Steve was in a hurry, he had gone shopping, made his phone calls and now he was headed back to their house. He wished he would be back before Nat would get up, both in his favor and hers.

If she'd woke up before he would be home, she might feel vulnerable and he hated that. He loved it when she would be vulnerable around him and let him in, but other occasions were painful for him. Also, he had done a lot of shopping and she would get curious if saw them all at once.

As he reached the house and parked the car in the garage, he climbed out of the car, used his keys to open the door holding one shopping bag and a bouquet of Poppy flowers, they were rare but he had ordered them a couple of days back as they were one of her favorites.

She didn't know, he was sure of that. She'd talked to Fury and he had told Steve she had no idea and as it wasn't in her files, the only people who knew were Fury, Clint, and him.

He smiled at a beautiful redhead sleeping on the coach. Put the shopping bag on the kitchen counter and then looked for a small vase. Then he put the Poppy flowers in it and took the vase to the backyard, hiding it from Nat's sight.

He then left the patio door open and entered the garage through its back door, taking the rest of the shopping bags to the kitchen counter.

He sorted out everything with the slightest noise possible and left the takeouts on the counter, went to the coach, and sat by Natasha.

As he caressed her hair, he saw a shadow on the patio. Just before he reacted, a man appeared at the door. Ted.

"Hey, sorry to bother, I just saw you come home, I was wondering how is Scarlett doing?" He spoke fast, looking straight at Natasha, a smirk on his face.

Steve stood up and walked to him " how did you get to the backyard? "

Ted shrugged " you left the garage doors open".

If only you knew how I molested your wife. He thought and his smirk widened.

" I don't appreciate you invading our privacy. As for Scarlett, she'd be fine. She seems to be down with flies, so she needs to rest." Steve said looking straight in Ted's eyes, silently daring him to take his eyes off him and stare at Nat so he would punch him straight in the face.

" yeah, she seemed a bit tired after the party" he teased, thinking Chris would ask Scarlett and make her uncomfortable.

" yeah, guess she ran into something poisoned" Steve replied while moving his hand and gesturing to the front door, wordlessly telling him to leave.

Then, Natasha moaned. Both men turned their heads toward her, Steve worried she might call his name, ran towards her.

" It's okay honey, Chris is here, calm down honey." He whispered hoping to get her attention before she fully woke up.

Natasha opened her eyes, confused about what Steve had said, then she turned her head to see Ted looking at him with absolute satisfaction.

"Oh, hi." She simply said, not looking scared or guilty at all.

To her pleasure, Ted seemed to be lost.

To make matters even worst for him, Steve suddenly decided to improvise.

He leaned down on her neck, pushed her hair back, and put his lips on the blue bruise, slowly sucking and kissing it, Natasha's eyes shot in pleasure and a muffled "Mmh" escaped her lips.

Steve pulled back to face Ted's eyebrows shot up, looking at them in disbelief as Nat grabbed the blanket and pulled it around her, she looked at Ted and then back at Steve.

"Chris, you didn't tell me Ted was going to accompany us today. You know I've got the flu honey." Her eyes darted back to Ted and waited for a response.

Ted jumped in " Oh no dear, I just wanted to visit you since I didn't get to say goodbye at my birthday party, you looked a bit... um, shaky" his normal smirk appeared again.

"yeah sorry, most have been too drunk to remember, happens sometimes" she gave him a polite smile while silently thanked the gods for having discussed an excuse with Steve beforehand. Then turned back to face Steve "Chris honey, I'm gonna take a bath" she leaned in a bit but made sure Ted would still hear her, while not being too obvious "please do me the favor of joining me, sir" she gave him a slyly smile, while Ted's jaw dropped and she saw a shadow of satisfaction run through Steve's features.

He smiled and nodded his head and as she got up to leave, looked at Ted and waved him goodbye.

Steve walked Ted to the door and laughed in silence while closing the door behind him, it was hard to keep himself together while saying goodbye to him.

Then he went to the backyard to lock the garage door and close the patio door.

He walked up the stairs, knowing Nat had started her day in happiness, got to tease a jerk in the middle and the evening would hold the surprise.

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