Silence.

That was all Natasha had been for hours. She was sitting on the oddly uncomfortable chair of the waiting room; starring at the blank wall in front of her, not uttering a sound. In fact, she hadn't spoke a single word since it all happened. What they saw was a bright light and a cloud of flames followed by a loud sound. Then there was nothing; nothing but absolute darkness. She had collapsed on her knees, Vision, Maria and Sam on her side while Wanda and Clint were on the last lifeboat and Tony was flying around with FRIDAY searching the water for Steve Rogers. Then he had found the Captain, drowning in the deep dark water. He had snatched him out and took him to the quinjet; feeling the blonde's pulse weakening as he flew up. He laid the limp body of their leader next to the row of seats with Natasha sitting on the floor on the opposite side, her eyes fixed on Steve. She was silent, she didn't shed a single tear. Maria wrapped a towel around her, forcefully; as she saw her entire body shivering.

Sam and Vision had flew to the lifeboats to help Clint and Wanda while Maria had set the headquarters' coordination on the quinjet and she had called in Dr.Cho up front. Once they reached the HQ, they rushed Steve to the medical section and he'd been taken to the operation room at once.

Natasha had stumbled on one of the seats and stared at the wall, the longer she had stared, blanker it seemed. Sharon and Bucky had been the firsts to rush to the medical center, Pepper joining them soon. Pepper was trying to calm down Tony as he cursed the nurses who wouldn't give him any information about the operation.

Natasha didn't care.

Not when Sharon started crying, not when Tony threw a seat at the polycarbonate glass window that did not break; not even when Bucky punched the wall in frustration causing a giant hole in it.

She didn't budge at any of the sounds. Actually, she hadn't shown any reaction to non of the above. She had simply zoned out. Two hours later, Clint, Wanda, Vision and Sam jogged to the waiting room; but even when Wanda hugged Natasha or Clint shook her shoulders to get her attention, she didn't even flinch. Clint had requested a doctor to check on her and that was the only time that she responded to anything from the outside world; by jerking away the doctor's hand.

When after a five hour operation, Cho finally walked out the emergency room, Tony ran to her and asked for an update or better said demanded. She told them he was stabilized but needed to rest and they would be allowed to see him when he'd gain consciousness; but Natasha didn't care. She walked past Cho and when a nurse tried to stop her, Cho shook her head, telling the nurse that it was fine and so, Natasha disappeared from their sight behind the emergency rooms' doors. She walked through the corridor, not knowing which room Steve Rogers would be in. She stood there, wondering if she should check every single room. Then she heard footsteps that turned to be Cho's as she walked to her side, stood right next to her, gave her a glance and then started walking again; followed by the spy. She walked down the corridor to a door and opened it, standing aside to let the redhead in. Natasha walked in and was soon met by Steve Rogers' pale figure, resting on the hospital bed. She sat down on a chair, on the very far corner of the room and stared at the blonde.

Four hours.

Four hours she sat there, in absolute silent and watched him breath air in and out on a very low pace. The one time he breathed out with a slightly faster pace, she heard him let out a throaty grunt and the machines attached to him started to beep. Cho jogged in with two nurses and started taking his visuals and everything seemed to be fine. Steve fluttered his eyes open and searched his surroundings; his eyes resting on the silent red head. He watched her as she watched him, not locking eyes, but staring at him dead in the eyes. Then Cho told him he was fine to meet his friends and a few minutes later the room was filled with them. Tony cursed him the minute he stepped in the room, Bucky told him he was a reckless idiot, Sam smiled and said he was happy that he wasn't dead, Wanda only cried and Clint told him if he would do something as that stupid, ever again, he would shoot an arrow in his eye. Steve wondered if he meant taking a bomb to a yacht and sailing away like it was a summer afternoon or telling his best friend that he loved her and then getting himself blown up; although he doubted Natasha would tell Clint about the second part.

Half an hour later, Cho announced that it was time for the Captain to rest and basically shooed everyone of them out, except for Natasha who sat silent in the far corner of the room. She'd been staring out the window while the rest of them were talking to him and now that they were gone, she lazily pulled her gaze back on him.

"I'm sorry" he poured all his sorrow and sincerity in his eyes; but she didn't answer. Her expression was iced and he miserably failed to read her. "Nat, don't you wanna say anything?" He pleaded "Please just say something, anything. Yell at me or shout at me; just do something." She blinked softly but didn't say anything else. Steve wanted to say something, push her further but he was cut off when Cho walked it. "Captain Rogers." He looked at her, waiting for her to go on.

Cho inhaled deeply "You've had several injuries, two broken ribs, a broken arm and have lost a lot of blood. The normal amount of time for recovery is about twelve weeks; but I assume with your serum and four times faster metabolism, it will take you three to four weeks to recover. Your ribs and arm will feel better by the time but the full recovery of your broken bones will take over three weeks."

Steve nodded "And when can I leave?" He asked her while looking at Natasha who was again looking out the window.

"You can leave in twenty days from now; but you'll have to keep away from field missions for a further week." she gave him a polite smile, then turned to Natasha "Agent Romanoff!" Natasha turned to face her "Will you be staying here tonight?" She hesitated to answer instead stood up in silent and walked to the door.

"Nat! Natasha!" Steve called after her and she looked at him over her shoulder and for a moment Steve thought she was going to talk to him, but then she turned and walked out the room.

Cho looked incredibly uncomfortable "I'll have the staff bring a sofa in, just in case someone wants to stay the night"

Steve sighed "Thank you, that's really thoughtful." She nodded "And you'll feel groggy for the next few days, but it'll pass." Steve nodded again "Thank you, again" Cho smiled at him "Doing my job, Captain. Have a goodnight." And with that, she walked out the room, closing it behind her.

A few minutes later, the door was opened and Steve's head snapped in the direction, hoping to see Natasha. But instead, two men walked in carrying a sofa and placed it a few steps away from his bed. Steve smiled and thanked them politely before once again, he was left alone in the room with the door closed. He had had a headache ever since he'd woken up and he was struggling to keep himself up during the visit of his friends. And now, considering the fact that he was all alone, he decided to give in and let sleep takeover him. He flipped the light switches next to his bed off and straightened his bed to lay as comfortably as he could. Just as his eyes were warming up, he heard the door open and close. He fluttered his eyes and watched the redhead walk in the room holding a cup in her hand that judging by its aroma was strong coffee. She walked to the sofa and dropped her body on the cushions; not glancing at Steve even once. He looked at her with a deep smile, even if she was mad at him, she was there; and to him, that was a good sign.

"You know you don't have to say it back, right? I just wanted you to know" he whispered to her as she sipped her coffee. Natasha turned to look at his eyes, her expression still unreadable. He tried to fight the slumber but failed and soon, he felt himself melting in her green orbs as they turned darker and darker until there was nothing else.

The next day, Steve woke up to an empty room. Almost completely empty. The sofa was gone, making Steve frown in confusion. He laid there in silent until Cho walked in with a nurse by her side. "Good morning, Captain." Steve gave her a smile "Good morning." Cho eyed the room and then smiled "Apparently someone doesn't want your other admires to get the opportunity to stay over." Steve looked at her with a confused expression "Agent Carter has been wanting to visit you and I think a certain someone didn't want her to get the idea that she, too, could stay the night." Steve's brows shot up and a grin plastered on his face that turned to a chuckle. He shook his head and felt his heart lighten. If she was being protective, or possessive, he had the chance to fix things. The actual matter was what he had told her before the explosion. He wasn't sure where she stood and was afraid she would run away from him.

The following days didn't help him at all. In the next week, Natasha didn't visit him, not even once. He had asked Bucky, Tony and Sam if they had any idea why she wasn't visiting but they'd told him they hadn't heard nor even seen much of her in the HQ. At least he knew she was at the avenger's building, not running away.

On the second week he'd asked Maria if she was sent on a mission and she'd told him Natasha had been banned to join missions for another week by Cho after the events of their last missions and that was when he learnt she'd been tested and the result didn't sit well with Cho. Hill had also assured him that Natasha was still staying at Avenger's HQ and she had her eyes on the redhead. He had called Clint who had left the headquarters to make up the ruined vacation for his family; but he had told him all he knew was that Natasha was fine, at least physically.

Steve had started to get worried on the first week; on the second he felt his heart heaving and then there he was; the third week and the day he would go back to the headquarters, but Natasha hadn't even showed up to help him check out. The ride to the HQ was almost silent. Well, Steve was silent while Sam and Bucky fought over the music.

"She'll come around you know, it's Romanoff" Sam tried to consulate him as they got out of the car. Steve shook his head "It looks really bad." He sighed. He could walk on his own but his arm and ribs still would hurt on sudden movements. They walked in the building, straight to the elevator and Bucky offered to accompany him to his room. "It's fine, Buck. I'll probably just go to sleep." The two nodded and got off the forth floor, were Tony had gotten the apartments ready for the two. Non off them were staying permanently; not yet. Sam wanted to stay at his own place and Bucky was going to stay at Steve's apartment in the city. Steve took the elevator to the seventh floor were his and Natasha's apartments were. One single glance at the door was tempting enough for him to walk to her door and knock several times.

No answer.

He sighed and walked back to his apartment, walking through the living room to his bedroom. The first thing that caught his attention was the open doors of his closet. Over time, Steve had developed an OCD that would make him constantly keep everything in a good order. So seeing his messy closet got his lips to curve up to a smug smile.

She'd been sneaking in.

He thought to himself. Then he saw the bedsheets that were an untidy mess. His smiled deepened.

She'd been sleeping there.

He walked to the bed as he felt tired and sore. He needed to rest. He changed into just a pair of sweatpants, leaving his torso bare and laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. Although he was extremely tired, he failed to fall sleep. He laid there with his eyes fixed on the blankness above him. Then he heard the door to his apartment crack open followed by light footsteps. He turned his gaze to the doorframe of his bedroom and watched a delicate figure appear; wearing one of his t-shirts to her mid-tight and her legs left bare. He smiled at her, a freshening smile.

"Hi" he greeted her but got no response.

Natasha walked to him silently and slid in his bed where he had pulled the covers away for her. She laid with her back to him and he tugged her under the covers with a smile. "I guess it's a good sign that you're here, right?" He whispered in her ear knowing there would be no response.

Steve wanted to wrap his arms around her and engulf her but his still healing broken ribs wouldn't allow that. He laid on his back and reached one arm to caress her back. She smoothly scooted closer to him, leaning her back on his side. "You know I had to, I really did. I wouldn't hurt you at any cause, Nat" he spoke to her gently. She didn't say anything. "I wouldn't leave you Nat, I would never want that." He promised her. Natasha rolled to her other side, her head now resting on his chest. "Will you talk to me tomorrow?" He asked with a playful tone. She didn't answer but let out a deep breath, sounding more of a sigh. "Goodnight" he kissed her temple gently with his arm wrapped around her body.

••✦❤️🕷❤️✦••

Steve felt movements in his arms followed by a wave of heat leaving him. His eyes snapped open to find himself alone in the bed and the first rays of sunshine lighting the room. He rushed out of his bed to the bedroom door with a sharp pain in his chest to find Natasha halfway to the door to walk out. "Nat! Wait!" He called out to her with one hand holding his chest over his broken ribs. She sighed and turned around to face him.

"Nat, you can't just not talk to me." He took a step closer but seeing she took a step backwards, he froze.

"I don't know what to tell you" she told him in a raspy hoarse voice and that's when Steve realized how much he'd missed her.

"Nat look, I'm sorry about the mission, but I didn't have any other choice."

"Oh, yes you did! You could've told ME! You could've told us and we could all decide what we should do!" She hissed at him "But Nooo; Captain America isn't like that. He decides what everyone does and he decides how he wants to fucking kill himself on every damn mission!"

Steve took a step forward but she raised her hand to stop him "Don't! Don't you dare get near me! You fucking assholetold me you love me and then you took a ride with a bomb! You are nothing but a selfish arrogant jerk!" She was shouting at him at the top of her voice with a lone tear running down her cheek "You think I don't know you were saying your goodbye? You think your last words to Peggy Carter aren't in your damn files?? You think I don't know what the hell you were trying to do?" Her voice cracked and her sobs filled the room.

Steve jammed the space between them and pulled her in his embrace while she tried to push him away. "Nat I'm sorry, I really am and I won't ever do anything like that."

She pushed him back to take a step back herself before she rambled on "You're lying! I know you're going to do it again because I'm in love with a suicidal lunatic who doesn't ever bother to ask for his teammates' help an-" she was cut off when he smashed his lips on hers . She froze at his touch but then pushed him back "I'm mad at you Rogers" but he leaned down to catch her lips again, sucking hard on her lower lip.

Natasha let out a moan as his hands grasped her hips and she curled her hands around his neck, pulling him closer to herself. He pushed his tongue in her mouth, exploring every corner he could. He grabbed her ass, pulling her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, causing him to grunt as the sharp pain ran through his naked chest.

She pulled back, looking in his eyes "What's wrong?" He shook his head "Ribs" she hummed and tried to push herself back to her feet but he held her tighter. "You're hurting" She murmured in his ear.

"I want you" he groaned in a husky voice. She smirked at him and leaned closer on him, her lips brushing against his ear as her throaty voice send shivers down his spine "Sofa". He growled as he walked to the sofa and collapsed on the cushion with Natasha on his laps. "Easy, soldier" She purred in his ear while nibbling on his earlobe. His hands roamed her body, his own t-shirt covering her torso and what felt like a lace underwear, the only layer keeping the tent in his sweatpants from her heat. She moaned at the feeling of his arousal as she grinned on him, earning a throaty grunt from Steve. "You think you can handle it?" She asked him softly and he could feel the concern in her voice. "I'll soldier through" He smirked and a corner of her lips tugged to a tight lopsided smile, her voice turning to her seductive tone.

"Then show me what you've got".