"First rule of going on the run, don't run. Walk," Natasha mumbled to Steve as the pair made their way through the mall. The spy was all too aware of the soldier's head snapping around as if he was on a battlefield and anticipating the next shot.
"If I run in these shoes they're going to fall off," he responded stiffly. The two made their way into an electronic store, Natasha on the verge of begging Steve to act normal and stop fidgeting with his hat and glasses.
"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." The red head told him as she typed away at the laptop, ignoring the other people in the store.
"How much time do we have?" The blond asked, doing the opposite as he took note of every person in his line of sight.
"Um, about nine minutes from," the woman hummed as she plugged in the flash drive. "Now," Natasha typed quickly as she looked over everything that had been stored in the drive. "Fury was right about that ship, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."
"Can you override it?"
"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly," she continued to try and work on getting all the information out of the drive. "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."
"Hey." Steve jumped as a worker wandered over to him and Natasha, quickly moving between him and the laptop. "Can I help you guys with anything?"
"No, my fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations." Natasha easily lied as she hugged Steve from behind, putting on a fake smile as the blond tried to do the same.
"Right, we're getting married."
"Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?" Steve craned his neck to glance down at the computer, hoping Natasha had found the location.
"New Jersey."
"Oh." The man began to stare at Steve with a slight smile, the Captain shifting his weight nervously. "I have the exact same glasses."
"Wow, you guys are like twins," Natasha threw over her shoulder dryly.
"I wish," the worked made gestures to Steve's chest. "Specimen. If you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." With a small wave the man moved onto another person in the store.
"Thank you," Steve called as he looked down to his watch. "You said nine minutes, come on."
"Relax," she dismissed without a hint of worry in her tone. "Got it." She smiles to Steve, notching how he did a double take at the destination. Wheaton, New Jersey. "You know it?"
"I used to," Steve grabbed the flash drive. "Let's go." His gaze flickered around the mall, overly aware of all the SHIELD agents closing in on them. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage. You'll hit the south escalator to the metro."
"Shut up and put your arm around me. Laugh at something I said."
"What?"
"Do it." Although the Captain questioned it he did as told, giving a fake laugh as they passed the two agents.
The two Avengers made their way to the escalator, Natasha quickly noticed Rumlow taking the escalator up. He was sure to catch them if she didn't think of something.
"Kiss me."
"What?" For the second time that day Steve questioned the woman.
"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable."
"Yes. They do." The blond agreed in confusion. Natasha didn't wait any longer for him to think, grabbing the back of his head and kissing him until she was sure Rumlow wouldn't see them.
"Still uncomfortable?"
"Not exactly the word I would use."
"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha grinned at Steve as their stolen truck sped down the road, her feet propped up as they made their way to the old base.
"Nazi, Germany. And we're borrowing, get your feet off the dash." He glanced to her with a crooked grin.
"All right, I have a question for you. Which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?"
"What?" Steve rose an eyebrow as he cut off her rambling.
"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" She couldn't help the small grin on her face, and she watched him tense.
"That bad, huh?" He tried to cover it up with humor.
"I didn't say that."
"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying."
"No I didn't." She quickly defended, almost afraid she hurt his feelings. "I just wonder how much practice you've had."
"You don't need practice," he quickly dismissed.
"Everybody needs practice."
"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety five, not dead." He let out a small laugh as he shook his head.
"Nobody special though? Not even back then?" Natasha let a wide grin take over her face as she saw the way Steve looked down. "Oh, I know that look. Who was she?"
Steve smiles softly as he tried to focus on the road, scared if he thought too much he wouldn't be able to focus.
"He was one of my best friends. And he was nice, and always looking out for me. I guess I was always holding out for him, thinking maybe one day I could tell him. That one day it would be safe to tell him." Steve shook his head as he cut himself off, not noticing Natasha's sympathetic look. "But now it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experiences."
"Well that's all right, you just make something up," the red head shrugged.
"What, like you?"
"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I."
"That's a tough way to live," he frowned at the girl.
"It's a good way to die though."
"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is." Steve rose an eyebrow at her, almost begging for some type of trust between them.
"Yeah. Who do you want me to be?"
"How about a friend?" Steve gave her a small grin.
"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers." Natasha gave a teasing sort of smile. "But your boy," she nodded softly as Steve looked to her. "He sounds like he was pretty cool. Way too cool for you, old man." Steve let out a small laugh along with the woman.
"He was. He definitely was."