Steve woke up to something tickling his nose. He reluctantly opened his eyes, finding his vision filled with chocolate curls. Celia and he had shifted in their sleep like they usually did when they shared a bed and ended up tangled up with each other, not that Steve was complaining. He always seemed to get better rest when Celia was with him, her even breaths helping lull him in a way that silence never could.

She was tucked up in front of him, using one arm as a pillow and holding the other against her middle. If they'd been like this a few weeks ago, Steve would've been so embarrassed, trying to sneak away without waking her up. But now, it just felt right.

Steve had been thinking about things recently and he was pretty sure he knew what his next step was. He might've even made a move sooner, but life kept getting in the way. From his birthday, to their misunderstanding, then the mission and diner incident, it felt like forces out of his control were messing things up. But he wasn't going to let it anymore.

Part of his plans really were about giving Celia a nice, stress free day, but it wasn't just that. He was going to make it perfect, with a nice breakfast, maybe a walk around the city, then a fancy dinner. And then he was going to be honest about how he felt. Steve was pretty sure Celia felt the same way, but he was still nervous. He didn't have much experience in this department, but he was going to do his best. It wasn't like he could ask the others about it, since they would heckle him to no end. But he figured that as long as he was sincere, that was all Celia would care about.

"Five more minutes," Celia groaned, rubbing her cheek against his arm.

"We can stay here as long as you want. I'm sure Tony has a robot that can bring us food," Steve chuckled.

"That's not a bad idea, but we'd never hear the end of it from him," Celia sighed, rolling over so she was lying on her back, but kept his arm under her. He really could stay here for hours.

"Well, you could always take a shower while I cook us breakfast," Steve suggested.

"Another one of your famous smoothies?"

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" Steve groaned, burying his face in Celia's shoulder.

"Probably not. But if you handed me another one, I'd still drink it."

"Oh gosh, why? For more ammo to use against me?"

"Because it was you giving it to me," Celia shrugged. Steve hid his smile against her arm.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that today. The blender doesn't factor into any of my plans," Steve assured her, finally dragging himself away. If they stayed like this any longer, he'd end up spilling his guts before the right time. He wanted to at least try to make it special.

"What sort of plans are we talking here? I'm not sure if I can get on board if there isn't going to be any blender action."

"I may not be the best cook, but I think my French toast will taste better without it," Steve chuckled.

"Ohh, that sounds fancy. Be careful or I'm gonna get spoiled," Celia laughed, looking around the room. "It might be too late for that though."

"You're saying that robot butlers and a computer that talks to you aren't normal?"

"Not quite. It's usually one or the other, unless you really want to look like an out of touch asshole."

"Ouch."

"Nah, you deserve all this. You earn it every time you save the world."

"I don't save the world that often. It's usually a much smaller scale," Steve scoffed.

"Even once gets you the lifetime membership. At least in my opinion."

"Well, you could be getting one yourself in the future," Steve pointed out.

"Right. I was just talking to Tony about my superhero costume design. I've decided to forgo the cape."

"Good idea. I think Thor is the only one who can pull it off."

"Still trying to find a way to incorporate my two dollar leggings though."

"Is that what you're wearing today?"

"Why? Would that be a problem?" Celia questioned.

"No, you can wear whatever you're comfortable in. Although, I did have an idea about going somewhere a bit nicer for dinner, if you're up for it?" Steve asked, feeling oddly nervous.

"Yeah?" Celia grinned, finally climbing out of the bed. "You're still willing to go out in public with me?"

"Of course," Steve insisted. "Now, stop distracting me so I can start cooking. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Fine, fine," Celia grumbled, patting him on the shoulder as she walked by to go down to her room. Steve knew he was getting ahead of himself, but he couldn't help but think Celia might not be needing her own room for very much longer.

He went into the kitchen to start on breakfast. His own shower could wait until after. Steve smiled as he beat the eggs, thinking back to those first days of Celia living in the tower, when they'd cooked together. Every morning could be like this from now on. Not like it wasn't, since they pretty much did all this stuff already, but he was looking forward to actually defining their relationship. And being an official couple would add a few more perks that they hadn't been able to indulge in yet.

Steve slid the slices of bread around in the egg mixture, setting them all on the griddle he had warmed up. The room was filled with the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg. He'd watched a few videos to prepare for this, so it would taste perfect. Steve was distracted from his food flipping by the sound of something hitting the floor in another room.

"Celia?" Steve called out, listening for a response. When he didn't get one, he got nervous. So maybe he was still worried about what happened yesterday. He wasn't holding it against her, of course, but that didn't mean he didn't still feel a little anxious about it. He just wanted her to be okay.

Steve rushed out of the kitchen and down the hall to Celia's room, needing eyes on her before he could relax. Realistically, Jarvis would probably alert him if something was really wrong, but he wasn't going to take any chances. He knocked on her door, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited for her to answer. If she could answer. What if she was stuck in a flashback and couldn't snap out of it?

"Celia, are you alright?" Steve asked through the door. How long should he wait before walking in? She probably wouldn't be very upset with him, but she'd probably be annoyed. This wasn't the way he wanted to start their day.

"Steve?" Celia's voice finally replied. Steve sighed and tapped his head against the wall outside of the room. A few seconds later, Celia opened the door. She was wrapped up in one of her fluffy towels and her hair was dripping everywhere. "What's going on?"

"Sorry, I thought I heard something falling and I wanted to make sure you were okay," Steve mumbled, feeling completely embarrassed.

"Uh, I knocked over a shampoo bottle," Celia said, staring up at him in amusement. "You heard that?"

"I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," Celia assured him, giving him a friendly push on the shoulder. "I know you're not doing it to be a dick. But I'm probably not gonna go all rage monster in my bathroom."

"Even if you're having a bad hair day?" Steve teased, relieved that she wasn't angry.

"How dare you?" Celia gasped, shaking her head so water splashed onto him. "Maybe I should just cut it all off. I've always wondered how I would look with a pixie cut."

"No, I love your hair," Steve blurted out, feeling himself blush at Celia's grin. "I mean, it's your hair, so it's your choice. I'm sure it would look good, no matter what you did with it."

"Such a charmer," Celia murmured, twisting a strand of hair around her finger as she continued to stare up at him. It would take no effort at all to lean down, just a little- "What's that smell?"

"Smell?" Steve took a deep breath, then his eyes widened in shock. "My French toast!" He turned around, sprinting back to the kitchen. There was a little smoke coming from the griddle and he knew even before looking that his food was ruined.

"Oh," Celia sighed from behind him. Steve turned the appliance off, flipping over one of the slices with a spatula. It wasn't completely black, but pretty inedible.

"Great," Steve muttered.

"We can make more, right? There's got to be more bread around here," Celia suggested.

"I got this bread from a little bakery across town. It's supposed to be the best for this recipe," Steve admitted.

"I'll eat around the burnt parts then," Celia shrugged, reaching for the nearest slice. Steve grabbed her hand before she could get one, scoffing in disbelief.

"You'd eat burnt bread, just to assuage my disappointment?"

"Well, yeah." Steve interlocked their fingers, pulling Celia away from the ruined food. He really wanted to kiss her, but he remembered that he hadn't even brushed his teeth yet, so scrapped that idea.

"That is incredibly sweet of you, but unnecessary. Why don't you go back to getting ready and I'll figure out something else? I'm sure I could find something else for us to eat," Steve offered.

"How about we make it a bit easier? Hey Jarvis, can you ask the rest of the team if they can spare a box of cereal and send it to us in the elevator?"

"Passing along the request now," Jarvis confirmed.

"Cereal? That's not very special," Steve groaned.

"It's not about the food, it's about the company," Celia replied, leading him back toward their bedrooms. "How about you take your shower while I finish getting ready? I'm sure there will be something waiting for us by the time we're done."

"Alright," Steve sighed, padding into his room reluctantly. Random cereal wasn't what he'd pictured in his mind, but Celia was right. Some of his favorite moments in recent history had been sharing greasy fast food lunches with Celia in her office. That was just another thing that he appreciated about her. Celia didn't need expensive things to be happy. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to spoil her on occasion. There had to be something good to come from this money he ended up with.

Steve made sure he didn't spend too much time in the shower, but used one of the fancy soaps that Tony left in there once. He said that Pepper loved it when he used it, so that was a pretty good recommendation. Steve felt kind of silly being so nervous, but he couldn't help the butterflies whenever he thought of his upcoming talk with Celia.

He walked over to Celia's room to see if she was finished, but paused when he heard her talking. There was no response he could hear, so he figured she was on the phone. The only times he could remember her talking on the phone had been when she was talking to someone in the old network she helped through, so he hoped there wasn't an emergency. Celia hadn't talked about that stuff in a while, so Steve wasn't sure how active she was with it anymore. The clinic seemed to be taking up most of her time. Steve was about to head back toward the living room to give Celia privacy to finish her business when the door swung open.

"Spying on me?" Celia asked with her face pinched in annoyance.

"Of course not! I was just coming to see if you were ready," Steve denied.

"I'm kidding," Celia chuckled, shooting him a sly grin. "I learned my lesson about taking phone calls I don't want overheard from Tony."

"What? When was this?" Steve questioned, a bit uneasy knowing that Celia and Tony shared some secret he wasn't aware of.

"Don't worry about it," Celia waved off, slipping past him to walk toward the elevator. "Let's see if anyone came through for us." Steve still wanted to know all the details, but let it go for now. If Celia wanted him to know, she would tell him. And it must not have been that big of a deal, if Tony wasn't being weird about it.

"What's the verdict?" Steve asked, leaning against the wall near the elevator.

"Cookie Crisp! Jarvis, tell Clint I said thanks," Celia laughed.

"How do you know it's from Clint?" Steve wondered.

"Come on," Celia scoffed, shaking the box as she walked into the living room. "Who else would have this kind of cereal?"

"Good point."

"I was worried that Bruce would send something bland and healthy," Celia chuckled, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of the windows. Steve followed, sitting down next to her. It was just like they had the night before, except now the sun was shining and they weren't dealing with the aftermath of a stressful event.

"Shouldn't I grab some bowls? And milk?"

"This is better dry," Celia replied, opening up the package and dipping her hand in. She popped a couple in her mouth, rolling her eyes in mock ecstasy. "So grossly delicious." Steve took a reluctant handful, trying one and chewing in contemplation.

"It's something alright," he muttered, eating the rest of what he had in his hand.

"How can you beat cookies for breakfast?"

"I don't think these really count as cookies," Steve said, reaching for the box before Celia snatched it away.

"I will not let you besmirch the good name of Cookie Crisp," Celia scolded, cradling the box like a baby.

"Besmirch? Really?"

"Oh man, the way I used to lust after these things as a kid. I finally got to try them in high school when my class was doing this fundraiser thing. Huge disappointment, but it felt like such a win to be able to have them at all," Celia explained. Steve was happy that she could talk about something from her past that didn't bring up bad memories, unlike the story she told the night before. That would stick with him for a while.

"The forbidden cereal," Steve nodded somberly. Celia snorted, tossing a piece at his face. He caught it easily in his mouth, grinning in triumph as he chewed his prize.

"You know, maybe I should abandon my career in medicine and become an athlete," Celia said, tossing a fake cookie in the air and catching it in her own mouth.

"Don't you think that would be cheating?"

"Aw, come on. Slap a beard on you and I bet you could get away with it too," Celia giggled, flinging another piece in his direction. "I could see you being a baseball player. Not football, since the hits would give you away pretty quickly."

"I loved baseball as a kid. Me and Bucky would go to a game every chance we got," Steve said wistfully.

"That sounds really nice."

"It was," Steve agreed. "I haven't been to a game since I've been back. My team sort of moved coasts."

"I've never been to a baseball game," Celia admitted.

"We have to go," Steve said excitedly. "The current season is only about half over, so we have plenty of games to choose from."

"Name the time," Celia agreed. Steve's head was filled with thoughts of hot dogs and peanuts. They were going to need hats and shirts and gloves. Should they invite the rest of the team too? "Oh my gosh, you are adorable."

"What?"

"Your face just lit up at the idea. It's nice to see you excited." It was nice to feel excited. Even with all the chaos, Steve had to admit that life was good right now. When he first woke up, it didn't feel like he'd ever get to a place where that felt true. But now he had something to look forward to every time he woke up. Or rather, someone. "So, what's on the agenda next?"

"I thought we could explore the city a bit. Just kind of walk around until we get hungry for lunch," Steve replied, realizing how boring it sounded now that he'd said it out loud. He was so bad at this.

"Oh. Okay."

"I'm sorry if I'm disappointing you."

"No, no, you're not. It's not that," Celia insisted.

"What is it?"

"You know that phone call you heard earlier? It was a friend of mine who collects clothes donations. He was checking in to see when I'd be able to pick them up, but I told him I would be busy today and have to get back to him soon," Celia explained.

"If you want to go do that instead, by all means," Steve said quickly. Why hadn't he come up with concrete plans besides breakfast and dinner? They could still do the latter, but she probably figured it would end in disaster like the breakfast.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?" Celia asked.

"Really?" Steve questioned, perking up a little. "You want me to come?" This was a lot different than when Celia kept that part of her life as private as possible.

"Of course. Someone's got to do the heavy lifting," Celia joked.

"I am at your service," Steve agreed, standing up and offering Celia a hand. She took it gratefully, letting herself get pulled to her feet.

"Do you think Tony's got a van we could borrow?"


"Tony seems to have at least one of everything, doesn't he?" Steve muttered as Celia guided the van through typical New York traffic. Tony had grumbled about them not messing up his stuff before telling them where to find the vehicle in his massive garage. It seemed too plain for Tony to have, but there was probably some high tech upgrade Steve wasn't aware of.

"It's nice to be driving the van, instead of tied up in the back of it," Celia snorted. Steve gave her a bewildered look and she shrugged. "Laugh through the pain, right?"

"I guess," Steve grunted, frowning as he recalled that day.

"How many of that agent's bones did you break?"

"Not enough," Steve growled.

"Relax soldier, it's all good now," Celia said, reaching over to squeeze one of the fists Steve hadn't realized he balled up. "Let's change the subject."

"Where are we going?" Steve asked, taking a deep breath as he calmed himself back down. He made a note to find out where the agent ended up and pay him a little visit.

"My friend owns a laundromat. He takes whatever clothes people donate or abandon and washes them all for me. Then I take them and distribute them to the proper charities and stuff," Celia explained, stopping at a red light.

"That's really nice of you," Steve said.

"It's nothing," Celia waved off. "It's kind of crazy how often people will put a load of laundry in a machine and just never come back for it. Even after weeks of setting it aside in case they return."

"I can't imagine. My ma and I used to wear clothes until they were threadbare. Tossing away that much, even now, is unfathomable."

"Exactly. Some people don't understand what it's like to have nothing. But it feels good to pass the stuff along to people who will appreciate it." Steve couldn't agree more. It was nice having someone who could relate to so many things about him.

A few minutes later they pulled into an alley behind a few businesses. Celia led them in through a back door, weaving them around racks of clothes. She must've done this a lot, since she seemed comfortable. Getting a glimpse into this part of her life was nice.

"Papa Lou?" Celia called out, grinning when a man's head popped up from behind a counter.

"CB!" the man exclaimed, bouncing out to greet her. He only came up to about her shoulder, but still enveloped her in a big hug. "It's been too long! Have you been eating? Do I need Linda to bring over a plate?"

"I'm good, really," Celia chuckled.

"And who is this?" Papa Lou asked, nodding up at him.

"This is my friend, Steve. He's here to help me carry everything into the van."

"Friend?"

"Good friend."

"Well, any friend of CB is a friend of mine. You can call me Papa Lou," the man said, holding out his hand for Steve to shake.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Steve greeted politely. Steve could admit that he was a bit relieved that Celia's friend was a middle aged man and not someone closer to her age.

"Sent to me from heaven, this girl. Would've lost my business if it weren't for her."

"How is Julia doing?"

"CB, she got a full ride to Columbia. My girl is going to be a soccer star."

"Oh my gosh!" Celia exclaimed, wrapping the older man back up in a big hug. "That's amazing."

"My girl hurt her knee and needed surgery to fix it. Insurance would barely cover anything and I was two days from putting my business up for sale to be able to afford it. And then this angel walked in," he explained, cupping Celia's cheek. "She heard my story and immediately began making calls. Didn't quit until she found someone who would do the surgery for free. Then came back every week to help with the recovery."

"It's what anyone would've done," Celia brushed off, her face getting a little red from embarrassment.

"For a stranger? You sell yourself short," Papa Lou lightly chastised. "This is a special one, Steve. Don't let her try to convince you otherwise."

"She's amazing," Steve agreed.

"Enough!" Celia groaned, waving her hands at them. "Where are these clothes?"

"Where they always are," Papa Lou replied, leading them back to where they came in. There was a mountain of garbage bags stacked high in one corner.

"Nice haul," Celia commented, propping open the back door. She opened up the van and Steve got to work, only taking two bags at a time so he wouldn't look too out of the ordinary.

"Strong," Lou praised, elbowing Celia a little as they stood back and watched. "Is he treating you right? I can make a few calls myself if he isn't."

"Better than anyone I've ever met," Celia confirmed. Steve tucked his face away as he could feel it heating up. Was that a confirmation that Celia felt the same way he did? Now he was even more determined to find out for sure.