Summary: Steve may be the cheesiest man alive (putting a ring in her cake, who does that in real life?), but at least he isn't bad enough to hang a banner in Times Square asking her to marry him. And while he and Natasha may be perfectly happy with the engagement, the media couldn't be less pleased.

Sure, Natasha hadn't really known what to expect when someone knocked on her door at seven o'clock in the evening, but she probably shouldn't have been as surprised as she was to see Steve with a bouquet of flowers and dressed in a nice pair of slacks and a dress shirt.  How he'd managed to get so dressed up without coming home first, she didn't bother asking.  If he wanted to play super-spy, she would let him.  First, though, she was definitely going to kiss that smug smirk off his face.

"Maybe I'll show up like this more often,"  Steve murmured, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke.  Natasha pulled back, rolling her eyes as she allowed him inside their house (if she were honest, it was really his, she'd just moved in unofficially and never left).

"Is this a trick where you pretend I forgot about an anniversary or something?"  Natasha asked, taking the flowers from him and finding a vase to put them in.  Steve shook his head and kissed her cheek, wrapping one arm around her waist.

"No, this is a surprise date where you get all dressed up and I take you out,"  he told her.  Natasha smiled to herself then turned around in his arms to look up at him.  He was doing that thing where he looked at her as if she was the only thing in the world that mattered and it took everything in her not to turn completely red.

Steve kissed her shortly then released her, gently pushing her in the direction of their bedroom.  Natasha didn't waste time pulling on a nice dress and slipping on a pair of new heels before rejoining Steve in the living room.  Her hair was a bit of a mess, but at least it was still curled from earlier in the day and she could pretend it looked nice.  As soon as Steve noticed her reappear, he grinned and held out his arm to her.

"What's the occasion?"  Natasha asked, smiling as Steve opened the car door for her and kissed her cheek.  He waited to answer until after he'd slid in the driver's side beside her and turned on the car.

"Maybe I just wanted to surprise you and I can only ever do that when I don't plan ahead more than a couple hours,"  Steve answered.  Natasha grinned and took his hand in hers as soon as they'd backed out of the garage and were driving through their quiet neighborhood.

She didn't ask questions, letting Steve enjoy leaving her in suspense and knowing full well whatever he'd planned would be wonderful.  It didn't matter if they were picnicking on top of the Tower or dressed extravagantly on a double date with Tony and Pepper.  Being with Steve made everything nicer even though she'd never say it out loud; the part where he tried to keep things a surprise was a bit annoying, but she supposed she could live with it.  However, when he parked in an underground parking garage then handed her his jacket, she couldn't help but frown.

"Don't worry, it's not far,"  Steve promised, kissing her forehead.  He had styled his hair differently and since he hadn't shaved in a couple of weeks, he had a bit of a beard growing in.  It wasn't much, but Natasha knew the odds of him being recognised were slim, therefore making it less likely she would be noticed.  Besides, people rarely noticed any of them (aside from Tony) when they weren't in uniform or on the news.

"I better not freeze, Rogers,"  she mumbled, snagging Steve's hand and pulling herself close to him as they walked out of the garage.  Steve just grinned and kissed the top of her head as he led her down the sidewalk.

When Steve pulled open the door to a nice restaurant, Natasha held back her surprise.  While fancy dates weren't unheard of for them, they usually only occurred when on a double date with Tony and Pepper or on a mission.  The restaurant Steve had led her into was already much fancier than their usual nights out.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him but Steve shrugged before telling the hostess their reservation name and they were being led to their table.  As always, Steve ordered the nightly special and Natasha took her time reading through the menu.  By the time she was ready to order, Steve had drunk two glasses of wine and she was beginning to get the feeling he was nervous.  She didn't mention it until the waitress had left and Steve had glanced at his phone for the third time.

"Steve, what's wrong?"  she asked, reaching across the table for his hand.  He looked up at her and immediately his face softened.  He laced their fingers together and kissed the back of her hand.

"Nothing,"  he assured her.  She blinked and he sighed.  "Sam's running his first mission without me and I'm just a little worried."

"Hey,"  Natasha said softly, rubbing his hand with her free one.  "He'll be okay.  That man has thrown himself headfirst into who knows how many dangerous situations.  A short mission isn't gonna hurt him."

"That doesn't mean I won't still worry,"  Steve replied.  Natasha rolled her eyes and leaned across the table to kiss him softly.  Steve quickly changed the subject after that and Natasha felt comfortable he was no longer worrying about Sam, so she allowed him to get away with it and distract her as well.  They spent almost two hours talking over their food and didn't even have to discuss getting dessert.  When their dessert came (a slice of chocolate cake for Natasha and an expensive-looking pudding dish for Steve), the waitress hesitated just a moment before leaving.  Natasha brushed it off and grabbed for the fork that had come with her dessert.  When she realised Steve was looking at her nervously, she paused.

"You alright, Rogers?"  she asked, her mind flashing back to the waitress and beginning to worry they might be in danger.  Steve shook his head quickly and tried to relax, but Natasha wasn't fooled this time.  "You look like you're about to jump from the Eiffel Tower.  What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'll tell you after dessert,"  Steve promised.  Still hesitant but severely tempted by the delicious looking cake in front of her, Natasha took a bite of her cake.  She was only two bites in and still looking at Steve warily when her fork hit something hard.  Frowning, she pushed around the cake, half expecting to find a vial of poison or some code from an enemy and stopping in surprise when she realised it was a ring.

"Steve..."  she trailed off, picking up the chocolate covered ring to see him holding out a ring box with a perfectly un-chocolate covered ring inside.

"Natasha Romanoff, I know this is a bit of a surprise and I can honestly say I'm proud of that fact,"  Steve said.  Natasha glared at him, but he saw right through her and grabbed her hand as he scooted out of his chair and knelt down in front of her.  "I love you and I know I say it a lot, but I feel like it's still not enough.  From long missions in the desert to movie nights on my couch with Liho, I love you every single moment of every single day and I can't imagine my life without you."

"Sap,"  Natasha said quietly, wiping at her face before anyone could see the tears that were threatening to spill over her cheeks.  He grinned and continued.

"Now I know it's a lot to ask of you for something so permanent, but would you pretty please consider marrying me?"  Steve asked.  Before he had even finished, Natasha was nodding and sliding off her chair to hug him tightly.  She grabbed his face, pulling him to her so she could kiss him and nearly whined when he pulled back with a smile.  When the cool metal of the ring slipped onto her finger, though, Natasha figured she could forgive him for cutting the kiss short and pulled him in for another one.

The other guests in the restaurant clapped and Natasha could make out their waitress giggling to one of her co-workers in the back.  When they finally separated, Natasha handed Steve the sticky cake cover ring and he laughed, telling her Sam had gotten it out of one of those coin machines at Walmart specifically for this occasion.

"He brought it straight here and told them what to do, so I never actually saw it,"  Steve told her, looking at the cheap nickel ring.  "I was half worried he'd just gotten a weird animal figure and brought it here."

"And here I thought he was on an actual mission,"  Natasha teased.  Steve rolled his eyes and leaned forward to kiss her again, still unable to wipe the cheesy smile off his face.

They quickly finished their dessert, thanked the wait staff, then headed back to their car.  While Natasha had really enjoyed Steve's surprise date (she was wearing a ring, how much better could it have gone?), all she really wanted to do was take everything off and show him just how much she loved him back.  Steve was correct in saying he told her all the time and he'd even gone as far as asking her to marry him, so the second they were inside the house, Natasha turned around and dragged his lips down to hers.

"Someone's excited,"  Steve murmured, kissing her back just as eagerly.

In response, Natasha pulled back just far enough to take off his tie then pulled him back down.  To Steve's credit, he managed to keep his laughter to himself and kiss her back, teasing her until she started to get a little frustrated.  With a sly smirk and a flash of her hands, Natasha had Steve's trousers on the ground and her hand wrapped around him.  He groaned, suddenly much more interested in kissing Natasha than teasing her.  Moments before he was about to rip off her dress himself, Natasha stepped back and walked away.  It took Steve all of three seconds to scoop her up and hustle her into their bedroom for the night.

* * * * *

Natasha was rudely awakened to her phone going off just past eight in the morning.  Groaning, she fumbled around the nightstand before grabbing it and mumbling a sleepy hello.  She hadn't checked the caller ID, so she supposed she should have been surprised to hear anybody's voice that early, but she was not expecting Pepper to tell her they had created a press nightmare last night and both her and Steve were needed at the Tower immediately.

"What?  Back up, I'm still sleeping,"  Natasha said, blinking and sitting up in bed.  Steve moaned beside her, but Natasha doubted she'd be lying back down.

"The press is having a field day with news about you and Steve being engaged,"  Pepper told her.  Natasha stopped breathing.  The public shouldn't have known; how did the public know?  It had happened last night and she was pretty sure no one had noticed her and Steve.  How had they found out?

"What?  How'd they find out?"  Natasha asked, shaking Steve awake and telling him they needed to get to the Tower quickly.

"Someone posted a video of an engagement at a restaurant last night and they figured out it was you two,"  Pepper answered.  Natasha groaned as she slid out of bed, ignoring Steve's eyes on her bare body.

"Can't you handle it without us?"  Natasha asked.  Pepper hesitated and Natasha regretted asking.  She knew Pepper worked hard, but she wouldn't have called for them if something wasn't horribly wrong.

"They're not taking it well, Nat,"  she explained softly.  Thoughts of what the media could be saying sprang into Natasha's mind.  She could hardly focus on Pepper saying Stark PR was handling it, but she and Steve were needed.

"Give us half an hour,"  Natasha muttered.  She hung up before Pepper could say anything else and grabbed a change of clothes.  "Media knows about our engagement.  Pepper needs us at the Tower for something in half an hour,"  she told Steve.  He just nodded in confusion, watching as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

* * * * *

Natasha tried not to look up what the media was saying about their engagement on the ride to the Tower.  The last thing she needed was doubt to creep in and ruin what she and Steve had.  On the other hand, she figured leaving it up to her imagination could almost be worse than just hearing the news flat out.  At least then she wouldn't be stuck with her own dark thoughts and could be prepared for whatever Pepper and Stark PR was going to throw at them.

They parked in the garage under the Tower and took the private elevator all the way up to Pepper's office.  Steve didn't let go of Natasha's hand the entire way, but whether it was to comfort her or himself, Natasha wasn't sure.  As soon as they stepped into Pepper's office, Natasha wanted to back up and disappear up to her floor of the Tower.  The TV was playing some talk show and the caption at the bottom of the screen read "Assassin Tricks America's Hero".  While it was muted, the closed captions were on and Natasha couldn't help but read what they were saying.

"Nat,"  Steve said softly, nudging her and pulling her attention away from the screen.  He nodded at Pepper who was giving them a tight smile.  Natasha took a quiet breath and Steve squeezed her hand as they stepped forward to meet the Stark PR team that would be working on this mess.

"This is Paul, Tiana, Henry, and Winnie,"  Pepper introduced.  Steve and Natasha shook all of their hands, muttering quiet hellos.  "They know who you are.  For the most part, they'll be running behind the scenes.  Taking down footage we don't want out there, making sure the press keeps the facts straight, etcetera.  They'll also be arranging interviews for you to do in order to help clear things up."

"I don't do public appearances,"  Natasha said.  Pepper nodded.

"I know, but there's really no other way to do this,"  she replied.  Natasha knew Pepper wouldn't force her to do something if it wasn't necessary, so she tried not to feel too upset at the idea of doing some talk show set up specifically to talk about her private life.  "We've talked it over and for the most part, you should only have to do one or two.  Of course, People magazine works closely with us so they'll get an exclusive interview, but it will all be conducted in the Tower and will be put in the magazine, not streamed."

"I imagine we'll have to do a streamed interview though,"  Steve said.  Pepper pursed her lips and nodded.

"Yes,"  she said,  "I've talked it over with the team and we feel like it would be best if you did your interview locally instead of flying out to LA.  That being said, we also want it to be a big enough show it gets good coverage and we don't have to do another."

"Of course, you will receive many questions whenever the Avengers do another press conference, I hope you understand that,"  Paul said politely.  Steve nodded.  Natasha wasn't naive enough to think they could do the two interviews and be done.  Whenever the Avengers called for a conference, there would be questions about her and Steve's relationship at least until everything died down (and given their reputation, Natasha assumed that would be years).

"People would also like to have a wedding interview with just you, Miss Romanoff, once you have a date in mind and more details planned out,"  Tiana said.  Natasha nodded and Tiana promised she would keep her in touch about that, though she doubted it would be set up without the next few months.

"It's recommended you stay in the Tower at least until the interviews are conducted,"  Pepper told them,  "You probably didn't notice, but there's quite the crew outside waiting for any sign of you and while I know you have SHIELD to attend to, it would be ideal for you to limit excursions."

"We don't get out much anyway,"  Steve replied.  Pepper understood (she and Tony rarely went out in public together anyway) and briefly explained what the media was saying and how to proceed.

"There's a bunch of backlash everywhere,"  she told them, listing off social media sites and news sources.  "They're tagging you in everything and you're trending on Twitter; everyone wants a response.  I know some of them are quite horrible and you will want to reply, but don't.  Any little response could turn this into a whole new level of nightmare, so please don't reply or escalate the situation."

"Alright,"  Steve and Natasha agreed.  After more briefing on how to react to the media and what to do and not to do between now and their interview, Pepper dismissed them so she could figure more things out with the PR team.

The entire ride up to Natasha's floor was silent.  Steve had moved out of the Tower sooner and had cleared out his floor entirely.  Natasha, on the other hand, kept hers as both a place to crash after a mission and her main home outside of Steve's.  She didn't have much, but Tony had made sure there were more than enough decorations and furniture around.  She also had a good supply of clothes and knick-knacks lying around.

"Natasha?"  Steve asked as they stepped off the elevator.  She ignored him and went straight to the TV, flicking it on and going to the nearest channel that was talking about their relationship.

"I can't say I expected it.  Captain America with Russia's Greatest Assassin?  Surely there's something going on here we don't know about."

"I don't know, Jim.  Her reaction seemed pretty genuine."

"Pfft, it's her job to act.  I bet she's using him to climb the ranks at that spy agency—what's it called?  SafeNet?"

"We all know her reputation. America's Golden Boy is just her next conquest—"

The TV was turned off before the host could finish his sentence.  Natasha didn't bother turning around to face Steve as he set aside the remote and stepped forward to gently rub Natasha's shoulders.  She hadn't realised how tense she was until Steve was attempting to calm her down and she wouldn't budge.

"Nat, they don't know us,"  Steve said softly.  Natasha stayed staring straight ahead.  "They don't know anything about you.  It's their job to make assumptions and turn things into a scandal; that doesn't make them true."

"But they're not wrong,"  Natasha told him, thinking back to all her files that had been dumped on the internet years ago.  "They can see my records; they know exactly who we are."

"No, they don't,"  Steve insisted.  He forced her to turn around and look at him.  "They don't know your favourite colour is red.  They don't know you like to stand out in the rain until you're wetter than a fish or that you love to watch stupid rom-coms late at night when you can't sleep.  They don't know about Liho or how when I have the worst day ever, the only thing that makes life better is cuddling with you on the couch and pretending you aren't sniffling when Rose leaves Jack behind on Titanic. They don't know you and they don't matter."

Natasha buried her face in Steve's chest as an attempt to both block out her thoughts and hide her tears.  Steve just hugged her back tightly and peppered the top of her head with kisses.

"I don't cry when I watch the Titanic,"  she finally mumbled.  Steve laughed softly and kissed her forehead gently.

"Of course you don't,"  he agreed.  She scowled up at him but he just pecked her lips and rested his forehead against hers.  "It's gonna be okay, Nat.  Stark PR is gonna fix all this and the team and I are gonna go kill three dozen tabloid publishers."

Natasha snorted, a hand flying up to her mouth as Steve raised an eyebrow.

"You better not or the media will have another Avenger to criticize,"  she told him.  Steve shrugged and kissed her again.

"But at least this time it'll be for a valid reason,"  he replied.  Natasha rolled her eyes and laid her head back on Steve's chest.  A moment or two passed before Steve let out a short chuckle, struggling to hold back a laugh.

"What?"  Natasha whined, annoyed her human pillow couldn't keep still.

"SafeNet,"  he sniggered, before erupting into a mess of laughter.  Natasha rolled her eyes but couldn't keep from laughing as well.  At least the news got the first letter of SHIELD correct.