Black Widow: Dark House

8. "Rootless Tree"-Damien Rice

Bold Italics- Russian

Italics- any language besides English

**- thoughts/ memories

They walked down the road to a restaurant that a family owned, their house just behind the restaurant itself.

Natasha walked off by herself to try and use the phone she'd bought. She hasn't been able to contact Steve like they'd planned so she could keep up with the decision over her current legal issues. He must have been worried.

She dialed the number from memory. It picked up on the third ring.

"Yankee Stadium" a sure and deep voice answered.

"Yeah I need two tickets for the next game, I have a feeling the Reds are gonna beat the shit out of the Cubs" Natasha answered, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Hey, language" Steve chided, but he was still clearly relieved, "Man, it's good to hear from you. You okay?"

Natasha grimaced as she shifted from one foot to the other, the soreness in her body a constant presence, "I'm not bad, could be better. I don't want to be on here too long. How's the game going?" she asked, continuing to use their code.

Steve understood, "It's over, topped it out in the ninth inning put the Reds in the clear. They can come back hometown heroes now. I'm just wondering if we should get a party going to welcome them back" Steve asked, his tone serious.

Natasha let out a sigh of relief. Her case had been won; no charges were going to stick. She could come home. Steve was asking if they were gong to need to expect her to bring trouble with her since she hadn't been able to contact him for so long. He assumed something happened, which annoyingly enough, he was right, as usual.

Natasha nodded, "That's probably a good idea. The season's not over and the Reds are gonna have a big game coming up. There will be a lot to sort out. If they head home now, they'll probably be there in three days, so should have plenty of time to throw something together" she said, the meaning not lost on Steve. She would be home in three days if she could help it. And they needed to be ready for anything.

"Alright, I'll see what the town wants to do. I wonder if the coach will be able to get ahold of his wife from the bus" Steve asked. He was asking if she was going to be able to keep him updated on her progress as she made her way back to the compound.

"No, I think the reception will be too spotty, and the bus will be going pretty fast. He may not have time to" she replied.

"Alright, well I'll let him know. I just hope the team stays safe. We need them to stick around" Steve said gently.

Natasha smiled at this, "They will. They always do. I'll talk to you soon" she said, before hanging up. She then turned the phone over and took off the case. She puled the battery out and threw it in the trash. She then puled on the small SIM card and cracked it in half. Natasha threw that away as well and then quickly smashed the phone against the rim of the trash can, effectively disabling it.

Yelena sat at one of the tables. She had pulled the shirt that tied off her wound on her arm down and was pouring a small bottle of vodka on it. Natasha walked up behind her, setting down one of two bottles she carried in front of Yelena. A peace offering as Natasha took a seat across from her.

Yelena let out a pained groan as the vodka hit her wound, making sure to breathe through the pain. Natasha looked to see a garage not far from them with a nice car sheltered under the roof. It was odd seeing such a fancy vehicle in a small Podunk like this.

"That gas..." Yelena started, making Natasha look at her, "the counteragent" Yelena gestured to her bag, "it was synthesized in secret by an older widow from Melina's generation. Dreykov knew about it, but he didn't tell us what it was. It was just a target. Ana was our team leader, and we had been sent to retrieve it. It was on that mission that the rouge widow exposed me to the gas. Not soon enough though" Yelena trailed off, remembering how she had stabbed the widow right before her exposure, "I killed her while she was trying to free me" she said, looking up at Natasha, not sure what her response would be.