"What do you want us to be?" She had asked Steve looking away from the landscape and into his eyes.

"What about friends?" Was his reply.

A few days from then, that reply would've been enough for her, but somehow it wasn't now. That kiss, it had awakened something in her, something she had buried so very deep within her: emotions. To be honest, her life was a turmoil of emotions the past few day because of Fury, Steve and Bucky. James Buchanan, Bucky, Barnes a.k.a the Winter Soldier, her trainer back in the Red Room and her former lover. Apparently, her past was resurfacing, coming back to haunt her.

Natasha Romanoff, was trained not to get attached, not to have any sort of emotions towards anyone. She never did, not even with Clint, not even with Logan or even Alexei Shostakov- she had loved him, yes, but not fully. In about 86 years of life, she had never failed to execute what she had learned in her years of training. Then why now, in the middle of a cold winter night, in her plain apartment, in her bed she thought of Captain Steve Rogers? Why did the way he smiled when talking about the "nurse" hurt her so much? It wasn't the first time that it happened and she had managed not to let it show, besides, when was a man as oblivious as Steve ever going to notice a woman's interest in him? Natasha was almost sure she had given him his first kiss since 1945.

With a sigh Natasha rolled in bed so she was facing the window instead of the ceiling. The small white snowflakes that hit the glass reminded her of Russia, memories she had worked so hard to forget now haunted her once more, her perfectly methodical life was now falling apart. And it all started with a kiss. She couldn't care less about S.H.I.E.L.D or H.Y.D.R.A, she only saw them as jobs, as a chance for her to make her ledger clean at last. That night, for more that Natasha wanted to sleep, she wasn't able to do so, she rolled in her bed searching for a more comfortable position until she gave up and accepted she wouldn't grab any sleep that night/morning.

~X~

When the first ray of sunlight broke through her window, she got up from the bed and had a hot shower- something she wasn't used to do, but it was too cold for her to have a freezing shower as always. Then she made herself breakfast, ate it quickly and swallowed all with a small shot of vodka before leaving for walk, hoping to clear her mind. Washington was a nice city, very dangerous but nice. She liked the Smithsonian, she had been there two or three times already. It had been hard to find a new identity, she was using the name Catherine Lund. Natasha didn't miss her life as an agent, everything was much calmer now, she had found herself a new routine, joined an academy to keep in shape and practice martial arts. Since she had a big fund from the money she had saved through many years of work, there was no need for her to work.

Natasha sat in a bench staring at the reflecting pool near the Capitol appreciating the view and the feeling of the snowflakes against her skin. She was all by herself, there were very few people who adventured themselves out in the cold. Being Russian, she had always appreciated low temperatures. They brought back memories, mostly bad memories, but it was an inexplicably good angst. She was just starting to sink in them when her phone, the secured S.H.I.E.L.D line, which she used to communicate with Fury rang. She didn't actually know why she carried it around, maybe she was scared that something might happen to her ex-colleagues and she wouldn't be there to help them

"Agent Romanoff." Fury's voice spoke from the other side of the line.

"Not agent anymore, Nick. Just Natasha." She replied with a sigh.

"Very well, Natasha, I have a mission for you." He said, "We still have to capture some of the ex Hydra commanders. We are almost done with hunting them, but there is one we cannot seem to get our hands on. The most important of them all, the one who could give us a lot of information. I was thinking of sending you and Steve to get him."

Natasha's first instinct was to say no, but the perspective of working with Steve once more, of seeing his bright smile and the spark that lit up in his eyes. That was too good for her to refuse, "Okay, I'll take the mission. Where do I meet you?". He gave her an address and she memorized it.

"I'm heading there now, meet you in about half an hour."

"You have fifteen minutes."

~X~

Just as Fury had ordered, she arrived in fifteen minutes there, she only stopped by her apartment to get her guns and knives in case there was an emergency and her catsuit if she had to leave immediately on a field mission, as she expected, inside the underground secret base- S.H.I.E.L.D liked those- there was a secret passage that led to a completely isolated room where there were only three people, Maria, Steve and Fury.

"Natasha!" Fury exclaimed and walked towards her, "It's so good to have you back."

"It's a pleasure to work with you again, Natasha." Steve smiled at her that perfect smile of his that made her smile back. Maria only nodded at her and continued working on whatever she was doing before her arrival.

"I missed you guys." She muttered, the shyest of smiles on her lips "Now, let us get to work." 'We have no time for feelings' She added silently to herself.

Fury threw a thick folder with a lot of files on which the capital letters G.V were written in red sharpie. She opened it and sat down as her quick eyes scanned the pages absorbing all the information she might need. The man's name was Gerhad Verhoeven was one of the H.Y.D.R.A leaders, he was born in Germany, but his parents were Dutch. He was also one of the Nazi leaders back in the 40's. Somehow, he had managed to keep looking as good as he did back then. Apparently, they had managed to develop a variation of the serum just as the Russians had. He was a potential threat and was hiding in Russia.

"Russia." Natasha muttered, she was going to go back to her homeland.

"Yes, Natasha, Russia." Fury replied, he understood her.

"Very well, I'll speak to some of my underground Russian contacts and see if they know anything about it before we leave. Give me... one hour." With those words, she started typing on her phone extremely quickly. She refused to let her past get in the way of that mission.

"Okay. You leave today in about four hours." Fury told them checking his watch, "I hope that's enough time to pack your stuff."

"I've already packed." Natasha told him pointing at her bag.

"Excellent." Fury nodded in approval. "I left some gifts for you at the hotel, you might need them so you can mix in with the target."

"I'm sorry, Nick, but no one has heard or seen him yet, perhaps later on the mission they might give us some useful information." She announced and locked her phone.

"If that's the case, then you can leave right away." Fury told them. "You must go to the airport now. Good luck, Agents."

"Nick." She gave him a small nod before leaving.

"Do you mind giving me a ride, Steve?" She asked when they were outside once more.

"'f course not, Nat." He replied with a smile and signaled to his Harley Davidson.

"Thanks." She hopped on and they left to the airport.