Happy Thursday everyone! I've managed to post a day earlier than planned which is great news. We've had a ton of snow here and I've had a few extra days off work. We are getting closer and closer to reuniting Natasha and Haldir. I've been working at every opportunity to complete this story but I'm currently a solid forty-five to fifty pages, so ten or so chapters, ahead of where I'm posting and I still have so much left to give you! I think Part Two will end up being much longer than I originally planned. Sorry, not sorry. Anyway, thank you for continuing on this journey and a special thanks to all my Favs, Followers, and Reviewers. You peeps know how to make my day! Much love xoxo.

Nat rode hard and fast across the plains of Rohan. Her earpieces were tucked in on both sides reading through all the scanned documents Legolas had tediously input the night before. The landscape flew past her mile after mile. Her mount pushed himself to his absolute limits. His large strides ate up the ground between them and Lothlorien with smooth athleticism. His massive lungs pumped oxygen into his racing heart. He thundered over the ground. His drive matched her own, head down, ears flat, muscles quivering with adrenaline. He was magnificent.

Half the day had passed by the time Arod was winded enough he was willing to rest. He broke down into a long-legged walk to stretch and cool his steaming muscles. Nat relaxed her hands on the reins and gave him their full length to stretch and catch his breath. There was no need to pressure him. The horse was pushing himself harder than she would have ever imagined. His fur was slick with sweat and lathered to a foam where her reins rubbed over the hair of his neck, evidence of his arduous labor.

The automated voice rambling on in her ear was out of place amongst the waving plains of Rohan. It was just as disjointed to this world as she was. She didn't belong, didn't fit in, here. Nat stuck out with glaring obviousness wherever she went. There was no hiding for her here. At least not from what she'd seen so far. For a woman who spent most of her life living as a shadow, being the center of so much attention, made her highly uncomfortable. When things settled, she would learn, adapt, and find a place that suited her. She'd find a place for Eric, hopefully at Berta's side, until both of them passed on, and then she'd move out, move on, and find something of her own.

"Voice control, User: Black Widow. Bookmark text and pause reading."

"Voice control, User: Black Widow. Command confirmed."

She brushed back Arod's heavy mane in appreciation and let the cool air reach the drenched skin beneath it.

"You're a magnificent creature." She patted him gratefully on his muscular shoulder. At this rate, she would traverse the distance in no time.

Ahead the landscape broke from the valley of grass by the forking river. Here the Snowbourne met the Entwash in a torrent clash of nature. She'd felt its power first hand, had been carried by its waters. Nat knew its deep waters held dangers even her superhuman body wasn't impervious to. Drowning or being battered to death by the rocks violently jutting through the water were both very real possibilities.

When they made it to the steeply sloping banks she dismounted and let the horse navigate his own way down. The clever beast made it down without a hitch and she followed behind him to where the water met earth along the bank. He waded into the water to his knees and drank his fill. The waters cooled his heated blood and soothed the muscles in his legs. She palmed a handful of sweet water to her own mouth.

It was strange being on her own again. She'd spent much of her adult life alone and even having Clint's family when she was home on leave didn't alleviate the day-to-day singularity she felt on the job. Somehow during the short time she'd been in Middle Earth she'd grown used to hearing Berta below in the kitchens, used to the patrons that filled her tavern throughout the night. She'd become accustomed to having Eowyn near and Gimli close behind grumbling incorrigibly about one matter or another. Wulfric's steadfast and ever-present mild concern as to her whereabouts and well-being. His mildly defensive disposition, that said very clearly, he didn't quite trust her but he was trying. Legolas's watchful silence. Holdred, Baldor, and Gramm. All of them had found a little niche in her life and somewhere along the way she'd gotten used to them being around. She'd grown accustomed to seeing their faces at one point or another during the day.

She'd never let so many people into her life so quickly.

Nat had spent so much of her time surrounded by people that being truly alone again was almost strange. There was no one to fill the silence for her. A silence she hadn't realized even existed before they'd filled her life with vibrant conversation and companionship.

Arod ambled forward and thrust his forehead into her chest. Happily, she scratched between his cooling ears. "You're quite good company you know?"

She led him back up the bank and dropped the bit from his mouth so he could graze for awhile nearby. She tossed the headstall over the horn and tied it down with the reins under the pommel. Arod, the smartest animal on four legs, realized her intent and began to munch away happily at the green grass blooming abundantly at their feet.

"Voice control, User: Black Widow. Calculate depth and speed of water source and determine the most advantageous crossing point."

"Voice control, User: Black Widow. Command confirmed. Preparing scans in five, four, three, two, one…" Nat held her arm parallel to the riverbed and let her suit do its job.

In a matter of seconds, the automotive voice spoke up.

"Crossing location confirmed due north. Coordinates provided. Water is currently eight point eight degrees centigrade and traveling at a moderate pace of four point eight kilometers per hour. Probability of crossing successfully eighty-seven point three five percent."

Good enough, she thought.

A warm puff of air blew the wild strands of her hair into her face. Arod, finished with his snack was ready to continue. She stroked his nose as he nudged the side of her head with his own.

"Alright, alright." She smoothly replaced his headstall and bit. He pawed the ground in eagerness as she settled into the saddle again. She nudged him forward gently moving effortlessly down the bank of the river where it was shallowest and gave him his head as the water reached his chest. She sucked in a breath as the ground suddenly went out from underneath them and sent Arod swimming. The frigid water was up to her hips but he swam strong and steady through the river as effortlessly as he'd run across the plains.

Seemingly invigorated by the cold waters Arod gave a long snort when they emerged onto the other side. Successfully on solid grounds Natalie pointed them both toward Lorien and let him fly.

They rode late into the night, slowing to a trot as darkness encased the landscape and then they rode by the light of the moon. The rolling plains were silent except for the whispering of the breeze across the tall grass. It was well after midnight when Nat stopped Arod between an outcropping of rocks. A few hours of rest would do them both good by keeping them sharp and ready to push through the long ride that waited for them at dawn.

Dismounting, she settled down in the tall grass, her back against stone and stared up at the moonlit sky. The stars winked vibrantly in the cloudless blanket of night. Leaning back she engaged her uniform's onboard computer.

"Voice control, User: Black Widow. Read most recently entered text from last known bookmark position."

The familiar tone of the automated voice filled her ear with his affirmative response and began reciting to her geography local to Dol Guldur. As a whole, the fortress would be difficult to penetrate. It was raised high above the surrounding landscape behind various low walls and long winding widely houghed pits. The forest around it could provide ample cover for an approach but after that, it was open territory with little to no cover. Infiltration would have to be done with a small crew. Five or less.

And then what?

Bomb? Poison gases? Fire?

It would have to be quick. In and out. Invasion would do them no good with the layout of the fortress. Without inside men, they would never destroy it. She would have to drive them into the forest from the inside out. Make their enemy scatter into the awaiting arrows of elves placed high in the trees. An explosion, fire, these things would be the quickest and easiest course of action to evacuate the tunnels and main tower but how and out of what? Materials and equipment that would make this tricky but an easier job weren't exactly readily available. She would need something powerful enough to destroy stone and iron. If she could rig a bomb it would have to be set off remotely or it was a suicide in that place. Poisoning the water supply would take much too long and extensive collateral damage. There was no time to burrow under. No equipment or technology for an airdrop. This would have to be old school. Basic and effective.

She breathed deep and one by one let go of the thoughts that had crowded her busy mind through the day. She let go of the calculating and the planning. Let the information she'd collected, categories itself inside her mind and file itself accordingly. It would come to her when she least expected it. All she could do was feed the intel into her brain and let it do the figuring.

Nat breathed out and relaxed with a smooth roll of her shoulders. Arod sniffed harshly at the grass near her boots as if he were disappointed with it.

"It's not sweetened corn and oats my friend but it's better than nothing."

He shuffled forward and nudged at her pack. His thick square muzzle, as agile and mischievous as a youngster's hand, managed to finagle loose the front clasp.

"Hey!" She swatted at him mildly and snatched her pack but not before he'd managed to nick the apple she'd stored near the top. "You're incorrigible and much too smart for your own damn good."

Content with his find, Arod crunched the whole apple between his teeth.

"I hope you're enjoying my breakfast." Too caught up in eating to care Arod easily ignored her.

Nat leaned back against the stone, settled her head as best she could against the unforgiven surface. Tomorrow she would reach the borders of Lothlorien. Her thoughts drifted to Haldir and as she focused on him their connection became more acute. He was a weighted warmth at the edge of her subconscious, more than just an inkling of existence, more than just faint recognition. There was familiarity between them now enough that she recognized the sharpness of his frustration and grief. His tiredness merged with her own as she began to drop into sleep. The slurried concoction of their consciousness blended effortlessly into one. Muscle by muscle she began to relax and release the tension from her body. She rolled one muscle at a time starting at her toes and working up to her ankles. She flexed her calves and her thighs. Inch by inch the stiffness from the day leaked from her muscles. By the time she made it to her hands, she was fast asleep.

Golden light filtered through her eyelids as she swayed on the porch swing in the warm afternoon breeze. Even with her eyes closed, she knew where she was and she knew she was dreaming. She knew every sound from the delicate vibration of the wind chimes to the breeze dancing through the woodlands that bordered the house.

This was home.

She rested her head, heavy from a day spent healing a concussion and a gunshot wound that had almost hit too close to her heart, against the high back of the swing Clint had made for his wife on their anniversary a year ago.

Cooper giggled brightly in the yard and Clint's low voice hummed in the background. She reached to her side and her fingers dug deep into golden fur, Tucker, their retriever rested dutifully at her side. Clint had asked him to stay and stay, he had. She was grateful for the company.

Home.

Cooper giggled again, "Daaaadddd." He drew out in childish frustration. Archery had not come as naturally to him as it had his father.

She smiled wide and laughed at his familiar tone. "Listen to your father, Cooper!"

"Can't you teach me?" He begged from the yard. Nat cracked her eyes open and stared up at the white-washed tongue and groove cedar that had seen a few too many years. She could teach him but his father was the better bowman.

"I concede that at this single form of combat, your father is a better archer than I."

A long moment of silence followed. "Does that mean no?"

She laughed again, warm and genuine, "That means, No."

She sat up to watch their progress and bask in the glow of her happy memories. Memories that too rarely came to her in sleep but were cherished beyond measure.

The figure standing against the railing gave her a jolt and then a pause. He was completely out of place in this memory but Nat couldn't help but think he looked so right standing there with the farm in the background and the sun setting over the tall pines.

He turned his head slowly and that familiar cerulean gaze, which was so often hard, was liquid and full of grief.

This life had been taken from her. Her family lost.

Beside her Tucker raised his head, suddenly alert. His ears perked and he stared down the long drive as a cloud of dust swirled around an incoming vehicle. He recognized it, Nat and Clint knew it well. The dark grey Rav 4 pulled into its usual parking spot next to the house. Tucker, eager for more family, jumped from the swing, sending Nat rocking and made a mad dash to the car. Laura emerged, her hair wild from having the windows down. Flushed and flustered, Nat sent Laura a sympathetic look over the hood of the car. Nat could hear the baby squalling from the porch.

Laura opened the rear door.

"Honestly!" She shouted over the baby, "She likes you more than me. I don't know why I bother to spend one on one time with her when you're home." She unbuckled Lila from her car seat and picked her up one-handed with the ease of a practiced mother and grabbed a grocery bag from the floorboards with the other. Gracefully she dodged the dog and made for the porch.

Nat stood, one arm strapped to her side to keep her shoulder in place. She reached out with the good one for the screaming infant.

"Work your magic, please God, work your baby magic." Laura chuckled as she positioned the baby for Nat with her good arm and tucked her little brunette head under Nat's loose hair. Lila, red-faced and angry, gripped Nat's hair and buried her face straight into the flesh at her neck.

Laura quickly examined Nat's face and touched her cheek just below her discolored eye. "Better today." With a small smile, she went into the kitchen.

Nat shushed Lila and murmured quietly in Russian to the distressed infant. "Hush little dove. What's the matter?"

Lila hiccuped, her tears falling but her angry cries had already faded at the sound of Natasha's voice. She hummed softly to the troubled child. Nat was a singer of zero renown but Lila appreciated the foreign words of a Russian lullaby as it rolled off her tongue, more verse than song.

"When the seas are rolling in. When the stars are shining clear." Nat tucked her nose into Lila's soft hair and inhaled the distinctly sweet smell only an infant could offer. She kissed the gentle crown of her head. Lila was a clever babe, bright and eager, but often very sensitive to her surroundings. She was easily overwhelmed and Laura's naturally vibrant behavior never failed to set her off after a few hours together.

She hummed on and turned to where Haldir still stood, frozen against the railing. She studied him from head to toe as she rocked Lila until the baby went lax in her arms. He'd hadn't moved, hadn't blinked.

"Are you really here?" She breathed and couldn't keep the edginess from her voice at seeing him. The distance had done nothing to dull the effect he had on her.

He stepped one foot forward and then the other. His confusion was evident. He reached out to her hesitantly and placed a delicate hand against that back of Lila's head. Her soft curls wound around his long digits.

Their eyes caught.

"Dream walking." He said quietly, incredulously. "I apologize for the intrusion."

He felt incredibly lucid despite the oddity of his surroundings and marveled that everything he was experiencing was created wholly by her mind. This place had actually been real to her. They had shared more than a memory and a nightmare before this. They'd shared the feel of it, the emotional imprint of those moments, the tastes, smells, and sensations. Even now the silken softness of the infant's hair was her memory as was the grief and physical pain he was experiencing. He remembered the way she'd intimately embraced him. The feel of her arms around him. Her hands ghosting over his features. How her breath had mingled with his.

Haldir's swallow was dry as he recalled the passionate experience of her release just days before.

His hand dropped to his side and his usual reserve shuttered down over his expression, masking his thoughts from her.

Laura burst through the door behind her and stepped between the space Haldir had put between them.

"Done it already haven't you?" She peaked under Natalie's hair and for the first time, Haldir noticed how long and vibrant it had once been. The babe was fast asleep; her tiny fists gripped Nat's shirt and hair. Nat gave Laura a sympathetic smile but Haldir felt the distinct womanly satisfaction rolling off of her. Of all the things he had thought, he had never pictured her as maternal. He had never thought she would adore children as much as she so evidently did.

Laura smiled and headed back to the car as Clint came up the lawn. Cooper sprinted past them on the porch and barrelled into the house.

"Wash your hands, Cooper! That means soap!" His mother shouted from the drive.

Clint met Laura halfway to the house. His bow and Coopers slung across his shoulders. He took the grocery bags from her laden arms and the opportunity to plant a heavy kiss on Laura's mouth and nip at her chin.

"Hello, beautiful lady of mine."

Laura smiled brightly and flicked his nose. "Is it any wonder that I'm already pregnant again."

He grinned down at her with pure male satisfaction. "No need to wonder. I know exactly how it happened. I'd be happy to demonstrate again for you later."

She laughed and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. She whispered something suggestive into his ear that Nat couldn't quite make out but she got the gist of it when Clint smiled and wiggled his brow. They came up the porch together and Laura grinned at the look on Nat's face.

"What? It's not as if he can get me more pregnant." She put an affectionate hand over her slightly raised abdomen. They hadn't wasted much time after Lila had been born ten months ago. Laura stared at Clint's back as he carried the groceries to the kitchen. That single looked held more love in it than Nat had ever known.

She sided up close to Nat and whispered quietly. "I haven't told him yet, but...we're having a boy."

Nat smiled down at her. Laura had taken her time in town buying groceries that day. She'd scheduled the sonogram weeks ago. Clint had wanted to be surprised but not Laura. She had been much too excited to welcome another child into the world.

"Congratulations Laura. He'll be thrilled." Nat knew he would be elated at having another son and silently wished she had been around to see him born.

Laura nodded happily and smiled. "I thought of a name on the way home."

Gently she moved Nat's hair and shifted Lila into her own arms. Despite their opposing dispositions Laura never hesitated in her motherly role. Content the babe remained asleep and snuggled against her mother's breast. Lila looked the spitting image of her mother.

"I want to name him after his aunt, Nathaniel Roman Barton."

Haldir felt an embarrassing wave of surprise wash through Natalie. His own feelings echoed her sentiment at that moment. This memory was so much more than he'd ever imagined of her.

"Laura."

"You can't say no. I've already decided." Laura laid her hand on Nat's injured shoulder and gripped it lightly. The look she gave Nat spoke volumes to Haldir about her love for the redhead. They were family by choice and here, in their home, that meant just as much as blood.

"I'm so glad you're home."

Nat covered Laura's hand with her own. Humbled, her voice trembled as she spoke.

"Me too."

Laura's skills of observation were honed from years of loving a spy and when she noted the moisture gathering in Nat's eyes she thought it best she dismiss herself.

"Come in whenever you're ready."

Nat stood on the porch for a long moment and looked out at the sun setting over the fields and let her tears roll unchecked from her eyes.

Good lord, she missed them.

Haldir shifted but said nothing as he stood next to her in silence watching her world shift into night. The house was warm at his back as Nat's family prepared dinner. Without a word, she covered his hand on the railing and gripped it, firm and warm in her own.

"I'm glad you're here." She turned to look at him and then the house. A home filled to bursting with love. She'd never shared them like this with anyone. Their existence was her most intimately kept secret. One she would never betray. She loved them with everything she had.

"Sharing them...it makes them more than a memory."

He turned with her and watched as the boy, Cooper, happily set the table for four. He watched as Laura set a large bowl of mixed greens on the table and adjusted the forks and knives her young son had haphazardly laid out. He watched as Clint produced a tray of fresh vegetables and in setting it on the table, wrapped an arm around his wife and affectionately kissed her bare shoulder.

Haldir regripped Natalie's hand and laced his fingers with hers.

He stood alongside her and they watched together.