They climbed the steps of her brownstone and entered.

Steve and Natasha were greeted with the soft purring of Liho.

"Oh you have a cat?" Steve asked as Liho suddenly made an appearance.

"Yea, I gotta have someone to look after me so I don't fall asleep for the next two hours." She replied with wit.

"I thought you would have someone here." Steve said with a hint of agitation.

"No, I live alone. It's just me and Liho." She said as she bent down to pet her four legged baby.

"So you wouldn't have had anybody to check on you with your concussion?"

"Yea, Liho." Natasha said making light of the situation.

"Natasha.."

"Steve.." She said raising her eyebrow. "It's fine. Let's go eat our food. You can hang your jacket over there." She pointed towards the hooks that hung on the wall near the door.

Steve hung his coat and followed her into the kitchen where she promptly sat and started eating. He could tell she was hungry because she hadn't said a word until she was halfway through the meal. He had barely made a dent into his plate, to be honest, he wasn't that hungry. He had eaten a sandwich right before got the call to come to her location, he only got something because she was ordering food too.

"You're not hungry?" She said looking at him with her mouth open for more.

"Eh not too much. I'll save some for later. I don't have much food at my house anyway."

"Sounds like me. I think all I have in my fridge is a salad and condiments." She chuckled softly before finishing the rest of her Chinese. "Ugh that was delicious." Placing a hand on her flat swollen belly.

"i'm glad you liked it. It's actually my favorite Chinese spot in Brooklyn."

"Oh is it now?" She said smiling at him.

"Yea, only a select few know." He playfully answered.

"Well I feel honored to be added to that list." She said before standing up to throw away her garbage. "Im going to go shower and what not. Thanks for eating with me Cap."

"It's no problem and I told you, you can call me Steve."

"Yea, but I like the way Cap sounds rolling off my tongue." Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she stared at him. He felt himself getting hot under her eyes and cleared his throat looking away.

"Nice place you got here."

"Thank you. I decorated it all by myself." She said with her hands on her hips, looking like a proud mom.

"It suits you."

"How would you know? You barely know me."

"Yea well, I think I'm fairly good at reading people and I know a thing or two about you."

"Oh yea, like what?" She asked intrigued.

"Well for starters, you're stubborn, but you're strong. You have a soft side, but for some reason I feel like people don't see that side of you too often. You're alone. Nobody else is here with you and you're not even from here. I'm thinking.... Russia, you have quite the accent and Brighton Beach kinda gave it away." He said with a sly smile.

"Wow, I must say I am pretty impressed. You got a down to a T. I don't know if I should be concerned or In awe."

"I think in awe, It would suit you much better."

"I guess so.." They stared at each other for a moment before Natasha looked away. "Well thanks again anyway. Imma go to bed. I'll see you around, Captain."

"Natasha you can't go to bed. You heard the paramedic."

"Oh please. Are you gonna write me a ticket for not following doctors orders?" She said inching closer to him.

"Natasha this is serious. Concussions should not be taken lightly."

"I'll be fine. I've dealt with worse." And she had. Her years of dancing, had done damage to her body, although she always healed from her pain, she could never forget it. She was strong and too stubborn to let a little concussion stop her from drifting off into her well deserved nightly routine.

"No, you can not go to bed. You need to stay up for two hours minimum."

"Well are you gonna babysit to make sure I do so?" She challenged.

"As a matter of fact I am. Go take your shower and I'll be waiting on the couch for you when you're finished." Natasha didn't say anything, she just rolled her eyes and headed towards the back area of her house to begin her shower. Steve got comfortable walking through her living room. He noticed pictures of her along the walls, but no one else. There were never pictures of friends or family. There were pictures of her dancing. A few awards hung above her couch. He looked closely at each one.

"Prima Ballerina 2012: Natalia Romanova."

"Natalia Romanova: Ballerina of the Year 2017"

"Russian school of Ballet: Swan Lake: Natalia Romanova"

"2018 Circle National Dance Award: Natalia Romanova"

"Ballerinas of the Finest 2016: Natalia Romanova"

Steve read the name out, Natalia Romanova. He made a mental note to ask her of that when she came out. He didn't understand why she told him Natasha if her name was Natalia. He continued to look around her living room before sitting on the couch. 30 minutes later, he heard her light footsteps walk across the floor towards him.

"You know you could've turned on the TV."

"I didn't mind. I had time to think in silence."

"Think about what?"

"Think about why you told me your name was Natasha, when it's Natalia." He said looking at her. Her face was unreadable, he couldn't tell if she was getting ready to lie or if she had a real excuse.

"One, you shouldn't be snooping. Two, my name is Natasha. Natalia was my old name, but I changed it when I moved to America a couple years ago."

"I wasn't snooping. I saw your awards and figured I'd see just how good of a ballerina you are."

"Well did they prove it?"

"I suppose, you have triple the amount of awards I've ever gotten."

"I'm surprised. The great Captain Rogers doesn't have any awards for his heroism and chivalry?"

"No, that just comes with being a decent human being. You don't get awards for that."

"Well maybe you should. You're probably the nicest man I've met since I've moved here." She said sitting next to him on the couch leaning her head back.

"I am sure I'm not the only. You probably have men falling over you all the time."

"Correction. I have men trying to have sex with me all the time. There's a major difference." Natasha said as she closed her eyes.

"Well I apologize on behalf of all the sexist men out there."

"It's alright. I'm used to it by now. You on the other hand. I'm sure have women dying to get a date with you." She said rolling her head to look over at him.

"Please. I'm so out of the dating scene. I wouldn't know if I woman was flirting with me unless she came right out and told me."

"Wow Steve, you just keep coming with surprises. In no time, I'll be able to teach you how to dance and how to get a woman." She said chuckling with her eyes closed again.

"That'd be a sight to see. I don't think that will be possible. It's like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. You just don't." Steve waited for a remark but when he didn't get one. He looked over to find Natasha sleeping. He immediately reached for her arm to gently wake her. "Natasha....Natasha...Nat..Come on wake up...Nat." He said shaking her a little harder. "Nat...Nat.."

"Mmmm Nat. I like that Captain. I think you're the only one who calls me that" Her eyes opened slightly.

"You know you can't fall asleep. You got 30 minutes to go. Come on. Keep talking."

"Mmmm I don't know why..." She mumbled as she laid against Steve. He didn't know if he should keep her there or just push her away. He figured it'd be no harm as long as she stayed awake.

"You don't know why what?" He said caressing her arm.

"Why they picked me." She said softly. "I was distracted.... thinking about food. I didn't even hear them coming." Her voice drifted off as she talked. " I guess I kinda deserved it." Her voice breaking.

"No, no, no, no, no. you didn't deserve anything that happened to you." Steve said lifting her off of him, so he could look her in the eye. "That was on them. They were assholes. You would never deserve something like that."

"Alexei would disagree..." She said with her head lowered, no longer making eye contact with him.

"Who is Alexei?" He felt her tense against him as he asked.

"No one... It's ok." She said raising her head to look back him with a sad smile. "When do you think I can go bed?"

"In about 20 more minutes, ok? Just don't go to bed yet. I wanna to make sure you're ok. Talk to me about your studio. What exactly are you doing to it?"

"umm.. I'm doing some painting. I have to wax and patch up some holes and plumbing. I need an exterminator too now." She said thinking back to the two mice she saw scatter across her floor.

"You know how to do all that?" He said kinda shocked.

"Not exactly, but I'm YouTubing most of it." She said absentmindedly.

"How about a deal, Ms. Romanoff?" He asked slyly. "I can use my expertise in handyman 101 to help you get your studio up and running and in return you can give me dance and women lessons. That way, we both have a win."

Natasha smiled at him before reaching out her hand to shake his.

"Deal"

"Deal."

"How about next Saturday? I'm off on weekends."

"Sounds like a plan. Say 9 a.m.?"

"9 a.m." Natasha felt herself get excited at the thought of spending another day with the hunk.

"Ill pick you up. I live about 12 minutes from here, so it's not a big deal."

"Fine. I'll allow it, but I buy us lunch. Ok?" She said yawning.

"Alright, Nat." She leaned her head back and rested on his shoulder while she waited for her 20 minutes to pass. They engaged in small talk and before she knew it, he was standing up and she was walking him out.

"Thanks for staying with me, Cap."

"No problem, Nat. I'll see you Saturday, ok?"

"Ok." She waved bye to him and watched him drive off. She closed her doors and felt herself smile at the thought of seeing him in a week.

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Thoughts, Comments, Like. Sorry for any typos.

Steve and Nat building their foundation.

You think Steve is a cat or dog person?