A/N: Written for likewinning's prompt on the Comment Fic LJ comm: Avengers movieverse, Natasha, We Disappear.
Forging Anew
"All my covers are blown," Natasha had told Steve, speaking the truth on the surface, content to say no more. She didn't tell him that all her covers had been blown before. She didn't tell him that she'd had to make herself all over again after she defected. She didn't tell him that he really couldn't change her nature of adapt, blend, fold herself into another different truth or lie—disappear.
She made a new cover within three days and walked out with ten blank passports and IDs and five filled with possibilities. She bought an engagement ring, laid her one-time Russian accent on thick, and showed up as an immigrant bride where she knew Clint was holing up. She even managed to get a smile out of him when she did.
"You always knew how to make a cover," he told her, shoving over a cup of unholy black coffee across the table.
Natasha sniffed at it, passed, and gave a pointed look at his forging materials spread out in a mess between them. "Like you don't."
He shrugged and held out his hand.
She tossed him the matching ring.