Author´s note: Hi! Finally, the last chapter. I´m sorry I kept you guys waiting for so long... I hope you enjoy it anyway! ;)

Song that inspired this chapter: Let Me Go by Avril Lavigne feat. Chad Kroeger

CHAPTER 20

After a cold shower to get the vodka out of her system and her head to think straight again, Natasha is in her ordinary clothes and packing her stuff away to leave with Clint back to Russia. She always travels light, but this time she doesn't intend to come back, so she is filling her bigger black bag with all her things. She is trying to listen to her logical side and leave emotions out of her mind right now, which is not very difficult for the Black Widow to do, since she has done this her entire life. So she quickly packs all her belonging from her room in the Avengers Tower and zip her bag closed, picking it up from where it was on the top of her bed.

She looks around her room one more time to check if she isn't forgetting anything and her eyes linger at the sight of the tall NYC buildings that she can see through her window. The city night lights make the view even better. She won't be seeing then anytime soon according to her plans, so she lets go of her bag and walks to stand closer to the window to admire the view one last time. And then her mind wanders away and she recalls that on the first day she arrived at the Avengers Tower, Steve was standing beside her at that same spot. She now wishes that she could see Steve one last time too. Natasha shakes her head slightly trying to get rid of that chain of thoughts because she knows that it too late to make amends with Steve. After his reaction to her killing his best friend, she doesn't think he will ever be able to forgive her and she doesn't have the courage to face him again. So, she satisfies herself with the fact that Steve is alive. The Avengers need their leader and Captain America is still part of this world, and that is all that matter right now. She has too many ghosts following her already, and adding Bucky to the list was easier than having Steve's death on her shoulders, no matter what the cost of that was to her. She loves Steve but she has to let go of her feelings and accept the fact that they can't be together anymore, not as lovers or partners. She wants him to move on and find another person that doesn't make him suffer as she did, so she's leaving for good.

Natasha´s thoughts are interrupted when she feels her phone vibrating in her jeans´ back pocket, so she takes it out and reads Clint's message: "I'm ready when you are."

She quickly sends a message back: "On my way."

Natasha looks back out the window, puts a hand against the cold glass and whispers: "Goodbye Steve." A few tears threaten to fall from her eyes, but before they do, she takes a deep breath and enables the Black Widow mode again. Without any more thinking, she turns around, grabs her bag and leaves the room, without looking back.

She quickly goes inside the elevator and heads to the rooftop where the Quinjet is landed. She enters the Quinjet to find that Clint is already inside, on the pilot's seat, checking the jet navigation systems.

Clint hears Natasha step inside and greets her without taking his eyes out of the computer screen: "Hey, Nat. Feeling better?"

Natasha puts her bag away and sits on the copilot seat beside Clint, with a serious expression on her face. She replies looking out the windshield: "Not really, but let's go anyway."

Clint looks at Natasha and studies her face for moment. He notices that she still looks sad and tries to comfort her: "Don't worry Nat. I'm sure after we manage to do this, everything will be alright again."

Natasha meets Clint's gaze and gives him a weak smile: "You mean if we manage to do this. By the way, I think you should disable the tracking device. I don't want anyone to find out where or what we are trying to do because I don't want to get anyone's hope up, in case we fail. This mission will stay between us for now."

Clint looks back at the computer screen and starts pressing the jet computer's screen as he answers: "Okay, if that is how you want to do this. But I think you should be more optimist about it."

Natasha looks away and replies: "I can't afford to do that Clint. I don't want to cause any more damage than I've already done."

Clint looks back at Natasha: "Nat, you shouldn't..."

Natasha doesn´t want anyone´s pity so she interrupts him, giving Clint an intimidating look: "Clint, let's just go and get this over with."

Clint stares at her for a moment and then gets the message that he should stay quiet for now. So he nods at the redheaded spy and says: "Okay..." Then he starts the jets engine and takes off from the Avengers Tower.

The sun is starting to rise when Steve leaves his room wearing dark jeans, a plain blue shirt and his brown leather jacket. He heads to the garage of the Avengers Tower, gets on his bike and drives to Peggy's retirement home.

The retirement home is located on the outskirts of the city, so when he arrives there a few hours later, the sun is higher on the sky and the home is open for visitors. He goes in, greets the receptionist politely and then he asks about Peggy´s whereabouts.

The young blonde lady smiles at him, she already knows who he is since he has been there several times before, and so she answers: "She is at the garden taking a morning walk, Mr. Rogers. You can meet her there if you want."

Steve smiles politely at her and then replies: "I will. Thank you." Then he makes his way to the huge garden on the back. As soon as he walks out the double glass doors, he notices for the first time today that the day is sunny, the weather is nice and warm and that there are almost no clouds in the blue sky. It´s a beautiful day, so Steve just stands there for a moment, thinking that he has been through so much stress from the last mission that he almost forgot to appreciate the small things in life, like a simple walk on a sunny day. He looks around and spots Peggy´s back, she is wearing a loose sage casual long dress and her gray hair is made up in a bun. She is walking toward the stone fountain in the middle of the garden.

Steve takes a deep breath, trying to prepare himself to see her reaction of him being alive all over again, and then goes to her. When he is close enough, he slowly puts a hand on her shoulder saying: "Good morning, Peggy!"

Peggy recognizes Steve´s voice, but has a hard time believing it, so she turns around quickly, almost losing her balance, and as soon as she sees Steve´s face, her mouth drops open in surprise and her eyes start to get glassy from tears. She puts a hand to cover her mouth and after a moment she raises her hand to touch Steve´s cheek. She caresses his face and exclaims: "Steve! Oh my god! I thought you´re dead!"

Steve takes her hand away from his face and squeezes it tight. He grimaces a little from seeing her almost crying, and then gives her a weak smile as he replies: "I´m sorry Peggy. I guess I´m late for our dance." He tries really hard not to shed some tears himself when all those memories come to his mind, still so fresh for him and so far away for Peggy.

Peggy smiles back at him and says: "You still look the same, so young and handsome! I´ve missed you so much!" A tear fall from Peggy´s brown eyes.

Steve quickly wipes it away with the back of his free hand and says: "I know! I´ve missed you too. Come on, let´s sit down and I´ll explain everything." He is still holding her hand so he leads her to a stone bench overlooking the fountain. When they sit side by side, Steve patiently explains the whole story of how he survived the plane crash about 70 years ago, how now he is part of a team called the Avengers and that they are still fighting against HYDRA and others menaces that threaten the common people on this planet. Then he starts to talk about his Avengers friends and about how he and Natasha became partners and more recently, lovers.

Peggy just listens carefully to it all and asks something one time or another, but mostly just pay attention to Steve´s words. When he finishes talking about Natasha, Peggy smiles at him and says: "I´m glad that you found her Steve, you deserve to be happy."

Steve looks down for a moment and then replies: "Well, that´s why I came to you, I need to talk to someone about that." He looks back into Peggy´s eyes and continues: "On our last mission, we had some…problems. I still love her but…I don´t know if I can trust her again, so I pushed her away."

Peggy takes his hand and squeezes it a little, never taking her eyes away from his, she says softly: "Tell me what´s happened on your last mission then." She waits, with a serious expression on her face, for Steve to explain the situation.

Steve starts by telling her about their first encounter with the Winter Soldier on D.C. He explains to Peggy that the Winter Soldier was actually Bucky and that, somehow, he was working with HYDRA. He also tells her about his metal arm with a red star draw on it and how he found out later that he was turned into a cold-blooded assassin, trained by KGB several years ago, where they wiped his memory and turned him into a weapon. He then explains how they end up meeting Bucky again on their last mission in Russia and how Natasha shoot Bucky dead when he tried to kill him. He finishes by adding: "Natasha killed Bucky to save my life, I know that, but she knew that Bucky was my friend and she shot to kill him anyway. Her assassin´s instinct scares me, Peggy. I don´t know what to do."

Peggy ponders on his story for a moment then replies in a firm tone: "Her assassin´s instinct has nothing to do with it. I would´ve done the same thing Natasha did, Steve."

Steve looks at her with a hurt expression on his face and then Peggy continues: "From what you told me, that man wasn´t Bucky anymore, you have to understand that. Maybe you wanted to believe that there was still a part of him inside the Winter Soldier, but I don´t think there was. The Bucky I knew died that day on Zola´s train. He died a hero, fighting for his country, Steve."

Steve looks away for a moment and thinks about what Peggy was saying. He actually never saw a hint that Bucky was still in there, in the Winter Soldier, not even when he tried to reason with him. Maybe Peggy was right; maybe he was just too stubborn to admit that Bucky was gone a long time ago. He remembers how Sam tried to tell him that several times, even Tony and Bruce told him that once, before he left for a search mission with Sam, but he wasn´t ready to let go of his hope that maybe he could still save Bucky. And now, when Peggy tells him she would´ve killed the Winter Soldier too, all those words of warning from his friends starts to sink in.

Peggy sees the sadness on Steve´s face and puts a hand on his arm, trying to comfort him. She then says: "I know how hard it is to let go of someone you love, trust me." Steve turns to meet her gaze and realizes that she did lose him, several years ago, but before he can say anything, Peggy continues: "But sometimes we have no choice but to do it, so we can move on with our lives. Otherwise it will only consume you."

Steve replies softly: "I´m trying to do that Peggy, but now, I don´t know if I can face Natasha again. I´m afraid that every time I look at her, I´ll remember that night in Russia…I´ll hear the gun shot that killed Bucky."

Peggy takes her hand away from Steve´s arm and stares at the fountain for a moment. Then she looks at Steve and says: "You still love her, don't you?" Steve nods at her, so she continues: "Then, if it was the other way around, if it was up to you to save her life, would you do it?"

Hearing the familiar words, Steve stares away into nothing in particular, remembering that moment when he and Natasha were taking shelter in Sam Wilson´s house, running away from HYDRA, when Natasha asked him: "If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life, and you be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?" Natasha looked so frail back then, she was thoughtful and sad. That was the moment when he realized that Natasha wasn´t just a cold spy, she was fighting for something, just like him and so he answered: "I would now. And I'm always honest." Peggy´s voice interrupts his thought when she asks: "Would you kill the Winter Soldier to save her?"

Steve looks back at Peggy and answers firmly: "Yes, I would."

Peggy gives him a half-smile: "Then it´s solved. In time, that night in Russia will only be a distant memory, but Natasha can be so much more than that. Don´t give up on her, Steve."

Steve smiles back at her and replies: "You´re right Peggy, you´re absolutely right!" Steve takes her hand from her lap, giving it a gentle tap as he says: "Thank you."

Steve spends a little more time with Peggy; they talk about ordinary things, having a lighter conversation. Then Steve says his goodbye and leaves, back to the Avengers Tower in NYC.

As soon as he gets back, Steve goes inside the elevator of the Avengers Tower and instead of pressing the button from his room's floor; he presses the one from Natasha's floor. He stops in front of her door and hesitates for a moment before knocking. He waits, but there is no response. So he knocks again, this time harder and nothing happens so fears the worst, that Natasha never came back. He tenses his jaws and then asks out loud: "Jarvis, did Natasha come back to her room?"

The A.I. responds immediately: "Yes sir, she did."

Steve feels relived for a moment, but it doesn't last long because Jarvis continues: "But she left about 28 minutes after she came in."

Steve squeeze his eyes shut, not believing what he was hearing. He opens his eyes again and asks: "Could you please open her door for me Jarvis. It's an emergency."

"Yes sir." Jarvis replies and does as the Captain asked.

Steve quickly walks inside and notices how empty her room looks. He goes to her closet and there isn't a single piece of her clothes in there. He realizes that he is too late. She left like he has feared. He goes to her bathroom and it is like she was never there before. He feels like there is a hole on his chest. He grabs his phone from his jacket´s pocket and tries to call her, but her phone is off. He looks around at her empty room and feels lost. He slowly makes his way out of her room, dragging his feet sadly. He feels broken inside, he wishes he had just one more chance to look into Natasha's eyes and tell her how he was wrong, hold her in his arms, apologize for blaming her and tell her how much she means to him.

When he enters the elevator to go back to his room, he asks: "Jarvis, is there any chance that she enable her tracking device? Do you know where she might be?"

Jarvis responds: "She hasn't enabled her tracking device, sorry sir. But if it helps, she left with Barton at 4:08 a.m. They took the quinjet. That's was the last time I was able to track them, sir. They are both out of my radar."

Steve frowns, wondering why Natasha took the Quinjet and left with Barton. At least she is with Clint, that makes him feel a little better because he knows that Clint wouldn't let Natasha do anything stupid. But what scares him the most is that now he has no idea where she might be or if she is ever coming back.

After forging some documents with the help of some old Russian friends and going through a lot of bureaucracy that took several days to resolve, Natasha and Clint are finally able to leave Russia with Bucky´s body. They also managed to get a place for him to be buried at the Green-Wood cemetery, in Brooklyn, NY.

Now, Clint is getting the jet ready to leave St. Petersburg.

Natasha walks past the closed casket of Bucky and stands at the cockpit entrance saying: "Okay Clint, you´re on your own now. Good luck."

Clint turns around from the pilot seat to look at Natasha surprised: "What?"

Natasha takes a deep breath and replies: "I´m not coming back with you Clint, so this is goodbye."

Clint stands up and stops in front of her, speaking in an angry tone: "Like hell you aren´t! We are a team, remember! The Avengers need you! You can´t just leave! And besides, why the hell we went through all this trouble if you´re planning to stay here? I thought you wanted to make things right with Steve!"

Natasha already expected that kind of reaction from Clint, so she just replies calmly: "Well, I did this so that Steve can move on, I´m not expecting him to forgive me. I don´t think he´ll ever be able to do that, so I can´t be a part of the team anymore. I´m taking some time off."

Clint is now really mad at her for her decision and is almost screaming: "That´s bullshit! You´ll never know if you don´t give him a chance to do it! You have to come back with me!"

Natasha has made up her mind, so she just stares at the archer, not losing her composure as he stares angrily back at her.

Clint lets out a frustration breath and lowers his voice as he speaks again: "Come on Nat! Steve had some time to cool off and think about what´s happened. Maybe he wants to talk to you, and if he really loves you, he´ll be ready to forgive you." Natasha just keeps staring silently at Clint, so he continues: "Do this for me at least! I don´t think I´ll last long on that tower without you around. Living with super heroes can be quite a challenge, you know?" He gives her a half-smile and then looks at her with puppy dog´s eyes: "Please, Nat? Stay for the funeral at least, then if Steve doesn´t say anything to you, if nothing changes between you two, then you can run away or… whatever…I won´t be in your way."

Natasha takes a deep breath then crosses her arms on her chest, saying a little annoyed: "Alright, fine! Just stop looking at me like that!" She then walks past Clint and sits on the copilot´s seat murmuring: "But I still think this is a mistake, Steve won´t forgive me."

Clint is feeling victorious and now has a large smile on his face as he sits on the pilot´s seat beside her, saying: "Wanna bet?"

She replies sarcastically: "No thanks, but maybe you can ask that to Stark when we get there."

Clint laughs and says: "Right! I love seeing his face when he loses a bet! It´s so funny!"

Natasha turns her eyes away from the windshield to give Clint a deadly stare. Clint meets her gaze and then, fearing for his life, quickly looks away, turning his attention to the jet´s control system, saying: "Ooookay, next stop, New York!"

The jet takes off.

Almost three weeks have passed since Natasha and Clint disappeared and Steve still wasn't able to get a full night of sleep. The dawn was breaking and Steve was sitting on the couch of his room, drawing on his sketch book. Once he finishes his drawing he just looks at it. It is a drawing of Natasha's face; she has that signature smile like she knows it all. Steve's drawing is a flawless work, but no matter how good his drawing is, for Steve it feels like there is something missing. The sparkle on her eyes is missing, so he rips the page off and throws it on the floor where it lands with a dozen of other ripped pages, all with drawings of Natasha that he did during his sleepless night.

He was about to start another drawing when he hears a knock on his door. He puts his pencil and sketchbook aside, stands up and drags his feet to the door, not quite wanting to be disturbed. He opens to find Tony standing there in his pajamas: "Hey Cap! I hope I didn't wake you up, but I got a call from Legolas, in the middle of my beauty sleep, again..." He throws his hands up in the air, annoyed, and noticing Steve's straight face, he clears his throat and continues: "Anyway, he wants us to meet him in a few hours in the Green-Wood cemetery, so get ready."

Steve finally gives some sort of reaction as he frowns and says: "The cemetery? Why? Is Natasha with him?"

Tony says: "I asked him the same questions, but he replied…" Tony continues trying to mimic Clint's voice: "Just be there!"

Steve looks confused at Tony: "Huh, okay. I guess we should check it out at least to know where the hell he has been all this time."

Tony nods: "Yeap, I'll tell Bruce and Thor and then meet you at the common room for breakfast."

"Okay." Steve replies before going back inside his room to change his clothes.

After gathering with the rest of the team and having short discussion over breakfast on what Clint might be up to, Steve and his friends make their way to the cemetery in one of Stark´s black SUV.

When they get there, Steve is walking ahead of his other Avengers friends because he is eager to find out what's this mystery meeting about. He keeps looking around, the cemetery has a park-like landscape with several ponds and monuments, and on a sunny morning like this, it is really beautiful. When he gets to the top of a hill, he spots Clint a few feet ahead. He feels a little bit disappointed when he sees only Clint and Sam there. He was secretly hoping that Natasha would be there too, but apparently not.

He makes his way to them and greets his friends: "Hello, Barton." He shakes hands with the archer and then turns to Sam to do the same: "I didn't expect to meet you here too Sam, can I ask what is going on?" He looks from Sam to Clint expecting an answer.

Sam has a weak smile on his face: "Clint called me. I'm here to support you, my friend." Sam rests a hand on Steve's shoulder.

Steve has a confused look on his face: "Support me? Why?" He looks to Sam.

Clint stands beside Sam and replies looking at Steve: "Just follow me and you'll see." He starts walking father into the cemetery.

Steve looks back at Tony, Bruce and Thor that are now standing behind him, and they have the same confused expression on their faces.

Tony just shrugs his shoulders at Steve and says playfully: "I guess we should follow the Master."

Bruce nods at him and Thor just looks at Tony even more confused, so Tony taps his shoulder lightly saying: "Come on, Blondie." And they all walk past Steve.

Steve turns around and does the same with Sam by his side.

They finally stop in front of an open grave with a brown casket beside it. A priest is standing in front of it. He nods as a greeting to Clint and his friends.

Steve freezes at the scene, he sees the sad expression on their friends faces as they seem to recognize the body inside the opened casket.

Then Tony shoots back a worried glance at his direction and Steve feels a chill go down his spine, fearing that the worst might have happened to Natasha. So he strides to stand beside Tony, in front of the casket too and he is surprised to find Bucky lifeless form in there. It takes all his willpower not to break down in tears as he sees his dead friend, James Buchanan Barnes, dressed in his old US army uniform, his face still bruised from their last encounter, but at least he does not look like the Winter Soldier, not like that. His has a short haircut, similar to what he wore in the past, his metal arm is covered with the jacket from the uniform and lying peacefully in there, it's like all his sins are gone and he is just his old and good friend, Bucky again. He puts a hand on the top of Bucky's cold one and swallows hard, like he has a knot on his throat. When he realizes what Clint has done for him, he tries to blink away the tears that insist on forming on his eyes as he turns around and look at Clint: "Thank you Barton. This really means a lot to me. How did you manage to bring him back home?"

Clint walks to stand beside Steve as he answers: "Well, I came up with the idea that you would like to bury your friend here and have a proper funeral for him, but I'm not the one you should be thanking..." Clint looks to his right at a tree line father away and continues: "Natasha did all the hard work."

Natasha is standing beside a tall tree, watching the scene of the tall blonde soldier talking to her archer friend from afar. She didn't want to come back to NYC, especially to see Steve because she knew it would only make it harder to let all this behind. But Clint had insisted that she came back with him, to share her condolences with Steve, but when they arrived at the cemetery, she lost her courage to face Steve and sneaked out of the way when Clint wasn´t looking. But now, she sees that Hawkeye has spotted her already because she notices that Clint turns his gaze on her direction. She silently curses him, because she was hoping to go unnoticed on this one, but it was too late. Steve had turned his gaze to her as well and when his blue eyes locked on her, everything inside her just melt. She was losing control of her usual composure; her walls are coming down again. She wonders how Steve does that every time, just by looking at her.

When Steve followed Clint's eyes and spotted the redheaded beauty beside a tall tree a little further ahead, he locked his gaze on her. He now feels a kind of relieve just to see Natasha standing there. Afraid that she might disappear on him again, he quickly makes his way to meet her in a determined stride.

As Natasha watches Steve making his way to her, she feels a sudden urge to run away, but instead she takes a deep breath and tries to steady herself, half expecting him to scream at her or something, but as he closes the space between them, she can see that he has a soft expression on his face, not an angry one.

When Steve gets close enough to touch her, he just wants to hug her, but he doesn´t want to make a move like that, afraid he might push her away again, so he just stands in front of her with a small smile on his lips. He says: "Hello Natasha! I'm so glad to see you."

His words penetrate Natasha's soul, she can't believe he said that and she tries really hard to hold back the tears that are forming on her eyes. She doesn't even know how to reply to that, because she had made up her mind that they weren't meant to be together, that Steve would never want to see her again. But now, hearing that he was glad to see her just proofed her wrong. So she just stares at him, frozen in her place.

Steve looks down and carefully takes her hand as he continues: "Thank you for bringing Bucky back." He then looks back up at her face and says: "I'm sorry if I pushed you away, but I know now that you did what you had to do and I was wrong for blaming you. Will you please, forgive me?" He looks expectantly at her green glassy eyes.

She chuckles in disbelief and lets go of his hand as she replies: "Forgive you? There is nothing to forgive you for, Steve. I'm the one that should be asking for forgiveness, but I don't even know how to do that." A single tear rolls down Natasha's cheek but she quickly brushes it away with her hand.

Steve says looking back at his friends standing beside Bucky's casket: "Well, that's a good start." When he meets her eyes again, she is looking at him, thoughtfully. He extends his hand to her and continues: "Will you join us, please?"

And this moment just take all of Natasha's doubts away. She came so close to giving it all up and now she feels like her life has purpose again. She gaze into his pleading blue eyes and release a breath that she didn't even realize that she was holding. She smiles at Steve saying: "Okay."

Steve smiles back at her as she takes his hand. He leads her to sit on a chair beside him, in front of Bucky's casket.

Natasha nods at her other friends, greetings them as they all sit down, Sam on the other side of Steve and the others on chairs behind them.

The priest then says as he open his bible: "Shall we start?" Steve nods at him in response and he starts the sermon for Bucky's funeral.

The whole time, Steve is holding Natasha's hand and he squeezes it tight when he can feel that she is tense. He knows that this must be hard for her too, but every time he looks at her, she just gives him a reassuring smile. That is when he realizes that his strength was in her all along. He feels so much better going through this with Natasha by his side.

After some time, when the priest is done, Steve lets go of Natasha´s hand to stand, and makes his way to Bucky´s casket. He takes one last look at his friend and whispers: "Now, you´re free. Someday, we´ll meet at the end of the line. I´ll miss, brother." He slowly closes the casket and touches it, lowering his head and closing his eyes for a moment as some tears slip away from his eyes.

Natasha can't help it and let a few tears fall from her eyes too, still sitting on her chair, still feeling some guilt over Steve's pain.

Sam rises and puts a hand on Steve's shoulder. When Steve turns around, Sam hugs his friend saying: "I'm sorry Steve. At least now you know that Bucky is resting in peace."

Steve lets go of Sam and reminds himself of how Sam had run around the world with him when they were trying to find Bucky, no matter how senseless his search seemed, so he replies: "Yes. Thank you Sam, for everything."

Sam knows what Steve means, so he nods and smiles a little: "Any time, man. You can count on me."

Clint then comes to stand with them, he hands a folded American flag to Steve saying: "I suppose you want to do the honors."

Steve takes the flag from Clint's hand saying: "I do, thanks Clint." And he turns around to stretch it over Bucky's casket.

Clint, Sam and Steve contemplate the flag over Bucky´s casket for moment and then Clint walks away with Sam beside him.

Then Bruce comes to stand beside Steve and says: "I'm so sorry for your loss." He puts a hand on Steve's arms as Steve looks at him and replies: "Thank you, Banner."

Then Thor comes between them. He gives Steve a bear hug and then holds both Steve arms firmly as he says looking at him: "I am truly sorry. We will be here for you if you need us, Steven."

Steve replies looking at Thor: "Thank you Thor, I appreciate it."

Thor gives him a sad smile, letting go of Steve´s arms, and then he gives Steve a not so light tap on his shoulder, which makes Steve go sideways a little. Steve smiles back awkwardly at the blonde God as he turns around and walks away with Bruce.

Then Tony walks in front of Steve and says: "Capsicle, I´m not good with this sort of thing…I usually have Pepper with me, she is good with words for this kind of moment…but anyway…you know…if you need anything, just let me know."

Steve nods at Tony with a half-smile on his face: "Thanks Stark. Maybe you can stop calling me that?"

Tony narrows his eyes at him and replies: "Huh, nope. I don´t think I can do that, ask me something else."

Steve chuckles and says: "You´re hopeless, Stark."

"Yeah, I know…" Tony gives Steve a quick hug and then walks away too.

Steve then looks back at Natasha, who is still sitting. She is staring at Bucky´s casket thoughtfully.

Steve goes and stands in front of her, blocking her view, which makes her blink a few times and come back to reality. She looks up at Steve and rises from her seat to meet his eyes. She clears her throat, trying to find her voice to say something, which comes out in a husky tone: "I´m sorry Steve. I wish things could have turned out differently but…" Natasha looks down for a moment and bites her lower lip nervously. Then she continues looking at the ground: "…sometimes we have that make hard decisions on our jobs, and…and…I´m sorry." She doesn´t know what else to say.

Steve grabs her chin and gently pulls it up so that she can look at him again. He says softly: "It´s okay Tasha. I know this is difficulty for you too. I forgive you."

Hearing those words from Steve feels like a dream to Natasha, and all the tears she was holding back now start to flow freely down her face. She doesn´t disbelieve how lucky she is and exclaims: "Oh Steve…You´re just too good to be true!" She gets to the tip of her toes to throw her arms around his neck and hugs him.

Steve put his arms around her waist and pulls Natasha closer for a tight embrace. He stays like that for a while, just enjoying the feeling of having her back in his arms, and then he whispers into her hair: "Just promise me that you´ll stay with me this time. I need you beside me because…I love you."

Natasha pulls away a little, just enough to look into his eyes, but keep her hands on his shoulder. She smiles at Steve and says softly: "I love you too, Steve. And I promise I´m not running from you ever again. We´ll get through this, together!"

Steve is still holding her as he smiles back at her: "Good! Because I can´t image my life without you in it, not anymore." Their faces are very close, so he just leans his head a little bit and his lips meets hers with a soft and gentle kiss.

Natasha in response slides her hands from his shoulders to the back of his neck as she deepens the kiss.

In the meantime, the rest of the team is slowly making their way out of the cemetery until Tony breaks the silence: "So, who´s up for a Shawarma?"

Thor is the first to answer: "I´m famished. I am up for the invitation!"

Clint says looking at Thor: "Well, that´s not a surprise…but I guess I could eat too. I had an early breakfast today."

Tony, still walking beside his friends, looks at Bruce and Sam: "What about you guys? Hungry?"

Bruce simple says: "Yes, sure, let´s go."

Sam looks at Tony: "I´ll agree to that as soon as someone explains to me what a Shawarma is."

Tony explains enthusiastically about the Shawarma for Sam, who agrees to try it. Then Tony says: "Okay, let´s just wait for the two oldies to catch up…" he turns around and stops walking abruptly, poking Clint arms as he passes by him to call his attention: "Hey Legolas, look at that!"

Clint turns around and follow Tony´s gaze. He sees Steve and Natasha in a deep, passionate kiss, still beside Bucky´s casket. He can´t help but smile at scene.

Tony starts jumping up and down laughing like a little kid, which make the others also stop and turn around to see what the fuss is all about.

Bruce speaks as he watches his two friends kissing: "It is about time those two admitted they had feelings for each other!"

Thor has a broad smile on his face: "I agree!"

Sam chuckles at Bruce´s remark, remembering that he was the only one who knew about Steve and Natasha, but he keeps that to himself.

Tony turns to Clint and exclaims: "I knew it! You lost your bet Legolas! They´re kissing, look!" He points at Steve and Natasha.

"Yeah, I can see them Stark." Clint replies in steady tone.

Tony narrows his eyes at Clint suspiciously: "You already knew about them, didn´t you?"

Clint shrugs at Tony and the billionaire, who continues looking at Clint with disbelieve, says: "Well, you own me 100 bucks….but just out of curiosity, how long have you know?"

Clint smiles in a mischievous way at Tony as he replies: "Since that time we were at Singapore´s hospital."

Tony is surprised: "What? Did the Little Red told you?"

Clint replies: "No, but I had my suspicious, and I knew that Natasha wouldn't let everybody find out about them that easily, so I took the bet just to see the look on your face when you thought you lost."

"You lying bastard!" Tony punches Clint´s arm.

Clint has a pain expression on his face as he says: "Ouch! That hurts!"

"It was supposed to hurt!" Tony replies harshly.

Steve and Natasha break the kiss and start to walk, hand in hand, toward the others. Natasha notices how everybody is looking back at them, so she says: "Well, I guess the secret is out."

Steve gives Natasha a half-smile and replies: "I´m sort of relieved because you know how bad I am at lying. I don´t think I would be able to hide it much longer anyway."

Natasha agrees in a playfully tone: "Yeah, I guess not."

When they reach their friends, they all have smiles on their faces, except for Tony and Clint who are glaring angrily at each other. Tony continues in an upset tone: "To make things even, I think you should pay for lunch!"

Clint furrows his brow and speaks: "What! No way!" He notices that Natasha and Steve are now standing in front of them with a confused look on their faces, but he ignores them and continues, gesturing in Steve´s direction: "Not with a Super Soldier…" he then points to Thor: "and a freaking Norse God on the group! They´ll probably eat the whole Shawarma stock!"

Natasha figures out what is going on and interrupts: "So, Shawarma for lunch? That sounds like a good idea."

Tony looks at Natasha and says in an upbeat tone: "Yeap! My idea! And the best part is that Clint is paying! Come on guys let´s go!" Tony quickly walks away, leaving an angry Clint talking behind him: "I´m not paying anything! Tin Man! Get back here!" He runs after Tony.

Bruce has a shy smile on his face; he looks around at his remaining friends and adds: "I guess everything is back to normal."

They all nod in agreement, except for Thor who says in his booming voice: "Well, now we also have a happy couple on the team!"

Bruce says looking at Steve and Natasha holding hands: "Yeah, that´s good news!"

Thor continues, looking at Steve and Natasha: "I am glad for you, my friends!"

Steve replies looking at Thor then at Bruce: "Thanks."

Sam is looking on the other direction, where Clint is now jumping on Tony´s back, making him fall to the ground. So he quickly says: "Maybe we should go before those two kill each other!"

They all follow Sam´s gaze and without another word, everybody quickly make their way to reach Clint and Tony, who is now trying to poke Clint on the eye as he screams at him senseless and Clint is trying to pin Tony down to the ground as he dodges his attacks.

Somethings don´t ever change.

THE END

PS: So, that´s it! I know that if my writing skills in English were better, the story would be much easier to read, but I guess that for my first fan fiction it turned out okay.

I had a really great time writing it and reading your feedback, so thanks for all the favs, follows and most importantly the reviews!

Now I can´t wait to watch Age of Ultron to see if maybe the movie inspires me to keep writing. I´ll probably tend to pair Steve and Natasha because I love romanogers fanfics, so I´m just hoping they don´t ruin it all on the next Avengers movie. Fingers crossed!

See you! Bye!