Marvel One-Shots

6. Remember Me (Part III) - Winter Widow

NATALIA'S P.O.V.

"James," I repeat slowly, "do you remember me?"

He closes his eyes. "I don't know. But your name - it's Natalia, isn't it?"

"Yes," I say, "but you're the only one who called me that."

He nods and opens his eyes again. "We met a long time ago, didn't we?"

The jet begins to descend toward its destination. "More than fifty years ago. We were friends." I don't want to make him more miserable by trying to remember a past that he probably has forgotten forever.

We land at Clint's farm. Inside, we find all of Team Cap sitting around Clint's kitchen table while his kids play in the living room. The second we step through the door, Lila comes running up to me. "Auntie Nat!" she exclaims. I hug her.

"Hey," I tell her. "How's your baby brother?"

"Loud," she says honestly. I laugh. At the kitchen table, Sam and Scott are playing cards while Wanda and the Vision appear to be in the midst of a very deep telepathic conversation.

"UNO!" yells Scott.

"Not so fast, buddy," says Sam. "Draw four."

"Come on, man," Scott sighs as he draws four cards to his hand. I approach the table while balancing Lila on my hip. "Hey boys," I say with a smile.

"Natasha!" Wanda says with a huge smile. The boys are a little less enthusiastic, but greet me cheerfully all the same. I notice James is still standing awkwardly in the doorway and wave him over. He comes hesitantly, looking completely out of place in this cozy setting.

"Hey man," Sam says to James quietly.

"How's Redwing?" James asks, and Sam laughs.

"Don't encourage him, Barnes," I joke.

"This guy is literally the only one who cares about Redwing. You could learn a thing or two from him." Sam replies while pointing at the rest of us.

I set Lila on the floor. "Do you know where your dad is?"

She nods. "He and Mommy are out back with Uncle Steve."

As if on cue, the three of them come in through the back door.

"-don't need any more wood chopped, Steve," Laura says with a laugh. "We've got enough to last us until the end of the century."

"You guys made it!" Clint says when he sees James and me in the kitchen.

"Well," I say, "we did get some help from a certain Iron Man."

"I expected that Mr. Stark would be willing to assist you," the Vision says.

Steve grins at James. "It's good to see you, pal."

"He means it's good to see you not in popsicle form," Sam teases.

"Hey," I say, "has anyone been in contact with Fury lately?"

The room goes silent. "Lila, honey," Laura says softly, "why don't you and I go check on your brothers?" She takes Lila upstairs and leaves us to discuss more serious matters.

"So how are we going to clear our names?" Wanda asks.

"If any one of you superpeople has a plan, now might be a good time to speak up," Scott says, "cause I got nothing."

"I could always dump all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files onto the Internet again." I suggest, half joking.

"Yeah, and Scott could become Giant-Man again and crush Ross' headquarters," Clint says sarcastically.

"Hey, you never know," Scott says. "Giant-Man could always be a great plan B."

"Only if you want to get us all killed," James mutters so only me and Steve can hear him. Everyone else looks at us like we've gone insane when we start laughing.

"What?" asks Scott.

When Wanda starts to grin, I can tell that she used her telepathic powers to find out what the joke was. By any account, we shouldn't be laughing this hard, but we've been too tense and paranoid for too long. Any joke is about five times funnier now.

"But seriously, what is our plan going to be?" Steve asks once he can keep a straight face.

"Maybe we should just talk about all of this tomorrow," says Sam. "You know, take a break from saving the world for a night."

"We might as well," says Clint. "I don't think we're going to come up with any smart plans tonight."

"Hey, Giant-Man could still be an option," Scott jokes.

"Go to sleep, Ant-Man," Sam says to Scott.

On the other side of the table, I notice Wanda and the Vision have continued their telepathic conversation. Both are blushing lightly. I smile. Wanda deserves to be happy, especially after her time in Project 42.

Each member of the team gradually goes upstairs. Finally it's just Clint, Steve, James, and me downstairs. Clint stands up. "I'd better go check on Nathaniel," he says.

"Your son is a traitor. You know that, right?"

"Sure, Nat," he says with a shake of his head.

"Night, Clint."

"Night."

His footsteps fade up the stairs. Steve and James are talking at their end of the kitchen table in hushed voices. If I wanted to, I could easily hear what they're saying, but instead I choose to go upstairs to find a blanket for the couch and change into pajamas.

When I come back downstairs (with an incredibly fluffy blanket of Laura's), only James is still in the kitchen.

"Are you going to sleep or what?" I ask.

"I don't know. I usually get nightmares when I sleep, now that I remember them all."

"I know what you mean," I sigh, and take the seat across from him at the table. "But after a while, you get used to it. I don't know about you, but I like remembering and having to deal with the nightmares better than not remembering at all."

"Do you remember everything?" he asks.

"Yes," I reply. "Finally."

"Good night, Natalia. Someday I'll remember you again." He smiles at me and reaches across the table to give my hand a quick squeeze.

"Good night, James." I stand and tiptoe to the living room, where I lay on the couch under the stolen blanket.

Maybe he's right. Maybe someday he will remember everything. I did.

And until then, I'm willing to wait.

A/N: Yay!! 200 reads!! Thanks!! The next one-shots should be published soon.

P.S. Clint's daughter really is called Lila in the MCU.