3 weeks later 

Being in Steve's art gallery felt like she was a part of his little world. It was completely Steve, and never before had she felt so a peace with herself. Everywhere she looked was just so Steve. This was the world she was meant to be a part of, the place she belonged. 

"You okay?" Steve asked from where he stood behind her. His kind eyes looked to be reading her soul like they knew everything about her. She smiled over at him. 

"I'm absolutely perfect." She smiled over at her, as he smiled right back at her. She loved his smile, it was something so beautiful, something she deserved to show for the rest of her life. If it were up to her, he'd always wear a smile on his face. 

"Can I ask you something? In hopes it doesn't ruin what we have, our friendship I mean." He said almost shyly. Steve never seemed like the type of guy to be shy, but if anything, it made Natasha even more attracted to him. 

"Steve, I am going, to be honest with you, I don't think you can drive me away with anything you do." Steve smiled nodding his head before stretching the back of his neck nervously.  

"Gale died almost a month and a half ago, so I will understand if you decide that 'hey maybe it's a little weird.' but I want to put this all behind me. Move on, but if it's too fast then I completely understand your point, and will not take offense to it." 

"Steve" She interrupted his little rant. He always did that cute little thing with his nose when he ranted, it would scrunch up causing his eyebrows to furrow. It was unbelievably adorable in Natasha's eyes, and she could hardly resist the urge to reach up and smooth the area between his eyebrows. 

"Do you want to grab coffee? With me, I mean," He said, finally calming down enough to form the question, he paired it with that little charming smile on his face, how he would die for that smile. 

"Well I have been watching the bookstore since Maria went away for a bit," She said casually. "So how about dinner?" She wanted him to know she really interested in him because if she was being honest with herself, she was unsure how much longer she could go without just grabbing him and kissing him. 

"Dinner?" he repeated, almost as if he was making sure that he wasn't hearing things. 

"You do eat dinner don't you Steve?" she teased him, a teasing smile coming up on her face. Steve's face was now flushed red as he pondered her question. 

"Of course, I eat dinner," He laughed. "Yeah, dinner sounds great to me." 

"Good. I will see you then." 

"Wait when?" He laughed. 

"I'll text you," She smiled over. She looked down at her phone, a text message from the manager of the storage unit. 'I am getting complaints of a noise coming from your unit, if you don't deal with it by the end of the day I am going to have to look into it.' Damit Maria "I um have to go," 

"So soon?" He questioned. "And here I was hoping you'd be my next muse." 

"Next time." She promised. "I think I will be a very good muse,"  

"Can't say I disagree with that," Steve said with a devious smile. "You sure you have to go Nat?" He reached out to her, grabbing her hand. Steve's hands were callused, the hands of a real artist. Natasha had dreamed of having her hands in his, they bit perfectly together. "We could have dinner tonight." Oh, how she would love to have dinner with him now. Stay here with him forever. But she had a problem to deal with. 

"Believe me when I say I'd love to be here with you, but I uh, I have to go deal with something." She gave him a slight frown. 

"Need any help?" He asked. His eyes watched over her so carefully, as if memorizing everything that she did, every movement being categorized in his mind. Information for him to look back on later. Natasha so caught up in her own mind, failed to see what exactly was going on behind his seemingly innocent eyes. 

"No." She responded. "I will call you later okay?" She said giving him a smile. Steve nodded and slowly let go of her hand relishing in the feeling of her hand in his own. 

"I'll be waiting." He said. Reluctantly she pulled away and began to walk away from the man. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked away. This was the life that she was owed, this was what had been denied to her for so long. Maybe it was time to officially say goodbye to Maria. Close the door on one life, and open the door to the next. 

|~| 

"You really know how to fuck me up," Natasha said dropping her purse on the floor of the storage unit. Maria, who had been banging on the wall with her shoe sat there unfazed. "We were having a moment, but you just had to fuck it up." 

"If you are looking for sympathy, it's not coming from me," Maria said from where she sat on the cold floor. She's become so accustomed to the pale grey walls and the chill that filled the air. "I'm hungry." 

"You haven't touched lunch," Natasha pointed out, gently kicking the tray she had left out for the brunette earlier that day. 

"Well you see I wasn't feeling peanut butter sandwiches," Maria said giving her a tensed smile. 

"Too bad that's all on the menu," Natasha shrugged. "Are you more of a Tahiti person, or a London person," 

"Do I have to pick one?" Maria said. "Is that where you are going to send me? Rather gracious for a kidnapper to send their captive on an expense-paid vacation. 

"Ha, you wish," Natasha said pulling out her phone. "I got an email from detective barton today. He wants to meet with me and said some new information has come up. Which I doubt because I cover my tracks."  

"So what does this have to do with me going on a vacation," Maria said with a slight smile on her face. She moved in hopes of healing the ache in her lower back, she'd do anything to stand up even for a second. 

"He's gonna ask about you," She said. "He likes to point out that I need friends, that I need to live my life while he solves the past. Besides, Nick is always around he likes talking about you." Natasha said, rolling her eyes along with the last bit. She never quite understood why the detective took such an interest in her case. 

Years ago, when they first met, Natasha remembered Detective Barton watching her, comforting her as she put on the mascarade that she was a heartbroken woman whose family had disappeared. It was very easy to lie when she had been doing it her entire life. The detective wasn't exactly the hardest person to fool either. She didn't think that meeting with him once again would be any different than the last time, he was just fishing for answers he'd never receive. 

"That's cause he likes me better than you," She shrugged, bringing Natasha back to the present. "How about, you just let me go, and we can go talk to detective barton and Nick together." 

"You really don't think I am that stupid do you?" 

"No, but I was hoping," Maria admitted, she knew very early on that if she wanted to even think about getting out of there, fooling Natasha would not be an option. As much as she hated to admit it, Natasha was smart. "Say hey for me, tell them I am absolutely loving it in Tahiti." Natasha smiled at her. 

"Guess what?" she said with a slight smile finally placing her phone on the floor, and giving the woman her full attention. 

"Are we secret telling? Because if I am being honest with you Nat, it seems like I already know all of your secrets," She shrugged. "but please, go ahead, tell me your secret." 

"Steve and I are going out, we will be getting dinner, well we were about to when I got the very unfortunate message from my storage unit manager about you." She said with slight glare at her friend. "You know Maria if you keep getting in the middle of our relationship I am going to have to deal with you." 

"Deal with me?" She almost laughed using one hand to comb through the mess that was her hair. "Nat, if you wanted me dead, then please tell me, why the hell haven't you done it already?" 

If she was being honest with herself, Natasha wasn't sure that killing Maria was within her own limits. Maria has been the only constant in her life, and if she was being honest with herself, she didn't want to lose her. Eventually, she knew that she'd have no choice but to deal with the brunette, but right now, it would not be here to end her life. 

"Stop banging on the wall." Natasha said instead, she stood and pulled out another pair of cuffs, "Or you'll have no hands whatsoever." Natasha stood and was about to go walk away, thinking about Steve. 

"You can't keep this up Nat," Maria hissed. "I guarantee that your lies will catch up to you." 

"I will be back," Natasha said. "Goodnight maria." 

"Fuck you." Maria spit out, Natasha only smiled before leaving, the storage dorm slamming shut and the sound of her locking back up filled the air. Maria watched as she left, she still couldn't believe that Natasha had done all these things, she had always been such a sweet person.  As the days faded away into weeks, Maria found herself becoming less and less angry, and more and more confused. 

Nothing made any sense. Why hadn't the detective suspected Natasha, where did she hide her family's bodies? Overall, she just couldn't understand why she had started killing again. What was it about Steve that had gotten the redhead's heart? For years, Natasha hadn't so much as looked at any men, but now she's killed for one? What made him so different compared to every other man? 

Maria also couldn't figure out why Natasha wouldn't kill her. She managed to kill her father, her mother, her sister, and Gail, but yet, the possibility of Natasha killing her was quite low. Perhaps she was crazy in thinking so but she had a feeling she wouldn't be killed by her. 

Before she could relish in the thoughts of why the sound of the storage unit reopening caught her attention. Natasha must have forgotten something.
"Did you miss me so much that you just had to come back?" Maria asked not bothering to look up at her guest. Whoever had walked had stopped just moments before her, their feet reaching her eyesight, except those weren't Natasha's feet. Looking up, Maria's heart rate increased. "Steve?" 

"It appears my girl  has a hobby of her own." 

"Steve," Maria said, relief washing over her. "Listen to me right now Natasha, she's sick, she is not well"  She watched as the blonde frowned in disbelief.  "Hurry up and unlock me," Maria hissed. "We have to get out here before she comes back. You are in danger." 

"I must admit," Steve said. "When I watched Natasha kill Gail, I thought to myself, she had guts, but having you here is a whole new level." Maria's heart dropped as she took in what the blonde was saying. Reaching out, Steve took her chin in his hands, his hands were cold and rough against her soft skin. "I won't pretend to know why she's kept you," Steve said. "But I have a feeling that I will have to deal with you myself." 

"You two truly deserve each other." Maria hissed. "You're both insane. Has it been you? Whispering in her ear this entire time?" 

"No," He shook his head with a dark smile. "No, I didn't have to, my, she's done this all on her own. I have to say it's quite attractive as well. But as much as I have faith in her, in her becoming mine, I couldn't help but wonder about her attachment to you," 

"I'd say her attachment to me is the least of your problems." 

"Maria, you are going to be a throne at my side aren't you," Steve said, smoothing out the flyaway hairs on her head, before roughly releasing her. "It appears to me that you and I can not co-exist in each other's lives. Only one of us can truly have her heart, and believe when I say that it's gonna be me." 

"By all means, you can just let me go and I will be on my merry way," Maria said giving him a tight smile. 

"You are going to be dealt with in a much different way. But it's not going to be at my hand." He said. "In order for her to be mine fully, she needs to let you go." 

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Maria asked. 

"I believe that it's time for her to finally understand me." He said as he stood back up, Steve sighed. "I believe, though, that you and I will be seeing each other again very soon," Steve nodded his head. "I do believe I must thank you for taking care of her, but your position in her life is officially over." 

Maria watched as the man walked away, and for the first time since Natasha locked her in here, she didn't fear for her own life. Maybe she was experiencing stockhom syndrome, but she was more fearful of who exactly Natasha was risking everything for. Steve Rogers was not who she had expected. 

"Once she finds out who you are, do you truly expect her to look at you the same way?" 

"Yes I do," Steve said softly. "You don't know her as I do," 

"You are both insane." 

"Maybe," He shrugged. "But I  love her anyways. She shall love me as well. Once we deal with you, we will have everything that we've ever wanted." 

"Happily ever after right?" She said bitterly, Steve looked over at the woman and smiled, it almost gave her chills. 

"Exactly." He nodded his head. "Her happily ever after that she's always deserved." Giving her one last look down Steve left, pride filling him up. It was only a matter of time before everything in the world was correct. Before he had her in his arms. Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers, meant to be, it was written in the stars. Now all he had to do was deal with Maria Hill.