Endings And New Beginnings

CHAPTER ELEVEN - FAMILY, AT LAST

The next morning, Natasha jolts up awake, her muscles tensed.

"What? Bad dream?" a voice says from her side. Recognizing Steve's voice, Natasha relaxes and rubs the back of her neck.

"I don't know, I felt a hand at the back of my neck and I thought someone's grabbing me or something."

Steve chuckles. "That would be me. You kind of rolled out of my arm and settled on my hand,"Steve explains and starts stretching his arm and fingers.

"Sorry", Natasha says and falls back on the mattress and closes her eyes again.

Steve's phone buzzes and reads a message from the President's Chief of Staff. After sending his reply he puts the phone down and takes a deep breath. He turns to his side and sees Natasha.

"You can't go back to sleep. It's your turn to make breakfast," Steve says as he gets out of bed. He hears Natasha groans. He puts on his running shoes and continues, "I need you to also help me setup. I'm having a video conference with the president at lunch. Secure lines and what not. Come on, Get up."

"I thought you guys always meet in person," Natasha asks, without opening her eyes.

"We do. But I'm not leaving this house until you and Bucky patch things up. I don't need you guys wrecking it before I even finish all the repairs."

Natasha groans in complaint again and pulls the covers on her. But Steve totally peels it off and sweeps her up like a bride. Then in one swift and effortless motion, Steve hurls her on his shoulder like a sack of potato. It was abrupt and a little forceful that the momentum caused her nose to smash against his lower back. "Ouch!"

"Did someone ever tell you that you're heavier than you actually look?" Steve jokes.

"Yes. You did. Many times before," Natasha replies as she rolls her eyes. Steve chuckles and heads out of the room. Natasha is still sleepy to be in a fighting mood so she lets him carry her like that and even lets her arms dangle further down, surrendering them to gravity's pull. They're finally in the hallway and Steve stops by Bucky's door.

"You are not knocking on that door," Natasha orders him.

"I'm not. You are," Steve replies. "Knock or I'll use you to knock that door down."

"You know I can still take you down even in this position, right?

"I know. Just knock," Steve laughs softly and adjusts Natasha on his shoulders making her whimper in slight pain as her stomach adjusts on his shoulders. After giving Steve a last hiss of disapproval, she bangs her fist on the door twice then goes back to dangling her upper body like a rag doll.

Two seconds later, the door opens and Bucky's confused face greets Steve. "Ready for our run?" Steve asks him. Bucky looks at Natasha, looking almost lifeless as she dangles behind Steve. He doesn't say anything but turns to Steve with a huge question mark on his face. "She's too sleepy to get out of bed. She's fine. Let's go."

Bucky watches as Steve heads to the stairs, Natasha involuntarily swaying with Steve's steps. He has seen weird things but Steve and Natasha's relationship still weird him out sometimes. Downstairs, Steve finally puts her down. She finds her balance as soon as her feet touch the floor but doesn't flinch an inch, not even bothering to push the hair that has fallen on her face.

"Make your mushroom omelette. I miss that," Steve tells her as he heads for the door without waiting for Bucky. And when Steve disappears out the door, Bucky instantly realizes that Steve purposely dashed out without him so he can be alone with her. He slowly turns to Natasha and finds her already looking at him. They stare at each for a while, Natasha through the hair strands that obstruct her view, both trying to get a sense of each others' mood. Bucky can't tell what she is thinking because of her hair so he reaches for her face and pushes her unruly hair into place. Trickles of bliss shot through his fingers when his skin makes contact with hers. After brushing a handful of strands behind her ear, he now at last can see her green eyes again.