A/N: Natasha already made up her mind. Let's find out!
andy-ho13 : I hope you will soon ship Stevetasha with the rest of us hahaha
Avengers101 : I'm still thinking about sequel. I will make a decision again after finish with this story
G-Man82, Twilight-Narnia-Charmed , Kirigaya-Asuna54 , Midgardian Avenger , Ladyluck , immy01, tvlover44 , Koala35, and guests : Thank you for your review as always! It make my day everytime I saw your review.
22 : WHEN I'M GONE
Natasha found only Clint in the living room with baby Anthony. The archer was watching the news on TV and cradled the child with his arms.
"Sup, Tasha"
"Hey" She greeted back and sat herself next to him.
"You're all dressed up" He noted "Have a date or something?"
"I'm having brunch with Taylor"
Clint sighed with annoyance. "Nat just makes him your boyfriend already. What are you waiting for?"
"I'm thinking about it" She answered with her mysterious smile.
But her eyes twinkled which allowed Clint to know what she was thinking. Of course, he knew. He was her best friend.
She will make this Taylor guy her boyfriend for sure!
Steve was the last one to wake up. Tony smiled as he saw the good captain looked exhausted. Must've had too much fun with Anna, he thought to himself.
If only Tony knew who Steve actually spent the night with.
The captain sat on the couch and ignored the smell of the breakfast. Steve leaned back and closed his eyes.
He could still feel Natasha's lips on his lips.
"You look like you have a hangover, Cap" Clint noted.
"Umm-maybe-something like that"
Clint said something that Steve didn't even pay attention to. He sunk into his thought again.
Yes, he had a hangover caused by a kiss from Natasha Romanoff. Drunk with affection for her. How he missed her touch.
"Cap!" Clint called loudly and it pulled Steve out of his thoughts.
"What?"
"Are you okay?"
"Not enough sleep, I guess" Steve answered, looking around. "Where's Natasha?"
"Why are you two asking about each other whereabouts? Considering you've haven't spoken to one another in awhile"
"Because all of you are here but she isn't"
"She is on a date with that dude, Taylor. They're having brunch together. From what she said, I think she's finally going to commit to him"
Clint's words cut deep inside every inch of Steve's body. His heart sunk to the ground and shattered into million pieces.
Steve didn't say anything. He just got up from his seat and left.
"Hey Natalie! Sorry I'm late" The husky voice came from behind.
Natasha gave a slight smile to the sandy haired man as he sat across her. Taylor Keaton was late for ten minutes but it didn't matter because she had more important things to speak with him other than his tardiness.
"Taylor, I have something important to discuss with you" She said with a seriousness in her voice.
Taylor's face light up with hope and happiness. He was waiting for the good news after they went on their only date nearly four months ago. His Natalie will probably agree to be his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry that I have been dragging this for too long but I can't do this anymore. I thought I loved you but I don't. I really like you but I used you as a distraction for someone really important to me. And that is wrong"
Taylor's face faltered. He didn't expect that.
"I thought I liked him as a friend but the truth is I'm falling deeply in love with him"
"Oh! I didn't expect that" He said shockingly, still processed the news he just heard "Well— is he good to you?"
"Yes, he is the perfect gentleman" Natasha answered, "Taylor, you deserve a better woman than me and you have every right to ask me every question in your mind and I will gave you the truthful answer"
"Do you really like me? All the time that we spent together the past four month, do I really make you happy or you just lie for my sake?"
"I like you and I'm happy every time we go out together but—"
"I'm just not that guy" Taylor finished the sentence before shook his head "At least we didn't go that far"
"What do you mean?"
"Something very intimate, you know?"
Natasha caught on. "Indeed. You will find the right woman one day, Taylor. You are a good man"
Natasha got up from her seat, prepared to go but Taylor still had one more question left.
"May I ask?" He said and she just nodded "Who is he?"
"My best friend. The man I fall in love with a long time ago but I kept deny it"
"Well, Natalie I wish you all the best"
"You too, Taylor"
Natasha left and headed back to the tower.
She already chose, it was obvious right from the start. Steve was the only one for her.
She cannot stand when he was hurt, or with other women that wasn't her. She cannot stand the feeling of not having him in her life. If that mean she will not have a normal life, she was more than willing to accept it because she loved him.
She was in love with Steve Rogers and she intended to tell him the minute she went back to the tower.
"Captain Rogers, what can I do for you?" Fury asked when Steve walked into his office
"Do you have any available mission for me, sir?"
Fury looked up from his report and stared at the captain. The director could see the determination of Captain America.
"We have a one week mission to South America and another mission that I guess you wouldn't took it"
"What is it, sir?"
"One year mission, station in Africa"
"I will take the mission to Africa, sir"
The answer from the Captain made Fury curious about the motive of the man in front of him. The man who didn't want to take a mission longer than a week because he wanted to be with his 'family' in New York but now, he wanted to run away from this.
The pain in the Captain's eyes was more than enough for Fury to know the true answer.
"What make you want to leave New York?"
"Too many painful memories"
"I will ask you again, captain. Why?"
"If you love someone, you have to let them go and give them a chance to think about what she-they really want"
Captain America, who never ran from anything even the most dangerous foe was running away from pain and heartache cause by the woman he fell for deeply.
He ran away from love.
Natasha went back to the Tower and found everyone was in the living area. Tony and Clint were playing video games. Thor, Jane and Darcy were watching the duo and eating popcorn while Bruce and Betty were reading books.
No sign of Steve Rogers
"Hey Red! How was your date?" Tony paused his game and turned to the spy.
"Where's Steve?" She anxiously asked.
Too anxious that everyone had to turned to look at her
"Where is Steve, Stark?" Her voice turned deadly.
"On a mission, Fury said that the captain need to get away from pain…" Tony stopped his speech because he just realized something "Oh my god! Red, you broke his heart! You broke his heart and that why he accept that stupid mission!"
"Damn it" Natasha muttered before she bolted to the elevator, not bothering to correct Tony's assumption.
No no no Steve, don't do this! You cannot do this to me!
Natasha bolted to Steve's room and found it was empty. Most of his personal belonging were gone. She went back to her room to get ready to go to SHIELD and stop her partner from doing something stupid.
But she found his dog tags hanging at the door knob with a small note under the door.
Her heart beating fast.
Please keep it safe — Steve
Natasha put it around her neck, got her jacket and drove to SHIELD. She might get there in time to stop him and told him how much she love him.
She ran to the runway. A plane just took off and she found Agent Hill's was standing there.
"Hill!" Natasha called.
"Hey Romanoff"
"Where is Captain Rogers?"
"He just left in that plane"
"When will he came back?"
"If nothing going wrong, he will be back next year on this day. He is the leader of the assault team station in Africa. Don't worry, Romanoff. He can take care of himself"
Hill walked back to the building. Natasha was in shock and scolded herself that she let him slip away again.
She shouldn't have dragged it this long, she should have told him from the start.
One week later
Steve and his team returned to their safe house from a mission in Somalia. Everyone in this team was perfectly fine except the wounded Captain.
They knew that his body can heal very fast but sometimes, their captain risked himself too many times.
All of his wounds were tended to neatly by the medical team in the camp. Sam urged his friend to get some rest but Steve simply refused to.
He couldn't sleep, as every time he closed his eyes, he saw the red haired angel in his head, her green eyes sparkling in the sunlight and smiling ever so brightly at him. He'd smile too just as he woke up and find her not there.
He missed Natasha so much. So much that it felt she was haunting him.
The more he thought about his redheaded spy, the more reckless he became.
Why did he have to care about his life when he had nothing left to lose?
He already lost the woman he loved. The only woman who made him feel special.
"Little Red, why are you acting crazy?" Tony said and moved away from Natasha as she manically chopped up a tomato.
"Yeah Nat why are you acting like its that time of the month?" Clint added, realizing what he just said.
Natasha gave them a murderous glare which proved very effective because she held the knife in a sinister way.
She knew that she was about to go crazy because she didn't hear anything about Steve for a week. Her teammates didn't know anything either. When she asked SHIELD, nobody knew the answer because only two people knew about the Captain America's mission were Fury and Hill. And it was always the same: classified. Fury even declined her offer to join Steve as he felt she was the one Steve took the mission for anyway.
"Sir, SHIELD is on the line. I will forward the call to your labs" JARVIS informed.
Natasha was about to follow Tony to his lab but the billionaire stopped her.
"They called me, not you, Romanoff"
"If it's about Steve—"
"If it's about Steve, I will tell you everything"
Natasha sighed and sat down beside Clint who looked at her, amused. Natasha never displayed this kind of emotion as long as he knew her. The archer knew better not to tease her because she would kill him in a split second.
The ruthless Black Widow was falling in love with no other than Steve Rogers
"He will be fine, Tasha." Clint tried to reassure and turned his attention back to the video game.
How could she possibly not worry about him? She didn't hear any update about the mission which normally, no matter how classified it is, when SHIELD sent one of the Avengers somewhere, the others will have every right to the location of their teammate.
This time was different. Steve must not want anyone to know where he was.
It's been a week, and she was sure to explode soon.
Sitting in the living room and jumped every time she heard the elevator sound, hoping that Steve would walk out of it. Everyone started to notice her strange behavior, even Thor.
Natasha always touch the dog tags on her neck unconsciously and her mind was wandering elsewhere.
Tony always got a call from SHIELD but he said that it was from the research facility that needed his help. Natasha was hoping that one of those calls was about Steve.
Soon, everyone couldn't stand her mood swings. They sent Bruce (the only one that Natasha tended to listen the most, aside from Steve) to tell her that she needed to get out of the Tower or go on a mission to take her mind off Steve. Strangely, Natasha complied with the doctor's suggestion.
Natasha went on a mission, an easy one that she could do with her eyes closed. When she came back, she realized that she was still thinking about Steve all the time.
When she walked on the street, she saw the place they went together. When she went jogging in the park, she thought about the times they spent in the park on the sunny days of summer.
Whatever she did, she was thinking about him.
The assassin can only sigh and admit to herself one thing:
She missed him, badly.
A/N: They have everything except timing, something we all experience in real life and I just want to torture you guys hehehe but I promise you this is one last twist. And for the record, it was Clint's fault, not mine. *evil grin*
- Special thanks to my proofreader, Muldoon22. I love you so much! Your improvement just make it better. Thanks for putting up with me and teach me a lot of new thing.
- Did any of you guys brought Empire Magazine with Cap 2 on the cover yet? I already brought it and well, I'm bursting with Romanogers feeling more than ever! hahaha
- Two chapters left! how do you think this story would end?
- Please a leave a review, critic and advice. That would be greatly appreciated.