Despite having been fast asleep moments ago, Steve had definitely heard a noise coming from behind him.

He tensed, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to figure out where he was and if it was possible an enemy had broken into his home. His mind was still fuzzy with sleep, but he tried to think back to where he had fallen asleep and slowly opened his eyes as he remembered.

He'd had a nightmare. After catching his breath, he had been on his way to get water in the middle of the night when he found Natasha crying in her room. His water was immediately forgotten in favour of seeking out Natasha only to discover she'd had a nightmare as well. Together, they set up camp in the living room and ended up watching movies until the sun began to come up.

Now certain that he was not in any immediate danger, Steve opened his eyes to find Natasha pressed up against him. While he was on his back, she was lying on his chest, though he wasn't sure if they had curled up together on purpose.

Already, he could feel the crick in his neck from the sharp angle his neck had been all night, but he didn't dare move and risk waking Natasha.  He knew how hard it was to get a good night's sleep, so he wasn't going to wake her just because his head was beginning to ache. However, he really wanted to find out who was making noise in the kitchen.

"Cute."

Steve tore his eyes away from Natasha to see Sam standing above him holding a mug of steaming something.

"Are our lovebirds finally awake?"

Tony's voice was all-too distinguishable even coming from the kitchen. A second after he'd spoken, Tony appeared above Steve holding a pot of coffee in one hand and a mug in the other. As soon as he spotted Steve and Natasha, he grinned.

"If you wake Natasha, she just might kill you,"  Steve murmured, not liking the way Tony was eyeing them.

With a shit-eating grin, Tony poured the coffee into his mug and slurped loudly. Steve scowled.

"Don't fret, Cap,"  Tony said, still smirking. "If she was going to wake up from the noise, she would have woken up the moment Sam opened his loud mouth."

Sam narrowed his eyes at Tony while Steve redirected his attention to Natasha.

Although she was normally a light sleeper, he had seen her sleep through entire debriefings without a problem. In fact, if Sam hadn't woken Natasha up already, Steve would be willing to bet that she'd sleep until someone put in the effort to actually wake her.

Natasha shifted against him, bringing Sam and Tony's attention back to the matter at hand.

"Don't either of you have somewhere to be?" Steve muttered, keeping his eyes on Natasha in an effort to ignore his two teammates.

Raising their hands in surrender, both Sam and Tony backed out of sight and Steve was once again left alone.

"Are they gone?" Natasha mumbled, burying her face in the crook of Steve's neck.

With an amused grin, Steve looked down at her. Of course, she had woken up without him noticing.  For all he knew, she had woken up before him.

"Yeah,"  Steve breathed, combing his fingers through her hair.  "They're gone."

"Good." Her arms around him tightened and she yawned.  "What time is it?"

FRIDAY replied before he could. "It is 8:54AM."

With a groan, Natasha pulled away from Steve to sit up on the couch. Steve sat up as well and stretched, trying to hold back a yawn.

"Did I smell coffee?"

Mid-yawn, Steve glanced over as Natasha piled her hair on top of her head and tied it off with the hair tie around her wrist.

"Yeah." Steve got to his feet and offered her his hand. "Tony made it."

In the kitchen, Tony's coffee pot was still hot and sitting on the counter. While Natasha grabbed two mugs and filled them with what was left in the pot, Steve searched for creamer in the fridge. Before Steve could even try to add the pumpkin-flavoured creamer to her mug, Natasha covered it with a hand.

"What's on your agenda for today?"  Steve asked, standing across from her and leaning against the counter.

Shifting against the island behind her, Natasha answered, "I'm taking Wanda shopping this afternoon. I was going to go see if I could break the new punching bag downstairs before that, though."

Steve snorted into his coffee. "I'm sure you can." Natasha bit back a smile. "I'm not sure Tony will appreciate it, though."

"He just likes the attention he gets when he complains about it,"  she replied with a shrug.

Before she could ask what he had planned, FRIDAY alerted them to an incoming call from Nick Fury. Steve was the first one to speak once the line connected.

"Hey, Nick. What's up?"

"Rogers,"  Fury greeted.  "Is Romanoff is with you as well?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow at Steve but he grinned and shrugged.

"Nah, she's downstairs killing another bag,"  Steve lied smoothly.  Based on the disbelieving hum he received, Fury didn't buy it.

"Good morning, Romanoff."

Natasha swallowed her coffee then grinned. "Good morning, sir."

"Right," Fury grumbled, "now that we've established I'm not an idiot, I have a mission for you two."

Even though SHIELD was no longer an official agency, it wasn't uncommon for Fury to call with missions he didn't trust the CIA or FBI with.

"Where to, sir?"  Steve asked, setting his now-empty mug in the sink.

"Germany,"  Fury replied.  "Deep cover, possibly long term."

"What?" Natasha frowned. "What's going on?"

It had been a long time since any of them had been on a mission longer than a week or two.  It had been even longer since they'd been sent on a deep-cover one.

"We have reason to believe Hydra is reforming." There was a pause and Natasha's frown deepened as Fury told them, "We believe they're teaming up with another agency that could be worse."

"What's worse than Hydra?"  Steve asked.

The defeating silence from Fury was more worrisome than before and Steve and Natasha shared a look. When Fury did finally tell them, they almost wished he hadn't.

"The KGB Red Room project."

Natasha's eyes widened and her sudden intake of breath caused her to cough. Immediately, Steve turned to get her a glass of water.

"How long have they been working on this?" Steve demanded, handing Natasha the glass. "Shouldn't this be a full team mission?"

"No, as a team, you're too recognisable,"  Fury told them. "You two know each individual program well." Steve scowled and glanced at Natasha. "If I thought it would be too dangerous for just the two of you, I'd call the team."

Setting aside her water glass, Natasha asked, "When do we leave?"

"I'm sending you the files now,"  Fury answered. "You leave in one hour."

As Natasha's cellphone lit up with a notification, the line with Fury disconnected and Steve and Natasha were left in silence in the kitchen.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"  Steve asked her. Natasha hesitated before nodding firmly.

"Yeah,"  she said, though her hesitation showed otherwise.  "We'll be fine."