Untangling a Memory

He's owed his memories

Later that night, after vanishing from by the pool, Natasha sat in one of the fields, eating a sandwich she had packed for dinner. She ate most of her meals this way in recent days. She'd found a couple of favorite spots in the fields, under trees, in thick grass, anywhere she could hide if she needed to, and she changed her routine constantly. Some tendencies never leave you, she thought.

Tonight, it was a field underneath a big tree with arching, roaming branches, that had clearly been growing over hundreds of years. The spot looked over a large hill and she could see for miles over Wakanda. Natasha enjoyed the view as she bit into a PB&J, same as always.

Natasha heard someone walking through the grass behind her, but she recognized who it was by their gait and let them approach. Steve sat down next to her.

"So, you want to talk about what's going on?"

"Nope, not really." Natasha took another bite of her sandwich and kept staring straight ahead over the hill.

Steve was used to this stubbornness out of his friend, so he continued, unfazed. "Well, you are going to tell me what's going on or we are going to hide all the bread, peanut butter, and jelly in the kitchen." Steve said this looking straight at Natasha, one eyebrow raised. He knew that her cooking skills we extremely limited and that she might go hungry without those items around.

"You're going to starve me?" Natasha looked at Steve incredulously.

"If that's what it takes." He was going to be just as stubborn as she was.

She glared at him and then finally turned away again, looking defeated. "Fine. Whatever."

"So, what's up? You've been avoiding us."

Natasha kept taking bites of her sandwich and made a snarky face. "Well, that's not true."

"Fine. You've been avoiding Bucky since he came out of his room."

Natasha just kept looking forward eating her sandwich, not saying anything. Steve nudged her shoulder.

"Okay, okay! Yes, I've been avoiding Bucky! Are you happy? Great job, detective Steve. So, what's your next case?"

"What's going on? What happened that you are avoiding him? I mean, you're Natasha- you'd rather beat the shit out of someone than just walk away if they pissed you off."

"Language!"

Steve rolled his eyes. Then quietly said, "please tell me."

Natasha took the last bite of her sandwich. She chewed it for a long time as Steve just sat silently looking at her. "He asked me about what you said when we arrived."

"What did I say? Did I say something bad?"

"No, Steve, you were fine. I was standing there silently when I saw Bucky and you made some joke that I'd have to explain my history with him."

"Oh, right." Steve nodded. "So, what happened? I mean, I thought you guys seemed like you were getting along watching TV and stuff."

Natasha took a deep breath, still looking straight over the fields. She started plucking up blades of grass in front of her and playing with them as she spoke. "We were. We were good. But he asked me about what you said. And it went... badly."

Steve looked over at Natasha now, concerned. "Ok... how so?"

Natasha took another very deep breath and continued, now looking down at the grass she was pulling apart into tiny pieces and tossing in front of her. "I told him about how he shot me Odessa, shot me again in Washington, and then choked me in Bucharest..."