After their good-byes to Bucky, Steve led her to a diner a short way from where they had been. He held her hand the whole way. Small talk was out. He'd just sent his best friend...close enough to be a brother...off to war and he was hurting. Nat felt a great deal of empathy for him.

While they waited on their food, Natasha put her hand over his on the table. "He'll be all right, Steve. Bucky seems to be resourceful and smart and very brave." She felt completely confident saying that since Bucky would be fine until the fall from the train.

Steve's eyes met hers. He had such a lost look that she had to fight not to get up and hug him until his eyes brightened again. "When I had nothing else, I still had Bucky. He's been my friend...my family really since my Ma died when I was fourteen. His family always included me in everything so I wouldn't be alone."

"You're not alone now either, Steve. I'm with you until the end." Natasha said. He couldn't possibly know how much she meant that.

Unexpectedly, his eyes teared up at that. "That's what Bucky and I always said. He's as close to me as a brother, Natalie. He's going over there and I won't be there to back him up. I don't know what to do."

"You're going to go over there, I'm going to be there as well. We'll try our hardest to keep each other as safe as we can, okay?" Her smile was warm and understanding.

Steve got a handle on his emotions before the waitress brought their food. Natasha noted that he was worried about Bucky, not worried about how he was going to make it through basic or even on the streets of Brooklyn without his friend. That was so much the Steve Rogers she knew in their own time. Same man, different packaging.

After breakfast, Natasha suggested a walk in his neighborhood. He obliged her, showing her the places and streets that were special to him; where he and Bucky had grown up, the hospital where his mother had worked. His pride in his mother was obvious. Even as a nurse, it had been hard for her to provide for them after his father had died. She did the best she could and Steve had never gone hungry, never not had decent clothes.

She slipped her hand into his as he talked and kept it there. As she studied his face, she could see the differences. The jaw line was different, his whole face was slimmer, thinner and it had nothing to do with his weight. His voice though, that was the same. The way he held her hand was the same touch she knew intimately. She felt a wrench in her chest. Pre-serum Steve was the same as Post-serum Steve. She'd known it all along. Now she had to convince him of that.

Oh and save Bucky, Dr. Erskine and maybe convince Peggy to come forward with her in time so that she and Steve could have the life they should have had and Steve would finally get that dance and the woman he had loved for so long.

That last part went through her heart like a dagger. Unconsciously, she fingered the earrings Steve had given her in another time, another place. She didn't want to lose him for any reason but she couldn't in good conscience keep him from something he was entitled to have. More than anyone else she knew, Steve Rogers deserved happiness and fulfillment.

"Hey," Steve's voice broke through her ruminating. "Are you okay, Natalie?"

She looked up into his concerned blue eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking too much."

"Natalie, I'm your friend. You can talk to me," Steve said earnestly.

"Thanks, Steve. I will keep that in mind." She squeezed his hand.

They shared hot dogs and Coca Cola for lunch. Natasha loved the original Coke which tasted like it was made with real sugar and slugged the first one down then bought two more so Steve could have a treat too. He objected to her paying for anything but she told him that friends could share responsibilities together.

"Natalie? Do you just want to be my friend?" Steve asked suddenly.

Nat looked at him, seeing that he was completely serious. "What did you have in mind, soldier?"

"I've never had a girlfriend so I don't know how this works..."

She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what Steve meant was completely innocent. He meant a 1940's version of girlfriend where a man and woman spent time together, were chaste, and nobody had sex until after marriage. In other words, a Disney-esque fairy tale. At this juncture, he'd probably have a heart attack or at the very least an asthma attack if he knew what she and his future self had been up to. Shit. What to do, what to do?

"Steve, are you asking me if I want to be your girlfriend?"

He took both of her hands in his and she had a brief moment of terror that he was going to propose. "Yeah, I guess I am."

She smiled and hugged him. "Okay Steve, I tell you what. I'll be your girlfriend until we get to New Jersey...there, we'll have to be really careful and just be friends because I'll be in the SSR, a lieutenant and you will be a private. Fraternization is forbidden in the army, remember?"

Realization dawned in his eyes, "I forgot about that, honestly. You're right, of course. It wouldn't be allowed and it would get you into a whole lot of trouble."

"It would get both of us in a whole lot of trouble, Steve." Natasha gently reminded him. "That doesn't mean I won't be able to see you, I just can't let anyone know you're my favorite, okay?"

That brightened him up and he smiled at her. "Okay."

She took him to the Russian Tea Room for dinner. "It's our last night as civilians so we ought to celebrate, I'm buying."

Steve had never been anywhere so opulent and was very impressed until he got a look at the menu and the prices. "Natalie, are you sure? These prices are really high."

"I'm sure. I was saving up for a nice dinner anyway and it's even better with you here to celebrate it with me." Nat toasted him with her water glass. Steve gingerly clinked glasses with her then apparently decided to just run with it because he didn't complain about the prices or anything else again; he just enjoyed the meal with his "girlfriend".

When they got back to Steve's house, Natasha got him to dance with her a little more. He wasn't quite as stiff this time and seemed to be enjoying the activity with her. As it grew later, Nat stopped the dance lesson, knowing they would have to be up and at the bus depot early in the morning.

"Thanks for another wonderful day, Steve." She took both his hands in her own.

"You're welcome. I had a great time too." He was suddenly blushing again. "Natalie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I kiss you goodnight?"

She dropped his hands and stepped close, cupping his face gently in her palms then sliding her hands down to his shoulders. She tilted her face, closed her eyes and pressed a kiss against his mouth. His hands slid around her waist and he tugged her closer. Instinctively, because he sounded, smelled and kissed like the Steve she knew, she leaned into him further then deepened the kiss, flicking her tongue lightly over his lips. When he opened his mouth in surprise, she plundered it with her tongue.

He moaned into her mouth, tightening his embrace around her. She could suddenly feel his erection against her belly and mentally yelled at herself for taking this too far, too quickly. He was literally trembling in her arms. Gently, she pulled back but not away. It wouldn't do to reprimand him or spook him right now. He was a long way away from the Steve she knew.

"Goodnight, Steve. Sleep well. I'm excited about tomorrow and our new adventure into the army." Now she backed away from him and walked carefully to her room without the slightest shimmy. She shut the door and put the light out, leaving him standing in the living room, cock-blocked by his new girlfriend.

Steve was so flabbergasted that he wasn't sure what had just happened. Natalie...her mouth...that kiss...and he had gotten sexually aroused. No wonder she had gone to bed. He'd probably scared her into thinking he would rip her clothes off. He was supposed to be a gentleman, not a man who would take advantage of a beautiful woman.

If Natasha had known what Steve was currently pondering, she would have died laughing. As it was, she was laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling and wishing to the universe that her Steve, the one who was her actual boyfriend were here with her and why the hell she had thought any of this was a good idea.