Romanogers Oneshots

Ep. 13 - Traitor Sequel

A/N
Months after Natasha joined Yelena on a mission on the West coast, the Black Widow has to confront her past when Steve suddenly shows up.

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Natasha liked the rain in the city. When the grey concrete turned to shiny reflections of the city. Like dimension to another world. The busy streets turned quieter as most people fled from the rain. She held her umbrella a little lower, covering her face just enough to let her see. She felt the tiny, square chip that she received from Spider-Girl pressing against her thigh. Reminding her of the importance that the data of the chip held. She and Yelena were stuck on this case for a few weeks now until she stumbled over an acquaintance. Spider-Girl was still very new to the game, extremely inexperienced, but highly motivated. Yelena hadn't been thrilled when Natasha introduced her to the plan. It had been risky to set someone this young into it, but Spider-Girl had proven them her skills. She could also tell how her sarcastic and loud nature was growing on Yelena.

On her way home, Natasha passed a playground where a kid jumped in a puddle, making it splash and a big mess all over him. The father came rushing, complaining about how mad his mother would be until the boy jumped into an even bigger puddle and splashed rainwater and mud over him. The father stood there in shock. Then a grin spread over his smile and he jumped with much power into the puddle, completely wetting his son. The little guy started to laugh and a battle broke out between them.
Steve would be like that, too, she thought, her body filling with warmth as a smile hovered on her lips until the harsh truth crashed back on her. She wondered how far along Sharon was. The mission had been a good distraction from New York and everything that happened there.
It was very surprising that she still hadn't heard anything on the news about the newest Avenger legacy addition. She didn't mind it too much. It gave her time to focus on her job at hand and not deal with the grief of her loss and the pain of knowing she could never give Steve what Sharon was giving him.

Natasha pushed the key in the lock of Yelena's loft and twisted it.
"I'm back.", she announced herself and put the umbrella away.
"Already? Didn't you say you'd be gone longer?"
"It rained. I had no desire to dread it out.", Natasha chuckled at Yelena's weirdly alarmed tone. The widow, that was like a little sister to her, danced nervously around.
"I'm absolutely starving. Did you have lunch yet?"
"No, but, uhm. Maybe you should go take a shower first, you look a bit wet and shouldn't get sick."
"I'm fine. I'd be a lot better if I got - Yelena, stop dancing around me like that. Are you hiding something from me?
"Uhm, not something -", before she could continue, Natasha pushed her to the side, revealing a tall, blond man behind her.
"Hi." Steve greeted her with an awkward wave.

Natasha froze to the spot. No matter what she had thought, she was definitely, very clearly not over him. Everything that she had fought so hard to push to the back of her mind in the past weeks came crashing down on her like a waterfall of emotions. Her heart rate quickened, trapped in her chest as it set into flight mode, but her body was paralysed. Nat tried to preserve the bit of oxygen that wasn't sucked out of her lungs and took a few deep breaths, calming her mind. This was like any other mission. She needed a clear mind. Her body eased.

"Uhm, Yelena called me.", he said as if that explained everything.
Nat looked at the young widow and raised her eyebrow. Yelena acted as if there was a super interesting spot on the floor that she needed to inspect. Nat cleared her throat, a nonverbal invocation to an answer.
Yelena hesitated, then replied. "You two should talk."
"About what?"
Now it was Yelena's turn to give her a stern look. Nat didn't dodge out of the stare-off. Then Yelena's shoulder sagged.
"I have an errand to run. It very, very likely will take me about two hours or more." ,she announced with a wink and quickly disappeared before Nat could strangle her.

An uncomfortable silence settled between them, filling this empty lot and expanding the space between them.
"How's Sharon and the Baby?", she then asked to break the silence. The only part of her that cared about that answer was that it was Steve's baby.
"They're both well. Her belly is growing day by day." , he said with a small smile on his lips.
"I'm glad."
"Nat", he began again, stepping towards her. Nat stepped back. She needed some distance. Seeing him was already hard enough, but she had no answer to how she would react when she could smell him. Touch him.
Images of the night they had spent flooded back through her mind. The way he'd made her feel so alive. She needed to get him out of here and shove it all deep, deep inside of her, away from her consciousness.