to pick up Livy at 11!"

"Was I? I thought you said noon," she innocently said.

Steve took a deep breath to calm himself. "When will you be able to go pick her up?"

"At noon. I moved everything I had to do after that time in the morning, so I can't go now."

"Ok, I'll let Miss Romanoff know. I hope she doesn't mind keeping her there for an extra hour."

"I'm so sorry. I guess I misunderstood."

"It's ok. I should have called to remind you. I'll see you later, ok?"

"Of course! I'm looking forward to it."

"I have to call Miss Romanoff back now."

"That's fine. I need to get back to my work."

Natasha's phone rang, and she saw it was Steve calling. "What did she say?"

"Apparently, she got the time mixed up. She won't be able to pick her up until noon. Is it ok with you if you keep her there until then?"

"I'd be delighted too. She can probably learn something by watching the older kids."

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience."

"Steve, don't worry about it. It's not an inconvenience. I'm happy to watch her anytime."

"Thanks so much, Natasha. I'll let you go to your class now."

"Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

Natasha hung up and told Livy what her dad said. She was overjoyed she could observe the class and spend a little bit more time with Natasha.

Once the class was over, Natasha sat down by Livy. "What did you think of the class?"

"It looked really hard, but they dance nice," Livy answered.

"Don't worry. You'll soon be dancing like them. It does take a lot of hard work to get this good, and you'll only achieve it with practice."

Livy nodded.

"Are you ready to go to the lobby now? Miss Sharon should be out there."

Livy shook her head. "I want to stay here with you," she said for the second time that day.

"Why don't you want to go with Miss Sharon?" Natasha asked curious as to why she was so insistent on staying here.

"I don't wike her."

"Why? She seems like she's a very nice person."

"She's mean."

"Oh, come on. Just give her a chance, all right? Do it for me?"

Livy hesitantly nodded her head in agreement.

"Let's go to the lobby now."

They walked out and saw no sign of Sharon. "Hey, Daisy. By any chance has a tall, blonde lady come in here?" inquired Natasha.

"No, there hasn't been anyone in here. Only the parents coming to pick up their kids," answered Daisy, not taking her eyes off of the computer.

"Thanks, Daisy." She turned to face Livy. "It looks like we'll have to wait a little longer." Natasha gave her a piece of paper and a pencil so that she could keep herself entertained.

Around 12:30 P.M., Livy stopped drawing. "I'm hungry."

Natasha looked up from her phone. "I know, so am I. I would have taken you out to eat, but she should have been here by now. I think I'm going to call-"

Just then, the doors opened, and Sharon walked in taking off her designer sunglasses in the process. "I am so sorry I'm late. The meeting I was in went a little long. I would have called, but Steve forgot to give me the number."

Natasha internally rolled her eyes. She could have just asked him to text it if she really needed to. Putting on her best smile, she said, "Don't worry about it. Let me give you a card just in case you have to come again. We wouldn't want this to repeat itself now."

"No, we wouldn't. Thank you for understanding."

Livy had hidden a little behind Natasha the moment she had gotten up when Sharon came in. She didn't want to go with Sharon.

"Here you go, and here is Livy," Natasha said moving a little bit aside.

"Hi, Livy. Do you want to go get some lunch?" Sharon smiled at her.

Livy didn't answer, so Natasha said, "She actually just finished telling me she's hungry, so I'm sure she'd love to get some lunch."

"Come on, Livy. Go get your stuff, and we'll go out to lunch."

Livy wasn't moving, so Natasha turned and motioned for her to go get her stuff. She obediently did, but before going to Sharon, she gave Natasha her usual hug. This time though, instead of saying she'd see her the next day, she whispered, "I love you, Miss Nat."

The statement stunned Natasha. She was silent for a while pondering the words before she realized Livy was expecting an answer. "I love you too, Livy. Be good for Miss Sharon."

Livy nodded and pulled away from the hug. Natasha watched as Sharon and Livy left. She couldn't see why Livy said Sharon was mean if she was all but nice to her right now. She shrugged it off as Livy not wanting someone to replace her mother.

In the car, Livy asked Sharon, "What are we going to do today?"

Sharon turned around to look at her since she hadn't started driving yet. "You listen carefully because I don't want to repeat myself. Your daddy wants me to take you out somewhere to spend time together, but sadly, I have work. You're going to draw or play with that stuffed animal of yours while I work. Once I'm done, I'll take you home. You are going to tell your daddy you had a fun time at the aquarium. You're also going to tell him we went to Central Park and ate ice cream," Sharon told her with coldness.

Livy nodded her head.

"Are you sure you heard everything you're going to tell your daddy?"

Livy once again nodded her head.

"What are you going to tell him?"

"Th-that w-we went t-to the aquarium a-and then we went to C-Central Park to get i-ice cream," she stuttered with fear.

"That's a good girl. You'd better tell him that if you don't want to go to boarding school."

Livy nodded once again.

When she got home later that day, that's exactly what she told Steve she did in the afternoon. She was too afraid of Sharon and her threats to care about lying to Steve. Steve, on the other hand, never noticed the lies. He simply believed Sharon and her.

The next day, Steve asked Natasha if she could meet him in his office during her lunch break to look at the rough draft of the designs of her posters and fliers. She agreed, and he gave her the address of the art gallery.

Lunchtime came around, and she went straight to his office to get it over with soon so that she could get lunch. Upon entering, she saw Wanda at the desk. "Hello, Wanda."

Wanda looked up and squealed. "Natasha! What are you doing here?"

"I came for a meeting with Ste-, your brother. He's designing some posters and fliers, and I came to see what he has so far," she answered.

"Oh, I see. I can show you to his office."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it."

"So, you haven't told me about the gala," Wanda reminded her as they were on their way to Steve's office.

"I haven't told you because a little birdie told me you were there yourself," smirked Natasha.

Wanda was surprised. "Guess I'm busted. Who told you?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out."

"Steve told you, didn't he?"

Natasha shrugged. "It may or may not have been him. Mr. Stark could have told me."

Wanda just shook her head knowing that it had been Steve. She stopped in front of a door. "Well, this is his office. Let me knock." She knocked on the door and not long after someone said, "Come in."

Wanda opened the door and poked her head in. "Brother, someone is here to see you."

"Tell her to come in."

"How do you know it's a she if I didn't even tell you the gender," Wanda smirked.

"I set up my own meetings, so I know who it is. Don't get smart with me, Wanda."

Wanda was smiling. "You can go in," Wanda told Natasha, opening the door all the way for her.

"Thank you, Wanda. I'll see you on my way out." Natasha stepped into the room. She saw Livy lying on her stomach drawing in a notebook. It was the cutest sight she had ever seen.

Livy looked up from her drawing for a moment to see who had come in. "Miss Nat!" she shouted, scrambling to get up and running to give her a hug.

"Livy, keep your voice down," scolded Steve as he looked up from his computer. "Hi again, Natasha."

Natasha smiled. "Hey."

Steve stood up. "Take a seat." He motioned to one of the chairs on the other side of his desk.

Natasha gladly took her seat. "I'm kind of excited to see what you designed."

"Well, it's just the rough draft, so if you don't like it, I can make changes. If you do, then I'll go ahead and print them out."

"Sounds good to me."

"Before we start though, I want to apologize for yesterday. I didn't know Sharon heard a different time."

"It's not your fault. I'm just glad she eventually showed up."

"What do you mean by eventually showing up?"

"She didn't show up until 12:30. She said she had a meeting, but she couldn't call because you never gave her the number."

Steve frowned. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't know that she showed up that late. About the meeting part, she never has meetings on Tuesdays."

"Maybe she needed to squeeze one in, or it was an emergency one," suggested Natasha.

"Maybe. Well, whatever the case, I am truly sorry for the inconvenience."

"It was my pleasure looking after Livy, and I'm sure she had a great time watching a more advanced class."

"She did. She wouldn't stop talking about it last night. I'm telling you, she dreams, eats, and breaths ballet," he chuckled.

Natasha laughed a little. "That's truly a ballerina you have there then. I was the exactly the same when I was her age."

"I don't doubt it. Anyway, I know you still have to go eat lunch, so let's get started. I added everything you told me you wanted in the poster and flier, and as you requested, I used the picture you sent me. This is what they look like." He turned to his computer and brought up a page. He turned his computer slightly so that she could get a better view. "This is the poster."

Natasha was dumbstruck. She loved everything about the poster, the colors especially. She read it to make sure it's what she wanted. "Wow! That's you're rough draft?"

"Yes, it is."

Natasha shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that's not a rough draft. That is the final one. It's beautiful, and the text is correct. That one passes my inspection."

"Are you sure? You can still add something if you want," Steve let her know.

"It's perfect. Now, let's see the flier."

Steve turned his computer and pulled up another page before turning the computer again.

"Yes, both of them will do."

Steve was perplexed. "I usually have to do a couple of drafts before someone approves of my work. Are you sure this is what you want, and it's not just you trying to be nice by taking the first option?"

"I'm sure, Steve. This is actually better than what I had in mind."

Steve nodded still a little bit in doubt. "So how many do you want to print out of each?"

"Five posters and 10,000 fliers."

Steve wrote it down on a piece of paper. "Ok. I'll e-mail you the price later."

"When can you have them printed by?"

"I should have them all by Friday. Is that all right?"

"It is. Now, before I go, I have two requests."

"What are they?"

"First, can you design a website for the ballet school?" she asked hopefully.

Steve smiled. "I'll try. That's definitely not my strong point, but I'll give it a shot."

"Once this ballet show is over, we can start on it."

Steve nodded in agreement. "What's your other request?"

"Technically, it's not a request. I've been thinking about everything that has happened, especially what happened in front of my door and the dance," she whispered so that Livy wouldn't hear. "I think we need to talk about it, especially the first one."

Steve started blushing slightly. He looked away so that she wouldn't notice. "Uh, y-yeah, whenever you'd like."

"I don't really want to put it off, but I'll be spending all of my free time planning and preparing the ballet show, so it'll also have to wait until after."

Steve nodded. "Just let me know when you want to."

"I know it's not a conversation you want to have, but considering what's going on in your life, we can't avoid it."

"I know," he quietly said.

Natasha smiled at him reassuringly. "Thank you for designing the poster and flier. I'll come on Friday to pick them up."

"It was no problem. I can have them delivered to the ballet school if you want. I think it'll be easier," he suggested.

"That would save me so much more time. Thank you. Well, have a nice afternoon."

"You as well. Drive safe."

Livy heard that they were basically saying goodbye, so she got up. "Bye, Miss Nat. I'll see you tomorrow."

Natasha hugged the little girl. "I'll see you tomorrow as well."

Livy motioned Natasha to get down. "Love you," she whispered in her ear.

Natasha smiled, "Me too."

Steve opened the door and let Natasha out. Both Steve and Livy watched her leave, but Steve stayed until she disappeared. He was dreading that conversation that Natasha wanted to have because he didn't have an answer for his actions.

The upcoming weeks before the ballet show went flying by. Soon it was the night before the show. Natasha has invited Livy and her friends, Jenny, Mary, and Kylie, to her apartment for a pajama party. Of course, since they had their big debut the following day, she wouldn't let them go to sleep so late.

When all the girls were there, they decided they wanted to watch a movie. "What movie do you girls want to watch?"

Jenny answered, "I want to watch Tangled!"

"I love that movie!" Kylie shouted.

"Yeah!" Mary and Livy both shouted.

"Ok, Tangled it is. What snacks do you want?"

"Popcorn!" all four of them screamed.

"Anything else?"

"Ice cream!" Livy said.

"Ok, I'll go make the popcorn and get some ice cream." Natasha went into the kitchen to gather the things.

While she was gone, all four girls started telling each other funny stories. As Mary was telling hers, Livy thought about something interesting to tell them. When Mary finished telling her story, Livy spoke up, "You want to hear a secret?"

"Yeah!" the other three said excitedly.

"You have to promise you won't tell anyone."

"We promise."

"Cross your heart?"

All three of them crossed their heart, "Cross our heart."

Natasha walked in at that moment but saw all of the girls huddled together. She loved observing little girls, so she stopped in the doorway to observe them a little.

Livy started to tell her story. "The first time my daddy and I met Miss Nat, she came running to stop us, and she tripped. My daddy caught her. They looked into each other's eyes for a long, long time. The day after, my uncle Tony came to our house to give Daddy his backpack. He came into my room and showed me a drawing in my daddy's notebook. Guess who my daddy drew?"

"Who?" they all asked eagerly.

Natasha who was listening from the doorway was also curious to know who he drew.

"It was Miss Nat!"

All the girls squealed.

"Does he like her?" Mary asked.

"I don't know. It looks like it, but he's still dating Sharon," Livy disappointedly said.

Natasha was blushing. Steve Rogers drew a picture of her? She couldn't believe it. She gathered her composure and walked in. "Ok, girls! Who's ready to watch Tangled?"

"Me!" they shouted in chorus raising their hands.

Natasha laughed at their cuteness and enthusiasm. They only watched the one movie because they were already starting to fall asleep midway. Natasha tucked them in and gave each of them a kiss on their foreheads. The long-awaited day was finally here.

Everyone was buzzing around finishing the last minute preparations for the show. Natasha had done a quick rehearsal of the show in the afternoon, and it couldn't have come out more perfect. She only hoped that it would come out in the real performance.

Steve had invited everyone to see Livy's first performance including Sharon. He had all of the tickets and was waiting at the door for everyone to arrive. Five minutes before the performance, Steve was still waiting for Sharon. Everyone else was already in there. Since she wasn't showing up, he decided to call her.

"You have reached Sharon Carter. Unfortunately, I can't answer right now. Please leave your message at the beep."

Steve sighed. Once it beeped, he left his message. "Hey, Sharon. It's Steve. Are you coming to Livy's ballet show? Please call me once you hear this message." Steve hung up and sighed again.

"Hey, cous, the show's about to start," Thor said, startling Steve. "Sorry, man, didn't mean to startle you."

"It's ok. Let's go in."

"Sharon's not coming is she?" Thor asked noticing Steve's fallen face.

Steve shakes his head. "She didn't even pick up the phone, so I'm not sure what came up."

"I'm sorry. But there will always be another performance."

"But it won't be her first," Steve pointed out.

They stopped talking since they had already made it inside the theater. They made their way to their seats and sat down just in time.

After the performance was over, everyone stood up and clapped for the performers. It was an amazing performance and beautifully danced. Steve knew that Natasha was a great teacher, but she outdid herself with teaching them.

Everyone went backstage to congratulate Livy. Her cheeks were still rosy from dancing when they got there.

"You were incredible, Livy! I didn't know you could dance like that!" Wanda gushed.

One by one they congratulated Livy. Steve was the last one to congratulate her. "Princess, you did an awesome job. Now, I have a little surprise for you," he said.

"What is it?" she eagerly asked.

"Well, I know how much you enjoy ballet, so once you start school, you'll be having private lessons with Miss Nat."

Livy squealed with joy upon hearing that news and started jumping up and down. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She jumped into Steve's arms giving him a big bear hug and a slobbery kiss.

Once her excitement died down, Clint pulled them two aside. "You remember that time I invited you for the cook-out?" he asked Steve.

"Yes, I do. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to go yet."

"That's all right. I'm actually going to do one next Saturday, you know, for the tradition that my family has. One last cook-out before the kids go back to school. Seeing as Livy here is going to start school, I was wondering if you'd like to join us."

"We'd be happy to. I'm sure this one here is going to have a blast with Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel."

"Great! Be there at two o'clock next Saturday."

"Wouldn't miss it."

While Clint was inviting Steve, Laura had gone to talk to Natasha. "That was a great performance you pulled together, Nat."

"Aw, thanks, Laura. I wouldn't have been able to do it without all of my students' dedication."

"Stop being so modest. Take some of the credit for yourself. They did learn from the best of the best."

Natasha smiled. "Lila isn't interested in learning ballet?"

"Before today, she wasn't. Now, I'm not so sure. I'll have to ask," Laura said.

"If she doesn't, that's ok. It's not for everyone. I had various students drop out because they just didn't feel it. They found out that it wasn't for them," Natasha explained.

Laura nodded. "It is very strenuous exercise. I know I wouldn't be able to do it." They both laughed at that. "What are you doing next Saturday?"

Natasha thought for a moment. "I'm going to relax before having to start up with classes again."

"Perfect!"

Natasha looked at her confused. "Why is that perfect?"

"You remember Clint's tradition of doing one last cook-out with the kids before they start school again?" Laura inquired.

"Yes, I do."

"It's next Saturday at two o'clock. Would you like to join?"

"As long as Clint doesn't mind," Natasha joked.

"You know him. He won't mind for the world. You know, I think maybe we should not tell him so that he'll be surprised. He sees you so much as a sister, you know that right?"

"Of course, I do, and I'll be there. Two o'clock, right?"

"Yep."

"You're absolutely sure Clint doesn't know?"

"I didn't even ask him if I can invite you, so no, he doesn't know," Laura reassured her.

Natasha nodded. "I best be going. Gotta start cleaning up."

"Ok, I'll let you go. See you next Saturday!"

Unbeknownst to either Clint or Laura, they had just invited the two people that they had been trying to get together to the same cook-out.

Another chapter written! I honestly thought I wasn't going to be able to post anything this week since I had a little bit of writer's block, but thankfully someone helped me out by giving me lots of ideas. Lots of things happened in this chapter. What do you guys think?

The pictures of the poster and flier are on my Wattpad: 564013480-finding-love-again-chapter-23

On a side note, there is ONE MORE WEEK until Avengers Infinity War comes out! I'm very hyped about it! Who else is excited?