Love Grown Cold

Dance or Destruction?

The night had finally arrived. The big dance. And Natasha was hiding. It wasn't that she didn't want to dance. She did. And it wasn't that she didn't like socializing, even though she'd rather be beating someone up. It was the fact that she had promised Peggy to either tell Bucky that she lo...liked him, or Peggy would do it.

"Natasha!" A voice called out through the forest.

Oh, shoot. Natasha thought with a sigh. She had hoped that no one would think to look for her in the woods around camp, but apparently they had.

"Over here," Natasha called out, resigned to her fate.

Gabe came crashing through the forest and stared at her in disbelief. "Girl, whatcha doing out here? We're supposed to be helping you get ready!"

Natasha ignored his question. "How did you find me?" She asked instead.

Gabe snickered. "We just asked ourselves "where would Natasha go that she would think no one would find her?" and the answer was obvious."

Natasha smiled. "I guess I'm going to have to be more unpredictable."

Gabe smiled back and sat down next to her. "So what's really bugging you?"

"I don't know. Maybe the fact that tonight I either have to tell my best friend that I've been in love with him since I was eight or live through the torture of you guys and Peggy telling him? I don't see how that could possibly put me on edge." Natasha rolled her eyes and Gabe chuckled.

"Yeah, well, Barnes is a good guy. I would hate for you to lose him to some girl that can't appreciate him."

"Oh, I don't know." Natasha said. "Maybe that girl from accounting or..."

"Nope!" Gabe interrupted. "Only you can appreciate him. So just accept that you two are soul mates so that we can get you two hitched and with a couple of kids so that we can be "Uncle Howlers"."

"You guys have an uncle name for when we have kids?"

"Uh...oops." Gabe gave her a sheepish grin. "Yeah so we need you to have kids so we can use our awesome name."

Natasha grinned. "Well then in that case..." the two of them stood up and began heading back to camp.

"But I mean I hate for you guys to go to all that trouble..." she couldn't resist adding.

"Oh, don't worry." Gabe teased. "I'm just going to be sitting there laughing. Monty and Frenchie are going to be the ones working on you."

"That honestly scares me."

"Can't day I blame you." Gabe replied, sniggering.

They finally made it back to Natasha's cabin, where Dum Dum, Monty, Frenchie, Jim, and Peggy were waiting.

"Peggy?" Natasha asked, shocked.

"Well you didn't think I was about to let them do this alone, did you? Honestly, I was afraid that when they tried to do makeup, one of them would poke your eyes out."

"So then what are you guys here for?" Natasha questioned the commandos.

"Moral support!" Dum Dum said smiling.

"Aaaand also we wanna make sure that you actually go to the party, and not just hang around looking beautiful but mopey." Jim added, smirking slightly.

"Ok, ok!" Natasha said with a laugh. "Apparently I really need to change things up a bit more."

Twenty minutes, two dresses, four pairs of shoes, and a nervous breakdown (courtesy of Monty) later, they were all ready to go. While Natasha and Peggy had changed into their dresses, the boys had grudgingly gone to put on their uniforms, which they claimed itched worse than "grandma's old wool sweaters".

"Well boys?" Natasha asked as she walked out of the cabin.

"Perfect," Frenchie said, pretending to wipe tears from his eyes.

"He won't be able to resist." Monty assured her.

"Don't forget you owe each of us a dance before Barnes gets you all to himself." Dum Dum reminded her, earning him a jab in the ribs from Gabe. "Ow!"

"Just go out and have a good time." Gabe told her. "No matter what happens."

"I will," Natasha reassured him.

"Guys," Jim said, tearing up. "Our little girl is all grown up." That earned a round of laughter and some light hearted banter as the seven of them, including Peggy, walked towards the mess hall, where the dance was being held.

Once there they met up with Bucky and Steve, both looking extremely handsome in their uniforms.

"Wow..." Bucky murmured to Steve, eyeing Natasha.

"You can say that again," Steve replied, his eyes following Peggy.

"All right commandos!" General Phillips said, shooing all of the together into one big group. "Come on we need a picture of this."

As they all gathered together, the photographer stood in front of them saying "Ok, ready? One, two, three, smile!" And then they were released into the mess/dance hall.

Everything looked perfect. The decorations, the music, it made it all seem surreal.

"Milady?" Gabe asked Natasha, extending a hand.

"I would love to," was Natasha's reply, and then her night began, dancing with her friends and also a few people she didn't know. After dancing with each of the Howling Commandos twice, Natasha began to wonder where Bucky was. Whenever they had gone to dances before, no matter if he had another date, Bucky always made sure to dance at least one dance with Natasha.

After finishing her second dance with Monty, Natasha made her way over to Steve, who had been talking to Peggy all night, though he had yet to ask her to dance.

"Hey Steve?" Natasha asked him, loud enough to be heard over the music, but quiet enough not to seem obnoxious.

"Yeah Nat?" Steve asked, his attention immediately going to her.

"Have you seen Bucky around?" She asked, trying to seem nonchalant.

Steve frowned, never a good sign. "I think I saw him go outside a little while ago with that girl from accounting. Gemma is her name?"

"Oh, ok, thanks Steve." Natasha turned and walked towards the door, afraid of what she was going to find.

Steve turned to Peggy worriedly. "This isn't going to end well." She nodded her agreement as the watched Natasha walk outside.

It was a little chilly outside, but that was to be expected this late in the year. As she walked around the mess hall, Natasha heard the distinct sound of giggling. Please, no, she thought, hurrying around the next corner. And immediately wished that she hadn't. Because standing in front of her was James Buchanan Barnes, her best friend, the boy she'd lived since she was eight, kissing another girl.