Love Grown Cold

Another Guardian

"Oof," Steve was lying flat on his back, the wind effectively knocked out of him.

"You done yet, Rogers?" A tall boy name Joe asked, cracking his knuckles, knowing what his answer would be.

"Nope," Steve replied breathlessly as he attempted to get back up.

Several minutes later found them in much the same position.

"Do you ever give up?" Joe asked, rubbing his slightly sore hands as he watched the scrawny teenager attempt to get back on his feet.

"No, he doesn't," a strident voice from the other end of the alley called out. "But then again, he does have fairly good backup." With that, before the boy could react, a tall figure attacked him, sending him flying against a wall.

It only took a few moments of this kind of abuse before the boy ran off, complete with a bloody nose and a fairly likely dislocated arm.

The figure then turned back to Steve, who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Really, Rogers?" Natasha asked, pulling of the cap that had so far been hiding her long red hair. "Can I not leave you alone for two minutes? Seriously, now I know why James is always so tired."

"One," Steve said, accepting Natasha's help up. "It was more like half an hour. Second, I almost had him. Third, why are you dressed like a newspaper boy? And fourth, his name isn't James, it's Bucky."

Natasha rolled her eyes at her best friend. "So you had him while you were pinned to the ground and he was beating the snot out of you? Uh-huh. Next, why call him what everyone else calls him? James suits him just fine. And lastly, how do you think my mother would react if she knew that I was acting as your bodyguard while James and his folks are on a 'family bonding trip'? I have enough problems without her being on me about being a 'proper lady'. Besides," Natasha added, almost sheepishly. "Not only is it easier to save your hide in pants, they're also waaaaay more comfortable."

Steve nodded. "Why do I feel like you had a lot of quotation marks in that last sentence?"

"Cause there were." Nat replied matter of factly.

"Also, where did you learn to fight like that? You seriously rivaled Bucky there!"

She shrugged. "From my dad, when he's around." Natasha's father was in the army and was usually out of the country at the best of times.

"And your mom lets him?" Steve asked incredulously. Natasha's mother was by no means a gentle woman, which often lead to Nat being bruised and staying for weeks on end with Steve and his family.

"Like we would tell her!" She shot back. "Incidentally, we should probably get you home before your shirt is completely in salvageable."

Steve glanced down. "Too late."

Nat chuckled and sling her arm around Steve and steered him out of the alleyway. "Oh boy. Is your mom gonna kill me?"

"Nah. She'll just be glad that I'm in one piece. Also she likes you too much for that."

"Good. Because I'm staying at your place tonight."

Steve stopped and fixed his friend with a humorously annoyed look. "You do know that MOST people ask before inviting themselves over."

"Yeah, but I'm not most people." Nat replied, smirking. She knew he didn't actually care, but was giving her more of a token annoyance.

"And before I break it to my parents that you're staying over once again, how long are you planning on staying this time?"

"Oh I don't know," Nat replied with fake innocence. "No more than a few weeks." She skipped ahead a few paces as Steve halted dead in his tracks and his eyes kind of bulged out of his head.

"A few weeks?!" Steve grabbed his hair and groaned. "Why don't you just move in with us?!"

Nat, who had started walking away, whipped back around and grinned. "Hey yeah!"

"No! I didn't mean that seriously!"

"All we have to do now is ask your parents!" Nat called back as she dashed off.

"No!" Steve called after her as he recovered his senses enough to dash after her. "Besides my parents would never let you!"
                                   *
"Of course you can move in with us." Sarah Rogers told them later that evening after they had eaten dinner.

"What?" Steve exclaimed as Natasha spun happily around the room. "I thought you'd say something like 'oh can't do that what would your mom think?'"

"Steve can I speak to you alone for a moment?" Sarah motioned for her son to follow her into the hallway. "Steve, did you know that Natasha's mother is a drunk?"

"What?" Steve asked searching his mother's face for some sign of joking.

His mother just nodded. "That's right. She's finally decided to go get some help and actually asked us to take Natasha in, since we already take care of her most of the time." Sarah eyed her son. "Is all this all right with you?"

"Are you kidding me?" Steve asked, finally smiling. "This is great! I can't wait til Buck hears about this! Now I've got a live in bodyguard!"

Sarah opened her mouth to say something else, but Steve had already danced off to join the celebration with Nat.

"Ok then," she said to herself with a smile.