Chapter 16 was uploaded yesterday in case you missed it

Chapter 17

Natasha was sitting on the porch of the Barton farm and watching Clint and Cooper play soccer . Tomorrow was Cooper's tenth birthday and she arrived yesterday to celebrate it with him and his family. She told Steve that Clint needed back up for his undercover operation when he asked her why she couldn't go to a concert with him. She didn't like to lie to Steve but no one could know about Laura and the kids. Fury backed her lie up ( Laura had Fury wrapped around her finger, he even gave Natasha a gift for Coop) and there was no way that Steve could find the truth out.

Laura stepped out on the patio and handed her a margarita and sat down next to her. "Now that Lila is finally asleep, we can have a nice chat."

Natasha sipped on her drink and rolled her eyes, she knew that Laura was waiting for the right moment to talk about Steve. Coop scored a goal and Clint was dramatically whinning. It felt like yesterday when Clint took her to this place and introduced her to Laura. Laura who took her immediately in and let her stay at her house even though they had an innocent child. She could never repay the debt she owed Laura and Clint.

Laura looked at her with innocent eyes. "How did your date with Steve go? I didn't tell Clint by the way if you were worried about that."

She already figured that Clint didn't know about it because he would have teased her to no end if he knew she was dating Steve. She was dating him,right? Going on dates meant they were dating, maybe she should ask Laura that.

She licked a bit of salt off the rim of her glass. Maybe she should drink tequila with Steve one day and he could lick the salt of her body. It really took all her willpower to not climb him like a tree. Laura looked at her expectantly. Right, she asked her a question. "Good. We've had a few more dates."

Laura smiled at her. "That's great! I'm so happy for you. You deserve a win and from what Clint told me he sounds like a nice guy."

"He is." She stared at the sunset that turned the sky into a beautiful pink. Laura suddenly grabbed her hand that rested on her knee and gave it a squeeze.

"What's going on in your head,Natasha?" She turned her hand around to hold it. "Do you still have doubts?"

Natasha laughed an ugly laugh. "How can I not? In what world am I good enough for Captain America? He's so good to me and I'm too selfish to let him go to find someone better for him."

"Stop that!" Laura's voice was untypically stern. "Don't bring yourself down, Natasha. You turned your whole life around after everything that was done to you. It takes an extraordinary person for that!"

Natasha just scoffed. It wasn't the first time that Laura told her something like that. Laura let go of her hand and looked at her husband and son.

"You know Clint had similiar doubts when we got together. He didn't want me to bring into his world. Thought I deserved more than what he could offer. You know what I told him?" Laura turned to face her and smirked. " I told him to shut the fuck up. He never asked me about what I want. I only wanted to be with him. I didn't care about what he did or would do to keep people save. Natasha, you can't make decisions for Steve."

Natasha nodded. "I know. I like spending time with him,going on dates with him. But there is still a voice in my head that tells me I don't deserve to have this with him. He means so much to me, Laura. I want him to have everything he wants."

Laura grinned. "I think he wants you."

Natasha rolled her eyes and finished her margarita. Clint scored a goal at that moment and ran around Cooper with his fists in the air and sang "Eye of the Tiger".

"So." Laura tried to look nonchalant. "Did you guys have sex yet?"

She almost choked on her drink. Where did that come from? They never talked about sex before. And she was thankful for that, she really didn't need to know how Clint was in bed. She arched one eyebrow and Laura smiled sheepishly at her. " I can't be the only one who wants to know how Captain America is in bed?"

She rolled her eyes at Laura. "I expected more of you. We haven't had sex yet, if you must know."

Laura smiled into her margarita. "Wow, you really are in love with him if you haven't slept with him yet."

"I thought we already established that." She was annoyed.

"Did you tell him that you love him?"

She shook her head. "No and I'm not sure I can. It's way too soon for that and I never said those three words to anyone before."

She stood up to signal Laura that she didn't want to talk about it anymore and walked down the stairs to join Clint and Cooper.

Steve was bored. It was Saturday afternoon and he originally wanted to surprise Natasha with tickets to Coldplay but she told him that Clint needed her help in Chicago when he proudly showed her the tickets. When he asked her if they needed him as well, she said no and Fury later confirmed that he only wanted Nat to help Clint out.

He gave Sam the tickets so he could take Tess and Steve was now laying on his couch staring holes into his ceiling. He already went running, did food shopping and cleaned his apartment. SHIELD didn't need him for the weekend and he had only two friends and both of them didn't have time for him. He groaned and got up to get his sketch book and his charcoal pencils. All his drawing were of Natasha, would she find it creepy if she found out? He probably should have asked for her permission but he couldn't help himself. She was everything that was good and beautiful to him in this world- she was his only inspiration. He brought his pencil to the paper and started to sketch the way she looked after she beat him in bowling. He thanked his eidetic memory for not forgetting how pleased and happy she looked when she had a strike and turned around to him throwing her fists into the air.

It took some time until he was satisfied with his work and he ordered pizza and fired Netflix up. He hoped the weekend would be soon over and Nat would be soon back from her mission. They didn't had a date since Norway and if he was being honest he was really curious about the things she mentioned that they could do before they had actual sex. He wasn't a saint and he was really attracted to Natasha and he wanted to explore the physical expect for their relationship. He thought they were in a relationship and he really hoped she thought so too.

There were way too many children at the Barton's farm for her taste but Cooper was happy with his guests and his gifts and that was the only thing that mattered. The theme for the party was pirates and dragons (she didn't see the connection between the two but what did she know) and the kids were dressed as pirates or dragons. She wore an eyepatch to fit in but besides that she wore normal clothes, she already had to dress up for her job enough.

"You stole that eye patch from Fury?" Clint asked her when he walked into the kitchen carrying two trays. She retrieved one hour ago to the kitchen to avoid the horde of children and was doing the dishes.

She laughed and dried her hands with a towel. "I think he would have shot me at point blank range. How are the monsters doing?"

"Screaming, running and eating." He shrugged. "So I guess it's a success. I'm so glad Coop's birthday is only once a year and Lila is too young for partys."

"Maybe you should have gotten a dog." She joked and Clint's eyes lit up. "Coop and I really want one but Laura says no." He pouted.

She shook her head at him and began to put the dishes back into the cupboard. Clint jumped on the kitchen counter next to her and plopped MMs into his mouth.

"Are you still looking for someone for Cap?"

"Why? You thinking about leaving Laura?" She pointed a knife playfully at him.

Clint scoffed. "I'm never leaving her. If she wants out, she has to leave me. I'm not going anywhere. No, I was thinking about proper candidates for Cap's heart and what about Maria?"

"Hill?" She should probably tell him that Steve asked her after their second date if she still wanted to set him up and she just smacked his arm and then kissed him and he laughed. But why was Clint talking about this now? She knew that Laura didn't tell him anything.

"Yeah. She's smart, a badass and pretty. I'm sure she has a heart under all that ice." He threw a handful of MMs into his mouth and chewed them rather loudly.

"I don't think she's his type." She replied automatically. She should probably tell her best friend that she was seeing Steve.

"Does Cap even have a type?"

She almost said yes and it looks like it's me. But she just gave him a half smirk and continued to put the dishes away. But of course after all those years of working together Clint knew how to read her.

"Tasha, is there something you wanna tell me?"

"Maybe."

He grabbed her shoulder to turn her to him. "Are you and Steve hooking up?"

"Hooking up? What are you? A fratboy?" She scoffed. "We started seeing each other."

Clint's eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "And you're only telling me this now! This should have been your first words when you arrived here! And how is it?"

She thought about their trip with his bike and their picknick at the Potomac river and how perfect that day was. "I'm not used to it but it's great."

Clint scooted closer to her. "And how is he? You know in bed?"

Why on earth did everyone ask her that? Was it a Barton thing? Thank god their kids were too young to ask such questions. "I don't know." She finally said.

Clint's eyes widened. "You didn't sleep with him yet? Hell, if I wasn't happily married and Cap showed interested in me, I don't think I would turn him down."

"I thought you were straight?"

Clint just shrugged. "But seriously you didn't jump his bones yet?"

"We just started going on dates yet. It's too soon."

"Wow, if I remember correctly you ripped Murdock's clothes off right after he told you he found you very attractive and I had to turn my comm off to not traumatize me for the rest of my life."

She rolled her eyes. "That was different. Steve's different."

Clint gave her a smile. "Wow, I didn't think you were already in love with Steve." He nudged her with his elbow and then jumped of the kitchen counter. "That's great. Steve is a lucky guy." He left the kitchen to go back to Cooper's party.

Why did everyone make such a big deal out of the fact that she hadn't sleep with Steve yet. She wanted their first time, and his first time!, to mean something. She knew that they wouldn't just have sex but that it would mean more than that.

She pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans and opened her conversation with Steve.

I'll be be back on Tuesday:)

His answer came almost immediately.

Yay! Everything good?

Yup, mission runs smoothly. She hated lying to Steve.

Good! I worry when I don't know if you're okay.

You ready for you first dance lesson?:)

Ha, as ready as I can be.

I'll drop by your place on Tuesday around 8 pm.

Can't wait! Be safe, Nat!

She smiled at their exchange and put her phone back into her pocket. She sighed and walked back to the party. She couldn't aovid the kids the entire day, that wasn't fair to Cooper.