Epilogue

                                    

                                          
After nothing but a month, the age, the loneliness and the longing for Natasha, Steve finally took his last breath. 
He didn't dread the moment. He wasn't upset. He wasn't scared. He was going to see Natasha. It was all that mattered to him. 
The light flashed white, and Steve found himself in a house. He hadn't seen this house before. It was a suburban home. Cozy to say the least, with calm wood tones and a natural vibe to it. 
He looked around. This was exactly how he'd imagined him and Natasha living if the Avenger life had allowed it. 
Steve found his own eyes in a mirror on the wall in the corridor, and he was surprised to see himself like he looked before. When he was 100 but looked 30 something. 
He stepped closer, studied his own face, poked at his nose that was back to its previous size, patted his forehead in some attempt to check if the wrinkles would come back. 
He was also his own — well, his serum — physique, tall, lean and muscular. Weird. 
He was dead right? He couldn't imagine anything else. He remembered that last breath. 
Carefully, he treaded through the house. There were pictures on the walls. 
It was...wait...it was him and Natasha. Some kids too? Their kids?
They did look like mini versions of himself and Natasha. Two older boys and a little girl. 
He'd always wanted a daughter too. When he thought about it, two boys and a girl was what he'd always wanted. 
"You're here" he heard Natasha's voice, and he almost jumped, jolting in the direction of it. 
"Natasha?" He breathed out. 
She was there. Whole. In front of him. Simply dressed in his t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. The outfit he'd always loved the most on her. 
Her red hair falling down in beautiful curls along with her green eyes, made him feel at home. It was her. 
Beautiful. Perfect. 
He was here. He looked like him. Like he had when she looked at him the last time on the cliff. He was in his dress pants, his old man shoes, his simple checkered button up, and his brown leather jacket. 
It was what he'd worn the very first time she saw him, on the helicarrier, before they were truly Avengers. Before they were friends and colleagues. Before they were in love. 
It was him. It was the real him, and it was all of him. 
"Steve..." she murmured softly. 
"Is this heaven? Am I...am I in heaven..?" 
Her lips tugged up in a soft laugh. 
"No. It's just the world of the dead" 
"So...I am dead?" He asked, smiling at the thought. He couldn't bear it if this was only a dream. 
"Just as dead as I am" 
"This isn't a dream? This, us, it's forever now? Finally?" 
"I think so" 
They stepped close to each other, their hands locking together over their chests. 
"Where are we?" Steve asked. 
"Somewhere. Some universe. For the dead. This house is ours. It's where we live. It's in Ohio" she smiled brightly at the mention of the state that hadn't meant anything to Steve before she'd said it. 
"Ohio? Why Ohio?" He questioned softly. 
"I've longed to go back to Ohio since I was little. I've longed to have a family since mine was ripped apart, and I was caged in an evil cycle of torture" 
"Natasha, that cage is not where you are anymore" 
He brushed over her cheek softly with his index finger. 
"No, I know, I'm where I want to be. That's what this is. It's somewhere, where you get what you've wished for deep in your heart" 
"So the kids are ours too? Because it's exactly the constellation I've always wished for" 
"The kids are ours too. I don't know how that works. But they are. It's like we started in the middle of our lives, and we just needed you to come home to finally be completed" Natasha smiled confused. 
"This is where we've fought to get to all this time?" Steve asked. 
"Yes. We couldn't have it when we were alive, so we have it now that we're dead" 
"As long as it's you"
"It's me" 
"Then everything else is perfect" 
"Perfect" she repeated. 
"I love you, Natasha" 
"I love you, Steve" 
He leaned down, kissing her lips ever so gently, but still so passionately that there wasn't a doubt in the world, that Steve and Natasha were exactly where they were supposed to be. 
This is hella short, but I think it's a cute way to end this story.