Skye followed Steve and the others into the quinjet, still not entirely certain she believed what was happening. She was going into the field with the Avengers - or, more accurately, two Avengers and a STRIKE operative - and not just any Avengers but the Black Widow herself and Captain America, who also just happened to be her soulmate.

Jemma would freak when Skye told her about this.

"Off to Ternopil," Rumlow said as he slid into the pilot's seat.

"We've got this, Steve," The Black Widow slid into the seat next to his. "Just a short hop, won't take long."

"I'll fly back," Steve said, and it wasn't an offer.

"Absolutely," Black Widow said.

Steve gestured Skye to a seat, and sat next to her.

"What's that about?" she asked.

"I've been learning to fly," Steve said. "In between missions. I've got the minimum hours, but that's it."

"You mean you couldn't?" Skye stared at him. "But - the Valkyrie -"

"It's not that hard to put a plane into a crash dive," Steve said. "Actually getting it into the air and keeping it on course - that's the challenge. But between you and me -" he lowered his voice and leaned in closer "- I think Nat's giving us a chance to talk."

Skye didn't understand why that needed a lowered voice, but she accepted that Steve knew the Black Widow better than she did. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Will you tell me more about yourself?"

"Like I said, there's not much to tell."

"You said you hacked into SHIELD. Why?"

"Because it was there?"

"SHIELD being the Mount Everest of secret organizations?"

Skye didn't know why she was surprised that he got the reference. Mallory had climbed Everest in the '20s, Steve would surely have heard his famous response at some point.

"They had the secret that mattered the most. And the only chance I might have at getting it was to get inside."

"You set out to betray SHIELD?"

"No, no - I swear." Skye reached out without thinking, resting her hand on Steve's forearm. "Not that kind of secret."

"Then what kind of secret?"

"Who I am." Put that way, Skye reflected, it sounded dramatic. She blew out a breath and continued, "You don't know what it's like not to know your parents, your family, even your name. I wanted to find out. I had to find out."

Steve rested his free hand over hers, and only then did she realize she hadn't moved her hand from his forearm.

"In two years of searching, all I could find was one document, one page, a letter from the orphanage with all but about six words redacted. By SHIELD."

"Fury and his damned secrets," Steve muttered.

"All of SHIELD and their damned secrets," Skye corrected. "It's why I joined the Rising Tide, because information should be free - my own name being part of what I wanted to find."

"And you did," Steve said. "You told me your name earlier."

Skye thanked him with a smile. Even though it wasn't likely either Rumlow or the Black Widow could hear them, still he hadn't said her name aloud.

"After I got into SHIELD and realized that some secrets need to be kept. DC was able to find out a little bit more - that I was found in Hunan Province in China by a SHIELD team, who eventually took me to St. Agnes Orphanage in New York."

"They gave you that name," Steve guessed.

"And as soon as I could, I erased every trace of it I could find." Skye was surprised by the vehemence in her own voice. "That's not me, that's not who I'm supposed to be. It's who the nuns wanted me to be. Until I find out the name my parents gave me, I'll keep the name I chose for myself."

Skye hadn't realized she'd gotten so vehement until Steve shifted so he was holding her hand in both of his. She squeezed his tightly. "Sorry."

"For what?" Steve asked lightly. "Everyone should have goals in life."

That made Skye laugh, and even as she did she was surprised to be doing it. Then again, he was surprising her in a lot of ways.

"You're taking it really well."

He gave her a puzzled frown. "Taking what well?"

"Being soulmates with a nobody."

"Well." The grin he gave her was as disarming as it was self-deprecating. "I figure I have more than enough notoriety for both of us."

#

When they landed outside Ternopil, Steve turned to Skye.

"Can you locate Mitrea?"

"Not unless he's wearing one of those microchips people put in their dogs," Skye said, booting up her laptop. "But I can get close."

"Microchips? In a dog?" Steve shook his head.

"It's so they can be returned to their owners if they get lost," Natasha said. "Nothing more diabolical than that."

"Nothing's ever more diabolical than that, at first," Steve countered. "And the road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

"You're starting to sound like Fury." Natasha didn't look at him when she said it, instead going to sit by Skye and look over the other woman's shoulder while she searched for Ciprian Mitrea.

Her observation brought Steve up short, and he replayed his words, the entire conversation in his head and had to conclude, however uncomfortable it may have been, that Natasha was right. He blew out a breath, and said, "Fury wasn't wrong about everything."

Natasha caught his gaze with her own. "Few of us are, Steve."

Then her gaze slid sideways toward her soulmate before she focused again on what Skye was doing.

Her message couldn't have been more clear if she'd shouted, and Steve wasn't certain whether to admire her for backing him into a corner or resent her for making a private issue public.

Then again, the part of his mind that insisted on fairness pointed out, they weren't exactly public - and each one of them had a stake in the issue, even if Skye didn't know the full story yet.

Before he could decide how - or whether - to respond, Skye said, "Got him. He's at the - I'm going to screw up the pronunciation - Halychyna Hotel."

"Ternopil could be a jump-off point," Rumlow observed.

"Or Mitrea's moving into the area and needs a place to stay for a few days." There was a joking note in Skye's tone, and Steve smiled to himself. Apparently, God understood his need for someone to balance his serious nature.

Of course He did, Steve chastised himself. He's God.

Natasha's voice brought him out of his momentary reverie. "Let's go find out."

Steve was nodding agreement, and then he saw that Natasha was looking at Skye. In turn, Skye was staring back.

"Me?" Skye asked.

"You," Natasha confirmed. She kept her gaze on Skye while she continued, "Steve is about as subtle as a brick, even before he's recognized, and Brock is staying incognito for now."

"Incognito?" Skye frowned. "Why?"

"I was with Hydra," Rumlow answered - just a statement of fact, and Steve had to allow a grudging respect for a man who didn't hide from facts - and just as Skye's expression was shifting with distaste and anger, added, "They weren't wrong about everything."

"The point is," Natasha said, "very few people know he's with me now. As long as he's still considered Hydra, he's the perfect undercover operative."

All of Natasha's points were valid, Steve thought, but Skye hadn't been SHIELD very long, and he was reluctant to send her into an unknown situation.

"Besides," Natasha added, "you know the questions to ask about Centipede. I can oversee your work and report to your SO."

Natasha smiled sweetly first at Skye, then at Steve, and Steve shook his head. No way was he going argue with Natasha on this, however much he might not agree with her decision.

Skye looked from Natasha to Rumlow, then to Steve. "I'm so screwed."

#

Before the fall of SHIELD, Skye would've been thrilled to be working with Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, and not just on a training exercise, but on a real mission. Skye had heard how others spoke of her, the fear and awe in their voices, and seen the respect both Coulson and May had for her, and back when SHIELD was still SHIELD and not a shadowy mirrored version of itself, Skye would have considered working with her - let alone with the commander of the STRIKE team, let even more alone with Captain America - the height of her career at SHIELD, whatever else might come.

Now, though, striding beside the Widow through the streets of Ternopil in a skirt that was too short for the late fall weather and heels that were too high for anyone's comfort, all Skye could think about was getting warm, thank you.

"Slow down," the other woman said, her voice low but still commanding. "Remember our cover."

Skye couldn't help grimacing. It was the oldest cover in the book, but as long as men were men, it would be useful. "I remember."

"Then stop striding, start swaying."

Skye grumbled under her breath, but tried to match her walk to the Widow's.

"Better," the other woman murmured as they turned onto Chumatska Street, the Halychyna Hotel looming not far ahead of them.

"Don't look around," the Widow said just before they reached the lobby. "Head straight for the elevators, at our ten o'clock from the front doors. Just another guest."

Skye tried to do as she was instructed, told herself she'd succeeded when the elevator doors slid shut and the Widow didn't offer any other comment.

Minutes later, they were at the door to room 3120, and the Widow knocked without hesitating. Skye tried to breathe normally.

A male voice shouted from inside in – Russian? Skye assumed it was Russian, since few other languages sounded like a wolf snarling around a bone at the best of times.

The Black Widow responded in the same language, somehow making it sound more seductive than Skye would have thought possible, and moments later, the door opened just a crack. Skye smiled, trying to make it seductive, but that was a skill she'd never had to learn, much less master. She always got information the old-fashioned way – hacking it.

The man spoke again, and the Black Widow answered, first in Russian, then switching to English. "She is learning, yes? You would like to help teach her, I think?"

Doesn't mean I want to learn from him. Skye congratulated herself for not saying the words aloud, and for keeping the smile, however shaky it might have been, on her face.

Then the door opened farther, and Ciprian Mitrea invited them in.

#

Steve had always been uncomfortable observing Natasha when she was working a mark. Even though he knew it was an act, and he had to be ready to act if her cover got blown, he still felt far too much like a voyeur.

This time was worse, because Natasha's soulmate sat next to him in the quinjet, listening with him.

"She is learning, yes? You would like to help teach her, I think?"

Steve heard the suggestion, the promise in Natasha's tone more than her words. The kind of promise that should be made between life partners. Steve glanced at the man beside him, and blinked at the smile on Rumlow's face.

"It is a pleasure to watch you work," Rumlow said into the microphone, his words transmitting instantly to the earpieces both Natasha and Skye wore.

Steve stared at him, then slapped the microphone mute button on the quinjet's console. "How can you say that?"

Rumlow frowned in answer. "Only one word with more than one syllable. It wasn't that hard."

"But she's your soulmate," Steve protested. "And you're saying it's a pleasure to watch her seduce another man?"

"I said it's a pleasure to watch her work, and Nat's not seducing him. She just needs to get the two of them into his room."

"That doesn't sound like she's not seducing him," Steve pointed out, and Rumlow barked a laugh.

"True enough," Rumlow admitted. "But listen."

Steve focused on the voices coming from the speaker again, and he heard Skye asking a question about Centipede, and then a male voice, Mitrea's, answering.

"This is work," Rumlow said. "And you know better than I do that Nat's good at what she does."

"She's the best," Steve corrected, and meant it.

"And we've got to let her do what she does best."

"Even if –" Steve broke off.

"Even if," Rumlow said firmly. Then, "I have her soul, Cap. I'm working on earning her trust and her love. I can't do that if I try to cage her."

Steve blew out a breath. He couldn't argue with that, not when the woman in question was Natasha Romanoff, but that didn't mean it sat right with him, either. When he grew up, there were rules, norms for how soulmates interacted. Those rules didn't seem to apply anymore.

Or had those rules ever applied to spies? Steve had no experience, no ready answer to that question, and he was still mulling it over when Rumlow spoke again.

"Is this about Nat and me, or about you and Skye?"

"What?"

"'Cause if it's about you and Skye, remember this isn't the work she does. She's a hacker, and a good one, not a spy."

"It's not," Steve began, but then stopped. Was it? That he didn't know only bothered him more. "I don't think it is."

"Yeah, well, whichever way it is, remember, soulmate or not, she still gets to make her own decisions. We all do."

"Yes," Steve said, his tone harsher than he'd meant it to be. "And deal with the consequences."

Rumlow shot him a dark look. "I get that you're never going to forgive me. But can we skip the nasty tone while we're working?"

Before Steve could answer, Rumlow turned on the microphone again. Steve scowled at him, but let him have the last word. For now.

#

"He's going to challenge you."

Skye looked at the Black Widow. They'd finished their interrogation and Mitrea was sleeping off the QNB-T16. Now they were heading back toward the quinjet when the observation came from nowhere.

"Who?" Skye asked, grateful that the question came out more curious than challenging. Natasha Romanoff was not someone she wanted to challenge.

The other woman gave her a look that suggested she'd missed the obvious. "Steve."

"He's my soulmate." The answer came reflexively, though on reflection Skye wasn't certain what it was supposed to mean.

"Better you than me." There was humor in her tone, and Skye couldn't help smiling in return. Then she sobered. "But Steve will challenge you. You won't expect it, you may not even realize it's happened until after the fact, but he will."

"How?"

"I have no idea."

"Then how do you know he will?"

"Steve was a good person before Erskine's formula," the Widow said. "And that serum enhanced everything about him, the physical and the mental."

"You're saying he's a saint."

The other woman laughed. "He'd object very strenuously if you called him that. No, he's not a saint. The formula made him better, not perfect."

"And that leads to him challenging me how?"

"He'll make you second-guess everything you believe about yourself. He'll make you want to be better than you are."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Tell me that when it happens."

"Has he challenged you?" Skye had to ask, given the other woman's tone.

"Every day. It's worse because he doesn't realize he's doing it." The Widow was silent for a few steps, then added, "I just wanted you to be prepared."

"Thank you?"

Now Black Widow smiled, more than the upturn of one corner of her mouth. "I'm not sure that you should, but you're welcome."