Chapter 21

                                    

                                          
Natasha's eyes snapped open, and her body jolted from her dream. Her neck ached from slumping over in the stiff hotel chair. She stretched her body and yawned. 
Natasha moved over to the window and gazed up at the dark sky; a few stars blinked back at her. She sighed, wondering if Steve was looking up at these stars too. She knew he loved the stars; though, it was never something they had discussed. Many times she had watched him draw the stars in his sketchbook. He had had a habit of tracing constellations into her skin. She remembered eventually recognizing the shape and the lines as he absentmindedly touched her arm as he calmed her or himself after a nightmare. She missed those little unspoken things they knew about each other. Honestly, she missed everything about him. 
                          
Steve flipped through the channels. He couldn't understand most of what the people were saying anyway. He switched the tv off and glanced out his window. Some stars broke through in the sky. He scanned the sky for different constellations, but the light from the city drowned out most of the stars. He let out a defeated sigh before falling into bed and trying to get a few hours of sleep. 
                          
Natasha dressed and left the hotel before light peeked above the horizon. She moved across Europe to Paris. So much of her life had happened in that city, good and bad. It was the perfect city for her to assess her life and weigh the good and bad. 
After Natasha arrived and dropped her few things off at the nondescript motel she just booked, she walked around the city. Her wandering lead her to a secluded part of the city, a place tourists often didn't venture into. She and Steve spent a few weeks here on a mission. It had been a mostly surveillance mission until Natasha decided things were moving too slow. 
--
Natasha sauntered into a target's business. Steve followed behind her. He knew they wanted to stir him up, but Natasha seemed hell bent on little more than just annoying him. The target lead the "newly-weds" into the back room. His business front was flooring, but his real business was smuggling ancient artifacts into France. He had something of a particular interest to the Avengers. Natasha flirted with the target as he showed her flooring samples. Steve watched as Natasha's eyes scanned the warehouse before returning to the target's. She flashed a coy smirk before leaning in to talk to him.
"Monsieur, I have heard you deal in-" She paused, choosing her words carefully. "valuable goods. My husband and I-"
The target's face scrunched up. "I don't know what you are suggesting." 
Natasha glanced at Steve and bit her lip. Her eyes flitted back to the target. 
"Smuggled artifacts."
The man scowled. 
"No. We do not."
Natasha chuckled. "Monsieur, I assure my husband and I will be very discreet about the business we do here with you."
The man shook his head. "No, madame. You have the wrong place."
Natasha stepped closer to the man and toyed with the lapel of his jacket.
"Monsieur." She said with more force. 
The man glanced over at Steve, and then recognition washed over his face. Steve frowned. The man's eyes returned to Natasha and for a moment, Steve thought he read the man wrong because he began to converse with Natasha, still assuring her that he didn't smuggle goods into the country. His hand inched around his back, and in the blink of an eye, he pulled out a gun. Steve leapt towards Natasha and pulled her out of the way just as the target pulled the trigger. 
The bullet seared by Steve's side. He clutched his side once Natasha was clear of the man's aim. Natasha stopped dead in her tracks and watched a blood seeped through Steve's shirt. Her eyes snapped up to Steve's. She scowled at him, and he knew she was silently cursing him for throwing himself in front of a bullet for her. 
"Rogers, we are gonna talk about this once I secure the target."
Natasha sprinted toward the target and took him down quickly. She hogtied him and left him in the middle of the warehouse. Steve peeked at the wound as Natasha returned to him. 
"Looks like it just grazed me." Steve muttered. 
Natasha still had a perturbed look on her face. 
"I called Interpol. Let's out of here."
"Are you okay to walk back?"
Steve nodded. "But the blood might be a little alarming."
Natasha's forehead wrinkled in thought. After a moment of thought, she sidled up to Steve and pulled his arm around her neck. She interlaced their fingers. Her body hid his bloodied side. They walked back to their safehouse without a suspicious glance from anyone. Two lovers walking around Paris was a normal sight. 
                          
Steve sat down on the edge of the card table in their safehouse as Natasha gathered the first aid kit she packed. When she returned, Steve tried to pull his shirt off, but he winced as the skin stretched and pulled around the wound. Natasha moved between his legs and tugged on the hem of the shirt. Steve's eyes lifted to hers as he tried to remove his shirt on his own again. 
Natasha rolled her eyes, "Just let me help."
Steve relaxed and let her help. He pulled one arm out of the shirt. Natasha helped him pull it over his head; their faces mere inches apart. Natasha's eyes flitted down to Steve's lips for a moment. She didn't understand the pull to him she felt when they were this close. Steve held her eyes, and neither of them moved. Natasha's hands slipped under the fabric to pull off his body. Her fingers traced moved across his muscles.
Once the shirt was off, Natasha grabbed the alcohol and began disinfecting the wound. Steve grimaced as she dabbed the wound clean. She applied the bandage and stepped back. 
"All done."
Natasha watched Steve for moment. If she wasn't mistaken, his legs briefly closed around her as she moved away, trying to keep her close. She wondered what was going on in his head. 
"Thanks." He mumbled. 
Natasha shook her head. "Thank you."
Steve shrugged. 
"You're my-," For barely a second he hesitated. They had spent a lot of time together after taking down Hydra, and something felt different since that kiss. "friend."
Natasha noted the hesitation. Something had shifted between them. 
--
That mission marked a change in their relationship. The first time he comforted her after a nightmare and vice versa. But even then, things were so much clearer. Steve was her best friend. Her past was her past. 
Now, her past was intricately intertwined with her present, and Steve was... so much more than a friend.
                          
Steve spent a few more days in Prague before moving on to another city. He stopped by a little café he and Natasha had once visited during a mission. During their visit, a masked group took the café hostage. This wasn't news to them because they had been tracking this group for weeks.
-- 
"This is a robbery."
Natasha and Steve crouched. One masked man split up men and women. Steve frowned as he and Natasha were forced to go to opposite sides of the café. 
Natasha watched the team work. They wouldn't just hit a café. Something about this place was important.
Steve didn't make the same observations. He began inching forward trying, hoping to get closer to a sobbing woman as one of the criminals held a gun to her head. Natasha knew this group wasn't cold blooded killers, so she didn't bother. She watched and waited, but Steve wasn't so patient. 
In one quick fluid motion, Steve hopped to his feet and launched an attack on the leader. 
The other robbers trained their guns on Steve. Natasha had no time to think or plan her attack. She kicked a gun out of one man's hand and then used his body to knock down another. She leapt onto another and held him into a choke hold until he passed out. The one assailant she knocked to the ground with the body of another shakily aimed his gun at Steve as Natasha choked the other guy. Natasha rolled and kicked his hand just before the gun went off. The bullet lodged itself in the wall behind Steve. 
Steve's head snapped in her direction, and she frowned at him. 
"Dumbass." She mouthed at him. 
Steve tried not to smile as Natasha soothed the customers and instructed the staff to call Interpol. Before the police arrived, Natasha and Steve left the premise. 
"You saved my life." Steve chuckled. 
Natasha rolled her eyes. 
"Don't get sentimental on me, Rogers."
Steve smiled as they walked. 
"You like me."
Natasha shot a glare in his direction. "I just don't want to have to look for a new partner."
Steve smirked at her. 
"Suurree, Romanoff."
--
Steve missed the days when they could relax after a mission was over. He hadn't relaxed since Natasha disappeared. He constantly worried about her well being. She had a reckless streak, and he wasn't there to protect her. He couldn't imagine what he would do if something happened to her during this time apart. Visions of losing Natasha filled his nightmares most nights. He found it hard to sleep without Natasha by his side. Everything was harder without her.
                          
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