Sometimes it was almost a curse to be the twin sister of Natasha Romanoff. It was definitely a bad choice to live in the same city, where her enemies knew where to find her and where anyone at any time could ask her to save them. You tried to dress conservatively, hoping to cover your identity as much as possible without being totally hidden from the world. You still had a life to live, after all.

Tonight was one of those nights that had you wishing that you would have just stayed home. You could hear a woman screaming from somewhere nearby, but the sound seemed to come from all around you. Moving to the middle of the street, you looked quickly for any cars before closing your eyes and listening; trying to decide which direction to run, trying to drown out the background noises of the city around you.

"Ma'am?"

"Shh!" you scolded the voice next to you, raising your hand to demand his silence. You never even opened your eyes to see who it was, running away from him as your senses sorted out which direction the woman's scream was coming from. You didn't hear him follow you either.

When you reached the alley, you stopped at the sight of a man holding a woman against a building with a knife to her throat as he rummaged through her purse. She was doing her best not to panic, and tried to hold her reaction when she saw you in her peripheral vision as to not give you away.

"Hey," you called out, stepping into his line of sight, "I think you should let her go before this gets ugly."

The man pulled his knife away and released her, now turning to you. She grabbed her bag and ran from the alley, leaving him for you. "Hey, cutie," he smirked in a gravelly voice that sounded old and worn, "you've got a lot of nerve, scaring off my catch there. You taking her place?"

"I'm here to kick your ass."

The man spun the knife around in his hand and stepped back to lower himself into a lunge, shooting himself forward at you. You simply shook your head and sighed, easily grabbing his arm when he attempted to swing the blade at you, firmly twisting and snapping his shoulder from its joint. He was now lying at your feet, whimpering and begging for you to stop pushing your foot into his chest. You grabbed his knife and slipped it into your boot, leaning down to capture his gaze.

"At least make it a challenge for me," you mumbled. "I'm sure you have a few questions, but I had plans that you so rudely interrupted." You pulled out your phone and called for police to come pick him up, looking around to see if anyone had been watching. The alley was dark and you didn't see anyone, but you couldn't shake the feeling that someone was there.

Once the sirens grew closer and you could see the lights on the nearby street, you jumped to the nearest fire escape and climbed up until you were out of view, watching the man to be sure he didn't try to run. Satisfied with his removal, you jumped to the next building and then the next, lowering yourself to the ground to leave and resume your original plans for the night.

Back at the site of the incident, Steve watched as you disappeared into the darkness. He stood motionless for several minutes before a dark figure dropped down next to him from above; another witness to your control of the situation.

"Rogers."

"Murdock."

"So, who's that one? These vigilante types are just crawling from the woodwork, huh?"

Steve looked at Matt and sighed loudly, disbelieving what was being said. "Really? You mean like you?"

"Hey, this isn't about me," Matt said nervously, raising his hands in defeat and slowly backing away. "Okay...so...nice chat, Cap. I best be on my way."

Pulling his phone from his pocket, Steve paused for a moment before making the call that could change your life from this day forward. He slowly dialed, considering his decision before entering the final number, but finally gave in and put the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Nat. I have a few questions to run by you. You got a minute?"

~~~

"She doesn't want to be found, Steve. I can't say that I blame her."

"Okay, but why didn't you tell me you that you have a sister? You're in the same city, and yeah it's a big city, but there's always a chance that we would run into her." Steve looked up at Natasha across the small café table with a small smirk, taking a drink of his coffee, "I thought she was you."

"She's good. Not as good as me, of course, but she has no problem holding her own."

"Can you bring her in?"

Natasha sat her cup down on the table with a loud thud and a shocked look on her face as she all but choked on her drink. "To the team?! Are you joking? Cap, I just said, she doesn't want to be found. I did say that in English, right?"

"Yeah, you did," he chuckled. "But all the same, I think it's the right thing to do." Steve quickly took the last swallow of his coffee and stood to leave, looking down at his teammate, "you in or out?"

"I'm out."

~~~

The overly enthusiastic and loud banging on your door startled you enough to drop your phone before you could send another reply back to your sister, who had tried to give you a little warning that he was trying to find you; you were surprised that the Captain had arrived so quickly. You stood to open the door, but had made a firm decision to not let him in.

"Well, I must say you sure didn't waste any time finding me. Did she tell you or are you just that resourceful?"

"I prefer to not divulge my methods," he said, looking down at you with a commanding presence that did anything but put you at ease. He was more intimidating than you would have imagined after what you had read about him and what Nat had told you. "May I?" He pushed his way through the door before you could reply, taking full advantage of your stunned silence.

"You know, that's rude to just force your way into someone's home. In fact, I think that's called trespassing, Captain Rogers. Not very law abiding for a walking flag."

Steve looked down at the clothes he was wearing, a pair of jeans and a simple button down shirt, and looked back at you with confusion. "I'm not even wearing the suit-"

"Can't escape it, sorry," you sighed, shutting the door once you decided that he wasn't about to leave any time soon. "You just ooze patriotism." You took a deep breath and turned to look at him, doing your best to hold your resolve and not take him up on the offer that you knew was coming. Doing your best to not fall prey to the man that Nat had warned you about only moments ago. The man that she knew was much too close to your type, and that you would find hard to say no to. "No thanks, Captain. I know what you are here to offer, and I don't want you to waste your time or energy."

"She told you."

"She's my sister. You think she wouldn't?"

Steve took a few steps closer with a slight sense of urgency and fear that he would lose any shot to convince you of his plan before you even gave him a chance. "Okay, but hear me out. You didn't break a sweat the other night; you didn't even look like you were engaged in it. It was too easy. You must have skills similar to hers, right?"

"I said no."

"Natasha told me that you were trained with her, but you stayed behind after she left the Red Room. You stayed on and trained new girls-"

Finished with his lack of respect for your answer, you stepped behind him and twisted his arm back, pushing him into the wall and pressing his face against it. He didn't fight back at all, not even pushing back when you held him tighter.

"What part of 'no' is Captain America having a hard time with? Is it the 'n' or the 'o'? Perhaps it's a lack of manners that's the problem? Do you make it a habit to just barge into someone's home and spout off until you get your way? Do you always get your way, Steve? Is that it?"

You swore you heard him growl; like some strange animalistic noise coming from his throat. You held your ground, waiting for him to turn the tables on you, planting your feet firmly to keep your leverage against him. "Hmm? Nothing? I thought you were more than just a shield, Rogers."

Those must have been the magic words to spring him into action. It a flurry of twisting arms and legs, punches and kicks, fingers weaved into hair and hands around throats, it was a matter of seconds before you were pinned to the ground and he was looking down at you. His hands were like vice grips holding your arms to the floor; you couldn't so much as even wiggle your fingers.

"Now that we have that out of the way," Steve panted, "can we get back to business? You're skills are impressive, (Y/N)." The look in his eyes was shifting, and softening slightly, but they were still intense and held your attention with the deepness of the blue in them. You felt a shift in your interaction, and you could see that he did too. "Alright...maybe...maybe it would be best if we got off the floor and talked in a more civilized way."

He finally stood and held his hand out to you to help you up, no longer making the eye contact he had so firmly held seconds ago. "Alright, talk," you sighed, straightening out your shirt as you stood. "You have ten minutes to convince me of every reason why I should go with you."

~~~

Steve was a very convincing man. It likely had a lot to do with the fact that you now wanted to let him convince you so you could see more of him. You had spoken only a handful of words to him, but you listened to him go on and on about how the Avengers were a cohesive team that wanted to protect and make things right. He was so passionate about what he believed, that you couldn't help but be convinced, and now here you were, about to meet everyone.

"Just wait here," he whispered, resting his hand over yours as if it were natural to do so. When you looked down at it, he pulled away quickly and cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Um, I'm just gonna see who's here before you come in. Looking so much like Nat might be a bit of a shock for them."

After about five minutes he returned to the front door to bring you in, looking slightly disappointed about something. "Well, no one's here right now, but I can give you a tour if you'd like?" His eyes were filled with anticipation that you would agree to stay, so you quickly took his hand for him to lead the way.

"Alright," he sighed, looking down at your two hands and your fingers intertwined, seeming a bit uncomfortable at the contact. "gym first."

"No," you said, pulling back against his arm to stop him and keeping your hand in place as you spoke. "You said the tower's empty, right?"

"Uh...yeah...?"

Being forward wasn't your strong suit, and you were usually uncomfortable showing guys any interest, but this was no normal guy. You may never have this opportunity again, so you took the chance, pulling him down for a kiss, wrapping your other hand around his neck. He responded quickly, pressing his mouth roughly against yours, his tongue searching desperately and dancing with yours. You lost your breath when he lifted you from the floor, and you had to wrap your legs around him to keep your balance.

The breath was knocked from your chest slightly as he slammed your back into the wall, still kissing you with ferocity and need. He pulled his head back and began to leave hot kisses down your neck, his warmth leaving goosebumps on your skin.

"This isn't like me," you panted. "I swear...it's just...that you..."

"I know...but I don't want to stop myself."

~~~

You woke the next morning to incessant buzzing from your phone and countless texts from Natasha, undoubtedly worried that she hadn't heard from you since telling her you were going to meet with Steve.

Did you see the tower last night?

Steve said he convinced you to stop by.

Where are you?

Are you still asleep? Wake up, already.

Have you heard from Steve?

"God, she's persistent," you whispered to yourself, rolling onto your back and rubbing the sleep from your eyes. "You get to tell her, not me."

"She's your sister," Steve said in a sleepy voice, "I'm not getting in the middle of that."

"It didn't seem to bother you last night." You sat up and stretched, yawning as your body pulled it's aching muscles, "alright, then what should I say?"

"Tell her that you didn't get a tour of the tower because I was too busy taking advantage of her only sister."

You tapped away at your phone for a few seconds then tossed it on the table next to you. "Okay."

Steve's face went immediately pale and his mouth hung open in shock. "You didn't..."

You gave him a mischievous smile and quietly began, "Five...four...three...two...one..."

The furious banging on his door surprised him, jumping at the sound of the angry Russian on the other side. "Steven Rogers, you seem to have forgotten how many ways there are for me to kill you!"

Part 2

"So wait, you're not staying?" Steve asked with wide and a little bit frightened eyes, pointing at his door. "You're not going to protect me from her? She's your sister!"

"You knew the risks, Captain. Like I said before, they didn't seem to bother you at all last night, if you recall."

"Yeah, well give me a break, that wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind at the time," he groaned in reply, pushing himself up and hurrying to dress. "I've thought of at least forty-seven ways for her to kill me so far, so she's wrong, I haven't forgotten."

"Steven-Grant-you-asshole-Rogers, open this damn door right now!" Natasha hollered from the other side of the door with a hard bang of her fist every few seconds. "I am going to cut you into pieces and send them to the Smithsonian so they can assemble you like the dinosaur that you are!"

"Oh, okay, that makes me want to open the door that much faster!" he yelled back with thick sarcasm, finally engaging her. He crossed the room quickly and yanked the barrier between them open, standing steady with his arms crossed over his chest almost defiantly and doing his best to not appear afraid of her. "Romanoff, can I help you?"

"Is she still here?"

"I don't see how that's your business," Steve replied calmly, his large frame blocking her view, "but if you want to know anything, you'll have to ask her yourself."

"Steve, that's my sister," she hissed, punching him in the shoulder hard enough to push him a step back, "and you've gone so far past the line that you can't even see it anymore."

Natasha hadn't seen you yet, and Steve hadn't actually confirmed if you were there or not, so you moved quietly to stand alongside the door and out of her line of sight so that you could listen in. The poor guy was doing his best to hold his own against her as their voices began to escalate, and in the spirit of troublemaking, you decided to join in the fun. Steve's eyes darted to you for a second when you hopped up onto his dresser and began to slowly unbutton the shirt you had just put on, exposing your chest with a gentle run of your finger towards your cleavage.

"Not fair," he whispered, looking back to her quickly as he realized his error.

"What was that?"

"I said...um...it's not fair," he coughed nervously, "that you treat her like a child. She can make her own decisions, Nat."

"Apparently not! This was nothing but a huge mistake that I would have stopped had I known. You know why?"

Steve had barely been listening, his eyes moving back and forth from her to you, watching you work even more diligently to distract him with gestures and actions that grew only more suggestive and harder to ignore. "Hmm?"

"I said, do you know why?"

"What? Oh! Sorry," he stammered with a nervous lick of his lips and a flustered run of his hand through his already messy morning hair, "why is that?"

"Because I know you, Steve. You're going to fall in love with her, because that's what you do, and then she's going to disappear again without a trace or a thought about you, because that's what she does."

"Hey!" you finally broke in, jumping down from your perch and in front of her, forgetting that your shirt was wide open. "That's not fair, and not true, Natasha! How the hell would you know, anyway? I haven't heard from you in years, and then all of the sudden here you are, trying to get me to join this super secret boy band of yours. You have no right to tell me what or who to do."

"Well why did you have to do Steve, out of any of them?"

"Hey!" he jumped back in, now feeling slighted by the insinuation. "What's wrong with doing Steve? Who would you rather have her do? Please, don't say Tony."

"There's nothing wrong with doing Steve, Cap, believe me," you winked, only to leave him with a deep blush growing in his cheeks that forced him to look away. "Now, dear sister, if you'll excuse us, I only have time for one more round before I have to go. Pants off, Rogers," you smirked, taking a step in front of him to push the door closed, and to leave her with her mouth open and unable to argue before it slammed in her face.

~~~

Call me.

(Y/N), come on. It's business, not about Steve.

You know that I know how to find you.

"It never fails," you mumbled, annoyed at Natasha's timing; you looked down at the man who you were holding by the throat, giving it a firmer squeeze to drop him into unconsciousness faster. "Do you have a sister?"

He couldn't speak and couldn't move his head with your grip tightly around his neck, but you could feel the effort to shake his head 'no' in the muscles beneath your fingers. The man's eyes rolled back in his head a few times as his oxygen finally began to run out, allowing you to drop him to the ground and focus on your reply.

"Lucky bastard," you murmured while dialing her number. Despite the annoyance, you couldn't help but smile when she answered before the line had even had a chance to ring. "What?"

"I haven't decided if I'm going to kill you yet or not, but what did you do to piss off the Canadians so badly? You've angered an entire country, (Y/N)."

"It's a misunderstanding."

"Do better."

"Listen, it's not a big deal," you grunted as you pulled the man's limp body towards a dumpster in the dark alley that was hiding your activity. "I had a meeting with the Prime Minister and a few of his snobby friends, and I might have made a little verbal faux pas."

"(Y/N)..."

"I might have called them...America's...hat."

"Hmm," she paused, "that's not so bad...they're mad about that?"

"And I may or may not have gone on a tirade of poorly executed Canadian accented words. I think that I said 'aboot' so many times that now I can't remember how to say it right."

"Shit."

"And I think that I recall saying something like 'if you're gonna drink milk from a bag, you might as well just throw a nipple on it'.

"What the hell is wrong with you, (Y/N)? Do you realize that we're the ones who have to fix this? Steve is on his way there now to try to calm them down, but you're going to have to take responsibility."

The sound of heavy footsteps grew louder from city street and into the alley; they were loud enough to hear over the traffic as it passed, making it easy for you to know who it was. Steve didn't want to startle you and risk being your next target, so he made his approach clear.

"Nat, listen, I have to finish tying this guy to a dumpster, so can we talk later?" You didn't wait for her reply, instead offering a quick goodbye and closing the line without another word. It wasn't a lie, exactly; a few well-placed zip ties kept your assailant tightly in place so that the police could easily find him and so that you could give your full attention to your new visitor. "Good evening, Cap. Didn't expect to see you here."

"Did Nat call you?" he asked in a low and quiet voice, skipping any greeting as he took a stand towering over you.

"Yeah, just now. She sounded pretty worked up over this whole Canada fiasco," you smiled, wrapping your arms around his waist. "It sounds like it could take days to resolve, even for you."

"That's the plan," he agreed. "Should keep her off our trail for a while. But we can't use international upset as a story again for at least a few months or she'll get suspicious. Next time we can set something up that sends her away instead, how about that?"

"You really do know what a girl likes to hear. I'll do anything to get her to stop acting like she's the boss of me." You pulled away and took out your phone to make the anonymous call to police to pick up the man you had apprehended, pausing to look at him while you waited for the line to connect. "You have any sisters, Rogers? You don't seem to have any trouble with tricking mine."

"No, but I have Nat, just like you do. She's like the sister I never wanted, but she forced her way into my life anyway and now I can't get rid of her."

You nodded and finished your call, thinking about his words until an idea struck you. "So really, what we're saying is that with Nat as a common denominator here, we can just tell her that this is her own fault so she can stop blaming us and blame herself instead. It drives her nuts when she makes a mistake, which she obviously thinks that this is."

Steve stood steady and held your gaze as he thought about it, the bright blue of his eyes clear as day even in the darkness of night around you. When he smiled back, you could see it not from his expression, but from the sparkle in the blue. "I'm not sure if I should be proud or watch my back, (Y/N). Remind me to never piss both of you off at the same time."