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( five. revelations )

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A few days passed by and Natasha spent most of her time keeping an eye out for Steve.

That was as far as she could do.

She had fought all urge to come up and introduce herself to him. Every time he fell down during their morning runs; every time his foot gets caught on the rope and made him land on his face; and every time he flipped upside down while climbing a wall during their training—she even considered tying herself to a pole so that way it would take a great amount effort for her to go near him (not that it already wasn't).

She was thinking about all the possible scenarios in her mind every time she thought of ways of meeting him, and every single of them ended with the same thought—she couldn't.

Knowing Steve, he's not exactly the type of person that could forget someone's presence easily, especially someone as different as her.

In fact, she was actually starting to make a good impression on Dr. Erskine. She continuously impressed him by expressing her interest and knowledge about Project Rebirth. After finally telling her what Project Rebirth is all about, she finally got to catch up on what he would be referring to. She got an advantage since she did her homework on this sometime after she met Steve at the present time.

Steve Rogers had always spiked her curiosity and interest in odd ways. And after she was assigned to partner with him in SHIELD, she did a background research on him. She had studied his past, learned more about him through SHIELD's files, and all the more reason it drew her closer to him. She knew it sounded a lot like going behind his back, but she did it before she had really known him. But still, a part of her always felt ashamed of it, and she stopped as soon as she felt wrong about it.

It was also then, at the same time, that she had started having these mixed feelings for the soldier—which she was still currently having, by the way.

What the actual fuck was up with her emotions lately?

"Nurse Klein," Dr. Erskine's call got her mind out of the gutter. "I want you to meet someone."

Her ears perked up in interest as she went over to his side. When the person in call finally stepped into the room, she almost wanted the floor to eat her up.

It seems like he was thinking the same thing too, only his was less unkempt than hers.

"What the hell is she doing here?"

Dr. Erskine looked dismayed at his greeting. "Mr. Stark, I don't understand why —"

"No, you don't understand, doctor. Don't you know who she is?" He glowered at her, not caring if they were attracting attention from the other people in the room.

But Natasha wasn't going to let her cover be blown. Not now, not everything she's been through.

And she certainly wasn't going to let it be done by a Stark by all people.

"Like you know me, Mr. Stark?" she raised an eyebrow, not the least affected by his outburst.

He pointed at her accusingly. "No, don't turn this conversation around. She is a crazy woman and is completely out of her mind! Why is she even allowed to be in here?"

"Mr. Stark, please try to watch your words. Miss Klein is actually working as a nurse here. I doubt she means any harm." Erskine defended her, clearly confused by the way Howard was acting.

"You're a nurse?"

"Why? Don't you know who I am, Mr. Stark?" She mocked him, and damn it feels so satisfying to see him getting all riled up for making him eat his words. The edges of her red lips curled into a smirk.

Howard was seriously getting agitated. He shot her a glare, "Come with me."

And he was suddenly dragging her out of the room, she didn't protest though, wanting to smell the scent of defeat and anger radiating off him. Boy, was he extremely pissed at her right now.

They stopped in front of a door, and he pulls her inside with him. The first thing she noticed that this room wasn't anything near the maintenance closet they hid in, this one was spacious and huge enough to give them a comfortable distance from one another.

When he flicked on the lights, she realized that they were actually in an office, probably his.

"Alright, what's your deal?" His tone was impatient and demanding.

She narrowed her eyes at him, not really believing her ears that he had just asked her that after everything she told him when they were back at the Expo. "Did you seriously just ask me that?"

"What are you planning to do? Are you a secret spy or something?" Her shoulders tensed up at the accusation. "Shit, you're a HYDRA operative aren't you? I knew there was something fishy about you. Not only are you crazy but you're a two-faced liar too."

That was it.

Before she knew what she was doing, she had slapped him. Real hard. Hard enough to make him stumble over and staggered onto the desk behind him. He instinctively raised his hand to his cheek, looking at her like he couldn't actually believe she did such a thing.

She scowled at him, "Don't you dare act like you know me at all."

"You hit me." He said otherwise, not paying attention to what she said, "Jesus, no one hits me."

"There's a first time for everything, asshole."

She couldn't tell if he was shocked with the way she cursed like it was no big deal for her (now she could understand why Steve was so concern with their "language", apparently everyone in the forties see this as a big deal), or by the way she deliberately went on to loathe him.

"What's your problem?"

"You know exactly what's my problem."

"Oh, yeah? What, now, you're going to tell me that there's a flying unicorn waiting back at your house? That pigs can actually fly?"

Natasha was fuming, and her fists clenched so hard that her knuckles were turning white. "I am not playing games."

"Good, neither am I."

"Then why can't you just believe me?"

"What, that you're from the future?"

"Yes!"

Howard laughed dryly. "This is ridiculous."

But she wasn't going to let this go. Not this time. "Want me to prove it?"

He only raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know how one of those soldiers out there is going to be chosen as a subject for Project Rebirth?"

"What about it?"

"I bet your ass that a soldier named Steven Rogers is going to be it."

He let out a laugh, looking at her with disbelief and amusement. She felt her eye twitch and how she was tempted to smack that laugh out of his face.

"Rogers? As in Rogers shrimp?"

Her blood boiled. "Don't call him that."

"Your mind's more messed up than what I thought. Why on earth is Dr. Erskine going to risk his chances of choosing a subject that turns into a gerbil out there on the field? Do you even know what Rogers's conditions are? He's a disease all in one!"

Her eyes blazed with fury and before she knew it, she pushed him against the wall and slammed his back on it hard. Her forearm was pinning his throat, barely letting him breathe. "You don't know a damn thing about him so you better shut your mouth, Stark. Not you, nor any of those soldiers can even be half the man Steve Rogers is."

He didn't say a word in response to that.

After a few seconds, her mind finally processed what she was doing and she quickly let him go, but her glare was still fixated on him. Howard straightened up his suit, clearing his throat awkwardly and looking at her with a different expression than before—puzzlement.

Natasha didn't know what came over her. She was just so infuriated by the fact someone, and someone as low as Stark would dare speak of Steve that way. It just sounded so wrong. Even if she wasn't in any place to act that way, she felt the need to defend Steve's name.

Because even if she those words were true, she couldn't listen someone else judged Steve's capabilities based on his ailments? His sickness? It wasn't fair.

"You seem to know a lot about this guy." Howard insinuated, his voice seemingly toning down a notch, "but I've seen him around the base during their breaks, and I didn't recall seeing you getting acquainted with him even for a short while."

Her gaze softened a bit as she looked away, "I want to, believe me, I do. But I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want him to remember me, he's never supposed to."

"What?"

Any further, both his eyebrows would've already met on his face.

Natasha sighed, then lifted her wrist to show him the watch. "You said you wanted proof? Here. I came here by accident with this watch, and probably, the only chance I have to get back home."

Howard stared at it for a second, his eyes fleeting over to hers and back to the watch and to hers again. "Why didn't you just start with showing me this in the first place?" he exclaimed.

She winced, possibly knowing that he was half right, and pulled her hand back to rest it on the table behind her. "I didn't know how you'd react if you saw it, and I don't even know if telling anyone about my situation was a good idea so I tried my best to think how I'd get help without mentioning the whole 'time travel' fiasco. But seems like one way or another, it always ends up with me needing to tell the story without sounding crazy, not that you think I'm not crazy enough. And I was desperate for help so I ended up telling you."

"Yeah," He said evenly, "And that worked out great."

"I'm not in the mood for your smartass replies, Stark."

He turned his attention to the ground, his hands shoved in his pockets while he was trying to kick something invisible on the floor. The expression on his face showed he was in deep thought, probably questioning himself if he would believe her or not.

Natasha waited for him to say something.

When a few minutes passed by in silence, she tried one to ask one last time. One last time to hope that he'd help her.

"Do you believe me now?" Her voice was pleading, but she didn't care anymore. If he could help her get back home in one piece, she'll take it, no matter how much this is hurting her pride to be desperate enough to ask help from a Stark.

His answer was a few words, but it was enough to keep the hope in her chest remaining strong.

"I'll think about it."

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I'm sorry if lil' Stevie is taking so long to appear.

I promise he will soon. xD