14 : PAY A VISIT*

Steve picked Natasha up at her room in the morning as usual, when she emerged from her door, his eyes searched every inch of her body.

"Red, what's going on?" Steve asked. "You're crying."

"No, I'm not."

"Don't lie to me. Your eyes are red and swollen." Of course he knew she was crying. He saw her yesterday and he wanted to check up on her. He wanted to know whether she would tell him the truth or not.

"Yes, I was crying last night." She replied, not looking into his eyes so he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Who dared hurt you, Nat? I will track him down and kill him myself."

"Then you have to go to Russia to do it." She said. "He's my ex-boyfriend Alexei. Our relationship didn't end well. He's still trying to make me go back to Russia." She sighed and looked at her phone. "Now I have to change my phone number again."

Steve looked worried, "Is he stalking you or something? How many times did he call you?"

"Ten times since I've been here."

"Just say the word and I'll take care of it for you."

"No, you don't have to, Steve." She said. "I can handle it myself."

"But if he keeps calling you like this again, you're not gonna cry every time he calls you, right?"

"I don't know."

"Nat."

"I don't want to talk about this!"

"Fine, but if you can't handle this shit anymore, just tell me and I'll take care of it." She could tell that he was angry, really angry about Alexei making her cry. And she knew that in his mind, he was already planning something.

"Don't do anything stupid, Steve." She warned. "Let it go. It's my problem."

"You're gonna drag this, I know you can't let it go yourself."

"I'm trying! Trust me!"

"What do you feel about him right now?"

"I hate him so much for making me cry!" Natasha exclaimed."And I have a date tonight and now I look like shit." And then the subject changed immediately. Steve's curiosity peaked,

"Again?" He asked. "We barely spend time with each other, not to mention that you barely show up for the group dinner. By the way, you look pretty as always, Nat."

"Thanks for the confidence boost but we spent too much time with each other, Rogers." She replied. "I need some private time."

"So you are seriously dating someone."

"You could say that."

"Who is he or she?"

"I'm not gonna tell you."

"Aww, come on! Just give me the name."

"No way. I want my relationship to be without your remarks."

"I'm just looking out for you. I know most people in this campus and I can give you my approval."

"I don't need you approval."

"I don't want to see you get hurt by some random guy, Natasha. You're my friend and I'm always looking out for my friends." He genuinely said. You can say that it all came out from his protective side. "Besides, if he did hurt you, I would knew which leg to break."

"Thanks…but I'm not gonna tell you."

"Ooohhh, so secretive, are you?"

"Yep, you're never find out."

"Oh! I will find out eventually." He grinned.

Steve had his grand idea planed out. He just needed to assemble his team. He called Thor, Clint, Tony, Bruce and Phil for a secret meeting on the rooftop.

"Friend Steven! What's so urgent?" Thor asked when he saw Steve waiting for them already.

"Better be good, Rogers. I just scored a very hot brunette from my department." Tony said. "Surprisingly, her hotness is equal to her brain."

"But apparently, she wasn't smart enough not to fall for you."Clint retorted.

"Hey! I have a very important thing to discuss and well, I'll have to ask you all a favor after I tell you everything." Everyone stopped and listened to Steve's plan. Steve could see that everyone has the same reaction as him once he discovered this.

"Will you help me or not?" Steve asked when he finished telling them everything. "And this stays only between six of us. No one can know what we are doing."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Bruce asked.

"Never been this sure in my entire life." The Captain replied."Are you guys with me or not?"

"Aye!" Thor boomed without a second thought. "Let's kick some ass, brother!"

"I'm with you, pal." Clint told him, "No one does this to one of us and get away with it."

"I'll get my private jet ready." Tony said.

"Phil and I will get your cover story ready." Bruce reassured him."But please don't do anything out of line."

"Everything will be ready by the time that you guys get back"Phil said and noted every detail he and Bruce had to handle down.

"Thanks, guys!" Steve said sincerely. "I couldn't do this alone."

The four men packed their bag and left the university in Tony's limo. Happy drove them to the airport where Stark's private plane was waiting for them.

"Mr. Stark, plane is ready and awaiting for your order." The pilot said.

"Thanks, Richard. Wheels up in ten minutes."

"Yes, sir." They were heading to Russia. They were going to seek out revenge for their friend. No one hurt one of them and got away with it. Alexei Shostakov would pay the price for hurting Natasha Romanoff, for making her cry. He would pay for every single drop of tear she lost for a man like him.

Steve had his family's private investigator track Alexei down. In his hand was a file containing everything about the man. Everyone helped him assess and analyzed the file.

"Shouldn't be a problem." Tony said and put down the paper. "He doesn't have any connection to any politician or anything. Just a simple guy from a very little tiny town."

"Must be where she was growing up."

"How do we do this?" Thor asked. "Direct assault or ambush?"

"Maybe we should stake out a little." Clint suggested. "We don't know that he's alone or not." They continued discussing the plan. The plane landed in Moscow in the next 8 hours. Steve arranged the car from his mother's company to pick them up at the airport and would be at their service for 24 hours.

They met with Steve's private investigator who showed them the current location of Alexei. They were waiting outside a nightclub that Alexei currently used as his lair. The guy walked out the club at midnight and they followed him back.

Steve got out of the car first and he was rooted to the spot when he saw Alexei kissing another woman. He asked Natasha to come back to him when he's already moved on! Steve lost control of himself as his vision tinted red. The Captain lunged forward and pulled Alexei away from the girl he was kissing and landed a heavy punch to his face.

Everyone else quickly followed to cover Steve. They stood and watched as Steve poured his punches fiercely and there was no holding back. The memories of seeing Natasha cry were the best rage fuel for Steve.

Alexei fought back and was able to land some punches at corner of Steve's month and left eye. But he was no match to Steve Rogers. The Russian was bloodily beat up and left on the ground.

"No one makes my little red cry and get away with it!" Steve yelled. "If I hear that you're harassing her again, I will come back here and kill you myself!" Steve bent down and grabbed Alexei's shirt.

"Do you understand?" Steve asked and the Russian nodded."Good. If you do have any contact with her, I will make sure you suffer a hundred times more." Steve's anger proved to be very effective. He released Alexei back to the ground and stood up.

"Anyone want to give him a little threat?" Steve asked his friends.

Tony shook his head "No, I think you already covered our part."But Clint was the one who lunged forward and kicked Alexei really hard in his stomach a couple time.

"I think he already learned his lesson." Tony said. "I really feel like partying back at my tower right now."

"We should bring back some vodka." Clint suggested.

"At this rate I think I might need Absinthe." Steve said as they walked back to their car. "Take us back to the airport please." He said to the driver.

"What?!" Tony exclaimed. "I can't go back now! I just saw a strip club down the street!"

"We are not going to a strip club."

"I agree with Steve. I already miss my Lady Jane." Thor agreed with Steve.

"Dude, you miss her every moment you're not with her." Tony retorted. "Rogers, do you realize that we sat on the plane for 16 hours just for a 20 minute beat down." Steve didn't say anything and thanked his private investigator for his help and they took the flight back to New York.

Tony, Clint and Phil had to handle with the rest of the detail about their party while Steve and Thor went back to their dorm. Jane was practically jumping and hugging Thor and they were walking away arm in arm. Steve could only smile at the sight of his friends. He walked back to his room alone but when he got inside. He found someone already waiting for him.

"Heyyy! Where have you been for the past 24 hours?" She greeted him cheerfully but then she noticed a left black eye and bruise at the corner of his mouth. "What happened to you?" She got up and walked toward him, eyes worriedly searching for any other bruises, before taking him to his couch.

"It's nothing, Nat." He said, trying to stop her from worrying about him.

"Where's your first aid kit?"

"In that cabinet." She got up and brought the kit back before starting to tend to his bruises. Steve winced a little when she pressed a cotton soaked with Iodine on his bruise.

"What happened, Rogers?" She asked again, looking really worried. He knew he had to lie to make her stop worrying about him.

"I just fought with the boyfriend of the girl I slept with."

"Rogers! You shouldn't do that." She exclaimed.

"I know but she's hot and to be fair, I met her before that dude even emerged from out of nowhere." He explained. "Now I lost my Thursday."

"A big loss, right?" She smiled playfully.

"But totally worth it." He murmured. The truth is, he never had any Thursday arrangement with anyone. He just made that up to cover the real way of how he got those wounds. He didn't want to make her worry about him. But Natasha smiled at him and that makes all the pain go away. At least, he didn't make her cry like that douche Alexei. He makes her smile. A smile that he always wanted to see every moment of every day.

Fuck! That sounded clingy. You should stop it, Rogers!

"What are you thinking right now?"

"What?"

"I've known you for some time now. You always make that face whenever you're thinking about something really deep that you didn't even listen to anyone or pay attention to anything."

"It's nothing, Nat. Really."

"Liar." In front of her eyes, he couldn't lie anymore.

"I was just thinking about how happy you are right now." He said truthfully. "Seriously, Nat. You're a woman meant for happiness, sorrow doesn't suit you. Crying is not made for you. Smile is what makes you. So, from now on, if anyone makes you cry, just tell me and I will deal with whatever it was, alright?"

"You are sooooooo worried about me, Rogers." She teased. "But thank you."

"I always look out for my friends, Nat."

"Thank you, Steve."

"Can you tell me about what really happened that make you cry?"Strangely, Natasha told him everything. Every single little detail but she didn't cry as Steve held her hands the entire time and gently rubbed her knuckles every time he felt that she was on the verge of crying. He understands her. In some ways, they had a similarity.

They were two broken people, two broken souls.

Tony announced to the group during their dinner that tomorrow he would host a pool party at Stark Tower. The men pretended to be surprised while the girls started planning their clothes.

This was their plan to cover up their little trip to Moscow.

"So you're saying that you guys all disappeared to prepare this party?" Pepper questioned. "Why am I finding it really hard to believe?"

"Because two of four have a very high tendency to lie." Natasha said, looking at Steve and Tony directly.

"Hey! That hurt you know?" Steve pretended to look hurt while Tony pouted and said,

"I'm not lying. We really are throwing a party tomorrow at the Tower." Finally, Phil had to confirm with everyone that Tony and Steve were throwing a pool party tomorrow and the guys were helping them yesterday. The girls let it slide this time and enjoyed their meal.

Steve gave Natasha a ride back to their dorm again but he went to the coffee shop but it was almost closing time and the staff had already wrapped everything up. Peggy had cleaned the tables and put the chairs up on them.

"Why do you keep doing this?" Natasha asked. "You can just go and talk to her, you know?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes "I don't want to talk to her, Romanoff."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"I just want to check that she's doing ok."

"You still love her, don't you?"

"No." She could see that his eyes were ice cold. "I just worry about her." Natasha knew that was a lie.

"You should let it go, Steve, or else it will haunt you like this."Natasha said before saying something that would hurt him but itwas the truth "She's moving on so should you."

"I know." Even a womanizer still had some trouble with moving on with his life. Steve obviously cared about Peggy Carter more than he would like to admit it. Maybe she was his first love and first love tended to stick that way.

He let out another sigh before driving away.

"Do you think he will invite many people?"

"You know Stark he never makes it a small party."

"Do you think everyone is here?"

"Of course, they are! You're making us late, Romanoff." The two stepped out of the elevator and first thing they heard was loud techno music blaring. People were gathering around the pool area, drinking, chatting, and dancing.

"Ma'am, please remove your robe." The coat guy asked. "And you too, sir." Steve took off his t-shirt and gave the coat guy their bags (Stark said they should pack some clothes in case they needed to get changed) but as he turned to Natasha, he heard audible gasps from every man and he was pretty sure that he did it too.

She took off her black and red robe, slowly, tantalizingly, and revealed her soft milky skin, her gorgeous curves and only thing on her was her black bikini. It was a very exquisite pain just to look at her without being able to touch. Luckily, Steve averted his eyes just in time before Natasha caught him looking, no, drooling all over her. Well, he was just a man, a normal man who was still alive and had feelings.

Steve was trying really hard not to punch every guy who tried to talk to her. They were all after his friend in hope for a one time hook up. But the quarterback didn't have a chance to scare of every man who came near Natasha as a group of girl dragged him with them and, as always, heavily flirted with him in hope to get a chance for some private time with the Captain.

Unconsciously, Steve's eyes always searched for Natasha among the crowd. He had to make sure she was all right. To his relief, Clint and Thor were guarding the girls and scared off every man who attempted to get close to their friends. Steve finally managed to shake every girl off and went directly to Natasha. He could see that she was talking to a man who was trying really hard to flirt with her. When he saw that she didn't interest in him, he took a different approach. Natasha grabbed his arm and twisted it real hard before punching him to the ground.

"Nat! What are you doing?" Steve asked as he saw the guy laid on the floor.

"Well, he tried to grab my ass so I give him a lesson."

"That's my little red!" Steve said and smiled at her. Steve stuck close to Natasha because he knew, guys would be all over her if he let her out of his sight again. His arm snaked around her tiny waist and pulled her closer to his side. When his hand touched her soft skin, Steve suddenly felt an electronic surge though his whole body.

Gosh! Her skin is so soft and warm and he wanted to touch more. He wanted to feel her entire body pressed tight against his. It would feel like heaven. And from the look in her eyes, she felt that same electronic shock when her hand rested on his chest.

It was really hard for him not to fling her over his shoulder and carry her back to one of Stark's guest room. Steve was successful in scaring off every guy but he was the one who was now swamped by an army of girls. Natasha wiggled herself out of his grip and disappeared into the crowd. She didn't want to get in the way of Steve, when he was out hunting chicks like this.

His eyes searched for the certain red head again and he saw he headed back to their group but then Sharon intentionally pushed Natasha into the pool. Everyone in the group saw it but Steve was the quickest one to react and jumped into the pool out of panic. Steve grabbed Natasha front behind, putting his arms around her waist and pulling them both up in the water.

"I don't need your help, Rogers." She said and wiped water out of her face. "And now my hair is a mess!"

"I thought you were gonna drown or something." He said, still holding her close as they floated in the pool.

"I can swim." She replied. "And I really want to kick her ass."Before Steve could say anything in return,

"Canonball!" Some blonde girl shouted happily and jumped into the pool, followed by everyone else. Steve just realized how close they were and the soft skin that pressed against his body. This was too much. Steve pulled Natasha up from the pool when Tony went to them with two girls in his arms.

"If you guys want to change your clothes, I got a room upstairs for you." Tony said.

"Let's get the hell out of here." Steve said and grabbed her hand."Let's go get changed. This party was dead like an hour ago for me anyway."

AN:

- Special thanks to my friend, sleeplessinbudapest. For everything *hugs*

- Thanks to my beta readers, Gabby Bensaro NCIS-SVU-Fan & keepcalmandwrite.

- Please kindly leave a review :)