To Go Unseen (A Natasha Romanoff Story)

11 [Yelena's Warehouse]

Natasha scrambled to her feet and ran after Yelena, but by the time she got outside, all she could see was the sun rising just barely over the horizon and Yelena was entirely gone. Shaking with fear and adrenaline and pain, Natasha slunk back into the warehouse and stumbled to James. She picked up his face and brushed his hair back and pressed anxious kisses to his skin.

“I’m so sorry, my darling, I’m sorry,” she said and she reached around him and began to undo the straps that held him. Once he was free, he slumped against her and she caught him and gently laid him down. Yelena had torn the stitches in his right shoulder and he was bleeding and she found bruises slowly disappearing on his face. Overwhelmed and now alone, patching up what she could of his shoulder, Natasha was blinking back tears.

She found the car waiting for them outside and half-carried, half-dragged James out to it. She pulled him into the back seat so he had something nicer to lay on and, with both doors open, she slid into the back with him and put his head in her lap tiredly. She put her head against the headrest behind her and closed her eyes as she ran her hands slowly through his hair, waiting for him to wake up.

It took several hours and Natasha fell asleep a few times, but after a long time, she began to feel James stir in her lap. She opened her eyes and looked down as James’ eyes fluttered open and he started to mumble.

“Hey,” she said to him quietly and brushed some of his hair out of his face. “How are you feeling?”

“Was I hit by a truck?” He groaned and she smiled a little.

“Worse,” she replied and picked up his hand, dangling off the other side of the seat, and kissed it. “Our stalker introduced herself.” She watched James blink and swallow, processing this.

“I missed something,” he said.

“I’ll explain,” Natasha said and she held James’ hand and talked, told him everything, and after a while, he sat up, groaning and wincing, and she told him about how he’d been hurt, how they’d both been injured, and she wrapped her arms around him as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

“Her name is Yelena,” Natasha said. “She’s left over from the Red Room.” James swallowed and scrubbed his face.

“What does she want?” He asked and Natasha leaned back and pursed her lips.

“My name,” she said and then she looked over at James. “She wants to be the Black Widow.”

“What?” James said incredulously and Natasha continued. She described the ultimatum and her response and James looked afraid.

“This was never what we wanted,” he breathed, but Natasha remained too angry to mourn the loss of their vacation.

They inspected the car for traps and soon after finding it clean, started it up and began to drive away. A few miles later, James was on the phone with Steve.

“No, no, we’re fine,” he was saying, his eyes on Natasha as she tried to find the road again. She was giving him cues, trying to help him lie to Steve. “Really.”

There was a pause on the other end.

“Steve, I swear, I just forgot my phone in the hotel. I’m sorry I didn’t get your calls,” James said. “We’re okay.”

Another pause as Steve spoke and all Natasha could hear was mumbling.

“Hey,” James said suddenly and Natasha glanced over at him. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. “We’ll, uh, we’ll be home soon. I promise. … No, I am not lying!”

At this point, Natasha could see James failing and she reached over and snatched the phone from his hands and put it to her ear.

“Steve,” she said and grinned. “It’s good to hear from you!!”

“Tasha, what’s wrong?” Steve said and Natasha laughed.

“We had a mix-up this morning,” she lied. “James left some things and we got an hour or two away before we realized we had to turn around.”

Natasha was able to calm Steve and hang up and she frowned at James when she handed the phone back.

“That was a bad idea,” she said and James looked down at the phone in his hands almost sheepishly. “We have to be discrete about this.”

“I’m not used to lying to him,” James replied and Natasha sighed and looked forward out the windshield.

“Welcome to my world,” she said bitterly and she could feel James look over at her with an expression that read pity. He bit his lip and looked away and after a while, he looked back up and spoke again.

“So what now?” James said.

“Now, we hunt Belova down,” Natasha said angrily. “And we make her pay.”