Love's New Hope

Just Another Mission

Steve checked his watch again for the tenth time in the last two minutes. Natasha was late, which wasn't like her. He was waiting by the quinjet in an abandoned field, hoping to keep the fact that Natasha was coming back a secret. He hadn't told the rest of the team that his backup was Natasha because he wanted to make sure that Natasha was going to be sticking around for a while.

"Hey, Cap!" A cheerful voice called out.

"Romanoff. You're late." He commented as they climbed into the plane.

Natasha shrugged. "The later the party the more fun, right? And it's not Romanoff anymore, Rogers."

Steve chuckled. "Stubborn as ever."

"So what's the hit? You were a little lax on details."

Steve shrugged as he got the plane started. "We're initiating a raid against an old HYDRA facility. There's information we need off the hard drive."

"And after we get that?"

"We blow it to smithereens." Steve replied grimly.

"Well this should be fun."
*
"When you said this would be fun," Steve commented as he blocked another barrage of bullets. "This is not what I had in mind."

Natasha smirked from her place at the computer console as she whipped her gun out and shot four of the goons. "I don't know, Cap. This is a lot of fun for me."

"Yeah, well are you almost done?" Steve asked, throwing his shield into the cluster of men, bending slightly under the force of the returning shield.

"Almost....... there done." Natasha pulled out her thumb drive and tucked it into one of the compartments on her belt. "So if you want to clear the way, now would be a great time to do it."

Steve playfully glared at her as they fought their way out of the facility. "This is just like old times." He commented later, right after they had heard the explosion from inside the base as they flew off in the quinjet.

"It was, wasn't it?" Natasha said, smiling.

"You really missed that, didn't you?" Steve asked her, eyeing his adopted sister.

Natasha blushed ever so slightly. "As much as I hate to admit it, yeah I did miss this. The excitement of the chase, the pride on a successful mission...." she trailed off, not sure what she wanted to say next.

Steve nodded. "I know what you mean. We've been doing this for so long, it's just kind of hard to do something else for a long period of time."

Natasha nodded her agreement before sighing a little. "But until James has made it back on his feet completely, I don't feel comfortable leaving him alone for long periods of time."

Steve smiled slightly. "Do you regret marrying him?"

"No, no, nothing like that!" Natasha assured him. "I just miss some of the action I used to see."

"Well, there's always a place for you at the Avengers." Steve told her warmly.

Natasha smiled a little. "I know. I just don't know that I can work with you guys knowing that I'm married to the guy that Tony hates."

Steve sighed. "Yeah. I've been trying to get him to let go of that, but I honestly don't think that he's going to be able to."

"Well you know my conditions. No James, no Natasha."

Steve grinned. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Are you coming over tonight?" Natasha asked, changing the subject.

Steve shrugged. "I was just going to have a quiet night at home, but if you guys don't mind..."

"Of course we don't mind!" Natasha told him. "James has been itching to go see you."

"Nice to be appreciated." Steve said matter of factly.

"Less appreciated and more 'if I don't check in with that punk frequently he's gonna do something stupid like putting his plane in the water.' Sound familiar?" Natasha teased.

Steve laughed. "Ok, yeah I deserve that."

"Yes you do." Natasha said smiling, enjoying the company of her adopted brother. She had the feeling that everything between Tony and Bucky was going to turn out just fine.
*
Hey guys! Sorry that this is such a short chapter, but I had to have my appendix out yesterday, so I'm not really up to writing more right now. I'll try to write a longer chapter in a few days when I'm more up to it.

Have a great day!