A/N:past Red: wait we are at chapter fricking 14 and still at like Civil war year. Like we haven't covered more than 6 months of actually 6 years or more. This is never going to end.

I'm actually kinda confused about my own timeline right now. I think we're in April. Maybe? But also, maybe march ish. I'm gonna say were in April even though I think were later in April rather than early but let's ignore that small fact xD.

Also, I just posted on my other fanfic. And like that's fun and all but I don't know how well I'll balance the two, but I'm going to try my best. (AHAHAHAHAHAHAH LOL me back in start of February was so cute not knowing she would not only start on a whole ass fic AND a new series go check it out. It's Wanda Nat fluff with some side of killing Natasha some more.)

Thank you for the reads and hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Present Red: AHAHAHHA DEAD. It's been MONTHS since I looked at this, but here we are. We are gonna do NaNoWriMo again with this fic. Lol, it's fine, it's fine.

It's officially one year since I started this fic (as I'm writing this note). Which I find crazy. Of course, as we know this is the sequel, so when I started this I was kinda starting to get burnt out on the story. Now I have a WandaNat series, which I know some of you have found. And that one is doing really well which is fun. But now I want to finish this fanfic this month. Because I actually have an idea for the last instalment in this series after the snap.

AND, I am double posting, I hope that works

and people won't end up only reading one thing. But I am ALSO POSTING ON THE WANDANAT

SERIES RIGHT NOW! So if you got two emails at the same time… I'm sorry…

My WandaNat series also known as "How to

*not* fall for a super spy" is like a small collection of basically Wanda being

a really awkward bean crushing on our one and only Natasha Mf Romanoff. And yes, Wanda is kinda failing in every aspect.

So, after you finish this chapter and you wanna have something to read for the next few days, why not consider the over 90k words series about Wanda dying over Natasha's (and Nat getting low key tortured

by me), you are all welcome.

Okay back to this fanfic, I'm done with the plugs for now. I welcome you all back to this story and hope you all will continue to enjoy this small shit show. I low key don't remember what even happened so this can be very interesting. (no I am serious I don't know what I'm doing.

Also kinda BW spoiler kinda not? Like it will be a spoiler warning sooner or later, but like we're not there yet. But just a small warning, I guess.

Love

Red/S-B

Laura walked into the kitchen with Nathaniel in her arms. He hadn't been sleeping tonight and Laura was already very tired. She just needed a coffee. And a small break. If that was even possible to get.

She walked into the room just as she watched Pepper hug Natasha from behind with a small purr in her ear.

"How are you?" Pepper's voice was soft as she kissed Natasha softly on the neck earing a small sigh mixed with a moan from the woman. Natasha turned around in her arms and immediately Pepper pushed her carefully up against the refrigerator behind her.

Laura stopped her movement and just looked at them as Pepper continued to talk to Natasha with a low voice, still only two inches away from the smaller woman. Pepper was taller than both Natasha and Laura, who were more or less the same height, and it was something about watching the Black Widow having to actually move her head back to look at the other woman that just made Laura's heart expand. Her eyes were big as she watched the woman talk. Filled with both admiration and love.

"Your side of the bed was cold." Pepper mumbled as she slowly let her finger glide over Natasha's cut on her forehead. It was getting better and seem to heal well. And same did all of the bruises on her neck. But they were still there, and they kept reminding them of everything that had happened. Everything Natasha still hadn't talked about yet.

"Well, I guess I just forgot it." Natasha mumbled trying to reach Pepper's lips to kiss her. Pepper didn't let her get that far and took a step back making Natasha look at her with big eyes.

"You forgot to go to bed? Seriously Nat, please do better than that." Pepper said looking at her with a serious look. She did not sound impressed with the woman at all.

"Guess I had other things on my mind." Natasha tried with a small smile clearly turning her charm on the maximal setting.

"Mhm. Sounds legit. Right, Laura?" Pepper said turning to the mother who smiled at them before she finally moved from her spot.

"I side with your girlfriend, Natasha," Laura said with a small laugh earning a small eye-roll from Natasha before she turned back to the food she had been making before Pepper had interrupted her.

This was the first time Laura had actually seen Natasha and Pepper alone together. She had, of course, seen them together around the headquarters the last couple of weeks after Natasha came back. But they had seemed more like strangers than anything else. But seeing them now, together, actually interacting. It was like Laura could literally feel the love between them. It was radiating from them. It was so cute, and not to mention just a very powerfully duo. These were literally two of the strongest and most respected women in the world and both of them knew it. You could feel it just by being around the two of them how much power they had between their fingers. They were the definition of a power couple.

"Can I at least ask what you want to do today?" Pepper said as she reached for Nathaniel letting Laura go and grab her own cup of coffee.

"What do you mean?" Natasha said with a serious look turning to the strawberry blond with a confused look.

"Really Talia?" Laura said with her own disapproving tone of voice as she slowly poured her cup, keeping an eye on Nate and Pepper by the kitchen table.

Natasha looked between the two of them. And Laura could see the corner of Pepper's mouth from a small smile. She knew Natasha wouldn't like them ganging up on her. But it was kinda entertaining looking at Natasha's both annoyed and frustrated look in her eyes as the two other women kept backing each other.

"I feel really judged right now." Natasha said grabbing the plate of the avocado toast she had made with a small frown on her face. Laura let out a small laugh.

"10th of April." Pepper started looking at Natasha with a small smile. The woman still looked confused and turned to Laura with a genuinely lost look in her eyes.

"Nat. It's your birthday." Laura said with a small laugh, taking a seat beside Natasha giving Pepper a plate of some soft solid food for Nathaniel who was on her lap.

"Oh," Natasha said with a low voice. Her voice was clearly confused. At one point Laura thought she had been teasing, but the look in her eyes told her a different story. Had she seriously forgotten? Laura felt the doubt inside her staring to rise.

Of course, this wasn't her actual birthday since they didn't know it, but it was the date Laura and Clint had dubbed her birthday 10 years ago. It had been the date even Natasha had taken to use and announce as her birthday around new people as well, it was more or less official.

Laura had a hard time believing Natasha were able to forget anything in general. Her memory was absolutely incredible, and she never seemed to forget anything, ever. And Laura could especially not picture her forgetting something like that.

"Natasha, we don't have to do anything if you don't want to, but if you do. Just tell me." Pepper said with a soft voice as she continued to feed Nathaniel slowly. Natasha only nodded giving her a small smile before she pushed the plate of the food she had just prepared over to Pepper on the other side of the table. The blond looked at the food before looking back at the agent giving her a confused look.

"I'm not hungry." Natasha only mumbled not giving her a chance to ask more before she stood up and left the room in a hurry.

Laura's eyes followed the woman as she walked away before turning to Pepper with a confused look.

"Has something happened?" She asked, looking at the blond who was staring down at the child with an empty look in her eyes.

"I don't know. She won't let me get very close to her, not giving me a real chance to ask or check up on her. But it doesn't look like she is feeling great." Pepper answered turning her head to Laura with a small, defeated smile.

"But hey, we have a plate of a very delicious looking avocado toast in front of me," she said with a lighter tone making Laura laugh softly at her as she watched the woman carefully cut it in half.

The rest of the day went slow. If Natasha didn't want to be seen she would make sure she wasn't seen. That was just how she was. Some of the team members asked for her, but they knew better than to push it too much. Some of them had a few gifts for Natasha, but they just decided to pile them up in a corner for when Natasha decided to show herself.

They hadn't planned to do anything particular that day, but they still, somehow, all ended up together in the living room again.

Since it was a Sunday Pepper had the day off and spend the day with Laura and the kids. She even ended up helping Laura put them to bed when the time came before they sat down in the living room to look at some new furniture.

Wanda was the first one to join them. Laura hadn't seen her in a while, but she was more than willing to put down her pc to talk to the younger woman instead.

After that Rhodey, Vision, Clint and Sam had joined them. It was an unusual combination, but they had apparently been working out together. Laura hadn't seen Clint in a few hours, but she was happy he could spend some time with his team.

Then Maria had entered, looking pissed off while Tony continued to talk to her even after they entered the room. The agent looked like she wanted to do nothing more than to kick him out of the building. She ended up beside Wanda, mumbling something to Tony that made him give her a horrified look and Wanda laugh.

Steve and Bucky were the last ones to join them. It was new for all of them to have Bucky here, and multiple heads turned around to look at him when he walked across the floor. Generally, he was a well-behaved polite man, so Laura didn't mind too much. But then again, she, unlike the rest of the team, had actually gotten a small explanation from Natasha.

Natasha had still not talked to her team about what had happened. They still only knew the bare minimum, which was definitely frustrating them, but at the same time, they really couldn't force her to talk.

With Bucky not talking without Natasha's approval, they all had to simply ignore the conflict. In a way, it was kinda nice. Since they had Natasha back now, that worry was gone, meaning they could slowly get back to somewhat of a normal routine. And now that Laura had been here for a while, she had gotten quite comfortable around them all. She didn't mind spending her days with the Avengers at all. Plus of course, she had the kids who could always need some more attention.

It had been a lovely day, but Laura was still happy Natasha finally decided to join them later in the evening. She was actually thinking about turning to the bed when she entered the room. She hadn't been sleeping much and she really wanted to try to get at least 5 hours out of the night. But since Natasha was here now, she decided to push her bedtime back. Just for a bit.

"Look who finally joined. Lil red riding hood. Nickname doesn't work as well now that you are blond, but we can only pretend." Tony said with a sarcastic voice as he carefully pushed a beer bottle across the table and over to Natasha as she seated herself beside Pepper. Natasha ignored both the comment and the beer, not even giving him a look.

"Hi," Pepper said turning to the woman giving her a soft kiss. When Natasha didn't react to her movement Pepper immediately pulled back and Laura could already see the concerns in her face.

Natasha was staring into nothing, her green eyes just looking blankly in front of her not focusing on the woman in front of her, as if Pepper wasn't even there.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Pepper asked with a soft voice placing a hand on Natasha's shoulder to get her attention. Natasha's reaction was very delayed, and it took her a few seconds to even look at her.

"I've been thinking." She said slowly before shaking her head. "I just… I feel like I wouldn't deserve… or I mean, I think… I…"

"If you say "I" one more time. I think I need to permanently shut you up." Pepper said looking at her with a small smile before moving some stay blond hairs away from Natasha's face. "Calm down. You don't have to if you don't want to. But we are ready to listen if you want to talk." Pepper whispered slowly leaning in again kissing her for the second time.

"Right…" Natasha replied before turning to the group. "I want to explain myself. And James."

In the corner of her eye, Laura could see Bucky move in his, seat straightening up slightly to listen to what the woman had to say.

The rest of the group, who had all quieted down when Natasha entered, all shifted in their seats to look at her. This was the moment they had all waited for. Some of them exchanged a few curious looks. Some just looked at Natasha.

Natasha watched them for a while, shifting somewhat uncomfortable before taking a deep breath. "I went back to get him when I found a trail I had looked past before. But when I fell into the old community things got more complicated. Especially when I found out that maybe, maybe, the red room might still be active." Natasha said finally, looking at them all.

The Red Room? Natasha's explanation to Laura hadn't included that at all. Where did the Red Room come from, and how could she know it was active? Wasn't the whole point that the Red Room was gone? And if it wasn't gone, how hadn't they found it yet? or even stumbled over it by mistake.

Laura didn't have time to think more about it before Natasha continued her story.

"James and I have known each other for years. I met him when I was just a teen. In fact, I don't think I was even a teen. He was always in and out of the Red Room. I mean, of course, he was known around in the community. He was basically a celebrity." Natasha said, looking at Bucky to get a confirmation. He nodded slowly back.

"The more I thought about it, the more knowledge I realized I had. I mean, this is, I mean he is, he was, just like me. If I backtracked my own steps, it was just a matter of time before we would cross paths. But the deeper I went, the darker it got, and it turns out Bucky isn't the only one active from the old soviet.

That was why I had to cut contact, I had to make a choice. And mine was to… protect you." Natasha said with a small sigh.

The whole group just looked at her. Of course, nothing about what had happened seemed like something you would categorize as something that looked like "protection". If anything, it had seemed like the polar opposite.

"So that included cutting all contact, blowing up a house, and being tortured," Tony said with a sarcastic voice, making Pepper send him a deadly glare.

"I should never have visited you," Natasha said, turning to Laura and Clint with an upset look in her eyes.

"I know it was dangerous, but I wanted to see you. I knew it was selfish, but I wanted to be. Because I just needed to see you. I thought bringing Wanda with me would keep them away because of her very well known powers, but it didn't work. They followed me, and when I didn't cooperate, they ended up threatening instead.

They thought I had information I didn't have, or know anything about. I pushed it back, telling them I was working on it, thinking they would leave me alone until I at least could tell you about it. But they got impatient and tired of waiting. Even when they never came close to the house, they knew I was with somebody and of course, they know about Hawkeye, the one that took me from Soviet forces. They assumed it was him I was working with, and a safehouse containing an Avenger was something they very much wanted. Even if they couldn't get to him, it could contain information.

That's why I forced you out of the house. They don't even know you exist. The risk of them understanding it was more people that as connected to me. Anyone that's not Avengers, that would put you in more danger I could allow. That's why I made it seem like I broke contact with all of you as well. It would prove my loyalty as well and keep them away from you. Or at least that was the plan."

Natasha stopped again taking a small breath closing her eyes.

"I tried to save everything before they got there. And I tried to keep myself updated on what was happing even if I was forced away. I know what I did was wrong but the more I got connected to the old community the more I understood I needed to get Bucky out of there." Natasha added.

Laura looked around the room looking at everyone else. It was something in the explanation that was definitely lacking, but at the same time, at least it was an explanation.

"So… you two know each other?" Steve said, looking between Natasha and Bucky who both nodded back.

"I trained her back in the Red Room. I think we even crossed paths at a few assignments after she graduated, but of course, when Natasha switched sides, it changed." Bucky said, earning a small additional nod from Natasha.

"Well…. That explained… some things." Steve said somewhat confused, looking, between them.

"How did you find him? We looked for months but never hit anything." Sam said, crossing his arms, scowling at Bucky.

"Turns out you can get quite a lot in return if you offer an Avenger." Natasha mumbled, turning away from Sam completely.

None of them said anything. They knew Natasha had been mistreated, but it was something about listening to her talking about herself like nothing more than a bribe. She had willingly put herself in that situation just to maybe get some information about this man.

"What about the Red Room?" It was Maria who broke the silence. She looked at Natasha thoughtful. It was a very interesting detail about the story, which of course Maria wasn't about to let pass. It was a detail that seemed like the odd one out.

"I don't know for sure. I just, I just think I saw… somebody… I think they might be connected to the Red Room. I don't know... But all that really matters is that I found Bucky. If the Red Room does still exist, then we'll find it sooner or later." Natasha said.

She sounded genuinely unsure about it herself. But at the same time, if she didn't believe it, she wouldn't have mentioned it, right? Laura knew very little about the red room just because it was not a topic they ever talked about. But she knew enough to understand that if they were active, it meant that there were more widows as well.

"So that's it then? You found him and headed home? What about the fact that you couldn't even stand, and how you broke into the building?" Rhodey looked at her shaking his head. Natasha shifted in her seat and so did Bucky. They both looked unconformable at each other.

"I actually found Bucky a month before…"

"We decided to go after something." Bucky cut Natasha off, looking at her with a small nod.

Steve turned to Bucky surprised. "You were out there for a month?"

Bucky sent yet another look in Natasha's direction. Natasha didn't return anything, but it seemed like that meant Bucky was allowed to say something because he nodded again before saying.

"Natalia was holding on to some very important information. And we didn't know if we could trust you. It was something that needed to be done as fast as possible, so we had to either convince you to drop everything for two old assassins two had betrayed you, or do it ourselves. And we choose the latter." Everyone looked at Bucky shocked. Everything in those sentences was both confusing and hurtful.

"Why wouldn't we trust you?" Steve turned to Natasha again, looking at her with big eyes. It almost looked like he was going to cry, and Laura couldn't help but feel sorry for the man.

"Because I didn't really trust myself," Natasha mumbled back. Everyone threw each other yet another round of confused looks before Bucky raised his voice again.

"It doesn't matter. The point is still that Natalia had the coordinates of where the other winter soldiers were located. Coordinated almost nobody has ever been able to obtain in years."

"Wait, wait, wait. Other winter soldiers. As in, more of, you?" Sam shot in, looking at him with disbelief, pointing at him.

"Yes, they created more than just me. Rumours were circling about releasing them again, and we had a chance to cut them off." Bucky hissed, looking at him with an angry look.

"What happened?" Steve asked slowly trying to calm them down.

"We were too late. They had killed them before we got there." Natasha said quietly before lowering her head.

Silence filled the room. Everyone just stared, taking it in quietly. Nobody seemed like they wanted to continue the discussion. Neither Natasha nor Bucky met anyone's eyes.

It seemed like the meeting was over. If you could call it a meeting.

After another 15 minutes of nobody saying anything, some started to clean up the empty glasses and plates. Steve was walking over to Bucky, with Clint close behind, probably wanting to ask more privately. Sam walked out of the room with Tony. And both Wanda and Vison headed out of the room after they cleaned up the kitchen leaving Laura with Pepper and Natasha again.

Pepper was still looking at Natasha with a somewhat worried look. She hadn't looked away from her girlfriend once thought the whole conversation. She hadn't said or asked anything either. Even if Laura had seen her get both confused and worried as they talked.

The explanation had been given hadn't been very strong. Details had been lacking, and something was definitely left out on purpose. But at the same time, Laura hadn't really expected anything else. It seemed like both Bucky and Natasha were still unsure about how to go about it. And it seemed like they had collectedly decided to leave some information out.

She watched as Pepper moved closer to Natasha, brushing her hair with her fingers carefully. They didn't talk or say anything. They just sat there, looking at each other with some kind of mixture of pain and love.

"I think I'm going to head to bed," Laura said, looking at them with a smile. They both looked back at her shortly, nodding. But it was very clear they were not really paying attention to anything other than themselves.