There were pictures scattered all around the room – stacked on tables, hidden in drawers, and taped to bulletin boards. They were pictures of her and Steve, some from a distance, some just a blur, and some very intimate ones, personal ones, of private occasions.
Natasha felt the bile creep up her throat.
"Agent Romanoff, you look like you've seen a ghost," said the voice of a man, from behind.
"How did you get these?" she asked, attempting to mask her growing fear.
"Hydra has eyes everywhere, you of all people should know that," she could hear him smirk.
"What do you want Pierce?" she said his name like venom.
Three armed guards came out of nowhere, and pushed her down into the metal chair in the middle of the room. She didn't resist.
"Well," he said, taking a seat across from her, leaning back in the chair like this was some casual conversation, but she knew that it was anything but. "It has come to our attention that you are a threat to our business, and Rogers is a threat as well, but you two together – let's just say that's like mixing cesium and sulfur: boom."
"So kill me already," she replied.
"Can I ask you something Natasha?" he said, drawing out her first name.
"Can I say no?"
"Do you love him?"
"He is a good man, I trust-,"
"But do you love him?" he asked, something evil in his eyes. "These pictures," he started, one of his goons handing him a pile of photographs. "They say that you do," he said, showing her each picture.
One was her and him smiling at each other in her Corvette. Another was of them at dinner, he was dressed in a suit, her in a dress. There was one of her kissing him on the cheek, one of their silhouettes inside a window, and the last one… the worst one. She remembered that night clearly. They had just gotten home from a particularly tough mission. Natasha was nursing a gunshot wound that brushed her arm. Steve had just said I love you. She didn't say it back, instead, despite the pain in her arm, she pushed him against the wall and kissed him hard.
One thing led to another and, "These were private moments," Natasha stated angrily.
"Nothing is private these days," Pierce said. "Did you ever say it back?" he asked, and she knew what he was talking about, but she didn't answer. "I was right. People like us aren't capable of love, though a picture can be worth a hundred words. All you needed was three."
They then showed her a tablet with what seemed to be live video footage of Steve inside his apartment. "If you touch him I swear I'll kill you," she said through gritted teeth.
"Here's our one and only offer. We let you go, you say that the mission went well. You then go break up with Rogers, and never speak to him again. The slightest hint that you gave him a clue to what's really going on will lead to his termination, and yours. Do we have a deal?"
"What happens if I say no?"
"Then we take in Rogers, and see just how long it takes to break Captain America."
"So I just pack up my things and pretend that none of this happened. What happens after the next world crisis?"
"That's why you're sitting here, and not Captain America. Because you can be replaced," Pierce said.
She sat in her car for what seemed like hours before mustering up enough courage to get out, and knock on his door. He greeted her with a smile, which was just making this all the more difficult.
"How was the mission?" Steve asked, welcoming her inside the place that she once called home.
"It went fine," she said, refusing to look him in the eyes afraid she might break down.
"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing something was off about her.
"I can't do this anymore," she said, finally looking up at him.
"What are you talking about Nat?"
"You and me – we both new that this, whatever this was between us was never meant to last," she said, locking down her emotions, refused to falter. She just kept telling herself that she was doing this to save his life.
"That's not true. We may be different but-,"
"But nothing. It was fun while it lasted, but I can't keep living in this fantasy world."
"If you're going to leave," he said grabbing her by the shoulders forcing her to look at him, and see the pain in his eyes. "If you are going to leave then look me in the eyes and tell me what we had wasn't real. Tell me you don't love me, because you made me fall in love with you," he finished, his voice breaking.
Natasha put her hand on his cheek, rubbing her thumb against his chiseled jaw, feeling the stubble just starting to grow, wanting so badly to kiss him, but then she knew that she'd never be able to leave.
"Love is for children," she whispered, breaking from his grasp. "Goodbye Steve."
"Don't just walk away!" he shouted, as she made her way towards the door. "We can work on this. I—I can be better, I promise," he said painfully, but she didn't look back, she couldn't look back and see the hurt look on his face, the pain that she caused.
So instead, she walked out the door, fighting against every nerve in her body telling her to fix this. Holding back the tears, she ran into her car, and forced herself to drive away. She received a text minutes after leaving that said "Thank you for your service agent Romanoff, -AP"
Chucking her phone in the backseat, full of anger at that man who had taken something so good, and ruined it. She kept driving, hoping that if she kept driving somehow she would wake up next to Steve, and find out this was all some horrible nightmare.
But it wasn't a nightmare it was her life. And sometimes in life you need to let go of the ones you love, to keep them safe, even if they don't know it yet.