Part of Me

Chapter 6: Origin

Within a week or so, the Avengers started to get along. Steve and Sam starts to be good pals, they started to go on runs together every morning. This morning was no different, Steve and Sam returned from their run all sweaty. A certain redhead and a brunette was sitting in the living room chilling as they returned. He noticed something different with her hair. It had been straightened. Oh wow, she looks stunning with her hair like that. Her make up was so on point, that made Steve get to the point of wondering if this place is S.H.I.E.L.D Academy or is this place a model agency. Wanda noticed them get in, and seemed to know what Steve was thinking. She took her cup from the table, stood up, and walked away saying, "if you think she's hot go tell her already," loud enough for all of them to hear. Sam bursts into laughter while Nat just smiled and looked at Steve who seemed surprised by the remark.

"So, you think I'm hot?" She said smirking.

"I'm surprised that came from the one who told me not to flatter myself." She chuckled.

"I'm gonna leave you guys here so you can flirt all day." Sam said leaving with some orange juice and whatever breakfast he was eating, earning a look from Steve.

Steve took a seat on the couch beside Natasha turning on the TV. Switching from channel to channel, no show seemed to catch his interest.

"You've been catching up?" She said, looking up from the book on her hands.

"Yeah, Sam helped me with stuff, pointed things I missed out, and internet, so helpful. I actually have a list."

"Let me see." Steve reached into his pocket and took out a small notebook. Showing his list to her, and she read it thoroughly.

"You have got to be kidding me, you haven't seen Star Was? Oh,wow. Thai food? You haven't tried that too? It's like amazing. My god Rogers, you missed a lot of good things, if you wanna try Thai food, there's this Thailand restaurant nearby, we can go now if you want to."

"Sure, but when will our next training be?" Natasha checked her Starkpad and told him that they'll train at 11 a.m. which is still about 3 hours away.

"We can use my bike, but wait let me change first." Steve went upstairs and change his clothes from his usual running clothes to civilian clothing.

"You should wear a cap or a sunglasses at least." She said when he saw him walk out his room.

"What? Why?"

"Yeaah, nothing, except for the fact that you're a national war hero who just returned from 70-years long beauty sleep, and your face and information is exhibited in the Smithsonian, not covering yourself up will probably bring you the crowd and paparazzi."
Steve went back inside and grabbed a sunglasses. They both went to the garage and hopped on Steve's bike. Natasha held on to Steve by his waist. She could feel his body tensed as soon as she held him.

The air was warm, the sun brightly shining but didn't scorch the air, such a perfect weather to start the day. Natasha loved this weather, feeling the warm wind brushing her skin. She always love this kind of weather, not the cold wind, cold air, it reminds her of the extremely cold winters of Russia. The place where she was trained to be who she was, a ruthless assassin, a world class spy, a weapon herself, the Black Widow.

The ride didn't last long, they reached the said Thai restaurant in no time. Natasha orders some food for them, because Steve, as much as he's shy to admit, know nothing about Thai food.

"So, tell me how was it?" She asked him.

"How was what?"

"How was it being Captain America during the war?" Her lips quirked up, teasing him, he laughed a little.

"Didn't you read my files?"

"Yeah, I did, I simply want to hear it from the Captain himself." He smiled and started telling his story.

"Well, it was war, so it certainly is very unpleasant. I was so skinny, had a lot of illness, until Dr.Erskine put me through Project: Rebirth, then I became this," he said gesturing his body,"it was painful, but it was worth it, I could finally do some good. But we compromised too, a lot, and in a way that made us can't sleep at night," he looked at her reactions, wondering if he should continue, she gestured him to go on, "I'm very grateful though, to have the Howling Commandos fighting the war by my side, but I lost them, Bucky, Peggy, Howard and everybody I had." His voice starting to break.

"You know none of that's your fault Steve," she said assuringly putting a hand on top of his and rubbed it softly, "you have us now, Tony, Sam, Clint, Wanda, me." Steve looked up at her, and gave a weak smile.

"How about you? How did you ended up being so good at what you do?" He said, trying to move the attention away from him.

"My story's not that great," she simply said trying to shrug it off, but she looked at his disappointed face and decided to tell him anyway. She looked around before starting, making sure nobody heard what they were talking about.

"Before I joined S.H.I.E.L.D I already had these abilities, I was so good at what I did because I was trained to do all those horrible stuff, to be an assassin, to use my body as a weapon, I caught S.H.I.E.L.D's attention, Clint was on his first mission, he had just graduated the academy, he was sent to kill me, but he made a different call and brought me here. I've got red in my ledger Steve, that's why I'm here, to wipe it out," she explained, usually she was not an open person, but she seem to trust Rogers in a way that she told him her origin, even if it wasn't the whole story, "I understand if you look at me differently after this, I've done terrible things," she looked down.

"Hey, whatever you did before, whatever you were, I know you're not like that anymore, I don't care about your past Natasha, I could never look at you differently, you made the right choice, joining S.H.I.E.L.D." He said it from the bottom of his heart, genuine, even though he had just known Natasha, she's the closest member to him, and he is pretty convinced that she isn't what she was. She looked at him and gave a small smile, "thank you," she said.

This felt nice, being accepted for who she really is, she thought maybe Steve would be disgusted at her and probably distance himself with her. She was wrong. Steve actually think otherwise, considering her as his closest ally in this century. Still, she had secrets she didn't reveal, particularly a secret she probably would never reveal to Steve. Or should she?