"It's funny you called Barton's place home," she teased him.

"Well... It's kind of home, right?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I guess it feels the most like home - besides when we all lived together at the compound."

"I miss those times, everyone laughing," Steve confessed.

"Sam pranking Tony," she laughed.

"I don't miss Tony trying to scare Bruce though," he shuddered playfully.

"I really need to get my own place... or at least get out of Clint and Laura's hair," Natasha said quietly. "They've got three kids, they don't need a fourth. It's kind of hard to look for a place when I don't know what's going on right now. I'm not really in a regular groove."

"Yeah, timing's not so great for you right now," he said gently.

Steve turned the truck into a parking lot. The ice cream stand had lots of brightly colored lights and there was a small crowd waiting. They jumped out and got in line.

"What's your poison?" he asked her.

Natasha tilted her head back to look at the flavors posted above. Steve watched as the bright lights reflected off her eyes and softened the skin on her face. She looked so beautiful and happy, he could watch her like this forever but he turned away so it didn't get creepy.

"I'm thinking strawberry..." she looked back at the sign just to make sure she didn't miss anything. "Yeah, I think strawberry." She looked at Steve and asked "What about you?"

"You know, you're going to make fun of me but I really love vanilla. There's something so simple about it." He was cringing waiting to see what she'd say.

"No, no, it's a good choice. I like vanilla," she said as she smirked at him.

The line moved fast and Steve stepped up to the window. "One strawberry milkshake and one vanilla, please."

They chatted about the old ice cream stand while they waited and after a few minutes, Steve turned around with two styrofoam drink containers. "You want to go for a ride?" he nodded to the truck.

"Sure," Natasha said. "What? - are you taking me to lover's lane or something?" She joked with him but she truly was only joking. Steve made a little noise in his throat and she could tell he choked a little on his milkshake. "I was only kidding!" she laughed as she put her hand around his bicep.

Steve grinned and opened her door. "No... that wasn't what I had in mind exactly."

***

"Where in the world are we going?" Natasha asked with anticipation. They were driving slowly down a long, dark road. The windows were down slightly and she took note of the noise the tires made on the road beneath them. It sounded like there was a good bit of loose gravel.

Steve smiled to himself while watching the road through the blackened night. "Can you give me two minutes?" he asked sweetly. "We're almost there."

She sat back in her seat and sipped her milkshake. "You're such a big tease!" she laughed. "We are really in the middle of nowhere!"

"Sure, it looks that way, I guess." He turned down a gravel road which looked to Natasha to be a driveway. She could make out some light in the distance. As they got closer, she realized it was a lamp in a window.

It was an old, sturdy house with a wide front porch and white siding that had seen better days. It had a second floor with dormers, although it looked to be on the small side. There was a garage and it looked like someone was in the middle of a construction project as there was a part of the building with plywood only and no roof shingles.

"Aww, that's a cute little house," she said softly. "Whose is it?"

"You're lookin' at him," Steve grinned at her.

"What? You're kidding?!" she looked enthusiastic.

As he parked the truck near a detached garage, she looked all around, taking in the property.

"I can't believe this is yours," she muttered. "What made you do this? - and when?... when did you?" she trailed off.

They were walking away from the truck towards the house now, Steve with his shoulders up around his neck in an exaggerated shrug. "It was time, I think."

"You could knock me over with a feather right now," she admitted as she eyed up his construction project.

He watched her contently as she looked around. "I haven't really gotten around to getting all the furnishings yet," he added. He thought she truly looked shocked. "You want the tour?"

"Definitely!" she smiled.

He motioned for her to step up onto the concrete pad for the addition. "After you."

Her heels clicked on the cement as she looked around. "This is big... what's going on here?"

"I'm building a training room... I need something with higher ceilings and some space to move around. There's not a lot of room inside for work outs."

"You're doing this yourself?" she asked.

"Yeah," Steve grinned. "Is that weird?"

"I didn't know you knew how to do that... Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Been reading a lot of home improvement books," he confessed. "It's keeping me out of trouble." He walked towards the door and unlocked it to show her into the house. "This was the original side door, I figured I would just add the training room here." They stepped inside. "That goes down to the basement but there's really nothing to see down there..." he started to walk up a few stairs and into a hallway, flipping a light switch. "This is the good part."

Natasha stepped up into the hallway and looked around. It was pretty empty but the house itself had good bones. To her left was the front hallway with stairs and the front door and to her right was an empty room. "Dining room?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's what it's supposed to be. I don't have furniture yet."

"Are you keeping it a dining room?" she asked.

"You know, I don't actually have any plans about that yet. I know I'll have to pick out some furniture - I have just about nothing. I figure I will take my time with the remodeling and see where it all takes me."

Steve quieted down as he watched Natasha look around. She turned to him and smiled, patting him on the back. "This is great, I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Nat. I'm like a real adult now," he laughed.

They walked through the dining room and into the kitchen... the very desperate kitchen. "This room needs a lot of work," he confirmed. "As soon as the outside of the house is finished, I think this is where I'll start next. Although at least there's a table in here."

He took her through another doorway into a tiny hallway with a pantry and a closet which led to the living room. There sat an old beat up brown plaid couch, which Natasha estimated to be from the early 80's. "It came with the house. It's not much for now but it's somewhere to sit... I am usually just working when I'm here anyway," Steve said. "This room's going to be a lot of work. I want to work on the fireplace, I have a lot of ideas for that."

Natasha looked around the room and tried to picture it differently.

"I'm talking too much," Steve said. "Sorry, I'm kind of excited."

"No, you're not talking too much. Not at all," she reassured. "I bet this is all really going to be something when you're finished."

"I'm glad you have faith in me," he laughed. "Some days I wonder if I bit off more than I can chew." He started walking towards the front hallway again and turned around to look at her, motioning his head towards the stairway. "Come on, let me show you upstairs."

Steve felt his nerves waver momentarily as he walked up the stairs in front of her. He knew what was coming and he felt awkward about it...

"Here's the bathroom," he said as he held out his hand for her to walk in first.

"The clawfoot tub is amazing. This room looks like it's done," she said. It had a new shower curtain up, all the tile was in good shape and the paint looked recent.

"Yeah, it pretty much is - the guy who owned the house before had planned to remodel everything. He got this room into pretty good shape. He said he just didn't have the time to keep going because he and his wife had a new baby. Lucky for me it's done because it's the only bathroom."

They checked out the two smaller bedrooms, one of them was obviously where he was sleeping, before he showed her what was clearly the master bedroom, based on size alone. There was no furniture in the master bedroom.

He watched Natasha for her reaction to the room. She had a neutral look on her face so he prodded a bit. "Do you like the paint color?"

"It's nice, very warm and soft... I guess this is what they call greige...?"

Okay, positive reaction... that's good, Steve thought. He walked over to the closet door and opened it.

"Pretty big closet, too," he pointed out. "And when it's light outside, this room has a great view."

Natasha walked up to the large window and tried to peer out into the night but she couldn't see much of anything. "This will make a nice master for you," she said enthusiastically.

"Well," he said slowly, "actually I have a question for you."

Natasha suddenly felt the hairs on her arms stand up. She was not sure where he was going with this.

"...and you don't have to answer right away. I have an idea that might help you out," he paused. She tilted her head slightly and looked at him, just waiting. He started to move around and use his hands and she thought maybe he was nervous because he didn't usually do that.

"You said you need a place to go... I was wondering if you might want to live here? ...You know, for a little while until you figure things out. There's plenty of room."

"Oh?" Her voice sounded surprised and relieved. "Wow, Steve, that's... that's really nice of you."

He was quiet for a second and she could see his mind working on something. "I hope that's not too forward," he said. "I didn't want to come off like..." he trailed off as he tried to find the words. In his head, he kept hearing Sam's voice saying "get in your pants" as he'd heard him say many times before.

"Steve," she interrupted his train of thought and looked at him sincerely, "that's very sweet. I didn't take it that way at all." She bridged the gap between them and gave him a hug. "I think I know you well enough to know that wasn't what you were insinuating."

"Good," he sighed as he gave her back a little rub. "Why don't you think about it for a while? See if it feels right to you."

"Okay," she said. "I promise I will think about it."

Steve looked at his watch. "It's getting pretty late, I should probably get you back. It's going to be past 2 am when we get there."

She nodded.

"I'm not going to get an arrow through me when we pull up to the house, am I?" he joked.

She stifled a yawn and covered her mouth. "Most likely not."

"Gonna make it?" he asked sweetly.

"I'm so so sorry, I haven't been sleeping well since the accident. This is not normally early for me."

"I'm not offended, Nat. I won't even be offended if you want to rest your eyes on the way back." He gave her shoulder a little squeeze and they started to walk out of the room.

As Steve locked the door outside, Natasha watched him. "This is where you were going to meet me tomorrow, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, it was," he turned around to walk to her. "But we don't have to meet now since you already saw it." He looked disappointed.

She thought for a second. "Well, we still could. Do you need help with anything? I'd be happy to help... Plus, I wouldn't mind seeing it in the daylight."

"Actually, yeah, that would be great. I do have something I could use some help with." He put his hand on the small of her back as they walked to the truck.

Steve was quiet on the way back to Clint's house; he wanted Natasha to get some rest. She was quiet too but she did not fall asleep on the long ride. Truthfully, she was happy to sit next to Steve, even quietly, for two hours. She knew she would sleep well tonight.

Natasha had Steve stop the truck right when they turned into the driveway so the noise wouldn't wake any of the Bartons up. "...Although I know you're going to sit here until you see me get into the house," she'd said, teasing him lightly.

"Oh you know me so well...? I'm going to walk you over," he smiled at her.

Steve got out of his side without closing the door as she slipped out her side and shut her door quietly. Her spy skills came in very handy at times like this. She walked around to meet him at the front of the truck and held out her hand for him to hold. Steve's chest got a warm sensation because he realized Natasha is not the hand holding type. But they'd both admit tonight that it just felt natural.

He looked down at her and studied her tired face. She looked over to give him a warm grin and she whispered, "You planned a really nice night, Steve."

Steve shrugged subtly, not knowing what to say... or not wanting to say what he wanted to say... which was to say that he'd waited too long to ask her, to plan it, to let himself go and feel the way he wanted to feel and act around her... to tell her he'd do anything for her.

"That was fun," he said, his eyes sparking ever so slightly. Natasha didn't think he looked tired at all.

Nevertheless, she said, "It's so late. Are you going to be okay driving back?" She already knew he was fine and he could persevere through tired, she'd seen him do way more on missions. But she really didn't want to let go of his hand and let him leave.

"I'm fine... you're the one who needs some sleep." He laughed, "Especially if you're going to be my little helper tomorrow."

"The house is really great, Steve." She stopped walking and turned her body towards him. She didn't want to walk anymore, she wanted to say goodnight to him and thank him.

She rubbed her thumb along the side of his hand as she held it... hoping he could tell the way she felt about him by just that small gesture. He turned to her, his arm brushing the sleeve of her sweater, which was just hanging over her shoulders. The sweater slipped off onto the ground and Steve bent down to get it. As he stood back up, he looked up into her face and the thought popped back into his head...

He hadn't planned on kissing her at all tonight. Not on the first date.

Then again, Natasha was an old friend. It wasn't the same as going on a date with just anyone else.

He reached around her with both arms to replace the sweater on her shoulders, his forearms brushing against her. He took note of how the feel of his sleeve fabric pressed against his arm with her body heat on the other side. He was close to her now but not close enough.

Natasha reached her hands out for his waist and grasped with her fingers until she found just the right spot to pull him closer. He unclutched the front of the sweater and moved his left hand to the top of her back and his right hand explored the place where her hairline met her neck, where it was warm from having her hair lay on top of it. Before he'd thought about it, his face was near hers and he felt his nose brush her cold nose. "Natasha, I..." he started to say but then his lips were on hers.

He pulled her to him slowly and when she felt him do that, she moved her hands from his waist to his lower back and she pulled closer with a quick motion. Natasha's senses were racing, trying to process the softness of his lips in contrast with the slight roughness of his skin. Her fingers pressed into his back feeling muscle and heat through his shirt. All she wanted was to find her fingers on skin with nothing between them and his back.

Their mouths were moving in a hypnotic rhythm and she wanted to explore his mouth more but the sudden remembrance that they were standing in Clint's driveway hit her. Steve's lips started to press more urgently as he focused on her bottom lip. Natasha smiled as he kissed her and pulled back just a little.

"I'm sorry," he laughed a little as he took a small step back. "It's not like I'm going off to war."

The little twinkle in his eyes made her realize this heat was going to get hard to contain... and real fast.

"At ease, Soldier," she joked. "I'm going to see you tomorrow," she said and stepped even further back before sneaking in one more quick kiss on his lips.

Steve slowly let go as she started to walk away. He put his hands in his pockets and watched her go, trying to catch every detail of her. At about ten feet away, she turned around and mouthed "thank you" to him and he nodded. She gave a wave when she reached the front door and he returned it before taking a deep breath and walking back to his truck.

How the hell am I supposed to sleep now? He wondered as he smiled to himself. Rogers, you'll see her again in like eight and a half hours...

He wasn't sure how they'd gone from not speaking at all to not being able to get enough of each other in the time span of a few short days. He didn't care, he was just happy to have her back.