A/N: Nosebleed fluff alert~

Steve and Natasha finally stop running from the truth and bare their feelings for each other.

Early in the morning, Wanda heard a sound on the bed across from her perch and she turned to the redhead who was now awake and sitting up. "Good morning, Natasha."

"Oh, Wanda. Good morning." She yawned and stretched her body, feeling grateful for such a good night's sleep.

"How do you feel?"

"Mm, like I'm in control of my faculties again."

Wanda smiled. "I'm glad to hear it."

"I owe you. For helping me last night and telling me all that stuff about Steve and...our feelings for each other." It was strange to be mentioning the things Natasha and Wanda spoke of together while they were in Natasha's mind. It was kind of trippy.

"You're welcome. I know that you'll use it wisely." Wanda winked at her friend and headed for the door.

"Wait." Natasha stood up and walked over to the brunette. "Where's Steve?"

"He's already up and in his room, waiting for you."

Natasha grinned and moved to open the door, but Wanda blocked her hand.

"What is it?"

"You may want to brush your teeth first. No one likes to make out with morning breath." Wanda smirked and then, left the room.

Natasha rolled her eyes, but rushed to the bathroom. She would move as speedily as she could because she had a date with destiny.

After brushing her teeth, washing her face, taking a shower and changing her clothes, Natasha was finally ready to talk to Steve. She came to his bedroom door and subsequently knocked twice.

Barely a second passed before Steve opened the door and pulled her inside. Natasha stumbled, surprised by his quick reflexes and she gripped his shirt to keep her balance.

He closed the bedroom door and held her to him tightly and possessively, the way a lover would. Natasha felt her cheeks burn because they usually did not greet one another like this, but she embraced him back, desperately wanting him to know that his feelings were not unrequited.

"Nat, is everything okay? Are you back to normal, now?"

"More than that. I'm better." She touched the ends of his hair with her fingers and breathed in the familiar smell of Old Spice with a smiled curving her lips. Everything that Wanda had told her last night was fresh in her mind as if she had just discovered how Steve truly felt minutes ago.

Steve pulled away to look her in the eyes, but he kept his hand on her back, not planning to let go of this woman for anything. There was a curious expression on his face as he said, "Define better."

"I have a better idea. Why don't I just show you instead?" Natasha raised her hand to touch his jaw and stroke it tenderly. Her mouth was so close to Steve's that their noses brushed against each other. Now, there was no room for doubt about how she felt for him.

The blond stared down at her in confusion, which was a very adorable look on him. "Nat...what are you doing?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago, Steve. Wanda told me what you said to her. That you wouldn't take advantage of me, that you wait for me because you think I'm worth it." Tears began to well up in Natasha's eyes and she let them. She was tired of hiding.

"She did?" A smile smile spread across his face and he looked happy, like a little child on Christmas morning who got every gift he wanted. Seeing this joy gave Natasha the courage to continue.

"Yes. I know how you feel and I'm sick of doing this dance, of pretending that you and I are just friends. I don't want you to have to wait for me any more. I want to be with you here and now." The redhead took Steve's hand and placed it on her heart. "You have my heart, Steve."

There was silence for a few moments as he had to take in everything she just said to him. She wanted to be with him. Natasha was finally saying the words he'd longed to hear for years since that day when they truly began to trust each other and really become partners.

"Natasha," Steve whispered her name like a reverent prayer and his hands began to roam her body, tickling across the expanse of her skin. A few warm fingers slid under her blouse and played with her belly button, which made her squeal in laughter.

No one had ever paid attention to Natasha's belly button before, so it was a surprise that Steve chose that area of her body to adore. The sweet kisses he placed on her lips eventually spread lower. Her chin, collarbone, the cleft between her breasts, until he finally reached her belly.

A coo of pleasure left Natasha's mouth as Steve tugged her shirt up to reveal her flat stomach. He touched her scar and stroked it with tenderness, then bent down to kiss it softly. Watching him treat her so lovingly was too much for her and more tears ran down her cheeks.

For a few moments, Steve just looked at her, like she was the most amazing work of art he'd ever seen in his entire life. For the first time in her twenty-six years, Natasha had a sense of what it felt like when someone looked right through her to her soul.

"What do you see when you look at me, Steve?"

His blue eyes took her in and he squeezed her hand. "Someone I've been looking for my whole life."

How did he do that? How did he know to say just the right thing that make her heart speed up and slam against her chest? Natasha trembled and dug her nails into his shirt. Oh, how she wanted him. She wanted to make love with him, to be engulfed by her passion for this man. "As much as I want this, I want to wait."

Steve kissed her forehead. He wanted her, too, but he respected her wishes more than his own body's carnal desires to have her right then and there. "Alright."

"But...I want you to know why." She sat down on his bed and he followed her, sitting next to her, their legs touching. "In my previous relationships, I was never afraid to have sex because it was a way to avoid intimacy. I had closed off that part of me and to be honest, intimacy scared me. I was afraid of losing myself in someone and never finding my way back, being lost...but not here. Not with you." Natasha touched Steve's cheek and grazed the skin.

"I do want you, Steve. I want us to share ourselves with each other, but first, I want to be intimate with you, to know how it feels being wrapped in your arms, to experience the feel of your skin on mine when I wake up in the morning. I want everything you can give me. I want this to last forever."

Steve was simply in shock from Natasha's heartfelt words. Her face was so red from all of her crying, but he thought it made her look beautiful. She smiled at him with such joy that he'd never seen before. It touched him deeply and he entwined his fingers with hers. "How can anything I say stand up to that?"

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. Just hold me and please, don't let go. Don't ever let go." Her voice cracked as she spoke and Steve realized that Natasha was allowing herself to be one hundred percent vulnerable with him.

"I won't. You have my word. I'll never let you go as long as I live." He pulled back to look into her emerald green eyes. "I love you."

The redhead's bottom lip trembled and she let out a sob. "You do?"

Steve chuckled and framed her beautiful face in his hands. "Yes. Yes, Natalia Alianovna Romanova. I love you and I'll tell it to you a thousand times over before we're old and grey."

Those words were a promise. A promise of tomorrows and it was real. Many times in Natasha's life, men had told her that they loved her so they could use her or manipulate her for their own gain. For a long time, love was a poisonous word, a belief that should only be for children.

An yet, this time, she heard the word from someone who truly meant it. Steve loved her and what's more, Natasha felt the same way. "Oh, Steve. Steve, I love you." She hugged Steve tightly and more tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn't care one bit.

This had been seven years in the making.

Then her stomach decided to gurgle.

They both pulled back and laughed awkwardly. "Well, I guess you're hungry." Steve's eyes sparkled and he took her hand in his, kissing it.

"I'm starving. What do you say we raid the kitchen and make some Belgian waffles?"

"With blueberry syrup?"

Natasha stood up and Steve joined her. She gave him a slow kiss, pressing her body to his fully, so he could feel her every curve against him. That, in itself, was a promise from her to show him more pleasures in the near future. "You know me so well. Let's go." She tugged him by the hand and they both left the bedroom to get breakfast.

As they walked downstairs and their fellow Avengers greeted and congratulated them on their newfound romance, Natasha kept this moment in her heart. The happiness on her friends' faces as they gave she and Steve hugs, handshakes and claps on the back made this day one of the most memorable days of her life.

Because today, she wasn't afraid to show her love for a man and eventually, the whole world would know that Natasha was a taken woman. Taken by her friend, her confidante, her perfect partner.