Just a Blast from the Past

Chapter Nine

Natasha woke up the next morning with a bitter taste. As much as she wanted to see Steve, she couldn't ignore the fact it felt different now; not when all she wanted from him, he couldn't give her; not without breaking Thor's first rule and jeopardizing the mission.

But she was Natasha Romanoff. She would get up and go meet with Steve and act like nothing was different. She had been trained not to let her emotions dictate her behavior. She was stronger than this. Love -infatuations-, all this was for children. She could overcome it until it would vanish away on its own.

She went to the bathroom and had a long, relaxing bath. She played all the details of her plan over and over while lying in the hot water; mostly to keep herself from thinking of him. She could finish the job without putting her mission, or her identity, in peril and she would go back to the future, to her present, where she would let time heal her.

She wore a purple lace dress and tied her hair up in a messy bun. She looked herself in the mirror and found nothing but a blank expression that betrayed feelings that were doomed to remain unsolved.

She opened the drawer and looked at the little Asgardian device she had kept hidden there since it had brought her here. She took it between her fingers and looked at it with bewilderment. It was still incredible what such a small thing had accomplished. Part of her looked forward to using it again soon and go back to where she belonged, far from he who caused so much disarray in her mind, far from where her heart could be harmed.

Steve was flying back to Europe the next day, early in the morning and today was their last day before another couple of weeks apart. She was supposed to meet with him and Barnes at the theater. Apparently, Barnes was fond of plays and other farces. He couldn't stop, incidentally, complain about how his biggest regret was to have never seen Steve's show.

The cab pulled over and Natasha got out of the car. She walked inside the theater and her heart raced when she found Steve standing by the door frame next to the room where people were sitting down before the beginning of the play. She smiled and went up to him only to find a stern look in response.

"What are you doing here, taking root by this door?" she teased.

He hardly smiled. "We need to talk," he said.

She furrowed her brows for a second and clutched her coat. "Sure, but aren't we going to miss the beginning of the play?"

He stepped aside to let a couple walk through then shot a quick look inside the theater.

"It can wait," he spoke coolly and held her arm before taking her to a more quiet area down the hallway. She let herself be taken away and held back a gasp of surprise.

Her mind couldn't help remind her it looked like the beginning of her naughtiest fantasies. She kicked this thought away just as quickly. Judging by the confused and somewhat hard frown on his face, a little birdy told her he wasn't thinking the same.

"What is it?" she asked.

Steve looked behind them to make sure they were alone.

She smirked. "You know it wouldn't be good for both our reputations to be caught here in this dark -"

"I know everything," he cut her off sharply.

His words took a long time to sink in. Everything could either mean nothing or all of it.

"What do you mean you know?" she inquired with a slow, hesitant pace. What had he possibly found out over the course of a night?

He glanced behind them again then looked straight at her and sighed.