Natasha Stark: Arrival

Chapter 30:

Tasha: I sat on my bed again. "Sorry I'm late," Steve said, sneaking through the door and holding out my laptop, "It's a long story."

"What is it with SHIELD's long stories?" I asked. Steve looked at me for a long moment before I added, "Kidding."

"You know I'm bad with people," Steve said.

"Yeah," I said, "I think you make it obvious." I took my laptop from him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve asked.

"Nothing," I said, smiling. He rolled his eyes at me.

I opened my laptop and settled in to my seat, "What should I build?" I asked.

"How the heck should I know," Steve said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I've got it," I said. He walked over to stand next to me, so he could see what was happening on my screen. In 10 minutes flat I had it built, a new shield for Captain America. "Ta da," I said. I pressed the test link and pressed the button to make the shield work. The shield whirled around and built itself, piece by piece from something the size of an I-Phone.

"Wow," Steve said, "That's incredible."

"It works on the same principles as my suit, but of course on a much smaller scale," I said, "Its actually really simple. And it will only weigh as much as your typical laptop."

"How did you do that?" Steve asked.

"Well, it's simple. It's a computer ship in the shield that knows to open when you press that button. And it works just like a fan in the fact the propulsion from the first one coming out power the next on then the next on then the next on, so it takes the smallest amount of electricity to work," I explained, "You charge this puppy for three hours you've got ten years of daily use to this."

"Incredible," Steve said, "Has anyone ever told you you're a genius?"

"The guy who did my IQ testing," I said, smirking.

"Ha ha," Steve said, "Like seriously though, you're amazing."

My eyes met his, and just the smallest of something came through. That he might not have just been taking about how my genius was amazing. I

I dropped my gaze. "Smarts wise," Steve said, after a moment.

"I figured," I said to myself.

"Oh," Steve said.

"So uh, yeah, I could probably have that made for you in a matter of hours," I said.

"That would be, uh, great," Steve said. I felt an awkward tension. Were we both thinking the same thing?

"What's going on here?" I asked.

"I don't know," Steve said. Before I could say anything else, he put his lips to mine. You know how they always say you feel so much when you kiss. Before then, I hadn't believed it. But in that moment, I felt something. It scared me. But at the same time I had never felt so alive.

Steve pulled away after a short moment of the bliss. He looked down at his shoes. I sat quiet for a few awkward moments. "That shouldn't have happened," he said to himself.

"I know," I whispered. I couldn't help but feel a little hurt. Was it not worth it to kiss me?

"I'm sorry," Steve said, "I mean it was, uh, nice, but its just kind of awkward. With your dad and all."

"Yeah," I said. I bit my lip.

"I should go," Steve said. He walked out. As he did he ran into the side of the door frame. I laughed. He looked back at me, an almost fearfull look on his face. I smiled to myself. What the heck had just happened?