To Go Unseen (A Natasha Romanoff Story)

29 [hotel room]

That night, James coaxed Natasha gently into bed with him and began to talk to her.

“You shouldn’t bottle things up,” she heard him say as he pulled sheets up around them both. “That’s what got Steve where he was.”

“I’m not,” Natasha said.

“Sure,” James replied. Then, he sighed, his chest rising and falling. “I swear, you two demand a privacy that’s borderline isolation.”

“I’m not keeping anything from you,” Natasha insisted.

“But is that because you don’t know how to share it?” James said and Natasha ground her teeth together. She turned over and looked at him with hard eyes.

“Cut it out,” she said and James put up his hands.

“Alright, alright,” he said and she rolled over again and stared at the wall.

“This isn’t a therapy session,” she continued angrily. “Don’t psychoanalyze me.” James was quiet.

“I just wanna help,” he finally said and she turned over on her back and looked at him again.

“We’ll be fine when this is all over,” she said and James started shaking his head. The look in his eyes was devastating.

“No,” he said. “No, don’t do this to me, Talia.” He looked like he’d sit up, so Natasha turned around again and refused to look at him.

“Just go to sleep, James,” she said. “We don’t have to do this now.”

And when James didn’t answer, she closed her eyes and fell into an anxious sleep.

She knew he was just concerned and she hadn’t wanted to snap at him, as she had been doing increasingly the longer they’d been out, but she felt frustration bubbling under the surface of her skin, and maybe even a fear under that. She was afraid.

Later that night, Natasha woke up again. She hadn’t slept well and she felt that tiredness set in her bones, like it does when you’ve exhausted yourself down to your core and everything is sore. However, it was still dark and she could hear James’ soft breathing behind her, but something had roused her… Something had woken her up. What was it?

Natasha lay in the dark and listened in to the silence, hyper-aware of the things around her and all too awake. There!! There it was! A creak, like a board, like someone stepping on the floor…

Natasha bolted up, fear insider her heart, and she saw in the outline of the moonlight from the window, a figure drawing near to her. Her heart stopped. In many cases, it might be someone’s first instinct to scream, but it wasn’t Natasha’s, because she knew who this was. And although she was only wearing her t-shirt from that day and a pair of pink panties, she lept out of bed and tackled the dark figure. She heard a high-pitched cry and heard the breath knocked out of Yelena Belova as she hit the ground with Natasha on top of her.

As soon as Yelena’s head smacked the floor and Natasha saw those blonde curls bounce, she started punching. Yelena seemed stunned and for a while, she didn’t fight Natasha’s flying fists, the ones pounding into her cheeks and her mouth and her head. But once she got her bearings, Yelena began to fight back and cry out. Natasha slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Shut up,” she hissed under her breath. “My boyfriend is sleeping.”

During this lull, Yelena was able to grab Natasha and throw her off and she dragged herself shakily to her feet. In the dark, Natasha could see she was wearing that horrible outfit that mimicked her’s.

“I’ll be as loud as I want!!” Yelena cried, not quietly, and Natasha heard James shuffling and she ground her teeth together. They watched James sit up disorientedly and frantically pull up sheets to cover his bare chest and the scars there.