These are the meaning of term of endearment I used in the last chapter.

Милая моя (Mllaya Moyna - Russian) - My sweet

ma mhuirnín (Irish) - Darling

A Stóirín (Irish) - My little darling

Mo Ghrá (Irish) - My love

Thank you for your reviews from the last chapter too :) Really appreciate it.

33: SMITTEN

The couple definitely caught a cold after acting so childishly in the rain together. Steve was fully recovered within three days while his little red was down for five days. Steve had no problem taking care of her day and night. He wasn't complaining about getting up in the middle of the night to check her temperature or keeping her warm.

Everyone took notice of their developing closeness. By the fourth day of Steve keeping vigil over Natasha, he gave up on sleeping on the couch, and took to sleeping with her regularly at her request.

"If you need anything, I'll be right outside" He told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Don't go." She grabbed his hand, and pleadingly asked "Stay"

Steve wanted to argue but everything about Natasha just made him want to give her anything she asked for. He slid in behind her, wrapping the blanket around them as Nat leaned against his chest. Steve kissed her neck lightly.

"Goodnight, princess" He whispered

"Night night, Steve" She mumbled back drowsily.

Steve awoke with a start the next morning, disoriented before feeling the familiar weight of someone curled up against his chest. A certain someone with a fiery red curls and special scent he would recognize anywhere. Steve smiled lovingly and kissed her forehead before slowly sliding off the bed. He stood, and stretched before putting on his sweats and grabbing his belonging.

He quietly left the dorm room to go for his usual hour long morning run and pick up their breakfast.

"Short hazelnut macchiato and dark mocha Frappuccino" He ordered while typing on his phone.

"Steve" The woman at the cashier called out.

He looked up to see the one person he hadn't expected to run into so early in the morning.

"Peggy" He replied tentatively, unsure of how to proceed.

"How are you doing?" Peggy asked

"I'm fine. How have you been?"

"Same as usual. So what brings you here so early?"

"Uh—just picking up breakfast and coffee for me and—um—Natasha" Steve said with an air of guilt

Peggy gave him a genuine smile before saying, "Steve, I am really glad to see that you two are still going strong."

"Yeah…" Was all Steve could say in this awkward moment.

"Steve, I really am glad to know that you're moving on with your life."

"Yeah, I'm moving on." He repeated her words.

Before things could get any more uncomfortable, he grabbed his order, and said a quick goodbye to Peggy. He headed back to his dorm and took a quick shower.

After the shower, he came back to find Natasha was still sleeping and he slid back in bed, held her in his arms and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Steve…" She murmured against his lips, coming awake from his kisses.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I just couldn't resist"

"You're still here" She murmured

"If you want me to leave you alone…" He began to say but was cut off by Natasha's plead.

"No…don't go"

"Okay" He relaxed against her

"I thought for sure you would leave me"

"I will never do that to you, my sleeping beauty"

She murmured something very intimate in Russian that Steve didn't catch before slowly drifting back to sleep. Natasha held onto him tightly, her face resting on his chest, as one hand stroked the snowflake pendant absently in her sleep.

She woke up again about ten minutes later to find Steve staring at her. He's still here, she thought to herself.

"What time is it?" she asked groggily

"About ten or so" He responded. "Don't you have a dinner with your parents today?" He asked

She nodded, "I want you to come with me." She said.

"I shouldn't. You should spend some quality time with your parents, Nat" He declined "And we should eat our breakfast before it gets cold"

"Breakfast in bed please" Natasha murmured before snuggling further into her comforter

"Of course, little red" Steve replied with a smirk

Steve got up from her bed and brought their breakfast to her.

Natasha told Steve that she would spend the night at her parent's hotel room, and would be back tomorrow. She leaned up on her tip toes to give him a hug, and thank him for taking care of her the past couple of days before heading to the restaurant to meet up with her parents. Steve stopped as she was about to leave to give her a kiss before sending her off to meet up with her parents, watching her disappear with reluctance.

He headed back to his room to find Darcy, Jane and Thor were working on their homework quietly with boxes of pizza stacked in the middle of the table.

"Hope there still a few left for me" Steve said.

"Yeah, we keep one box just for you, Steve" Jane replied.

She handed him the box before Steve gave her a thank you peck on her cheek "Thanks, Jane"

Everyone including Thor was shocked by Steve's uncharacteristic public show of affection. He always avoided intimate physical contacts with girls expect for maybe Natasha.

They were further surprised when Steve began singing 'Lucky' by Jason Mraz, while grabbing a bottle of beer from the refrigerator.

The group was so stunned by how happy he was that his behavior quickly became the topic of conversation.

"Steve Rogers, I can see you are smitten" Jane spoke up first.

"What do you mean?"

"You look so happy and you are not acting like your usual self so only Natasha can be the cause for this phenomenon."

"I am not acting any differently!" He shot back but then he blushed "And she is not!"

"Steven, you are legitimately smitten" Jane sang.

"NO! I'm Steve Rogers and I don't get smitten, I smite!"

"You Mr. Steve Rogers are totally smitten!"

"You cannot even say her name without smiling" Thor chimed in, nodding in agreement.

"Dude, you're singing a love song for goodness sakes! You have totally been smitted or whatever." Darcy said laughing.

"NO I'M NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!" Steve yelled loudly and walked out the room with a bottle of beer and a pizza box.

"Alright, listen up!" Coach Fury spoke loudly to his players "We have a game against AIM Extremists in two weeks. Now they may be playing hard this season but we play harder. I am not even about to talk about losing to some team that thinks they are good enough to be our rivals. We go in, we win, and we show them they got nothing on us."

Steve and his team listened to Coach Fury go over the key plays to neutralize the opposition. So far, the only two skill positions being discussed were the Quarterback Aldrich Killian, and star wide receiver Eric Savin.

"They shouldn't pose a lot of threat to us" Thor said

"Don't underestimate them, Odinson" Fury told "Killian might not be as good as Rogers but he has a better offensive line than our team"

Steve agreed the coach had a good point. This year, his offensive line totally sucked. Half of them were rookies. Coach ended the meeting and let his player hit the shower.

The Captain told his little red he would not be meeting up with her today after practice, because he had a surprise planned for her

After classes had resumed she had landed a lead role in the school play. Steve couldn't be more proud of his little red. But lately she had complained about very long and brutal rehearsals. So he decided that he would cheer her up a little bit.

Natasha walked back to her dome, exhausted. She told Steve that he didn't have to wait for her because, seriously, she didn't know when rehearsal would end. She was starving and after she changed her clothes, she would ask her Stevie to accompany her to the diner for a late dinner.

She opened the door to her bedroom and was surprised to find a big box of cupcakes from her favorite New York bakery and a small bouquet of roses with a little card next to them.

'I know you had a long rehearsal. Hope this cupcake cheers you up, little red—Steve'

Natasha couldn't help but smile. She was about to go to his room and thank him but as she opened to door to leave, he was standing in front of her.

"Hope you liked my little present" He said with a charming smile on his face.

"I loved it" She replied and smiled too. "Thank you, Steve"

Steve loved making her happy and putting her in a better mood. She closed the space between them to hug him tightly to her.

"Actually, I think the proper reward should be a kiss" He said and pointed to his lips "Right here"

Nat chuckled but leaned up to kiss him anyway. Even if it was a quick, kiss he was satisfied by it. They took the box of cupcakes to the couch in the living room and began to eat. Nat teased that he was going to make her fat if he kept cheering her up with this delicious cupcakes.

"I won't fit in my costume if you keep it up, Steve" She said joked

"Nah, you're beautiful as you are even if you put on a little weight" He replied and looked deep into her green eyes.

Steve gently ran his thumb on her cheek before placing a red curl behind her ear.

"Little red, you make it really hard for me not to kiss you" He murmured

"So kiss me"

That's all he needed. He lunged forward to capture her lips with his. It was supposed to be a sweet, innocent kiss but very quickly morphed into a tangle of tongues. He couldn't help devouring her, every time he touched her or kissed her, it was getting harder to contain all the feelings bubbling inside of him. These feelings were so overwhelming. He had never felt this alive before when kissing someone.

But with his little red, he was flooded with emotions he never knew existed, intoxicated by how sweet she tasted, and lost in feelings he couldn't quite recognize.

He gently pushed her down on the couch never breaking his lips from hers. Their kiss became hungrier, and slowly he allowed his lips to release hers to travel down her neck, scarping his teeth gently along her skin. Nat moaned quietly as he sucked on her skin hard enough to surely leave a mark.

In that heat of the moment, a song shuffled to Justin Timberlake's, Not a Bad Thing. Steve pulled away slightly to whisper the song against her ear.

"Said all I want from you is to see you tomorrow

And every tomorrow, maybe you'll let me borrow your heart

And is it too much to ask for every Sunday

And while we're at it, throw in every other day to start"

Nat let out a small moan at the sensation of Steve's lips brushing against the shell of her ear as he continued to whisper the song lyrics to her. Very quickly, this song was becoming her favorite as Steve continued his seduction against her sensitive ear lobe.

"I know people make promises all the time

Then they turn right around and break them

When someone cuts your heart open with a knife, now you're bleeding

But I could be that guy to heal it over time

And I won't stop until you believe it

'Cause baby you're worth it"

How could someone not melt? Natasha thought to herself. She had always considered herself above this type of thing, and yet Steve found another way into her heart by being gentle, sweet, and caring. But she didn't blame herself too much for her weakness, no woman could resist this charming side of Steve.

"So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me
'Cause you might look around and find your dreams come true, with me
Spent all your time and your money just to find out that my love was free
So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me, me
It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me"

Very slowly, he pulled back to look into her eyes as the song came to its crescendo. He smiled at her as he continued to mouth the lyrics. Nat couldn't resist kissing him again. Her heart had melted and she was more than okay with it.

She knew she had already let him in completely.

Despite their steamy make out session last night, Steve decided it was better for them to sleep in their own rooms. Steve was sleeping soundly when someone jumped on him and pressed a very female body against his.

"Wake up, sleepy head" She whispered "My sleepy Stevie get up now" She sang it in his ear.

"I told you a hundred times. Don't call me that" He sleepily said, not opening his eyes.

"I know" She replied "But you also said that it was cute when I say it"

"You're right" He caught her in his embrace and pulled her down on the bed with him.

She giggled, leaned her head against his chest.

"What's so urgent that you need to wake me up so early in the morning?"

"My parents want to have brunch with us"

"It's a family meal. I shouldn't interrupt"

"They specifically requested you to join us today"

"If you say so" He kissed her forehead and got up from his bed "Let me get dressed real quick" before he noticed Natasha was still in her sleeping attire "You need to get ready too, princess"

"Stop calling me that. I'm not an actual princess"

"But you are a Romanov. You will probably be Grand Duchess Natasha Romanova someday" He teased.

She got up and pulled his white shirt out of his closet. Steve raised his eyebrows in question.

"What?"

"When I say you should get dressed, I didn't mean that you should steal my clothes."

"Well, your shirt is very comfy and I left my jeans here too" She said and pulled said jeans out.

Steve turned away to give her some privacy and quickly dressed himself up too. Steve had to admit that he loved to see Natasha wearing his clothes. It fed his male ego to see his woman wearing something that belonged to him.

They walked out of his bedroom to find Jane and Thor, still asleep, snuggling on the couch with research papers spread out around the floor and table. Steve and Natasha walked down the hall holding hands, no longer embarrassed that anyone could see them.

Steve's limo picked them up and took them to the restaurant. Natasha's parents were already there waiting for them.

Alexandre and Aliana were happy to finally get a chance to get to know their daughter's boyfriend. They just wanted to make sure that Steve would never break their дочь's heart. So far, Steve had proven himself to be a perfect gentleman to their daughter.

Natasha's parents machine gunned so many questions at Steve starting with his background, to how he and Natasha had met, to what his intentions were that by the time Natasha decided to save him he was dizzy from the speed of their interrogation.

"Alright, mom, dad. Stop the inquisition of my boyfriend" Nat spoke up as the conversation entered into the realm of bizarre.

"What, my dear? It's just getting interesting" Alexandre said.

"I don't think so, dad. I don't need to hear about his vacation to Switzerland when he was 9. Thank you."

"Honey, we can invite Steve and his mother to our summer cruise" Aliana told.

As the three Romanoffs argued about their vacation plans, Steve just listened quietly. Finally, the brunch was finished, the couple bid a goodbye to Natasha's parents, and headed back to their university.

"Steve, I will ask only one thing of you" Alexandre told "Please don't break our daughter's heart"

"Of course not, sir. I would never break her heart. She's important to me" Steve told him.

"Because if you did, I know some Russian mafia in the States that would be willing to hunt you down"

"My mom knows some Irish mobs too, sir. But I give you my word that I will not hurt her"

"That's all we need to hear" Alaina said.

As the young couple awaited the limo and the older couple watched them closely.

"Why didn't you tell her about moving back to France with us?" Alexandre asked his wife.

"Her home is here, Alexandre" Aliana told her husband "Look at her. She's very happy here. She has already found her home. Her life is here. We cannot take it away from her"

Outside of the restaurant, the younger couple discussed their meal and what had just transpired.

"Your dad just threatened me" He said.

"Oh Steve, he was just kidding"

"I know. But why is everyone so sure that I will hurt you?" Steve asked dejectedly.

"Not everyone, Steve" She said and hugged him "I trust you completely"

"I don't really know what you see in me, Nat" Steve replied looking skyward "I'm not the good guy. I always lie and manipulate. I'm not someone you should trust."

She cupped his face and looked deep into his blue eyes "Hey, look at me" She said but Steve looked down at the floor "Steve, look at me. Stop telling yourself that. You're a good man, Steven Rogers and I trust you with everything, my heart included. I trust YOU! Isn't that enough for you?"

"You're making a big mistake" He murmured

"Don't do that to us, Steve." She begged. "Don't prove me wrong. I believe in you. I believe that you won't hurt me. Please prove me right."

"I'll try, little red. I promise I will." With that Steve brought her in for a crushing hug.

Steve walked Nat back to her room but when he was about to leave, she grabbed his hand.

"Stay the night with me"

Just a simple request and Steve complied without thought. And this was how they started to sleep in the same bed. Some days in her room, some days in his. Little by little they started to leave their clothes at each other's room.

Steve stayed with Nat that night. As he held her tightly in his arms, he could feel that she was shaking and began to whimper pitifully in her sleep as if she were in pain.

"Nat, wake up. Nat, it just as dream"

"Steve!" She gasped coming out of her nightmare, gripping his shirt tightly before hugging him

"It's alright, sweetheart. I'm here. You're safe with me" He gently whispered and held her close

Natasha kept her breathing steady and calmed down. Steve released her when he felt she was alright.

Nat had a nightmare. She had seen a house burn down and could still feel the heat of flames. She was sure that it was her real house, her family house. It was too real and it felt like a fading memory rather than a dream.

"Did you have a bad dream, baby? What was it about?" Steve asked and held her hand in his.

Nat told him everything because there was no need to hide anything from Steve. Even her weaknesses, she trusted him with.

AN:

- Special thanks to my dearest friends, sleeplessinbudapest & internetangie!

- Thank you to my proofreaders, chrwrigh and kgbucky.

- Please kindly leave a review