A Love Like No Other

Chapter nineteen

Narrator POV :

Natasha sighed, not ready to deal with the issue.
"Do we really have to? We could just wait a few more hours, call them and tell them everything's fine." she said, with a shrug.

Steve couldn't help but roll his eyes at her and said "I think you forgot the part where Wanda can read minds."

"But-" started Nat, but Steve cut her off, determined to have the conversation.

"Oh, come on! Just stop arguing already. We nearly got the whole team injured during our last mission so yes, we do need to talk"

"Fine..." she at last let out.

During the few minutes that followed, nobody talked, both looking for the right words to express what they were feeling, to be heard and understood.

"Sorry" Steve eventually said.

"What?"

"I'm sorry"

"For what?" asked Nat, confused.

"Because it's my fault. This whole thing is my fault. It all started when I told you about my feelings for you."

His words were first followed by silence, Natasha still reluctant to talk.

"No, it's not. It's mine too. We both handled things badly." she finally answered.

"Still, I shouldn't have dropped that on you like that. After we kissed, I just thought..." Steve sighed, shook his head and added "Anyway... Obviously, I was wrong and now we're stuck in a freaking cell."

Nat didn't know what to do. Seeing Steve like that, blaming himself when she was the one to blame... it was breaking her heart. She was the one who lied. She caused him pain, she hurt them both.
She wanted to tell him the truth though. She was about to. But then, she started thinking about that other woman. The one she saw with Steve at the coffee shop. The one that could be everything that Steve needed and deserved and she just shut up and released a sigh instead.

Once again, the room was filled with nothing but silence for while, until Steve suddenly said "I do have one question though."

"Hmm?"

"Why are you mad at me?"

"What do you mean?" said Nat, trying to feign confusion.

"We both know why I stopped spending time with you. I mean, barely talking to you and avoiding you, even during missions was maybe a bit too much but I did tell you that I needed time and space. And you seemed to understand that. But recently, I've noticed that you're also trying to stay away from me. You even stopped listening to orders during missions, Nat. What changed?"

She didn't answer and looked away, and by doing so, convinced Steve that she was hiding something.

"Nat"

"Nothing"

"Natasha, tell me. Please."

"Steve, let it go."

"No. I want to know. It has something to do with our encounter at the coffee shop the other day, doesn't it? That's when you started acting that way."

"Just forget about it. I'm not mad at you."

"I know you and you definitely are mad at me. Or at least, you were. And I deserve to know why, so just say it. Why did you run away that day? I called after you but you just kept running."
Nat was still looking away but her eyes landed on his as soon as Steve added "I wanted to go after you but couldn't because I was waiting for someone."