Just something that popped into my head while watching the Captain America: the Winter Soldier trailer for about the fiftieth time. Also, I don't buy into the "man out of time has to be laughably out of touch and be all 'golly gee, shucks' all the time" (seriously, the guy is ridiculously intelligent, he would likely adapt to most modern day technological things very quickly) so my Steve Rodgers can curse just a little bit, in a time of great frustration. So shoot me.
They were standing vigil outside the SHIELD operating room where Nick Fury was undergoing emergency surgery following the attack on their motorcade.
"Damn it Natasha, what just happened? And how do we find who attacked us today?" a frustrated Steve Rodgers asked his friend and sometimes partner Natasha Romanoff. "He's fast. Strong. Had a metal arm. Does that sound familiar to you at all?"
"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists", she spoke quietly after a long moment. "The one's that do call him the "Winter Soldier".
He's a ghost.
You'll never find him".
Steve observed the stoic redhead as she never took her eyes off the operating room.
"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, but you do. Why?"
There was another long pause before Natasha replied. "There's a lot you don't know about me Steve, and I hope you never will, but I'm old, almost as old as you. And a very long time ago, long before I joined SHIELD, I used to share employers with him". The redhead paused again, before cocking her head to the side with a wry smile and a quirk of an eyebrow added
"Also, he's kind of my ex boyfriend".