Sequel to Cupid

Natasha smoothed down the skirt of her little black dress and checked her reflection in the mirror. Yeah, she cleaned up quite nicely. She reapplied her lipstick and put the tube into her clutch. Steve had invited her to an art gallery opening which would be her third date. The first date had been dinner, and the second one had been a trip to Coney Island which had been so much fun. Natasha really liked Steve and that freaked her out. Yes, she was running a dating agency, but her own love life was, well, not really exciting. She had been engaged in her 20s, but her and Alexei had decided to end their engagement, and Natasha had a few boyfriends over the years, but she hadn't really been in love with any of them. She had always been better at finding the right partner for others than for herself. Maybe that was the reason why she hadn't realized that she was interested in Steve.

There was a knock on her door and she quickly grabbed her clutch and walked to the door.

"Hi." Steve smiled brightly at her and kissed her cheek.

"Hey." She grinned back and couldn't stop herself from pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. There had been the famous goodnight kiss after their first date and they had kissed at Coney Island, but they weren't yet at the stage where kissing the other one was natural.

"You look very beautiful, Natasha."

"Thank you. You make quite the picture yourself." And he really did. He looked so good in his blue button down and grey slacks. She was really glad that it was warm enough and Steve didn't need a jacket and she could shamelessly admire his strong arms.

He blushed adorably and she smirked at him. Steve had a cab waiting for them that brought them to the art gallery. Natasha wasn't really into art, let alone modern art, but this was a big part of Steve's life and she would try her best. He introduced her to the owner of the gallery and was kind of surprised when she heard that Steve also had a piece here tonight.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked him after the owner left to greet someone else.

"I don't know. I didn't want you to feel like you had to say something. I was kinda hoping that you wouldn't even notice it. I'm trying to impress you and what if you don't like it?" He said with pink cheeks.

She kissed him briefly. "Show me your piece."

"Oh-okay." He licked his lips before he collected himself again. "This way."

Steve didn't have any reason to be nervous. She loved his painting, it was actually the only piece here she actually liked. It was a beautiful painting of mountains, and it was done so well that she'd thought at first that it was a photo. The painting showed the Hindu Kush as Steve explained to her.

"It was the view from our base. It reminded me that there was still so much beauty in this country."

"It's beautiful, Steve." She reached for his hand almost on autopilot and laced their fingers together. "I love it."

He smiled at her and her chest felt tight for a moment. "Thank you."

They continued to look at the rest of the exhibit, still holding hands, and decided to have a late dinner at a restaurant near by. Steve told her more about his time as a soldier and how painting helped him to work through everything, and he seemed impressed when she told him that she had been a ballerina once. She blushed when he asked her if she still danced and if he could see it one day. She didn't really dance anymore, but she kind of wanted to pick it up again to impress him.

Steve walked her home and the kissing in front of her apartment door got steamier by the second.

"Do you want to come in?" She rasped against his lips when his hands landed on her bottom.

His hands moved back to the small of her back and she barely contained her disappointment. "I have to get up early tomorrow. I should head home." He kissed her, but this time the passion was gone. "Goodnight, Natasha."

"Yeah, goodnight." She hoped that she didn't look too disappointed. "I'll call you."

Steve nodded and pecked her lips. "Sleep well."

She watched him walk down the corridor before she unlocked her door and got into her apartment. Had she been too eager? Third date meant that something was going to happen, right? Why hadn't he come inside? It was only ten pm...Didn't he want more of her?

Natasha had to reread the text from Steve thrice when she checked her phone during her lunch break.

Are you free on Sunday? Ma wants to invite you over for lunch. We can go to the carnival in Prospect Park afterwards:)

She hadn't seen Sarah since that incident and she was still kind of embarrassed, even though her and Steve were now going out with each other. And also he hadn't slept with her yet, but he wanted her to spend the day with his mother already? Yes, she technically already knew his mother, but wasn't it a bit soon?

She wanted to spend the day with Steve, since she hadn't seen him this week yet, but she was still really nervous to see Sarah again. Her phone buzzed again.

Ma promised to behave herself. She's actually over the moon that we're going on dates. She won't embarrass you again, don't worry.

Okay, was Steve some kind of mind read? She took a deep breath and texted Steve that she was free on Sunday. If she wanted to have something serious with Steve, she was going to have to see Sarah again eventually.

Natasha couldn't even remember the last time she had been invited to the house of her...was Steve her boyfriend? She had no clue. Anyway, it had been a long time since she'd met the mother of a man that she was...seeing.

She chose jeans and a pretty blouse as her outfit, and only applied mascara and blush as her makeup. She didn't want to look like she was trying too hard. She didn't really know what to bring Steve's mother and ended up buying a bottle of Rosé on her way to Brooklyn.

Steve opened the door when she knocked on it and greeted her with a sweet kiss. "Hey, it's so good to see you."

"Yeah." She nodded, kissing him again. She hadn't seen him for a week and she kind of missed him.

"Ma's in the kitchen." He took her hand and squeezed. "Don't worry. She's really excited that you're here."

She gave him a nervous smile and followed him to the kitchen. Sarah was finishing a salad and looked up at them with a big smile on her face. "Natasha! It's so great to see you again!" She came over to her to give her a warm hug and Natasha relaxed a little bit. "I'm really sorry for, well, you know. I just want Steve to be happy."

"It's okay. I guess that you were right." Natasha admitted shyly.

Sarah grinned happily. "Yeah, looks like it."

Lunch with Sarah was good. The food was great and Sarah was truly a sweet woman who loved her son very much. She asked Natasha a lot of questions and she answered as best as she could. And Natasha was touched when Sarah gave her a little box of old beads and pearls for Lila. Her favorite part was, though, when Sarah, much to Steve's embarrassment, pulled out the family albums.

"Ma, please don't!"

"Shh! You were adorable!" Sarah said with a grin and put an album into Natasha's lap. Steve really had been a cute kid and he'd looked so different before his growth spurt, but he had always been handsome.

"Aw, look at you in that Dumbo jumpsuit! You were adorable!" She cooed and Steve's face turned even pinker. She laughed and grabbed his face to kiss him. She only realized that she'd kissed him in front of his mother when she pulled away.

She looked at Sarah, but she only smiled at them. "I'm sure you two want to spend some time alone. I can copy some of the photos if you want." She winked and Steve groaned unhappily.

"Thank you for inviting me, Sarah."

"I'm really glad that you came, Natasha. Have fun at the carnival." Sarah kissed her cheek and reminded Steve to bring Natasha home after their date. He mumbled under his breath that he knew that before he hugged his mother.

"It wasn't so bad, was it?" Steve asked while they walked to Prospect Park.

"No." Natasha laughed. "I was nervous for no reason."

"My mother likes you a lot. She already warned me not to mess it up." He took her hand and intertwined their fingers. "I really hope I don't mess this up."

She looked at their hands and then at him. "Same. I don't have the best track record when it comes to this."

"We'll figure it out together." He promised and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

Natasha was pleasantly surprised when Steve offered to help her watch Lila and Nate when she told him that she wasn't free on Friday. She hadn't thought that he'd wanted to spend his Friday night with two kids, but he said that he didn't mind and just wanted to spend time with her. It was really cute and she had to admit that she swooned a little.

Nate was only two and fell asleep as soon as his little body hit a mattress (he really took after Clint), but Lila was a little powerhouse and Natasha already knew that she would refuse to go to sleep when Steve was there.

Natasha was right. Nate fell asleep after dinner and his snuggles, and Lila monopolized Steve. She asked him all kinds of questions and had already pretty much invited him to her house for every coming holiday. It was kind of adorable to see the two together and Natasha was sure that Steve would be an amazing father one day. Woah, where was that coming from?

Lila did fell asleep eventually and Steve carried her into Natasha's guestroom. She used his absence to start a little fire in the fireplace and to get two glasses and wine. Just because there were kids in her apartment, didn't mean that they couldn't have a romantic evening, right?

Steve joined her with a smile on his face and handed her a wine glass after filling it.

"I'm pretty sure that Lila is in love with you." She grinned and Steve chuckled.

"Too bad that I'm already sweet on someone else."

"Yeah?"

"Mm." He nodded, taking the wine glass from her and setting it back onto the coffee table. He leaned over her and caged her with his arms. She laid down on the sofa and Steve followed her, pecking her lips like he was testing the water. She grinned into the kisses, feeling like a teenage girl who had a boy over while she was babysitting.

Natasha couldn't remember the last time that she had just made out with someone and she forgot how nice it was. They kissed and kissed and their hands wandered all over each others bodies. Nothing else was going to happen tonight with Lila and Nate being here, but it was still very nice to be this close to Steve.

"So-" Steve said when she walked him to her door after midnight. He sounded nervous for some reason. "I was wondering if you wanted to take a trip with me next weekend? My friend has a house in the Hamptons and we could stay there. We would have the house all to ourselves."

She should be able to free her calendar for that weekend and a house in the Hamptons sounded lovely, but there was still a question on her mind. "Are we sure that we're there yet? I mean we haven't had even sex yet and you want to already take a weekend trip together?"

"Oh, well..." His cheeks were pink. "I wanted to take things slow...Get to know you before we'll sleep together...And with the trip... We have all the time in the world...I thought this was going somewhere with us..."

Natasha sighed in relief. She had thought that Steve maybe wasn't really into her because they hadn't shared a bed yet. "A trip sounds great, Steve. And I think this is going somewhere with us, too."

He smiled. "Good, great! I tell my friend that we want the house for next weekend, yes?" She leaned forward to kiss him softly. "Can I invite you and the kids to breakfast tomorrow?"

"Of course." She nodded with a smile and he cupped her face to give her a deep kiss. "Goodnight, Steve."

"Goodnight, Nat." His thumb was brushing over her cheekbone. "Um, so...So I'll tell my friend that I'm taking my...girlfriend with me?"

"Yes." She chuckled, her heart fluttering in her chest. "You do that, boyfriend."

This is the last one shot. And there won't be any other new stories. I'm not really into Marvel anymore and I don't enjoy this website as much as I used to.

Thanks for reading, a special thank you to those who took a minute to leave feedback, and take care of yourselves. Be kind to yourselves and others.