The Man With a Suit & The Soldier of Time

[cat.]

Tony had called over Natasha to the boxing ring to spare with Happy. He looked her over for a moment, eyeing her for a good minute or so while she just looked at him. It was honestly hard to get a read on her, so he got out of the ring to go beside Pepper. He immediately started to look up her name, becoming impressed with what he found about her, especially the pictures that he found.

After having a talk with Pepper, he heard a thud and loud exclamation from the woman next to him. Happy was on the ground, and she had put him there. That was impressive. There was more to her than pretty looks and smarts. At this moment, he walked up to her as she grabbed the paperwork. He signed and did his thumbprint, then he looked around to find Sabrina. In the midst of everything, he had a gut feeling that she wasn't the happiest right now.

---

Beatrix spent this last week keeping her mind busy on things so she didn't have to worry about Steve. Fury also gave her small assignments to keep her busy because of his absence, which she appreciated. Everything seemed to fail though because at the end of the day when it came to sleeping in her bed, she thought of him constantly. She missed him a lot. Now that the week was over, she knew that he was coming home. So, she did preparations for his arrival back home.

In his apartment, she had put up a small banner that he would be able to see. It said the words, "Welcome home, Captain." Something that she created herself, just being a little cheesy. She had cooked a meal for them, because he did deserve home cooking, and she had bought a bottle of fine wine. Also on the table was a tiny box that was wrapped in blue paper with a white bow on top. Now she just waited for him to enter the door, wearing a cute black dress.

 

[Thirteen]

"Will that be all Mr. Stark?" Natalie questioned, folding the binder in her arms. Pepper just smiled and excused her for the time being.

Immediately turning a stern smile to her former boss, just knowing what theories were building in that head of his. "You can't have one. I have assistants lined up to be interviewed. Are you ready to begin?" She didn't want Natalie to take the position of Tony's new assistant. Something about her was suspicious. Even more so than Sabrina's motives for lingering around the Stark estate for the past week.

Speaking of the blond female, Sabrina was seated now across the room in a chair at the small bar located to the left. She said nothing as Tony and Pepper discussed Natalie's qualifications. She couldn't deny her anger with that mysterious woman. Just knowing that she was the type Tony would happily pursue. Drowning another of her worries in the water-Rum, Sabrina swallowed a shot quickly.

* * *

The footsteps of a blond solider quickened once he got to the hallway of his modest apartment. For an entire week he'd been separated from his lovely woman and wanted nothing more than to see her again. The mission had been simple enough, earning Fury's approval for him to be deployed on future tasks. Steve knew that could happen whenever Fury saw a reason, but he didn't allow himself to worry about that now. He had a date.

"Beatrix?" Steve cautiously opened the door, stepping inside and immediately dropped his bags down by the entrance. He still had on the outfit that Fury had decided to give him. It was similar to Clint's but instead of purple there was dark blue and a few white accents. It looked nice.

Steve suddenly grinned as he spotted the banner, chuckling happily to himself. "Beatrix?" Now even more determined to find her, Steve quickly searched through the building. The delicious aroma of a home cooked meal caught his attention, once again brightening him smile. As she poured some wine in the kitchen, Steve finally found her and leaned against the wall with crossed arms.

"Best welcoming home," he complimented.

 

[cat.]

"Why not have Natalie as the assistant? She seems to be qualified enough," Tony suggested, shrugging his shoulders. He simply didn't want to go through names of other women, and he certainly did not want to interview anyone. Unless Pepper wanted to do it for him. The man had other things to worry about, that was for sure. "Come on, Pepper, she looks promising." As much as he couldn't put a read on Natasha, he just wanted to hire her.

Then he looked over to Sabrina, seeing that she was sitting alone across the room. He let out a sigh, knowing something was wrong with the woman so he walked over to her. "It's something that I did, isn't it?" he questioned, now taking a seat next to her. It was hard to please everyone and he had learned that the hard way.

---

Beatrix heard the door open, as well as her name being called. This brought a smile to her face as she finished cooking the spaghetti that was making on the stove, and then she started to pour red wine into cups. Upon hearing his voice, she looked back at him and then turned herself around as she noticed the outfit that he was wearing. It looked quite nice on him.

"I am glad that you enjoy the welcome home package," she responded as she set the bottle down on the counter. "I told you that I was doing a little surprise thing for you."

She walked up to Steve, admiring the way that the outfit looked on him. With a smile, she brought her arms around his neck and without exchanging words with him first, leaned up to press her lips against his. All week she has waited for this moment.