AN This is it, this is the end! Thank you so much to everyone at TBB who helped me work this out, and thank you all for reading it! I have had tons of fun writing about Natasha and Bucky, and I hope I can do it again some time :)

"Okay, okay so I'm telling you, we had no idea until, like, a week after the whole thing went down. We were doing some long term recon in the middle of freaking Greenland, and by the time we poked our heads out, the whole place was ass up and apparently everyone was a traitor."

"Greenland?" Steve asked, sitting down at the table with a soda in hand. Sam and Clint had opted for the six pack Sam had brought, and were steadily working through it, as the only people that were able or willing to get drunk. "Why there, what's in Greenland?"

"That's what I'm telling you!" Clint said emphatically, voice half a laugh. "Nothing's in freaking Greenland! Just ice and sea water and some annoying ass birds!"

Sam and Steve rolled around in their chairs, dying from laughter. Natasha laughed as well, but more because off their ridiculous reaction than because of Clint's story. They hadn't felt the immense dread and guilt when endangering most all of their allies, the way she had. Nor had they lived with their heart in their mouth for the months it took for Clint to send her a signal, showing he was alive.

"And so I look at my partner, Ren, and he looks at me, and he just said, in that stupid, proper British accent of his, 'Well, it looks like the shit has definitely hit the fan, my friend', and all I can think to say is 'Yup', and we just stand there for a few seconds, staring at each other as we listen to the radio! We're in some little hut outside of Sassivik-"

"Savissivik."

"Shit, I was there for three months, and I can't even say it, that's just how done I am with this thing, Savissivik, and we've got maybe a couple of guns, two day's rations, and a snow mobile between us, and we're both just lookin' at each other, trying to figure out what to do next. And Ren just looks at me, an' I look at him, and he says 'So, Clint, are you a bloody traitor?', and I say 'No. Are you a traitor?', and he's like 'Nope', and that was it! I hear people are killin' each other, knockin' each other out of buildings, and here I was, settling the whole HYDRA thing in about two seconds with my partner, because we had no time for anything, because we were in fucking Greenland, trying not to freeze our asses off."

"And this was a week after it all happened?" Sam asked, once he had his laughter under control. He was still giggling over his drink, though he looked like he was on the verge of busting up again (it had been six months, and Natasha was still fairly certain that at least half of his ridiculous grin was over the fact that he was having drinks with half of the Avengers, rather than amusement over Clint's story). Clint nodded, taking a drink from his bottle. "And it took you three months to get back. What happened in between that?"

"We were trying not to get our asses kicked by everyone else out there! We were free agents, roving where ever we wanted in the eyes of way too many people, plus we had to go through the whole 'Are you good? Okay. Are you really good, or just HYDRA?' thing with everyone. I tell ya, you guys, you had the easy part," Clint said, waving his finger between the three of them. Sam and Steve tried to swallow the rest of their chuckles, while Natasha snorted into her drink, because, honestly, all three of them were idiots.

Sam stood up to go grab the bag of peanut butter stuffed pretzels left on the kitchen counter (the potato chips and Cheetos they had all strong armed Steve into buying had instantly been demolished, because apparently he didn't believe in That Empty Crunch That Is Rightly Called Junk Food). A knock sounded at the door, which only Natasha heard, as Sam and Steve were yet again cackling over Clint was detailing his further misadventures, which had now migrated into Bratislava.

"Someone's at your door," Natasha told Steve, and he nodded, pushing himself up out of his chair.

"Relax, man, I got it," Sam said, waving Steve back down as he headed towards the door.

"—and I'm telling ya, no idea what this thing is, so Ren just takes it, and—"

Natasha turned around when Sam gave a soft, slightly strangled "Oh". He paused, then said "Uhm, Cap, I think you better handle this one," in a fairly strained voice, before turning around and staring at Natasha with huge eyes.

James stood in the doorway, looking tired and crumpled and exceptionally nervous, fingers twitching at his sides. Natasha wasn't sure if he was about ready to bolt, punch his way through a wall, or throw Sam bodily out of the way to see Steve, but she could tell he was on the verge of doing something very drastic. He found her eyes, and she held him as she slowly stood up and turned to face him. As he looked into her steady gaze, James' expression lost a bit of that scared animal quality. She raised her hands by her waist, palms facing him as she gave a 'calm down' sort of motion. He gave the tiniest nod, suddenly an uncertain child in the face of seeing his once best friend.

She could feel Steve staring at her, confused and suddenly worried at both her and Sam's reactions. Clint was also on alert, as he too slowly stood up. Steve turned the corner and finally came into view of the door. He stopped dead in front of Natasha, but she could still see James' eyes flicker from her, and then settle on Steve's face.

"Hey, Steve," he practically whispered, and Steve gave a slight, uncertain nod.

"Bucky," Steve breathed, and it sounded for all the world like a dying man getting his last wish.

She let out a breath, and allowed herself a worn, satisfied smile. This was a start.