This chapter is a Fourth of July themed chapter ,

Because Steve has tricked the world unintentionally into thinking his real birthday is the Fourth of July and he doesn't have the heart to tell anyone captain Americas birthday is not the birthday of our country .

(His real birthday is in December)

Boom! Boom! BOOMM!

Echoed outside Steve and Natasha's window.

The super soldier and the spy both bolted out of bed .

Steve jumped for his shield and Natasha jumped for her tasers.

"HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY SPANGLES!" a voice boomed outside their cabin , Steve went to the window and immediately rolled his eyes.

" hey Tony ." He laughed .

The multibillionare stood down at the base of their home , in his iron man suit , his voice booming out as if he had a built in megaphone.

"And I see you didn't even have time to get properly dressed on your birthday ." Tony made a tsk tsk noise before laughing.

Steve sheepishly looked down at himself while blushing .

He wore nothing but a pair of boxers and a pair of black socks.

Natasha however was fully dressed in a tshirt and pajama shorts.

"Come on downstairs! There's a party at the tower today. Don't be late. Agent romanoff , you're in charge of him ." Tony smiled before flying off , leaving two blackened spots on the grass where his blasters had burned into the ground.

"Honestly that man has NO regard for Lawn maitinance." Steve remarked , with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Aww Rogers you're starting to sound like the grandpa you are!" Natasha teased , sashaying past him with a grin. Her red hair flowed behind her as she ran to get away from his outstretched fingers reaching to tickle her.

"Well then if I'm a grandpa then your a grandma mrs rogers!" He called down the stairs to her.

A crash of pans came from the kitchen and Steve knew he had instinctively made her angry.

Grabbing his sheild , he prayed she would be in a good humor at being called grandma.

"Sorry!" He called out.

But no answer came .

Fearing for his life now , Steve curled up even smaller behind his shield.

He strained his ears to listen for silent footsteps or even the creak of a floorboard.

But nothing.

A noise came from behind him and he felt arms thrown around his neck as a catlike voice whispered " you should be careful who you call a grandma, Rogers."

He chuckled trying to not let he truly was nervous , somehow this woman managed to make him get butterflies and be terrified of her very being all at the same time .

"We better be on time or Tony is gonna have our heads." Natasha murmured in his ear .

"I'm worried Bucky will have mine , he always drags me to things ."

"Well I think Wanda is being dragged along with him so that would make two." Natasha giggled as she stood once again leaving their bedroom.

"What should I wear though Nat?" He yelled.

"Your spangled suit! What else?"

Steve groaned , slapping a hand over his face in a manner that felt surprisingly familiar.

He then remembered Tony does the exact same thing when he's worn out.

"Ughh I'm turning into Tony." He moaned , opening the closet doors and lifting out the suit.

Today it felt heavier somehow. Like a final goodbye.

A few weeks before, he had told Natasha he was ready to retire the shield and give it to Sam.

"He's ready Nat , he would be a good New cap , I'm too old and tired , I want to settle down with you finally and start our family."

She had sighed and closed her eyes, breathing out slowly.

"I've wanted you to step down for awhile so we could settle and stop fighting for once , but this just feels - all sudden . But yes, Sam is the right Choice. And you'll still be here when Bucky needs you. But Sam will be good for him. Heck they'll want to kill each other after two days but they'll learn to live together." She wisely had stated , kissing him briefly.

"I'm so glad you agree ." He had smiled , put his arm around her and pulled her closer.

Steve was immediately brought back to present as he set the suit down on the bed , along with the shield.

Natasha came up the stairs once again, carrying their breakfast. Two plates each with a tower of freezer waffles , syrup and butter on top of both stacks.

Nat immediately took in the suit and sheild on the bed and asked softly

"are you sure you can go through with this? That shield has been your family for the past - 70 years?" She whispered .

"Yes , I need to start my new family." He smiled , but it had an emotional effect and a tear rolled down his cheek before he could catch himself.

Natasha immediately put down the tray and opened her arms to hug him.

"What's that for?" He asked , his throat catching on emotion.

" it's because I want you to know your not alone."

Steve wrapped his arms around her and they just stood there , rocking back and forth like they were slow dancing.

After tapping her watch a few times ,

Natasha smiled as their song started to play

Marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone

I love you and that's all I really know

I talked to your dad

You'll pick out a white dress

It's a love story , baby just say .........

Yes ...

Steve's lips broke into a large grin as he kissed her hair.

"Alright , well we need to eat before it gets cold , and then we can go." Natasha pulled away as soon as the song had ended.

She kissed him briefly once again before reaching for his plate of waffles.

"Thank you for breakfast, love." He kissed her hair.

She smiled, walking over to the closet to pull out a slim black dress with a slit up one leg.

Thin spaghetti straps kept it up and a low hanging back decorated the back of the dress.

She slipped into it quickly, after doing her hair and makeup.

Her hair was a simple curled updo and her makeup was slightly on the more bejeweled side , with sparkly highlights.

Steve swallowed when she spun around, her arms extended to the side as if to say " what do you think?"

"Beautiful." He whispered .

Her smile grew bigger at his compliment .

"Now time to get you dressed! Come on birthday boy!" She chuckled as his cheeks began to redden and he sheepishly chuckled.

Soon both of them had dressed and gotten ready . Natasha packed an extra pair of clothes for each of them and their swimsuits.

(Tony was notorious for having pool parties on the 4th of July .)

At the tower

Bucky jogged up to whete Pepper Potts Stark stood, at the pools edge , watching as her husband , Tony Stark worked tirelessly on the pool filter motor.

"Stark , Wanda just got a text from Nat saying she and Steve are on their way."

Pepper nodded at him, saying with a smile " I'll call the press!"

Tony chuckled heartily , rubbing his hands together .

"Barnes , come over here and make that metal arm of yours useful for a minute. Lift this.." Tony held up a large wrench which Bucky took and placed on the opening of the filter.

"So , we've been doing this for a few years now, how did you get Steve not to suspect you call the press?" Bucky asked , his eyebrows raised in a questioning manner.

"It's my way of getting 16 years of revenge because my dad remembered Steve's actual birthday more than mine. And he never shut up about him.

So watching Steve lie to the public every year is the best part of our country's Independence Day." Tony chuckled mostly to himself again .

Bucky felt a strange compassion for this man again.

"Look I'm sorry for.." he started to say but Tony cut him off " no. Barnes I've told you before , that's forgiven now . As long as you keep going to therapy and keep getting the help you need." He stood, clapping the super soldier on the shoulder before wincing a little.

"What's wrong?" Bucky questioned, setting down the wrench.

"I slapped the metal arm." Tony stated simply, his voice betraying the pain .

"Sorry , vibranium arm I can't really - " his voice trailed away Tony laughed it off.

"It's really okay Barnes."

At this moment multiple press vans pulled up, along with Steve and Nats car.

Steve stepped out of the drivers side, blonde hair shining in the sun, his suit in a special case tucked under his arm . The shield rested on his back as he looked into the eager faces of the reporters.

"Steve Rogers! Steve! Hello! How do you feel to be turning 106 today? Is Cap still able to keep running or is the age catching up with him?"

After answering the pressing questions, Steve held up his hand .

He began to cringe inwardly and Tony watched smugly knowing what was about to happen.

" Steve! How do you feel about being born on our country's own birthday?" A reporter asked.

Nat gave Tony a smile over her shoulder and he gave her a smug grin back.

Everyone loved torturing Steve and he made it extra fun.

"It's - a great honor being captain America and being born on our countries birthday . Like I was -.." Steve cringed even more inside as he said the last few words " born to be this ,"

The reporters clapped and cheered .

"No more questions please!" Steve cried out then, grabbing Natasha's hand and running quickly to hide inside the tower.

"Alright that's all!" Security quickly whisked the press away. And Tony promptly fell over on the grass laughing his head off.

"That , has to be THE best thing every year , did you see him lie through his teeth like that?! He hated it!" Tony shouted with glee to pepper and anyone else who would listen.

Inside the tower, Sam, rhodey, and rocket all stood/floated around the pool table .

(Tony made Rocket a floating hover board thing so he could play games and reach things without having to climb up on anyone or anything.)

"No! That was in the hole!" Rocket slammed down his drink, floating over to where Rhodey calmly stood pointing out that Rocket's ball did not make it in the hole.

Bucky walked in , Wanda on his arm .

Rockets attention was particularly distracted by buckys arm for a moment and Sam took the opportunity to knock rockets ball in the hole.

Rhodey sent him a glare but Sam ignored it.

Steve and Natasha walked through the doors next.

"Ayyy the second pair of love birds! Happy birthday captain America!" Rocket shouted , clapping his small

Paws together.

"Remeber when star lord threatened to shave you? I'm about to do it ." Natasha muttered, so low she hoped no one heard it.

" oh yeah redhead? You wanna go?"

Rocket cackled maniacally, grabbing his largest blaster from somewhere behind him.

"Whoahhh - rocket remember what we agreed on? No blasters?" Sam immediately jumped in front of the oath of the gun.

"Ugh I remember - doesn't make me like it any more though!" He yelled again .

"Okay okay what is it? We can't leave you alone for 5 minutes and you are already ready to blow up the whole place." Tony sighed , running a hand over his face as he walked in, pepper on his arm. Morgan walked in the other side, her hand clutched in his.

"When is uncle Thor coming?" She asked quietly " any minute morguna. He and auntie Carol had a last minute stop at a planet , why don't you go jump on old uncle Steve , it is his birthday you know!" Tony prodded her forward but it didn't take much.

With a running start the young one had already jumped into Steve's arms and wouldn't let go for quite some time .

After a little while the happy air in the tower was returned and they all mingled around with various other party guests or friends.

Thor and Carol arrived, causing quite a stir outside with the security.

Peter Quill , Gamora and the rest of the guardians arrived , landing their ship outside on the lawn, much to Tony's dismay.

Clint and his family arrived, a friend of his , Kate Bishop also came with them.

Yelena , Natasha's sister, showed up late like usual.

Scott Lang , Hope Van dyne , and Cassie Lang also arrived, their suits decked out in red ,white, and blue .

Peter Parker was already there, he had arrived with Princess shuri and the Dora.

But just as everyone began to reminisce and laugh about the good times , Steve got up to say something.

"Come on spangles!" Rocket cheered but he was quickly shut down by glares from the guardians.

"Go on Steve," Natasha whispered encouragingly .

Slowly , as if his shoulders wore the burdens of 100 years, Steve made his way up to the platform where Tony normally had press releases.

"What is he doing?" Sam whispered to Bucky , whose eyes were shining as if they held back unshed tears .

"You'll see in a minute." He said simply, trying to silently clear his throat.

"Hello everyone , thank you for celebrating our country's birthday, and the freedoms we fought so hard to keep . But - I have an announcement to make. 106 years of living makes you very tired of fighting for a good amount of them . So- I have decided to take a friends advice .." with this he smiled at Tony.

" and get an actual life. As many of you know , Natasha Romanoff and I Married a year ago but now I am ready to actually be a good husband. I am retiring. The shield and suit and title of Captain America will be given to ..."

He paused again as if it was an award show , but Bucky and Natasha both knew who already,

"Sam Wilson."

Sam looked around in shock and saw no one had a dry eye in the room.

He stood and slowly walked up to the platform where Steve stood with suit and shield in hand.

"This suit , it comes with expectations. But it doesn't matter about the outside,

What matters , is what's in here ," with these words Steve tapped sams chest above his heart.

"Whatever happens along the way , you must promise me ,

That you will stay who you are.

Not a perfect soldier, but a good man."

He handed the shield to Sam , feeling as if an enormous burden was lifted off his shoulders.

"How's it feel?" He asked ,

Sam looked up at him , tears brimming in his eyes , " like it belongs to somebody else."

"Thank you Sam , the job your taking won't be easy , but you'll have me and Bucky and everyone else to back you up ."

Steve walked down the stairs, nearly running to Natasha, and hugging her tightly .

Everyone in the room began to clap , wiping tears from their eyes , sniffling.

Bucky stood off to the side , clapping , Sam walked by him to clap him on the shoulder . "You would have been a better choice buck ." Sam said quietly.

" no . I'm a perfect soldier.

Your a good man . There's a difference ." Bucky said quietly, Wanda's hand squeezed his tightly as a gesture of he wasn't alone in the room.

After the announcement the party really wasn't the same . Of course everyone congratulated Sam , as well as Steve on his retirement and wished him and Natasha a long and happy life.

But no one was really the same after the shocking news.

And later that night when the party was over and Steve and Natasha were going to head home.

Thor asked " So Cap , uh steve sorry , what do you plan to do now that your retired?"

"I think - I might grow a beard again." Steve said , rubbing his chin feeling the presence of stubble.

Natasha laughed as Thor affectionately ruffled Steve's hair .

"As long as you do not copy mine ," he laughed uproariously, as if he was not getting enough oxygen.

"Not that funny fatso ." Rocket sarcastically remarked, floating past on his hover board.

" alright rabbit , you and I have a score to settle!" Thor cried out , lighting crackling form his hands.

"Oooo sparkles!" Rocket rolled his eyes gunning his hoverboard to go even faster than before.

Thor chased after him yelling all sorts of threats .

Natasha leaned her head on Steve's shoulder saying softly " I hope you'll grow your hair out a little bit too , you looked so good with it a little longer ."

He looked down in surprise " I do?"

" yes you do, just don't let that go to your head ."

Authors note:

Woohoo! I did this chapter in under 2 days! Now I gotta start another one!

Have a great day loves!❤️