There he was. Handsome as ever. Tall, blonde, blue-eyed soldier. Except he wasn't really a soldier anymore. He was a dad.

It was an hour ago that I got the call to come and help him out. He told me that he would be out for the whole day because his son, James, was terribly ill. Apparently, he wanted me to come and take care of his daughter, Sarah. Of course, I left as soon as I got the call.

"206 Summer Avenue," I murmured to myself, trying to simultaneously drive and read off a card. I easily succeeded at this. After all, I was the queen of multi-tasking. Plus, Steve wasn't that hard to find. He was leaning on the side of the brown doorframe to his pale yellow house, waiting for me.

"Nat!" He called out, and jogged over to me.

"Hi Steve! Long time no see," I said, smiling. He hugged me tight, catching me slightly off-guard. Nevertheless, I returned the hug. He rested his chin on the top of my head.

"Thanks for coming," he whispered into my hair. I leaned my forehead against his chest, and closed my eyes.

"You know I wouldn't have come if it wasn't you," I replied. We broke away as an unfamiliar voice called out.

"Hey, Dad! Who is that?" I looked to see a small, blonde girl that was a carbon-copy of Sharon Carter, Steve's wife. She looked so much like Sharon that it was a bit creepy.

"This is my best friend from work," he responded, and threw an arm around me. "We met in high school." The young girl simply gave a curt nod to Steve and me, and went back inside.

"I'm guessing she's your Sarah?" I inquired Steve, a smirk forming on my lips.

"Yup," Steve said, looking ahead. "A feisty one, but very lovable once you get to know her really well." He patted my back and led me inside.

"So... I'm guessing you didn't tell little Sarah about the whole Avengers business?" I asked him as we walked side by side. I squinted up at him.

"Nope, I did not tell her," he responded. "I thought it would be better for her to be safe from you know - all that." Steve vaguely gestured with his hands. I nodded absentmindedly.

Once inside, I came face to face with Sarah again. She really looked like her mother. Same blonde hair, same chocolate-colored eyes, same calculating look. She squinted at me for a minute, her dark eyes piercing through me.

"Are you my new mom?" She asked me with an innocent face. It took me a moment to register what she said. Mom? But before I could respond, Steve intercepted.

"Sarah, it isn't fair to pester poor Nat already - she's stuck with you for the whole day!" He said, giving a wink to me. I rolled my eyes at his playfulness and gave him a light punch in the arm.

"She's not bothering me," I said to Steve, then turned to look at Sarah with a reassuring expression. "It's okay. Your dad's just being silly." The young girl beamed at me and gave a knowing nod.

"Yeah, Daddy thinks he's so funny," she said, and winked. Steve looked back from me to her.

"Well, look at you two - you guys are warming up already! Okay then. I'll leave you to your Steve-insulting session and head off to James to see how he is," he said. I gave him a small smile and patted his shoulder.

"Okay Captain. Off you go!"

Sarah and I waved to him as he left the house and mounted on his familiar motorbike to go to the hospital.

I turned to Sarah.

"So... let's start off with proper introductions," I said, holding out my hand. "I'm Natasha Romanoff, your dad's best friend, I like to dance ballet, and... yeah. That's about it for me. Now, you can tell me a bit about you." I smiled at the young girl in front of me. I don't know why, but I always get happy when I'm around young kids. They're more naive than grown men/women, and vulnerable. I always have this urge to protect young kids when I'm around them.

"Well, my name is Sarah Rogers. I'm seven years old, and my favorite thing to do is play catch with my dog, Tony, and my frisbee," Sarah replied. I smirked. She had named her dog Tony... after Tony Stark. And she had inherited her frisbee talents from her dad...

"Do you want to play frisbee right now then?" I asked, hopeful that she'll say yes. I was in the mood for some moving around. To my delight, Sarah nodded and scampered off. She came back with an orange frisbee.

"With Tony or without him?" I said, as I spotted the golden retriever lying on the floor a few feet away.

"How about without him? Dad used play frisbee with me all the time, but he doesn't do that anymore because of everything with Mom and James," she said. "It's been a while since I played with a human." She stroked the fur of her dog while she said this, and looked up at me for an answer. I wondered what was happening with Sharon, but suspecting that it was a touchy subject, I didn't say anything about it.

"Is he good?" I asked Sarah, although I already knew the answer to this. Sarah's chestnut eyes lit up.

"Oh yes - he is amazing at frisbee!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down. I laughed and nodded my head.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. He and I used to play frisbee all the time when we were younger," I gave her a wink as I said this and stood up. "Let's go outside."

Steve's backyard was pretty big. Maybe he exercised here. There was a trampoline on one side and a small playground set on the other. A huge patch of fresh green grass took up most of the lawn.

I slid my hands in my pockets as we came to the yard. Sarah ran to the other side clutching the frisbee with one hand.

"Should I come closer?" I hollered to her, my eyebrow raised in question. She shook her head, and yelled back, "Go farther!" I smiled. This kid was in for a fun game.