A/N: Again guys… this is dark. This fanfic is not a light-hearted one. So just keep that in mind as you read, please.

I re-read the series and I was like telling myself like you just never give Laura a break, do I? Like my heart was actually aching reading because like I just shit on Laura all the time. And obviously, I really mess with Nat all the time, but like yeah this will for sure affect Laura quite a bit. basically. I don't give them a break and make their lives suck.

Other than that. Hope you all are having a good week!

Red/S-B

Laura was sitting in the living room with the rest of the avengers. She had a book between her legs and a phone in her hand, trying to multitask all the things while listening to the silly conversations the boys started. They were currently just enjoying each other's company. Talking, eating, working. Just being in the same room really.

Tony was sitting with some work, and so were Pepper and Maria. They all shot things into the conversation, but mostly they just listened to the banter between the others.

Most of the Avengers were here hanging out. Just having fun together ending the day on a good note. Playing around, keeping the mood light and fun. Something they all needed very much. They liked doing this. And they had done these the last two weeks. Just gathering together without any real plan for what to do or anything, just being together.

The only one that wasn't there now was Wanda, who Laura knew had been struggling a bit lately. She knew the absence of Natasha was hard for her, and Natasha was the one she used to seek comfort from before, so Laura could understand this wasn't a good time for her right now. She wished she was able to talk her out of her room. She had tried multiple times. But the girl had declined, and Laura didn't want to push her more now.

Still, Laura loved evenings like this. Where they all were just together having a good time. It was the best way to turn off her head after a day with the kids. Trying to relax in other ways than just going to bed right away. Things were happening so fast now, and it was nice to slow it down with a social nice evening.

Laura was currently texting with Annie now. They were talking about when they would move. It was still a long way in the future, but after the kids had met not that long ago, when Laura and Pepper were checking out the house, they realized even more how they wanted to keep in touch. They couldn't lose what the kids had. It was only a 50 minutes' drive between the two towns. So, they could see each other on the weekends, keeping up the sleepovers and stuff. And since Clint and Laura were also friends with the adults so it would be a good thing for them too. Plus they had the whole summer to do things as well. They could go camping or maybe go on a small vacation to another state or something.

Fixing the house would be a huge project. But Pepper had already talked to some of her contacts talking to somebody to look at the house and the exterior. They needed to find out what to replace of walls and roofs. And then they, of course, needed to start finding some furniture to fill the house with. They didn't need to do all of it before they moved in, but they didn't want to come to more or less an empty house with the kids.

She had learned a lot that weekend. About the neighbourhood and the small town. It seemed very nice. The school wasn't too far away. Both for the age they were now and high school when that time came. And it was a kindergarten close too. She didn't know when she would send Nathaniel to kindergarten yet, but at least she had the option to.

Laura was completely lost in her head when they heard Friday's voice break the comfortable atmosphere in the room.

"Security breach."

Laura lifted her head to meet all the other confused looks from the others.

"What did you just say to me?" Tony said surprised whipping up a big hologram showing what Laura was guessing part of Friday's programming.

"Classified information." Friday just replied, earning a really confused look from Tony.

"Excuse me, I was the one that made you! What is going on?" Tony said looking at the hologram pulling up different things from all over the place.

One of the pictures was a grid with tons of different pictures, and Laura was guessing it was footage from the different security cameras around the building. Some of them were inside of, some of them outside.

Tony continued to switch between a couple different once before stopping just seconds before one of the pictures from the cameras turned black.

"That isn't supposed to happen right?" Sam said leaning forward pointing at the black camera. They didn't need an answer from Tony, who immediately started pressing things, very clearly indicating he was not expecting that. Maria walked up to him looking at the screen with him for a second before slowly adding.

"Yeah, and neither is that." She said pointing at another camera that was flickering before it shut itself off. Laura turned to Pepper was looking back at her with a worried look.

"Is somebody inside Friday?" Steve said as he watched another camera turn black. Laura could tell from everyone that they were starting to get stressed. And being around the Avengers when they were scared of a situation was not something Laura wanted to ever do.

Laura was well aware Friday was in charge of most of the building. She was basically the first line of defense holding together the security system, as well as doing smaller things like opening and closing doors and turning on lights. She was like the thing holding the whole building together. If somebody was controlling her from the outside…

This was not good.

"I don't see anything wrong, but don't ask her anything just to make sure," Tony replied before bringing up another camera just in time for it to turn black again. "This is... Not normal." He mumbled more to himself than the rest of them as he continued to work not bothering to look at them.

"Okay Cap, Vison, Clint, suit up. You come with me and take them outside with me. Sam, Rhodey, Maria, you stay here with Laura and Pepper. Let's go." Tony said before standing up. The others gave him a small nod before they all started to move. Nobody said anything. Just standing up and moving over the floor. Clint only gave her one look not showing any interest in talking to her before leaving.

Laura could only watch them as they exited the room before moving closer to Maria to keep an eye on the cameras. It was like hundreds of cameras here. But it still somehow seemed so… in control… whatever or whoever that was messing with them.

The cameras continued to flick off. They were starting to get more rapid now. As if the person knew exactly what to do and when to do it. Whoever he or she was. it was no way just a random person could hack into a system like this. Right? This had to be planned. Or it was an inside person maybe. It was so systematic and so fast at this point. A normal hacker wouldn't know what to do right? Where every single camera was like this.

"Stark where are you guys?" Maria said carefully into a com as they watched two cameras blackout at the same time. Pepper lifted an eyebrow when for the first time two cameras got shut off together. Was it two people at work here? Or did the person really just get the hang of this and was planning on shutting everything down?

"Northside by the gate. It's nothing here except a dead camera." Laura could hear him reply with an annoyed voice.

"I think it's closer by the building now. Haven't gotten eyes on a person yet either. They keep moving into the blind zones. Somehow." Maria said as they watched another camera turn black. She sounded concerned. She turned to the rest of them before saying.

"I think are moving to one of the back doors. Rhodey, stay here with Laura and Pepper, Sam, come with me." Maria said. Sam nodded before they both walked towards the door grabbing something from a drawer Laura didn't spot what was.

Laura could feel how she was starting to get tenser now. She knew this was a building that was supposed to be more or less impossible to hack or sneak into. It was one of the most secure buildings in the world. But it was still happening. Right now. The people behind this had to be experienced. But at the same time, so was the Avengers, and she needed to trust them. To trust that they would stay fine and knew what they were doing. Because she knew her, and her kids' lives were counting on it.

Pepper leaned over to the hologram before pressing on something.

"Hey what are you doing?" Rhodey said looking at her with a strict look as if he was trying to stop her from doing whatever she was doing.

"I designed this house. I think I know what door she is talking about. I newly installed a camera there." Pepper said turning to Rhodey with a serious look. He looked at her for a second, clearly thinking about not letting her continue before he nodded back slowly letting her continue working.

"Though I haven't tested it yet," she mumbled as she flicked between some cameras. They were all inside cameras now, showing random hallways. Most of them Laura hadn't seen before. She knew Pepper had made this building and all, but it was so big. She had been living here for months now and had barely seen anything yet, how did Pepper know exactly what they were going for?

"There," Pepper said slowly as a picture started to form. It was mostly just showing a hallway. It had one door at the end of the shot. It was just a normal metal door. Or at least so it seemed.

"Where is this?" Rhodey said looking at it confused trying to make the most out of the very plain picture

"Almost directly below us." Pepper answered low before leaning forwards looking at the door. Laura could see the woman was staring at something, but she didn't get what before Pepper spoke up again.

"Maria. I think they are at the door" Pepper said slowly. Laura could only hold her breath as they watched Maria and Sam's shadow form in the corner of the picture at the same time the door got kicked open.

Both Pepper and Laura jumped in the seat when the door slammed open with full force denting what was a nice, presumably quite new, light grey wall. In the door was a man with his head pointing their direction, hiding behind a mask covering his mouth and nose, and framing to angry, wild eyes. And leaning his shoulder was a woman barely hanging on. And Laura noticed it immediately.

It was Natasha.

Pepper was on her feet in seconds and all Laura could do was to follow her to not lose her. She could hear Rhodey run behind them saying something in the coms.

"It is the winter soldier, he has Natasha."

Laura was barely keeping up with the blond in front of her as she sprinted down the stairs and pushed the door open to the hallway they were standing. She had no time to process anything in her head before they almost ran straight into the two in front of them

When they finally caught up with them Maria said slowly. "Friday, alert the med bay that we need assistant please." Maria's voice was shaking as she was staring at the wounded woman in front of them. Clearly having no idea what to do with herself. Both Maria and Sam were standing looking at the other two in them. Frozen to the floor.

"Ms. Romanoff requested not to contact anyone." Friday answered casually earning a loud "really" from Sam. And a small sharp breath from Maria.

"Where are you?!" Laura could hear Tony through Maria's com as he yelled clearly running or flying closer to them already.

"Back door," Maria mumbled low still not moving from her spot, paralyzed from the sight in front of her.

Only 15 seconds later they could hear footsteps from inside behind them as Iron man came flying down the hallway with Steve running it behind him, Clint and Vision only just behind.

"Bucky?!" Laura moved out of the way as she heard Steve's voice behind her letting him through.

"Steve." The man replied before taking off his mask revealing his face staring at them all intensely.

The whole team was in the living room. Or most of them. Maria was missing, running around trying to get Natasha's door to open with Tony trying to fix Friday to help them.

Bucky was sitting in the corner awkwardly looking at all of them, while the rest tried their best not to look at him at all. None of them was sure to handle this. Or even how to act.

Bucky and Natasha had spent a good five minutes just looking at them downstairs before Natasha had said something to Bucky before they had slowly started to move upstairs. None of the Avengers had tried to stop them. Most of them were too scared of Bucky in general, clearly not wanting to deal with him. And with Natasha around his shoulders, they were all very aware of the risk of harming her if they stepped wrong. He really could have switched any second on her and them, probably taking her life before any of them had the chance to stop her. And she was clearly not in a state to stop him either.

She was destroyed. Laura could tell even from the distance she had had between them. Even from the other side of the room, she could see the woman struggling to even keep herself on her feet. She had had a big cut over her eye. With old and new blood down her face and covering most of her body and back suit. Her hair was still blond, cut short just over her shoulders. She looked like a completely different person with that hair. It felt unfamiliar. She felt unfamiliar.

Natasha had ended up guided him upstairs to her room only giving orders in what Laura was about 50% sure was Russian, but she knew Natasha was fluent in a lot of Slavic languages, and in general eastern European, and all of them sounded very similar to Laura. Whatever it was, Bucky understood it and followed her orders.

She had ended up leaving the man at her bedroom door closing it behind her and immediately closing and locking it for everyone else. Even Tony.

"So…. Should we ask what the hell you were doing killing all of our cameras?" Sam said finally looking at the man with a small look that said annoyance more than anything else.

"Nat asked me to do it that way. I wasn't the one in charge." The man answered simply looking at all of them before crossing his arms.

Nat. He was calling her Nat. Why? That was like the name Natasha's friends would call her. Were they close? Laura turned to Pepper who was by her side. The woman was pale and seemed to only get whiter by the second. Her eyes were getting red to and Laura could feel the woman had lost herself.

"Bucky you need to give us more here. What were you doing? Why didn't you just, I don't know, come here any other time? We would have helped you." Steve said looking at the man in front of him. His voice was hurt. Really hurt.

"She told me not to. She said she wasn't sure if she could trust you to trust me." Bucky's voice was flat as he talked, and Laura was starting to really see what Steve meant when he had told her about Bucky. How she could tell they had really hurt him when they had brainwashed him taken all of his former personality with it.

"I mean to be fair the last time we met you, you tied to kill us," Sam said unimpressed making Rhodey loudly groan.

"It was different then," Bucky answered looking at them still. This voice seemed surprisingly controlled and calm Laura noticed.

"What makes it different?" Sam continued to challenge not giving in.

"I am on your side. If I wasn't Natali- Natasha would have been dead by now." Bucky said more angrily this time, clenching his metal arm. Laura watched the arm flex, making her whole body, shiver. She had a feeling this was a bad way to go about this, but she didn't feel she had a place to see anything at this point, only looking between all of the angry faces.

"Why would you help her?!" Clint said looking at the man in front of him with an angry look in his eyes.

"BECAUSE THAT IS WHY SHE WAS OUT THERE BECAUSE SHE WAS LOOKING FOR ME!" Bucky stood up and immediately the room jumped in action, Steve jumping to stop him while everyone else grabbed their weapon which they all and left close by.

"I am done with this conversation. Put me in a cell or whatever you want. I just need to get out of this room right now." Bucky said looking at them still with anger in his eyes.

Steve turned around to the group and Rhodey lifted his shoulders.

"Give him the room between me and Vision. Ask Friday to lock it, and if anything happens, alert us." He said earning an approving nod from Sam and Clint.

Steve nodded back at them before he led Bucky out of the room and left the rest of them in silence. They didn't say anything. None of them did. They only stared into nothing trying to figure out what to do with themselves.

Natasha had gone after him. Why? Was that what she had been doing for all of these months? To find Bucky. Why was she so hurt? She hadn't even had the strength to keep herself on her feet and now he was here, siding with her. As if Bucky was sacred, they would hurt her.

They all turned their heads when Tony slowly pushed the door open.

"Pepper, Maria is asking for you. Friday is not opening the door, maybe you can help." Tony said with a low defeated tone.

"What is wrong with Friday, why can't she just, you know, open the door, or the window for that matter," Rhodey asked looking at the man who let out a loud groan.

"Because apparently, Natasha asked her not to do so. I don't know how that woman did it. But she somehow got Friday on her side and not mine. But she did. And that is how she just walked right into the building because Friday can apparently play favourites." Tony said rolling his eyes dramatically before falling down on a chair.

"I mean I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She knows me too well for my own good. She is giving me the biggest headache. How do you do it?" Tony said facepalming as he spoke to Clint making him roll his eyes.

"Well, I have Laura to keep her in check. I don't know how she does it, but she just walks straight into your head. Something about those green eyes." Clint said with a sarcastic voice making Tony laugh annoyed back.

"Those green eyes. You don't know who deep those were staring into my soul when I met her. Engraved into my memory forever."

The room fell into silence. It was hard to know what to even reply. They all had to agree. Natasha was a whole new category. But at the same time. She would never harm them. She was so loyal. She had only fight for the Avengers and shield the last decade. She would never betray them.

"So, the rest of us are just off to bed then?" Sam said as they watched Pepper exit the room with her head down. He turned around and looked at them all before they all nodded slowly.

Guess they all would just have to see what tomorrow would bring.

Laura woke up with an incredible headache. She had been tossing all night and barely slept. She knew Clint was struggling with the same thing. They had both been thinking about Natasha and only Natasha. She was worried. Really worried.

When they entered the living room everyone else was there. And they were all in the same state. Tired and worried. All of their faces were clearly lacking sleep, and it was no hiding the very dark look in all of the eyes. Pepper was sitting by the kitchen island with an empty look in her eyes with Steve sitting on the opposing side doing the same thing. Neither of them seemed to be aware of the other one staring intensely in their direction. Both lost in their head.

The kids knew nothing still so when they entered the scene their positivity did help, somewhat.

Somebody must have told Wanda last night. It was probably Vision. Her eyes were read. As if she had been crying too. That alone was enough to make Laura really sad. And then watching the rest of the team to so down. It was awful.

Clint and Laura looked at each other as Maria entered the room. She was the last one awake which was not like her at all. She was always up early to run or do some sort of workout before an early morning coffee to get her day started. Now her eyes were tired, and she was clearly working on zero sleep and a lot of stress in her body.

Laura let out a small sigh as she started to make breakfast for the kids. They had to keep the day as normal as possible. For them and for themselves. They all just all needed time. Even if that was the last thing any of them wanted right now. All they wanted was answers.

At least having the kids around helped all of them. It was no hiding they all tried to get their head to think about something else using them as a distraction. Everyone was, for some reason, very interested in Cooper's Lego and Lila's drawings today compared to every other day.

Laura could spend her day with Nate feeding and playing with him. Doing everything in her power to keep her head away from what happened yesterday.

Or that was until she walked into one of the smaller work areas, or studies, to find a book she and been reading, only to find Natasha sitting in a chair by the window pointing outside.

The whole building was made of more or less just windows and glass, and this room was no exception. Yes, it was a lot more closed off, and people wouldn't walk here by accident, only if they were specifically going for one of the rooms in this part of the building. But Laura could still see her sitting there. With her back towards her looking out of the window.

This was the first time Laura really had the chance to see get a good look at the former spy. And she didn't know what to do. She needed to see her. She wanted to see her. But it hurt. So much.

It hurt so much.

She pushed the door open to her small study room slowly, holding her breath as she entered.

She wasn't sure what to expect really. But Natasha was sitting in her chair with her eyes closed and the light dimmed in the room, reflecting the dusk outside.

She had a bandage covering the cut on her forehead and across her entire upper body. Nobody had looked at her yet. to Maria not Pepper. Nobody. They and let her do her own thing. And while it was very risky, knowing the woman could have completely ignored some of the more serious injuries, all of them, and laid back, not even trying to get close to Natasha. Truth be told, they all thought she was still in her room.

None of them wanted to admit it, but all of them were almost a bit scared of her. She had played them and walked around them for months. And all of the months on the run had just over and over shown them exactly why she was the world's former best spy and what said person really was capable of.

She probably could if she wanted, just run away again now. Without them noticing. They weren't even aware she had left the room yet. They had no control over her, even when they tried. So, it was either stay back or risking pushing her away even more.

Thankfully it looked like she had taken care of the worst injuries. She could, of course, be wrong. But the bandages seemed clean at least. She had washed off all the dirt too and was dressed in some clean clothes. Still, it really didn't calm Laura's beating heart very much.

"Hi, Nat." Laura tired looking at the woman. She knew Natasha was aware she was there. She probably knew she was there even before she and entered the room. She always, somehow, did know where she had Laura. Always.

Natasha turned her head slowly looking at the woman with a look Laura hadn't seen in a while. It was an at peace, calm look, to her surprise.

"I see you found my favourite study" Natasha said softly. Her eyes were calm and unlike a lot of the times she and talked to her the last year or so, she actually smiled softly. Her walls were lowered.

Why?

Laura was already on her toes. She didn't know where she had Natasha at this point. She only looked at the woman as she turned completely around and stood up.

"Yeah, I guess so. Pepper gave me access to it a while back." Laura replied slowly still keeping a close eye on the woman as she moved over the floor to sit down on the other chair. She could see Natasha's eyes follow her as she walked.

"I can tell you're staring Laura," Natasha said as Laura finally took a seat on the other side of the desk. Laura only looked at her before she slowly nodded, eyes still glued in her green eyes. "What are you thinking about?" The blond added looking at her.

"I don't know what to say" Laura admitted, watching as Natasha chewed on what she said. As if her brain was actually trying to pick apart everything she was saying and doing. "It has just been hard. I really missed you" she whispered turning her head away from her.

"I'm sorry," Natasha said with a low voice. Laura turned her head back. cough off guard by the reply.

Why was this turning to Laura breaking down now? Why was she pitting herself? She should be focusing on Natasha. She should be focusing on the woman that had been on the run for months.

"I regret what I did. I know I hurt you." The woman added. only making laura feel a pang of guilt in her heart.

The tears were already there before Natasha even let go of the sentence. They were already running. Laura didn't know she could cry about this anymore. She really thought she and emptied it all. She thought after crying for what felt like days, she wouldn't have anything left.

"I'm sorry I made you feel like I pushed you away. I never wanted to harm you, Laura." Natasha reached after her slowly letting her hand touch her arm. Laura could only look at it. Taking it in that Natasha at least was finally here. Back. Alive.

They sat there for a while. Not saying anything. Laura only sniffing trying to whip her tears while Natasha looked at her. She didn't want to turn this at her. She wanted to focus on the woman in front of her. The woman that surely was hurting both mentally and physically.

"You need to let somebody look at you, Natasha." Laura finally said. She tried to pull herself together, still, her voice cracked mid-sentence because of her crying, making her head scream at herself to seriously pull it together. She needed to stop. She needed to focus. She had one job. To care for the woman in front of her. To make sure she is fine. and then she needed to know what happened.

"No," Natasha said softly back. It was so calm. And her voice wasn't in any way sharp or threatening. Nothing that was really arguing against her. Still, Laura felt uneasy by the answer.

"Natasha. You… you are clearly hurt. I mean look at you. You… you…" Laura stopped again as she continued to struggle to get herself together to form sentences. "You were even hurting back then. Back in the o…" she didn't have the power to finish her sentence. She didn't want to say it. To put any memory back into that event.

"I'm sorry Laura. I won't let them" Natasha said tilting her head to meet her eyes. Her eyes were shining as they met hers. Telling her she wouldn't change her mind. She wouldn't let them close to her still.

And even if she physically was only a few inches away from Laura. It felt like she was miles away. As if she really wasn't even here.