Love You Endlessly

The Better Part Of Me

STEVE'S POV

I'm anxiously and impatiently waiting for the Quinjet to arrive back.

Fury sent Natasha on a mission to clean up after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D and told me, that it had to be kept on the low, so it was better for Nat to do it with Agent Hill than me. He also sent Yelena. Apparently he gained trust in her awfully fast. Very unlike Nick Fury.

I don't like it though. The thought of Nat being out there with someone other than me.
I learned my lesson...
The last time I wasn't with her on a mission she didn't return.
She can easily do it without me, but I don't want her to, because I can't not be there if anything should happen...again.

Finally I can hear the faint noise of the jet, getting out of invisibility mode and flying towards the hangar in the almost finished compound.

"Nat!" I exclaim when I see her.
"Get out of my way!" She breathes, brushing me off and sounding stressed.
"Wha-? What's happening?" I ask.
"Belova took a bad hit when a building crashed. Romanoff went in to get her. Both are injured" Agent Hill pants and makes room for the gurney that Nat has found from the other end of the big hall.
"Is Bruce in?" Natasha asks, looking like she's in a lot of pain.
"Yeah he's in. Nat, let me do it, just get yourself in the medical wing" I say and look at her bloody face, her ripped suit and her shaking hands.
"Fuck no. I'm not leaving my baby sister like that again" she says, rolling off with the gurney and Yelena as fast as possible despite her limping.

"She's been overprotective like that the entire time" Maria sighs and looks at me.
"I think she feels guilty" I say, just managing to catch a last glimpse at Natasha's red hair as the door slams behind her.
"I guess" she says, and we start walking towards the door Nat just exited.

"Maria...I can call you Maria...right?" I ask, looking at her.
"Whatever suits you" she shrugs.
"You know me and Nat...right?" I ask.
"Yeah, but only Fury and I know"
"Can I ask for some advice? You know...proposal advice..."
"Proposal? You're proposing?" She asks surprised.
"Yes. I can't stand having her only as my girlfriend anymore" I say, shaking my head firmly.
"I don't know. I never figured Romanoff to be the marriage type of woman. Honestly I've never figured her out. But I guess just keep her in love with you? If she's even in love" she says.
"Right...if she is..."

'She's in love. She is' I think to myself when we enter the medical wing.

Natasha's sitting on a chair, shaking anxiously with an ice pack, staring at Yelena being patched up by Bruce.

One of Tony's med-bots keeps trying to let it stitch her up, but she keeps powering it down, without even as much as looking away from Yelena unconscious on the table.

"Exactly what happened on that mission?" I ask Maria, and she tells me the entire story.
The amount of HYDRA still out there, Yelena's faithfulness, the falling building. Everything.

"Nat, Love. Come here" I whisper, when I've heard the entire story, and I finally look at Nat again.
She's heard Maria's explanation, and she's now sitting with tears in her eyes.

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NATASHA'S POV

Despite the hate I feel for myself right now, letting Yelena do that one part of the job, I still let myself run into the safe arms of Steve that I don't deserve.