Chapter 7

Of course she would run into Steve on her day off. She never ran into him outside of SHIELD before but of course it would happened after they got too close. It was so stupid of her to let Steve treat her wound in L.A. What was she thinking? Steve looked so happy when he saw her at that café. She was sure that he wanted to take things further between them. And if she were an honest woman, she would confess that she liked to have Steve be more than just her friend. But she wasn't an honest woman, one of the many reasons why she shouldn't get involved with Steve. Ha, like she would ever be good enough for Captain America.

She sprinted the stairs to her apartment up and leaned against the door when she got in. She needed to get Steve out of her head. She was nearing dangerous waters,she couldn't stop thinking about him. She could still feel his warm hand on her thigh and how his lips brushed against hers when she closed her eyes. And it also didn't help that she dreamt about Steve every night. God, if he knew about those kinds of dreams, he would never stop blushing. But the real problem was that she wasn't just thinking and dreaming about sex with Steve that was something she could deal with, no she had to picture how it would be to date him. Spending time together, cuddling, cooking, sitting behind him on his bike exploring Maryland, holding hands- she wondered how it would be if he was her boyfriend. And Natasha Romanoff didn't do boyfriends. Affairs?- yes. Relationships?-hell no. She was too fucked up for that. And she certainly couldn't drag Steve into her hell.

Natasha got up from the door and walked into her small kitchen to make herself cereal and coffee. She was starving since she didn't get to have breakfast at the café because of Steve. Well, it wasn't Steve's fault that she was a coward. She drowned her food and left to drive to SHIELD. She needed to spend the day at the gun rage to shoot at things and hopefully got to scare some low level agents. She didn't think she would run into Steve there since he didn't like guns.

Steve decided to visit Peggy after his breakfast with Sam. Sam drove him back to his place and he showered and changed into a shirt and jeans. He put the leather jacket on that Natasha forced him to buy. A few weeks after they were partnered up, she showed up at his apartment and dragged him to go shopping with her. She thought it was time for him to dress age apprioate. At first she dragged him to a store that sold rollators but then she took him clothes shopping. It was the first time they spent time outside the Triskelion and it was the first time since he got out of the ice that he didn't feel lonely.

When he got out of his apartment his neighbour Kate,a nurse, was just coming home form work. She was still wearing her scrubs and smiling at him.

"Hi Steve."

"Hey Kate. How was work?"

"The usual." She shrugged and put her key in the lock. "Um, do you maybe wanna go get coffee sometime?"

Natasha always told him that he needed more friends. "Yeah, sure. Sounds great."

Kate smiled and brushed a strain of hair behind her ear. "Awesome. Well, I know where you live."

He had to laugh. "I guess you do. I'll see you."

She nodded and got into her apartment. Steve jogged down the stairs and got onto his Harley. Maybe he could take Natasha on a tour and they could have a picknick somewhere. It was getting warmer now and he hadn't seen much outside of DC yet. Maybe a walk through a small town holding hands. They could get ice cream and he would kiss it off her lips. God, her lips felt so soft against his. He couldn't wait to kiss her for real.

He drove to Georgetown where Peggy's nursing home was and signed the visitor's list. He saw that a "Sharon Carter" visited Peggy this morning. Maybe she was her granddaughter or something. The ward nurse informed him that Peggy was having a good day when he was on his way to her room. He was relieved, it still broke his heart that the fierce and strong Peggy was slowly but surely disappearing in front of his eyes. It was hard to see her old and fragile and he couldn't help but mourn the fact that they didn't get to grow old together but whenever Peggy spoke of her late husband Daniel she had this spark in her eyes and he knew that he wasn't meant to be with her. He somehow knew that even if Steve didn't crash and they got together, Peggy would have still left him eventually to be with Daniel. And that was okay, she had a good life with an amazing husband who adored and supported her and that was all he wanted for her. And maybe he had to sleep for 70 years because his right partner wasn't born yet. He hoped that that partner would be Natasha. He was connected to her in a way he never experienced before. Nothing in this world made sense besides Natasha. When he was with her everything made sense, he felt whole again.

Peggy was leaning against her headboard, wearing glasses and reading the NYT when he came in. She smiled at him, folded the newspaper and put it next to her.

"Steve! What a lovely surprise, dear!" She smelled like flowers when he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"Hi Peggy. How are you?"

"I'm good. A little bored but good. The nurses won't let me get out today." Her eyes were full of mischief. "Do you think they would let Captain America take me to the park?"

He laughed and left to persuade the ward nurse into letting them go to the park that belonged to the nursing home. He pushed Peggy's wheelchair to a bank under a tree and made sure that the blanket covered her legs so she wasn't freezing. They had watch the ducks on the pond in silence for a few moments when Peggy suddenly moved her hand to hold his.

"You seem conflicted my dear." She squeezed his hand lightly and he could feel her dry and wrinkled skin. He sometimes couldn't believe they were the same age.

"I'm fine, Pegs." He was tempted to tell her about Natasha but that would be weird, right? You didn't talk with your ex-something about the woman you have feelings for, that just didn't seem right. But they did talk about Daniel, she told him how jealous she was when Daniel was suddenly engaged to another woman.

"Have you finally met someone? You shouldn't be alone, Steve." She gave his hand another light squeeze and then pulled away. "I worry about you, you know. I had a wonderful marriage with a wonderful man and I want you to have someone. You don't have to marry the girl right away but you should have someone who loves you."

He turned to look at her and she gave him a small smile. "I hope you're not holding on to me, Steve. I don't want you too. We weren't meant to be."

He nodded. "I know that, Peggy. I'm glad you found your soulmate and got to marry him. I... Well, there is someone."

Peggy's whole face lit up. "There is? Tell me everything about her!"

He wasn't sure how much he could tell Peggy. Pretty much everything was classified. "Um, I know her from work. We work together at SHIELD. Um, I really like her. She's really tough and isn't impressed by me being Captain America." He chuckled. "Um, she's surprisingly funny, super smart, sarcastic and likes to read Agatha Christie novels. She once ran back into a burning warehouse to save a cat and her kittens that showed up on infrared cams. She wrinkles her noise in a really cute way when she laughs. She calls me a dork all the time even though she's the biggest dork I know." He never talked that much about Natasha with anyone before and for some reason he couldn't stop rambling about her. "She's taught me pretty much everything I know about this century. She once tried to sign me up for meals on wheels and always asks for the senior discount when we go eating somewhere. And she's incredibly beautiful. Her eyes are like emeralds and she's just such a beautiful person. I know she doesn't see it that way but she's one of the best people I've ever met." He looked at Peggy. "Sorry, I got carried away."

Peggy just smiled brightly at him. "Oh, Steve. You're in love with her."

"Yeah, I guess I am." He never thought about being in love with Natasha before. He knew he liked her a lot but when he thought about it, of couse he fell in love with Natasha over the last year. He was thinking about her all the time, when she wasn't with him he missed her terribly and he was pretty much convinced Natasha was the greatest person on this green earth. Of course, he was in love with her.

"I really like to meet her." Peggy brushed imaginery pieces of fluff of her blanket. "Agent Romanoff must be one hell of a woman if she makes you that smitten with her."

Agent Romanoff?! Wait, what? How on earth did she know that? He never told her that he was working with her. That was classified. Peggy laughed when she looked at him.

"Oh, Steve. Don't look so surprised. Just because I'm not the Director anymore, doesn't mean I don't know what's going on at SHIELD. Nicholas visits me when he has the time. He told me that he partnered you with Agent Romanoff. He thought that the two of you with your differences would make a great team out in the field. And from what I heard, he was right. But I don't think he planned for you to fall in love with your partner. You might need to prepare yourself for a shovel talk. Romanoff seems to be Nicholas' pride and joy. Not that he would ever admit that."

"We didn't even go on a date yet. I tried to ask her two times but before I could she kinda ran off." He whispered and looked at his lap.

"Give her time, Steve. I know her background. She's not used to affection and love. Give her time to warm up to it. I'm sure she's worth it."

He looked up to her and smiled. "Yeah, she really is worth it."

Peggy returned his smile. "Now that that's settled, roll me over to the pond so I can feed the ducks."

Natasha got to exhaust herself with testing new SHIELD weapons at the gun range and wiping the floor with other SHIELD agents. Agent Ward seemed to feel especially cocky today and challenged her in the ring but she took him down in no time. He was no doubt experienced in combat but he was no match for her. She was about to hit the showers when she heard two Level 3 agents gossip. She usually didn't pay attention to it but her ears peaked up when she heard her name. She made sure that they couldn't see her behind the corner and listened.

"Have you heard about Romanoff and Captain America?" It sounded like Agent Salky.

"No, I haven't, Molly." That was definitely Agent Inez. Natasha trained her herself in sniping.

"Brock told me about it this morning when we got coffee together. He caught them kissing during an op." She sounded scandalized. They didn't kiss for fuck's sake, their lips only brushed for a second! And why was Rumlow talking about that to Salky.

"Oh please he only made that up to get into your pants! Everyone knows how much you love gossip, Molly." Natasha wanted to clap Inez on the shoulder for saying that. She couldn't have people know about what happened in L.A. She was going to kill Rumlow!

"Oh, I'm telling you Gloria, he was telling the truth. Just think about it, have you ever seen Cap or Romanoff without the other one? They basically clued to each other. They always sit together in the cafeteria, spar together and I heard they always sit together during debriefings. They are a thing."

Fuck, did she get so sloppy that people started to notice that they were close?

"So what, it's none of our business."

"Yeah but aren't you disappointed that he went for her? Like he could literally have every single agent here, maybe even the taken ones and he wants her? He's like the epitome of everything good and pure and she's, well she's not."

That hurt for some reason. She knew that she wasn't good enough for Steve but hearing someone else say it was still hurtful.

"We don't really know Agent Romanoff. Or Captain Rogers for that matter. She made me a better sniper and I saved a lot of lifes with what she taught me." Ha, she must have made an impression an Agent Inez.

"I'm not saying she's not a good agent!" Salky defended herself. "Hell, I wish I knew how she does this thigh thing but you'd think Captain America would go for an nice All-American girl and not a Russian spy."

Inez laughed. "You mean an All-American girl like you? No offence but I don't think Rogers even knows your name."

"A girl can dream." Salky gruffed. "I mean have you seen him punch those punching bags? God bless America!" She giggled. "Do you think the serum enhanced everything?" Oh god, were they in High School? She didn't like were their conversation was headed and was about to enter to defend Steve's dignity when she heard another voice.

"I don't think Captain Rogers would appreciate the way you're talking about him." May said. "That's no way to talk about your superior agents. If I hear these talks again, you can spend the next month on desk duty. Got it?"

Salky and Inez murmured an yes and left. She almost felt bad for Inez, she didn't do anything wrong.

"You can come out now, Romanoff."

Fuck, how did May know she was there? Well she was almost as good as the Black Widow. She came around the corner and May was packing her gym bag.

"Hey, May."

"Don't take it personally. They don't know you." May gave her sympathic nod. How much did she hear?

"It doesn't matter."

"Maybe it doesn't but if it does, it's no one's business but yours and his." She shouldered her bag and walked to the door.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

May turned around. "Okay." She looked like she didn't believe her and then left.

She really needed to change her interactions with Steve if apparently the whole Agency started to gossip. If even May knew about the rumours, she had a problem. She needed to protect Steve's reputation.

Her phone beeped with an email. She and Steve were needed for a mission in Arizona. Just the two of them... Fucking fantastic. So much for avoiding Steve... Fuck.

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