Natasha groaned, attempting to pull the blanket over her shoulder, but failed due to the body laying next to her. She was only partially asleep. It had been the first time in days that she had the ability to try and fall asleep, tucked into a warm bed in which to do so. The events of the past few days were fresh in her mind, lingering. Not only that, but what was to come next.
That, however, was not the troubles keeping her awake at the moment. Instead, it was Steve Rogers. His body laid next to hers, asleep but certainly not soundly. Various body parts of his were jabbed into hers- her small fame had little chance against in the twin bed. At that moment, she ducked a rolling shoulder that came her way.
Fury had made it very clear that, while the bad guys were at bay for now, they weren't safe in public just yet. In fact, Fury had just departed, leaving the remaining members of SHIELD scattered across DC to await further instruction. For the first time, Natasha was worried about being left in the dark. Not knowing what was next, or who was still left outside the walls of the dam where they were currently hiding.
Natasha received a strong kick to her calf, and her train of thought was then lost. She groaned, attempting to readjust the blankets yet again. She had elected to share a bed with Steve, purely because that was the pairing that made the most sense when it was determined that two of them would be sharing a bed. Everyone other than the four of them remained- Sam and Maria were asleep in another room down the hall, in separate beds.
Steves endless tossing an turning would have knocked her out of an airplane if given the chance, therefore a twin size bed did not take long. She fell to the floor with a yelp, taking part of the blankets with her. Steve remained asleep, and she sighed, pulling her legs free and allowing her skin to react to the cement floor. She pressed her foot to her bed mates back before he, too, fell mid roll.
" Steve, wake up" she muttered in an exhausted tone, " wake up!"
She heard him gasp and come to a halt against the bed frame. " What?" he asked, " what happened?" he reached over his right arm, but felt nothing other than empty space, " where are you?"
" Down here."
" Why?"
She felt his extended hand reaching in the dark for her. She grabbed on and was effortlessly pulled back onto the mattress, " because sometimes you forget that you're bigger than you used to be" he covered her again, " or you're making up for seventy years of sleeping in an ice cube."
He had moved over far enough that she had as much room as she was going to get as he balanced on the opposite side of the bed. " I'm so sorry" he muttered into his pillow.
Natasha settled in yet again, " at least you're sleeping" they both knew it was an improvement for him, "though I'm not sure if you feel like you are."
He quickly flipped to be laying on his side, back to Natasha, " I would hardly call it that."
She looked over it him, it was pitch black but she knew she was looking at him, " we can talk about it" she felt him sigh, " In know I come off as cold, but I can at least listen."
" It's not you at all" he said, " you're the closest person I have right now."
In the dark of the night, Natasha smiled. No one would ever know, but hearing that someone- especially Steve- had placed any trust in her. Especially given their conversation when driving to New Jersey, about not trusting someone he didn't know. However, considering the recent events, maybe his options for having someone to trust were limited.
" I don't want to say everything will work out" she continued, more wanting to coax him into opening up, " but we will figure out what to do next."
Steve's right leg began to twitch, causing the bed to tremble, " has Fury" he paused, out of fear of finding out the answer, " or anyone mentioned, or, have they said..."
She scooted closer to his body, " no one knows where he is , Steve" she completed the sentence so he wouldn't have to, " I wouldn't hide that information from you." Her contact with Fury since he left was limited at best, she couldn't even be certain if the information he was giving her was accurate.
" Maybe someone is hiding it form you, too."
" This whole thing, it blindsided everyone. No intel, nothing we had gave us any indication that Hyrdra was still developing, let alone Bucky.
Steve took a deep breath, " thank you for calling him Bucky" he heard enough awful descriptions in the past, " do you think we would be able to find him?"
Natasha sighed as though she was letting out the breath that he was holding in, her fingers lightly outlining the shoulder blade that was above where her head rested. He never asked questions, he just simply took charge and led everyone else, which was one of his strongest qualities. This was the weakest she had ever seen him, feeling him tremble beneath her touch.
" I don't know" she whispered, " we couldn't find him for years and its very likely he disappeared again. Especially if he broke away form Hydra..."
" I've got to get to him, Natasha" Steve announced, " maybe he didn't remember everything, but I could tell that he wasn't the bad guy anymore. Maybe he didn't go back to Hydra, maybe he's wandering around trying to figure out what he's suppose to do."
He wasn't necessarily right, and at the same time, he wasn't wrong either. She had no right to bring him down, even if she did adjust his reasoning for the sake of logic. And anything to get him back to sleep.
" He'll be harder to find if we don't know where to look" she felt as though she had just burst his balloon, " but, we can see if anything turns up."
" Thank you."
She light patted his upper arm, " try and get some rest. We'll figure something out."
For the first time since sharing a bed, Natasha felt him relax. Finally easing into a bed that he would refer to as a marshmallow. His body stayed still, breathing slowly evening out. She kept her hand on him, feeling the vibration when he spoke again.
" What if Bucky is dead?"
" He's not dead" she said, " it's not that easy."
With that assurance, Steve dozed off. Natasha soon followed.