Hello Captain (Steve Rogers)

The Show Must Go On

September 2012
Sarah's POV

It was a beautiful fall day outside and I was going to have to spend it on a plane. Natasha and I were going to France first and then on to Kiev for another deep cover mission as dancers, part of the Kiev ballet troupe that routinely performed for the Siberian heads of the Ten Rings. While we'd neutralized a large portion of the Middle Eastern Ring leaders, more had popped up to take their place. We needed to identify them and tag them for cleanup after we had exited stage left.

We'd been working with a New York ballet master to brush up on our ballet skills. I had never studied ballet as intensively as I did now and had progressed markedly over the past month. Natasha was an amazing dancer who had only needed a teacher to critique and refine her techniques. By the time we were leaving for our mission, our teacher was begging us to audition for the New York City Ballet. Natasha was quite amused by that offer and finally told me that she had danced for the renowned Bolshoi Ballet when she was very young, before she entered the Black Widow program.

"How lowering to be asked to join the NYC Ballet, then!" I scoffed.

"To be fair, that was back in the 40's and 50's. I haven't danced that rigorously since then. At my age, I should be in a wheelchair, not en pointe. I have a lot of years left in me, as do you. You can't tell me you haven't wondered about all you can accomplish when you age like we do."

"We don't know that for certain. Thanks to the serum I was given in vitro, my development was greatly accelerated, so while I reached my full physical growth earlier than I would have otherwise, I don't know that the trend won't continue, causing me to age prematurely."

"I see. Steve and I were both already adults when we were given our serums, halting our aging instead of accelerating it. You have grown up with it. Do you want children, Sarah?" Natasha was looking at me closely, an inscrutable expression on her beautiful face.

"Maybe someday. I'm only 18, Nat." I shrugged, not having really thought that through. "I don't want them right now. Steve hasn't said anything and I've never asked him, but Jace and I think he does want kids. In his time, a man his age would be settling down and having a family."

"I'm glad that he and Jace have become friends," Natasha said, smiling softly and I knew her thoughts were with Jace. "I know it's not the same as having Bucky back, but in a way, he still needs that connection."

"I think so too. They really hit it off right away. We have three way conversations a lot when we're both there and he calls."

I smiled, thinking about the last time Jace had called and Steve was in the same room. It had turned into a planning session for a Labor Day party since I was probably going to be gone until almost then.

"So how are things with Steve?"

"Good," I said, feeling my cheeks flame. "Very good."

*           *                         

We touched down in Paris in one of Tony's private jets. A car was waiting to take us to drop off our bags before going to meet our contact at the studio. Agent Ivanova was going to be coming with us and wanted to see what we could do before we went on to Kiev to meet up with the rest of the troupe. We got changed and went to go warm up. I turned on my warm-up playlist and went through the moves, losing myself in the motion.

Natasha joined me, having watched me enough to learn the sequence, smiling in appreciation for this quirk of mine. It was efficient and focused me on what was to follow. We finished the routine, sinking into splits as the music faded. I heard clapping coming from the doorway and looked over to see a beautiful blonde watching us, her dance bag slung over one shoulder.