AN: The battle of New York didn't happen in this story.

Chapter One

Natasha Romanoff stared at the rugs at IKEA. What kind of rug would Natalie Rushman chose? She decided to take the blue one for her living room and picked a few other things and paid them with the credit card Fury gave her. She had to storage her beloved Corvette and was now driving a VW beetle. She really hoped no one who knew her would see her in this car. She had dyed her hair from red to blonde but there was still the chance that she could be recognized. She drove back to her new apartment and carried the stuff up the stairs. Would it have killed Fury to chose a building with a fucking elevator? But no, he wanted an old brick complex for Captain America to move in. He was the reason Natasha had to go undercover. Fury gave her the order to move into the apartment across the hallway from the one Captain Rogers would live in two weeks. She was assigned to protect him and to keep an eye on him. Fury picked her because she was the best when it came to undercover ops and he thought that she was the least likely to swoon over Captain America. Apparently Coulson was on cloud nine ever since SHIELD found Steve Rogers six months ago. He had lived in New York for the time being, going to therapy and getting briefed on SHIELD and everything he missed in the last seventy years. Fury was now sure that Rogers was ready to work for SHIELD and he would move to DC where SHIELD's HQ was.

Natasha was supposed to make sure that no crazy fans would get to him or someone would try to take him out. And Fury wanted her to befriend him so he wouldn't be so alone and he would tell her if he met someone and SHIELD could look into their background to make sure they had no ulterior motives. The world went crazy when President Ellis announced that Captain America was found and adapting to this world. They were even planning an exhibit at the Smithsonian. Fury had picked this building because a lot of old people lived here and he hoped Rogers would connect with her since she would be the only one his biological age. She would pose as the friendly girl next door who worked as a nurse at a hospital. She almost laughed when Fury told her her cover. She would make a terrible nurse and she found it kind of hilarious that a former KGB spy was sent to protect America's golden boy. And they said Fury had no sense of humor!

SHIELD deleted everything from the time she used her Natalie Rushman persona on Tony Stark in case Rogers googled her and realized that things didn't match up. She was told that Rogers would lead STRIKE and her best friend Clint would be part of it which meant that she couldn't see him for the next months. It sucked but it was part of the job. She would have to stay away from the Triskelion while Rogers was in town and could only go when he was on a mission. That left her with a lot of free time since she definitely wouldn't work as a nurse (she had enough medical background to patch herself up but she wasn't qualified to work at a hospital). Fury told her to see the undercover op as vacation and promised to send her on a few local missions if it was possible. Maybe she should sign up for cooking classes, next door Natalie seemed like someone who wanted to learn how to cook.

Captain Rogers moved in two weeks later and she waited another three days until she introduced herself. She bought cookies at a local bakery, put them in pretty mason jar she also just bought, and slipped into jeans and a white t-shirt to make herself look sweet and harmless. With the cookies under her arm she knocked on his door and he opened a few moments later.

She had seen the pictures from the 40s and recent ones and she knew that he was attractive but seeing him in person was completely different. No wonder, Coulson was fangirling all over him. The man was hot!

"Um, hi?"

She flashed him a big smile. "Hey. I'm Natalie Rushman. I live across the hall and I thought I say hi." She shoved the cookie jar into his hands. "A little welcoming present."

"Uh, thank you." He offered her his hand. "I'm Steve Rogers, ma'am."

She blinked two times at him. "Oh God, I didn't recognize you at first. I'm sorry!"

He blushed a bit. "That's fine."

"Enjoy the cookies, Captain Rogers." She nodded at him and was about to turn around to go back to her place.

"Please call me Steve." He tugged the jar against his chest.

"In that case, I'm Natalie." She gave him another smile because he seemed unsure. "I'll see you around, Steve."

"Yeah." He nodded his head. "Have a nice day, Natalie." She wished him the same and he closed his door. First contact was made.

Two days later Rogers knocked on her door to give her the cookie jar back. He had an already healing scar on his cheek and she knew from Clint that they had saved hostages in Columbia. Clint had been raving about Captain America's abilities and that their first mission went smoothly.

"Thank you again for your cookies. They were great." He gave her a little smile. "I would have made you some but I don't know how to bake."

"I'll tel you a little secret." She winked at him. "I don't know how to bake either. I bought them."

"Oh." He laughed a little. "Did you buy them just for me?"

"Well, yeah." She made herself blush a little. "I just moved here and the lady from the second floor told me that someone my age moved in. I don't know anyone here in DC yet and I wanted to make a good impression."

"You did." He seemed surprised at himself for saying that. "Um, you seem really nice and I don't really know anyone here either."

"Now you know me."

"Yeah, I do." He smiled. "Have a nice evening."

"You, too." She thought briefly about inviting him in but she didn't want to come on too strong. He could suspect something if she rushed things. She had to send Clint a text telling him to invite Rogers to a sports bar or something. His eyes looked so sad when he said that he didn't really know anyone here.

Natasha "happened" to run into Rogers a few times in the next weeks and talked a little bit with him. So far he still came home alone every day but she knew from Clint that he went to get some beers with STRIKE and he seemed to dislike Rumlow which delighted her. She hated that dick. Rogers was home from a mission and she had used his absence to brief Fury at the Trikelion and to use the shooting range. Not that there was much to tell.

She grabbed the cheese cake Fury's wife made for her and walked with it to Rogers' apartment. She knocked and Steve opened the door almost immediately.

"Hi, Natalie." He smiled at her.

"Hey." She held the cake up. "A patient gave me this as a thank you. You wanna share it with me? It's too much for me."

"Yeah, sure." He moved to the side. "Do you want to come in?"

She had actually been counting on it. "Yes, thanks."

Rogers' apartment felt impersonal. It still looked the same like it did when she inspected it before he moved in. She could only see the stuff SHIELD got him before his arrival.

"I know it's a bit spartan." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not great at decorating."

"I got a rug that I don't really like with my furniture. You can have that."

"Oh, that's really nice. Thank you. How much do I owe you?"

She waved him off. "Nothing, it's fine." She placed the cake on his kitchen table. "Maybe you can let me take you to Target so we can make your place more cozy?" Natasha would never want her place to look cozy but Natalie did.

"Yeah. But only if you want to." He said shyly and set the table.

"I wouldn't have offered otherwise. Don't worry." She cut the cake and put a piece on Rogers' plate. "I have the weekend off. Do you have time then? We can take my car."

"So far I'm free." He smiled sheepishly. "But work could come up. So I might have to cancel. Sorry."

She took a bite from the cake. LaTanya really knew how to make a cheese cake. "I get it. Captain America has irregular work hours."

"Yeah, something like that. Thank you for understanding."

She stayed for half an hour and they talked. Rogers' seemed like a really nice guy and she hoped for him that he would find his place in this world. It was really charming when he asked her if she ever heard of the show FRIENDS and that it was really good. He walked her to his door and only closed it when she was back in her apartment. Not that something could have happened in the minute she needed to go to her door but it showed her again that he was a nice person. She almost felt bad for lying to him.

Going to Target on a Saturday hadn't been one of Natasha's best ideas and she was reminded why she ordered everything online. Rogers kept his baseball cap on the whole time and added his sunglasses when they were outside. She really didn't envy him for being so famous. Maybe he was good at being incognito but she figured that people didn't recognize him because they didn't expect to run into Captain America at Target. They got a few things for his place and Natasha bought a foot bath. She started to do ballet again and her feet could use some pampering. Rogers' seemed excited that she danced and told her that he loved to draw (she already knew that from his files) and she asked him if he could draw her as a present for her father. Not that she had one but she could send the picture to Coulson to make him jealous that she got drawn by Captain America. Rogers got flustered but he agreed to do it. She introduced him to Thai food and he insisted to pay. She let him, not that it would have bothered her to pay for both of them. SHIELD paid for all her expenses during her mission. She drove them back to their apartment building and helped him get his stuff to his place.

"By when do you need the picture?" He asked her while they put her old rug into his living room. It really looked better here than at her place. She never liked the thing to begin with.

"Huh?" What picture?

"The drawing for your dad."

"Right! Sorry, I guess Target tired me out." She faked a little laugh. She had already forgotten about that. That was not good, she had to remember everything she told him. "His birthday is next month. Should I give you a picture of me or do you need me to pose."

"Working with an actual model is always better but you can lend me a photo if you're uncomfortable with it."

There wasn't anything she wasn't comfortable with. Came with the job, and her past. "No, it's fine. I can pose for the drawing. Thank you again."

"No need. You gave me your rug and spent the day at Target with me. I'm the one who's thankful."

Rogers was gone during the next two weeks on a mission in Afghanistan and Fury used his absence to send her finally on a mission in Dallas to take out a drug lord with a few other agents. It felt really good to finally fire a gun again and to kick some ass. She had missed the action and probably hit the bad guys a bit too much but they weren't saints so she didn't really care. One guy did manage to land a hit on her and she now had a black eye. She tried to cover it with concealer but it still shimmered through.

Someone knocked on her door. It had to be Rogers, no one else visited her here. Were two weeks already over? She answered the door and he smiled at her until he noticed her black eye.

"What happened?" He looked worried and slightly angry. "Who did this to you?"

"A patient at the hospital. We tried to restrain him but his fist met my face before we managed that." She lied smoothly.

"Does it hurt?"

"It's fine, don't worry." She broke the guy's jaw so they were probably even.

He eyed her and then nodded. "Okay." He handed her a paper bag. "Um, I got this for you."

She looked inside and he got her a beautiful scarf. He must have bought it in Afghanistan. "Thank you, Steve! I loved it." She really did, it was a beautiful piece.

He seemed relieved. "Good. I wasn't so sure if I chose the right one."

"Have you eaten yet?" He shook his head. "I was gonna order some pizza. You wanna join me? My treat, as a thank you for the scarf."

"Sounds great. But I can pay for my own."

"Nonsense. Come in, I'll get the menu." She ordered a medium sized pizza for herself and a family sized one for Rogers after he admitted that he had to eat a lot because of his serum (she already knew that).

She got a six pack out of her fridge and offered him a beer while they waited for their food to arrive. "How come you never ask me?"

She looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"How come you never ask me about being Captain America?"

That question caught her off guard. She assumed that he wanted her to see him as Steve Rogers and not Captain America. He seemed like the guy who didn't care about his fame. Had she read him wrong? "Um, I didn't think you wanted to talk about that?"

"No, no, you're right about that. It's just people only want to talk about that once they figure out who I am." He took a sip and smiled shyly. "I guess I found my first friend?"

She swallowed. "Looks like it." She smiled back and for the first time in a very long time she felt uncomfortable. The person Rogers considered his friend didn't really exist. She hoped for him he would soon find real friends who didn't lie to him whenever they saw him.

Rogers and her had been neighbors for two months now and they ate regularly together and he helped her assemble a book shelf because she was waiting for a giant book order. Clint had told her that Rogers ,when asked by STRIKE if he had a girl, told them that there maybe was someone he liked. She also knew that Rogers was pretty popular with the female agents and Maria complained she practically had to beat them with a stick to get them away from Rogers so SHIELD could run smoothly. Since Natasha was pretty sure he hadn't met any civilians yet, it had to be someone at SHIELD who peaked his interest. Maybe it was Maria, now that would be hilarious. And in case Rogers came to his friend Natalie for tips on wooing women, she ordered every romance novel on Amazon with decent reviews. Natasha had no clue when it came to romance and all that crap so she had to study to ensure that Natalie could help Rogers.

Rogers told her that he met a veteran named Sam Wilson on his morning runs while they assembled the book shelf and she later informed Maria so she could do a background check on the guy to make sure he had no ulterior motives. As it turned out Wilson passed the check and she was glad for Rogers that he had made a new friend that seemed to be genuine. She was surprised when Rogers asked her if she wanted to go with him and Wilson to a film festival but it was a good opportunity to take a look at this man to make sure his intentions were good. God, she sounded like a dad who would met his daughter's boyfriend. Wilson was funny and nice, flirted a bit with her and she decided that he really liked Rogers and wasn't just some fanboy or even a danger to him.

According to the calendar it was summer but it had rained for days and Rogers made that drawing of her. He really was talented and it was almost like he drew Natasha and not Natalie. She thanked him and complimented him which caused him to blush. It was actually quite charming. She liked the sketch so much that she decided not to send it to Coulson but to keep it herself. She could just snap a photo and send it to him, it would still make him jealous that she got Captain America to draw her.

When she woke up on Sunday morning it finally stopped raining. In fact the sun was shining and she decided to enjoy the good weather and to do something outside. Maybe she should stop by Fury's house to use his pool, he wasn't there but LaTanya would surely let her in. Maybe she would even get some cookies. She was just finished getting ready and packed a swimsuit into her bag when someone knocked on her door.

"Hey." Steve was on the other side of the door. "Um..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "You wanna take a tour with me on my bike? The weather's so nice." He held up two bags for his motorcycle. "We can have a picnic somewhere. I made sandwiches and got lemonade." His cheeks were slightly pink. Why? She took a closer look at him and then it dawned on her. Steve Rogers was interested in Natalie. Romantically. Natalie was the girl he maybe liked. Fuck, what was she supposed to do? She didn't think Fury saw that coming. Should she encourage his interest? Should she turn him down? Maybe that would make him avoid her and she couldn't look after him anymore. Why did Fury not ask another agent to do this mission? There was still the chance that she was reading him wrong and he just wanted to do something with the girl who seemed to have no friends.

Rogers' face fell a bit. "We don't... I get it if you got already plans-"

"No, sounds great!" She said quickly. "I'd love to. Let me just grab a jacket and we can go."

Steve basically beamed at her. "Really? That's awesome."

She felt like the biggest asshole for getting his hopes up. Wait, did she just call Rogers Steve in her mind? That was a rookie mistake that shouldn't have happened. Always keep a distance between you and your target, Natasha!

AN: As far as we know Fury's not married, so I borrowed the name for his wife from Samuel L. Jackson's wife.

Welcome to a new Romanogers story! I hope you'll like the new journey. Let me know what you think.