43 : THE WAY THINGS WERE

The couple woke up at 3 PM the next day after a very long night and three very long weeks that they have to deal with all the drama. They were finally back together. Steve woke up to find his beautiful redhead still sleeping in his arms. He kissed the top of her head gently.

It's not a dream. He got Nat back in his life. The thought itself made him held her tighter.

"I love you so much." He murmured.

He kept his watch on her, watching her sleep. He also noticed that she held on to him tightly like she was afraid of letting him go or afraid that he might disappear again. Her hands clenched on his arms and wrapped around his torso.

Not long enough she began to stir. She nuzzled her head and mumbled something.

"You're here." She noted and smiled lightly at him.

"I won't leave you."

"I still feel like I haven't got enough sleep."

"We can stay here until you feel like you want to wake up." He replied.

Nat closed her eyes and held her Stevie tight, prepared to go back to her dream land but someone bragged in.

"We thought you guys were dead or something." Tony stated. "You've been sleep for…well, twelve hours."

"I will kill you, Stark." Nat murmured and snuggled into Steve's chest.

"I assume that you guys made up." Clint asked.

"I guess so." Steve replied and turned to Natasha "We are good now, right?"

She nodded as she kept her eyes close.

"Steve, can you help us brought Nat her—um—breakfast lunch and Afternoon tea?" Pepper asked.

"Sure."

"Uhuh, don't go. I need my pillow." Nat protested.

"I will come back with a nice meal for you, babe." Steve told and kissed her forehead gently.

Nat unwillingly let go of Steve. He got up and followed everyone out of the room. He knew they must have something to say to him.

"Since you and Nat get back together, we all have something to say to you." Clint began as they entered the living room.

"Well, Thor and I are out of this." Jane said.

"Aye!" Thor agreed.

"I'm not agree with you and Nat back together." Pepper said "I knew you will hurt her again and I don't want to see my friend almost kill herself like that again. But she did make her own decision and I have to be okay with it. If you hurt her like that again, I will kill you."

"I am still pretty mad at you, Rogers." Clint continued

"You beat me up like a countless time in the past few week, Barton."

"Yeah, it supposed to help but it's not so listen to me you son of a bitch, if you hurt Nat, I will hunt you down with bow and arrow that you mother gave me for Christmas."

"Fair enough."

Maria was the next one to step forward in front of Steve and entered a starring contest with the Captain. She smiled mischievously and slapped him in the face so hard that Steve's face turn to a side and left an angry red handprint on his cheek.

"Wow, that's feel so goooood!" Maria said. "That's for hurting her and next time you decided to make her cries again, I will try something else, like books or a brick."

"I deserve it." Steve said and rubbed his cheek.

"It's my turn!" Darcy chimed in "I want to slap you too but I got a better idea than that." She whipped up her taser and sent Steve hiding behind the couch.

"Are you mad?"

"I'm not gonna taser you right now, stupid head. But if you broke her heart, you will have a date with my baby."

"Don't screw up again, Steve. I can see that Natasha is important to you. Hang on to her." Bruce spoke up.

"I will Bruce. I love her."

Everyone's eyes widened when they heard that holy three words fell from Steve mouth because they never heard him said that to anyone before.

"I saw you working very hard to get her back and I admire you with that. Don't break her heart again, Rogers." Tony said. "You guys depend on each other so think about it before you decide to hurt her again."

"I trust that you will take a very good care of her, Steve." Phil was the last one to spoke up. "I grow very fond of her so I took her side, not yours anymore."

"I think I got it." Steve replied "I can ensure you guys that there will be no such thing happened again."

Steve heard footsteps from the stairs and everyone knew that was Natasha's. They were acting like normal with Jane, Thor and Darcy rushed to the kitchen.

"Stevie…" Steve heard Nat called him.

Steve got up and walked to her. She immediately threw herself in his arms and hugged him.

"What took you so long?" She asked, nuzzled her face to his neck.

"Do you want to know truth?" Steve asked back and felt she nodded.

"We threatened him." Pepper answered. "Because he never received any actual threat from any of us. Since you guys decide to get back together and now we have to make the point very clear that we take your side not his."

"Thor and I are neutral" Jane chimed in

Steve looked at Nat, grudging her reaction to the situation. He found that she was smiling at him. She also noticed fear in his eyes too.

"I love you." He whispered

"I know." She replied and leaned up to pressed her lips on his but Steve turned away so she kissed his cheek instead.

Nat knew right then. He wasn't the same. It will take some time to get thing back to the way things were.

Steve and Nat went back to the university together. This time everyone saw the couple together, holding hand but not there usual demeanor. They were back together but there was some distance kept between them. Their usual constant PDA was gone.

"Steve, are you alright?"

"Yeah, why would I'm not alright?" He asked back.

"You are different. Like there is something bothering you." She told. "We are back together but we are like not back together."

He stopped and took her hands in his. Nat looked up and saw the seriousness in his face with a hint of guilty.

He still guilty about the whole incident.

"I will not lie to you so I will tell you the truth. I love you, baby but I think we should take it slow this time. We both rushed into the relationship and look what it almost cost us. You're the love of my life and I will make it right this time." Steve told "Will you allow me to give what a wonderful woman like you deserve?"

Tears form in her green eyes, "Of course." She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "We will be okay."

The news spread across the campus of the return of Steve and Natasha. Everyone saw they went together everywhere. Steve was even more attached to Natasha.

The only thing that pose a problem between them was that Steve refuse to kiss or even touched Nat in an intimate manner.

He kept his word pretty serious when he said he want to take thing slow. Everyone in the group noticed it. From the couple that never took their lips away from each other turned into two kids holding hands.

"I will be right back." Nat said and headed to the rest room.

Tony waited until Nat was out of hearing range and asked Steve.

"Is there anything going on between you two?"

"No, what do you mean 'anything going on'?"

"You and Nat seemed to…not the same…having a distance between one another." Tony was trying to find the right word. "I mean, you are not even kissed her and you're avoiding any inmate physical contact."

"I don't wanna rush back to the point before things went downhill. We need to work things out first. I don't want to make Nat feel like I want her back for sex. I want her to trust me because I still feel guilty about the whole damn things I did to her."

"Dude, don't be so hard on yourself."

"I will try but I need to be able to trust myself around her before I allow myself to touch or kiss her again."

"What's the point of all this? You love her and she love you. Why don't you just move on from this? She already forgive you."

"Because I'm afraid I might hurt her again if we rush back to the way things were."

Steve must feel guilty way too much and won't stop blaming himself, Tony thought.

"We all know you will not hurt her again." Tony said.

Steve waited for Nat outside her class. It didn't take long when Nat finally finished with her class. She immediately gave him a bright smile the moment she saw him.

"Hey, sweetie." She said and hugged him. "How long have you been here?"

"Ten minutes" He replied "My class ended earlier than I thought."

She noticed an uncomfortable look on his face, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Steve replied. "I love you."

"You said it very often lately."

"I intend to say it every day because the last time I didn't say it enough."

"You're so sweet. Let me kiss you." Nat smiled and leaned up to put her lips on his.

"Nat…" He pulled away.

That was like ten times that he did that to her. She wanted things to get back to the way things were but his 'no kiss and other intimate things' policy made her mad. Nat frowned. She had enough of this. She needed her old Stevie back.

"Do you really want me back? It looks like you want to distance yourself away from me." Nat said as she pulled away from his arms.

"It's not that. It's not what I mean." He quickly told her. He didn't want to make her sad.

"You don't want me anymore? You're not even kiss me"

Steve never intended for thing to go this way. "It's not that Nat. I want you more than anything."

"Please tell me what I did wrong. You barely touched me. You're not even kiss me."

"It's not you…" He replied, didn't want Nat to misunderstood his intention with him didn't want her. "I don't trust myself. Especially around you. I don't want to do anything that might hurt you."

"You won't hurt me. Stop blaming yourself." Natasha grabbed his arms and looked into his blue eyes filled with guilt.

"I want to but I feel still feel bad."

"We have to move on from that point and solve our problems one by one, okay?"

"Yeah, I will try. I might take time for me to feel better about myself."

"We can make it, baby."

Natasha told him the most terrifying news that afternoon that they will have dinner with Nat's family. Her parents had a very important news to tell her and they wanted Steve to be there too.

"Nat, did they know about…."

"They knew only that we fight but they didn't know anything in detail." She told and opened the door to his bedroom. "You looked freak out."

"Because I'm freaking out right now." Steve replied "How could I look your mom and dad into their eyes again when I gave them my word that I will not hurt you?"

"Steve, they didn't know anything in detail, baby. You don't have to worry."

"But—I" Steve ran out of excuses.

"They knew that we will have a little fight sometime. That's what being in the couple all about!"

Nat dressed him up nicely. She could see that Steve was very nervous. His face was pale.

"Nat, I'm not sure about this."

"You gotta go with me, Steven."

When she called him by his full name, Steve knew it was better to do exactly what she want. Steve had his limo pick them up at the university. When they arrived, Steve was visibly nervous and Nat had to drag him inside the restaurant.

"Hey, mom, dad!" Nat greeted as they approached the table.

"Mr. and Mrs. Romanoff."

"I see that you two already solve your dispute." Alexandre narrowed his eyes at Steve "Hope you did not hurt her way too much."

Steve swallowed and looked at Nat for some help, "It just a childish thing young people did." Nat said and sat down at the opposite side, pulled Steve down with her.

The young couple ordered their food. Steve sat in silence, trying to avoid making year contact with the older couple.

"Well, we are glad to know that you two are back together and happy as ever." Aliana tried to ease the tension between Steve and her husband.

She knew that her husband was very upset to know that his only daughter got in a fight with her boyfriend and cried. Alexandre's piercing green eyes stared at the young man until he felt his wife's hand on his legs.

"So, should we know why you guys fighting?"

"Uh—"

"No, you don't need to know, dad. It's not important, really. And we both move on from that point."

Nat knew how to stop her parents from questioning them. It was almost month and a half that she got to know her them. She learned a lot from observing them closely. They original plan was to leave New York after a month but Nat asked them to stay here for a little longer.

Before Alexandre could say anything else, his phone beeped and he excused himself to get the phone call.

"You can tell me now, Дорогая моя" Aliana told Nat. "Is there anything I can help you guys with your problem?"

"We have a little problem after we get back together." Nat replied.

"A little distance between you two, I guess"

The young couple nodded.

"Well, from my experience, once trust was broken, it's the hardest thing to repair but you can work together to help get things back to where they were."

Nat knew she was about to have the first mother-daughther talk and the topic was her love life.

"Trust is a two way street but it's not just about trusting on another but to make the other felt that you trust them. If someone forget that you trust them, you need to remind them why you trust them and what make you trust them." She told "It's not the word 'I' or 'You' in the relationship anymore. It's 'We' because everything you do have a direct effect on one another. Keep that in mind and you guys will be just fine."

The young couple looked at one another and smiled. Aliana saw that and she knew they will make it through whatever there was.

Alexandre came back at the table and said,

"We have good news for you, Дорогая моя. The real estate agent just confirmed the buying contract."

"We just brought a duplex at the building across street from Steve's building." Aliana continued.

"We will move here permanently!" They said in unison.

Nat's eyes widened before she let out a squeal of join and hugged her mom and dad. Words couldn't describe how happy Natasha was right now. She thought she might lose her parents again when they headed back to France.

"Nicholas will move here with us soon. He needs to get thing done back in France first."

Nat was mulling over what he mother said yesterday about trust and relationship. Nat knew she needed to remind Steve what makes her trust him again.

She talked to Jane about this when the two girls were waiting for their boyfriends at the parking lot. Steve gave her his car key and Nat was very tempt to take it on a drag.

"So, I assume that you and Steve are back in your lovey-dovey mode." Jane asked.

"Actually, there is still a distance between us. He hadn't touch me or kiss me."

"Nat, you can't wait for him to kiss you. He will not do that, especially after what he did to you." The brunette told "He lost his confidence and everything. He afraid of losing you again."

"I have to make a move first?"

"Exactly"

"I will try it out tonight."

"You don't need to stay with us all night. Maybe dance a little to set up some mood."

"I never thought I will get a chance to ask you for advice."

"Yeah, I got Thor while half of our group still single."

Their conversation ended when their boys walked toward their cars. Steve opened the door to let Nat out of the driver seat but she sat still.

"Nat?"

"I think I will drive your car from now on."

"Okay, I trust my little baby with you, Nat." He said and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

Nat was kinda hoping for more but as he's the one who initiate it, she could ask for more. Steve told her everything about his day and the football practice to her until they reached the bar.

They ate and drank and had a good time with their friends. The girls were sitting at the tables while the boys were at pool table.

Nat was talking to her girls to ask them for help and advice about her situation with Steve.

"He's seeking your permission. You should be the one who initiate." Jessica suggested.

"For the guy who making a terrible mistake like that, he must carry all the guilt with him."

"He should be because he hurt you. You are the one who hurt the most in this scenario, Nat."

"I'm agree with Pepper. You should be glad that he worship you and respect you enough."

"Guys! you're missing the point. I want the old version of my boy friend back." Nat said. "Or I might not have enough courage to do this again."

The guys were discussing about this topic too. Steve was asking them for advice.

"I don't know why she want to rush things." He said.

"Because she was afraid of losing you again." Bruce replied.

"You left her, dude. She needs to feel that you really are devoted to her. Showing her some love isn't going to hurt anyone."

"Showing her some love and affection would be nice too." Thor chimed in.

"What are your suggestions, Barton?" Steve turned to the one who know Nat the most.

"She need you, Rogers. After what you have done to her, she needs to feel that you really love her."

"I really do love her."

"She need something tangible, not a random word because the last time you gave her a verbal promise, you ended up breaking her heart."

It hit Steve right in the spot. Clint was right and Steve needed to do better than he talked. His words failed her the last time.

They headed back to dorm. After taking a shower, they met up at Steve's room. Nat knew it was time for her to initiate the plan. She watched as he put their laundry back in the closet.

"Steve." She called

"Hmm?"

"I want you to kiss me." She replied.

"WHAT?!"

She got his attention and he turned to look at her.

"I want you to kiss me. That's a order."

"Nat…"

She walked to him. Don't let any chance of got away. She threw her arms around his neck and brought his lips to her. He kissed back but pulled away. Nat pulled him back and this time she kissed him with everything she got until she felt his lips moved with her and let her in.

"I need my Stevie back." She murmured against his lips.

Steve's arms pulled her closer and crushed his lips with hers, demanding more. The lock was broken by her simple words and Natasha brought back the Steve she wants, the Steve she needs. He lifted her up from her feet and headed to their bed.

He laid her down on the mattress and pinned her small body underneath him. Nat could feel the hunger buried deep inside from his kiss as he plundering her mouth, claiming her again. His hands traveled up and down her body, awaking the sensation inside of her. He pulled away just to press his lips on the soft skin of her neck, nibbling, sucking at her pulse point, making her moan.

"Steve, stop." She gasped and her boyfriend jumped away from her.

"I'm sorry, Nat. I got carried away."

She pulled him back down to look into his eyes. Her thumbs gently traced his cheek bones.

"Don't worry, baby. I know you need a proof of why I trust you and here it is. You're still the same person I trust."

Steve smiled and kissed her, "Thank you for everything."

"It's okay. I needed my Stevie back with me. Not the guy who keep the distance. I need the Stevie who know how to love me better than anyone, the one who know what I need, the one who is sweet and gentle to me like no one else."

"I will be whatever you want me to be, Nat."

Nat woke up because she needed to go to the bathroom. She gently removed herself from Steve's embrace and got up from their bed. She looked back at him again and smiled when she saw him completely relax.

"How was last night?" A voice sounded and made Nat startle. It was Jane at the refrigerator.

"Better. At least, he kissed me." Nat replied

"That's a progress."

"Why are you up so early?"

"Thor and I will spend the weekend in Chicago with his parents."

"First time meeting the parents?"

"Nah, I met them a long time ago." Jane told. "You guys will have the whole room all to yourself."

Their conversation was cut short when Thor stepped out of his room. The couple left and Natasha walked to the bathroom. She came back to the bathroom to find Steve was still there so she climbed back into his embrace and fell as sleep again.

But when she woke up, Steve was gone and Nat panicky looked around the room. He left a small note on the end table said, 'Out finding breakfast :) - Steve'

Nat smiled and put her nervous behind and reclined back into bed waiting for her Stevie to come back.

Not long after that, she heard a sound of someone at the living room and smelled the freshly brewed coffee. Steve carried a breakfast tray with a vase of freshly cut flower on it.

"Good morning, sweetie." He said and placed the tray in front of her.

Steve leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips but Nat grabbed his t-shirt and deepen the kiss.

"Morning, babe." She replied after broke away from him.

Steve smiled and sat down on the opposite side of her. He put butter on bread for her and poured her a cup of coffee.

Her Stevie is back, Nat thought and smiled to herself.

"Steve, I have something to give you." She spoke up.

"What is it?"

Nat pulled the snowflake necklace over her head. Steve's eyes widen when he saw the thing that he threw away.

"I want to give it back to you." She said and put in on his head.

"How did you find it?"

"Clint found it in front of my room and he gave it to me." She told "Never take the bracelet off, you know?" She asked. Her voice filled with sadness.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Did you really give up on me? Give up on us?"

"I heard what you said to Pepper and it really hurt." He told the truth. "I thought we came to an end. It was a stupid of me. I'm really sorry, Nat."

"I'm sorry too." She replied "But I think we should put this behind us and move on."

"I couldn't agree more."

They held each other hand and looked into the eyes.

"Well, we should make it verbally official this time after the last time didn't work out." Steve stated. "Natasha Romanoff, I love you very much and you're the love of my life. I will try not to make it sound like a wedding vow right now. Would you give me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

"I would love too, Steve Rogers."

AN:

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

- Please kindly leave a review.

- Well, this is the only exit for you if you want to stop reading this story. From now on will be only about their relationship with less drama as possible. There is still a very long way to go. Hope you guys don't get bored with this first.