The Prisoner | Natasha x OC

Chapter Eighteen

"To understand another person, you must swim in the same waters that drowned them."
____

A week passed. And then two. Nat found herself up until four in the morning on the last day of the second week. And whether or not she admitted it to herself, she knew it was because she'd waited for Natara to show up. But unlike the last time, there was nothing.

And then the third week passed, and then the fourth.

Natasha waked into training, her hands clasped behind her back and her chin tilted up, surveying the recruits before her.

"They're doing well," Steve smiled, taking position at her side.

"It's been four months. If they weren't then there'd be a problem." Her smirk widened at the shake of his head and Nat glanced at the blonde quickly before focusing once more.

"Still, they're not half bad."

Her shoulders rose and fell. "They're shaping up pretty well," She let out, feeling more than seeing Steve smile. It made her think back to the first time walking into the training center and seeing their recruits. Of course there'd also been another at the time. Nat pushed the recollection away, now wasn't the time.

Without her saying anything, Steve filled the silence. "Haven't had any new information on Natara."

Natasha hummed, giving a tight lipped smile. "She's Natara. We won't find her unless she wants us to."

Steve's eyes flickered downwards, remembering something. "We had some information come through on Rumlow, we'll need to check it out."

Nat turned quickly to face him, surprised. She nodded in confirmation, growing serious. "I'll get right on it. You good here?"

"Yeah, I'll handle them."

________

Nat leant back in her chair, letting out a sigh. She'd called numerous people over the past couple hours and pieced several reports together. Who knew such an asshole could be so hard to track.

Her phone pinged. It was Sam, letting her know there was food if she needed.
Rubbing her temple Nat decided to take a break, happy with what she'd found for now.

Steve greeted her as she walked in. "You find anything?"

Another sigh left her lips, thinking back to everything she'd gone over. The smell of food filled her senses and her stomach grumbled silently in response. She hadn't even realized how hungry she was. "Uh, not yet. But a few things look pretty promising."

"Good, we'll keep looking. We should get the recruits to help out, it'll be good for them to learn." Steve's voice softened and eventually drifted off when he saw Nat lose interest, eyes focusing on something across the room.

"What's that?" Nat moved away from the supersoldier beside her and found her feet going towards one of the chairs. There was a piece of green fabric thrown over the back, a light and worn green. She already knew whose it was. Her fingers wrapped around it, very gently, and she lifted it up.

Natara was someone who wore expensive clothes, forever fashionable. But there was one item Nat had noticed which was old and worn; and it had always been her favourite because she knew Natara was attached to it. She'd never thought the assassin had attachments to inanimate objects, at least not ones that weren't used as weapons.