Welcome on last time dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed the story so far and now on with the conclusion.
Steve felt like a king. Natasha was almost waiting on him hand and foot, and the rest of the team weren't far behind. Even Tony had kept his good humoured jibes to a minimum, even if right now Steve could use a little levity. He really was feeling better already, maybe it was because he was simply home, but he guessed it had more to do with the company.
"Hey you need another pillow or anything, are you cold?" Natasha said handing him a soda and plopping down next to him, her body tipped towards his, her face eager and happy.
"Nope I have all I need right here." Steve said referring more to her than the comforts he was being afforded.
"Great think I will get something on for dinner then." Natasha went to stand up, but was stopped by Steve's hand on her thigh.
"You could stay a while, I mean I haven't had many people to talk to, you know in hospital." Steve said hoping to not sound too desperate, but falling somewhat short of the mark.
"Oh well I can't deny a wounded solider his request. what would you like to talk about?" Natasha replied keeping her tone light as she observed that somehow everyone else had left the room. She hadn't even noticed them leaving. Inwardly cursing, she wondered if Stark had orchestrated their silent exit on purpose. If he had, Natasha vowed to herself that there would be payback.
"Well how about you catch me up with what's been going on?" Steve said as Natasha looked around the room with a frown, but quickly turned to him with a large smile.
Steve noticed that once again her smile seemed forced somehow, not totally insincere, but there was something off about just how many teeth she was showing as she smiled. He could count on one hand the amount of time Natasha Romanoff had genuinely smiled at him. The ones loaded with emotion, truth, and sincerity. They were different, softer, one side of her mouth curling more than the other. Less teeth.
"Well not much has been happening, only Tony nearly blowing everyone up with another experiment. Bruce had to jump in and save the day. Clint went home to see the baby who is now almost sleeping through the night, and Sam has managed to make this remote-control plane thing, he's chosen some stupid name for it. Can't remember now but I refuse to treat it like a real thing." Natasha said turning her head from him and looking at her own legs. Steve wanted to reach out and touch her. Place his hand on her face. He knew her skin would be soft and warm, he remembered what it had felt like under his fingers. He remembered everything from their last encounter. It was seared on to his soul.
"Well you guys sure know how to have fun without me." Steve said with a small smile on his face as she raised her eyes to meet his own, but it only lasted a second before she was moving again, and this time he was too slow to stop her. He was sure that she had done that on purpose, and the fact that she was already halfway to the door before she turned to look at him confirmed his suspicions.
"I'll get you something to eat." Natasha said before she pulled open the door and headed towards the kitchen.
She was running again, she knew it and yet she couldn't stop it. There was something about Steve that had her all twisted around. She didn't know what it was specifically about him that had her heart pounding in her chest. Or her palms sweating until she had to rub them on her jeans. Maybe it wasn't simply one thing, it was just him. The way he looked, the way he smelt, and how kind and truly caring he was. No pretence, no lies, just simple honest truth, her opposite, the light to her dark. She dropped the dish she had been holding. She had been trying to place it on the kitchen counter, but in her distraction had missed. It had toppled off the side of the counter and shattered on the floor. The sound was loud in the small kitchen, and she winced as she heard the door to Steve's room open. She bent down quickly trying to clean up the mess. In her haste she cut her finger, the blood dripped onto the shiny surface of the kitchen floor. She didn't register any pain, but she watched as the blood began to pool below her. For a second she was back in that building, the sound of the gun winding up, the blood under Steve's body as he lay motionless below her. She jumped as Steve's hands landed on her shoulders, her body reacting on instinct. Standing quickly and turning to see who was touching her, her muscles tense, her eyes flashing, assessing the situation, until they landed on Steve's eyes. The concern they held made her pause, what was she doing? How had she gotten this out of control this quickly. Years of training gone in an instant.
"Nat, Nat are you ok?" Steve said reaching for her once more, but this time she pulled back sharply.
"I'm fine, just dropped the stupid bowel that's all." She said that forced smile coming to her face once more and Steve almost cringed at the expression.
"Now you back to bed. You're not supposed to be up and around." Natasha said recovering quickly, forcing her mask back into place and almost pushing him out of the door.
Once he was gone she took a second to take a deep breath and pull herself together. This was just another part to play, another person to embody, Natasha tried to convince herself as she chopped up salad and threw some chicken in a pan.
"I can play housewife for a while." she said in a low voice to herself, but somehow she didn't believe her own words.
Steve wondered just how Natasha had managed to drop that bowel, she was the most poised and graceful person he knew. She could catch a knife butt end up from fifty feet, with her eyes closed, and yet she had managed to drop a simple house hold item. She had also been so far gone she hadn't heard him come into the room. Something he could never do was creep up on her, and now without trying he had managed to almost scare her. Not feeling in the least bit sleepy, Steve sat at the head of the bed, his legs stretched out in front of him and his hands resting lightly over his wound. He wondered if being with him, seeing him so close to death had affected her far more than she was letting on. He knew if their situation had been reversed he would have been different around her. Probably like a mother hen, fussing around her, not letting her out of his sight. He realised that was what was happening here, except Natasha didn't know how to deal with the emotions that this was causing in her. She had been programmed to feel nothing, to play a part and move on, and this time she couldn't do that. Almost guiltily Steve smiled, he didn't want Natasha to been feeling like this, but some small part of him was glad that she was feeling something for him at all. Before he could dwell on his thoughts any longer, the door opened and Natasha stepped though with a small smile.
"Dinner is served." She said placing the tray on his lap and he looked down at it, his stomach grumbling.
"I'm glad your hungry I made plenty if you want seconds." Natasha said as Steve dug in chewing happily as she watched him. Her heart jumped a little as he smiled at her, and placed another fork full in his mouth.
"This is wonderful thank you." he said finally finishing off the bite he had just taken and realised that Natasha was staring at him.
"No problem, anything to make the patient fell better." Natasha said turning to leave as Steve continued to eat.
"Are you not having any?" he asked before she could leave and she paused in the doorway.
"Sure got mine out here, you don't think I would cook just for you now did you Rogers." Natasha said with a rye grin as he smiled back at her.
"Thought never even crossed my mind." He said washing down another mouthful with his glass of water.
"You could bring it in here with me, I won't judge your eating habits." He quickly added knowing that keeping it light would help her agree. No deep emotions, no meaningful look, just a quick goofy smile and she relented.
"Fine, but if Tony sees that kitchen he is going to freak. I'm ok at cooking, but I do tend to make a mess whilst doing it." Natasha replied quickly walking out of the door. She was back in moments however, with her own tray of food.
"I tell you what I think I am ok for a little bit of light house work, I will help you clean up after we are done." Steve said again with a small smile, one he knew she liked as her eyebrows lifted.
"Your on." she replied before starting to eat, as they drifted into an easy silence.
"Oh you weren't joking when you said a bit of a mess." Steve said as he clapped eyes on the carnage in the kitchen.
"Well I was just going with the flow and everything just got left when it landed." Natasha said trying to defend herself but Steve was not being fooled by her innocent act.
"Right you start loading the dishwasher, and I will get a bowel of hot water and start cleaning down the sides." Steve said noticing however that every shard of the broken bowel had been cleared away, as well as the small droplets of blood her cut finger had left behind. Steve watched as Natasha loaded the dishwasher, it seemed like she was purposefully avoiding eye contact with him, and by the time she had everything in and was closing the door, Steve had had enough.
"Nat, can we talk?" He said placing his sponge down and turning to her as she stood upright and lent back against the kitchen counter.
"We have been talking." She said trying to avoid the question, but this time he wasn't going to let her run from him.
"No I mean about what happened between us, all of it, not just the kissing part, even though I wouldn't mind lingering on that a bit." He said leaving his cleaning to step closer to her.
"I thought we had decided that was a mistake that maybe we should just be friends." Natasha said folding her arms now, enjoying this less and less as he drew nearer. The familiar fluttering in her chest, and heat rising in her lower regions was almost enough to make her back away. She didn't however she stood her ground refusing to let something as silly as infatuation get the better of her.
"No we had an argument, because you weren't being honest with me. Just like your aren't now either." Steve said as Natasha looked him in the eyes for the first time all night.
"What is the truth Steve? It's whatever you chose to believe is real. Maybe I just want to fuck you and you can't stand that. You need it to be something more, for you, not for me." Natasha said her voice angry as she unfolded her arms and placed them on her hips. Steve was slightly shocked by the admission that she wanted to have sex with him. Pulling himself together quickly he moved forward once more until he could reach out and take both of her shoulders in his hands.
"I know that isn't true, because the truth came out late at night in a hospital room. I saw it in your eyes and felt it in the way you touched me. There is more there than lust, and I wouldn't want to just fuck you." It took Natasha a moment to get over the shock that Steve had said the F word, she knew he had said it to do just that, and she gave him a quirk of her eyebrow.
"Are you trying to say Mr Rogers that fucking me is out of the question, because I think it might be you who is lying now." Natasha countered as his thumbs began rubbing circles on her shoulders, and his eyes had grown so big, she could hardly make out the blue of them any more.
"Yes it is, I only want you to touch me if you mean it." Steve said finally, knowing that he couldn't deny his want for her, but he could tell her that he could fight his need, if this meant nothing to her.
In an instant her lips were on his, forceful at first, her need overriding her brain for a second, before she backed off and began to kiss him more gently. Steve allowed his hands to wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to him, her tight body pressed so closely to his that there were no spaces in between them now. Her hands went to the back of his neck playing tenderly with the fine hairs there, causing him to shiver at her touch. Her lips still caressing his as their tongues dulled for dominance. He pushed her back against the counter, pressing his hips to hers, until she moaned into his mouth. Pulling back slightly and looking into his eyes. Steve could see the truth laid bare for him now. The soft glassy look on her face, the tilt of her head, and the slight lopsided smile betrayed all to him.
"Touch me like you mean it." Natasha said then as Steve lent in for a bruising kiss, as his hands found her chest, and his hips trust lightly against hers.
Somehow they managed to get into the bedroom, falling together in as mass of half naked limbs and clashing lips. It wasn't slow, or particularly gentle, but it was real, both of them feeling each other's emotions as they joined. Nothing hidden nothing held back. Natasha lay in his arms afterwards, the need to bolt was strong, but the need to stay was stronger. Steve broke the silence, caressing her bare stomach as he turned to look at her.
"I'm not saying this is going to be easy, but I am willing to fight for this, to wait if necessary, however long it takes." His voice was soft in the low light as the sun set outside the window, and Natasha could help but glance at the beauty that lay beyond this room, before turning back and appreciating the view inside it as well.
"I think I can live with that." Natasha said before planting another soft deep kiss onto Steve's waiting lips, until the only reply he could give was to kiss her back.
Natasha knew that this could be dangerous for both of them, that in their line of work there were no guarantees of tomorrow, let alone a future, but right now she knew there was something truly special in loving someone, especially if that person loved you back.
THE END
Thank you for reading. I have thoughts about doing another story so if you have any request I would be happy to hear them as I am always looking for ideas. XxX