After landing at a private, secluded air strip in Pennsylvania, they were greeted by Maria Hill, who quickly ushered them onto a helicopter.

"You don't know how glad I am to see you guys," she said as the helicopter raised off the ground.

"I'm sorry it's not better circumstances," Steve said.

During the short ride, Maria prepped them with brand new information that had been gathered. She told them they were going to land in Virginia and go straight to a hotel to get started. It had been arranged that they would not have to check in. Maria had done anything possible to not let them be seen.

Walking through the hall of the 8th floor of the hotel, the team was silent. Steve watched as his feet hit the patterned carpet over and over. It was rhythmic and it distracted him from thinking about how uncomfortable this all was.

Maria rapped on a door and said "Did you order room service?" They all realized she was using a code for whoever was on the other side of the door.

The door opened and there stood Clint. He quickly ushered them inside and held a finger to his lips, pointing out Natasha with a headset pressed to her ear. As Clint finished closing the door behind them, Steve reached out to shake his hand and leaned in to whisper "Clint. Glad to see you."

Clint whispered back "It's good to see you too. I think your buddy's been missing you, she's been a little off."

Steve realized that Clint had meant Natasha had missed him. He felt a wave of heat wash over his skin as he looked over at her, sitting there in a black t-shirt and jeans, her newly blond hair pulled back into a ponytail and one of her knees pulled up into the chair with her. Just then she looked up from the tablet she'd been furiously scribbling in and smiled at him with raised eyebrows. She pointed at her own chin questioningly and mouthed "beard?" Steve shrugged and laughed silently to himself and looked away so she wasn't distracted from listening to her headset.

Natasha put up her index finger to everyone to signal that she was almost finished. After a few seconds passed, she took off the headset and said "I think that's all the chatter for now. Hey everyone." She looked around the room. "I think we have their location nailed down."

They talked and got caught up for a few minutes and were about to get to the business of planning their attack when there was another knock at the door. Clint motioned for everyone to step back so they wouldn't be seen from the door and he put on a baseball hat backwards. He looked through the peep hole and then opened the door partially. It was a pizza delivery man. Clint tipped him and took no less than ten pizzas from him and he stepped back in to start closing the door with his foot. "Dinner is served, gang."

"Excuse me," said a familiar voice from the hallway as Clint was closing the door. Everyone realized it was Vision. Clint stepped back and a hand opened the door wider.

"HOLY CRAP," Clint said and his mouth fell open. As Vision stepped inside the room, he was dressed in street clothes and he was... human. He was a blond human with skin.

"HOLY SHIT," Natasha uttered as gasps were heard from around the room and Sam shook his head and said "Damn."

Wanda's eyes widened and she quickly stood up from where she was sitting on a bed and walked to him with her arms out. She started to say hello to him when a different voice came from the doorway. "Were you trying to start the party without me?"

Tony walked into the room and past Wanda and Vision, past Clint, looking at everyone. "What's with all the faces?" he asked. "Oh, is it Malibu Vision over there? That's just a little something we've been working on to help him blend in." Tony walked to Steve and held out a hand, "Cap."

"Tony, good to see you," Steve said as he shook Tony's hand and nodded.

Tony walked down the line, shaking everyone's hand until he got to Scott and he looked at everyone else and said "Who the hell is this?"

"I'm Scott," Scott said. "I'm Antman... Antman? You know Antman?" Tony clearly got to Scott quickly. Exactly what Tony had wanted.

"Come on, Scott, let's eat," Clint said as he walked past Scott carrying the pizzas. The others followed but Tony walked towards Steve.

"Steve... sidebar?" He motioned his head towards the door.

Steve nodded and followed him out into the hallway.

Tony looked around to see if anyone was watching or listening. He sighed and looked serious. "It's good to see you, Steve." It came out of his mouth more honestly than anything Steve had ever heard him say.

"Tony, I'm..."

"No, it's okay. It really is. You apologized already. I just wanted to tell you that I've been working on it." He started to look around and fidget in true Tony form. "I'm trying to process it all and put it behind me. I think working with the kid has brought out a better side of me."

"Good for you, Tony," Steve said genuinely.

"Pepper thinks I..."

"You're back together with Pepper?" Steve interrupted.

"Yeah," Tony sighed. "She thinks it's good for me to work with him."

"I've seen him all over the news," Steve added. "He's been doing great things."

Tony nodded. "So are you back, Grizzly Adams? I assume you were... elsewhere?"

"Well," Steve looked around, "that's... TBD."

Tony held his hand out for Steve to shake it. "I'm not going to stick around," he said. "They're waiting for me over at the White House. Would you have Romanoff send me what she has?"

Steve nodded. Tony started to walk away.

"Tony," he called out, "I'm glad to hear about Pepper."

"She's a saint," Tony smiled as he turned to walk away.

Back inside the large hotel room, pizza boxes were strewn about and it was noisier than before. It seemed meeting up and having a feeding frenzy had lightened everyone's mood. Natasha was walking near the door, opening a soda when he walked in. She handed him a paper plate. "Fill'er up, Buddy." She smiled at him and he returned the smile with a hug.

"Glad to see you, Nat," he said.

"Where's your baby face?" she asked as she reached up to squeeze his chin playfully.

"You don't like the beard?" he asked.

"Not used to it, I guess," she said.

"It's pretty itchy," he laughed.

"Eat up, Rogers. We've got a lot of work to do tonight," she added as she shuffled over to a free spot on the couch.

***

After the ten boxes of pizza were empty, and they'd been working on a plan for a few hours, it was getting later into the night. They had enough information that they were confident they knew where the operation was based. Sam and Clint went out to do some surveillance. Wanda and Vision disappeared. Maria left the room to take a phone call. Steve, Natasha, and Scott were still gathered around the table making notes. It had been a long day and it wasn't over. Tomorrow wasn't looking any better.

"Someone's had enough fun," Natasha whispered as she looked over at Scott, who had fallen asleep sitting up in his chair.

Steve took the sweatshirt off the back of Scott's chair and covered him with it. "Poor guy, he's exhausted."

"You should be too," Natasha said.

"I'm okay," Steve said. "What else do we need to do yet?"

"I think we're good," she said as she smiled and laid her hand on his forearm, getting up from the table to stretch. She moved her head back and forth to stretch her neck and her face grimaced a bit.

"You okay?" he asked, his face sliding into concern.

"Nothing that won't go away here soon," she said as she stifled a yawn.

He patted the seat of her chair. "Come on, sit down for a minute."

She sat and Steve stood up to move behind her, rubbing his hands together to warm them up. Then he started to rub her neck and shoulders.

Natasha breathed a sigh of relief as she closed her eyes. "You've got a pretty good touch there, big guy." She was surprised how gentle he was but she shouldn't have been. He'd touched her plenty of times before.

He stood there and continued to press into her shoulders gently and quietly. He wasn't sure what to say now that he was standing there touching her and he realized how much he was comfortable touching her and having her to himself.

Natasha laid her head back and pressed her cheek into his hand, looking up at him. "So what have you guys been up to without me?"

Her cheek was warm on his hand and her ponytail tickled his arm. Suddenly, a little flutter went through his chest. He got the idea maybe he should lean down and kiss her.

A light knock came from the door and Maria's head poked in the room. She looked at Scott, who was now lightly snoring with his mouth open and his head hung back. "I think I'll take him down to his room," Maria said with a little smirk.

"I got him," Steve said and laid a hand on Scott's shoulder. "Scott?"

Nothing.

"Scott?" Steve shook his shoulder a little bit.

"What?" He mumbled and then sat up straight looking at all three of them. "Oh, sorry."

"Come on, I'll walk you to your room," Steve said.

"He's in 830," Maria added. "And here, take these SHIELD suits, you'll need them in the morning."

"I'm going too," Natasha yawned, "I'm right next to you. We have adjoining rooms."

Steve and Natasha walked Scott to his room and continued on to their rooms.

"So I guess I'll meet you out here at 5?" he asked.

"Bright and early," she said. She started to open her door and she stepped back. "Rogers?"

"Yeah?"

"It's good to have you home," she smiled. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Nat."

***

No more than 2 hours had gone by when Natasha heard Steve moving around on the squeaky bed through the thin walls. A minute later and the tv turned on. She hadn't slept yet herself but she walked quietly to the adjoining door and opened it, knocking on his side softly and whispering "Steve?"

She heard him shuffling around and then the door opened. "Hey, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"No, you didn't, I was awake," her voice became concerned. "You're sweating like crazy, are you okay?" She pressed her hand against his cheek. "You don't have a fever, do you?"

He rubbed his eyes and sighed. "No, just a nightmare." He opened the door wider. "Want to watch some tv?"

"Yeah... okay." She headed to the bed and sat down and he joined her.

"There is nothing on," he said as he handed her the remote. "Do you want to look?"

She took the remote control and starting changing the channels until she found Forensic Files. Steve raised his eyebrows at her. "Trust me," she said, "I fall asleep to this all the time. There's something oddly soothing about the narrator's voice." She looked over at him again. "Aww, Steve, you look exhausted - no offense."

He laughed a little bit and shifted his body downward into a laying position.

She held out her hands. "Come here."

"Nat, I'm sweaty. You don't wanna..."

"Come here, Steve."

Natasha moved her leg behind him and he leaned back against her. She pressed his head to her chest. Truthfully, he was a little heavy on her but she didn't mind. She started running her fingers through his hair and lightly scratching his scalp.

He let out a little sigh as he adjusted his position. He could hear her heart beating. Not sure how to process the information that he was in bed with her and leaning against her chest while she was in a tank top, he just decided to think nothing of it and enjoy the closeness with his friend.

His eyes were closed and he had forgotten all about the nightmare ...because there was so much to distract him. Without moving or opening his eyes, he said "Nat, if I fall asleep like this, you're going to be stuck."

She continued to paw at his hair. "There are worse places to be stuck."

He sighed contently as his eyelids grew heavier. "You're too good to me," he mumbled.

"Do you need to talk about the nightmare?" she asked, half whispering.

Steve tried not to look alarmed at the question but the nightmare had once again involved Natasha and he just didn't want to go there. "It was the Bucky one again," he whispered.

"Okay," she said, leaning her head down onto the top of his. "It's okay."

When Steve was very still, she realized he was asleep and she didn't dare move a muscle except to keep her fingers going on his hair and neck. She needed sleep as much as he did but she couldn't help but want to take care of him. Holding him close to her didn't feel odd. In fact, maybe it was a little too comfortable... Being part of the Avengers had ripped down some of her walls. Some walls she didn't want to rebuild. Her friendship with Steve was one of the good, solid things in her life and as the years went by, she realized she valued it more and more.

Natasha leaned down and kissed the side of his head just to see what it would be like. She got chills when her lips touched his hair, she liked the way he smelled. She leaned back into the pillows and focused on the tv, continuing to lightly scratch his head and neck.

***

Steve's eyes opened slowly and he began to be aware of music playing very low, a late night infomercial still playing from the tv being left on. He was processing his surroundings.

Little surfer, little one

Made my heart come all undone

Do you love me, do you Surfer Girl?...

He was laying on his side with his head on Natasha's thigh, his arms wrapped around her thigh. She was also slightly turned onto her side. He looked down to his chest where her small hands and arms were resting on him like she was hugging his neck from behind and it made him smile.

He reached up to lay his hand on hers. "Nat?" He waited. "Nat? Wake up, honey..."

She made some incoherent noises that reminded him of a small forest creature. He started to roll over and climb off the bed, taking a quick look at the time. He sat down next to her and turned to brush hair off her face before he leaned in close to her and said softly "Time to wake up, babe. It's 4:15."

Natasha's eyes opened and she slowly smiled at Steve. "Good morning," she laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.

Even waking up first thing in the morning, she could make his heart do a flip.

"That was the best few hours of sleep I've had in ages," he grinned.

"Me too, actually." She sat up and swung her legs over the bed to sit next to him. "I guess I better go shower," she said as she patted his thigh and got up.

"Nat... thanks," he said as the corners of his mouth started to turn up.

***

At 4:55 am, Steve stepped out into the hotel hallway fully dressed in a black SHIELD swat suit, complete with the black baseball hat. It wasn't the same as the Captain America uniform he wore before but it was something to wear into battle, nonetheless. It wasn't an ordinary day where you tried to stop terrorists from delivering bombs and destroying our nation's capital.

He leaned against the wall, waiting for Natasha. Clint was walking down the hallway towards him when Natasha's door opened up and she walked out, both of them also dressed like Steve. Steve handed Natasha a protein bar as they all started quietly for the stairwell. Clint tilted his head sideways and looked at Steve as if to say "What am I missing here?" Steve just shook his head no to Clint.

After exiting the back entrance into an alley, they were met by Maria who ushered them quickly into one of the four large black SUV's waiting for everyone. Inside, it was quiet and it stayed that way while they waited. Minutes later, the door opened and Sam climbed inside. Outside the SUV, they could hear Scott asking Maria "Did Captain America tuck me in last night?"

A few short minutes later and the driver was pulling out of the alley, following caravan-style. They were headed only 20 miles away to a warehouse where the bombs had been built and were just waiting to be delivered. Today was pickup day.

***

The drivers turned off their headlights blocks away from the warehouse. It was still fairly dark but it was about to be lighter every minute that passed. The warehouse was in a business neighborhood, thankfully not many civilians would be nearby because of the incredibly early hour of the day.

The SUV's parked a block away from the warehouse and the team, which also included SHIELD swat members, exited the vehicles and started dispersing on foot.

Wanda and Clint stationed themselves on top of the parking garage across the street. Tony, Vision, Sam and now also Rhodey were waiting on top of other rooftops closeby. Steve and Natasha joined the SHIELD team on foot at street level. The sky was lighting up just enough so they could see what was going on safely when the team broke through all the doors. Thunderous noises streamed from the warehouse as doors were broken and shots were fired. Not many of the terrorists made it out of the building but the men who tried to escape came face to face with Steve and Natasha, who took them down one by one. The fight went on less than ten minutes before the SHIELD team started bringing men outside in handcuffs. No one could believe that there weren't more men inside and that the takedown went off without a hitch. It seems the Avengers may not have been needed after all.

Maria's voice came over the comms, "I'm being told the warehouse is nearly clear. Homeland Security and local jurisdictions arriving momentarily."

That was their cue to get out of Dodge. Maria had previously warned them they'd need to remove themselves from the situation as quickly as possible once things were taken care of. SHIELD had asked for their help but didn't want them getting caught.

Steve and Natasha ran quickly along the warehouse to get to safety and get out of there. He felt free again and turned to smile at her. "Where do we go now?" he asked.

"Ever been on a vacation?" she asked.

"No... never. Should we..."

A loud thunderous boom rang out just then. The ripple went through his body and sent him to the ground as debris piled up on top of him. He realized Natasha had been no more than a foot behind him. He began moving his limbs, trying to free himself. The dust was instant and thick and he could not make visual contact with her or anything else. His earpiece chimed, "Cap, Nat, do you read me?" It was Clint reaching out to them. "Still digging out," Steve said firmly, gritting his teeth. No answer came from Natasha. He began to move faster. Clint was still talking into his ear but he wasn't listening. He needed to find his partner and fast. He found himself outside the debris suddenly and realized the side of the building had fallen onto them. He began to move brick and concrete at a rapid pace. Suddenly he saw what he feared the most, there was one of Natasha's legs. He moved more debris and was finally able to see her fully.

Natasha laid on the ground, her body contorted but silent and still. He looked around quickly to see what kind of danger they were in and made the split second decision to pick her up and move her to safety, praying that she had no spinal injuries. He looked up to the roof line and made eye contact with Clint and Wanda who both nodded at him.

He swiftly moved Natasha to the first level of the nearby parking garage and laid her down. He checked her vitals. She was not breathing. He pressed his ear piece and calmly rattled off "Assistance needed at 7th and Wynnfield, main level of the parking garage. Agent down and unresponsive. Beginning CPR."

Then Steve began chest compressions and breathing for her. Natasha's body remained lifeless. Fear started to build up in his own chest as he continued trying to save her.

Wanda emerged from the stairwell behind Steve at that moment to let him know the SHIELD medic team was seconds away. They may not have had support from the world's governments but SHIELD still had their backs. Wanda watched Steve perform CPR and he looked very focused and serious, but she could feel his fear. His emotions were more raw than Wanda could have imagined, he always hid it well.

The medic team quickly moved in and took over CPR, Steve stood no more than a foot away now, covered in a thick dusting.

"The location is not secure," he told the medics. They hesitantly began arranging her on a stretcher to get her to safety. He still didn't see her breathing but he was suddenly aware of some of her other obvious external injuries. At that moment, he was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to take his eyes off Natasha for a split second. He saw that it was Clint behind him.

"She's going to be okay," Clint said comfortingly. "Nat's tough."

"She is," Steve confirmed, although he had to convince himself more than Clint.

"Steve, we're secure for the time being," Clint said. "The few terrorist survivors have run off, they must have been hiding somewhere. Tony and the others are staying on them." Clint paused, not knowing how to approach Steve in a situation like this. "You might want to get that looked at," he motioned to Steve's right side. Steve looked down and noticed a discolored area on his now grayed uniform; red blood on his side. Steve nodded and looked to the medics carrying Natasha away. One of them waved him over. Steve limped off quickly to catch up.