Edited version : Sunday, June 8 2014
26 : WINTER BREAK
The final examination week was very close and the gang spent more time in their room, prepared for their exam than spending at the bar. Clint had been tutored by everyone in the group and Nat made sure that her best friend never skipped the session.
Steve still had one more football game left after the exam so he had to shuffle his time carefully. Lucky for him, he had someone who takes a really good care of him.
"You look tired" She noted when he emerged from his bedroom
"Because I'm tired" Steve replied
"I got us breakfast. I can drive your car if you want to"
"Thank you so much, little red" He said and offered her a smile.
Natasha made him think of his mom who always taking care of him. Both women had a very similar characteristic. They both strong, intelligent, kind-heart, and beautiful.
Final exam had passed. Clint and Thor said that they can do the test so their friends all sighed in relief to hear that. Steve got back on the field for the first time after his injury and led the team to victory again. Tony closed the bar to celebrate the victory and the end of the semester.
The gang discussed how they will spend their winter break for two weeks. Tony will spend his time with his dad at Stark Tower with Bruce's family. Thor will be at his motherland with Jane and Darcy.
"What about you, red? Where you gonna stay?" Steve asked when he was alone with Natasha at the bar.
"I don't know. Maybe stay here with Clint and Phil. He has no way to go too" She replied and took her drink from Skye "Are you spending your holiday with your family?"
"Yeah, mom said dad will be home for this Christmas. It's the first time in many years"
"You're really looking forward to this, aren't you?"
"Yeah, my dad was never spend any holiday with his family since I can remember" He replied bitterly. "I have all the reason to be excited if he said he will be there and celebrate Christmas with me"
Natasha hugged him. She didn't want him to be sad because now he looked like a lost puppy dog. He returned a hug and did feel better in her embrace. Steve allowed himself to relax in her arms. There's no need to put his guard on with her
Steve and most of the gang packed up their thing and ready to head out. Nat, Clint and Phil were there to bid their friends a goodbye. Steve was lingering and clinging near Natasha than with the others who he just shortly says goodbye to them.
He didn't like the feeling of not having her near him for two weeks. Judging by how tight she held him, she must have felt the same. But she knew how important this holiday is to him so she will not ask him to stay with her.
"See you in two weeks, little red" He said and pressed a kiss on her forehead "Take care of yourself"
He was about to let her go when, "Stevie, don't go" She gave in and murmured that with muffled voice at his chest.
"Damn it, red. You make it ten times harder to leave" He whispered
"I don't want you to go"
"I will be back in two weeks"
"Too long"
"You two lovebirds do know that I'm still here, right?" Clint chimed in from behind them.
Natasha let go of him and leaned up to press a kiss on his cheek. Steve was staring at her lips, she could read him like a book that he was gauging whether to kiss or not.
"I gotta go" He finally said
"Safe drive, Steve" She replied "And call me when you reach your home, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am"
Steve kissed her hand before got into his car and drove away.
Steve was really excited to spend the holiday with his whole family. This was the first year that his dad came home to celebrate Christmas with him and his mother. He was sure that his mom would be happy and prepared everything for them when he arrived at his Hampton's home.
Well, it was weird for everyone that he chooses to spend his Christmas in the Hamptons because it was winter. The Hamptons was his home. The place where he grew up and the most important reason of them all, it was where his mother resided.
He brought his mom a bottle of her favorite burgundy wine to celebrate this holiday.
His Hamptons house was a stone mansion on a very large property which including big garden, tennis court, indoor and outdoor swimming pool. There's also a small pathway led to the beach at the back of the house. This place owned by his mother's side of the family for almost hundred years. As a property developer, Sarah improved her house into the 21st century too.
"Mom! I'm home" He announced as he stepped into the house. He could hear his mom rushed to greet him
"Steve, I miss you so much, my son" She said and hugged him
"I miss you too, mom" He replied "And I brought you your favorite wine"
"Thank you, sweetie."
"Where is dad?"
"Steve…"
Steve frowned because he knew the answer to it "He's not coming, isn't he? Yeah, I understand. His position in DC is more important than his own family"
"Steve, he has a very important matter to attend" Sarah explained
"Must be really catastrophic event"
"He had tried, Steve"
"Yeah, mom. He gave up on us a long time ago and yet I have hope that he might care enough to join us at least for Christmas"
"Don't worry, Steve. You still have me, my dear boy. Just like every year"
Steve allowed himself to smile to the only woman he loves "I love you, mom"
"I love you too"
Steve woke up to the emptiness of his house. His home was too large for just two people anyway. At least last night he was having a very good dream. He dreamed about his little red and saw her smile at him.
Steve found himself missing Natasha most of all. He missed his friend too but he missed his little red.
His mom was preparing breakfast for them when Steve came down from his bedroom.
"Morning, Steve"
"Morning, mom" Steve replied and kissed Sarah on her cheek "Mom, Can I invite my friend here?"
"Of course. The more the merrier."
Steve waited until he finished with his breakfast to call his friends. The point of all this was he needed his little red here but to cover up any suspicion, he needed to invite everyone else too.
"Hey, Stark. Wanna come to the Hamptons?" Steve asked
"What? This time of the year? Why in the world that you spend your time in Hamptons during winter?"
"My mom resides here and we are celebrating Christmas alone—"
"Dad promises to come but didn't?"
"Yeah, you too?"
"Indeed." Tony sighed "Actually, I'm here with Bruce. We will go join you, just send me the address"
"You can bring Pepper and Hill"
"They are with their family."
"Just you and Bruce then"
"Damn right, see ya there"
They hung up and Steve sent Tony his home address before calling Thor next.
"Hey! Thor"
"Hi, friend Steven"
"Wanna come to Hamptons? You can bring Jane and Darcy with you"
"I cannot, my friend. We are heading to the airport right now"
"See you after the winter break then."
Steve was now working on how he would ask Natasha to join him here but decided to just call her and told everything.
"Hey! Natasha. I just wonder if you want to come to Hamptons and celebrate Christmas with me and my mom"
"Of course, Steve. The campus is so dead and Clint is currently in dormant mode. I will try to get him out of his bed." She replied excitedly that Steve could hear her smile.
"Great, I will pick you up"
"You will drive all the way from Hamptons just to get me? Aww, Stevie, you must really miss me"
"Yeah, I miss you so much, Nat." He admitted
"I miss you too."
"See you in two hours then" He said "Oh, and bring Phil along with you too"
"I will. See you soon, Steve"
Steve drove all the way from the Hamptons to pick up Natasha, Clint and Phil. Everyone was waiting for him with their belonging. After the boy packed everything in the trunk, they hit the road. Nat was sitting in the passenger seat and messing with audio system of Steve's car.
The boys let her pick a song all the way to The Hamptons. Nat sang it happily all the time. Sometime, she got Steve to hum along with her. Clint and Phil joined in when I'm Gonna Be came up.
"I hate this song" Steve exclaimed over the voices of his friends.
"What?! It's the road trip song of Ted and Marshall! How could you hate it?" Natasha asked
"But I would walk 500 miles! And I would walk 500 more!" Clint and Phil sang in unison
"Just to be that man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door" Natasha continued and sang it in Steve's ear.
"I hate you guys" Steve muttered.
Lucky for the Captain, the ride was over within two hours. In that two hours, Natasha played that song for 7 times and Clint and Phil sang along to just mess with Steve. The four of them found that Bruce and Tony were already here.
"Steve! Your friends are here." Sarah said as they walked into the house "And you never told me that you're a close friend with Tony Stark"
Steve frowned "He's not my close friend, mom"
"What? He told me about everything you do together"
"What did he tell you?" Steve narrowed his eyes and then Tony popped up behind his mom with Bruce "STARK! What did you tell my mom?"
"Nothing bad, dude. Just a good stuff" Tony told "Oh! Mrs. Rogers, this is your son's girlfriend I told you about." Tony pulled Natasha in front of Sarah
"Oh, you must be Natasha. You're his little red"
Natasha and Steve blushed at the same time.
"She's not my girlfriend, mom. Nat, this is Sarah Rogers, my mom. Mom, this is Natasha Romanoff, my friend" Steve introduced them to each other.
"Nice to meet you, Natasha" Sarah said and reached her hand out.
"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Rogers" Natasha shook hand with Steve's mother.
Steve introduced Phil and Clint next before showing them to their room. His house had a plenty of room that everyone can have their own room. Steve put Nat into the room next to him with Clint and Phil across them.
"Steve, is it a bit cold in your house?" Nat asked as Steve put her luggage in her room. "I'm freezing here"
"Yeah, I just feel it. I will go check the heater for you"
Steve walked downstairs and found his mom was in the living room.
"Mom, why is the heater doesn't work?"
"Oh, it's broken this morning"
"Why don't you tell me? I can get someone to fix. Beside, my little red is freezin…." Steve stopped when he saw the mischievous grin on his mother's face.
"I've already called the repairman but they all went out for a holiday" Sarah told "Don't worry! The fireplaces are working just fine"
"I will go get some wood for her then"
When everyone was all settling in, Steve, Natasha, Tony, and Sarah went out for the grocery shopping to stockpile everything for two weeks since there was more people joining the Rogers. Steve took them to the nearest supermarket. Tony was accompanying Sarah and be a gentleman and helping her with the cart.
Natasha and Steve went out on their own with another shopping cart.
"I like doing grocery shopping with you" She said "I can see a very housewife side of you"
"Stop teasing me with my grocery shopping skill" Steve pouted "It may be the only good thing I'm good at. What about you, little red? Do you have any housewife skill set?"
"If you count making Russian food and dessert, I guess I have one"
"Lucky that nobody is your boyfriend if they have to live with Russian food for the rest of his life"
Natasha chuckled and lightly punched him. "Yeah, Rogers, you are off the hook for the rest of your life too"
He turned to her and held her in his arms "I would like to test your culinary skill first before I decide to be on that hook forever, sweetheart" He teased
"Oh, you're on, Rogers"
"How about tomorrow?"
"If your mom okay with it"
"Okay with what, dear?"
The two of them released their embrace from one another immediately. They saw Tony and Sarah staring at them with a wide grin on their faces.
"Uh—uh" They both stammered
"I have a really hard time believe that you two are not boyfriend/girlfriend" Sarah noted
"Yeah, Mrs. Rogers. They always did that little public display of affection every time they are alone together"
Steve pouted "Mom, it's like you have found your long lost son"
"What?! Tony has a very valid point. I know my son too well that you have rarely show your affection to anyone in the public like this"
And now his mom teaming up with Stark, Steve thought. He just made a biggest mistake in his life yet, inviting a bunch of- the point is he should just invite only his little red so he could spend some time alone with her without no one (Stark) teasing them all the time.
"We still have something to pick up" Steve said "Little red will cook us Russian dinner tomorrow"
"Really?" Tony quirked his eyebrows "Romanoff can cook?"
"I like her, Steve" Sarah smiled
Steve sighed and grabbed his little red's hand before walking away from his mom and Tony. Natasha picked up all the ingredients she needs and met up with his mom at the cashier. The cashier girl greeted the Rogers.
"Hope your mother doing all right, Janet." Sarah said to the girl
"Your mom knows everyone?" Natasha whispered
"It's a small town, red" Steve replied "Everyone knew everyone, especially my mom. Everyone knew my mom since she is a major real estate developer in the Hamptons"
"I thought your family was from the military"
"Well, my dad's side of the family is from military. My mother's side of the family is a big, influential family of the Hamptons. She owns my business including many art galleries in many major city and property development. She resides and runs her business here"
"She's officially my hero right now"
"Yeah, mine too." He said and smiled sadly at her "My father just donated his sperm. My mom is the one who raised me"
Natasha could hear the bitterness in his voice and she hugged him tightly. He tensed up but quickly relaxed and hugged her back. He didn't know why but he did feel better in her arms.
"Thanks, little red"
"You're welcome, Stevie"
Steve woke up because of the cold. The fire from the fireplace was gone. He dressed up and when downstairs to find everyone but his little red in the living area. His mother was preparing breakfast with helps from Phil and Bruce. While Tony and Clint were set up the plates.
"Morning, guys" Steve greeted "Where's Natasha?"
"Didn't see her at all" Clint said
"Maybe she sleeps in?" Bruce suggested
"I will go find her"
When Steve was gone, everyone was looking at one another and knew what each other thinks. They all noticed how Steve lately behave and how close he was with Natasha.
Steve searched every corner of his house until he found her at the indoor swimming pool.
"Red! What the hell are you doing? You will freeze to death!" He yelled and grabbed a towel.
"Tony and Bruce already fixed the heating system this morning" She told "And I'm Russian. The cold had no effect on me"
"Get out of that pool"
"It's perfectly fine, Steve"
He frowned but poked his finger into the water to check for the temperature. He saw her mischievous smile but it's too late for him to do anything when she pulled him into the water with her.
Steve got back up to the surface and found that she was laughing so hard. He brushed his hair away from his face.
"Glad you can laugh" He said "But why you have to do it when I'm fully clothed with D&G?"
"I'm having fun watching you struggled, Rogers"
Steve peeled off his wet sweater and shirt. He looked at Nat and she knew he was planning a revenge.
"No! Don't come near me, Rogers"
But Steve quickly grabbed her by her waist and held her tightly. He could see fear flashed in her eyes for a couple seconds. Her beautiful green eyes locked with his intense blue ones. Their faces were inches away from one another and she could see a million thoughts ran through his mind.
"Are you afraid of me, little red?"
"No, I'm not" She replied
"I know you are afraid that I might do anything to you but I'm not. You might heard of my reputation in a very bad way…"
"I know but I also know that you will not do anything like that with me"
"Are you sure? Because I can, right here and right now"
Nat knew he needed to prove something, more of a proving himself. That he had a perfect self-control when he was this close to her. When she was so vulnerable that he could easily take advantage of her.
"How could you trust someone like me? I've done all kinds of bad thing to everyone but you still trust me" He asked while he ran his thumb along her collarbone.
She kissed his cheek "You're a good man by nature, Steve. You just pretend to be that douche bag self of yours"
He smiled a little. Natasha could see some relief in his face "What's all of this about?"
He rested his head on her shoulder "I don't know… I just… need to know something"
She could feel that his body begins to relax completely as she gently stroking his shoulder line and patted his back.
Steve's mom took them on a shopping spree on the Christmas Eve. They still lack of a Christmas tree and decoration and they had a very limited time to do all of that before Christmas. Everyone was helping the Rogers selecting the perfect white spruce which Sarah had the man delivered to her house.
They headed to Main Street of East Hampton. Steve's mother took the liberty to buy everyone a new set of clothes to wear tomorrow. Steve and Nat were in their own world again. She picked a red cashmere crew-neck sweater for him.
"This one looks good on you" She said
"It should be" He replied "Because it will cost me 1,150 dollars"
"WHAT?!" She yelled at him "What in the world can cost this much?"
"It's Hermes"
"Your mom takes us to Hermes and buy us new clothes?"
"It's Christmas. Everyone needs to look their best but feel free to buy your choice of clothes at Walmart, sweetheart"
He turned back to the rack of sweaters and picked a matching red sweater for her.
"Are you guys done?" Sarah asked
"Yeah" Steve replied
Natasha watched as Sarah waiting at the cashier and not even looking at the total price when she handed the store clerk her Black Card. Every single shop that they brought something will deliver the purchased goods at the house for them by this evening.
Natasha and Steve were waiting for everyone outside of the Gucci store. The snow slowly falling around them as they were standing under a tree together. Steve was telling her about his childhood experience when he noticed that Natasha didn't pay attention at him anymore.
"What's wrong?" He asked
"We're standing under the mistletoe" She said
Steve looked up before said out loud "Who in the world hanging the mistletoe in a practice open area where everyone must stand here?" Steve asked loudly which earned a chuckle from Natasha
Steve turned back to her and could see she was smiling and he smiled too.
"May I kiss you, ma'am?" He asked
Natasha nodded and gave him an approval smile. Steve slowly bent down to kiss her gently on the lips. He was aiming for just a peck on her lips but when their lips met, he could feel all the sweet sensation ran through his body. He couldn't pull back because he didn't want too so he went for a full passionate kiss like he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Natasha didn't recoil but woven her arms around his neck and leaned into his body.
Clint was just stepping out of the store when he saw the couple kissing so he whipped up his phone and recording the kiss.
"Get out of the way, dude" Tony hissed when he opened the store door.
Clint just stepped aside and Tony saw Steve and Natasha kissing. The rich boy frowned. Bruce and Phil followed Tony out of the store and shocked at the sight they saw.
"Could you two please stop sucking each other face?" Tony asked annoyingly
The couple broke off their steamy kiss before their faces were bright red.
"It's the mistletoe, guys" Steve spoke up
"Yeah right" Clint replied with a sly smile.
"Urghh, and now I have to endure with you guys tonguing on another from now on?" Tony sighed
"Just think about this, guys. We have their first kiss video to show at their wedding" Bruce said
"You're a real genius, Brucie. You two are very lucky, you know? Everyone always wants their first kiss video or photo."
Steve was about to snarl something at Stark but his little red stopped him by grabbing his hand. Steve smiled at her again when a thought ran through his mind.
He just shared a kiss with his little red for the first time.
Steve was disappeared from the group for a short time and he came back to meet them at the Christmas decoration shop. Natasha was a little worried when she found out that he was disappeared.
"Hey, where have you been?" Natasha asked and patted his head gently to get the snow out of his head.
Steve stiffened up a bit when she touches him but soon relax under her touch. The tingling sensation in a very good way was increasing after they shared that kiss. It was like her touch could spark the fire or releasing an electric shock.
But it did feel good.
"Just picking up something for tomorrow"
"Your mom just told us that she reserved the best restaurant in town"
"Ahh—it's actually a very old bar which serves the best food that any five star restaurant cannot compare with. Actually they are close in this time of the year"
"I guess they are open especially for the Rogers"
"You're correct, ma'am" He smiled.
Everyone was finished with their shopping and headed to the bar. Tony and Clint were entertaining Steve's mother at the front of the group. Bruce was talking with Phil. Steve and Natasha were walking hand in hand at the back of the group while he was telling her some trivia about his family.
They were more attached than they already were. That little kiss under the mistletoe had woken up something in them. Something that they didn't know that they have for each other for a very long time ago.
For Steve, he only knew that he wants to be close to her as much as possible.
For Natasha, she loved the feeling to have him all to herself. The way he put all of his attention on her and being this gentle self with her all the time.
"My family descended from Irish. We still speak the language sometime"
"How many languages you can speak?"
"Gaelic, French, Italian, Spanish—that's all"
Natasha was so amazed by many interesting facts about Steve Rogers. She didn't want to interrupt anything when he opened up to her like this. She just fed him with questions and surprised enough, he told her everything.
"What do you want from Santa?" She asked
Steve stopped and thought of something. He smiled and leaned closer to her ear "All I want for Christmas is you"
AN:
- Special thanks to my dearest friends, sleeplessinbudapest & internetangie!
- I use grammar checker so if there is any mistake, I'm sorry.
- All wishes are granted (Well, they kissed, they sort of get together and stuff) so please kindly leave a review for me :) pretty please