Notes: Once again, apologies for being a couple days late with the new chapter. Life's been a little wild lately (in a good way), and I appreciate your patience.

As promised, here's some fluffy goodness to make up for all the angst.

December 2019

The Avengers Compound, Upstate New York

"Nat, something came for you," Steve called, holding up an envelope with her name on it as he walked into the kitchen where Natasha was assembling peanut butter sandwiches. He glanced down at the heaping plate then quirked an eyebrow at her. "Expecting company or just really hungry?"

"You're so funny," Natasha said wryly, swiping the envelope from Steve. She licked the knife clean and dropped it in the sink. "Rocket and Carol are on-planet, so they're popping in to talk about what's been happening out on their side of the universe."

Steve smirked, replacing the lid on the peanut butter jar before putting it back in the pantry, "So, we're spoiling them with Earth's finest?"

Nat took a bite of a sandwich and rolled her eyes, "You know I hate cooking. Besides, the raccoon will eat anything."

"You have a point," he grabbed the plate and followed Natasha into the living room where she was already reading the mail that had arrived for her. "What is it?"

"It's a Christmas card," she closed it and paused before meeting Steve's eye. "From Tony and Pepper."

"Ah," Steve wasn't surprised that he hadn't received a similar gesture; after all, he and Tony hadn't spoken more than a handful of words in years. He'd be lying, though, if he said it didn't hurt. At the very least, Steve was glad Tony and Natasha managed to mend fences. "How are they? How's Morgan?"

"They're good. She's already started walking, so naturally Tony's convinced she's a child prodigy," Natasha laughed and passed a photo of the smiling trio to Steve.

At just under a year old, Morgan was already a spitting image of her father. The dark hair, chocolate eyes and mischievous smile were Tony Stark through and through. The girl had a kindness about her, though, that was unmistakably Pepper. As Steve studied the photo, he was unable to hold in a smile of his own. Despite the rift, Steve couldn't deny that it made him happy to see Tony raising a family of his own.

"They look happy," he said, handing the picture back to Natasha.

She set it and the card on the coffee table and turned toward Steve, "Come with me on Christmas Eve."

He ran a hand across the back of his neck and shook his head, "You know I can't do that, Nat."

"Why not?" Natasha reached for Steve's hand, pulling him down to sit next to her on the sofa. "Hasn't this gone on long enough, Steve? Don't you think, after everything we've been through, that it's time to kiss and make up?"

"If he wanted me there, he'd have asked me himself."

Natasha's lips pressed into a thin line, "Are we talking about the same Tony Stark here? He's more stubborn than you."

Steve ducked his head, trying to suppress a grin. She was right, of course, but the last thing he wanted to do was show up uninvited and ruin everyone's Christmas. Their reunion was long past due, but it would have to wait. Just as he opened his mouth to argue, the buzzer on the front gate sounded, alerting them that Rocket and Carol had arrived.

"Saved by the bell," Steve called over his shoulder, as he hurried out of the room.

"This conversation isn't over, Rogers," Natasha yelled after him.

Christmas Eve

To Steve's relief, Natasha didn't bring it up again. Though as she was heading out the door to the party, she changed her mind, insisting on staying at the compound with him instead.

"No one should be alone on Christmas, Steve," she said, openly irritated at how unreasonable he was being.

"Nat, it's fine," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and spinning her toward the door. "It's just another day."

Truth be told, Steve used to love Christmas. Even after coming out of the ice, when he had no one, he reveled in the beauty of New York City lit up with thousands of twinkle lights during the holidays.

He thought back to the only Christmas he'd really celebrated in the last seven years. About a year into their time on the run, Steve, Natasha and Sam made the trip to Wakanda to visit Bucky. When they arrived, T'Challa and Shuri had arranged a Christmas celebration just for them. It was the first time in as long as Steve could remember that they let all the bad stuff fade to the background and allowed themselves to be normal for just a little while.

This year, though, being alone sounded better to Steve than anything else. So, when Natasha eventually relented and left for Tony and Pepper's, he decided on a low-key evening, spent with a pizza and a few movies Sam recommended that he'd never gotten to. On the list: Die Hard, Malcom X and Saving Private Ryan.

He was halfway through the second movie when his phone buzzed with a text from Natasha.

"Rhodey's drunk and about to sing 'All I Want for Christmas is You.' It's a crime you're not here to experience it."

Steve immediately Googled the song and let out a hearty laugh when the popular Christmas tune played through his phone.

"Please tell me you've got video evidence."

"C'mon, Rogers. Do you even have to ask?"

A second later, his phone buzzed again, this time with a video. Rhodey was sitting atop Pepper's grand piano serenading a mortified-looking Happy to the Mariah Carey hit. In the corner, Tony and Pepper were dancing. Pepper's head was tipped back in laughter, and Tony had a spark in his eyes that only she could put there.

The familiar sound of Natasha's laughter came through the phone as she flipped the camera so that it faced her. She was holding Morgan on her hip, bouncing the small child to the beat of the song. She smiled broadly into the phone and waved.

"Say hi to Uncle Steve," she said to Morgan, planting a kiss on the baby's cheek.

Morgan giggled and buried her face in the crook of Natasha's neck then looked back at the camera, waved and said, "Seeve."

The video cut off, and Steve's heart swelled in his chest. At a genuine loss for words, all he could texted back was, "Thank you."

She responded with a wink face emoji and a Christmas tree.

He watched the video a second and third time, briefly considered driving up to Tony's even though it was nearing 11 p.m., but ultimately decided to just go to bed instead. The empty compound was even quieter than usual, which made it difficult for Steve to fall asleep. He laid awake until he heard Natasha's soft footsteps on the stairs. She padded down the hallway toward her room, and Steve wondered if she'd slide into his bed the way she did most nights.

His bedroom door was cracked, though the room and hallway were dark, and he could feel her presence as she stopped outside his room. She didn't come in, though, and a second later Steve heard the click of her own bedroom door as it shut behind her.

Natasha stopped just outside Steve's bedroom door and rested her forehead against the doorframe, trying to decide whether to go in. She could tell by his breathing that he was awake. Maybe that's why she didn't go inside. Any other night she would have; hell, most nights she did, but sleeping in his bed after leaving him alone on Christmas Eve felt wrong, somehow.

Instead, Natasha went to her own room and closed the door. She flipped on the light, and her eyes were immediately drawn to the bed where a square box was wrapped in gold paper. She sat down and set the box in her lap, slowly pulling the paper away.

When Natasha lifted the lid, her breath caught in her throat. Inside was a new pair of pointe shoes. She'd mentioned to Steve, in passing, months ago that she wanted to start dancing again and needed a new pair of shoes. He'd remembered. Of course, he remembered.

She ran her fingers over the soft pink satin, holding back tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. Removing her boots and discarding them on the floor next to her bed, she slid the ballet shoes onto her feet, lacing the ribbon around her ankles. They were perfect.

Immediately, Natasha knew what she had to do. She looked at her phone and saw that it was just after 1 a.m., plenty of time before Steve was up for his morning run. She carefully removed the shoes and placed them back into the box before heading downstairs to get to work.

Christmas Day

When Steve's alarm went off at 6 a.m., he pulled on a pair of joggers, a tee shirt, hoodie and running shoes and headed down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was shocked to find Natasha passed out on the sofa in her clothes from the night before.

He looked around the living room and realized every inch of it was covered in decorations and garland and glowing with twinkle lights strung from the ceiling. In the corner was a Christmas tree that stood at least eight feet tall, lit up with white lights and decorated top to bottom in gold, silver, red and green ornaments.

He sat down on the edge of the couch, overwhelmed with gratitude and adoration for the woman asleep in front of him. Steve rested a hand on her forearm, and his touch caused Natasha to stir. She blinked her eyes open, rubbing the sleep from them, and smiled when she saw Steve there.

"Merry Christmas," Natasha said through a yawn.

"Merry Christmas, Romanoff," Steve said with a wide smile. "What is all this?"

"No idea," she shrugged and sat up, "I guess Santa's elves let themselves in while we were sleeping."

"Right, Santa's elves," he said, nudging his shoulder into hers.

"It's a thank you," Natasha said, leaning into him and resting her head on his shoulder. Her voice barely above a whisper. "For the ballet shoes."

"I know how much you've missed dancing," Steve looked down at her, and she turned her face up toward him. He couldn't decipher the look in her eyes, so he closed the space between them, dropping a kiss to her forehead. His lips lingered there a moment longer than they should have, and when he sat back, her cheeks were flush, and she was smiling.

"I love them," she said, resting a hand on his knee.

"And I love this," Steve said, gesturing around the room. "Thank you, Nat."

"Well, it was the best I could do last minute," Natasha said, the beaming smile from a moment ago falling from her lips. She still felt so guilty for going to Tony's without him. "I shouldn't have left you here alone last night."

"Hey, look at me," he peered down at her until she looked him in the eye. "This is perfect. So, please, stop feeling guilty."

She sighed, unable to stop herself from smiling again at how happy Steve looked sitting in front of her looking around the room at the Christmas decorations. "Fine," Natasha said, conceding. "But only after you let me make us pancakes."

Steve raised an eyebrow, "Will they be edible?"

Natasha gave his shoulder a playful shove, "I said that I don't like cooking, not that I can't."

The pair spent the rest of the day watching holiday movies. Steve chose It's a Wonderful Life and, to Natasha's delight, Elf. She chose Home Alone and Christmas Vacation.

"I can't believe you've seen Elf but not Home Alone," she said, popping a piece of sugar cookie into her mouth.

"It's not like I've had a ton of time to sit around and watch Netflix, Natasha," Steve said. He poked his foot into her thigh from the opposite end of the couch, signaling for her to give him room to stretch his long legs. "How does someone so small take up so much space?"

Natasha smirked and slid down further onto the sofa, flexing her socked feet into his side. He narrowed his eyes playfully, grabbed her by the ankle and pulled so hard that she tumbled off the couch, landing on a pile of pillows with a soft grunt. Satisfied with himself, Steve reached over her to grab the remote off the table and was caught completely off guard when she hooked her arm around his. With a quick jerk, he was flat on his back on the floor next to her.

"Ugh…" Steve groaned, rolling onto his side to face Natasha. "I can't believe you'd do that to an old man."

She sat up and leaned back on her hands, a victorious grin on her face, "You can't play the 'old man' card again for a least a month, Rogers."

He chuckled, pushed himself into a seated position and glanced at Natasha. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes as the late morning sun reflected off the snow outside, casting a warm glow onto her face. Up until very recently, Steve could count on his hands the number of times he'd seen her completely at ease. Those moments seemed to be coming more and more frequently lately, and he was grateful for it.

"I have an idea," he said suddenly.

Natasha opened her eyes to see Steve retreating from the room, only to return a minute later with a mass of pillows under each arm and a blanket slung over each shoulder. She watched as he assembled what looked like a pillow pit on the floor in front of the sofa.

"Now we both have room to stretch out," Steve said with a broad smile. He sat down, patting the space next to him, and draped a blanket across them as Natasha settled into his side.

Steve's warmth radiated through Natasha. She leaned up to kiss his cheek before hitting play on the movie. As the opening credits of Home Alone began, he turned his face into her hair, and she could feel him smile as he whispered, "Best. Christmas. Ever."