[A/N]: If you've read the first two, you know the drill. If you haven't, well, I'm writing a series of shorts and posting them all the way up to May 6th, the release of Captain America: Civil War. This is day 23 of my Civil War Countdown. Enjoy.
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Bruce hadn't been found yet, and Natasha was starting to worry about the scientist. Where was he? Had she driven him away? Would he have stayed if she hadn't been so...forward?
Love is for children. It seemed like forever since she'd said that. She'd believed it at the time. She had sincerely believed that love was for children; those we were innocent and without blood on their hands. How could someone who'd caused so much death and suffering possibly fall in love? The concept was laughable.
But then it wasn't. She'd talked with Bruce, got to know him. Soon, she could calm the Hulk. And talking to him late at night in the labs helped drive away her nightmares (not that she would ever admit to having any). She started to question her views, rethink her previous convictions.
And then he was lost. Well, maybe lost wasn't the right word. He'd flown away. And apparently didn't want to be found. Seeing the lab where they talked and laughed was difficult, but by no means impossible. It just hurt.
Oh, she wished he was here now. It seemed like her life, her stability, which had seemed to strong before, was cracking like glass. The team was collapsing, shattering off into pieces. Fragments of what they once were. In the midst of the chaos, she really wished for someone she could talk to (she had Clint, sort of, but he was getting distant). It was like the S.H.I.E.L.D. collapse all over again, and everything she knew was gone, leaving only uncertainty and doubt. She didn't know who to trust; didn't know who was right. She knew when she chose a side, she'd be essentially turning her back on those who didn't agree. So she stayed neutral, for as long as she could.
But it never works out how we intent, does it? And this time was no different. All her training at the Red Room still wasn't enough to protect her from this. Nothing could, because she'd opened herself up to this the moment she heard Fury say, "It's called the Avengers Initiative."
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Inspired by Little Mix's song 'These Four Walls'.