Summary: The 5 times Steve and Natasha talked about having a normal life together and the one time they got to live it.

ONE

The heart rate monitor was the only thing filling the silence in the room. Steve had gotten used to the familiar beeping, finding it comforting rather than annoying. Natasha still hadn't woken up from her surgery nearly 48 hours earlier and he couldn't help but worry something else was wrong. When they'd come running in from their mission gone wrong, it had been obvious a lot of things were wrong with Natasha. Steve could tell they'd fixed all her visible injuries, but what if there was something they hadn't seen? What if she wasn't waking up because she had internal bleeding or something?

Maybe Sam was right. He'd drive himself mad if all he did was sit by her bed and wait for her to wake up. In his defense, he'd brought a book so he'd have something to do other than stare at her hopefully. Unfortunately, the book had yet to be opened. Steve just couldn't focus on anything except the small rise and fall of Natasha's chest, assuring himself the heart monitor was right and she was alive.

"You know, we really should consider retirement at this point," he murmured, twirling a red strand of hair around his finger. "You've had more bullet wounds than days off and I think you could be good at anything you tried to do. I know I've been thinking about it for a while, but this just really makes me want to settle it right now," he told her. He'd seen Natasha get hurt on many of their missions, but that didn't make it any easier to watch. "Maybe I'll just kidnap you and disappear to who knows where. You'd probably just find your way back to the fight though." He chuckled and smoothed a hand over her hair. He sighed and kissed her forehead gently. "Tell me what you think when you wake up, alright?"

Natasha groaned and Steve froze. She rolled her head to the side before slowly blinking her eyes open at him and giving a weak smile. Steve was pretty sure he was dreaming, but he didn't necessarily mind it. At least this time she wasn't dying in his dream.

"...like i'," she murmured, bringing a hand up to rest on his. Steve's hand cupped her cheek as he looked down at her in shock. "Wha'? Didn' think I'd make i'?" she teased softly. Steve smiled as his eyes watered. He shook his head in disbelief and leaned forward to kiss her lips.

"I'm so glad you woke up," he said, kissing her nose and then her cheeks.

"Good," she sighed, pressing her head back against her pillow and struggling to keep her eyes open. "I'm gonna go back to sleep, though."

"Alright," Steve agreed, gently running a hand over her head as her eyes closed. "You do that."

"We'll talk abou' retiremen' later?" Natasha slurred, falling asleep quickly. Steve nodded and pressed another kiss to the side of her head.

"Yeah," he promised. He wasn't sure if Natasha had even heard him or if she'd fallen asleep before he'd spoken, but he relaxed as he watched her sleep, knowing she'd be okay now.

TWO

HYDRA really sucked. Not only had they taken over SHIELD then decided to blow up a bunker around them, they had the decency to shoot at them in the middle of the city. Sure, Maria had saved them from whatever horrors Rumlow had in store for them and taken them to see an undead Director Fury, but that didn't make Steve's feelings about HYDRA disappear. In fact, the only thing he could focus on the entire time Fury and Maria briefed them on what had really gone down, he'd been staring at the bullet hole in Natasha's shoulder and thinking up ways to make Brock Rumlow suffer for it. Natasha assured him she was fine, but he wouldn't have it. HYDRA just plain old sucked and he was going to destroy every last remnant of it.

"Steve?" Natasha asked, walking up behind him. Everything was dark inside, so he'd gone outside to think. Probably not the best idea considering HYDRA had access to satellites and was still searching for them, but he didn't care.

Steve glanced over his shoulder to see Natasha one step away from him. He couldn't see the bandage on her shoulder, but he knew it was there. If he asked, she'd just shrug and say something along the lines of how she'd been shot before and this was no different (It is, though, Steve wanted to say, Because now there's no SHIELD to take care of it .).

"Hey," he said instead. She stepped beside him and gently took his hand. He pressed a kiss to her temple and she leaned into his touch subconsciously. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I got shot in the arm, Steve," she replied, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling herself closer to him. "Not in the chest."

"Still," Steve argued. Natasha didn't argue back and Steve sighed, resting his chin on top of her head. "You ever think about quitting? Leaving this life behind and starting something else?"

"Sometimes," Natasha admitted softly. She rubbed his back and said, "But then I remember there are people out there who can't help themselves. I could quit and just watch as HYDRA and other organisations slowly killed people off; no one would know I hadn't done anything even though I knew I could help. I would, though, and I don't think I could live with that."

"But once this is over," Steve said, glancing down at her. "Once HYDRA's gone and everything is over, would you retire then?"

"Nothing is ever over," she told him softly. Steve wasn't sure if she was still thinking of HYDRA or if she'd uncovered something new about the Red Room, but he didn't ask. "Hypothetically, if I ever did retire, I think I'd go somewhere isolated."

"Isolated?" Steve asked. Natasha nodded. "Like Oklahoma?"

"No," Natasha said, "No, a small town that no one knows about. It'd be small enough I felt safe and like I could never be found by my past, but big enough it wasn't boring."

"So Oklahoma?" Steve teased. Natasha rolled her eyes and elbowed his stomach. Steve laughed and grabbed her offending arm, wrapping it around his torso and hugging her gently.

"What about you?" Natasha asked, putting her chin on Steve's chest so she could look up at him.

"I'd just go where you went," he told her. He could tell Natasha was trying to figure out how to respond while also fighting off a blush. He grinned and kissed her shortly.

"Sap," she grumbled, moving her head so she was no longer looking at him. That just made Steve laugh more. Even if HYDRA really sucked, Natasha made everything better (oh god, he really was a sap).

THREE

The Maximoffs had really messed up the whole team, that much Steve could admit. The entire jet ride, they'd all been spread out and silent. Only Clint was unaffected, so he'd taken charge and flown the team to his farm. Steve hadn't pegged Clint for a family man but after only a couple hours on his farm, he couldn't imagine Clint without his wife and kids. He felt a little annoyed Natasha hadn't told him, but he understood her reasons. It was Clint's family to share, not her own. She may be Auntie Nat, but she wasn't going to claim she had the ability to out Clint's family.

It was hours after dinner and Steve hadn't seen Natasha for a while. He also hadn't seen the Barton children, now that he thought about it. It was getting to be about 9:30 PM and he figured their bedtime was soon, but neither Laura nor Clint seemed worried. As if she'd read Steve's mind, Laura smiled at him and waved for him to follow her. They stepped outside on the porch and Laura pointed out three blurs on top of the hill.

"It's their favourite spot," Laura told him. He smiled, watching as a taller figure bent over and grabbed the shortest one, throwing her up into the tree. He could hear Lila's squeal followed by Cooper asking Natasha to help him into the tree too. She did and the three disappeared from his sight. "It's not often Auntie Nat comes to visit, so I let them stay out later when she does."

"Is it always under bad circumstances?" Steve asked, remembering why they were there in the first place. Laura's smile vanished and she pursed her lips.

"Not always," she admitted. Steve could tell there was more to it and as expected, she continued to say, "There have been five or six times when it was happy. Lila's birth or their birthdays. Most of the time, though, Clint brings her after rough missions. They seem to help her remember she's not a bad person."

"I'm glad someone can help," Steve said. Laura nodded then stepped off the porch. She glanced back at Steve and he followed her through the field and up the hill to the tree. He could hear three sets of giggles and Natasha's quiet voice telling them a story.

"Cooper, Lila," Laura called, peering up into the tree. Three heads looked down at them and Laura smiled. "It's time for bed, kiddos."

"But I wanna stay with Auntie Nat!" Lila objected, grabbing onto Natasha's arm. She wobbled, but Natasha steadied her before Steve could worry she might fall.

"I have to go to bed too," Natasha told her. She looked at Steve and nodded. He moved under the tree as Laura stepped back, grabbing Lila as Natasha helped her slide off her tree branch. He grabbed Cooper and had barely turned around to get Natasha when she dropped down beside him.

"But you're an adult," Cooper said, sounding surprised that adults had a bedtime too.

"Yeah, but even adults get tired," Natasha told him. Lila and Cooper walked on either side of her while Steve and Laura followed behind them. When they got to the porch, Laura took the kids inside while Natasha and Steve stayed outside.

"They really like you," Steve said, leaning against the porch railing and looking up at the stars. He felt Natasha stand behind him, her chest against his back as her arms wrapped around his stomach.

"I really like them too," she replied. Steve shifted and pulled her in front of him, wrapping his arms around her. "They help make things better. Something about their innocence and purity."

"Would you ever want something like this?" Steve asked, looking out at the dark sky. He'd always lived in the city, but he could see himself enjoying the night sky each night from his own country home. It could be a nice change in pace.

"You know that's not possible," Natasha murmured, tensing at the idea. Steve glanced down at her and kissed her head. She hadn't told him exactly what the Maximoff girl had shown her, but he had a pretty good guess.

"There's adoption," Steve reminded her. She snorted.

"Do you really think I could be a mom, Rogers?" she asked rhetorically. Steve didn't even have to think about his answer. He'd never thought she'd make a terrible mother, but especially after seeing her with the Barton kids, he knows she'd make a wonderful one.

"You'd be the best," he told her. She shook her head but didn't voice her disagreement. "I don't need to have kids to be happy. Just you and no more life defying missions."

"Maybe once we finish this one we can consider retiring," Natasha said. Steve sighed as he thought about going back out to face Ultron and the Maximoffs. He was certain they could get rid of Ultron with a little bit more planning, but unless they got the Maximoffs on their side or could avoid their attacks, it wouldn't be that easy. "Don't worry," Natasha told him, rubbing his back and looking up at him. "We'll get our happy ending."

FOUR

Natasha's arm was looped through Steve's as they walked down a busy boulevard in southern France. The warm breeze blew Natasha's red hair into her face, tangling itself in her sunglasses despite it being almost waist length at this point. With Steve in khaki shorts and a floral shirt and Natasha in a light sundress and wide-brimmed hat, they looked like a normal tourist couple. If Natasha was stocked from her toes to her chin in weapons and Steve's glasses hadn't been enhanced with facial recognition, they could have been a normal couple.

"This is nice," Natasha said, leaning closer to Steve as a group of people pushed past them. Her British accent was perfect and Steve envied her ability to morph into nearly any role she was given on a mission.

"It could almost be normal," Steve commented, struggling to keep his accent as perfect as hers. Natasha smiled up at him and patted his arm, quietly assuring him he sounded just fine. The French wouldn't notice if he didn't have a flawless fake accent.

"Imagine being carefree and enjoying a vacation here," Natasha sighed, watching a mother with her young daughter walk out of a florist's shop.

"We could do it," Steve told her. Natasha nodded, imagining herself as the mother leading her daughter down the street, talking happily in French about the surprise dinner for the girl's big sister. "Just think," he said. He pointed up at an apartment building and said, "We could live there. I could own that bakery and you could work there too; make it a family business."

"A family business?" Natassha mused, staring at the bakery across from the apartment. She wasn't going to lie and say the idea didn't fill her with longing.

"Yeah," Steve said, his hand going to the ring on her finger. Fury had given them fake rings for the mission, but they didn't need them. Natasha had just taken her wedding band off the chain she wore and slipped it on her hand. Steve's dog tags were still around her neck, tucked under her shirt, but missing the ring.

"What would we sell?" Natasha asked, continuing to dream about their supposed life in France.

"Bread, of course," Steve teased, bumping her hip with his own. "It's a bakery. We're not going to sell steak."

"No," Natasha laughed, hugging Steve's arm. "What kinds of bread? Danishes? Muffins? Banana bread?"

"All of it," Steve told her. Natasha rolled her eyes playfully, about to reply but stopping short at the sight of an eerily familiar face. Steve immediately sensed her change in demeanor and glanced in the direction she had looked. The man's face registered on his glasses as someone who worked for the organisation they were hunting down.

"Our bakery would have to double as a safe house," Natasha grumbled. Steve kissed the side of her head. "Let's go. We'll come back for our bakery later."

"Yes, ma'am," Steve replied, dutifully following after Natasha as the real mission work began.

FIVE

Steve was fed up. Being on the run was hard and stressful even if Natasha knew all the ins and outs of it. He was constantly worried about being found out. Whenever Natasha, Sam, or Wanda went out without him, he'd fidget nervously until they came back safely. He'd gotten better at not worrying as the weeks and months progressed, but when Wanda asked to go off on her own every few weeks, it got bad again. He'd relax when she was nearby, but during the week or two she'd be off somewhere else with Vision, he couldn't sleep at night.

"Steve, they're fine," Sam said for what must have been the twelveth time that day. Natasha had gone alone to meet Wanda, telling them that Steve was always too nervous and would draw more attention to them than they wanted. Leaving him alone with all three of them gone was out of the question, so Sam had stayed behind.

"I know, I just worry," Steve told him, glancing toward the door yet again.

"Trust me, I know," Sam replied. The house fell silent as Sam continued to read and Steve skimmed through the newspaper. They were in England for the time being so he could understand the language. Whenever they went somewhere that didn't speak Russian or English, he had to have Natasha read the newspaper for him. He didn't necessarily mind that. It gave them an excuse to just sit and be together, something that didn't happen often these days.

It was a couple hours later when the front door opened and Wanda walked into the house. Steve jumped to his feet and pulled the younger girl into a tight hug. Wanda grimaced and a hand shot to her ribs, immediately drawing Steve's attention. She didn't look beat up or hurt, but something had definitely gone wrong if her ribs were hurting her.

"It was just some mercenaries," Wanda said nonchalantly. Steve wasn't sure when mercs had become "just some mercenaries", but he wasn't surprised. Ross had put a large bounty on their heads for whoever could bring him the rogue Avengers, as he called them. They'd been jumped by nearly a dozen different mercenaries or other groups wanting to earn the extra cash, but they'd never been something Natasha and Steve couldn't handle. "Natasha took most of it," Wanda finished. Steve's eyes snapped up from Wanda's abdomen to Natasha, not having noticed her limp in.

"Nat, oh my god," he said, leaving Wanda and going to Natasha's side. She shut the door behind her, a hand on her forehead and blood trickling down her face and arm. He gently pulled her hand away from her face and she flinched as more blood made its way down the side of her face. Sam didn't have to be told before he was rushing to grab their first aid kit.

"They didn't have guns," Natasha said, wincing as she smiled. Steve wasn't sure whether to scold her for getting hurt or for trying to make a joke out of it. "Knives, on the other hand, are much harder to get away from uninjured."

"What did you do?" Steve asked, taking the suture kit from Sam. "Run head first into a knife?" He struggled to clean her forehead and make it stop bleeding as she laid down on the couch.

"I didn't mean to," Natasha grumbled. Steve swallowed back his panic at the thought of someone getting a knife close enough to her face to cut her head this badly. He only vaguely registered Sam and Wanda leaving the living room as he began to stitch up her forehead.

"I told you to be careful," Steve said quietly, swallowing the lump in his throat. He finished her sutures and Natasha reached up to cup his cheek. "You said you'd be okay."

"And I am," she whispered. She rubbed his cheek with her thumb soothingly. "I'm alive and relatively unharmed. Sure, I got a nasty cut on my head, but we're still okay. I'm not going to die."

"But what if next time--"

"There won't be a next time," Natasha interrupted. Steve wanted to tell her she didn't know that for sure, but he'd already decided she was never leaving the house without him again. "Once this all dies down, we're quitting the Avengers and starting our own life," she told him. "It'll just be you and me."

"I don't know, Nat," Steve sighed. He reached into the first aid kit and found gauze and a large band-aid to cover the stitches. "At this point, I don't think we could ever live a normal life."

"We'll find a place in the middle of nowhere," she continued on as if she hadn't heard him. "We'll keep in contact with the team of course, but no more missions. Just us."

"Just us," Steve repeated, liking the sound of that. He kissed her softly, pulling away before they got very far. Natasha frowned and pulled him right back down, kissing him harder until she was sure he wasn't worried she'd die on him.

"We'll get there," she promised. Steve just nodded and packed away the first aid kit before sitting on the couch and pulling Natasha on his lap. She grimaced then looked down sheepishly.

"What?" Steve asked, worried he'd hurt her somehow.

"I may have also broken a few ribs," she mumbled, smiling sweetly up at Steve. His eyes widened and he immediately pulled up her shirt to look at the bruises that were forming on her abdomen and chest.

"Is there anything else I should know about?" Steve asked, carefully getting up to find ice for her ribs.

"I might have sprained my ankle," Natasha told him, thinking back to the fight. "Oh, and there's probably a scrape on my knee from when I got pushed into traffic. Then there's the cut on my elbow. I think Wanda might have a minor concussion, too, but after that we're okay."

"You're never leaving without me again," Steve grumbled, re-opening the first aid kit to clean out her scraps.

PLUS ONE

Natasha woke up to an empty bed. She frowned, feeling Steve's side to see how long he'd been gone. The sheets were cold and the sun was out already, so he was probably out on a run. She laid back down, enjoying the warmth of her bed a little longer. She didn't mean to fall back asleep, but she woke up to Steve kissing her softly. He smiled down at her then stood back up and ran a hand through his wet hair.

"There's still hot water," he promised as she sat up in bed. He had just a towel around his waist, but that disappeared when he stepped into the closet to find something to wear. Natasha got up and walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower, stepping back into the bedroom fifteen minutes later. She got dressed then walked down the stairs in search of Steve.

"Steve?" she called, looking around the kitchen and dining room. There was a plate of food sitting on the counter for her which she happily took and ate before continuing her search for Steve. She searched the entire house before stepping outside and looking out across their property. The woods marked the edge of their backyard nearly half a kilometre across the grass. There was a tire swing hanging from a large maple tree that Morgan and the Barton kids liked to swing on and a fire pit right off the porch. She yelled again for Steve and heard a reply come from the garage. She stepped off the porch and walked barefoot across the damp grass.

"Hey," Steve said, looking up from a canvas. He was painting the field across from their house, the view of the canvas the one from the garage window.

"Hey," she replied, standing behind him and putting her hands on his shoulders. They'd only been living here for a year, but Natasha couldn't imagine living anywhere else. After getting everyone back from the Snap and killing Thanos, Steve and Natasha finally retired. They didn't end up in a French apartment, but they did own a small bakery in the town about ten kilometres south of their home. Pepper and Tony had a lake house only two kilometres away and the Bartons had moved in across the road.

"You ready for today?" Steve asked, setting down his paintbrush and turning to pull Natasha onto his lap. She nodded, wrapping an arm around his neck. "I'm glad Sam finally found someone to settle down with. Him and Maria will be good for each other."