"I thought you had it all planned out." Tony said to Steve from across the table. "We did." Steve said seriously. "The XX has once again disappeared from the surface of this earth." Nick Fury said with his arms crossed over his chest. "We have to lay low. Wait for a sign or a hint." He said and looked at Natasha. Steve followed Fury's eyes and realised Natasha was looking at him. She turned away her face to look at Fury as fast as Steve gave her a glance. They hadn't spoken since yesterday night. Steve had waited for Natasha to walk inside the house again before he went to bed. He had refused to let her sit out in the dark with no one watching over her. Not that something could happen to her outside Clint's house, he just didn't want her to be alone even though he really wasn't there to comfort her. "Agent Romanoff have all the information around The XX. If you have any further questions, I suggest you take it up with her." Fury said before walking out of the room.
"Well, tell us then Natasha. Teachers pet was it?" Tony said with both eyebrows raised. "I'm not apologising for being smarter than you, Tony." Natasha mumbled tiredly as she looked through a file. Tony scoffed and chuckled a bit. "Smarter than.." Tony began but Natasha gave him a death stare. "We don't have time for your stupid sarcastic comments Tony. This is far more important. So I suggest you shut up or I'll have to make you." She said with a cold voice that made Tony shut up. Steve and Clint fought hard to not smile at her words and to Tony's face.
Natasha gave Tony a smirk before standing up and grabbing the files spread out over the table. "Clint. Lunch?" Natasha asked without looking at him. Clint stood up immediately and followed Natasha out of the room. She didn't even give Steve a glance. Clint gave Steve and Tony a silly wave followed by a smirk as he followed his best friend out of the room.

Natasha sat down by the table in her apartment with a sigh. Files were spread out over the table and her computer stood at it as well, overloaded with classified sites and pages about The XX. She tried to bury herself into work but it didn't work as she wanted it to. Her thoughts kept wandering on to last night, to Steve. It didn't matter what she did, she always ended up making the wrong decision. All she wanted was for him to be happy, but it seemed like she couldn't make that happen. Whatever she did, he would end up hurt.
Steve paced through the hallways with slow but determined steps. He wasn't going to give up so easily. Not this time. He felt his heart in his throat as he reached her door. He waited a few seconds before knocking three times. He took a deep breath and grabbed the bag of candy a little harder with his right hand. The door opened and he met Natasha's surprised face. She closed the door as fast as she saw his face but he managed to get his foot between the door and the wall. "Natasha, come on." He said and she rolled her eyes before opening the door. He looked at her and she looked at him.
"What are you doing here, Rogers?" She asked tiredly but he could tell she was a bit nervous by her shaking hands. She was dressed in grey sweatpants and a black tank top. Her red hair was straight and hung down her shoulders. "Can't I visit a friend?" Steve asked, putting on a smile on his face. Natasha had a hard time to conceal her smile that wanted to show on the back of her lips. But she managed to hold it inside. Instead she frowned.
"Steve.."
He handed her the bag of candy and when she didn't reach to take it, he nodded and took back his hand. "I thought you might need some help with that The XX thing." He said and she raised one eyebrow. "It's late.." Natasha said, surprised that he even talked to her.
"So? My guess is that you have files spread over your table and that you've been sitting there all evening." He said as he tried to peek inside her apartment to see if he was right. She closed the door a few inches to not let him see. "I have a really hard time understanding you." Natasha said with a frown. "I thought I made it very clear last night." She said, uncertain of how Steve would react at her words. "Nah, I get it. You don't like me in that way, you don't love me." He said and Natasha tensed at the word 'love'. A sharp pain hit her and she pinched herself a bit. "You love me?" She whispered so quietly he couldn't hear. Besides, he was busy with walking past her into her apartment. He laughed a bit as he saw the files and sat down at the chair across from the one she had been daydreaming in before he knocked on her front door. She was confused by his words and it felt like she walked in a bubble. He couldn't have meant that he loved her, right? She took a deep breath and looked at Steve as he put the bag of candy in the middle of the table. "Only if we work." She said as she sat down behind the computer again. "Sounds good to me." He said with half a smile. She glanced at him a bit before looking down at her computer. She could feel Steve's eyes at her like it wasn't hard enough to focus with just his presence there. "Work was it?" She said without looking at him and she could feel his smile.
"Yeah." He said and picked up a file.