Natasha's scream echoed down the hallway of the Avengers tower and inside the mind of Steve Rogers, causing him to leap from his bed and run three doors down to Natasha's room before he was even fully aware of being awake. It had been three months since the Romanoff Revolution and Natasha's return from Wakanda after being sent away to heal from the wounds inflicted by Everett Ross. Natasha's recovery had been miraculously quick thanks to Steve's blood donation, but the super serum combined with Wanda's power had caused unforeseen side effects. Steve and Natasha's minds and emotions were now intimately connected and it was taking some getting used to.

Steve opened the door to Natasha's room quickly scanned for danger, but found nothing. He sighed in relief, she was just having another nightmare. He watched her with compassion as she tossed and turned, her face crumpled in fear, sweat making her hair stick to her face. Waking her from these dreams had proven difficult. Natasha's Red Room training had conditioned her to awaken rather violently, which Steve had found out the hard way. They had woken the whole tower once, Steve struggling to remove her hands from his throat before she woke up enough to realize it was him. The teasing afterwards had been merciless and suggestive. Steve blushed just thinking about it. Shaking or calling out to her was out of the question, waking her from within the dream was gentler, and their connection allowed only him to do it.

Kneeling by her bed Steve draped an arm over her gently and closed his eyes to concentrate. When he opened them he looked around to take in his new surroundings. Natasha's dreamscape was constantly changing, sometimes she was in Russia, sometimes the Avengers tower, but it never appeared in exactly the same way. This time he found himself in a rundown castle. He frowned, trying to place where he was. Hearing Natasha cry out, he ran to her, she was on her side on the stone floor, pain etched into her face, lying at the feet of Everett Ross. He kicked her in the stomach, doubling her over. Ross began to speak, and Steve heard the words that had haunted Natasha for weeks.

This is your place in the world, curled up in defeat. The pain will burn away your debts.

Natasha shuddered, seeming unable to move. Ross leaned in closer to whisper words that Steve had overheard in Natasha's dreams many times before, You failed. Steve will die because of you.

"Steve…" Natasha croaked, stress making her sweat, tears streaming silently down her face.

Ross nodded with a smile, "He will join you soon…" Raising his hand, Ross held up a small controller like the one he had used on her back at the military base after her capture. Natasha blanched at the sight of it, her breathing spiking in terror.

Steve flew across the floor to reach her, this was where the dream always turned ugly. Natasha's eyes were wide in dream induced terror, Steve had never seen her this way awake, not even when she had experienced this nightmare in the waking world. Natasha always appeared calm and in charge, which had made experiencing her emotions first hand a real shock for Steve.

"You feel this all the time but you hide it? Isn't it exhausting?" He asked her once. Natasha had smirked at him to hide her embarrassment, "I only act like I know everything Rogers." After a moment she had frowned, thoughtful, and then shrugged.

"It's what I was trained to do."

Here in her dream, none of her training helped her. She was captive to her own mind, terror showing clearly across her face. He skidded on his knees in front of her and took her in his arms. Natasha looked shocked when she saw him, but as her eyes flickered to Ross the fear returned. Steve shook his head and took her face in his hands, she was the only thing in this dreamscape that was solid to him. "Natasha, look at me, I want you to take a deep breath and tell me, what color are my eyes?" Natasha looked at him, and after a moment took a shuddering breath, faint recognition showing on her face, "Blue,' she said softly, "They're blue." Steve smiled, "Can you feel me with you?" Natasha thought for a moment, then nodded, her hand finding his. Without letting go of her Steve swung at Ross, his fist passing through him like a ghost. Steve turned back to her, "What does that mean?" Understanding and relief sparked in her eyes, "I'm dreaming." Natasha's eyes snapped open, and Steve sat up and looked at her in the dim lighting.

She pushed herself upright, a flicker of residual fear crossing her features. Steve watched as her expression quickly resumed its usual calm expression. Natasha took deliberate breaths to slow her heart rate, She put her face in her hands with a sigh and muttered, "I'm sorry for waking you again." She wiped the sweat off her forehead.

Steve smiled a tired smile, sitting on the edge of her bed and squeezing her hand, "But look how quickly you realized it was a dream this time!"

Natasha nodded and looked up at him, "It does help when you make me focus like that. I just wish I could get these dreams to stop."

Steve pushed her hair out of her eyes, "Soon you won't need me to show you you're dreaming. You will be a lucid dreamer like me and wake up whenever you want." He softened as he felt her discouragement, "Not a lot of time has passed since your capture, don't be so hard on yourself."

"Still, it isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I'm not sure why that scene wants to repeat itself in my head."

Steve felt her mind flicker to other, darker memories and then snap back to the present with a force of will. He touched her chin, and her eyes flickered up to his reluctantly, "You ok?"

Natasha shrugged and nodded quickly, trying to brush it aside, but Steve could hear her thoughts, could sense her emotions. He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. She stiffened, then relaxed. "I'm fine, I'm not going anywhere," he whispered into her hair, "You protected me, and I'll protect you." Natasha gave a shuddering sigh. Having him know her every thought was unnerving. She was sure she would never get used to it.

In the days following her return to the Avengers Tower Natasha and Steve had spent long nights on the roof of the tower, their favorite place, watching the city lit up with life and asking questions to help sort out their new connection.

Steve had found that he could feel the motion of Natasha's mind, but could only read her thoughts if she was thinking about him specifically. He had tried to describe it to her one night, "It feels a lot like simply being good at reading expressions to learn about what's going on inside someone's head, only I can do it with you even when you keep your face blank. I don't know what specifically you are thinking about, but I know when you're thinking about your past, or planning something, or just letting your mind wander. I know when you're happy or sad, angry or disappointed." He had glanced up at her then, and looked carefully into her calm stare, "I know that this revelation is terrifying you right now… I'm sorry."

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows and stared at her hands, "Don't be sorry. I'm just… processing. I'm a spy, and this new ability means no more secrets, not from you. I don't know how to feel about it."

He looked at her, wishing he could do something. Her red hair fell in a curtain across her face, her green eyes still staring thoughtfully into her hands. A cool night breeze made her soft curls flutter, and he could suddenly smell her perfume. His stomach did a funny jolt. She was so beautiful.

Natasha looked up at him suddenly, a slow mischievous smile crossing her face.

Steve stared at her, wide eyed, "What?"

She grinned, "I've never experienced my effect on people first hand before, until now." She leaned towards him, teasing, and Steve made to steal a kiss, but Natasha had leaned back again with a quick flutter of nerves that she quickly pushed away. She flashed him a smile, "Here's a secret I'll share, I don't wear perfume. What you smell is my shampoo." She winked at him and pushed him playfully with her foot.

Steve blushed and laughed, "Zero privacy of thought. Lovely. Well, I do like how you smell, whatever you use." He thought for a moment, "Nat, how did you shut me out when I was trying to find you in Wakanda?"

"What?"

"You shut me out. I would try to talk with you, back before Wanda told me it would drive you insane-"

"Yeah thanks for that by the way."

"My pleasure. But you shut me out and I couldn't sense you until you fell asleep and the walls came down."

Natasha put her chin in her hand, thoughtful. "I didn't know I was doing anything special. I guess I was just doing what I always do whenever I can't focus, I just cut off everything except the task at hand. I shut every emotion out. The only downside to doing that is that I always have to deal with the emotions later. Do you think it would work for keeping my thoughts to myself?"

"Let's try it!" Steve got up and started pacing excitedly. Natasha got up and stopped him, taking his hand in hers.

"Wait. I don't know if I want to."

"What? Why?"

She played with his fingers, "As much as it sucks not to have privacy in my mind, I don't think blocking you out is fair… And it's not like you hear every thought. I could be fantasizing about Tony and all you would know was how I felt about the fantasy."

Steve looked at her suspiciously, "You fantasize about Tony?" She looked up at him quickly, feeling how his heart sank, "No!" She shuddered, "No. I only meant that my specific thoughts are still mine. And if I cut off my emotions from you, I'll have to do it 24/7, or else it will be super suspicious when one day I cut you off from them. Maybe being open is just better."

Steve looked down at her and shook his head, "Nat, there are going to be things that you want to keep to yourself. I don't ever want you to feel that this connection is oppressive, or that it makes your life unpleasant. If you have the ability to shut me out, I think you should learn how it works."

"But Steve, can you shut me out?"

"I don't think so, my version feels like a walkie talkie. I can talk to and hear you if you think about me specifically, and I feel what you feel."

"Mine works the same, I can only hear you when you think about me. It's interesting to feel the emotions of a guy.."

Steve raised his eyebrow at that but wanted to stay on track, "Then it's only fair, I have mind motion skills and you don't, and you have blocking skills that I don't. You need to practice. I want you to be safe in your own head."

She had smiled at him sadly, "Steve, that hasn't happened since the day I graduated from the Red Room."

Holding her now as she calmed, he wished she could build a wall to keep out these dreams, but that simply wasn't how her gift worked. Steve bent and kissed her forehead, "Ok, I'm going to go back now."

Natasha caught his hand, "No stay." She blinked up at him, "Please? Just until I fall asleep?" He could feel a tremor of anxiety about the dream returning, and the comfort his presence would be. She looked up at him, knowing he felt her anxiety, "She grimaced, "You never knew I was such a wimp before all this did you?" He smiled, and Natasha felt his warm response.

"Move over," he said, pushing her playfully, and climbed under the covers with her. She wrapped her arms around him, her cheek pressed against his chest and sighed. Only at night after she woke from a nightmare did she allow herself to be this affectionate. Steve had struggled to understand her distance, and he suspected that she was already withholding her feelings from him, even if she wasn't fully aware of it. She needed time to sort out her thoughts without interruption, and he intended to give it to her. For now, he enjoyed her closeness.

Natasha tilted her head up to him pointedly, and he kissed her, making his whole body warm, butterflies erupting in his stomach. Natasha laughed, burying her head in his shirt again.

"Don't laugh at me!"

"I'm not! I just love your response to my kisses." She mumbled against his chest, "They're encouraging." She smiled and gave him a squeeze that Steve returned, kissing the top of her head. As he ran his hand over her hair and down her back, Natasha's breathing grew gradually slower and deeper, until she drifted off to sleep. As Steve looked down at her, his heart seemed to swell. He was the one she trusted to have her back, to be with her as she slept. She had chosen to trust him; the gravity and weight of her choice made him stand taller. He was fiercely determined to never make her regret that decision. Steve pressed Natasha closer for a moment, relishing the silence of her thoughts and feelings that sleep brought so that he might examine his own. "You will always be safe with me," he whispered into her hair, "No matter what."