It had been six months since we took down HYDRA. Steve and I were together now, more or less. We hadn't informed anyone about our relationship. Sneaking around was kind of fun.

I had got a new job in New York City hospital which kept me even more busy than the job at SHIELD. He was travelling most of the time, either in fruitless attempts to find his brainwashed friend Bucky or to eliminate the HYDRA bases Nick Fury had managed to find out. He only managed to visit me twice a month and today I was expecting such visit.

It was 2 in the morning and I was sitting on the living room couch, drinking my 6th cup of coffee. He was late. I was just about to give up and go to bed when I heard a knock. I ran to the door and opened it to find the person I had desperately wanted to see.

"Hi." He said, smiling brightly.

I pulled him inside and gave him a passionate kiss. "Hi." I breathed against his lips.

We shared a really nice, authentic relationship. There was just the right amount of respect, love and attraction. We had connected well emotionally and shared the most personal things with each other. The only front where we hadn't made any progress was the physical. We hadn't even reached the second base. I knew him well enough to not expect him to make the first move. So, tonight, I had decided, I would make the first move.

I was scared when I had thought about it, but now with his lips against mine and my hands in his, it did not appear that difficult.

I thought about getting rid of his shirt. Yup, it would be nice to feel those amazing abs. But both my hands were firmly grasped by his. Well, I had other methods. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate my Tesserect energy to unhook the buttons of his shirt. It turned out to be very difficult, especially with his tongue inside my mouth. Somehow I managed to let loose three of his buttons. When he realized it, he broke the kiss and looked at me questioningly. I let go of his hands and ripped open his shirt, my mouth finding his again.

My hands were roaming free on his bare chest, memorizing every contour, every ridge. He obviously hadn't expected this.

"Amrita." He said against my mouth, probably on the intention of trying to stop me, but it came out as a moan. He was certainly enjoying himself.

To take things further, I took his hand and put it on my chest . He didn't remove it; neither did he do anything else. His fingers lingered there. I could feel their small twitches. He really wanted to press it. Why wasn't he?

My hand moved down his bare navel, enjoying every millimeter. I reached his waistline and allowed my fingers to lightly touch the bulge in front of his jeans. At that moment he lost control and gave me the squeeze I was waiting for. I moaned into his mouth.

As if unable to take it anymore, he entwined both my hands with his, maintaining a safe distance from his torso to mine. I couldn't do anything to get out of his grip, so I just stood there, breathing hard. It looked like even he couldn't catch his breath.

"You're driving me crazy." He accused me, in between the rapid, shallow breaths.

"That was the plan." I told him.

There was another trick I had up my sleeve, using my superpower, which id just recently learned to control, I evaporated the top of my night suit. I was wearing a lacy black bra underneath it.

It didn't have the effect I was hoping for. Steve's eyes flickered only for a second before returning to my face.

"Marry me." He whispered.

My pager went off that exact second.

"I have to go." I said, storming off to my bedroom to get dressed, not even confirming if I had to or not.

I went out of the apartment without another glance at Steve. How could he say that? He knew very well how I felt about marriage. I had told him everything. Living all those years with the slowly dying marriage of my parents had made me hate even the idea of it.

My parents had been very much in love when they got married. I had seen the videos of the day of their marriage. They actually looked like they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other. But in person, I had never seen then that way. They always looked for excuses to get away from each other. Both of them had extramarital affairs. Towards the end, they could even stand the sight of each other. They had finally got divorced last year. I was very happy about it. They were nice people when they were away from each other.

I had decided quite young that I'd never get married. I would rather die alone than have that kind of relationship with someone.

....................................................................................................................................................................................

It was already morning when I got back from the hospital. I had convinced myself to forgive Steve about what had happened. Maybe he just said it in the heat of the moment. Though, that is clearly not something to say in the heat of the moment.

He was cooking when I entered the apartment. Mac and cheese, I recognized the aroma. He was wearing the sweatshirt I had borrowed from him last month. I had taken it because I liked to smell it when he was not with me. It was good he was wearing it; his smell had almost faded off.

"Hungry?" He asked as he saw me.

"Yeah. But I'll have to shower first."

He had already set the table when I returned. I sat down and took a bite of his cooking.

"It's really good." I said, my hand automatically reaching for the pepper.

"You're not supposed to put spices in it." His voice was criticizing.

"Honey, I'm Indian. I can't eat something you're not supposed to put spices on." I had already added ample amount of black pepper to my plate.

He sighed. "About last night...." He began.

"I'm trying to forget about it." I warned him. I really didn't want to talk about it, now that things were back to normal.

"Not all marriages are doomed to fail, you know."

He really wanted to go there. "Like?" I prompted him, prepping myself to tear down any example he came up with.

"Like us." He cheated.

"Do you even know the divorce rates in America?" He didn't. Of course, he didn't.

"It doesn't matter. We'll beat any odds. We always do. How many people have as much Tesserect exposure as us and lived to talk about it?"

"That's an entirely different thing. And why do you even want to get married? Is there anything we can't do now that we can do after we are married?"

"Yes, there is. But that's not the point now. And if you think everything would be the same, why are you so afraid? Are you afraid of commitment?"

"You know I'm not. And you know very well why I'm afraid. Is there any reason to repeat all this? I love you. Isn't it good enough?"

"It is." He said, giving me a beautiful smile.

I finally thought it was over, when he took out a ring from his pocket,

"Don't worry. I'm not doing it again." He said, looking at the mortified look on my face. "This was my mother's. I had hoped to give it you at the right time. But since I already blew my chance and since you don't want to get married, I think you should have it. Not as an engagement ring of course, but more like the-ball-is-in-your-court kind of ring. I would badger you with proposals. We'll get married only if you ever want to."

I looked at the ring. It was heart shaped and really beautiful.

"Would I have to wear it?" I asked, testing the waters.

"It is completely your choice. Though, I assume you wouldn't want to"

"So you want me to just keep it. Why?"

"To remind you that my heart belongs to you."

Sounds cheesy, but the way he said it, it was the most romantic thing I've ever heard. I took the ring and put it on, carefully avoiding the ring finger. I would take it later.

Then, I remembered something.

"We won't be having sex without getting married, would we?" I asked him.

He smiled, a completely different smile from the one before. It was more of a smirk.

"I'm old fashioned, aren't I?"

I sighed and took another bite of my spicy mac and cheese.