** MAJOR SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WAR. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!** I loved the movie, but felt that the Captain dialogue/progress was missing some of the best elements of Winter Soldier/Civil War. I liked that he and Widow were basically in sync the entire movie, but we didn't even get much dialogue between them about the last two years. And, no quippy Bucky/Sam moment?!

Missing Romanogers Moments – Infinity War

Author: Liz Wyatt

Song pairing recommendation: "Swimming In The Flood" by Passion Pit

Summary:This fic looks at the missing Steve x Natasha focused moments from Infinity War. Some storyline may be a bit off track as I have only seen the movie 1 time as of writing this.

Natasha walked toward the cockpit area of the jet as she glanced at Wanda latched onto Vision's arm. Wanda was healing his wounds with her magic and he was focused on her movements. He could tell she was still very anxious, but determined.

Natasha placed one hand on the back of the seat Steve was occupying and the other draped down on his shoulder from behind as she leaned her weight into the chair. He glanced up as he felt her presence. Sam glanced from his seat beside Steve, but then focused back into the clouds.

Her eyes locked with Steve's. Her voice was low and even-toned. "Are we really going to do this?"

"Not sure we really have a choice Nat." Steve glanced back at the path they were flying.

"Two years…two years we've been in this little bubble on the run and in one instant here we are again being asked to save the world." She sounded annoyed, which caused Steve to smile softly for a moment. He swung he chair around so he was now facing her. She looked surprised at him, but then sat on the jumper bench beside him.

"It's been a good run, but this was inevitable. You know that." He tried to reassure her.

She was about to say something when Sam interjected, "Speak for yourself. My ass has been saving the two of you from near misses for two years."

Natasha smiled. Steve chuckled.

Steve threw back, "I seem to remember a few times where someone was itching just a little too much to get his wings back in the air and one time where said person nearly got Natasha imprisoned in Chile."

" – hey some people were meant to throw their invincible bodies through windows or saunter their cat suit down a thin elevator shaft. Us mortals are made more for the big picture espionage. You know actually taking out the armed guards from afar as to not alert the bad guys." Sam pressed.

Steve shook his head laughing and then caught eyes with Natasha again.

"As long as we have Sam right?" She stated.

"Yep. Everybody needs a Sam." He smiled.

Sam nodded. "Damn straight. Took you long enough to appreciate that there is someone else on the other side of those thin motel walls."

Steve laughed. "Invest in earplugs."

Natasha smiled slightly, but her mind shifted quickly. Steve could see the thoughts cross her face. It wasn't fear for what was to come, but a sadness or realization that the small life they had worked to build the last few years was about to truly crumble. Whether they survived the events to come didn't matter. Things would not be the same.

Her brow furrowed as she cleared her throat to hold back an emotion. He reached his hand out to cover hers. She connected her eyes back in his and moved her hand slowly to turn hers up into his and intertwine their fingers.

Wanda looked from her position with curiosity. Seeing Natasha and Steve comfort each other was nothing new, but their energy had shifted since she had seen them last. The silver band on Natasha's hand gleamed under the faint glow of sunlight. As Natasha shifted to get up from her seat and head back toward Wanda, she saw Steve's hand share a similar band. It caught the light as he placed a playful pat on Natasha's lower back.

"Hello Bruce." Natasha said monotone.

Steve watched her body tense and Bruce coil into his own space.

"Well this is awkward." Sam said.

Steve sighed.

…

Bruce was packing a bag in the lab area as they prepared to head to Wakanda. Sam was helping him and catching up on Hulk's adventures the past few years.

Natasha was looking through the glass walls with one arm crossed and one gloved hand pressed to her chin in thought.

Steve glanced at Natasha from the other room, but hesitated. Wanda saw him staring and touched his shoulder. "I've got this," she told him. He walked down the hallway slowly with a furrowed brow.

"It's okay to be reminded you know," Wanda said to the blonde woman before her.

"What?" Natasha questioned.

"Bruce. It's okay to remember the feelings you might have had about him. Emotion isn't a weakness. If you embrace it, it can take away the power it has over your actions." Wanda shared. Natasha nodded slightly. "You know who taught me that?" Wanda asked.

Natasha smiled. "Mmm, a wise grandpa I assume."

Wanda chuckled. "Steve has lived a lot more life than both of us."

"That he has." Natasha stated.

"He has also searched for the feeling you were looking for with Bruce once before too. It doesn't diminish what you and he have now." Wanda locked eyes with Natasha as the older woman's pupils expanded and her body shifted.

"How did you –"

"Well, you both may think you are being quiet, but it was hard not to notice that you stopped sharing a room with me in favor of someone else. That and your latest accessories." Wanda took Natasha's gloved hand and pulled it up in the air.

Natasha sighed. "Yeah, I guess some things are inevitable. Truth be told we weren't looking for this. We just…needed each other in every way you can. Besides, when the world you built goes to shit it is hard not to realize those walls you had been building don't mean as much anymore."

"I know the feeling." Wanda shared. Natasha nodded.

"We'll protect Vision at whatever cost." Natasha reassured her.

…

"You want to talk about it?" Natasha asked as she walked up the ramp into the jet that Steve was currently packing with supplies.

"What is there to discuss?" Steve said trying to sound matter-of-fact, but tense in his body language. He reached down for another bag and started to walk across the confines of the cargo hold.

Natasha approached him and placed a hand on his arm. He sighed and dropped the bag on the floor gently. She pulled his arm and slid both of her hands to grasp his own. "Hey…" She tried tentatively as he was still looking downward, not meeting her eyes.

"Nat, really I'm fine," He said. "I should be asking if you are okay seeing Bruce again."

"Captain Rogers," she said in a teasing voice while moving his hands to rest on her waist before moving her hands to cup both sides of his face. He smirked and locked eyes with her. "I have spent the last two years by your side day and night. I may not have been the warmest always and I may have fought this for a long time, but wasn't it you that told me that our past is what led us to this?" She challenged.

He moved one hand to cover one of her own on his cheek as he leaned into kiss her wrist.

She laughed. "If you're going to kiss me you really shouldn't be so polite. I mean it's been a whole 48 hours since we had any time to ourselves." He smiled at her with overflowing admiration.

He moved in to kiss her as she smiled against his mouth. He wrapped his arms across the back of her body, pulling her closer and upward at the same time. She moved her hands to his neck and the back of his head as she grasped his ever-growing mane. This embrace wasn't as heated as their first kiss had been under the pressure of an argument that stemmed from an op gone awry. Nor was it as sweet as the first time he admitted that he was in love with her and she responded with a chaste kiss rather than reciprocating the words that had become foreign to her in the spy world.

They paused and pulled back slightly, but Natasha wasn't ready to let go. She shifted backward to look at him for a few moments before kissing him quickly again, pushing all of her emotions about the fight to come into his body. He held her so he could look into her eyes and he slowly pushed her blonde locks behind her ear. They stayed like that, just staring at each other, locked in their conjoined space until they heard the group ascend onto the platform.

Wanda and Bruce had been the first ones onto the plane, so Bruce caught Natasha's eye as she cleared her throat and distanced herself from Steve's body. Bruce looked confused at first, but then smiled shaking his head slowly in understanding.

"Banner." Steve stated.

"Rogers." Bruce nodded.

The plane was landing and Steve took a deep breath. Natasha squeezed his hand as the door opened on the back of the jet to reveal T'Chella.

…

Steve embraced Bucky and pulled back to look over his friend with a happy grin.

"You spend all this time in the sun and you still can't catch a tan." Steve joked.

"You're one to talk. Has Natasha been bleaching those long locks for you Rogers?" Bucky jabbed.

They started walking with the group. Steve was even with Bucky's step as Natasha hung back with Sam.

Sam coughed obnoxiously toward Bucky and Steve's joyful reunion. Natasha laughed knowing Sam was obviously trying to get a rise out of the two Brooklyn boys. Even in the middle of war they couldn't help but dissolve into children.

"Still tagging along Sam?" Bucky asked with a grin as they continued to walk.

"Well someone has to be the moral compass when team members go off the rails and get themselves locked in a coma," Sam pushed lightheartedly.

"Sam…" Natasha warned.

"No, it's okay Natasha. Sam is just sorry Steve met me first. Ours is a forever kind of love." Bucky joked.

"Get in line." Sam laughed.

They were looking out the window as the ships descended on the ground outside the barrier. Steve glanced over toward Natasha as she peered back at him.

…

"Everyone on my position!" Steve's voice urged desperately across the communicators. Natasha wiped off the blue blood from the fallen alien foe as she stumbled to her feet. She ran toward the forest where Steve's tracker was beckoning.

…

She watched Steve go down on the ground, then Sam and Bucky. She felt the adrenaline rush through her body. She wasn't sure how she was meant to stop Thanos, but she had to try. She nodded toward Wanda and ran toward the enemy.

…

She watched in horror as she tried to twist out of the trap across her limbs. Steve clutched Thanos' glove as it started to creak against his strength. Natasha's mind wandered back to the night when the Avengers tried to lift Thor's hammer. They had been so free and happy then. A few drinks in and Steve was the only real threat to Thor's precious hammer being challenged by a human. She remembered the panic cross Thor's face before Steve ultimately gave up.

Flash forward and she was now watching the man she loved take on the biggest threat of the universe by himself as Wanda tried to destroy the love of her life.

Thanos delivered a deafening blow to Steve's head as he went down hard on the ground. Natasha pushed and pulled to get free with a renewed panic and anger.

…

"Steve…" Bucky began to drift apart before his old friend. Slowly others around him also came apart and drifted into the wind. He searched for Natasha in the group, his stomach sinking with guilt and sadness.

Steve dropped to the ground defeated by Vision's body. Natasha ran toward the scene as she had seen Wanda's fate. Her chest constricted both from the loss around her of their friends, but also the relief of Steve being alive. She grasped at her chest as she saw Vision's body and the realization hit her at what that meant. Thanos had won and somehow she had been spared, but the world was no longer familiar.

"Oh god." Steve said in realization.

Natasha dropped to her knees behind him while gasping for air in between tears that she was fighting back. Steve was still in shock. He was sure the pain would wash over him in the coming hours, but right now he was still stunned. He turned to grab Natasha and pull her down to a seated position beside him as he embraced her into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her as she began to cry freely. She leaned into him as he stared over the crook of her neck at Vision.

They had lost and whatever came next was unknown. Their bubble was officially broken.

- Fin -