A New Beginning

Chapter 2

"Guess who's back?"

Sarah and I both ran to the door to see Steve, with James in his arms. Like Sarah, James had blond hair, though his hair was a shade darker than hers and he looked more like Steve than Sharon. I smiled as Steve closed the door and mussed Sarah's hair.

"Hey Steve," I said softly.

"Hey Nat." Steve grinned widely, and gave me a quick hug. He went to the couch to place James on it.

"Is James okay?" I asked worriedly. Steve nodded with a reassuring look on his face.

"So what did my two favorite girls do today?"

Sarah and I shared a glance and recalled our day today, going back and forth, and becoming breathless at the end. Steve just shook his head and smiled.

Later at night, after we put Sarah and James to sleep, Steve and I got drunk. Well, we tried to at least. I was too strong for it, and it was technically impossible for Steve to get drunk. I took a drink from my beer and looked at Steve.

"So, I'm guessing you lost your virginity to Sharon?" I teased, poking Steve's arm playfully. He let out a sigh.

"Yup, but now I wish I had lost it to someone else," he replied. I raised an eyebrow. Well this was interesting.

"And who might I ask would you have wanted to lose your virginity to?" I questioned him, my eyebrow still raised. He shrugged, and avoided my eyes.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe you?" He said. I snorted and turned my head, so he wouldn't see me blushing. Unfortunately, he seemed to have already picked it up.

"Your ears are pink," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "I bet you're thinking, what would it be like to lose your virginity to Captain America?" I rolled my eyes, but couldn't hide the grin on my face.

"Number one - I wasn't thinking that. I'm not that perverted. Number two - I'm not a virgin. I actually have a life, unlike cough cough you. And numero three - I really shouldn't have let Tony teach you all that stuff. You were better when you were innocent and naive," I remarked and shook my head. Suddenly, a thought popped up in my head.

"Wait - but why did you regret losing your virginity to Sharon?" I asked him, furrowing my eyebrows. Steve sighed, a resigned look on my face.

"I... we got divorced just two days ago. It just wasn't clicking. We were too... similar I guess? I know it doesn't really make sense, but... yeah." He responded, his voice trailing off once in a while. I nodded, and circled the small of his back to give him some sympathy. I felt bad for him. Divorces never went well.

"So that's why Sarah asked why I was her new mom," I said, mostly to myself. Steve looked straight into my eyes.

"Do you want to be?" He asked me. It took a few moments to process this. I turned red for the second time today. I silently scolded myself. I shouldn't be blushing this often. Seeing me blush, Steve realized what he had said and reddened too.

"Well - I mean - " He stammered, "I meant that, you know, James is still a bit sick and I've got my hands a little full so I was thinking you could stay here for at least a month." I nodded, and looked up at him.

"Sure, I'll be fine," I replied. We sat there in awkward silence until I said, "So you named your dog after Tony?" I gave him a smirk, and Steve chuckled.

"Well, it wasn't really my idea," he said while suppressing his laughter. "Sarah is a huge fan of Iron Man." I shook my head.

"She picked the wrong Avenger," I commented. Steve gave a laugh at this. "I wonder what she would say if you told her that you were close friends with him." Steve just shook his head and smiled.

"Yeah... well, even if I wanted to, I can't. It's too dangerous."

The two of sat there in silence for a while, until Steve decided it was time for us to sleep.

"You can sleep in my room," he said, motioning towards a door down the hall. "I'll sleep on the sofa." I vigorously shook my head. If anything, he should be the one sleeping in a comfortable bed, not me.

"No, you sleep in your room. I'll sleep on the sofa," I firmly responded, gripping the chair behind me. Steve sighed, and looked at me with weary blue eyes.

"How am I going to fall asleep knowing that you're sleeping on a small sofa while I'm lying on a comfortable bed?" He said. I shook my head, looking down, though I felt warm inside as he said this. Steven Grant Rogers, as chivalrous as always.

"Fine, then," I said, sighing. "I'll sleep on the bed tonight, and you sleep on the sofa. But tomorrow we're switching. We're going to take turns." Without waiting for a protest from Steve, I walked to his room and shut the door.

The truth is, I can't sleep very well. And this isn't really a secret. All the Avengers know it, Steve too. I sighed as I collapsed on the bed and played with my hair, afraid to fall asleep. But drowsiness eventually came over me, and I couldn't stop the nightmares from coming.

I was in a dark, empty room. It was an enormous room, and when I yelled out, "Where am I?", my voice echoed. Under normal circumstances, I would've stayed under control. But this was a dream - no a nightmare - and those never end well for me. I panicked and my heart rate increased.

Suddenly, something flashed in front of me. A cold feeling crept around me, near my right ear. I let out a yelp as something dropped from the ceiling. It was a body, a dead body, namely of my best friend who I had killed in the Red Room.

"No, no, no..." I whimpered.

A line of blood was trailing from her lips, and her neck was distorted in a horrifying way. There were bruises all over her face and body, just as she looked when I killed her. I tried to avert my gaze, but my head wouldn't move.

More bodies fell from the ceiling, of all the people I had killed. Now I understood why the room was so big - it needed to be able fit all those dead people.

"You're a monster," an unfamiliar voice said behind me. The air around me was cold, cold like those words that felt like ice shooting into my head and my heart. I dropped to my knees and screamed, trying to get rid of the voice behind me.

"No I'm not, I'm not, I'm not... I am a monster," I calmed down as I said this, realizing like every night how much of a monster I was. A cold hand rested on my shoulder.

"Yes you are, and that means that you don't deserve a family. Do you know that?"

Tears fell down my shoulders, and I tried to shake the hand off. I failed. I would never be able to let go of these nightmares. They always haunt me, always track me down, to break me, to kill me.

"And soon, you're going to kill him too," the voice said. As he said this, one last body fell. Once again, I couldn't suppress my screams.

"Steve! Steve! Steve..."

Happy New Year everyone!! Thank you for trying out this story! I'll try to update regularly. Thank you again, and I hope 2018 will be a great year for all of us!