Steve woke up slowly, the night came back to him and he realized his position with Nat. His arms around her tiny waist, his hand was riding up her shirt, his mouth breathing warm air against her neck. Oh this is so not okay. He waited a moment, her bright red hair on top of the white pillowcases, her adorable sleep smile, the way she slightly stretched every so often. Shaking his head of these thoughts, he tried to get up without waking her up but he was unsuccessful.
"I'll bring Nadia to school unless you're sure that the suspension that she got was real." He said, flushed red.
Nat rolled her head around tiredly in what Steve thought was the most sexy way possible, she couldn't handle this before she had her coffee. "Ok, thanks."
Steve went to go away but a train of feelings hit him all at once. He remembered how her kiss felt against his lips. He remembered how she clung to him while the ceiling of the old SHIELD building collapsed on them. He could remember how it felt like his heart was ripped out when he thought he would never see her again. Steve shakes his head to himself, that's not ok Rogers, get it together.
Steve went into the hallway and found Nadia eating cereal. He hopes that she doesn't think that 'cuddling' will be normal between him and her mother. "C'mon little girl," Steve picked Nadia up and grabbed her bag, "time for school. Please don't hit a boy today."
"I won't daddy" she says confidently. He chuckled a little bit at that. He walked her out the building and down the street to her school. "Are you and Mom together?"
Steve looks at his daughter surprised. "What?"
"You and Mom slept in the same bed last night, like Uncle Clint and Auntie Laura do. They're married."
Steve knelt down so that he was looking Nadia in her eyes. "No honey, we're not together. Nat is my friend but we love you both very very much. OK?"
"Why, Cooper and Lila's parents are together?"
"Laura and Clint are married. Me and Nat are friends. You are our daughter and we love you so much. Never doubt that ok?" Steve tried to answer. He didn't know the answer either.
"OK, Mom just used to talk about you but not since we moved here, Lila told me that she once heard Auntie Laura teasing Mom about it. Cooper told her to shut up though." Nadia says innocently. It takes some of the air out of Steve, Laura never told him about that.
Steve heard the bell ring. "Bye sweetie, I'll be here for pickup."
"Bye Daddy"
She ran away and gave Steve a lot to think about.
After she had her much needed coffee, she left for the hideout that she recieved a message about in Pig Latin, real original Clinton.
She stepped into the rubble. "Ellohay ymay oldyay lendfray" A voice says from behind her.
"Hello to you Clint."
"So what the hell Nat?"
"Straight to it I guess," Nat sucked in a breath, trying to delay this. She knew that she messed up and apologizing really isn't her forte, "I was scared about Nadia safety and I didn't want you guys to get hurt because you were protecting her."
Clint rolled his eyes angrily at her. "That's bullshit and you know it."
"What am I supposed to say Clint? What do you want me to say?!"
"I want the truth, believe it or not, I can keep a secret."
"I don't believe it." She mutters. "I was...scared, I never imagined Steve finding out and I was scared that he would take her. He's right though, she needs both of us. At least I can still protect her this way."
"You just wanted to protect her or yourself" Nat stepped back a little bit, not even Clint was usually that straightforward. "I know how that sounds but when your wife is scared for the person who is like her sister's wellbeing, she can be very loose lipped." Nat shook her head, she was in now way ready to talk about this now.
"Fine, yes, I was a little freaked out about the aspect of my friend knowing that I had a bunch of his kids. It was really scary now that I know that James is out there, HYDRA and the entire world searching for him. I don't know what to do." Nat feels her phone vibrate in the back of her jeans mid-rant. "Shit" she curses when she sees the text. "Steve just sent me a text, Nadia got sick. It says that some kid decided it was a good idea to come to school with the flu."
"I get it, just think about what I said. Love ya Nat"
"Love you too Birdbrain"
She hurries out of the construction site. She drives quickly, this had to be a bad flu since the serum in Nadia fought off most sicknesses but not all. She had developed some issues with the immunity part of the serum because of Steve's DNA when she turned seven. She recieves another text saying that the two are at home. Steve had been sick alot, but Nat was worried about how much he could help. He'd never dealt with a sick super child.
She got home in record time. She tossed her purse to the chair. She looked into Nadia's room and her heart hurt.
Nadia was curled up onto Steve, her head laying on his shoulder while she slept. Steve's hand kept running through Nadia's long red hair. She looked shaky and she had some sweat on her forehead. The blankets were pushed off of the bed because if she was with both them and Steve, she would overheat.
It didn't feel as weird as Nat thought it would be, almost domestic. She knew in that moment that the feelings that she had been fighting off for months, was coming back at the speed of a train, ready to hit her at any moment. Nadia shifted a bit, she was still raised as an assassin after all.
"Hi Mama" she whispered weakly. Steve head popped up and he motioned her over. Nat ran her hand over Nadia hair.
"Hey baby, Dad said that you're not feeling good. Do you want me to make you some soup?"
She nodded and Nat kissed her forehead. Steve nodded and went back to soothing Nadia. Nat calmed down after seeing Nadia. She boild some water and put the broth in. She cut up the chicken, carrots, and cooked the noodles. The soup was simmering and Nat remembered Nadia's favorite part of her mother's soup. Too bad that she was sick and couldn't eat the potatoes.
She poured the soup into the bowl and carried it to Nadia's roo., the steam would help her throat. Steve helped the little girl sit up.
"Open up" Nat nudges the spoon on her lip and it opens enough for her to pour a little in. "How high?"
"102 when we got home, she's around 101 now. How is she sick?" He asks though he has a pretty good idea of the answer.
Nat knows that he knows the answer, and she knows that he'll end up blaming himself for something entirely out of his control. "It's not easy but Laura thought that it might have something to do with your DNA. It's not your fault Steve." Nadia takes another few sips of the soups and leans back.
"I'm tired Mama" Nadia says. Steve takes his cue and kisses her forehead.
"We'll check on you in a little." Steve gets up from her bed and leaves. Nat closes the door behind him.
She almosts hugs him, but catches herself. A few months ago she would've hugged him without worrying, but she could never get that back. "I'm sorry I was here sooner, Birdbrain wanted to talk. Sorry, I'm kinda losing my mind today."
"Hey hey don't be sorry, do you want to have some soup and watch a movie?" like old times, he finishes in his head. She nods and grinds the heels if her hands into her eyes. All Steve wants to do in that moment is make her feel better, let her know that he loves her, that he'll never let anything bad happen to her or their daughter. But he knows that he can't. He grabs the bowls. He pours the warm liquid into the bowls and brings it over to the couch.
Nat chooses Back to the Future 3, the one they were on before everything went to hell and back. "Thanks" she says as he hands her the bowl. She has to readjust it when he sits down, she doesn't want to get close to him. She quickly finishes, her mind not on the movie. she places it on the coffee table and she feels something against her shoulder.
She looks up and sees Steve putting his bowl on the table. He stops breathing and he can feel all the air getting sucked in her mouth. They both lean into each other like an invisible force is pulling them. She slants her lips over his. It's an explosion again. She pushes him back, all rational thought leaving her head. She can't get enough of him and he wasn't much better. He pushed her hips towards him, lips moving in tandem. There was nothing slow in either of their minds. Nat slipped her tongue in past his lips, declaring an obvious dominence and Steve got more lost if that was even possible.
She readjustes herself on top of him. Steve pushes away a strand of hair in front of her face. You could see several emotions cross her face, but she leans back.
"Oh my god Steve, I'm so sorry I shouldn't have done that." She apologizes, trying to fight away the crave to put her lips back on his.
He knows that she does want him now, but he also doesn't understand why she would do nothing about it. "It's ok. Nat, are you ok?"
"I-we can't do this Steve, Nadia, Steve. We can't put her in the middle of this, it's too complicated." You deserve someone better "We have to pretend like that didn't happen."
The air was heavy, how could it not be, but Steve opened his arm and she allowed herself to lean on his shoulder. You're the only woman that I've kissed since the forties.
Steve woke up and he then again realized his position with Nat, we gotta stop doing this.
He gets up to check on Nadia, who is sleeping in her room, it won't be fun when she wakes up. He grabs all the dishes and puts them into the dishwasher. He sees Nat's phone light up with a notification.
'Want to meet after your first Saturday class?'
He knows that it's not ok, but he can't resist unlocking her phone and go into the message feature. He finds a short exchange between her and the sender.
'I just saw someone sweeter than the sugarplum fairy!'
'There's nobody as sweet as the sugarplum fairy'
'Oh I was just looking in your mirror'
'Wow :)'
As he scrolls back through her history, he sees more and more of these flirty texts but one catches his eye, 'Sorry, have to cancel the date, my daughter needs to be picked up from school. We'll plan this some other time'
It made Steve's heart hurt, but at least she might be happy
Me thinking back to the time where I thought that this would be three chapters long. Hahahaha, how an overactive imagination changes things.