Chapter 60

Steve was just happy that Natasha was safe and back in his arms and traded lazy kisses with her. They were still in the infirmary and someone would come and get them if there were new developments. He couldn't stop picturing Natasha in a wedding dress since she told him that she was already working on it. He couldn't wait to see her in it but he already knew one thing for sure, she would be the most beautiful bride to ever walk down the aisle.

He explored her mouth with his tongue and slid one hand into the back of her pants. Natasha grinned into the kiss. "You're so predictable, Rogers!"

He feigned an innocent smile. "What? Can you blame me?" He kissed her until she was out of breath. "You think we have enough time to make love real quick?"

Natasha chuckled against his lips. "When have we ever done that?"

She was right, one round was never enough. For both of them. He kept telling her so much that he loved her so she knew that he didn't just wanted her body. He wanted her heart and soul as well.

Natasha cupped his face with her hand and he saw that she still had the IV in. They couldn't make love right now, he didn't want to hurt her. She seemed to read his mind because she kissed him and then settled against his chest with a content sigh.

"I love you so much." She whispered.

He kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too. So freaking much."

"That's nice." She mumbled sleepily and he chuckled lightly.

Natasha was already dozing off judging by her breathing when FRIDAY startled her. "I'm sorry to interrupted but Director Coulson and Sergeant Barnes have arrived. Mister Stark wants you to join them on the common floor if the two of you and I quote aren't playing hide the zucchini right now."

Natasha rolled her eyes and he helped her get the IV out of the crook of her arm. "Remind me to punch him for that, Steve."

He kissed her cheek. "With pleasure."

Coulson, Bucky, May and a young woman who Steve didn't know were waiting with the rest of the Avengers for him and Natasha. Bucky immediately ran towards Nat and hugged her. She chuckled lightly and patted Bucky's back. Steve had told him that Nat had disappeared and his heart warmed at the sight, he was so happy that his girl and his best friend got along so well. He remembered how he didn't like a few of Buck's girlfriends back in the day and knew it made his life so much easier that his future wife and brother were friends as well.

"Woah!" May exclaimed. "Nice rock you got there, Romanoff!"

Steve was a bit confused but then he realized that she meant Natasha's engagement ring. Should he have called Coulson as well to tell him about their engagement?

Natasha let go of Bucky and looked at May. "Steve and I are engaged."

Coulson smiled brightly at them while May was smirking. "Congratulations you two!"

"Yeah." May nodded. "And here I thought it wasn't like that between the two of you."

Nat rolled her eyes and greeted the other woman. "Agent Johnson, nice to see you're still with SHIELD."

Johnson smiled shyly and Steve introduced himself. As it turned out the young agent was here to help Tony and FRIDAY to hack into more HYDRA servers to find the money sources to bring the organization down. Without money, there would be no HYDRA. Tony and Johnson left to go to his labs to hack their way into HYDRA.

"Natasha." Coulson asked. "Do you remember what Malick did before you were made?"

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Everything was normal. He welcomed me and said that there was reason to believe that HYDRA had infiltrated the World Council." She rolled her eyes. "Duh! Then he said that dinner would be ready soon and if I wanted a drink. He made us martinis and those were fine." She stared at the wall behind Coulson trying to remember. "He asked before dinner how things were with you." She looked at Steve. "I told him that we were still broken up. We had salad and wine and I think that was spiked because my memory ends there."

How could Malick know that Nat had been lying? Only the Avengers knew they were back together and engaged. May spoke up. "Does anyone else know about your relationship?"

"No."

Nat's eyes widened. "Michel Albert!"

"Who?" He, Coulson and Bucky asked in unison.

"The jeweler who made my ring and found your watch!" Natasha said and pulled her phone out calling someone. "He's not picking up. I think he knew how that watch was for and if he figured that out, he probably had an idea who you brought that ring for."

"So he sold us out?" Fury had told him about Albert and guaranteed him that he was discreet and no one would ever know that Captain America bought an engagement ring.

Nat shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Maybe someone saw one of us getting into his store and they took him."

"And made him talk." May finished and Natasha nodded. Fuck! They had to assume that Albert was dead. Another innocent life taken by HYDRA.

"We can assume that Malick is still in the country. He can't use any private planes or ones of the World Council and HYDRA has no access to quinjets. There's no way he could leave the States without us noticing. The whole world is now looking for him." Coulson said. "He's either driving up to Canada or hiding somewhere here."

America was big and who knew how many secret hiding places HYDRA had. It could take months or even years until they would find him. Natasha suddenly stood up. "I'll meet with Jones. Maybe she got something for us. I'll make her let me look at her files."

"Do you want me to come with you?" He knew he was probably being overprotective but he had lived with the fear of losing her for over five hours and it was still haunting him. He knew Natasha could protect her herself but he still felt better if he could see with his own eyes that she was okay.

He expected her to tell him that she would go alone but to his surprise she said yes. Even Coulson looked surprised but didn't say anything. But Bucky did. "Send me a text every hour! Both of you! We don't know if HYDRA is already working on a new plan. If you don't check in, I'm coming after you!"

"Okay, mom." Natasha said dryly and they left the Tower to meet Jones.

They took Nat's Corvette to drive to Jones and got stuck in traffic. Natasha was driving and humming to a song on the radio. He looked at her and couldn't stop smiling.

She looked at him and smiled back. "What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head still grinning. "It's just... You're more than I ever imagined. I never thought I would get to have this. My ma always used to say that I would find someone but I was so sure that it would never happen. I met Peggy and for some time I thought that maybe it could happen with her but we never got the chance to actually get to know each other. To fall in love with each other. And I thought that was it. But then I saw this beautiful redheaded woman on a helicarrier and I just thought wow what a dame and then.." He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "And then I fell in love with her."

Natasha was slightly blushing. "And she fell in love with you too."

"And that makes me the luckiest guy in the world!"

"Are you sad that you missed your chance with Peggy?" She asked quietly.

"No." He shook his head. He knew that everything happened the way it was meant to be. "We weren't supposed to end up together. Her soulmate was her husband and my soulmate is you."

She smiled but seemed a bit sad. He wanted to ask her why but she already spoke up. "I know it's probably a horrible thing to say but I'm glad you crashed into the ice. I'm not glad it you had to go through that!" She added quickly. "But otherwise we wouldn't have met. I know I wouldn't have fallen in love with anyone else. I would have been alone."

He squeezed her hand and assured her that he knew what she meant. He knew that he was meant to live in this century and to be with her. He would have gladly spend another seventy years frozen if it had been the only way to meet her.

They already entered Hell's Kitchen when Nat asked him a question he had been thinking about since he proposed. "Who's gonna be your best man? Bucky or Sam?"

He sighed. His immediate answer would be Bucky. He was his oldest friend and brother. But Sam was also a good friend and stood by his side and helped him look for Buck even though he didn't had to. If Bucky hadn't showed up, he would have asked Sam to be his best man but now... He didn't want to hurt Sam. He sighed again. "Bucky but I don't wanna tell Sam."

"You have to eventually. I'm sure he'll understand. Or you have two best men. One carries the ring and the other one gives a speech but tell the one who carries my ring that I will castrate him if he loses it!"

Steve had to chuckle. "I guess that's one way. But then maybe Tony feels left out." God, did everyone have these problems when they were planning their wedding?

"Tony is not going to give the speech!"

"Are you gonna have a maid of honor or is Clint your...man of honor?" Was there a special word for that? He should really buy a few wedding magazines.

Nat parked the car. "I think I'll ask Clint to walk me down the aisle. Do you think he'll do it?"

"Of course he will!"

"And I want Laura to be my maid of honor. I never told you but she was the first one I admitted to that I was in love with you. She helped me open up to you."

He promised himself to thank Laura for that the next time he saw her. He hadn't known she had played such a big part in his happiness.

"An hour passed." Nat got her phone out of her purse. "We better text mom!"

Jones turned out to be an interesting person. She was grumpy and Steve was also pretty sure that she was slightly drunk but she did find some properties that belonged to Malick and Nat texted Coulson the addresses so he could sent SHIELD agents to check them out.

"Anything on that woman Malick is banging?" Natasha asked while reading one of Jones' files.

Jones was staring at him. "I feel like I should stand up and do the pledge of alliance with Captain America being here."

Natasha snorted.

"That's not necessary, Miss Jones." Was she serious or just messing with him? She didn't seem very happy when Natasha showed up with him. Nat had already told him that Jones didn't like Avengers thing.

"I wonder who's stronger. You or Jessica? You two should totally arm wrestle!" Nat looked up from her file. "Ever thrown a Harley into a tank?"

Jones seemed actually intrigued by that. "Haven't tried it yet."

Steve really thought they had more important fish to fry right now. "What about Malick's lover? Is she HYDRA? Maybe she knows where Malick is."

"I don't know if she's a Nazi but when I looked into her I found a lodge in Vermont under her name. Maybe your guy's hiding there."

He looked at Nat who nodded. It was worth a try. He would send Tony, Sam and Rhodey to check it out. They could be there in a hour with a quinjet. He hoped that Malick was hiding there and they could bring him it. It was time that Malick would pay. Steve sent Tony the address and reminded him to be careful since there were still two Winter Soldiers out there.

The door opened and he and Nat both turned around. A young man in his mid twenties came in carrying a laptop and a doggy bag. "Hey Jess. Brought you the rest of my lunch." He seemed now to notice that Jones wasn't alone. "Are those..." He pointed at him and Natasha with wide eyes.

"No." Jones grunted out. "I hope you didn't bring me a fucking salad."

Who do you think would win that arm wrestle match? Steve or Jessica?

As always thank your for your reviews, faves and follows! Means the world to me and keeps me motivated. I can't believe this is already chapter 60!