"Natalia"

There he was. Sitting at the conference table in Fury's office, eyes tender and lips pressed to a thin line. His hair was a mess and she could tell he hadn't slept in a day or two by the baggy eyes staring at her.

Natasha stepped in, eyes fixed on Bucky while pushing the door closed. Then she turned to Fury, her eyes asking hundred questions at once while lips locked, failing to utter a single word.

"He remembers the red room." Fury answered her silent questions.

Natasha swallowed and walked to the tabled to take a seat opposite Bucky. "And why am I hear?" Her question came out in a hushed tone.

"I need to know what else I've done." He spoke tenderly "I was a trainer there and I was yours for a while, I can remember that much. But I don't know if I've hurt you or not..." He trailed off to look down "Or how I've hurt you" he mumbled. Natasha let out a groan and pressed her head to her hands, folding her arms to rest them on the table "Why now?" She murmured to herself.

"What was that Romanoff?" Fury asked.

Natasha looked up at him "When did this happen? When did he remember?" She refused to look at Bucky.

"Two nights ago"

Natasha pressed her lips to a thin line "That's why you called me yesterday?" Fury nodded.

"Did I hurt you? Like I hurt the others?" Bucky asked impatiently. Natasha exhaled loudly, then closed her eyes "James; don't do this"

"You used to call me James then, I remember this" he spoke again but Natasha only shook her head.

"Don't!"

She stared at him, deep in the eyes "You don't want to remember all of that." He shook his head "I need to know what I've done"

"And I need to know what you've been keeping from me, agent" Fury's tone was firm and his gaze was strong, dropping a weight on her shoulders. "I'll let you talk for now, but then you have some explaining to do" Natasha nodded as he stood up and walked out his office, leaving the two behind.

"Natalia" He called gently.

"Don't! I'm not her. I don't want to be her" she snapped at him. He stood up and circled the table to seat on the chair next to her "I'm sorry. I'm sure this isn't something you want to think about dai-"

"No it's not!" She cut him off "Why now?? Why do you have to remember now?"

Bucky only looked down.

"Are you going to tell Steve?" She asked. He looked up at her "I have to". "No you don't" she protested. "I have to. He likes you and I can't let thi-"

"Don't you think I already know that?" He gave her a questioning look. "He told me he already told you" his gaze didn't change at her comment "We're... well, we're we" she didn't know how to say what she wanted to tell him about their relationship.

"He told me he likes you and it's different from Peggy, but no more than that" Bucky said confused; then he chuckled "Although, I guess that's the best I can get out of that punk about having a girlfriend"

Natasha smirked but it soon disappeared "You can't tell him about this" Bucky looked up to meet her eyes "Natasha, I don't know what this is. Please tell me, did I... did I make you do things..." once again, he trailed off, feeling uncomfortable talking about the things he might have done to his best friend's girl. "No" she answered and could see his eyes brighten "You made me do things" her voice could tell him she remembered every hurtful moment, vividly "But you had a limit with me. You said I was the youngest of your trainees so you tried to keep me safe; as much as you could" she offered him a smile that failed to reach her eyes but to him, it was all he could've asked for. "But you can't tell Steve" She nearly begged.

"It's gonna go in my files. He can know whenever he reads them" She shook her head "He won't read them. And even if he does, I can get Fury to keep this classified" Bucky hummed in consideration "But if he finds out and knows we've been hiding this fro-" his eyes widened in understanding "Oh, that's why you don't want him to know?"

Natasha sighed "When he saw you for the first time, it was so painful for him to know Hydra had brainwashed you. I didn't wanna add to the pile so just kept it to me. I don't want him to know I've been hiding it from him for this long". Bucky gave her a thoughtful look "Cause of what happened between him and Stark?" Natasha bit her lower lip unconsciously. Bucky reached out a hand to hold one of hers "He'd understand, you don't need to worry about that" a little smile appeared on her face and she wanted to thank him but was disturbed with the door opening, Nick Fury stepping in "You two care to catch me up on whatever you've been hiding till now?"

Natasha nodded before reaching for her phone and seeming to start texting without considering the two men in the room. When she was done, she took a deep breath, getting herself ready to let the torturous memories fly back to her.

••✦❤️🕷❤️✦••

Steve had been forced to the medbay by Sam, only to be checked by Cho who told him his healing process was almost done but he wasn't allowed to spar, yet. Of course she wasn't happy with him having gone for a workout session that very morning but he hadn't had the chance to spar, so that was good. Just before leaving the med bay, his phone chimed and he eagerly snapped it out of his pocket, earning a friendly smirk from Sam who obviously didn't need to ask who it was from. The only people who would ever text Steve Rogers were Sam himself, Wanda who wouldn't spend her precious alone time with Vision to text Steve and of course, their redhead assassin.

Steve smiled as his eyes took in her words that told him Fury was going to keep her busy for a while so she would meet him for a late lunch and was hoping to have some super soldier loving. Steve tried his best to suppress a blush but Sam could see his cheeks slightly turn pink and his friendly smirk turned to a coy one.

"So, what's she got planned now?" Steve groaned at his words, remembering the embarrassment from that morning. Not much over than three hours before, he had got out of the shower and the gym to the common living room of their quarters where they would all hang out to find Sam seating on a couch, his eyes fixed on Steve as he stepped in and lips curving up to a smile that soon turned to a laughter as his eyes noticed his damp hair and it took him a few minutes plus Steve's constant "what's going on?"s for him to calm his breathing and tell him he'd walked to the gym to see if anyone was around for a short morning spar only to hear a series of moans and cries before he uncomfortably left the floor to the living room. And well, now that he knew who the voices belonged to, he wanted to have his fun teasing the tall blonde who looked like he could melt down to the floor right there and then.

"Do.Not.Tell.Her" Steve warned him "Or anyone else for that matter. She would kill you in your sleep". Sam gulped, remembering some of Natasha's deadliest moves but then he fell back to laughter as he remembered Steve's crimson face when he'd learnt that Sam had heard them "It's not my fault Stark didn't sound proof those walls" Steve grunted as he walked ahead of Sam but then turned around "What were you doing at the gym anyway? You haven't moved in here yet" Sam shrugged "Went for a run, don't know how I ended up here" it was Steve's turn to smirk "Oh really? It didn't have anything with Tony offering Maria her own suite here?" Sam smiled, not caring to hide anything as he was really excited for the opportunity to be close to Maria.

Stark had offered her the suite while Steve was in the hospital and she had told him she would be happy to join them, mostly for Natasha's sake since she wanted to keep an eye on her while she seemed to have parted ways from the Captain but also it seemed nice to be around the whole team for a while. Then again, after learning about Natasha staying at Steve's room while ghosting him at the hospital, something she had kept from all of them including Steve himself, she had said she'd decide after Steve was back, just in case those two would work everything out and Maria's presence wouldn't be that much needed. Steve had told her no matter who would be around Natasha, Maria would always be the best to watch out for the stubborn redhead and so she agreed to move in a few days after him, thus starting to move in just today.

"Did you at least get to see her?" He asked with a smile. "Nah. She'd had some agents moving a couple of boxes, saying those were all of her stuff. It's like as if she's not planing on staying long." Steve hummed after recognizing the disappointment in Sam's tone "So does this mean you won't be moving in?" He questioned. Sam shook his head "I was gonna move in eventually, so if I'll get only a couple of days or weeks with her around, I'll take my chances." Steve eyed him "You're really serious about her, aren't you?" Sam grinned "Just as much as you are about red. I mean you've probably picked up a ring already." Steve chuckled "Actually, haven't had the chance. yet" Sam's brows shot up "What?" He called out as he ran after Steve who was walking away with light laughter.

The two reached the living room and were immediately greeted with a happy grinning Wanda and a smiling Vision who was sitting next to her, his arm resting around her shoulders while she watched a sitcom. Steve had discovered this to be as one of her favorite ways to spend time and every time her chuckles and light laughter would fill her room so he had suggested she watched them in the common living room so the rest of them could have some fun time as well. Although, that was mostly to encourage Wanda to hang out with the team while Steve wanted to see her happiness and joyful moments. Funny enough, Natasha had loved the idea and would usually join Wanda, thus her asking "Where's Nat?" Steve smiled at her "Duty called" and then all three where smiling at Wanda's pouting "How long?". Steve shook his head "Not a mission, just office work or something like that." Wanda nodded, her smile back and she turned her focus to the screen.

"Anyone want coffee or tea?" Steve asked no one but everyone as he walked to the kitchen and received a yes from Vision who was answering for Wanda and a "Wouldn't say no to coffee" from Sam who was grinning like a schoolboy. So he only poured two cups of coffee for him and Sam and one cup of tea for Wanda. He took a seat by their side and was taking his first sip of coffee when they heard Friday "Captain, you have a visitor" and just then, Maria walked in with fast steps "Captain, we need to talk". She didn't bother to greet anybody, her eyes cold and tone stern, being more of an agent than a friend at the moment. Sam stood by, trying to catch her attention but she had already turned on her heels and was walking back to the elevator, leaving all of them in shock. Steve, hesitantly, stood up and followed her, having no clue at all. He waited for the sliding doors to close "What's going on?" He mumbled.

"New possible locations for the red room's secret base."

"Oh" he was starting to understand why she was so tense "How did you find them?"

"Fury updated some classified files" she huffed, causing Steve to raise his brows "And you're angry because?" Maria sent him a glare "He always tells me what he's doing; but he didn't. Meaning he's hiding something now" Steve nodded in understanding "And you think whatever it is he's hiding, is related to Nat?"

Maria's lips were pressed to a thin line and she hesitated before answering.

"No. I think it's about Alexi"

••✦❤️🕷❤️✦••