This particular chapter has been in the works for a few weeks now as the school semester has picked up momentum and I don't know what to do (I'm up to my neck in political theory). Sorry! On another note, this one is rather light hearted, and warm, and I hope it makes at least one of you smile. Also, am I the only one that sees Steve and Charlotte as dog people?

You make me smile like the sun... Uncle Kracker

Steve powered on his phone as he closed his locker room and smiled a tight, closed lip smile in acknowledgement at his team members exiting the locker room. He'd been in Russia for the past week and a half hunting down Hydra facilities (because that had become his life since his move to D.C.), and hadn't had any communication with Charlotte at all. Usually, he'd turn on his phone to be greeted with a text or two from Charlotte, mostly asking him to pick up something from the supermarket if he was in the country, with a text following a "never mind, see ya later," text a few hours from the original one.

He had 57 unread messages from his fiancée, which made him frown in worry as he exited the locker room and made his way towards the parking garage.

OUTTA MILK. IF YOU GET HOME BEFORE ME, GET SOME—CO

NEVERMIND. I GOT IT—CO

He smiled at the familiarity of the first two before he opened the third.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DOGS?—CO

ON A RELATED NOTE: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DOGS INSIDE THE APARTMENT?—CO

AND BY DOGS, I JUST MEAN ONE—CO

UNLESS YOU'RE COOL WITH MORE, THAN I MEANT IT IN THE PLURAL FORM—CO

Steve could see where this was going, and he grinned as he located his motorcycle. He stood by it, however, in favor of continuing to read the messages.

I FOUND A DOG—CO

AND BY THAT, I MEAN THAT HE FOLLOWED ME HOME ON THE WAY FROM THE SUPERMARKET—CO

HE LOOKS HUNGRY—CO

I TOLD HIM HE COULD STAY THE NIGHT IF HE WAS GOOD—CO

Steve was now 90% sure he was going to come home to a fiancée and a dog.

LOOK AT HIM!—CO

The next few texts were pictures and videos of a white and tan spotted dog grinning goofily at the camera. The dog looked like he could use a couple of more meals on him, but he was a pretty big dog from what he could tell. It was definitely a mutt, since it didn't quite look like a pitbull, but it could have some in him.

And from what he could gather from a video message he opened, he was missing a tail, but his whole posterior would wag every time Charlotte would say hi to him from the other side of the camera.

I'VE NAMED HIM. WE'RE KEEPING HIM.—CO

The message was accompanied with Charlotte making a ridiculous voice as she called for "Timber" and the dog (now named Timber, and Steve knew he was now definitely the proud owner of a dog) responded happily, grinning goofily as he seemed to do in every picture and video Charlotte sent him and wagging his behind for Charlotte.

SPOKE TO LANDLORD. TOLD ME HE DOESN'T CARE AS LONG AS HE'S NOT A BOTHER-CO

There were four days without any texts, before he opened the last one, sent that morning.

MISS YOU—CO

That last text seemed out of place from Charlotte, but not entirely unfounded. He had been on assignments back to back for the past couple of months since their move to D.C. but never such long ones. Usually, he was gone for four days at the maximum, before coming home for a day or two and being sent out again when new intel would come in.

And Charlotte was used to that. She'd found a job at a law firm, just as an assistant in helping to put together cases for the lawyers, but she loved her job, and it paid well enough that she was paying her student debt on time. Of course, Steve had taken over paying all the bills, had paid off the apartment (and Charlotte had been furious about that, as he had suspected she would be), and while Charlotte had disputed all this, he'd compromised with her. She bought groceries, and whatever other necessities they needed, and Steve didn't object to her buying him clothes or paying for take-out when neither felt like cooking.

But he'd never been gone this long, and he missed her too.

Steve smiled before he typed a quick text telling her he was on his way home, and started the engine on his motorcycle.

By the time he got home, it was dark outside, and around the time when Charlotte either started making dinner (and there was a lot of pre-made stuff involved in that process), or started looking through take-out menus to order from.

Before he opened the door, he heard a bark, the scrapping of paws and nails against hard wood flooring, and Charlotte's laughter, and he suddenly felt warm, overcome by pure, unadulterated happiness, the kind he felt when he was with Charlotte.

As soon as he opened the door, he was accosted by an over excited dog, who immediately raised himself onto his hind legs to put his paws against his upper abdomen and attempted to lick and slobber as much as he could reach towards his face.

"I swear to Zeus, one day it's going to be a robber opening the door, and this boy will still kiss him to death." Charlotte smiled, patting the dog's waggling behind in the process. The dog responded quickly, getting off of Steve and circling around Charlotte, barking in excitement once before bumping his head against her leg. "Hi," Charlotte breathed against his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He responded quickly, wrapping his arms around her middle quickly, crushing her to him, kissing her deeply. "Hi," he mumbled against her neck, taking a long whiff of the honey and grapefruit scent that followed Charlotte everywhere. "missed you."

"Ditto," he heard her mumble, before the dog nipped at his jeans and whined. "I got us a dog, and I named him so we can't get rid of him now."

"Didn't think so," he said detangling himself from her, and taking a good look at her. "And you also cut your hair."

"I got gum stuck on it, and the lady didn't understand the concept of a trim," she responded, tucking a short strand of hair behind her ear. "It's short."

"I like it," he said, pulling at a stray shoulder-length lock.

Charlotte grinned, taking his hand in one of hers to guide him towards their kitchen, catching Timber's collar by the other on her way "Good, 'cause I do too."

They fell into comfortable chatter after that, Charlotte asking him if he wanted to go straight to bed, and urging him to sit down but he refused in favor of helping her chop vegetables and manning the stove while Charlotte asked him as much as she could about his assignment, struggling with the bread she was trying to bake as she did so. Timber spent his time between putting his paws up against the sink to sniff around the counter tops, and bumping his head against Charlotte's legs.

"How did you even get gum stuck in your hair, anyway?" Steve asked eventually.

"I fell asleep with it in my mouth like a total derp." Charlotte admitted with a faint blush, mock glaring when Steve let out a laugh.

"I leave for more than a couple of days and-"

"Oh, shut up! It would've happened eventually, anyway. 'Twas my destiny."

"Is that what you tell yourself every night?" Steve asked with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. And I sleep like a baby, thankyouverymuch." Charlotte grinned back, hip checking him out of the way to put the bread in the oven.

After straightening out, Charlotte went on to hug him from behind, squeezing tight for a few seconds before she loosened her hold a bit. "I really did miss you." She mumbled into his back.

Steve grinned. Charlotte wasn't usually one for open confessions, and he felt a bit playful. "I can tell. I'm out of the house for a few days and you get a dog."

She jabbed him with a finger on his side and a bump of her head against his back. "Watch it mister. It might be a man I get next time."

Steve rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"I can practically feel you rolling your eyes, Rogers. I'll have you know, a very handsome man flirted with me at Starbucks the other day. Betcha thought the ring on my finger would be a deterrent. Think again." And Steve knew she was grinning against his back.

Steve continued chopping bell peppers, a gesture meant to make him appear nonchalant, his grin widening. "Doesn't count if you didn't flirt back, Owens."

"How would you know I didn't flirt back, huh? I got game still."

At this, Steve let our a surprised and loud laugh. Charlotte jabbed him again, and let go of him in order to walk around him to stand next to him, Timber following her movements, standing between her and Steve and looking back and forth as if he knew words would be exchanged soon.

She was grinning.

"You don't know how to flirt, doll." Was all Steve said, giving her an exaggerated wink, before he proceeded to chop some onions. From his peripheral vision, he saw Charlotte's open mouth before she began sputtering.

"Screw you! I so know how to flirt! You only think I don't know how to flirt 'cause I've never flirted with you. Also, your point is totally mute because you don't know how to flirt either. And you never even notice when people flirt with you to begin with."

Steve set his knife down and turned to her, leaning a thigh against the counter, and crossing his arms. Charlotte's eyes quickly turned to them (she had a thing for his arms, and he knew it, and damn it if he sometimes didn't cross his arms for the heck of it), before she blinked and gave him a mock glare, trying hard not to smile.

"Ok. Flirt with me. Give me your best. I'll tell ya if it works."

"You're not ready for my best." Charlotte said, tilting her chin up at him.

Steve let out another laugh. "You're stallin', doll."

She stared him down for a bit, as she was known to do when she was thinking of what to say next before she smiled, and lowered her eyelashes at him. He grinned wider, and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, handsome" Charlotte intoned, her voice a bit lower, and perhaps a bit huskier than usual, and, while Steve was still grinning, he knew that Charlotte noticed his Adam's apple bobbing as he tried to swallow his suddenly dry mouth.

"Are you rationed? Because-" And Steve was suddenly laughing, perhaps the hardest he'd ever laughed in a long time, and Charlotte was grinning, but jabbing him with her finger again, telling him she needed to finish. "Because I've got a ticket with your name on it. You know, 'cause you need one to get rations, and whatnot. And I'd like to get my share of you."

And Steve laughed harder still, his arm going around his heaving stomach, his unoccupied hand going to prop himself up against the counter. He could hear Charlotte laughing along with him, and Timber barking, and circling around them erratically.

"Is that-is that how you get men?" Steve asked in between laughter. "You do know that you're not-you're not supposed'ta explain what you just said, right, doll?"

"Irrelevant. The point was to get you to laugh. And you did, so now you're totally in love with me, 'cause the ice was broken."

"Because I laughed at you?"

"With me." Charlotte corrected him, bumping him out of the way so she could continue chopping vegetables.

And the night went on in much the same fashion, joking with each other, laughing more than Steve remembered doing in the last week and a half, and sharing about each other's week (as it turned out, Charlotte hated just about everyone in her office except for the security guard, with whom she got along just fine; and this all made for great conversation).

After dinner, they went out for a walk around the block with Timber, who seemed particularly interested in making every lamp post and tree his own, with Charlotte stopping briefly for him, and Steve repeatedly telling her that couldn't be normal ("And what are you, now, Steve? A dog expert?" Charlotte would ask him with an eye roll).

Timber ended up planting himself in the middle of a sidewalk half-way back home, rolling over and looking up at the couple with a pleading expression.

"He does that. He's decided he hates walking back home. He has a thing for the dramatics, don't you baby?" Charlotte said, the last part directed at Timber, bending down to pick the dog up, before Steve steered her off to get him himself.

"You're enabling him." Steve told her, hoisting the dog into a fireman's carry.

"Oh. I'm sorry, who's carrying him right now?" Charlotte replied with a grin, to which Steve rolled his eyes, closing them briefly when Timber turned to him and began licking at his face.

By the time they got back to their apartment complex, Timber had slathered Steve with a thick coat of slobber, while Charlotte laughed every time Steve would flinch when the dog's tongue would get too close to his mouth.

"Hey Sharon!" Charlotte suddenly exclaimed as she wrestled her hand inside Steve's pocket for their apartment's key.

"Hi," a blonde woman that Steve vaguely recalled seeing in passing called back from down the hall.

"This is Steve," Charlotte motioned towards him and Steve called out his greeting.

The woman smiled, and bid them goodbye, disappearing into her apartment before much else was exchanged.

"I had to point you out. I'm pretty sure she thinks I made you up when I told her I lived with my fiancé since she's never seen you. I've been trying to ask her out to coffee or something, but she always has something to do." Charlotte shrugged, opening their door.

Steve set Timber down as soon as they crossed into the threshold of the apartment, and the dog took off towards the dog bed by the decorative fireplace in the living room, turning round it before settling down with a big yawn.

Steve raised his eyebrows, and Charlotte grinned up at him, grabbing his hand to hold. "We got a routine established."

"He doesn't sleep in our bed?" Steve asked, letting go of her hand to snake his arm around her waist to begin steering her towards their bedroom. He was surprised by this particular fact, already resigning himself to argue against the dog sleeping with them, especially since they barely even got to sleep together as it was.

"Surprisingly, he's not a big cuddler. At night, anyway. I don't think he's ever had a real dog bed, so I think he appreciates it." Charlotte shrugged, and put her arm to hold him still when he went to kiss her once inside their bedroom. "Nope. You've got Timber slobber all over your face."

Steve groaned, but suggested, with a sudden grin, "Shower?"

And Charlotte grinned, before letting a loud squeal when he went to pick her up, grinning boyishly down at her before saying, "Hey, say, did I just sweep you off your feet?"

Charlotte laughed hard, pressing her face against the side of his neck, murmuring about him being too cheesy for her.

"But you love cheese." Steve responded, setting her down on the bathroom counter, and taking her shirt off.

Charlotte fell into another fit of laughter, and Steve grinned because he could see this being what the rest of his life looked like, with Charlotte making him smile like an idiot, walking a dog that didn't actually allow himself to be walked, and long showers, and equally long nights with Charlotte.

Just the thought of you can drive me wild... Uncle Kracker