"This is just too many people"

"You've been whining for two hours. We're almost there, just keep it to yourself for a while"

"I'm getting bored"

"Will you two just shut up?"

"Um, Mr. Stark, what am I exactly going to do?"

"Stark, my stomach hurts! You and your damn shawarma."

"Maria's gonna kill you all"

"Oh you and your psycho girlfriend."

"Clint! I found food!"

"Why did we have to leave before sunset?"

"Will you write a note to my teachers for skipping class?"

Natasha sighed as she tried her best not to get involved with the boys. Tony, Clint and Sam had been arguing almost nonstop and Peter seemed to be lost. She had fallen sleep a little while after takeoff until Clint had woken her up to get ready for landing in half an hour, something that had gotten him to worry more.

She had refused to take any food in fear of another throw up session and was feeling exhausted, blaming it all on her fight with Steve.

"Ok, so when we land, there'll be three cars waiting to take us to the safe house Cap and Hill are staying." Clint informed the team, taking Natasha's role who would always take lead when Steve wasn't around. "Tony, Peter and Sam will take one. Wanda, Vision and Barnes the second and Tasha and I'll take the third." He looked around in search for their approval and received silent nods in return. "Each car will take different routs so we'll be getting there at different times. The safe house isn't a crappy old cabin, it's supposed to be house of a wealthy family, so I'm guessing it's kind of a big ass mansion."

Natasha eyed the team carefully, seeing Wanda and Peter's eyes sparkle made her smile. Sam grinned, humming a soft finally and Tony nodded with a smug smirk as if it were nothing.

"If it's ok with everyone, since Tony obviously poisoned us with his shawarmas" Clint sent a glare to Tony's direction who whined "That has nothing to do with the food".

"Well we've all been feeling under the weather since yesterday's lunch, so...." Sam shrugged, getting a coy smile from Clint and an eye roll from Tony.

"As I was saying, would you guys be ok with Natasha and I taking the shortest route?" He gave her a side glance, studying her features, feeling worried about his best friend.

They all nodded, non would speak of it but all of them had been worried about her since her throw up session in the living room's bathroom.

"Ok then, we better buckle up." Clint mumbled, one arm wrapped around Natasha's shoulder as they all spattered to the two lines of seat on the two sides of the quinjet. The landing was smooth, something Natasha was extremely thankful to.

They got off the quinjet in divided groups, each headed to the assigned vehicles.

The ride to the safe house was quite. Clint was deep in his thoughts and Natasha had knots in her stomach as she thought about meeting Steve, having no idea how would he react to meeting her. She didn't even realize when the car pulled in front of a two floor mansion. As Clint helped her get off the car and walk up the stairs and pulling out a key as they did so, getting a questioning look from Natasha.

"You have a key?"

"I gave each car a key." He studied her as she chewed on her bottom lip "Were you even listening to me Nat?" He stood in front of the door, his arms wrapped around her shoulders "Nat?"

"He won't let me go to the field" She blurted "He doesn't want to talk to me, he doesn't want to see me. He left because he didn't want to see me."

"Nat, no. He left because he wanted to take care of the red room. This had nothing to do with you" Clint breathed out "Let's just get inside and see what's going on" she nodded weakly as he opened the door and stood aside, letting her walk in first.

"Finally, what took you so long?"

They both looked up to see Maria bent over the stair's railway with a smirk.

"Hey there Hill" Clint replied with a smirk "Where's Cap?"

"He's out" she replied, eyes studying Natasha "Studying possible red room locations".

"Any news yet?" Natasha asked.

"We checked one last night. He's checking the second. First one was abandoned and I think the second will be too." She informed them while walking down the stairs. "The other two cars will be here in ten and twenty minutes. There are two bedrooms down here and three on the second floor."

"Wow. Can I come here for vacation?" Clint mused, earning him a swat on the shoulder from Natasha "Ouch"

Maria rolled her eyes and nodded to Clint "The rooms down here are for Barnes and Wilson. Maximoff and Vision and then there's Stark and Parker who'll take one upstairs. And you'll share with Cap."

Then she turned to Natasha "We'll be sharing the third"

Natasha nodded, visibly gulping "Does Steve know we're here?"

Maria inhaled "He knows Fury sent backup but he doesn't know who exactly." She shook her head "He's gonna be frustrated."

Clint's brows creased "Why?"

"He told Fury not to send some of you and-" she cut herself up, seeing how Natasha fidgeted from one leg to the other and her lower lip got trapped between her teeth. "It was a safety matter" she tried to reassure the redhead but Natasha was already walking towards the stair.

She spent the entire time whilst waiting for the rest of the team and Steve in Maria's and hers room until she heard his voice. She stepped out the room and walked down the stairs in silence, listening to Steve's angry voice.

"I told him not to send the kid" he was growling with anger, his eyes pierced to Maria's "And I told you, on no occasion let them bring the kid" Maria shrugged "I'm not fine with a high school kid fighting Russian assassins; but I had orders. Fury's orders." Steve gave her a sharp glare "You've gone against orders before, couldn't do it this time??"

"Listen cap, I'm not a fan of putting the boy out on the field but I'm not gonna just leave him here when we go on the mission" Tony butted in.

"He won't be alone" Maria mumbled.

"What does that mean?" Natasha asked as she reached the last step. Steve's head snapped to her direction, eyes going wide and immediately turned to Maria "I told you I will not take her to the field" He shouted, his hand pointing to Nat's direction. Natasha's jaw fell slightly ajar at his outburst, wanting to defend herself but a strong feeling in her guts didn't let her speak, instead she ran to the bathroom. Next thing she knew, she was hunched over the toilet while throwing up the only thing she had taken in all day, tea. She heard Clint shout something around damned food poisoning followed by the bathroom door opening and closing.

"I'm fine Cli-" she was cut off by hunching back and starting a session of painful dry heaving while her hair was gently pulled back from her face.

"You don't look so good"

She turned around to meet Steve's intense gaze as he was sitting in the edge of the bathtub.

"Steve" she whimpered before sitting straight, her tone turning serious "Steve I want to-"

"No" he spoke firmly, letting her hair fall from his fingers, softly. "You can't go on this mission."

"I know you're mad at me but the mission..."

"This isn't about that" he held her gaze "The mission is about the red room Natasha. We go in there, they're gonna want to scape and leave. We get in there with you, all they're gonna want is you" He ran his hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index. "They'll want to get you and they'll stop at nothing, not even killing the whole team" he looked at her, trying his best to convince her the best he could. Natasha gulped "You don't want me on the field to protect the team?" He nodded gently adding a "And you".

She couldn't keep the warm tingling sensation away but needed to know "What about what happened back home?" He sighed "We'll talk about that when we go back home"

She bit her lip, hesitance visible in her every fiber "Do you think you'll ever forgive me? Like Tony is trying to?" He sighed "It's not gonna be like that, Nat. We were best friends." He gave her a little smile, before standing up and offering her his hand and helping her to her feet to wash up. It didn't help her feel any further ease at is was his friendly smile not the cheeky boyfriend smile she'd been receiving for quite a while.

"What's this with the food poisoning?" He asked as she splashed a handful of cold water to her face "Tony got shawarma. It didn't set well with everyone" she avoided meeting his gaze in the mirror. "And you've been sick since then?" She hesitated to answer and only nodded silently.

He waited in silence as she washed her face, all the while standing in a distance from her that didn't go unnoticed by Natasha, realizing he wasn't relax or even trusting around her.

Not that Steve didn't trust Natasha anymore, but he'd been thinking about all the conversations that included either Bucky or the red room, wondering where she'd been clean with him and where not. He'd realized Natasha would call him James a lot of times and it had stricken him with a bolt of jealousy that was eating him inside out. He was wondering if there had been a deeper connection between them and if so, was it triggered now that Bucky remembered his past?

He opened the door for her and followed her out, his eyes instantly finding Bucky's who was eying them with his signature smirk. Not a second later all the eyes were focused on them as they walked to the living room and the team, each of them smirking or smiling at the sight of the two walking out the bathroom together but the smirks soon faded as Natasha walked to Clint's side and sat by his side, lips once again trapped in between her teeth and eyes fixed on Steve who walked straight to Maria's side. He took a deep breath before speaking to Tony "I'm not allowing a teenager to walk in the red room with us; I'll be sending him back home along with Bucky and Natasha." Tony nodded in agreement; he had taken Peter to Germany to fight with his own team but that sure as hell wasn't anything like taking him in a Russian facility that trained spies and assassins.

"With all due respect Captain, but we can't send the quinjets back. They need to be here and on standby." Steve pinched the his nose with his index and thumb "Fine, they'll stay behind. But no sneaking out" he pointed an accusing finger to the trio, one at a time. Peter wanted to protest but a fixing look from Tony kept him quite. Natasha nodded, surprising the team as they all thought she'd be first to protest. Bucky didn't say anything as he wasn't still sure if he was to be trusted in the field, he just shrugged.

"We've checked two out three possible locations which were abundant; the last one had the most security; we think it's that one. We'll be leaving in two hours" then he turned to Tony "We need FRIDAY to check the place for it's security, cameras, guards, midsoles or bombs. Can she do that?" Tony nodded "Piece of cake, cap" Steve turned to the team "You can all rest and have lunch, Hill's got everyone pizza. Be ready in two hours" they all nodded, standing up and spreading around the living room. Wanda pulled Peter's arm, plumping the both of them on the sofa next to Natasha. Clint went to check his arrows while Maria, Steve and Tony discussed their plan. Vision went to the kitchen, getting the take out ready, giving each one of them a box of pizza and a soda. Wanda turned the tv on, searching the channels for anything English and Natasha kept her eyes on it; but she had her focus on the trio talking around the dining table, trying to make anything out of their conversation. She only turned her focus back to Wanda and Peter when Vision sat on a couch opposite them, settling down two boxes of pizza and sodas for the two young team members. She raised a questioning brow at Vision wondering why he'd decided not to get her lunch before going to stand up, only to be stopped by Vision "Captain said you should eat something else before pizza. He suggested tea and some biscuits maybe." Natasha tried her best to hide her surprise, failing to hide the slight tug of her lips. "And where am I to find biscuits in a safe house?" Vision smiled "He has already placed it on the counter with a cup of tea on the side." Natasha didn't bother to hide her smile this time, nearly squealing at the sudden attention and swaying her way to the kitchen. She got a glimpse of Steve eying her with a sweet smile, the one he'd only ever offer her. She picked up her tea and biscuits, walking to the dining table where Maria and Tony were hunched over the spread papers and Steve who had turned around, his eyes fixed on a figure who was only standing in the backyard, staring at the sky. Before Natasha could get to them, he'd been walking away to the back door without even noticing Natasha.

Well, that was better than being noticed and left behind.

Natasha shrugged, facing Maria "You know I've been to this place. Maybe I could help." Tony nodded instantly "That'd be the best we've got so far." And soon Natasha was hunched over the papers as well.

Steve on the other hand, needed to talk to Bucky. If there was the slightest possibility of Bucky and Natasha having any feelings or attachments, he needed to know.

"I can hear the wheels turning in your head" Bucky chimed as Steve reached his side, standing right next to him "I'm guessing you've read the reports?" Steve sighed "Yeah" then gave him a side glance "A heads up would've been nice". Bucky snorted a laugh "Heads up? I don't even know what I've done back in the days. Just nightmares that hunt me, leaving me thinking what's real and what's not" his voice was deep and low at the end, his brows creased and Steve couldn't help but say "Buck, I'm really sorry. Why didn't you tell me?" Bucky gave him his charming smile "It started just when you'd gotten out the hospital, didn't wanna mess your time with crazy chick inside" he'd pivoted his body to the window, chin nodding towards Natasha who was now sitting next to Tony as Maria paced around them with a slice of pizza in hand. Steve averted his eyes, staring straight ahead "Right".

Bucky smirked, knowing he'd gone under Steve's skin and raising his hand to pat him on the back "If you must know, we never played the naked dance" the instant reaction he got from Steve, being him choking on his saliva, deepened his smirk "I mean I didn't really remember much so I had to ask her, but then I had a new series of nightmares which helped clear the picture." Steve raised his brows in a silent question. "It's not something I'm willing to share, but I had flashes from when I'd trained her and it wasn't like that" Steve let out a breath non of them had realized he'd been holding back; making them chuckle.

On the other side of the window, Natasha had decided to throw a glance over her shoulder to see how the Brooklyn boys were doing, only to find them laughing and to find herself envying the metal armed soldier as his relationship with Steve seemed to be as normal as ever. She sighed and turned her focus back to Maria who'd finished planing her master plan with Tony and was finally taking a bite of her pizza, Sam sitting by her side and Tony having joined the rest on the couches.

She took a deep breath, feeling like a ghost as she stood up and climbed the stairs. Clint had decided to take a short nap, leaving Natasha feeling completely isolated. She sat on the edge of the bed before plopping herself on the bed, feet resting on the floor and hands stretched out on her sides as she let her head sink in the mattress, letting her mind rush to Steve's words and actions. It doesn't take her long to drift away, thinking about the two days she spent by his side after almost losing him and unconsciously, her hand trails her side to her neck to her chin, her fingers brushing over her lips as she remembers his lips on hers.

"Did the tea sit well?"

She was startled by a deep voice; looking up to find a super soldier leaning against the door frame.

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