Requested by ROMANOFFWARRIOR, Natasha wants to tell Steve how she feels before he goes back to return the stones but shit happens.

Natasha watched quietly as Steve said goodbye to Bucky and Sam. 

She couldn't help but notice that the goodbye lasted longer than he was meant to be gone. 

Bruce had said five seconds. That's how long he'd be gone from their time. 

But Natasha couldn't help the pit of dread in her stomach that told her it'd be much longer than that. 

This was his chance. 

Peggy had been his first love and for as long as she'd known him, he'd put her on a pedestal, never going a second without thinking about her. 

It hurt. 

Watching the man she loved pine after a dead woman was hard. Especially when she knew that she could never measure up to Peggy. 

There had been so many times where she had wanted to tell him how she felt. Sometimes she even wondered if he felt the same way. 

Then he'd pull out that damn compass again and she'd be brought back down to reality. 

She frowned as Steve walked over to her. 

If this was her last moment with him, she wanted him to know how she felt. 

"Hey," Steve said quietly when he stood in front of her. 

She smiled weakly, "Hi." 

"Don't let Sam and Bucky kill each other while I'm gone okay?" Steve said, reaching between them to grab one of Natasha's hands. 

Natasha nodded, "I'll do my best. You know how they get though." 

Steve nodded with a small laugh, "Yeah. I know." 

Natasha looked up at him and frowned, she couldn't tell him this now. It would only make things harder for him. For her, it'd only be five seconds, but for him it could be weeks. 

If he came back she wanted it to be because he wanted to, not because he felt obligated. 

"I'll see you in a minute?" She asked, her eyebrows raising hopefully. 

Steve nodded, "See you in a minute." 

She pulled him into a hug, not caring how unusual it was for her, and sighed, "Be careful Steve." 

He nodded, "I will be. I promise." 

Natasha nodded slightly and placed a chaste kiss to his cheek. 

"Good luck," She said, pushing him away towards the machine before he noticed the tears in her eyes. 

Steve gave her a small smile and walked towards the platform with the case containing the stones. 

"Ready in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," Bruce said, counting down and then pressing a button and making Steve disappear from Natasha's vision. 

She stared at the platform, biting her lip to keep herself together. 

"Returning in 5,4,3,2,1," Bruce said, pressing the button again. 

Except this time nothing happened. 

Bruce frowned and pressed the button again. 

Sam frowned, "Where is he?" 

"I don't know. I'll get him back. Hang on," Bruce said, typing something into the computer and trying the button again. 

Natasha shook her head and looked down, fighting back the tears that she had been dreading. 

Bucky sighed, "He stayed with her." 

Sam frowned, "What? Why would he do that?" 

"It's his chance to start over."

Natasha didn't miss the way that Sam's eyes darted to her despite her own eyes being locked on the platform. 

"He had that here. He wouldn't have left us all behind. Not without telling us." 

Bruce pressed the button again and shook his head, "He's not coming back." 

Natasha leaned against a tree and blinked back more tears. 

"How do we know he's not hurt?" Sam asked. 

Bruce shook his head, "If he was hurt he could still return whenever he wanted to. I think Bucky's right." 

Bucky sighed, "C'mon. It's getting dark." 

Bruce and Bucky began to walk back towards the compound while Natasha stayed still, trying to will herself to look away from where Steve had been only a minute ago. 

"I don't understand this," Sam said, walking towards her slowly. 

Natasha shrugged, wiping away the tear that had escaped her eye, "I do. He's pined after Peggy for decades now. It makes sense that he'd stay with her if given the chance. Doesn't make it any easier to lose him though." 

Sam shook his head, "He moved on from Peggy years ago. He told me that himself." 

Natasha frowned, "Sam he looks at that damn compass every second." 

"Have you seen the inside of it Natasha?" 

Natasha shook her head, her eyebrows furrowing, "It's a picture of Peggy." 

"There's two pictures Natasha. One of them is Peggy but the other one is you," Sam said quietly. 

"Me?" Natasha said, the air rushing from her lungs as though she'd just been kicked in the gut. 

Sam nodded, "I was sworn to secrecy but back when we first met, I tried to set Steve up on a date with this girl from work. He told me he wasn't interested so I bothered him about why until he finally explained that he was already interested in someone else. He didn't say who until that day we stole my wings from that military base." 

Natasha shook her head, "That was years ago Sam. A lot can change in that much time."

"It can. But it didn't. When we were on the run we talked about it. I told him to just tell you how he felt because I'm pretty sure you've felt the same way for almost as long as he has. He refused to do it though because he didn't think it was the right time." 

Natasha frowned, "That was still almost six years ago. If he wanted to be with me he had five years to tell me. We weren't exactly busy." 

Sam raised an eyebrow, "So why didn't you?" 

"What?" Natasha asked, frowning.

"Why didn't you ever ask Steve out. You just said you had five years with pretty much nothing else to do."

Natasha didn't answer for a moment, looking down at the dirt in front of them, "I was just glad to still have him in my life. I'd just lost almost everyone I cared about and I didn't want to risk pushing him away because of unnecessary feelings."

Sam nodded and sighed, "Ever think he felt the same way?" 

She stayed silent. 

"Look. All I'm saying is that I don't think stayed with Peggy. Either somethings wrong or he's just running late."

Natasha laughed at that one, "Steve? Late? I doubt it." 

Sam shrugged, "Wanna stay and wait a while anyways?" 

Natasha looked back at the platform. She knew it was a bad idea to be hopeful that he'd come back. It was very possible that he wouldn't be. But maybe waiting an hour or so wouldn't be so bad.

She nodded and sat down against the tree with Sam next to her. 

They sat there in silence for a while before Sam finally stood up. 

"I think I'm gonna head back. Maybe we can find some way to track where he's at in time right now. You wanna come?" 

Natasha shook her head. She needed a minute alone, "I'll be right behind you." 

Sam nodded, not questioning her, and walked off. 

Natasha blinked a few times, walking towards the platform. She wondered if he would reappear if she watched it long enough. 

She walked over the the computer and sighed, "You're a fucking asshole for this one Steve," She mumbled under her breath. 

She reached out and pressed the button that was supposed to bring him back, as though she needed to see for herself that it wasn't working. 

Only it did. 

She heard a loud crash and looked up to see Steve sprawled out on the platform, he groaned quietly, pushing himself up. 

"Steve?" She asked, her eyes widening. 

Steve looked up, "I told you I'd be back in a minute." 

She shook her head and ran towards him, helping him up quickly before wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. 

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, wincing in pain when he raised his arm to cup her cheek. 

"You didn't come back when we first tried to return you Steve. It's been almost three hours since you left here." 

Steve frowned, "What? Why didn't it work?" 

Natasha shook her head, "We all thought you'd stayed in the past with Peggy. Well, except Sam." 

Steve frowned again, "Why would I stay with Peggy? Natasha, I figured you'd have figured it out by now but I'm completely in love with you. I had a hard time returning the space stone. I had to have 2010 Tony build me a new quantum suit. Maybe he set the time wrong." 

Natasha sighed and wrapped her arms around him again, "I don't care. I'm just glad you're here." 

Steve smiled, "Yeah me too. Should we go tell the others?" 

Natasha nodded and Steve started to walk back towards the compound until she grabbed his wrist, "Hang on, I don't think I can wait any longer to do this..." 

Steve's eyebrows raised in confusion and he opened his mouth to question her but she didn't give him the chance, instead she pulled his lips to his and let herself completely melt into his touch. 

"I love you too," She whispered when they pulled apart. 

Hey guys. Again, I'm sorry my updates are extremely inconsistent. I'm trying to get back to updating somewhat frequently so bear with me. I hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter. It was originally supposed to end sad but I figured it would be cruel to make you all wait for a chapter with a sad ending lol. 

If you did enjoy it, please comment and vote!