Hold On to the Nights || Romanogers AU

Chapter 11

A couple of days after Natasha was officially offered the position of caretaker to the Rogers Family, Steve wasted no time in inviting her to a picnic event held at his childhood park. It was one of those parks where you could take your dog off the leash and let them roam around an area called "dog city." Steve remembered going there with his parents often when they were a family unit.

Natasha noticed driving into the parking lot wasn't crowded. That was odd, normally on Sundays parks were packed with families and pets from the morning to sundown. Not that she knew this park all too well. She sensed that it was very close and personal to Steve so she found it hard to say no. Also considering this would be her first day on the job she wanted to be punctual.

The ice cream truck chimed its music as soon as she began walking up the small hill toward the swing set. Natasha looked around for Steve and Maggie; instead, she found a group of single dads sitting together. She knew they were single by the way they kept one eye on their daughters and the other on their conversations. Married men wouldn't be so attentive.

She wondered what it was like for Steve being a single dad. She couldn't help but be curious about his story, what happened between him and his ex. But she was sure that was the last thing he wanted to talk about. If she was him, she'd probably want to move as far away from all the drama as possible.

"Natasha!" she heard her name being called from a distance.

She stared in the direction of the voice calling to her and spotted Steve and Maggie playing with each other. He was running after her and she was playing a game of hiding and seek. Natasha smiled and waved, making the rest of the way to where they were playing.

She watched Steve catch Maggie in his arms; she'd never seen that much laughing came out of a small girl. Such power on her lungs, reminding her of little girls in a giggle fit. All she could do was watch until Steve made eye contact with her and gave a big kiss to his daughter, picking her up in his arms. She squirmed when she jumped out and ran in the other direction.

Natasha smiled and shook her head, Maggie clearly was in her own little world, Natasha felt like she was intruding. That was until Steve stepped closer to her, she could smell the musky scent of his cologne fanning her nose. He was wearing a crisp light blue buttoned-down collar shirt, he looked dashing like he just stepped out of the '50s. It was hard to believe he was a father, he still looked young, and the stress hadn't gone to him much, only the slightly shaded circles under his eyes. It was clear he worked harder than anyone and Natasha wanted to make things easier for him.

"Hey...we were waiting up for you. Did you eat yet?" Steve's question shook her away from her staring.

She shook her head. "No," she looked between Steve and Maggie, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, Mags has been good today so I told her after we eat we can go get ice cream."

Maggie stopped running and charged toward Steve as he held out his arms. "We're getting ice cream now?!"

Steve rolled his eyes and mini-wrestled with his daughter as he knelt down to her level.

"Actually, I was thinking we could all go for a bite to eat now and ice cream later, how's that sound?" Steve looked between Natasha and Maggie.

Maggie looked upward, appearing to be thinking, "Promise, Daddy?"

"I promise, let's go." He gave her a quick hug and kiss and stood up as Natasha shied away from them as she walked with them back to the parking lot.

Maggie was so enthusiastic she got a head start and ran toward where Steve's car was parked.

Steve used this small window of time for chit-chat.