Romanogers One-Shots 2

Split Second

Steve and Natasha both learn how quickly things can change

Steve knew that time could change everything. 

He'd seen first hand just how much could change before he could even blink. He'd gone under the ice in a time of dancing, war, and record players and woken up 70 years later with smartphones, iron man, and television. 

It hadn't even felt like a moment had passed when he woke up. 

He had practically blinked and woken up in an entirely different century. 

So when his entire life changed in a little over a day, he resented himself for still being surprised. 

The first surprise was Fury's death. 

Fury had always seemed like a brick wall. Hard to get through and even harder to knock down. 

So when Steve had watched him die after being the last person to have talked to him, he was more confused then ever.  

Then he went off in search of a ghost story with the Black Widow. 

To say that her trust in him came as a surprise would have been an understatement. 

For as long as he'd known Natasha, she'd only trusted Clint and Fury. Now she was following him blindly with nothing to gain from it. 

That's when the next thing surprised him. 

In less then 10 hours, Natasha had gone from someone he worked with, to a friend, and finally to someone that he was falling hard for.

Apparently, the drastic change in their relationship wasn't one-sided. 

After that damn kiss on the escalator, Steve couldn't think straight. He knew that his mind shouldn't be on kissing her again when they were fugitives on the run from HYDRA, but the way her lips had felt against his was replaying in his mind as he drove and it was all he could do not to blush as she sat besides him. 

When they'd been attacked again and Natasha had nearly been crushed, Steve couldn't help but panic when he had seen her laying limp besides him. 

He would have carried her all the way to DC if he had to. 

Even once she regained consciousness, Steve was still reluctant to let her walk.

They'd ended up on a train. 

Natasha had figured out what train went to DC by looking at a map they found and the two had hopped onto the back car as it passed.  

"Thank you," Natasha had whispered into the darkness of the car. 

Steve shook his head, "You shouldn't be thanking me, I'm the one who got you into all of this." 

"HYDRA brought me into this the second they infiltrated SHIELD. I just wish I'd have seen it sooner," Natasha muttered. 

"You couldn't have known. No one did. Not even Fury." 

Natasha nodded, her face falling slightly as she sat besides Steve. 

Steve frowned, "What is it?" 

She sighed, "You went against Fury's last wish." 

Steve raised an eyebrow, "What was that?" 

"He told you not to trust anyone. You brought me into this and I could have been working with HYDRA. Given my track record I'm the last person you should have trusted with doing this." 

Steve frowned again, "Fury trusted you. Why shouldn't I?" 

Natasha shook her head, "No. He didn't. He was too careful for that. He respected me, but he never trusted me. The fact that he came to you proves that."