Changes (A Prequel to "Through, Together")

Eye for an Eye

The sun was shining over the little cafe in downtown Wembley. A crowd of early risers was bustling in and out of the building with their teas and pastries while less busy patrons sat inside or at one of the little wrought iron tables on the patio. Some smooth-tempo instrumental music was playing over the cafe's speakers, accompanied by the sound of chirping birds as they flew around in a lazy search for scraps. Steve sat with a coffee in his hand and watched as Natasha peeled little flakes off her scone and tossed them to the ground. The small but opportunistic birds were quick to hop to the offered food and gobble it up.

A couple days of laying low had given Natasha a small case of cabin fever. She'd done her best to keep it under wraps, but Steve noticed it pretty easily. When she wasn't training or checking her computer, she was taking little walks around the block by the safehouse. Steve accompanied her on most of them. One of those walks, he suggested getting a little further out. Heading into the city might be good for them, and Steve felt like he hadn't had a decent cup of coffee in entirely too long. Natasha had seemed skeptical at first, but after that she was quick to oblige. Now, their day was just beginning, and Steve could already see some of the ease that had settled over her. She seemed like she was feeling less restless already. That was good.

Even still, Steve wasn't naive enough to think that Natasha wasn't paying close attention to every single thing around them. Even with the sunglasses obscuring her eyes from view, Steve knew she was constantly observing. Natasha was the queen of paying attention to things without looking like she was actually paying attention to them. It was an important skill set to have when it came to blending in. She'd taught Wanda a lot of those tricks of the trade. So, even though she appeared to be sipping tea and feeding birds, Steve knew that she was watching everything about the world around them.

That was okay. He was enough of a putz to be happy just sitting there watching her.

Of course, Natasha caught onto that, too. She abandoned her quest to feed birds and sat up straight in her seat, glancing at Steve from over the rims of her sunglasses. The soft, content look on his face stirred up a flurry of warm feelings in her stomach, but there was no way she would let onto that. Regardless of how much she'd been enjoying their closeness over the last few days, Natasha wasn't just going to stop giving Steve a hard time. It was practically the foundation of their relationship.

"What?" She asked when she caught him looking at her.

Unlike Natasha, Steve wasn't wearing sunglasses. He'd removed his aviator shades a while ago and left them to hang from the collar of his shirt. Thus, his brilliant baby blues were out in full force. He grinned as he searched Natasha's face for a moment, ultimately just shaking his head.

"Nothing," he told her. "This is nice, is all."

"Hm," she made a contemplative sound as she reached forward and broke a piece off of the croissant that sat on Steve's place. She popped it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully and savoring the flaky, buttery taste.

To return the favor of the borrowed bite, Nat broke off a piece of her scone and extended it towards Steve.

He shook his head.

"Just try it." She said, reaching a little further. "You'll like it."

Steve sighed, leaned forward, and took the bite. There was some sort of berry compote in the middle and a light, creamy frosting drizzled on top. He wasn't one for sweets, but even he had to admit it was great.

Natasha returned her hand to the table and watched him chew, her lips pushed to one side in a half-smirk. "Told you." She said, smugness in her tone. She popped her thumb in her mouth to remove the little bit of frosting left there. When it was gone, she lowered her hand down again.