Winter's Widow

Chapter 11: Is That What We Are?

"Natasha?" I called into her room, lightly tapping my knuckles on the door. I heard a slight sniffling sound inside, so I pushed the door open. "Nat, are you okay?" I invited myself in, just in time to see Natasha sit herself upright on the bed, quickly wiping her eyes.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, you look fine." She stared up at me silently before she sighed and stared down at the bed.

"Bruce left. He's not coming back." I sat down on the corner of her bed, letting her talk. While I never really understood the connection between Bruce and Natasha, it was undeniable that they had one. I personally thought she could do a lot better; I mean there were literal gods out there that may have treated her the way she deserved. But that wasn't the point. I frowned and scooted back next to her on the bed.

"What are you doing?" She grumbled. Natasha was not a person who was used to or particularly enjoyed being comforted, but I was going to do it anyway.

"I'm coming to sit with you, idiot." I smirked, and she returned the small gesture. "What are we watching?" I glanced towards the television, waiting for her to fill me in.

"Moonraker." I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded interesting. A little over an hour and a half later, Natasha and I were facing off on opposite sides of the bed, arguing about the believability of the old Bond films, laughing. I excused myself for a moment, returning with two pints of ice cream, offering her the chocolate, which I knew was her favorite. We started the next film, sitting in silence and eating more ice cream than we should have. It wouldn't matter a bit to Natasha, she worked out more than Steve did. Me, on the other hand – I was going to regret the calories later. Two pints and three movies later, Natasha and I found ourselves leaning against the headboard, ignoring the movie and just talking. She explained the attraction to Bruce – even I had to admit that the guy had a world class brain. The giant green monster, however, was a bit of a turn off, but Natasha worked well with the Hulk in our training and in the field. After a while, however, Natasha characteristically shifted the conversation masterfully to my love life. I have no idea how she does it, but it's a skill that should definitely be included on her resume.

"This isn't about me, Nat." She smirked up at me before doing something completely and utterly out of character. She scooted closer to me on the bed, wrapping an arm around my stomach and nuzzling her head into my chest. I smiled, kissing the top of her head, pulling her into me.

"Wouldn't it be something if we were good for each other?" She asked hesitantly. I stared down at her, just watching as she slowly leaned up and pressed her lips to mine. There was no passion in the kiss, just affection and mutual adoration. After a moment, she pulled back, nuzzling back into my chest, allowing me to wrap my arms around her and hold her. To my surprise, she didn't even pull away in the morning, after we had both woken up.

...

Unlike the hotel rooms in New York, this apartment was a single. We weren't really used to having multiple members of the team staying here at once. I showed Yelena to the bedroom, making sure the sheets were clean before grabbing a spare blanket out of the closet and getting ready to set up the couch. "What are you doing?" I spun to find Yelena in the doorway, watching me.

"I'll take the couch, it's fine, really." She cocked her head to one side as she stared at me, as though assessing me.

"Don't be stupid." She tilted her head towards the bedroom before retreating back down the hallway. I shrugged but followed. When I entered the bedroom, she had turned down the sheets on one side, and was laying on top of the blankets on the other. It was a decent sized, queen, bed but the thought of sharing it with her was making me feel...weird. I crawled into bed beside her anyway, using the spare blanket to cover her in case she got cold. She looked at me surprised when I flipped the blanket over her body as she stared up at the ceiling, arms crossed on her chest, but ultimately smiled. "Thanks." I smiled and nodded, shimmying out of my sweat bottoms, leaving my shorts on before flipping the light on my side of the bed.