I got a review that criticised the amount of sexual content in this story. I checked and out of 37 chapters only six are explicit and I don't think that's a lot. And I made sure to write a warning at the beginning of every chapter that's rated M and it's not like those chapters only contain sex scenes, there is still plot. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that's why I published that review.

I'm sorry if you think this story is boring. It's not my intention to bore anyone especially since I have so much fun writing it.

This chapter has no sexual content like 30 other ones.

Chapter 37

Steve seemed a bit ansty on their flight to Lagos, probably because they were leaving Bucky on his own for the first time since he showed up at their doorstep. Not that Bucky was actually on his own since he was at the Tower.

"Stop fidgeting around." She was flying them to Nigeria in one of Tony's quinjet.

"I'm not fidgeting." He pouted from the co-pilot's seat and but stopped squirming.

"Bucky's gonna be fine, Steve."

"Yeah, I know. It's just weird to go on a mission after all this time and it's not to look for Bucky. I sometimes still think he's gonna disappear in front of my eyes. Like his return was just a dream."

She reached over to interwine her fingers with his. "He's back for good and maybe sooner than we think he can join us on those kinds of missions. If he wants to." She added. She didn't know what Bucky wanted to do after he hopefully got his name cleared and was officially a free man. And she didn't know if Steve talked with him about that.

He nodded. "That would be great." He gave her hand a squeeze. "What do you think Rumlow is doing in Nigeria? You think he's still HYDRA?"

She had been thinking about this since they left Manhattan. "I'm not sure. It can't be in HYDRA's interest to bankroll Rumlow who's a known HYDRA agent. They went back to hide in the shadows. I think he's on his own. That's why he's been in so many places recently and working with all kinds of people."

She put the jet on autopilot and turned her chair to face him. He did the same. "I think Rumlow has a plan. As much as I hate the guy, he's not dumb."

"You think he's trying to lure us out?"

"Yup." She nodded her head. "He's been sloppy by getting caught on surveillance cams and he knows better than that. He did that on purpose."

He ran his fingers through his hair. It was a bit longer than usual. "So we're walking right into a trap?"

"Probably."

"Great." He replied dryly and reread the file the CIA sent them.

She wondered why Rumlow now came out of the shadows. Did his recovery from having a building dropped on him take that long or was there another reason? She just knew that they needed to be careful. Rumlow worked alongside them on many missions, he knew how they thought and fought.

The CIA base was near the Lagos lagoon and she enjoyed the view through the glass windows while they waited for Ross and Carter. Steve didn't mention her since they both learned that she was on this mission and she hoped that he wouldn't make a scene. Honesty was something that he highly valued and she knew that Steve saw it like Carter had been lying and betraying him this whole time, even though she just did her job.

The double door opened and Ross walked in with Carter in tow.

"Captain Rogers. Miss Romanoff." Ross shook their hands and thanked them for coming. She hated to admit it but it felt weird to not be "Agent Romanoff" anymore. She actually got an offer from the CIA after SHIELD fell but she turned it down. She didn't think she would have fitted into Langley.

"You probably know Agent Carter from your SHIELD days." Ross motioned for them to sit down at the conference table.

Steve scoffed and sat away from Sharon as far as possible. She almost rolled her eyes at his dramatics. The woman just did her job for god sakes. She wasn't really thrilled herself that Carter basically spied on them but she knew from her own experience that you needed to follow Fury's orders without question.

Rumlow had been in Togo, Chad, Kongo and Nigeria working with various terror and extremists groups. All groups had different goals which indicated that Rumlow didn't work with them because of his beliefs.

"You think he's a mercenary?" She asked into the round.

Sharon nodded. "It's the only logical explanation."

"Since you wanted Captain America here as well, I take it an assassination is not planned?"

Ross chuckled. "No, we hope that can be avoided. We think he has valubale information about HYDRA that we can use."

Too bad, she kind of hoped they would let her kill him. She was pretty much dreaming about that since the day she met that dick.

"You think he'll cooperate?" Steve asked incredulously. "He was very close to Pierce. He's loyal to HYDRA."

"Maybe." Ross shrugged. "But we have ways to make him talk."

Torture. Somehow she didn't think that would work. Every SHIELD agent was trained to withstand torture to not give out information. And on top of that he was a Navy Seal.

She was about to voice her opinion and when Ross asked her to interrogate Rumlow if he got captured. They wanted her to spend time with the douchbag?!

"Your interrogation skills are legendary, Miss Romanoff."

"Thank you, sir."

She had no desire to talk to Rumlow but she knew that she couldn't back out. Finding more HYDRA cells was important. Man, she was a bit disappointed. She wanted to take a short trip to Rwanda on their way to do one of those gorilla safaris. It was on her bucket list and now had seemed like a good time for it. She wasn't that often in Africa.

Ross wanted to show something to Steve and they both left the conference room.

Sharon turned her chair to her. "I guess Steve is still mad at me?"

"He takes honesty very serious."

"Yeah, I heard that from my aunt. But what was I supposed to do? I had my orders." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Natasha remembered Fury's order to gather SHIELD intel on the Lemurian Star behind Steve's back. He was mad at her but got over it. "He'll get around eventually."

She talked with Sharon about her joining the agency until Steve and Ross showed up again. Steve was still scowling at Sharon and she decided to have a word with him about that. It was starting to get ridiculous.

Intelligence was looking for Rumlow's location and that gave them a few hours for themselves. They were offered two rooms to freshen up and rest and she thanked Sharon silently for not telling Ross that she was involved with Steve. He didn't need to know that.

She checked her gear again and then went to Steve's room. He was on the phone talking to Bucky like a worried mom whose kid goes for the first time to summer camp. He eventually hang up and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Bucky says hi."

She nodded and then placed her hand on his knee. "Steve, you gotta drop your grudge with Sharon. She was just doing her job!"

His jaw was set. "I know that. But I still feel played. For months I thought she was just my neighbour and what she really did was spying on me."

"Wasn't she send to protect you?"

"I think I can protect myself." He huffed out and plopped down on the bed.

She wondered why the history books never told that Captain America was a little drama queen. "You can't let that get into the field when we're going after Rumlow."

"I know." He sighed and closed his eyes.

She was about to tell him about the gorilla tracking tour and if he was game for that when an alarm went off. Steve sat up again.

"Looks like they found Rumlow."

He was hiding in an empty apartment looking over a district of Lagos. Nat and Sharon took position in a café blending in with the civilians. Ross was checking the area with a drone.

"We have reason to believe that Rumlow and his men are after a bio hazard virus." Ross said via comms. He stayed at the CIA base.

Minutes later the silent alarm of the research lab was tripped and the three of them rushed towards it.

"We got this." Nat yelled to him when serveral men with weapons blocked their way. He nodded and ran through them to the get inside. Rumlow couldn't get his hands on that virus. Some kind of gas filled the building but the serum protected him from it. He fought his way through and spotted the button that would absorb the gas through the vents. He hoped that no one of the lab workers got seriously hurt by the gas.

He knew from the blueprints where he had to go to find the virus but when he reached the lab it was already gone.

"Rumlow already has the virus." He informed Nat and Sharon.

"Copy that."

"I got eyes on Rumlow." Natasha said. "I'm going after him."

He ran to a window and saw how her red hair was flattering in the wind while she took after Rumlow. Sharon told them that she and her team would try to find the virus since multiple men fled the lab.

He heard fighting noises in his ear and then a loud groan. "Nat?"

"He shook me off. He's heading east to the old fisher market." He heard another groan. "Be careful. He's much stronger than he used to be."

He got out of the lab and ran to the fisher market that wasn't that far away. It was closed today and there weren't thankfully no civillians that could get hurt.

He looked around and couldn't see Rumlow but his gut told him that he was still here and waiting for him. Suddenly something kicked him in the back and he crashed through a market stall. He looked up and Rumlow was in his Crossbones outfit. He jumped up and threw his shield at Rumlow who dodged it with the armour around his underarms.

He activated the magnets on his wrist and the shield flew back to him. Rumlow ran towards him and they began to fight. He was really stronger than he used to be back at SHIELD. He wondered if the suit gave Rumlow more strength or if it was the result of experiments. He gave him a roundhouse kick and Rumlow fell on a stall. He got up and knifes came out of his gauntlets and he launched with them at him. Those knifes were really not fair!

"How is it going, Cap?" He aimed his gauntlet at him but he managed to get him off of him. His next punch wasn't as strong as the ones before. So he got his strength from those armour things.

He kicked Rumlow in the stomach and he fell to the ground. He grabbed him by the collar and pulled his helmet off. Holy shit, his face was plastered with burn scars.

"I think all things considered I look pretty good."

"Who's your buyer? What's your end game?"

He forgot about Rumlow's other hand and suddenly a sharp thing stabbed him into his side. Rumlow used that moment to get out of his hold. He was bleeding but the wound didn't feel too deep. It would be probably gone in a few days.

Rumlow wiped the blood of the knife on trousers. "I see you're with Romanoff here. So tell me,does she fuck how she fights?" He gave him an ugly smirk.

"What are you doing here? What's the goal here, Rumlow?"

"You know your pal? Bucky? He remembered you!"

Rumlow said it like he had no idea that Bucky had already come back to him. Did that mean HYDRA didn't know where Bucky was? He hoped so.

"Are you still with HYDRA?"

"Oh Cap, you have no idea what's coming next! You won't know what will hit you. Enjoy the redhead while you can!"

What the fuck was Rumlow talking about? Was there a bigger picture? Rumlow took a few steps back.

"Too bad, I won't be there to see it. But remember that I was the one who helped starting it."

"Run!" That was Natasha. He looked into the direction her voice was coming from and she looked horrifed. "Run!" She screamed.

He looked at Rumlow who had a grenade in his hand. He didn't think he'd ever been faster before. He ran into Nat's direction and threw her over his shoulder to get them both out of the fisher's market.

The blast of the explosion knocked him off his feet and he landed on top of her. He covered her with his body to make sure that none of the debris hit her. She coughed and he brushed her hair of her forehead.

"Are you okay, Nat?"

"Yeah." She touched his ear with her hand. "You're bleeding!"

"It's fine." He should probably tell her about his stabbing wound but she looked already so worried.

He rolled off of her and sat up next to her. Together they watched the burning building. There was no way that Rumlow could have surived that.

"Why do you think he killed himself?"

Natasha was shaking out ash of her hair. "Maybe he was ordered to? What did he tell you before he went poof?"

"That I had no idea what was coming." A shiver ran down his spine.

"That can't be good." She got up on her feet and held her hand out for him. She pulled him up and kissed him. "Thank you for saving me."

He brushed his thumb over her cheek. Her face was covered in ash but she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. "I'm the one who has to say thank you. Without your warning I would have noticed that grenade too late. I would have died."

"Please don't say stuff like that." She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his chest. Her hold on him was surprisingly strong. For such a tiny woman she had a lot of strength. He rested his chin on the top of her head and closed his eyes.

"Steve?"

He kissed the top of her head. "Yes, doll?" He thought they were still having a moment.

"Why is my left arm getting wet?"

"Um.."

She pulled away from him and inspected her sleeve. She wasn't wearing her catsuit but a beige jacket and its left sleeve was red from his blood.

"Um, I got stabbed?" He looked at her sheepishly.

"When were you gonna tell me that?" She sounded pissed and pushed his arm to the side to examine his wound. "You can be lucky that's not too deep or I would kick your ass right now, Rogers!" She got out of her jacket and ripped a piece out of it and pressed it on his wound. "Put pressure on it." She snappped but he knew that she was more worried than mad.

A SUV showed up and Nat pulled her gun. Sharon got out and she put her gun back into her thigh holster. "The virus is secured. Where's Rumlow?"

Nat pointed at the burning fisher's market behind them and Sharon sighed. Sirens were getting louder and the first fire truck came towards them.

Sharon drove them to the CIA base where his wound was patched up. Nat came later to his room with a tray of food. "Ross doesn't need us anymore. We're free to leave."

He nodded and bit into a sandwich. "You wanna leave right now?"

"You've ever been to Rwanda?"

"Um, no." Where was she going with this?

She looked at him. "I get it if you wanna head back right to New York and Bucky but-" Her eyes began to sparkle and he wondered what Rwanda had to do with that. "There's this gorilla tracking tour that I always wanted to do ever since I heard about it and since Rwanda is not that far way from Nigeria..." She played with her napkin. "Could we maybe go there?" She looked at him with an insecurity that reminded him of a child.

"Of course we can." He said and she beamed. She was really excited about that. "That sounds really interesting."

"Great!" She pulled her phone. "I'll sign us up."

"And we're gonna see real gorillas in their natural habitat?"

She nodded and then looked up from her phone smirking. "I wonder who has the more defined chest. You or the silverback?"