To Go Unseen (A Natasha Romanoff Story)

21 [on the plane]

The plane trip from Nebraska to Houston, Texas was two and a half hours and Natasha couldn’t relax. She suspected James couldn’t either, and he held her hand through the entire flight, leaning his head back on the seat and closing his eyes, but his eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was in that stubborn line he made when he was thinking. She stared at his face and swallowed, then looked forward again and squeezed his hand.

There was so much to worry about. She felt everything spiraling out of control and she felt overwhelmed, like at every second, the panic threatened to overcome her heart. She was almost worried she’d cry again.

Once they landed, Natasha discovered that she had five missed calls from Clint Barton.

“What now?” James asked.

“Call us a cab,” she told him. “Either Clint’s coffee machine is broken again or there’s a real problem.”

So, as seemingly the only couple there without luggage or even a plan, Natasha and James stood outside of the airport on their phones.

“We need a cab at the Houston airport as soon as possible,” Natasha heard James said. “No, yeah, I know we should have made a reservation, but we were, um, preoccupied.” Then, she turned around and redialed Clint.

“Natasha!!” Clint cried and Natasha bit her lip.

“Yes?” She said. “You called me.”

“Are you alright?” He said.

“I’m fine, Clint,” she replied.

“Steve said…,” Clint trailed off and Natasha stopped.

“Steve said what,” she said back venomously.

“Woah!” Clint cried. “Look, maybe this is a thing I shouldn’t know or something? I dunno, Steve just said you and your boyfriend were getting into trouble and I thought I ought to see if I could help you out any.”

“Next time Steve talks to you, tell him to stick it in his ear,” Natasha shot back angrily.

“Um, I can’t; he’s Captain America,” Clint said.

“Clint, we’re fine,” Natasha said. “I promise. And Steve shouldn’t have said anything to you.”

“Well, sorry for worrying,” Clint replied and Natasha sighed.

“Don’t worry,” she instructed him. “Now I have to go, James and I are in the middle of something.” Before Clint could say anything else, Natasha hung up and crammed her phone into her pocket and whirled around to see James still on the phone.

“No, no, I said the airport,” he was saying frustratedly. “A cab!! We need a cab! Yes, I mean a taxi!”

“Are they coming?” She asked and he looked at her and didn’t answer and after a few more minutes of arguing, he finally shut the phone and groaned. “Well?” She asked again.

“They’re coming, but they don’t like it one bit,” he said.

They waited there on the sidewalk for the car for an irritatingly long thirty minutes and while they were there, Natasha kept finding herself staring over at James and thinking. He was standing beside her, pulling his gloves back on and folding his arms over his chest and standing there, staring out at the street and the tall buildings of the city in the distance. Finally, he glanced over at her and made a face.

“What?” He said and she looked down.

“Nothing,” she replied and she stepped closer to him and strung her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder. “Just… Nothing.”

It hadn’t been true, because she had been thinking about him and the things she’d heard him say to Steve on the phone about her. About her secrets, and the way she was private. He had said it regretfully and looked at her, almost as though he wished she were different, and she remembered still the pain of hearing him sound that way.

You just don’t understand, she’d thought.

They found a hotel in Houston in the middle of the city, which was huge and commercial and bustling. It was nothing like DC and it seemed as though James hadn’t seen anything like it in a long time. He stared out the windows of the taxi as they drove, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open and Natasha almost laughed.

“They didn’t build places like this the last time I was in a city,” he admitted.

“When was the last time you were in a city??” The cab driver exclaimed. “They all look like this.”

“Wow…,” he breathed and Natasha just held his hand and smiled. “What do you think Brooklyn looks like now?”

“Not the same as it did eighty years ago,” Natasha said. The cab pulled up to a stop at a curb and they paid the driver and stepped out at the front of their hotel.

Once they rented a room and got inside, Natasha began to pace.

“What are you doing?” James asked.

“I have counterplans to sent into motion,” Natasha replied and looked back at him. “We’re still having a showdown here, remember? I’m sure Belova thinks she has the upper hand. I just have to out-think her.”

“How?” James said and Natasha shook her head.

“Good question,” she said. “We don’t have the connections she clearly has,” Natasha continued. “Or the gear, or the intel.”

“We have SHIELD,” James pointed out. “We could request back up.”

“I suppose. I hate filing the paperwork,” Natasha groaned and James frowned.

“You’re really making this difficult, you know,” he said.

“Fine, we’ll get some SHIELD help,” she replied and pressed her mouth together. “We can’t be caught off guard here. We have to know where she is and what she’s planning.”

Natasha talked like that all night, pacing back and forth and brainstorming while James lay on the hotel bed and covered his face with his arms tiredly.

“This is where we’re making our stand, James,” Natasha finally said that night and James looked up at her. “We have to be ready.”

“I know,” he said. “I know, Natalia, and we will be. I’m just… Tired.” Natasha looked back at him and then crawled onto the top of the bed and laid down next to him.

“We’ll make this okay,” she said.

“I’m sure we’ve thrown Belova off at least a little,” James said hopefully. “Maybe we can rest a little.” Natasha was almost sure that wasn’t a good idea, but she snuggled up next to him anyway and took his head in her hands and kissed it.

“For right now, yes,” she gave in. “But just for now, and then I have a lot of work to do to make up for this extra step she always seems to have in front of us.” James reached up and took her hand and pressed it to his cheek and then nodded slowly.

“Alright,” he said and looked up at her. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” she said. “I love you.” He smiled a little at her.

“I love you, too,” he said. “I love you a lot.”