Hi guys! I hope you're doing ok! I just had to post this story, it's been sitting in my head for days since I had a dream about it so here it is.
Hope you'll enjoy it!
TS
"Where are you now Tasha?" Steve asked over the phone.
"Right now…" she winced. "I'm not very far from Stark Tower."
"You could stop by you know? I'm there and I'm free. We could, you know, pick things up from where we left them last week."
"Tempting…" she said seductively before she rearranged her hold on the bag on her shoulder as she was crossing one of the busiest streets of Manhattan.
"Before you had to run for that secret mission of yours you didn't want to tell me about…"
Natasha signed. "It's not like that. I'm a spy, or I was, Steve. Secrets will always have an important part in my life, it's how I've been raised, it's what I do. But I'll tell you about it tonight. I'll come by the tower and Tony better still have that bottle I gave him for his latest birthday…"
"So what? You want to drink your problems away? Your holiday was that bad? How was Philadelphia by the way?"
Steve knew that it hadn't been a holiday even though he had no idea what Natasha was doing outside of New York. Fury wasn't keeping tabs on them he had told them, but Steve didn't know if he could trust the former director of an intelligence agency specialized in manipulation. But it seemed to be fine with Nat, so it was fine with Steve. Nevertheless, her sudden decision to take a week off had surprised him.
"You know that it's always sunny in Philadelphia, so I can't complain about the weather. Nah, it wasn't too bad…"
The way she said it made Steve frown. He knew Natasha, had known her for years now and he could just tell she was lying. She was hurt; he could hear the tension and weariness in her voice. She never told him about her injuries unless they were critical and life threatening, which, unfortunately, had happened more times than he wanted to admit. But Natasha had always had her own agenda. Whether she was a SHIELD agent or an Avenger, she still did missions on the side. For Fury in the past, since she was a level 10 operative at SHIELD and for her own personal vendettas later. And Steve knew Natasha had made a lot of enemies during the years. Somehow, trouble always found her or she went to look for it.
"I can tell you're hurt Nat. Is it bad? And don't lie to spare me, I know you'll always saying less than you should."
"It's nothing, just a couple of bruises and cuts, maybe a sprained rib or two," she said. Steve sighed. A couple of bruises and cuts? That meant she had at least broken three of her ribs and might even have a concussion. She was able to walk at least… "I'll be fine," she said, as if reading his mind.
She sounded out of breath and it made Steve frown even more. Natasha had a killer body and stamina; she was the fittest of all the Avengers and could run for miles without breaking a sweat. She must be really hurt if the simple act of walking made her sound so out of it.
"Why don't you come to the tower now since you're near?" he asked and looked through one of the wide windows. He knew he couldn't see her, but she should be somewhere near the foot of the tower by now.
"I've got something to take care of first at HQ. And god, I need a shower."
"Stark has showers you know?" Steve laughed.
"Yes, but I desperately need it, so might as well do everything at HQ and be clean when I come see you guys. I'll be there by five."
"Alright, be careful."
She hung up on him before he could add anything else. Steve looked at his watch: it was 15:03 pm. Tony was delighted to know Nat would be spending the evening at the tower. After the fall of Ultron, things had been slow and everybody had pretty much gone their own ways. Steve would be on Bucky's trail if Natasha hadn't convinced him to stay for a few weeks, promising him she'd join him in his hunt after a month or two of just chilling. But by the looks of it, Natasha wasn't planning on chilling herself, her 'holiday' just proved that. Steve sighed: the moment he thought he knew her, she did something that proved him how wrong he was.
Steve wasn't usually worried about the redhead with whom he had been spending too much time lately. He knew perfectly well that Natasha could take care of herself. Hell, she'd probably kick his ass for thinking she needed his help! But he also knew that she wasn't all mighty. He couldn't see all her scars because most of them littered her soul. She had told him things she hadn't even told Clint (although Steve wondered how close their knowledge of Natasha was) but he knew she had barely scratched the surface. He knew she was a little younger than he was, they had something around ten years difference. He had been surprised at first to learn she was born in the late 30s and frustrated because of all the jokes she made about ice and him being an old man. But he wasn't mad anymore because now he could also tease her about that.
Steve waited patiently for Natasha. Well, patiently was maybe too strong since he had to entertain Tony during that entire time. At five o'clock, nothing happened. It was unlike Nat to be late. She was always on time anywhere as if she had some sort of clocking mechanism that constantly reminded her of the time. She was also very strict with others when it came to punctuality. But Steve didn't worry: she might have been held at HQ. After half an hour though, he called her cell. Nothing. He left her messages. After an hour, he called HQ, or more precisely, Falcon who he knew was there.
Steve grew worried when Falcon told him that Nat had left in a hurry. Tony offered to go and see and so both men went there. Things were messy at HQ. Wanda and Vision had been training the day before and their powers had caused some damage. It was nothing serious but it was enough to force people to repair.
"So you said you saw Nat?" Steve asked Sam when they arrived.
"Yeah. She went straight to her quarters, didn't even look at the rubble. She didn't look so good," Sam answered and leaned on the broom he was holding. "Man, I don't even know why I'm the one doing the cleaning!" Tony patted him on the back.
"What do you mean she didn't look good?" Steve asked, more concerned by the intel than the piles of rubble behind him and the huge hole in the wall separating the gym and the cafeteria.
"Well she didn't exactly look like hell, but I could tell she was in a lot of pain." Everyone knew Sam had been a medic, so Tony and Steve listened carefully when Sam lowered his tone. "She had a nasty cut on her forehead for starters, five stitches that she did herself by the looks of it. I'm not saying it was sloppy, well it kind of was, which is weird for Nat because…"
"She's done it dozens of times," Steve finished. "Which means either she was in a rush or she wasn't paying too much attention. And of course, she didn't go to a hospital…" Steve cursed under his breath. He understood Nat's profound dislike of hospitals and drugs and how proud she was. He knew she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. But he also knew how stubborn she was and that she thought she could survive anything, that her wounds were nothing compared to what she had seen in her life. She had been used to do everything on her own and it was still difficult to allow others to help. Being so open with Steve was a first (if you don't count Ivan or Clint). "What else?"
"She was pale and her makeup was starting to fade, probably had a bruise on her chin. Her lip was split and she didn't move her left arm at all. She also seemed to avoid moving in general, so I'd say she either broke or sprained her ribs. She hadn't taken painkillers or they wore off, because she was also squeezing her jaw shut and barely said a word to me. She also came in with a bag, the kind you take out for a long mission."
"And she quickly left?"
"Yep. I didn't even notice she was gone at first until I saw her leave on the security footage during replay because yes, I'm also on surveillance duty. Damn, what did I do to piss Hill off?"
Steve pondered on that. "We should check the feed in her quarters' cameras…"
"You know she deactivated them," Tony reminded him.
"All of them?"
"Not the one in the entrance of her apartment. The rest has either been cut or destroyed. That woman has a nasty swing when it comes to blades, I'm telling you!" Tony said, putting his sunglasses back on, despite the fact that they were still in the building.
They looked at the footage of her apartment entrance, but it just showed them nothing since she didn't stop in there and went straight for her bedroom. "If only we could enter her quarters… see if she left something…" Tony said, thinking hard about other ways to know the Russian's whereabouts. Steve sighed, as if about to reveal something he hoped to keep hidden.
"We can enter. I know her password," Steve said as they were walking in the corridor leading to the living quarters. But Tony stepped dead in his tracks as he heard Cap.
"You and Red? Really?"
Steve turned to him.
"Is that really so surprising? And it's not like we're together. We've just been…"
"Sleeping together? Committed relationship or friends with benefits, I don't care. Was it a one night stand? Was she drunk?"
Steve frowned at Tony's suddenly serious tone. "What? No! It wasn't a onetime thing. But we haven't really talked about it… and no, she wasn't drunk."
"Ah, damn! I bet against Rodey that she had a thing going on with Hill…"
"You bet on us?" Steve showed Tony his ashamed and bashful look.
"Of course! I bet on everyone! It's so much fun! I have to keep myself busy while we're not saving the world!"
Steve started walking again and didn't say a single word until they were in front of Natasha's quarters. As he typed the code and hid it so Tony couldn't see, his cheeks grew steadily redder of embarrassment, both because of their previous conversation and what he was currently doing. He never thought he'd have to break in the quarters of his girlfriend? Partner? Lover?
Tony casually leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed on his chest and his sunglasses still on his nose. He was so close, Steve could smell his cologne. "Do you have any idea how many Cold War jokes I'll be able to pull out now?"
"Shut up, Stark."
The door opened and they entered. Natasha's quarters were as simply as they could be. No decorations, just the bare necessities. Tony was certain she hid a lot of weapons in her rooms so for once, he didn't pry. But he was surprised though to see a plate on the kitchen floor next to a bowl of water. The animal transportation cage and liter he found next to the hall and the occasional feathers and soft balls in the living room caught him off guard.
"Does she have a…"
"A cat. I suppose that's why she had to come back to HQ since she was gone for a whole week," Steve answered. He saw the living room window slightly open, enough to let a cat go through.
"But neither is here. Maybe she went looking for it?" Cap said.
They took a look around. The only changes from the last time Steve had been there were in the bed room. A bag was lying on the bed, a few clothes next to it. Tony looked through the stuff in the bag as Steve checked the bathroom. After a few seconds, he came back to Tony, holding rolls of dirty bandages. "Sam was right, she is hurt." He looked more closely at the bloody white strings. "Had them for the whole day I'd say before she could change them." He turned to Tony. "You've got anything?"
Tony started taking things out of the bag and threw them unceremoniously on the bed. "Spare clothes, passport and other documents, a gun and a half-empty mag, a train ticket to Philadelphia and…" He tossed the last object which landed with a soft thud on the blank covers. "An empty bottle of vodka. For disinfecting or booze. Knowing Red, probably both."
Tony turned to Cap. "What now?"
"Maybe we can look at the surveillance footage from outside her window, to see when the cat went out…" As it turned out, Nat's black cat had left shortly after the huge mess Wanda and Vision made. It had probably been afraid of the noise and all the commotion. Steve knew that cat and Nat had told him that it used to be on its own, that it wouldn't just disappear after a week: she had been gone for more than that at times and she had still found her pet waiting for her back at home. They saw the cat disappear in the woods around the HQ, in the vague direction of New York. Natasha appeared on the footage; she managed to find the animal's trail and followed it.
"Ok, it's like searching for a needle in a haystack. How are we going to find them?" Tony asked as they made their way back to New York in one of his fancy cars.
"I think I know where she's headed. She has an apartment in New York, although she only uses it as a safe house now," Steve explained before giving Tony the address. Steve knew that the place they were going was only one of Natasha's many safe houses. He knew she had at least three in NY, one in DC and one in Philadelphia too, that's where she probably was during her 'holiday'. He also knew she had safe houses all around the world, not just on the East Cost of the United States. But he knew she hadn't as many as she had when she was a spy and since her identity had been revealed to the public.
Somehow, knowing that she was probably at her safe house took down a notch in Steve's worry. Natasha's safe houses were nothing to be laughing at: fully equipped for survival, had lots of weapons, passports and cash but also booby traps or safe codes, locks and anything that would prevent anyone besides her from entering. If that person managed to discover the safe house in the first place, that is.
They arrived at her apartment in Midtown Manhattan, a three blocks building with miscellaneous neighbors and all kind of noises. Steve showed Tony where he could park his car, the place where Natasha had parked her black Corvette when she still lived there. Then, they climbed the steps to the fourth floor and found the apartment 9B. But they didn't need to knock, the door was ajar. Tony put on one of his Iron Man gloves and Steve got in a stance fight. He regretted not taking his shield with him.
Natasha's phone was lying in the entrance of the apartment. "Now we know why she didn't answer," Tony said as he picked it up before entering.
Everything in the apartment had been torn apart. Knife slashes could be seen on the walls and couch, a couple of blades was stuck in a wooden table. Bullet holes littered one wall and glass was fractured on the floor. A lamp had been knocked over along with frames holding long forgotten photos. The bulb above their head was destroyed and so was the window that gave on the street, not on the fire escape. It looked as if someone had fallen through, maybe had jumped or been pushed. Strings of hair and shreds of fabric could be also found on the floor. But what unsettled Steve and Tony was the amount of blood. It had completely soaked the carpet and wooden planks. The familiar copper stench rose in the air, it was so powerful it almost made the two men gag.
Loud footsteps could suddenly be heard behind them and both men hid on either side of the doorframe, ready to jump the stranger. "Oh shit! I'm too late!" a gruff voice said.
Tony frowned. "Logan?" Steve and Tony slowly came out of their hiding places, standing in front of Wolverine himself. Or at least, his civilian self. His beard and hair were still as wild as usual. "What are you doing here?" Steve asked. Both Avengers knew Logan and had met him a couple of times.
"I came to warn Nat," he said, his eyes quickly assessing the mess in the apartment. "She and I go back a ways and, let's just say we've had some common enemies. They came after me but ran before I could deal with them all. So I figured that they might come after her."
"Common enemies?" Steve frowned.
"It's a long story but when I met Nat, she was really young. Something around ten and she and this Ivan were in a hell of a lot trouble. Anyway, I took care of the bad guys back in the day, but some things never die, do they?"
Tony then knelt next to the couch and lifted a string of hair to show it to the two other men. "Do those common enemies have long blonde hair?"
It was Logan's turn to frown and he took a closer look at the damage in the apartment, mostly the living room. "Something's wrong. Maybe a third party is involved." He approached the broken window and peeked through. A pool of blood could be seen on the pavement of the small alley along with broken glass, but there was no body.
"Let's find Nat," Steve said.
"You think she's still there?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, also we haven't checked the rest of the apartment yet."
And just as he was saying that, something shuffled in the bedroom, followed by quick and light steps. "Wait, what was that?" Tony asked, putting his glove back on. Steve was already walking in the corridor leading to the bedroom, followed closely by Logan who remained calm but his eyes showed he was about to punch something. Or someone. With a sigh, Tony followed.
"Hold on," Steve said as he lifted his arm in the air in front of the others. It resulted in Tony bumping into Logan; the latter turned towards Iron Man, a pissed look in his eyes. To which Tony simply smiled innocently and tried to make himself as small as possible. Steve then knelt in front of another pool of blood, but this one was smeared. On the left side, it seemed as if someone had walked into the blood and dragged their leg towards the bathroom, not the bedroom. On the right side, it seemed as if a cat had stepped in it and left paw marks all over the floor. Steve knew that the door, also ajar, just on their right led to the bathroom which was connected to the bedroom.
He rose to his feet and slowly entered the bathroom. There was even more blood there. He hoped it wasn't all Natasha's, hell he wished none of it was Natasha's! He called her name for the first time since they entered her place. Somehow, he hadn't been able to do that before. He suddenly completely forgot to check if her attackers were still there and quickly looked through the stuff in the room. The mirror above the sink was shattered; some blood covered the edge of the sink and Steve couldn't tell if it was because someone's head had been smashed on it or if some bloody hand had touched it.
The bleeding was darker in front of the counter where all the cosmetics stood. But there weren't that much of them, just the basic kit for cover makeup and some cleaning vials. Steve noticed that the stash of bandages in a cupboard was missing, just like the gun Nat hid behind it (he had found it someday when he was looking for toothpaste). The small bag that usually held all sorts of pills was torn open on the floor, most of the pills smashed and covered in blood and dust. The towels had been thrown in the shower, all were clean. One of the pieces of the broken mirror was covered in blood as if it had been extracted from a body. Steve's throat tightened and he entered the bedroom.
He followed the blood trail. Somehow, the bedroom was spared, except for the floor. The blood suddenly stopped in the middle of the room and nothing could tell Steve where Natasha had went. Because he was certain she was still alive and that she had managed to reach her safe house.
"Where did she go?" Tony asked, clearly following his reasoning or hoping all the same.
"This apartment is just for decoration," Steve explained. "Her safe house is located somewhere else, underneath us I'd say. But Nat's never shown it to me. I don't know where the entrance is. If she's the one who bled here, she probably used a towel to avoiding tipping whoever came after her…"
"Which means there could still be hostiles here," Logan finished and looked around the room as if daring the light of the late afternoon to come and get him. Suddenly, they heard shuffling near the bed, or rather under it. Steve got to his knees and looked. He was met by two green eyes with a slit vertical pupil. Straightening up, he scratched the floor in front of him.
"Come on Liho, you can come out. It's Steve. We won't hurt you."
Tony rolled his eyes and was about to say something sarcastic when a black head appeared from under the bed, followed by the lithe body of a cat. A few dust balls hung to its perfectly healthy and short fur and its paws were covered in blood. It stopped at the foot of the bed and eyed the three men carefully before spitting and hissing when Tony stepped towards it. The billionaire froze and Steve extended his hand towards the frightened animal instead. He kept talking softly and after a few seconds, the cat slowly came to him and sniffed his hand. Then it pressed its head under his palm and purred.
"Good girl, that's right Liho, we're not here to hurt you," Steve said as he stroked the cat's head. It didn't have a collar and was entirely black. "Now, do you know where Natasha is?"
This time, Tony sighed. "Oh come on! It's just a cat! There's no way it'll…"
Liho skittered to the side and entered a closet. At the bottom of it, there was a small carpet and the cat started scratching it until Steve caught it. He put the cat in Logan's arms and lifted the carpet. A secret hatch could be found. It previously required a key but was now open. A metal spiraling stairwell could be seen under it. With a nod, Steve went down, followed by his friends.
The safe house was composed of two or three rooms. The one they landed in with the staircase was as small as a broom closet. Steve pushed the only door open and found himself in a corridor. To the left was what looked like a living room/kitchen/bedroom, on the right was a bathroom or what resembled it most. In front of him sat Natasha.
She was slumped against the back wall, only the upper half of her back touching it. She had a glock in her right hand; the left was pressed against her right shoulder which was entirely red. Her left leg was wrapped in bandages around the thigh and in a towel around her foot. A panoply of weapons could be found next to her, among them a shotgun, two pistols, spare magazines and even a grenade. She lifted her head slightly, as if that mere movement caused her pain and smiled when she saw Steve running to her.
"Took you long enough," she said. Her usually pearly white teeth were crimson and a string of red escaped her lips; it rolled next to her chin and down her cleavage.
"Oh my god, Tasha!" Steve said, immediately kneeling next to her. He wasn't a doctor, but he had received the basic medical training in the army so he pressed two fingers against her neck.
She frowned and growled "I'm alive, Rogers." He smiled back at her.
"Yes, but your heartbeat is too weak." He turned to Tony who had just passed the door. "We need to get her out of here and fast!" he yelled. Then Logan entered and put the cat down because it started clawing him as soon as it saw Natasha. Liho brushed her head against the spy's hand after she had dropped the glock, feeling safe now that backup had arrived.
Steve immediately assessed her injuries while Natasha acknowledged Tony and Logan's presence. All the injuries Sam had described were there, even the bruise on her chin that was now particularly visible and was a nasty shade of dark purple. Her thigh had stopped bleeding. The towel was only wrapped around her foot to prevent her from leaving bloody footsteps, that's how they couldn't find the entrance to the safe house. She had a few scratches but the most alarming was the wound on her right shoulder. Steve gently brushed her trembling red hand away and quickly looked at the wound before pressing his hands on it since it was still bleeding. Natasha winced under the sudden pressure and her eyes rolled in the back of her head.
"Hey, stay with me Tash'!" Steve said. Her eyes fluttered open after a while.
"I'm still here," she whispered but kept her eyes closed.
"Ok, then open your eyes, that's it. Stay awake, we're getting you out of here." He turned to Logan and Tony. "Hospital would be the best option, but you know how she hates them. Besides, those guys could still be after her."
"Stark Tower it is. I'll call Banner. He should be around to help," Tony said before taking out his phone. Steve nodded before turning back to Natasha. Her skin was too clammy for his liking and her face was really pale. He had to keep her talking.
"Any other injuries I should be aware of when I lift you up?" he asked.
She shook her head. "You wanted someone with shared life experience… now I know how it feels to be stuck for a long time… although a couple hours is nothing…compared to seventy years…"
"Yeah, well don't forget how much more bones you broke than me. How many? Sixty-three?"
"Sixty-six, I broke three ribs in Philadelphia." She pressed her hand on her left side, under her breast to show him where her broken ribs were. After that, he lifted her up and cursed himself for making her suffer more. They quickly left the safe house and locked it when Natasha insisted no one could find it. Tony promised to clean her apartment later and they got into his car. Natasha lay in the back with Steve still applying pressure on her shoulder. She told him that a broken mirror shard did it to her. Logan, with Liho in his arms, sat in the passenger seat and Tony drove, breaking the speed limit at least three times.
They quickly reached the Tower and Banner was already waiting there. He had disappeared right after Ultron was defeated and his relationship with the redheaded agent had stopped before it even began. But he had come back a few days ago, finally managing to control the Hulk.
When Steve lowered Natasha on the bed in the medroom on the highest floor, they all left the doctor alone. Natasha had passed out in the car and Banner started to work, occasionally asking Pepper to help him. Tony's girl had just come from a business trip to LA ten minutes before the group arrived. Banner had briefed her about what happened and she had agreed to help him. She gave him medical tools when he asked, set up an IV, cleaned Natasha crimson skin before the bandages were applied.
When it was over, Banner stepped out after taking his gloves off. They could see Natasha through the glass, but thought it would be better to let her rest before pestering her about what happened. "She should be better in a few days. Her ability to heal quickly has kicked in, so she won't have to spend the whole week in bed, but she cannot work out nor do any exercise for at least two weeks. The cut in her shoulder and chest (Steve hadn't noticed it was actually more above her chest than shoulder) didn't do much damage, although she will have a scar. She has three broken ribs; those will take time to heal. The bullet wound in her thigh hit a vein, but she didn't lose took much blood so there won't be permanent damage. Although, I don't want her to walk on that leg for at least three days. She has a concussion; I left Pepper notes with the different symptoms to look for if that should get worse. The bruise on her chin will heal, just like the cut on her forehead, I corrected the stitches. Her split lip should be gone in a couple of days and the cut on her arm that she had for the last three days is also stitched close. She really needs to stay put for two weeks and even then, I would suggest she does only light training for two more weeks." Banner only breathed when he was done talking.
"You know Nat is not exactly the sitting type gal," Logan said.
"I know, that's why I'm telling you this, because I know she won't listen. Keep her safe and call me if things go really bad. I'll check up on her in two weeks." Then Banner left. As soon as he was gone, the team sighed. They all looked up to the room where was Natasha, peacefully sleeping in a medical bed. They suddenly saw a small black silhouette in front of her door. Two paws were pressed against the glass and Steve opened the door just enough to let Liho in. Once inside, she jumped on Natasha's bed and nestled in a ball against her right side, where all her ribs were intact.
Natasha only woke up the next morning. Banner had allowed her to be transported to the living area as long as she didn't move too much. So Steve carried her bridal style to the couch where she spend the rest of the day telling her friends how she met Logan back in 1942 or something like that.
Tony was once again surprised, this time because he didn't know she was that old. Natasha told him that she remained young because of the reduced aging the Red Room had done to her, among other things.
"Am I the only one here who has lived less than half a century?" he asked when Pepper went to the kitchen to make some pancakes for Natasha since she skipped breakfast.
"Well, technically, Liho is quite young, I think," Nat said as she stroked her cat, still nestled against her on the right whereas Steve was on her left, his arm protectful around her small frame but without hurting her.
"I would never have guessed that Red and Spangles had a thing going on, did you know?" Tony asked Pepper, turning to see her in the kitchen. Pepper just shrugged. "Because I was certain Red and Hill were sneaking out of meetings together," he said, his attention back on Natasha.
"What tells you I'm not? I could be bi, for all you know…"
Steve frowned and Natasha laughed at that, only to wince shortly after, holding her ribs. In the end, she told them what had happened in her former apartment, that a certain Kate, nicknamed Fatale, came after her. They had worked together before but Nat never truely trusted her. They both were excellent spies and so they had fought hard and for a long time, but eventually Natasha had pushed Kate through the window. Someone else must have been involved if her dislocated body wasn't on the pavement when Steve and Tony arrived. Logan stayed for lunch but left soon after, promising Natasha to get to the bottom of this. The redheaded agent spend the next two weeks in the Tower, like promised and under the watchful eyes of Steve who was always there to prevent her from exercising before Banner told so. The training with the new Avengers came right on time and Natasha, although she wasn't allowed to do much, was delighted to finally do something.