Summary: All Steve and Natasha wanted was a peaceful date night. Apparently HYDRA got the invite as well.

Steve stood in front of Natasha's door, taking a moment to calm his panicked heart before knocking. It wasn't their first date by far. He couldn't even list all their dates, both official and unofficial. Nonetheless, he was still nervous as he raised a hand and knocked on Natasha's door. He heard her say something on the other side of the door, but he wasn't really listening. Soon the door was pulled open and Natasha stood in front of him wearing a dark leather jacket, black jeans, and a t-shirt. She was busy stuffing a gun in her purse so she didn't immediately notice Steve staring, but once she looked up, she smirked.

"Hey there," she said. Steve snapped back to the current moment and smiled, offering her his arm. She looped her arm through his and rested her hands in the crook of his elbow. "So, where are we off to tonight?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise," Steve replied with a smirk. Natasha frowned and Steve kissed the side of her head playfully. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll love it."

"Oh no, I know I will," Natasha told him, letting him lead her out of her apartment building. His motorcycle was nowhere in sight but before she could ask, he was answering her unspoken question.

"I figured we'd walk since it's nice out," Steve said.

Natasha smiled and nodded. She didn't mind walking through the city. She'd gotten used to people doing a double take when they saw her downtown or with any of the other Avengers. She was mildly surprised that no one had reported her and Steve's relationship to the press yet, but they also hadn't gone out as a couple very often. Exposing herself after the SHIELD-HYDRA incident then the Ultron fall-out made it difficult to do normal things.

They walked down the busy sidewalks, talking between themselves quietly. Natasha let Steve guide them through the city, not asking more about their date. She'd let him be secretive if he wanted to. It wasn't often he could surprise her, so she'd allow him the luxury this once. However, she shouldn't have been as surprised as she was when they stepped into a small yet busy bistro. She smiled. Steve was good when it came to discovering cozy little places that were unique to the area. She had no doubt this place would have good food, too.

"Table for two, please," Steve said to the hostess.

She nodded and led them to a table near the back of the restaurant. Steve glanced back to see Natasha looking around the bistro, likely admiring the decor while also making note of everyone inside and nearby exits. He didn't tell her to relax, knowing it wouldn't keep her from searching for escape routes. She'd only relax once she knew where to watch and go in case something happened. Besides, her obsessive habit had come in handy a couple of times in the past.

Their waitress listed off their specials for the day as she handed them menus and Steve smiled and nodded, hardly hearing a word she said. His hand discreetly went to the pocket of his jacket and he relaxed slightly at the feeling of a small box. Natasha glanced at him from across the table, silently asking if he was alright. He nodded at her and she smiled, looking down at her menu. He copied her, but he already knew what he was going to order. It was a good thing he'd been here once before or he'd look like a fool: staring at his menu then not knowing what to order when the waitress came back. Luckily for him, Natasha had taught him a couple of things over the past few years they'd worked together and he'd gotten much better at faking.

"Where to after this?" Natasha asked as the waitress walked away with their orders. Steve leaned back in the booth, glancing out onto the busy street outside.

"Why the rush? Got a hot date?" he teased. Natasha just rolled her eyes and took a sip of her water.

"If you must know, yes," she replied, sipping her ice water coyly. "He's a little annoying; doesn't tell me things and makes me worry he's going to throw me in the back of a car and kidnap me."

"I'm sure you could hold your own against him," Steve replied with a smile. She shrugged.

"Who knows?" she asked. "Maybe I'd let him; just see what happens."

"You could do that too," he said. She frowned at him and he laughed, reaching across the table for her hand. "Don't worry. Let me have fun surprising you."

"Fine," she said, running her thumb over his knuckles as she looked around the bistro. "You did find this place on your own. I guess I can trust you," she told him with a teasing smile. He rolled his eyes and reached for his own water, smiling as she told him about the latest Barton family news.

* * *

Everything had gone fine at dinner. Steve didn't spill his water everywhere or choke on his meal despite how nervous he was. Natasha either hadn't noticed or ignored his nerves. He'd honestly be more comfortable if she just hadn't noticed. If she had, it was likely she already knew what he was planning and that would take the fun out of it all. Well, the fun of surprising her. Right now it was stressing him out just thinking about it.

"Are you alright?" Natasha asked, stopping mid-sentence to ask. She rubbed his arm and Steve glanced at her to see her looking up at him worriedly. "You seem stressed."

So she had noticed.

"I guess I'm just anticipating an attack," he said. It was only a half-lie. Their previous outings had been covers and often ended up in fights. It was reasonable for Steve to worry about an attack. Especially with all the recent HYDRA activity Tony had been picking up. "It's not often we go out without being shot at."

"Don't jinx it," she muttered. She bumped his hip with her own. "We'll be fine." She paused, almost stopping in her tracks before remembering to keep walking. "At least, we will be if that's not someone tailing us."

"What?" Steve asked, resisting the urge to turn and look behind them.

Natasha pressed against him, forcing them to take a corner and Steve spotted a tall man in black behind them.

"He matches your three o'clock," he muttered. Natasha's eyes flicked to her right only to see another man on the opposite side of the street walking beside them. She cursed.

"One night," she mumbled, her grip on Steve's arm tightening slightly. "We just wanted one night of peace, but no."

"You know what they say," Steve said, taking another turn. The men continued to follow them and he held back a scowl. "Evil never sleeps."

"Which means we can't either," Natasha said.

They ducked down an alley and Natasha opened her purse. Before she could pull her gun out, men came dropping down from the top of the building on either side of them. One landed directly on top of Natasha, forcing her to the ground. She scowled and pushed him off of her, punching his face and knocking him out. She hadn't even stood up before another man was dropping on top of her.

She grunted in pain as her arm bent in a weird angle, distracting her long enough for the man to pull something from his pocket. Silver flashed and she rolled out from under him. Three more men jumped on top of her and metal clasped around her wrists. Strong magnets pulled her arms back, trapping her against the dumpster she'd been hiding behind earlier.

Steve managed to avoid being landed on, but one of the men was able to get a cuff around his wrist, trapping his left arm to the dumpster behind him. He frowned, immediately recognising the cuff as one HYDRA had tried using on him in Washington many years before. He kicked a man in the chest, looking around the alley for Natasha. She was stuck with both wrists stretched out at her sides, held down by the magnetic cuffs. That wasn't stopping her from fighting though.

She struck out with her feet, kicking two men at once then dropping to the ground. Before she could stand back up, a masked man kneed her in the gut and clamped his hand around her neck. Steve punched the man that moved towards him hard enough to knock him out, trying to reach the man strangling Natasha but not succeeding.

"You don't know how long I've waited to do this, you bitch," the man growled, pressing harder against Natasha's neck. She kicked him, but he recovered quickly and lunged back toward her as two of his men held her legs down. "You don't deserve the peace you have. You murdered innocents for fun," he said.

Natasha couldn't breathe, continuing to thrash against the men holding her down.

"...didn't," she struggled to say.

Steve kicked a man towards her, making the man strangling her loosen his hold as he stumbled. She sucked in a deep breath and coughed. His hands were back around her neck seconds later and she was back to struggling to breathe.

"Yes, you did!" he screamed at her. He kicked her in the ribs harshly and she curled forward. He drew his hands away from her neck to punch her cheek. "You came to SHIELD and took my spot on STRIKE team Delta. A murderer got a better job than me all because she spread her legs for the director and her handler. Did you really qualify to be an Avenger or did you sleep with everyone to join the team?"

Steve tore the magnetic cuff off his wrist and punched the man yelling at Natasha. The men holding her down jumped forward to attack him and he smashed their heads together, knocking them unconscious immediately. He pulled the gun from Natasha's purse and shot the remaining few men, kicking a couple into the dumpster then shooting them too. The man that had been strangling Natasha was nowhere in sight and Steve dented the dumpster when he punched it in frustration. He heard a sharp breath to his left and turned to see Natasha still cuffed to the dumpster and sucking in deep breaths. She coughed.

"Nat," Steve breathed, dropping onto the ground in front of her. He searched the alley for something to break her cuffs with, not wanting to hurt her by breaking them off. He found a brick, but he knew it wouldn't be strong enough to break the cuff.

"Just break them," she said, her voice hoarse.

Steve nodded and leaned forward, grabbing each side of the cuff then ripping it apart. He grit his teeth, struggling to pull it apart. When it finally broke, he moved to the next one. Natasha brought one hand up to gingerly touch her neck while the other found Steve's arm.

"Hey, it's okay," he assured her, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. He could see dark red marks on her neck that were sure to turn into bruises by morning and one on her face from where the man had punched her. "We should get back to the Tower in case there's more."

"There won't be," Natasha told him. Her voice was scratchy and Steve wanted to tell her to just not talk, but he knew that wouldn't help. "Rumlow doesn't keep backup close enough."

"Rumlow?" Steve asked.

Natasha nodded and dropped her hand from her neck. She pulled her hair back over her shoulder as she looked up from the ground.

"You didn't know it was Rumlow?" she replied. Steve shook his head and stood up, helping her to her feet. "Yeah, well, apparently he isn't dead like we all hoped."

"He got away," Steve grumbled, reaching down to pick up Natasha's purse. He put her gun back inside and handed the purse back to her. She slipped it over her head and Steve pulled her to his side.

"We'll get him later," she assured him.

Steve wasn't sure how it happened that she was the one reassuring him about the attack, but he guessed he shouldn't be surprised. He always had been a little more panicky when it came to Natasha than she seemed to be with him. Clint had told him before that she was just good at hiding it, but sometimes Steve wished he was better at hiding his worry too.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve asked, stopping and putting his hands gently on her face. She smiled softly and nodded. "Everything he said was false, you know," Steve told her. "You deserve to be on the team just as much as everyone else and we all know you didn't climb the ranks in SHIELD by sleeping around."

"I know," she whispered, taking his hands and pulling them away from her face. Even if it was Steve, she wasn't too sure she wanted hands near her neck at the moment.

"You aren't just a murderer, Nat," Steve said as if he hadn't heard her. He seemed to get the message about not putting his hands on her face though because as he didn't reach back up.

"Well, that part was true," Natasha told him. Steve scowled and pulled his hands away from hers. "Steve, come on. We both know—"

"Yes, we both know you work for the Avengers saving people's lives," Steve interrupted. Natasha huffed in annoyance at being interrupted but Steve ignored her. "You may not have done great things in the past, but you've made your mistakes right and now you save lives. You deserve to be on the team just as much as everyone else and we all love you. I love you," he told her, stressing the last part.

"I know, Steve," she replied, hoping he'd drop the subject. People were beginning to stare at them longer than usual.

"No, Natasha," Steve said, grabbing her hand again. "I don't think you do. I love you so much and hearing people say stuff like that about you makes me so upset. I don't understand why it doesn't bother you."

"Because I'm used to it," Natasha hissed, pulling her hand away from his. "Now stop before you make a scene."

"Maybe if I make a scene you'll listen," Steve said. Natasha glared at him and he reached into his pocket. "I love you, Natasha, and the fact that you don't see yourself the way I do but the way HYDRA and other people see you infuriates me."

"Steve, don't do this here," she muttered, stepping closer to cover his mouth with her hand.

He moved his face so she wasn't covering his mouth and pulled something out of his pocket.

"Tonight was supposed to be better but HYDRA messed it all up," he told her softly.

Around them, people were staring more at the mention of HYDRA and Natasha could hear whispers as they tried to figure out if it was really Captain America and Black Widow in front of them.

"Steve, please," Natasha hissed, trying to duck away from phone cameras that were being pulled out. "Save it for the Tower, please."

"Marry me," he demanded, shoving a ring box between the two of them

Natasha blinked in surprise, not having expected Steve to pull that out of his pockets.

"Obviously date nights just aren't going to work for us and considering we both survived this one fairly unharmed, I might as well ask you now, so please, Natasha, will you marry me?"

"This isn't a cover for a mission I don't know about, is it?" she asked skeptically.

Steve shook his head and she narrowed her eyes at him. After determining he was serious and this wasn't a joke, her face softened and she pulled his lips down to hers. The people that had been watching gasped, some cheered while others whispered loudly.

"Is that a yes?" Steve breathed when she pulled away.

Natasha nodded against his forehead, a smile slowly creeping onto her face. Steve chuckled as she kissed him again, taking the ring and slipping it on her finger.

"You could have found a better way to ask me," she told him, pulling back.

Steve kissed her forehead as she glanced down at the ring he'd gotten her.

"HYDRA just made it more memorable," he chuckled.

Natasha laughed and wrapped her hands around his arm as he led her through the crowd of people that had surrounded them. Some offered congratulations while others ducked out of the way.

"Besides, out of all the criminal organisations, I think it's only poetic HYDRA is the one that gets us engaged."