The next morning when he wakes up with a smile upon his face, he finds she has gone. The memory from the past nine plays vividly in his mind with unfamiliar exhilaration. It has been long since he last felt such a kind of thrill, one that makes him feel young and blithe again. He takes a deep breath in, savors the day ahead and gets up.
Drinking coffee at the table, Katherine glides in, sits across from him. She looks at him with a beaming smile.
"Morning," she speaks softly. Her voice and expression are serene.
"Hi," he whispers back.
"Thank you for keeping me company last night," she says. They talked most of the night.
"Anytime," he smiles. What he really wants to answer is that it was, undoubtedly, the best night of his life, the most thrilling. One that excited him, raised goosebumps and left him breathless. A chaste night with her is far more electrifying than a thousand carnal encounters with anyone else. Far more tantalizing.
Eliza comes down the stairs. "Are you here?" she asks.
Katherine calls and bites into her toast. Liz said she needed to run some errands in the big town, which is about two hours away.
"I'm ready," she says, getting up.
"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" he asks.
"It's a girls day out," she answers.
"And you still have some improvement to make on this matter," Eliza teases.
Steve smiles and glances at Katherine as she picks up her denim jacket. "Well, I'll see you later."
The two women and Riley climb into the Chevy and leave.
Sometime later, his phone rings.
"How did it go with Barton?" Sam asks.
"It could have been worse."
His friend sighs. "I'm sorry about that. He came to the compound to see some files and he must have come across the Louisiana one. When I came back, I found the file open and he was on his way out. I tried to explain to him—"
"It's not your fault, Sam. It's on me," he pauses. "I shouldn't have waited so long."
"You did what was best for her."
Or for him? He can't really tell anymore.
He gulps down. "I screwed up, Sam."
There is a short silence on the line.
"He'll come around," Sam assures gently.
And he finds himself hoping his friend is right.
At the end of the afternoon, Steve hears the main door open.
"You sit here and I'll bring you some water," Katherine's voice echoes from the living room. She sounds worried.
"I told you I'm alright," Eliza replied with a noticeably uneasy tone.
Steve comes into the living room, finds Katherine leaning over Eliza who is sitting in the sofa with visibly tense features, and Riley standing closely by her side, its head resting on the old woman's knee.
Katherine looks up in his direction and makes eye contact before attending back to Eliza. It is long enough for him to catch she is concerned.
"Is everything all right?" he asks, walking up to the couch. Katherine sighs and looks at Eliza.
"We were mugged on our way back," she says.
His eyes widen. "What?"
"It all happened very fast," Katherine explains. We were at the gas station and I find those two guys surrounding the car; one of them grabbed Eliza's purse and tried to snatch it out his grip. Here, take this," Katherine says as she hands the lady a glass of cool water.
"I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me so much."
Steve leans down, clenching his jaw. "Did they hurt you?"
Eliza shakes her head. "It's okay."
"He pushed her to make her let go of the purse."
"Nothing I can't take," the woman chimes in. "Things would have been worse if it hadn't been for you, Katherine." She says assuredly and turns to Steve. "She was amazing."
Katherine's face is grave. "I hardly did anything."
"She rushed over to the car and when the second guy tried to stop her, she caught his arm, swung him around and pinned him hard against the car."
Steve is eyeing her quietly. Kat shakes her head. "Just some reflex, I guess. It barely lasted more than a couple of seconds. Riley did most of the job. She pounced at them, barking, and the gas station owner came running."
Eliza puts the glass of water down. "It certainly made our day trip livelier but nothing worth dwelling on. I didn't have much cash left in the bag, anyways."
The shock of the incident came hitting Liz a little later and she went to bed without having dinner. Katherine stayed in the room with her until she drifted off and beyond. Eventually, she came back downstairs.
She is sitting at the dining table and sighs.
"I should have been more careful," she says. "I had been warned there were still muggers around from the time of the Blip."
"I can investigate. Go and find them." Among everything, he blames himself for not accompanying them.
She shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. Many of them are just people who lost everything and had to learn to survive. Not that it justifies the methods they've taken."
After a pause, she adds: "I realize…I could have done more today if I hadn't been so selfish and scared of those skills buried deep down inside. I want to be able to protect myself and the people I care about if need be."
She looks at him with soaring determination. "Can you help me? Train me?"
He looks at her calmly. "Sure. If this is what you want."
She nods to herself, staring into space.
"I'm ready," she says.
A couple of days later, they are standing before each other in the back garden. He is still while she is wiggling around, trying to find her balance, mustering the courage.
She looks sideways at the radio playing on the table. "What's with the classical music?" she asks.
"Well. You used to say you fight like you dance. I thought having some music could be helpful."
She nods.
"Ok," she begins. "Just show me the basics. I just want to be able to defend myself, not inflict pain." She pauses. "Or maybe a little," she concedes after giving it a thought.
She gives him a nod, as an invitation to get started. She bounces up and down and clears her throat.
He begins to walk around her. "The first thing you need is to build your confidence," he says, as he passes behind her back. "And it all starts with finding your balance —" He suddenly grabs her shoulder, slips his foot between her legs and trips her over. She falls to the ground, flat on her back. He leans over her as she watches him with a stunned expression. "…and keeping it," he finishes.
He holds out his hand and smiles. She takes it and gets up.
"It all comes with practice and by anticipating your opponent's next move," he continues. "It all starts in your mind. If you take the lead mentally, then you have the lead everywhere else."
She listens closely. She then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
He strikes again but she blocks it with her knee. She cracks her lids open and they smile at each other.
"Now, we can get started," he says.
Over two hours later, the sparring session ha already be taken up a notch. Her body naturally responds to his attacks, reclaiming old habits with a startling easiness. He speeds up the pace, begins to dodge her hit, excitement welling inside him. Somehow, he can't help but think that Katherine finding her reflexes means Natasha's memories could eventually be retrieved. Surely, he would go to the ends of the Earth to aid her in this quest.
They spare relentlessly, both finding strength in their depleted energy, consumed with unbridled enthusiasm. For her, it is thrill of novelty, the stimulation of a newly found power she'd never fathomed; for him, it is the pleasure of an old routine salvaged at last, the bliss of having retrieved something believed to be forever lost. Hours of sparring consecutively in the SHIELD's headquarters, the Avengers tower and the compound came back, flooding his mind. And yet, amongst all those familiar memories, he found some sense of novelty, too. Sparring with Katherine differed significantly from sparring with Natasha: what used to be discipline and enduring camaraderie have been replaced by playful competitiveness and, dare he admit, underlying physical attraction.
He could not ignore the rousing sensations he felt whenever her sweaty, panting body was pressed against him. The coming-and-going of her breast against his torso as her warm breath tingled his nape.
He clasps his strong over her chest, pressing her back against him, whispering into her ear.
"You're getting better. But never attack with your weaker foot."
Her hands clutch around his arm as she catches her breath. "Please tell me I used to kick your ass," she snorts. He leans in closer and smirks.
"I'll leave it to your imagination," he murmurs.
She jerks his arm down and spins out of his grip and, in a swift motion, wraps her legs around his waist and tumbles them both over. He lands on his back, she straddling him. She throws her head backward and takes a deep breath in.
"That was cool," she remarks.
He opens his eyes and looks at the ravishing sight on top of him.
"And painful, too" he groans. "It was your signature move." She props her hand next to his face and leans over him, their faces barely inches apart. He starts panting harder. "You could climb higher."
She laughs. "Don't tempt me more," she breathes out.
He looks into her eyes. "Why, you're tempted already?"
Her pupils dive deep into his blue eyes. "I might be."
A strand of damp hair falls out and he gently tucks it behind her hair. She glances at his hand then back at him. She tilts her head and arches an eyebrow.
"Maybe another time," she says. She pushes herself up to stand on her feet.
He gets up a few seconds later as Katherine wraps a towel around her neck and takes a sip from the water bottle.
"If Eliza complains tomorrow, I'll just say I got all those sore muscles from you." She jokes. She then pauses and frowns. "Actually, I shan't tell her that or her naughty mind will run wild."
He drops his head and laughs abashedly. "It's probably wiser."
This calls the end of the training and she rushes upstairs. He goes to his room, showers and puts on clean casual clothes. When he steps out into his room, buttoning up the last button, he finds Katherine sitting patiently at the end of his bed. She stands up. Her damp hair falls over her shoulders and has filled the air in the room with the smell of her vanilla-scented shampoo.
"I knocked first," she says.
"It's okay," he answers, a bit stunned by this unexpected visit.
She opens her mouth and closes it again before chuckling. "I was going to say I came to say thanks but that's now what I came for."
"What did you come for?"
She bites her bottom lip. "That might put you off. I'm quite forthright. Some would call it brazen."
She gazes at him boldly and he longs to discover the mysteries those green eyes hold. She rolls her eyes and comes forward, grabbing his shirt, ruffling it under her strong, restless grip and pulls him to her. She crashes his lips against hers, kisses them, devours them with a consuming passion. She pins herself against his body, slips her arm around his neck and pulls him down harder to her. His hands drop to her waist, hold it tight as he finds solace in this serendipitous embrace. She is bold and fiery like the sun and his lips are throbbing in exquisite ache when her mouth pulls away. His eyes are still closed as he catches his breath, his all body set ablaze, yet fully aware his lips are merely an inch away from another hallowed kiss.
He smiles contentedly. "I like brazen," he whispers in a husky voice.
She parts her lips and it makes him yearn for one more ethereal collision, radiant and heady. Her emerald eyes plunge into the blue of his.
"I want to keep being brazen with you, but I also want to do things right." She strokes his chin with her thumb and inhales slowly. "Make me dinner, Steve," she purrs in a honeyed, almost pleading voice. And all he hears is the promise of a blissful outcome.
She pulls away and with a content smirk, and walks out of his bedroom.
Later that evening, the three of them are having dinner. During dessert, Eliza clears her throat.
"After what happened the other day, I thought it would be good for me to have a little getaway. My friend Caitlin has been waiting for me to visit for a while. I finally phoned her today. I'll leave tomorrow and will stay for two or three days."
Katherine and Steve glance at each other with a knowing look. They couldn't have hoped for better timing even if they wanted to.
"I'll help you pack," she offers with unapparent enthusiasm.
"I'll be happy to take you to the station," Steve chimes in politely.
Eliza eyes them both suspiciously.
"I'm sure you two will have no problem finding something to keep you busy with while I'm away."
And they smile at each other.