When in Hydra

Epilogue

Steve waited until Natasha had healed before reminding her she owed him a date. It was about two weeks after they had returned from their mission and even though she was no longer limping, her thigh hadn't completely healed. The doctors had insisted on seeing her several times to make sure she was healing properly, but there was nothing they could do about the angry scar that would be left behind.

While she insisted she was back to normal, Steve would catch her grimacing occasionally. Any mention of it, however, usually resulted in her scowling at him for a few hours. He only decided to believe that she was feeling fine after ending up on his back four times in a row while sparring with her.

"I told you." She smirked, sitting on top of him. "I'm ll better."

"I guess this time I have to believe you," he said with a groan. He pushed her off of his chest and sat up as he said, "I suppose now that you're all better, I can remind you that you agreed to take me out to coffee."

"Did I really?" Natasha narrowed her eyes and he chuckled.

"You did," he confirmed, "and I could go for some coffee right now. What do you say?"

"Let me get dressed."

He grinned and got to his feet. Before he could offer her a hand up, she was standing beside him and already walking towards the gym exit.

"Don't take too long," Steve called after her. Her only response was a wave of her hand before she disappeared down the hall.

Steve hurried out after her, determined to get ready before her. Luck seemed to be on his side for once, though, as he walked into the common room to wait for Natasha shortly after taking a hasty shower.

"Headed somewhere?" Sam asked, looking up from the TV. Beside him, Wanda did a poor job of hiding her smirk.

"Town," Steve answered shortly. 

"What for?" Sam asked. His eyes darted over to Wanda before narrowing at Steve. "What's going on?"

"Don't be jealous," Natasha teased, walking up behind Steve. "I'm sure Steve would take you on a date too if you asked nicely."

"Date? I'm not jealous―What―"

Sam's eyes darted between Steve and Natasha while Wanda snickered. 

"He didn't tell you?" Natasha grinned and Steve rolled his eyes as Sam's jaw dropped even further.

"You're going on a date?" he demanded. "Since when do either of you go on dates?"

"Sam." Wanda kicked him. "Let them go."

Natasha laughed and grabbed Steve's hand, walking towards the Compound door as Sam continued to protest loudly.

"I'm not stopping them! Clearly, they're still leaving―" Natasha glanced back to see Sam gesturing to them wildly. "I just want to know when―"

She and Steve stepped out of the Compound before he finished his sentence.

* * * *

Their coffee date turned into a whole morning. After getting their drinks, they decided to walk a few blocks to a nearby park and hadn't yet thought to return to the Compound. It was quiet and not many people were around which, Natasha figured, was good because Steve was making a fool of himself.

"Direva." 

Natasha hadn't stopped laughing from the last time Steve had tried to pronounce the Russian word and erupted into even more giggles if that was possible (Steve was definitely not going to tell her she was giggling, though).

"Closer," she said, though the way she was grinning told him otherwise. Nevertheless, she repeated the word and seemed satisfied when Steve tried again. "Your accent is horrible."

"Well, this is my first time learning Russian," Steve reminded her. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"It's still bad."

"At least teach me something more useful than how to say 'tree'," Steve said. It was his own fault for pointing at the nearest tree and asking how to say it in Russian, but he hadn't really expected it to be so difficult." How do you say 'How are you'?" 

Natasha told him (or at least, he assumed she did) and he stumbled through the short phrase. As he could have predicted, Natasha keeled over in laughter. When he tried again, she merely patted his arm and grinned.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes." He wasn't sure if she was being honest though. Turning to face him, she said, "Now say it to me."

He repeated the two words and even though she grinned at his mispronunciation, she didn't laugh. Instead, she said something he didn't understand and he blinked.

"What?"

"Wonderful," she repeated in English. "You asked how I was and I replied with 'wonderful'."

"Well, I'm glad you're not doing awful," Steve said, smiling down at her.

As they continued down the path, they fell silent. 

"This is a date, right?" Steve asked suddenly, stopping in the middle of the path.

Natasha tilted her head. "Isn't that what you wanted it to be when you asked?"

He nodded.

"Then yeah," she said, her lips twitching into a small smile, "it's a date."

"So then," he murmured, taking a small step towards her, "I can do this?"

His hands moved up to cup her face and when she didn't immediately pull back, he leaned down to press a soft kiss to her lips. Just as quickly as he'd kissed her, he pulled away.

"Yeah." She pressed her forehead against his. "Yeah, I suppose you can do that."

Steve didn't need any more of an invitation to kiss her again. He brushed another warm kiss to her lips then wrapped his arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his side. Despite herself, Natasha smiled into her chest. When he dropped his head to press one last firm kiss to the top of her head, her grin widened.

The End