Through the Line of Fire

She's Missing but She's Where Her Heart Is

Months had gone by and as far as anyone knew, Natasha was either in hiding or dead. In front of everyone, Steve acted like he knew nothing. Normally he was a horrible liar, but with a few lesson from the best liar there is, no one was able to tell he had a secret.
Clint was still baffled by the thought of his tracking faltering. But it didn't. He didn't know that though.
After a few more tries, he gave in, getting the feeling that this time she definitely didn't want to be found. He definitely knew that she wasn't dead because it was certainly easier to find a dead body.
Steve, being the good hearted person he is, often felt guilt for hiding this from them. He knew that he would want to know where she was if another teammate knew. But he wasn't about to break his promise to her, she wanted things to be laid low for now. This is actually the happiest he's seen her in a long time. He wasn't about to strip that away from her.
She had moved apartments three times, making sure she wasn't traced.
Most nights she stayed at his apartment, it felt more like a home than any place she had lived before. Some weeks were spent at her place, sometimes neither of them going outside for days. But everything was about to change. Soon their life of simplicity and serenity would soon come crashing down.
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"So what is Russia like?" Steve asked grabbing two beers out of the fridge.
"Oh come on, you've been to Russia before." He sat down beside her on the couch handing her a bottle.
"Yeah but when you're on a mission and undercover, the only things you get to experience are the things you learn about in files. Nothing good most of the time."
"Well," she propped her feet up on the couch. Her, his actually, sweatshirt came down to her mid thigh. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She removed her lips from the glass bottle. "It's a very cultured country. I mean despite all the communism, hatred for others, and their love to destroy mankind it's not so bad."
He laughed lightly. "I'm sure all of that's not entirely true. Tell me what the culture is like."
"Okay. Russian culture is rich, spanning centuries of Russian history. Their culture is filled with art, food, traditions, literature, just about anything really. The culture of Russia is a point of pride for them. Not a lot of people are willing to take a hand out, or to give a hand out for that matter."
"You say their as if you're aren't apart of it." He was intrigued now. He leaned back and rested his head on the arm of the couch. "Why is that?"
"Steve no offense but that's a pretty dumb question." She looked at him with a confused look.
"How so?" He put on a hurt but playful face.
She snugged herself closer to him, laying beside him. She moved her legs over which allowed him to prop his up as well. "Because, I haven't been there in so long. Not since my association with the KGB. That part of me is gone. I don't consider myself one of them anymore."
He felt that to be a pity. "You know, despite everything you've done and everything you've gone through to get away from that place, that's still apart of you Natasha, not necessarily the bad stuff but like you said earlier. The history, the culture, those are all things you should take pride in. Be proud that's where you came from."
"Why? Would it make a difference if I did?" She really didn't see the point in having any relations to that place again. There was nothing for her there. Or at least nothing that she knew of.
"Well look at it this way. You wouldn't be where you are now if it weren't for the place you started out. I think you should in brace your heritage, learn to respect it. I just find it sad to see someone not want to have anything to do with where they came from, just because of a bad past."
"Well I guess I never thought about it like that." She looked down at the micro-pattern on his grey shirt. Paying attention to each fabric that was a different shade, some darker, some lighter.
He saw that she was overthinking this a little. "Maybe we could go there on a vacation or something. You could show me around."
"Yeah." She gave a small smile.
"Maybe we could go to Moscow, I hear they have a wonderful art house. Drink wine while observing beautiful art work."
"Oh my god. You have seriously researched this. You are really considering this."
"Well yeah. I think it could be fun. We could relax."
"We relax here. All the time. Sometimes I actually go crazy when Fury hasn't called me in a while for a mission." She snapped her fingers. "Nuts. Give me the nuts."
He reached over and grabbed the cashews off the coffee table. "Yeah but it would be a nice change of view. And I'm sure there are places you'd like to see again, like I said, you could show me around."
She let out a laugh. "You would not want to go to some of the places I used to hang around." She popped a few cashews in her mouth and took a sip of her beer. "But uh. There is this one place." She gave him a devilish look with a smirk.
"What?" He turned on his side to face her.
"Nothing it's just this... Place."
"Nat. C'mon."
Her voice was slow and seductive. "Well it's... This place I found once. It's just outside of the city. It's very secluded. You have to walk through the woods to get to it. There's a small pond and when the moon is out.. It creates the most romantic lighting. It's the perfect place for a date. Have a picnic, drink some wine. And then.. We could make deep, passionate love under the stars." She devilishly grinned and looked his eyes got dark and his skin flush. 
Steve swallowed hard, practically swallowing his tongue. "I gotta go book the next fight to Moscow." He jumped up from his seat but she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back.
"Calm down soldier, I haven't even finished my beer. And besides, I never said yes to going." She watched as pure disappointed washed across his face. Of course it was replaced with frustration.
"Look I have a better idea. Let's go to Vegas."
"How is Vegas better?"
"Just trust me on this."

HEY GUYS IM BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER, I KNOW ITS BEEN A WHILE BUT IVE GOT MY INSPIRATION BACK. I'M SORRY THAT THIS IS A SHORT CHAPTER BUT THATS ONLY CAUSE IM A BIT RUSTY, I PROMISE ITLL GET BETTER AGAIN!! I STILL LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH❤️❤️❤️