lake of shadows

05- all too well

Bruce stepped into the elevator, overly eager to get back into his clothes. Back to his room, to his home. He'd never really felt at home until he got here, to this job. He hated it sometimes, but he knew it well. It was comforting to know he was doing good to make up for the 'red in his ledger' as Natasha would say. Comforting to know that he had people who cared about him, even if it didn't always feel like it. It was going to be very nice to be able to wander to the lab or library in the middle of the night. He stopped his thoughts before they went to other places he used to go to in the middle of the night. Standing at his door, he hesitated to open it.

"Dr. Banner," an AI questioned. It was a voice he was unfamiliar with.

"Who is this?"

"FRIDAY, Female Replacement Intelligent Digital Youth Assistant."

"Right..." He fumbled with the doorknob, but it was locked. "Can you let me in?"

"I'm sorry, you are not authorized to enter these quarters."

"Uhh, what? This is my room right?"

"Try the next door over sir."

"Crap," he mumbled to himself, realizing he was standing in front of her door. He felt his cheeks blush red at his mistake. He fumbled over to his room and it unlocked. Because that was his room. Not the other one. He entered his apartment and exhaled at the sight. Everything was still here. His books, his bed, even the crossword puzzle he started years ago. He went to find his clothes, growing tired of whoever's clothes he was wearing, finding them right in place.

Grabbing a towel, he jumped to the shower. He just let the warm water ease over his body. He had showered in the young girl's home, but it had been quick. He figured that was the first shower he'd taken since before Ultron. He saw her soap bottle still resting on the edge of the tub.

He remembered the day that she had come into his apartment, not even bothering to say anything, as she barged in with that soap and a towel in hand. She'd showered, leaving her toothbrush and soap in the bathroom. "Marked her territory" he'd said.

Something in his chest caved at the memory. Something deep. He wondered some more if he'd made the right choice to come back.

***

"Thanks for letting me stay again, I really needed to get that off my chest," Natasha said from the doorframe of the Barton home.

"Do you have to go," Clint and Nathaniel whined in unison. She laughed at the two and bent down to give Nathaniel one last hug. Lila ran up behind him and peeled him off her body to replace it with hers. She embraced the growing girl and her eyes moved to Clint's.

"Gosh when did you make me so soft," she chuckled as Laura moved to quickly embrace her.

"Things change when you love someone, " the archer returned uncharacteristically serious. He bore his eyes into hers with that sentence, as if he meant for it to ring through her head the rest of the day. She ignored the comment as she waved goodbye to Cooper. The teenage boy had no interest in bidding goodbye to the spy. She waved goodbye to the family as she walked to her car.

She threw her small overnight bag into the backseat of the car and sat in the driver's seat. She began to back out of the driveway when her phone rang. She motioned to answer the call on the car's console screen.

"Romanoff," the voice of Nick Fury echoed over the speaker system.

"Hey Nick, what's up?"

"Are you on your way to the base?"

"You can track me, why are you asking?" She could almost feel his eyes roll.

Silence.

"Yes, I'm on the way."

"Ok good."

Of course.

"What is it?"

"Turns out this base has HYDRA agents crawling in it. Don't argue with me about this, okay?"

"Okay," she answered hesitantly.

"It's not safe, I'm sending Wanda with you."

She let out an exasperated sigh.

"I can handle myself, I'm sure." She had to admit she was still a tad angry at the black-haired girl for messing with her mind as she did.

"I know you can. I'm not sending her with you to protect you. I'm sending her because she needs something to do. You can understand that given your current situation."

More silence.

"Look, she's new. She needs to know that she's a part of this team."

Even more silence.

"He's back. Stark said he thought your room was his. Got confused."

"What'd he do, mess up his head," she scoffed.

"Yes actually. But he's fine. You know what I meant."

The silence was just deafening now. Fury knew he had made the spy beyond angry. He was just telling himself he should be thankful he didn't have to sleep in the room next to her.

"Okay, if you're just going to be mute, then I'll say this." He hung up the phone.

Natasha laughed to herself at the director's unfortunately successful attempt to make her feel better. She wondered how this mission would go down. It was unlike Fury to just stick someone else on a mission last minute unless it was terribly important. Although she had been frighteningly good at handling her power, Natasha didn't want her to be roped into this life of love and loss.

She rested her head on the back of the seat and leaned back as she let autopilot take over. She closed her eyes and hoped to get a little sleep. She sure hadn't gotten any last night. She and Clint had ended up shooting arrows at 3 am. She had had way too much to drink the night before. Her head was pounding as she slowly drifted to sleep.