The Avengers sat around their kitchen table, sitting silently as they always did when one of them was off on a mission. This time it was Natasha, she was set to arrive almost a week ago and she was still nowhere to be seen. Captain America sat with his face in his hands, Tony drank his coffee and stared at the wall, Bruce watched the door, Clint stared at the clock and Thor looked out the window of the avengers tower.

"where is she again? Why did they send her alone?" Tony looked around for someone to answer his question but it seemed like forever before he got an answer from anyone. Clint did bother looking away from the clock as he answered.

"Russia, she has to take down one of the heads of Red Room. They figured since she knows how they work, she would be able to finish the job quickly. It was a bad idea, she may come back fine physically, but not mentally or emotionally"

They sat in silence for several hours until they heard the ding of the elevators. Natasha limped into the room, they silently watched as she dragged herself towards the couch for a few seconds until they all jumped into action. Bruce went to get his first aid kit as they rest of the avengers moved to surround Natasha. It was clear that she was much thinner than the last time they saw her and had dried blood all over her face. Clint went to get her a change of clothes and was back almost immediately followed by Bruce. They averted their eyes as she changed into a sports bra and small black shorts. She laid on the couch and they were horrified at what they saw. Bruises and cuts covered her small frame, her ribs were way to visible to be healthy, but the worst thing was the look of pain and torment in her eyes. Bruce set off to work, cleaning all the cuts and stitched up the cuts that needed to be stitched, including the large gash on her temple. They sat around her the moon was clearly visible, hours had passed until she finally spoke.

"There was a girl, pale skin, bright red hair, scared eyes. Couldn't have been more than 13, she screamed out for my help. I tried, I swear I tried so hard. I did all I could….I tried"

No one had ever seen the black widow this way, she was amazing at hiding her emotions. Tears flowed down her pale face. Steve was the first one to react. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap. He was expecting her to recoil but she simply snuggled further into him and continued to cry, her crying soon turned into sobbing and she clutched captain America even harder. No one moved until she had finally fallen asleep. When they were sure that she was completely asleep everyone but Steve moved to get more comfortable. Steve was sitting in an extremely uncomfortable spot but he refused to move in order to allow Natasha to sleep. It was nearly noon when Natasha began to stir and opened her eyes to find that the living room was still of superheroes. Tony, Clint and Thor were watching cartoons although the volume was nearly non existant, presumably to not wake Natasha. Bruce was reading on the love seat. She wondered where Steve was until she turned around and realized Steve was her mattress, then she realized she was covered in one of Steve's blankets. She sat up and Steve looked down at her with worried eyes. She gave him somewhat of a smile.

"morning ma'am"

"Steve, how many times do I have to tell you that you don't have to call me ma'am, were past that, you call me whatever you would like"

"alright Miss Natasha"- she rolled her eyes and smiled. "did you sleep well?"

"I did, I had a great pillow. Thanks for everything Steve, thanks to all of you for being so…caring"

They all looked at her with kind eyes as Bruce spoke.

"Of course Nat, you're part of our big messed up party. Now how about I take a look at those cuts and bruises"

He gave her a soft smile and Natasha dropped the blanket she was clutching around her shoulders to reveal that most of her injuries had already healed. Everyone but Clint walked towards her with confusion filling the room. Natasha took in their questioning eyes and sat down to explain.

"while I was a part of the Red Room facility in the Black Widow Program I received a variant of the super soldier serum that Steve here was injected with, well it has allowed me to heal above human rate"

Steve looked at her with wide eyes.

"I didn't know you…what other effects do you have."

Everyone else realized that they were being tuned out so they went back to what they were doing but continued to listen to Natasha.

"Well very similar to you Steve my physical and mental abilities are enhanced, I believe I cant get sick, im immune to almost anything, if not everything and its extremely difficult for me to get drunk, luckily it is possible. I can't age either. There might be other effects but I ran away before I could find out all about them… Tony turn it up, I can barely hear a thing"

"Got it red, want some breakfast?"

"Breakfast would be lovely Tony"

"Alright, Stars and Stripes, go make some food"

Steve and Natasha both rolled their eyes and stood, Natasha followed Steve towards the kitchen and stumbled, her leg was not completely healed yet. Steve wordlessly wrapped an arm around Natasha's waist to steady her. She smiled at him and allowed him to help her up on the counter as he began working on breakfast. In the living room, all but Thor watched as Natasha actually allowed herself to be helped by Steve.

"Hey guys I think maybe we should move our 'family dinner' to another night, no one tell those two they seem to be getting along pretty nicely, plus ive never seen Tasha smile so much" Clint watched Natasha with a smirk on his face

"or at all"

Tony was then smacked over the head by the expert marksman and promptly fell off the couch.

"Man of Iron, are you alright my friend?"

"yeah, just fine Thor, robin hood over here is just being a bit of an ass"

Thor looked puzzled but Bruce just let out a loud chuckle. Steve called out to them to get to the table. Both Natasha and Steve were seated next to each other, both with their cheeks slightly flushed. Natasha had made several boxes of poptarts and set them down in front of Thor's plate. He flashed her a big smile and began to shove food into this mouth. Clint and Tony smirked at Steve and Natasha as they plowed through the food. Bruce questioned Natasha about how she was feeling between bites.

"And your leg?"

"It should be fine in a few hours, I guess I should probably take it easy for a little while. I guess not even the black widow is invinsible."

They continued to eat, Natasha noticed Clint and Tony smirking but decided to not do anything about, all she wanted was to go back to sleep. She heard Steve crack his back and groan.

"Oh no Steve, you must have slept so uncomfortably, im so sorry!"

"its alright Natasha, no worries"

She flashed him a sheepish smile and they all finished their breakfasts and went back to the living room where both Natasha and Steve fell asleep in no time. They all smiled as they noticed both Natasha and Steve move closer to each other in their sleep until Natashas head was on Steves shoulder and his arm was wrapped around her. The only thing that could be heard was the television and Clints soft whisper.

"who would've thought"