A/N this will be a short story inspired by the Civil War Nat/Cap deleted scene where Nat mentions she visited her parents' graves, combined with my own little headcanon regarding Nat's origin. Hope you enjoy it.

Natasha was no fool; she had backed up a lot of SHIELD data from the Lemurian star- it's a good habit to get in to after all- but she had also retained a copy. She knew first-hand what it was to blindly follow the orders of an organisation; she had vowed never to do so again. And having looked through some of the data, she was deeply troubled. Suspicions grew in her mind, things she was loathe to consider for fear of their implications but her logical mind refused to let her turn a blind eye. And Nick was not picking up her calls, something she found to be particularly upsetting.

It was in this uneasy mind-set that she knocked softly on the door to Peggy Carter's room. She didn't want to disturb Steve, but she was his ride and she had questions that needed answers- answers she couldn't get here. She opened the door carefully, hearing coughing. "Steve." She said quietly, "I'm sorry, I need to head in to-"

"Natalia?" A voice rasped. The elderly Agent Carter had turned her head to look at Nat; her eyes wide in recognition and disbelief. She looked as if she'd seen a ghost. Nat felt a cold shock of adrenaline flash through her. She had grown up hearing the Red Room's stories about the formidable Agent Carter; the few times they had met had been deeply unsettling for her. "It's really you." Peggy said again, her voice stronger this time.

A sense of foreboding stirred in Nat's chest but she seamlessly pasted a smile onto her face. "Hello, Agent Carter, it's been a while."

"Nicholas must have got you out. I knew he'd make the right choice." It seemed Peggy murmured that more to herself than to anyone else and she had a proud smile on her face. Looking up at Nat again, she asked, "What about your sister, is Irena doing well?"

Nat's stomach had clenched into a cold ball. In the back of her mind, in the haze where snippets of deep covers and Red Room memories and something even older hunched down in the dark, something flickered like a candle poorly sheltered from the wind. She could feel the colour leaving her face. She couldn't speak, any words froze in her throat, kept silent by a sudden whirlwind of questions. She forced her mind to calm, thinking it through logically. Carter must have her confused with someone else; she knew that Agent Carter was battling with dementia these days.

Even so, her unease refused to settle. Agent Carter coughed suddenly, deep hacking coughs that took her breath away. Once she was breathing normally again, her eyes showed no recognition of Nat, instead finding Steve. They widened in joy. "Steve!" A smile broke like sunlight across her aged face, "You're alive! You came home!"

Steve took her hand and squeezed gently, "Of course, Peg. I couldn't leave my best girl, not when she owes me a dance." He smiled. Peggy was exhausted as she squeezed his hand back; her eyes were drooping shut. But that smile was still on her face.

Natasha was deep in thought as they drove back to the city. Breaking the uncomfortable silence, Steve asked, "Your name is Natalia?"

Natasha did not answer right away, although she could feel his eyes on her, waiting. "Once, a long time ago." Her handlers had called her 'Widow', to SHIELD she was Romanoff. Grief welled in her throat as her thoughts lingered on James, the last person to call her Natalia in almost twenty years.

"Why do you think Peggy called you Natalia?" Steve asked with genuine concern.

"I don't know." Nat snapped in reply, her fingers clenched around the steering wheel. Then she relented. "I'm sorry, Steve. I don't know" She said, her voice gentle this time. "A storm is coming, I can feel it. Whatever just happened is not the top priority now."

"You must have questions though?"

Natasha felt a hard edge of steel enter her voice as she replied, "Oh I have questions. And Nick had better have answers when I ask them."

Natasha remained sitting until she and Nick were the only two remaining in the room. She didn't hide the hostility in her eyes as she looked over to him. "You would have done the same." He repeated quietly.

She nodded. "I know." She paused, choosing her next words carefully. "I went with Steve to see Agent Carter." She watched closely as Nick's eyes narrowed by a fraction. "She knew me."

"Of course she knew you-" He tried to explain but Nat cut him off, her voice cracking like a whip.

"Don't." She shook her head, her voice quieting. "Just don't. She didn't know me. She recognised Natalia." She sighed internally as resignation flickered across Nick's face. "Right now we have a job to do. But when it's done, you and I are going to talk."

A/N I expect this story to have two more chapters, but in the meantime please let me know what you think so far.