"...marry me."

Holy shit. Natasha nearly panicked. That was unexpected and not intended. She and Steve had just started dating in her real time and had only a space of days together in this time. She was the first woman who'd given him the time of day, the first woman he'd kissed, the first woman he'd had sex with...God damn it, she had fucked up his life already. This is why she couldn't have nice things. She was an idiot. When she got back to her own time she was going to have her Steve spank her for being a dumb ass.

"Wow, Steve, that's really sudden!" She leaned into him and kissed him with all her might hoping he would mistake her trembling in fear for trembling with passion.

"Natalie, you make me so happy. Every day is wonderful with you, no matter how bad the circumstances might be." Steve's real smile was breathtaking.

"You make me happy too, Steve. Really you do." Nat snuggled up against him. "This is so nice of Peggy to get us this room as a present. I really think she and Bucky make a great couple."

"I think we make a great couple," Steve's voice vibrated through her ear. God, she loved his voice.

She stroked his back until she heard his breathing slow and even. He'd fallen asleep and she hoped he wouldn't remember that she hadn't answered him yet. That was a question that should come from Future Steve eventually, not Present Steve. Future Steve wasn't ready for that either, she was pretty certain.

Gently she rolled over. Steve automatically reached for her in his sleep and pulled her into the shelter of his arms. Fuck. Now she was going to have to involve Peggy in this. If Peggy and Bucky were a couple, she didn't want to split them up. Since Bucky knew, she would have to ask him his intentions toward Peggy and go from there. Problem was, she only had one token left. She and Peggy or she and Bucky or Bucky and Peggy...shit and double shit.

She couldn't just pop back to Asgard and ask for another. Odds were that Steve was there because of course he would be, and when the smoke cleared from her appearing out of nowhere she was one hundred percent sure that he was going to want a word or two with her. Plus, Clint...and whomever else was pissed off at her. She was going to wind up grounded until she was fifty and she doubted Steve would be just playfully spanking her if she gave him an explanation he didn't like. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Maybe falling off the train wasn't such a bad idea.

Somewhere between zero dark-thirty and dawn, Nat managed to sleep. The nightmares she had were unbelievable and she woke up screaming twice. Steve held her while she shook and wept, always sweet, always loving, a comforting strong presence to shield and shelter her from whatever came. He stroked her hair, told her sweet nothings in his fabulous voice and made her feel safe.

That was what bothered her most. Present Steve was the epitome of what a man could be before his heart was broken and his soul shattered. Now she realized that any action she took would not change that. Bucky would still vanish, his body never found; Steve's grief would lead him to Red Skull's last lair and onto that plane. Now the last voice he would hear before the ice would be Peggy's, a woman he was supposed to currently be in love with but because Natasha had blown that scenario to hell, he was going to lose Nat too. Well, for seventy years at least. Longer if Future Steve killed her for fucking his original design.

Why...why...why couldn't she have just boffed Steve the Skinny and then popped out? He'd have gotten over it, met Peggy and everything would be fixable. She had weapons, she could shoot herself...no, that would totally freak Steve out plus Heimdall would yank her back through the cosmos if her life were threatened or in danger...wait a minute…Heimdall. Freaking Heimdall.

Now she knew what she had to do. She'd give Peggy the last token, get on that train at the origin site, ride it until Steve and Bucky got there, then before Bucky got punted off the train from a misplaced energy bolt thrown by Captain America's fucking shield, she'd peace out with Bucky. Peggy could come as soon as Steve was a Capscicle.

Then hip-hip-hooray, they'd all be where Future Steve was and she could pray that Thor had those horses nearby so she could get a head start on the pitchfork and torch mob she was bound to encounter.

She liked Asgard. It was pretty and the food was good. She could hide out until everyone simmered down.

The next day they went to Howard's so called lab, to check out a few things he might have for Steve. Peggy and Steve had gone on ahead and Natasha was rustling up some decent coffee for everybody. She came back in the main doors and saw Steve sitting on a table and a very stacked, tall blonde approach him. They spoke for a moment then the blonde grabbed him by his tie and pulled him behind some shelves which were literally in the middle of the room.

Well, that was certainly interesting. Nat decided to peek and see what was up. She was surprised to see the blonde lip locking her Captain. Steve's eyes were wide and it looked like he was panicking from the way he was reaching up to the woman's shoulders. It wasn't to hold, it was to push away.

"Hi Steve! Got the coffee. I can see you don't need me right now so I'll just get Peggy and leave you to it." Natasha shot the woman a murderous look as Steve jumped, wiped his mouth and turned around, tucking his tie back in.

"Natalie! That...that wasn't what you think!" Steve was blushing to beat hell. She handed him the coffee. She believed him. Steve would have had no more social skills to stave off a sexually starved woman as he would have had to kiss her the first time they'd met.

"Peggy and Howard are waiting, I'll be right there." Nat shooed him the opposite direction then turned to the blonde whose name tag said, "Lorraine". Natasha backed her up into the same aisle she'd pulled Steve to.

Lorraine's eyes were wide as Natasha stalked her. "Let me tell you something," Natasha started out, "I know you kissed him because he wouldn't have kissed you first. What you probably don't realize is that I am an assassin SSR hired to keep an eye on him; that includes keeping him safe from vultures like you. Do that again and they will find your strangled ass in the Rhine. Do I make myself clear?"

Lorraine clutched at the pearls she wasn't wearing and nodded, her eyes still wide. Natasha took another step forward and Lorraine backed into a chair and sat down. Natasha reached out to flick a piece of fluff off Lorraine's uniform and the woman fainted.

Smiling to herself, Natasha went to track down Steve, who should be with Peggy and Howard by now. When she caught up with them, Steve was handling a round shield. Nat knew what it was but waited for Howard to explain it to Steve. Steve saw her and turned with the shield in hand.

"How does it look?" He asked.

"Like you're going to need it if you try to fondue with that bleached blonde in the war room." Nat smiled sweetly at him, drew her side arm and fired at the shield. Steve ducked behind it and Howard hit the deck under a table.

"Oh look! It works perfectly," she said after firing four times. She popped the magazine, reloaded, then holstered her gun and sashayed off past Peggy who had come in during the middle of that and was now laughing to beat hell at the expressions on Howard's and Steve's faces.

"F-fondue is just bread and cheese, kid," Howard informed Steve.

Steve hadn't taken his eyes off Nat in case she turned back around and shot at him again. He reached into his pocket to hand Howard a piece of paper.

"I wrote down some ideas for the uniform." Steve was looking a little pale.

"Whatever you want, kid. Sure thing," Howard took it without looking at it.

Peggy shook her head and went to find Natasha, still laughing.

She and Peggy were sitting out on the first couple of Captain America led Hydra raids. Mainly because Steve and Bucky were siding with Phillips about not getting their sweethearts killed. Natasha rolled her eyes and pointed out the fallibility of sexism in battle situations. The men all gave her the "isn't she cute" look which made her seethe. It particularly annoyed her that Steve was trying overly hard to keep her in one piece since he'd seen her in action and knew that she could handle herself.

Deciding to use her time to work off her annoyances and frustrations, Nat took Peggy under her wing and taught her a myriad of fighting styles for hand to hand combat while the men were off saving the world. Peggy was a quick study and not afraid to take a hit. When Captain America and the Howling Commandos returned from their latest outing, Peggy was nursing a sprained wrist and split lip and Natasha had an impressive black eye.

That brought the inevitable concern and scolding from Steve and Bucky and Phillips until Natasha had enough. She picked eight random men told them to fully arm themselves and meet with her on a grassy patch in the middle of the camp. Steve, Bucky, Peggy, Howard, and most of the Howling Commandos ringed them. Colonel Phillips even decided to pay them a visit. Nat winked at Peggy; no small feat with her shiner.

"Okay, all of you come at me at once. Don't pull your punches because I won't be pulling mine." Nat stood there in her slinky black cat suit, seemingly unconcerned, not even in a fighting stance.

"Ma'am?" One of the eight she'd picked spoke up. "Ma'am, none of us want to hit a woman."

"Think of me as the enemy, soldier. I just happen to have breasts. You need to get past that." Natasha said.

"Okay ma'am, then I apologize in advance," He was smirking at her. Natasha never moved just watched as he postured around her. Finally he became frustrated by her lack of response and started taking practice swings. She still ignored him. Then he stepped a little too close. Nat stopped his fist, twisted his arm and flipped him into four of the others watching then stood quietly again. He was twice her weight and had a good six inches in height on her but she flung him like a rag doll.

The soldier got to his feet and charged her like a bull. Nat pivoted and vaulted over him. When he took another run at her another one of his friends tried to join the party. She garroted the friend, spun and locked her thighs around the first man's neck flinging him to the ground, then dropped the second man before the garrote became lethal.

Those two stayed down. The remaining six charged her all at once. Within twenty seconds all eight lay dazed, bruised and nursing minor injuries at her feet wondering what the hell just happened.

"Not bad fellas. A little more practice and you might be able to show a girl a good time." With that Nat, who wasn't even sweating or breathing hard, sauntered off to change back into her regular uniform. The soldiers all applauded her departure, even the ones whose asses she had just handed back to them.

Phillips whistled low and slow, looking at Steve. "You sure you don't want her training your guys, Captain Rogers?"

Steve was staring opened mouthed at his petite girlfriend as she walked back to the SSR tent to change. "I'll talk to her about it right away, sir."

Bucky stared at Peggy, "You're learning how to fight from her?"

Peggy patted his cheek gently with the hand that wasn't bandaged, "Yes and just remember, you spanked her. Be glad she doesn't hold a grudge." She waltzed off after Nat, leaving Bucky standing with Steve looking after both of them in absolute awe.

"Wow," Bucky said.

Steve nodded, "Exactly what I'm thinking."

From then on, Natasha taught the entire camp hand to hand combat with Peggy at her side. Steve quickly learned not to underestimate her and improved his skills significantly. Like everything else he tried, he was a quick study and excelled in hand to hand. Nat trained him more intensively than the others. He didn't tire, he could take a hit and he didn't bitch.

As the men improved, they had fewer casualties when Captain America and the Howling Commandos went on their Hydra busting runs. Natasha and Peggy were now invited to join the fun since they could handle themselves and weren't the proverbial damsels in distress. Nat was pleased to be bringing a little twenty-first century to the chauvinistic forties.

She was having trouble getting Bucky off by himself for the talk she needed to have with him. Either Peggy or Steve or both were always around and this wasn't a conversation for witnesses. Finally she grabbed him and a jeep for a run into town ostensibly to get some goodies for the troops. They skedaddled out of there before anyone was wiser. Once they were out of sight of the camp, Nat brought up the subject of Peggy.

"You two seem to be really good together," She watched Bucky for his reaction closely. The shy smile and blush told her most of what she needed to know. She needed his confirmation.

"She's really a great dame...er...woman." Bucky grinned.

"Are you guys serious about each other?"

"I think so; I've never met anyone like her." Bucky confirmed.

"Regarding our prior conversation about the token and the name you're not to mention until the last second on the train, would you want Peggy to jump forward with us?" Natasha pulled the jeep over and stopped for this part.

Bucky brightened up almost instantly. "Is that possible?"

"Yeah it is but we are going to have to plan this very carefully. You're going to have to do most of the explaining to her because it was hard enough getting you by yourself. I don't want to think of the logistical nightmare of getting you and her but leaving Steve out."

"Steve's going to be left all alone when he goes into the ice, Natasha. I don't think I can live with that." Bucky's eyes pleaded with her to think of something.

"Well, here's the plan I came up with. We have to extract you and me on the train. Peggy will stay until she talks Steve through the crash, then she can come forward to us. Do you think she'd be able to do that? It's a hell of a thing I'm asking, I realize that. The thought of Steve having to go through all this tears at me like I can't even describe. Then I remember he's alive and well and happy when I knew him. It makes it all bearable but only just." Natasha had to look away and blink back tears that suddenly formed.

"You really love him, don't you?" Bucky squeezed her shoulder.

Nat nodded and smiled, shaking off the tears. "Yeah, I really do. I think I actually fell in love with him when he was still Skinny Steve. The body he has now is just a bonus prize."

"Natasha...what made you want to do all of this in the first place?" Bucky's question hit home and she visibly flinched.

"You. I wanted to save you so that Steve would have his best friend with him again. He blames himself for your death. I wanted to bring Peggy too so he would have the first woman he fell in love with but I kind of fucked that up," Natasha said ruefully.

"And that Doctor...Erskine?"

Nat nodded again. "He was the first person to really believe in Steve and gave him this chance. Steve has always thought highly of him."

"But when did you decide this? You said you've known Steve for a year. Why now?"

"We have just recently became a couple. He's such a good man and I wanted to give him something that…," she choked a little, her throat suddenly tight.

"That reflected how much you really love him." Bucky finished for her.

"Yeah," Nat said a little shakily, impatiently wiping her tears off her cheeks.

"Did you tell him you were doing this or did you just leave?"

"I just left. I had a friend's help. I did leave him a note saying that I loved him and that I would be back." Nat said defensively.

"Oh baby doll," Bucky sat back against the seat. "If Steve in the future is anything like Steve now, he'll listen to your story, be very grateful to you for doing all this; then he is absolutely going to tan your backside for scaring him half to death."

Natasha laughed, "I can guarantee you are correct in your assessment. I just hope he'll still love me."

"Baby, if he didn't, he wouldn't be Steve. He loves you. Then and now." Bucky hugged her. "Don't worry. We're going to get through all of this. I'll talk to Peggy tonight."

"Thanks, Bucky. If there's a problem, come get me after everyone's asleep."

They drove into town and found a bakery. Nat bought out all of the apple, cherry and blueberry strudels they had and had Bucky put them in the jeep. There was a specialty store nearby which sold coffee and tea. She got ten pounds of ground coffee, five pounds of sugar and two gallons of actual cream. Loaded with their gifts they made it back to camp early enough for the cooks to pop the strudels in the oven and brew the fancy coffee.

Steve and Peggy ran up when they saw Nat and Bucky unloading the jeep. They both looked confused until Natasha explained the reason for their impromptu run into town. She grabbed Steve's hand and took him into the officer's mess for a cup of fabulous coffee and a piece of strudel. Her happiness was infectious and Steve couldn't help beaming at her.

That night, a very shaken Peggy came into the tent after her date with Bucky. Natasha held out her hand. Peggy took it and sat on the bed and listened to Natasha confirm everything Bucky had just told her.

"Can you do this, Peggy? Do you even want to is probably the better question." Nat still held her friend's hand.

"Seventy years..." Peggy's voice was shaky. "There is no other way?"

"No, there isn't. If Steve doesn't ditch that plane, millions of people are going to die. He's a hero now and he'll be a hero again in my time. He literally helps save the world several times over. He has to reawaken in my time or else we won't have our leader...our Captain America, and we need him Peggy. I need him."

"I understand," Peggy said, looking down at her hands.

"Steve also needs Bucky and Bucky needs you. We both need our friends, Peg. You and Bucky are important to me as well." Nat put her hand on the brunette's shoulder.

Peggy looked up, searching her face. She saw in Natasha what she had seen in Bucky. A grim determination to set things right. It wasn't a horrible joke; it was what had to happen. As it turned out, Peggy Carter had grit. "All right darling. I'm in."