"Mom!"

I turned to see a sprinting Sarah with a large rectangular package tucked underneath her arm. Her blonde hair was still in the same braid that I'd done for her last night.

"Mom look what Uncle Tony got me!" Sarah halted in front of me then, trying to catch her breath from all the running. The package she was holding seemed to have been half-stripped of its red and gold Iron Man wrapping paper. I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from making a joke about Tony's seemingly unending vanity. Instead, I leaned down and took the package from Sarah's hands.

"What did he get you?" I fully took off the wrapping paper to reveal a junior med kit. It was pretty impressive for a kid model, considering the items in the box seemed to be fully functional instead of simply being plastic playthings. But this was Tony we were talking about here, so I wasn't very surprised. Nevertheless, I raised my eyebrows.

"A med kit - wow!" I said, looking down at Sarah's beaming smile.

"Yes! Yes! And Uncle Bruce said he'd teach me how to use all the stuff! He said we can't trust Uncle Tony to teach me," Sarah said. Her energy and excitement level were at a record-high, evident by the clapping of her hands and the constant jumping. We recently discovered that she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up, helping the world by healing instead of fighting. It was the reason why she was so opposed to the idea of training to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

"Well Bruce is certainly right - we cannot trust Tony with that. It is not his area of expertise," I responded, and Sarah giggled.

We were interrupted then by a shyly approaching Sharon, who was holding a hand-sized gift paired with a white envelope. I already knew what it was. Two tickets to a very exclusive event, featuring one of the most esteemed ballet dancers in the world.

"A special present for a very special birthday girl," Sharon said, smiling. "Happy birthday, Sarah."

Sarah's brown eyes lit up even brighter than they had been before - and they were very bright before - as she took the gift in her hands and threw her arms around Sharon. Sharon has to take a few moments to make sure this was real before returning the embrace. I think she still hasn't fully realized that Sarah really doesn't hate her. I could see a bit of myself in Sharon. It used to be much harder for me to trust that people actually cared and that it was possible for someone to like me.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Sarah's triple gratitude caused both Sharon and me to start laughing. Sarah could somehow light a whole room up with just her presence. She and her father shared that quality.

Speaking of that father, Steve came and whisked Sarah away to Wanda and Clint, as they were still waiting to give her her presents. Sharon and I were left alone, watching as Sarah ran off to open arms from the two waiting Avengers.

"Sarah is one lucky kid," I remarked. "She's got Tony and Bruce looking after her... Thor and Clint playing with her..."

"And she's got you," Sharon said. I faced her fully, taking in her half-wistful, half-content expression. "I meant it that day when I said you make a great mother."

"I know," I replied with a small smile. "I mean, I know that you meant it, not that I know I'm a great mom."

"You should know, though," Sharon said. "You're really good for Sarah and James."

It's strange how human feelings work. This network of happy and sad and angry and jealous and so on has feelings that are so interconnected with each other that the most contradictory emotions could somehow combine to create something new, something unexplainable. That's how Sharon seemed right now. It seemed as if she was sad to have to let go of her family, but happy that her family was happy.

"You know, just because you're not married to Steve anymore doesn't mean you're not part of this family. You didn't ruin your chance of being a mother for Sarah. You still have the opportunity to look after her. I've seen the way she hugs you and I hear the way she talks to you. The feelings she has for you are the farthest from hate." I paused then, collecting my thoughts and figuring out the best way to express them. "My point is, 'mother' is merely a label. Sarah still loves you, and you still have plenty of time ahead with her. You didn't miss your opportunity to look after her. You're still part of the family."

Sharon looked away then, to try and hide tears brimming in her eyes. She and I had a lot more in common than I originally thought.

"You're really good at reading people, aren't you?" Sharon finally turned to look at me. Despite the tears, her tone was still playful and her eyes still held a happy sparkle to them.

"Well, I am the Black Widow," I said, shrugging in a playfully modest manner. Sharon let out a laugh then, and reached over to wrap her arms around me. I immediately responded with a warm return of the embrace. If you told me even a month ago that I would be hugging Sharon Carter, of all people, I would've laughed in your face. But we worked through our differences and found comfort in our similarities and somehow found ourselves here. Life was full of surprises.

As we broke away, I made sure to tell her, "I bet you however much money Tony has that Sarah is going to choose you as the person to go to that event with."

———

Evening came and soon, like many nights before, Steve and I found ourselves at the balcony sitting side by side and just enjoying each other's company. Our friends had went home, the children were sleeping, the neighborhood was quiet - it was just us two.

Tonight, specifically, we were looking at photos from just two weeks ago. In all the pictures, I wore a sophisticated white dress - terribly uncomfortable, is how I remembered it - and Steve was donning a handsome black suit, tailored to perfection. That troublemaker Clint photobombed in one of the pictures, but it was too funny to just leave it, so we printed it with the others and framed it for our keeping.

"We should never have let Thor take that picture." Steve here was talking about one particular picture he was remembering, where, instead of showing our faces, the photograph showed our feet. It was a blurry picture too. I laughed lightly and twisted the intricate ring on my left ring finger.

"He was so excited to use your camera, though. We had to let him take at least one picture," I replied, picking up the photograph and reliving the memory. Thor was... an interesting specimen. Very wise yet so uncultured. At least he started taking photography classes now. He promised to do a retake of that picture.

Steve looked over at me and grinned. "Well, I can never say no to you."

I looked down with a smile that was growing by the second. Steve poked my cheek.

"Did you know that you've been smiling a lot more lately?" He asked. "Your signature smirk has been absent for so long that I was actually tempted to go ring on its door and ask it to come out."

Not funny. Not funny. Okay fine, I let a laugh slip out.

"You miss my smirk?" I gave one then, letting the left part of my lip climb higher than my right. Steve did that thing with his eyebrows where he flicks them up for a second.

"Well... it is sexy... but I do love your smile more. It lights up your whole face. It reminds me that I make you happy, and that makes me happy," Steve replied.

"Damn you're smooth," I said, and gave him a playful shove on the shoulder.

"And you're beautiful." If it hadn't been Steve, I probably would have gagged or rolled my eyes at the compliment.

Steve went quiet for a moment then, as if he was thinking really deeply about something. He hesitated, then spoke up.

"Do you think... do you think Jackson could have been right? Do you think the people are wrong about me, that I'm not the hero they see me as?"

I looked at Steve with pure surprise in my eyes. "Are you kidding? Steve, you're the most noble man I know. You have the purest heart, the strongest moral compass, the biggest courage - if anything, you're even bigger than the hero that people see you as. Yes, some people have to die at the expense of others, but Steve, we save much more people than we kill. You can't blame yourself for something that's not in control." I put a hand to his cheek. "You're a hero, Steve."

He leaned forward to put his lips on mine. We shared a soft kiss. It was less intense than the ones I was used to, but somehow held the same passion. We broke away and he touched our foreheads together.

"Thank you," he said, and I smiled softly.

We sat back in our chairs, and suddenly he started laughing quietly. I cast a confused glance towards him, curious as to why he was laughing for no apparent reason.

"It's funny you know," he started. "It used to be the other way around. You had doubts about yourself as a person and I would try to convince you otherwise. Now, I'm the one doubting myself and you're the one trying to make me feel better."

It was funny how things have changed. How we have changed.

"We take care of each other," I said. It was that simple.

"There's that smile again," Steve said, pointing towards my face, and I felt my hand self-consciously creep up to my cheek.

"You make me happy," I said. "You've changed me. You and Sarah and James. The Avengers. Fury and Maria and Coulson. Hell, even Sharon. I was so broken before. I used to have nothing. And then... I got this family. You remind me of my worth and make me smile instead of smirk. Sarah and James give me people to take care of, remind me of a different type of responsibility than just being an Avenger. I didn't know I would love being a mom his much. The Avengers - you, Clint, Tony, Thor, Bruce... Sam, Wanda, Rhodey, Vision - I feel at home with you guys. I've shared so many laughs and tears and memories with you and... this job is like a second chance for me. A second chance after the red room, a chance to do better. Everyone's changed me, and I'm just so grateful because I feel like I've changed for the better."

Steve was silent for a moment after I spoke and at first I thought I said something wrong.

"Sorry, is it a little too early for Thanksgiving?" I asked to lighten the mood.

Steve pulled me in for a hug, a really tight embrace. It felt as if he was hanging onto me and he didn't want to let go.

"I love you so much, did I ever tell you that?" He said breathlessly.

"I love you too," I whispered into his shoulder.

It was a beautiful moment shared that night, and normally I would have been scared that things were getting too good for me, that there had to be a catch somewhere. But my family has taught me that you have to enjoy the good while it's here and you have to let yourself be happy.

My family. I think those two words were my favorite words now.

A happy ending to A New Beginning! I hope you guys liked it (I feel like I've turned Nat into too much of a softie 😂😂. But I mean, our poor Nat needs a lot more happiness than Marvel gives her.) Thank you guys for all the support throughout this fanfic - it's been a long journey (really long, I may never stop apologizing) and you guys still stuck with me and with Romanogers. Though Nat met the end of her life in Endgame (I cried so much 😭😭) and Steve will probably soon meet his end after Endgame, their stories are not over and as long as we keep them alive with our imaginations, I know we will do them proper justice. Thank you thank you thank you again for reading and commenting and liking! I enjoyed writing this so much!

I love you all 3000.