lake of shadows

01- right where you left me

Did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen?

Time went on for everybody else, she won't know it

Natasha Romanoff strode down the halls of the Avengers tower towards Stark's private library. Dawned in soft gray sweats and her red hair scrawled up into a bun, she entered the expansive space. As the lights came on with her motion, she saw the various aisles light up, one by one. Unable to sleep after a stressful mission that ended in an unexpected execution, she wanted to be lost in a story. She grazed down the aisles, some of the forgotten books, collecting dust.

"Can I help you find anything, Miss Romanoff," the calculated voice of FRIDAY questioned.

"Nah," she sighed, "Just trying to find something to occupy my mind."

"Might I suggest a mystery novel? You have read those in the past."

"I don't want to know how you know that," she chuckled, "But no, I want something completely different."

"How about a romance novel?"

"Why not," she muttered.

"Try aisle 17."

"Thanks, Friday," she said as she made her way to the section. Her fingers ran along the spines of the books as the plastic crinkled at her touch. She hummed softly as Pride and Prejudice caught her attention. She plucked the book from its spot on the shelf and carried it out of the library. En route to her room, she saw the lab light still on, silent. Curiosity tugged at her, it was too late to fight it anyways. So, she knocked.

"Come in," Tony said. She slowly opened the door to see a disheveled Stark sitting at his computer quietly with a nearly empty bottle of whiskey next to him.

"You look like crap," she said as she tucked her book under her arm and looked him up and down.

"Thanks." He waved a hand. "Come look at this."

She looked him over again and hesitantly walked over to lean a hand on the back of his chair. She saw him looking at what appeared to be a tracker. She saw five dots of assorted colors flashing steadily over the tower, presumably for her, Stark, Pepper, Maria, and Rogers. But there was another dot.

Crap.

There was a flashing green dot over Fiji. A blink was all the shock she would yield. Bruce Banner had disappeared almost two years ago after the whole Ultron situation. It was a sore spot for Natasha if she had to admit it, to say the least.

"When did this happen?"

"Friday alerted me about 15 minutes ago." She eyed the bottle on his table, wondering if his concept of time was reliable.

"What are you going to do?"

"Natasha, we have to go get him," he exhaled as he rose from his chair.

They met each other's eyes, silently questioning where he'd been. It was the underlying meaning of nearly every conversation they'd had since that day his quinjet had flown off into oblivion. They had searched for him relentlessly, but there came a point where they had to move on. It was too painful to keep trying. Natasha used to find herself wandering into his empty room in the middle of the night, but she'd let it start collecting dust a few months after he left. Silently bullying herself for having any hope of what could've been. An idiot. She had been an idiot to think that she could love. Or that she could be loved.

"We?" Natasha said as she shot back the rest of the alcohol. It burned her throat as she swallowed it.

"He's my best friend Romanoff. And last I checked, you two were a little more than that!"