"Interesting," Sam said. "Good to know." He glanced back again. "Didn't expect Cap to be so relaxed with a woman, either, I gotta say."

"That's less new and slower going," Natasha said with a shrug. "They're both still comfortable but not actively flirting." And she said actively because she knew there had been some unintentional flirting and a few looks.

"Guess I picked a hell of a time to show up, then," Sam said. "Since you seem to be the puppetmaster behind all of this and all."

"I haven't been meddling yet," Natasha said, smirking. "But I'm going to start to soon."

"Well, whatever you do, I want a good seat for it," Sam said. "This is too good to pass up." He paused. "Sam Wilson, by the way, former Air Force Pararescue."

Natasha actually looked surprised for a brief moment. "Pararescue? Where in the world did Steve find you?"

Sam grinned.

"Moved to the city not too long ago," he said. "I wanted out of DC. Apparently the habit of running in the morning isn't as uncommon as I thought it would be."

Natasha snorted. "Not when you're talking about Steve," she said, her voice dry.

"They ran like fifteen laps to my one lap," Sam said. "It was unreal."

"They're also a bit enhanced," Natasha said, though she looked amused. Because yes, that sounded very much like Steve.

"Only a little, yeah," Sam said, raising an eyebrow. "But anyways, I invited them to drop in at the VA when they could."

"Ah, so that's where Steve went," Natasha murmured. "I see." She was quiet for a moment. "Did you invite just Steve?"

"No, I invited both of them," Sam replied. "Though I wasn't too surprised when only Steve showed up."

"James is still a little hesitant about going out," Natasha said with a shrug. "We're working on it."

"Well, the VA's always there," Sam said. "We'd be glad to have him drop in."

"Tell him that specifically," Natasha suggested. "Not now, not in front of the others, but if you get a chance to speak to him quietly..."

Sam nodded.

"Sure," he said. He understood that sometimes veterans needed that kind of reassurance.

Natasha nodded and made her way back to the rest of the group. Tony and Bruce and Clint had all joined them, lured by the smell of baking cookies.

So Doreen was standing in the kitchen doorway armed with a wooden spoon to fend them off.

Sam paused when he saw the other three. He knew who they were, of course, but it was still a bit strange to actually be in the same room with them.

Tony looked at him and grinned. "You must be the guy flattering my tech," he said.

"You bet I am," Sam said, grinning back. "You have no idea what this place is like for normal people. It's awesome."

"Good!" Tony grinned. "It would be even more awesome with fresh cookies--"

"No."

"Fine." Tony rolled his eyes.

"I did have a question, though," Sam said, watching to see if it would pique Tony's interest. "About a bit of Stark Industries tech."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Sure, shoot." He knew all about all of SI's tech because he designed three quarters of it, and the other quarter he had to tweak from R&D because they couldn't get anything right.

"Any idea who designed the EXO-7 Falcon?" Sam asked, grinning a bit. "Because I need to thank that guy. I did a lot of good work with that thing."