Natasha helped Sarah prepare lunch for everyone, while everyone was in the living room trying to find a good spot for the tree.

"So, why did Steve wanna chop down a tree so badly earlier?" Natasha asks while she put a bread on a sandwich.

"Steve always did that since he was sixteen, it's a tradition. But now Pietro finally got to do it." Sarah says

"Oh." Natasha says and cut the sandwich in half.

"Do you got any traditions in your family?" Sarah asks

"Kinda, my mom, sister and I always bake a cake for Christmas, we would decorate it in the colors of our Christmas tree every year." Natasha says, "This is the first Christmas I'm not spending with them."

"I wouldn't have mind if you would've spend it with them." Sarah says

"Well when I told them you invited me, they said they actually wanted to go on a vacation during Christmas. And my sister made plans of her own, so it all worked out." Natasha saya

"Well if you want, we can bake a cake here, together." Sarah says

"I would like that." Natasha says

"How did the cake tradition happen? Was it already in the family, or?" Sarah asks

"When we lived in Russia we didn't have a kitchen big enough to bake a cake, so when we moved to America when I was tweleve, we could. So then my mom wanted to bake a cake for Christmas and that's how it happened." Natasha explains

"It's a wonderful story." Sarah says, "After lunch we'll go to the store and get everything we need."

"Thank you." Natasha says

After lunch they went to the store and got everything that was needed. Meanwhile the rest of the family was putting the Christmas decorations in the tree.

Natasha memorized the whole cake recipe, so it wasn't hard to make the cake. When Natasha was mixing the batter, Steve walked up from behind and wrapped his arm around her waist and planted a kiss in her neck, he mostly did it for show since his mother was right beside them.

"That's looks good." Steve says and rested his head on Natasha's shoulder.

"Thank you." Natasha says

"You two are so cute together." Sarah says

Natasha smiled and Steve kissed her head.

"I'll be in the living room if you need me." Steve says

"Okay." Natasha says

Steve left the kitchen and Sarah smiled brightly. Seeing her son in love isn't a thing she gets to see often.

"You two make a lovely couple." Sarah says

Natasha hummed in response. It bothered her that they were just pretending for his family, if they would ever find out they would be crushed.

After two hours the cake was finally finished, it was baked and decorated in red and gold. Natasha walked inside the living room and saw the perfect Christmas tree.

"It's amazing, right?" Steve says and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Yeah, it's great." Natasha says, "I'm gonna go outside for a bit."

"Okay." Steve says

Natasha grabbed her coat from the hook and walked out of the front door. Natasha walked down the path and stood by the entrance of the driveway to the house.

Natasha put her hands in her pockets and felt a package of cigarettes.

"Damn, who cares?" Natasha says and grabbed the pack out of her pocket. She lit one of the cigarettes with her lighter and took a puff.

Natasha sighed and felt the cold December weather on her cheeks. Her fingers and neck were cold.

"Natasha?" Sarah says

"What?" Natasha says and turned around.

"Are you smoking?" Sarah says

"What? Umh, yes?" Natasha says

"You know that's bad for you, right?" Sarah says, "I was a nurse a long time before I had Steve, I've seen what happens."

"I know it's bad." Natasha says and threw the cigarette on the ground and stepped on with her sneaker. "I just get stressed sometimes, I only do it then. It's a bad habit."

"I understand. Sometimes we all get really stressed, when I get stressed I go to the store and buy cookies, then I eat it all and watch a sad movie." Sarah says

"I do that too, sometimes." Natasha says

"You said you smoke when you're stressed, what's going on?" Sarah asks

"It's just the holidays." Natasha lies, and that she has to lie to her fake boyfriend's family saying they've been dating for three months while they actually met when they had a one night stand.

"They surely can be stressful sometimes, especially when you have young kids. All the planning of the holidays made me go crazy." Sarah says

Natasha sighed and smiled a bit, she looked in front of her at the snow and white trees.

"Should I get Steve for you?" Sarah asks

"That would be nice, thank you." Natasha says

A while after Sarah left, Steve approached Natasha.

"Hey, my mom told me you wanted to see me." Steve says

"Can we maybe go out tonight? With just the two of us. I need a break from all this lying, it's killing me." Natasha says

"Sure, yeah, we can go out. My family will understand that we need some time alone." Steve says

"It's so nice that your family is so understanding." Natasha says and hugged Steve.

"Yeah, it is." Steve says and wrapped his arm around her. He kissed her head and they stood in silence for a couple of minutes.

•••
new chapter, finally!
sorry it's shorter than usual, I didn't know what to write anymore haha.
anyways, I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of 2022, so I'll take this Christmas story into the new year and I'll keep posting it!