Ch. 1

They threw her into the cell. Steve tried to catch her before she hit the floor, but he just wasn't quick enough. She was down to her sports bra and the compression shorts she wore underneath her uniform. He brushed her hair out of her face to reveal it bloodied from a cut in her hairline. She had a knot forming beside the cut. She had bruises running all over her body in the shapes of handprints from where they'd obviously had problems keeping her where they wanted her. From the shape of her knuckles, it looked like she'd at least gotten in a few licks of her own at some point.

Steve smiled, Atta girl. Give 'em Hell.

"St-Steve?" She gasped through her chattering teeth.

"Yeah, Doll. I'm right here." He picked her up just as easily as he would a real doll and held her close to him, hoping his body warmth would help. Steve carried her to the pallet bedding they'd made right after they'd gotten there. Their captors had at least given them softish pallets to lay on, pillows, and blankets. They'd slid theirs together in an effort to keep warm. Nat couldn't seem to get warm, while Steve was a little chilly, but otherwise okay.

"You're the only one allowed to call me that." She took a shallow breath, "And never when anyone can hear you."

Steve grinned, "Yes, ma'am." He stroked a piece of her red hair that had gotten in her face out of the way and kissed her forehead. He tucked her body into his lap as much as he could.

"You figure out why they keep taking you instead of me?" Steve asked once he saw her beginning to drift off. He wanted to talk to her a little longer.

"That's easy," she said, never opening her eyes.

Steve crinkled his eyebrow, "Alright, smarty pants, go."

"The way to torture you is through your friends. Plus, they're hoping that I might slip up and give them some information, which is highly unlikely." Steve couldn't help but smile at her stubbornness. "So, it's two birds with one stone. Eventually, they're going to bring you in to watch a torture session go down, which is both stupid and smart on their part. Smart because if it were going to break you, that would be how; stupid because I know how you'll go off. You are an unknown. They just don't realize it. So, while they think they're rattling your cage, they're most likely giving you the keys to the lock. It just may take you a few times to figure out where the right key is." She shook again and he squeezed her closer. He gently toppled them over, so he could pull the blankets fully over the two of them. Steve hoped that between their body warmth and the thin blankets, they could warm her up. He was beginning to worry about her health.

"Can I ask you something personal?"

She opened her green eyes and looked into his bright blue ones, "By this point, I think we can ask each other whatever we want, ya Dork."

Steve sighed, "What's the deal with you, Pepper, and Tony? How did that happen anyway?"

Nat smiled broadly, "Clint owes me twenty bucks. He said you were too chicken to ask." Steve's cheeks flushed pink. "Pepper and I hooked up after she and Tony got together. We already clicked when I was undercover at SI when Tony was sick, so… Anyway, they had an open relationship. Tony said it wasn't fair since she liked girls as well, and to close that part of herself off was wrong. About six months after they'd got everything settled in their relationship, I was in Malibu and ran across her while I was working undercover at the same gala she was, and I was using the same alias as I did when I worked at SI. She caught me by myself, and I explained what was going on. Then I brought her in and used her as an employment reference to lure my target in. I got the info I needed much quicker with her help. Then well, one thing led to another and well let's just say we've been pretty happy on that front since then. Then Pepper talked to Tony, and he hadn't changed his mind about how he initially felt about me. Working with me as an Avenger gave him the warm and fuzzies, plus I made Pepper happy, so we tried it out for ourselves. Now, we're all together."

"Not that I mind the shortened version of that, but you made it seem way shorter than I think it really was," the soldier said with a mischievous spark in his smile.

Nat began to laugh and then grabbed her ribs in pain, "I didn't think you wanted all the lurid details."

Steve chuckled, "I'm afraid to ask."

"If you have any generalized questions, I can educate you. Don't be embarrassed," she countered.

He sighed and kissed her on the forehead, "Alright you, get comfortable. I know how you love to cuddle up, and you need some kip."

"You do, too." Steve squeezed her gently, being mindful of her ribs. "We should have another three hours and forty-two minutes before they come back for me." She reached for his hand to hold.

"You and Bucky. After I rescued him from Zola, he could keep time to the minute, too."

"It's useful when you're an assassin," Nat yawned and tucked her head under his chin. "Nite, Steve."

"Nite, Doll."

~.~

True to Natasha's word, three hours and forty-two minutes later, the guards came for her. They gassed the cell and ripped her right out of Steve's sleeping arms. After a few days, the new round of torture began. An hour after that, the door to their prison cell opened and was left that way, just as she had predicted. Steve followed the maze that was laid before him to find a pane of what he thought was glass separating them. She was hanging from the ceiling with her hands cuffed and chained from one hook and each of her feet cuffed to a short chain then to another hook in the floor. There was a man in a mask dressed all in black asking her questions in Russian. Steve stood there as she either refused to answer or he punched her after he didn't like her answer. He looked around the room for anything that he could use to break the glass. He tried beating on it, but all that did was make Nat's torture worse. The man stopped using his fists and began cutting her skin, not deeply enough for her to exsanguinate, just deep enough to hurt, making her cry out. Sometimes even deep enough for butterfly bandages.

When the man was done, Nat was brought into the cell, dripping wet, many times still bleeding.

There was a shower and toilet in the cell that was partially walled off. Steve had showered quickly in the cold water while he waited for them to bring him Natasha.

Steve was given the nonlethal first aid supplies, and he automatically went to cleaning her up, sometimes having to drag her into the shower to ensure the cuts were clean after she'd been unceremoniously dumped on the floor. She was given three days to recover, then they would begin again.

While Steve was out of their cell watching Natasha be tortured, it was cleaned up. The old bandages taken away, new bedding replaced, and if it'd been a particularly brutal "session," they were given better bedding and clothes to change into. Steve couldn't make sense of any of it. All he was left with were unanswered questions, which were seriously beginning to irritate him.

"Nat?" Steve asked. He glanced up to find her beginning to nod off. "Hey, Doll?"

"Hmm?" She barely opened her eyes.

He stared into her sleepy face for a few seconds before asking his question, "Why do they keep doing this?"

"They're trying to break you mentally. The screaming, the bleeding, whatever... it's all about breaking you."

He scooped some of her long red hair out of her face. "Then why are they doing it to you?"

.

"They're just trying to break me. No one ever has, unless I want them to think they have. I hope these people don't ever realize what I went through growing up just trying to survive. If they ever do, I'm in trouble." She smiled ever so slightly.

"You just hang on. We're gonna get out of here." He picked her up and carried her to their pallet as gently as he could. He climbed in behind her.

She snuggled up to him just like she had over the past two months and three days. She smiled against his chest and grabbed his hand, "I never had any doubt we would, Cap."