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Chapter 2

Natasha spent the whole day with Rogers. She sat down behind him on his bike and wrapped her arms around his middle for support. She didn't know when the last time was that she had been on a bike and didn't drive herself but Natalie didn't know how to drive a motorcycle. They drove along the Potomac River and stopped at a small town and found a gazebo with view over the river. It was really nice there. Rogers told her about things that happened before the ice and that she hadn't read about in his files. He was opening up to her and all she could offer him in return were more lies. It didn't exactly make her feel good. They returned when the sun was already down and she had to admit that she really enjoyed exploring the area with him. Rogers was nice company. She thanked him for the nice day and disappeared behind her door. She didn't include the things she learned about Rogers today in her weekly report. There was no way that Fury would find out about her withdrawing information so she didn't feel bad.

Maybe she should tell Maria to stop chasing away the women from Rogers so he could get to know one of them better and he would forget his potential crush on Natalie. Kristen from Statistics was cute, maybe he should ask her out. She hadn't told Fury or Clint about her suspicion that Rogers liked Natalie. She didn't want to embarrass him or her if she had read him wrong. But she did tell Barton to keep on eye open for girls at SHIELD who could be the right fit for him.

Fury informed her that Stark would be in DC for a few days and most likely visit Rogers. Apparently they became some kind of friends during Rogers' first months after SHIELD dug him out. She told Rogers that she would be on vacation for a week so she wouldn't run into Stark who would blow her cover. Coulson had a mission for her in Brazil and that way she even could get a light tan for her cover story. The target was tracked down in two days, after another two taken care of and she tossed the body into the Amazonas and returned to Rio for some actual vacation days. Three days later she was informed that Stark left DC and she could return to her apartment. She spent hours looking for a gift for Rogers since he got her that scarf from Afghanistan and he thought that she was on vacation. She almost gave up when she found a beautiful painting on a hippie market in Ipanema that would fit into his place. She was exhausted when she was finally back and went straight to her bed. She originally planned to give him the painting right away but she just wanted to sleep. She almost slept through the whole day and woke up when the sun was already down. She checked her watch and it was too late to knock on Rogers' door. She had to wait until tomorrow. She showered, unpacked and read over her report about the mission and sent it to Coulson who was still her handler. Rogers didn't open when she knocked on his door the next morning and she left the painting in front of his door with a note to let him know that it was from her. She left to check on her actual apartment and when she came back a few hours later Rogers was about to knock on her door.

"Hi!"

Rogers' hand froze a few inches away from the door and he looked like she caught him with his hand in a cookie jar. "Uh, hi! I wanted to thank you for the painting. It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it." She smiled and came towards him.

"How was your vacation? You were in Brazil, right?"

"Yep. It was great. I even got some color." She didn't miss how Rogers' eyes briefly traveled over her body.

"You look great. Not that you didn't look great before..." He stumbled out and looked at his feet. He seemed to try to collect himself. "Do you wanna get some ice cream? As a thank you for the painting?"

Natasha decided that Natalie could get some ice cream with her friend. She nodded and he smiled. They walked to a cafe close to where they lived and Rogers told her that a friend from New York had visited him. Good thing that she hadn't been here to run into Stark. She told him about Rio but left the tracking, killing and dumping a body into the Amazons part out of her story. She liked talking to Steve, he really seemed interested in what she had to say and his interest was genuine. Rogers, she really liked talking to Rogers! After finishing their ice cream, they stopped by a grocery store because her fridge was still empty and Steve was so kind to carry her grocery bags. Rogers was so kind to carry her grocery bags. She thanked him once they were back and he looked like he hoped she would invite him in but she didn't want to get his hopes up so she didn't. He seemed a bit disappointed but he wished her a good night and walked to his own apartment. She didn't include in her weekly report that she got him a painting from Rio or that they went to get ice cream. She just hoped that Rogers didn't tell STRIKE about her and it reached Fury or she had some explaining to do.

After Clint assured her more than once that Rogers didn't know where he lived, she agreed to come over to his place for some beer and pizza. If she happened to run into Rogers in the hallway, she would just tell him she was gonna see a co-worker ( that wasn't technically a lie). But the hallway was clear and she drove her beetle to Clint's place. Being the good friend Clint was, her favorite pizza was already there when she arrived.

"Hey, Tasha." Clint kissed her cheek as a greeting. "Or should I call you Natalie?"

She rolled her eyes at him and grabbed a pizza slice. "Don't be an ass, Barton."

He snorted. "You love me like this. Anyway, it's good to finally see you again. After months of texting, I almost forgot what you look like."

"Don't be so dramatic. As if you could ever forget my pretty face." Clint snorted again and she poked her toe into his stomach. "You getting fat, Barton?"

"Hah! I don't think that's possible anymore. Cap's training is ruthless. Dude forgets he's the only super soldier around. I started to feel muscles I didn't even know I had." He complained and stuffed a slice into his mouth.

She really wanted to see Rogers in action. Maybe she should take a peak at the surveillance footage his training when she would be at the Triskelion the next time.

"The new season of Dog Cops is on Netflix, you wanna watch it?"

It wasn't really her show but she knew that Clint was obsessed with it. "Sure."

They watched four episodes and emptied a six pack together. "How's babysitting Cap by the way?"

"Okay. Good, actually. He's a good guy and so far no creepy and adoring fans have figured out where he lives. And no hostiles either."

"You know how long you have to watch him?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "As long as Nick thinks it's necessary."

Clint paused the episode. "You know that you can't work in DC anymore after your op is over, right? Rogers would never forgive Fury if he finds out that he sent you to spy on him."

"I'm not spying on him!" That accusation bothered her. "I'm protecting him. And yeah, I know. Fury will probably send me to work at the London office after I'm done."

"Oh, I will miss you, Natasha." Clint sighed. "Hey, maybe you'll marry Prince Harry and become queen!"

"Prince William is the heir to the throne and he's already married."

He shrugged his shoulders and turned the show back on. She thought about what Clint had said. Yes, Rogers wouldn't forgive Fury if he found out and possibly quit SHIELD but he would also not forgive her. She wondered how Fury wanted her to end the op. Would Natalie move to another city and Rogers would never hear from her again? She tried not to think about that and concentrated on Clint's stupid show.

Natasha was now Steve's neighbor for four months and she was sure that he pretty much spent all of his free time with her. He told her as much as he could about his work without revealing confidential information and she spent hours on nurse blogs and YouTube channels to come up with her own stories that she could tell him about. He even told her about Sergeant Barnes and she knew from his files that it was a topic he did not want to discuss. All his stories about Bucky as he called him happened before the serum and she got a look into the man Rogers was before he became Captain America. She told him in return some truths about her. That she liked dancing, that Khaled Hosseini was her favorite author (and he put the name on his list) and that she was actually a big Spice Girls fan which she flat out denied every time Clint accused her of it. She included none of their talks in her report for Fury.

Steve just walked through the front door when she checked her mailbox, not that she got a lot of mail.

"Hey, Nat!" He started calling her that a few weeks ago and she had to admit that she liked it.

She gave him a smile. "Hi, Steve. How was work?"

"Good, we only had some training today." He opened his mailbox and unlike her he actually had mail. "How was your day?"

"Uneventful." She always checked the news report to make sure that she didn't miss any big accidents. "We had no emergencies today."

"So, my birthday is next week-" She already knew that. She thought that Captain America being born on the Fourth of July was really funny. "On Wednesday. I'm meeting some guys from work and Sam at a restaurant for steaks and drinks. Do you wanna come?"

"Wait, you were born on the Fourth of July?" She laughed a little and Steve blushed.

"Yeah, I know. It's a bit weird. Believe me I heard all the jokes."

"I would love to come but I have to work." She lied. She didn't trust Rumlow not to make weird comments if Natalie showed up. He loved to push her buttons, for some reason the ass thought it would make her want to sleep with him. "Hospital is full on that day. A lot of drunk idiots get hurt."

"Right." Steve nodded. "I didn't think of that. Well, maybe we can do it another time." He blushed again. "Just you and me."

That sounded a lot like a date. "Um, sure. We'll see."

She felt bad for lying to him and that she wouldn't celebrate his birthday with him. So she bought a bottle of champagne this afternoon and put it in the fridge to cool it. A heat wave hit DC and light summer dresses were the only thing she could wear right now without dying of a heat stroke. With the bottle in her hands she knocked on Steve's door at 11:55 pm. Hopefully he was still up and she wouldn't wake him.

He opened the door in an undershirt and shorts. Wow, he really had nice arms and shoulders. "Hi? Is everything okay?"

She held the bottle up. "You got two glasses for this?"

He smiled brightly at her. "Yeah. Come in."

"I know I can't be at your little party but I still thought I should do something for you." She peaked around the corner into the kitchen where he was getting two glasses. "Let's sit on the fire escape, okay?"

He nodded and followed her through the window onto the fire escape where they had a nice view over the block they lived in. She popped the bottle open and poured them champagne.

"Thank you, Nat. This is-"

She looked on her phone and it was midnight. "Happy birthday, Steve." She clinked her glass with him. "I hope all your wishes come true."

He smiled softly and cupped her cheek with his warm hand. "Thank you. This birthday is already better than I thought it would be. It's my first one after...after they found me. Thank you." He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her slowly and gently and no one had ever kissed her like this before. It was nice to be treated with so much care. She liked it so much that she kissed him back. She decided that Natalie would kiss her handsome and cute neighbor on a fire escape on his birthday. His hands didn't wander around and for the first time a man kissed her without signaling her that he wanted to get into her pants. They kissed for a few minutes until she had to pull away because her lungs started to burn.

"Happy birthday." She mumbled dumbly and Steve pecked her lips again.

He smiled at her fondly and they finished their drinks in a comfortable silence and Steve walked her back to her door and she let him kiss her again before she walked into her apartment. Only when she closed the door behind her, she realized that she had just made a huge fucking mistake. What was she thinking? She couldn't just kiss Steve! And when did he become Steve to her?! The girl he had kissed so softly didn't even exist. And she was pretty sure that he wouldn't kiss the real Natasha.

She spent the day and night at her actual apartment and tried her best not to think about the mess she created. Fury would kill her if he found out. He sent her to look after Captain America and not to kiss him. She returned early morning with scrubs in her bag that had never seen a hospital in their life in case she'd run into anyone. She unlocked her door and almost stepped on a big envelope. She picked it up and opened it. It was a pencil sketch of her in her summer dress from last night. She ignored how much she liked the drawing and walked to her kitchen to get some vodka into her system. She royally fucked up.