Hellish (Steve Rogers Fan Fiction)

T h i r t y N i n e

{ Six Months Later}
{ The Louvre, Paris }

"Where are you guys today?"

"Paris." Steve glanced around the slightly crowded room, searching for the love of his life. He found her standing near a winged, headless statue. "She's been doing good. Her therapist said she's been making a lot of progress lately and that maybe a little positive reenforcement was due. Can you guess where she wanted to go?"

"Well you're in Paris with an ex-art thief. The Louvre?"

"Yeah." He nodded his head with a soft smile. "You should've seen the way her eyes lit up, Nat."

"That's good, Steve. I'm happy for you guys. Don't let me keep you from her. It's just good to hear you both are doing better." There was a while of silence on Natasha's behalf. "Keep me posted on anything that happens. You know if you need anything, just shoot me a message."

"I will, Nat. Thank you for everything." Steve ended the call and stuffed his phone into his pocket. His eyes lifted to find Alex. She was dressed in a floor length cream colored skirt that had a slit all the way up to the middle of her thigh. A black long sleeve covered her torso. Her dark hair was tied up into a nice and neat bun. She stood alone as she studied the statue. Steve came to stand next to her, his hands stuffed into the pockets of her jacket.

"This is one of my mother's favorite pieces." Alex hummed softly. "The Winged Victory of Samothrace. It's of the goddess of victory, Nike."

"It's interesting." Steve nodded his head.

"Interesting is a dull word for an ancient, priceless sculpture, Steve." She told him very matter-of-factly. He laughed quietly, slipping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him. It was one of the things that they only recently had started to do in public. It was something Alex suggested.

A few months after starting to go to therapy, she had told Steve she wanted to change how she was raised to act in public and even behind closed doors. She wanted to leave behind the days where she would pick a pair of pants over a skirt simply because skirts weren't practical in a heist. She wanted to be able to enjoy things normal people got to enjoy. She had put that green cargo jacket of hers away in a box and tucked the box into the corner of the closet in the room they now shared, a room where she wouldn't have the ability to hold secrets from Steve anymore. Fake passports, lock picking sets, badges belonging to everyone from the FBI to MI-6, and even her beloved flash bangs were put into the box as well. She would never need any of them again.

"I think you should put your work out into the world." Alex glanced up to Steve through her lashes. He furrowed his brows together just slightly. "I didn't mean like here in the Louvre. You're good but...."

"I thought you didn't want anyone else to see those." Steve unknowingly tightened his grip on her hip. With his free time in Bucharest, he'd picked up one of his favorite hobbies. He would sketch Alex nearly every second he got. After she noticed what he was doing and the level of skill he had, she encouraged him to start doing more than just pencil sketches.

"I don't but it would be amazing for the world to know that the Captain America is not only an old World War 2 vet that still goes around kicking ass but he can also draw really good."

"I don't know." He leaned over to press his lips against the side of her head. "I kind of like keeping you all to myself." Alex giggled softly and started to move out of the room. Steve followed behind her, letting her hold his hand and lead him through the museum. A few minutes passed before he decided to pull her back to him so that he could be right next to her.

"I know a priest in Italy." She hummed softly. "He owes me a favor."

"For.... For what?" Steve felt like he already knew the answer but he wanted to hear her say it.