(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 6

"It's okay. Just lie back a while and try to relax. I promise, the headache will pass soon."

Nat didn't argue with Shuri, just closed her eyes and remained still on the table. She was showing an amazing amount of trust in people she really didn't know, but Bucky knew that was mostly just an extension of her overwhelming amount of faith in him. He figured that was instinct too, the same that told her how to fight off an attacker. The very same that had sparked something between the two of them, from the moment they first saw each other again.

"She's the one, isn't she?"

His attention was taken from the love of his life across the lab by Shuri suddenly right in front of him.

"Don't look at me like that, White Wolf," she told him, a smirk on her lips. "When you were here before, and it was your mind I was working on, you remembered someone special. I didn't know who it was, it never occurred to me to ask. After all, you have lived a long life, I supposed her to be long gone, but it was her, the Black Widow."

"It was. It is." Bucky sighed and shook his head. "She and I, we go way back. Back to the Cold War. When I was the Winter Soldier, training her kind. Training her," he said pointedly, watching Shuri's eyes widen with the same surprise he had seen on Sam's face when he relayed the same tale.

Glancing back to where Nat was lying still, Shuri pushed a button, bringing down an almost invisible screen between them and her.

"She cannot accidentally overhear us now," she explained to Bucky. "You trained her?"

"I did, and yes, before you ask, she is..."

"Older than she looks, just like you." Shuri nodded. "Yes, my technology told me that. It was going to be my next question, actually. She has the face and body of a woman of thirty-five, but she was born close to sixty years ago, wasn't she?"

"More or less." Bucky shrugged. "But hey, who looks their age these days anyway?"

It was a lame joke, but appropriate given his own chronological age of more than century, despite looking no much older than Nat did either.

"What about her mind?" he asked Shuri then. "Can you help with her memories?"

"Nothing is certain, but the early signs are positive," she explained. "You know I cannot give guarantees."

"No, but you're one of the few people I know that's actually as smart as you think they are," he told her, no great compliment for compliment's sake, just the whole truth, and they both knew it. "Honestly, I'm going to love her no matter what, but for Nat's sake, she deserves to know the truth. Some of it is... It's not going to be pretty, I know. If I could just have her remember the good parts, I would."

"But that is not how life works," Shuri said sadly, worldly wise in ways no young woman of her age should have to be. "The good and the bad, they are always intertwined, but it is not always for the worst. If the two of you had not lived through the bad times, you may never have met each other. Maybe it was worth it."

"No maybe about it. It was," Bucky told her without hesitation, staring through the see-through barrier to where Nat lay yet. "So, you'll do everything you can for her?"

"You know I will," Shuri agreed easily, staring in the same direction he was. "Not least because I do love a new challenge," she said, smiling slightly, until she saw the mock-severe look on Bucky's own face, "but mostly because it is you and I know what she means to you. If I can restore the parts of Natasha Romanov that are still missing, I will do that."

"Thank you, Shuri. I mean it."

"I know that you do. Now, tell me, how is the new Captain America? From what I saw on the news feeds, he is growing into his new wings quite well."

Bucky smirked at that. "Sam is handling things okay. He has my back on all of this stuff with Nat too. He's been a real friend."

"You could use a few more of those." Shuri nodded knowingly, though she must have noticed how distracted Bucky was just watching Nat from across the lab. "You said some idiot man was trying to use her for revenge. What happened to him?"

"Sam took care of it," Bucky confirmed, dragging his eyes back to her concerned expression. "Him and Torres. He's going away for a long time for what he did. Thankfully, the kids maternal grandmother took them in. They're innocent in all this, just went along with their father's plans because they were too young to question it, or too scared, I guess. I can't even think about it," he admitted, rubbing his aching forehead.

"How much sleep have you had since you first called me about Natasha?" Shuri asked them.

Bucky bit his tongue just before he asked why she was trying to be his mother. After all, she was just proving how much she cared about him, how much of a friend, even a sister, she could be. He really couldn't find a way to be mad about that.

"Not much," he admitted. "With everything that's been going on... Nat's my first priority. Always."

"I understand." Shuri nodded. "But if you don't sleep, then she will be the one watching and worrying over you. I don't think she needs that extra stress right now."

Of course, she was right. Shuri made a habit out of that. Not that Bucky really felt all that tired. Maybe it was the adrenaline keeping him going, maybe just the fear of losing Nat all over again if he closed his eyes for a second.

"I can go a long time without much rest, but I promise, as soon as the opportunity comes up, I'll take it," he told Shuri definitely, eyes back on Nat in a second when he noticed her moving.

She was up from the bed now, eyes taking in everything, careful hands reaching out to explore her surroundings too.

"Her instincts are still sharp, as you said," Shuri noted, watching her just the same. "She will not lie still just because she is told. She knows there are better things to see and do. If you won't sleep, then I suggest you take her out, White Wolf."

"Out?" Bucky echoed, glancing at his friend.

Shuri smiled. "Show her the beauty of our great nation of Wakanda," she suggested, patting his arm.

"You don't need her to stay here?"

"Not for a while. I have a million calculations to make if I am going to really help Natasha with her memories. It won't happen overnight, you know this," she said pointedly, a reference to his own long journey to any kind of freedom from the mess inside his own head.

"Thank you, Shuri. Again," he said, giving her a smile.

She rolled her eyes, either embarrassed or annoyed by the constant gratitude.

"Go, take your girlfriend for a walk in the sunshine," she urged him, going so far as to give him a shove in the right direction, dropping the invisible barrier dividing the room with her other hand. "Let her know more of this country than the inside of my lab."

Bucky was about to do just that, when he suddenly took a step back towards Shuri. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her into a brief sideways hug and kissed her temple. If she wouldn't take thanks verbally, he could at least get away with that manoeuvre, and before she had a chance to even try to complain, he made a swift exit.

"Natasha?" he said carefully, approaching her instead.

She turned around at the sound of her name, which seemed like a good sign. Even though he had told her she wasn't really Helena, he understood how strange it must be for her to answer to anything else after so long.

"James. What's happening?" she asked, shaking her head. "Are there more tests or...?"

"Not right now," he assured her. "Shuri has some figuring out to do before the hard work really begins. I'm sorry, I wish it was an easier fix."

When she looked at him then, Natasha could see the pain in his eyes and only wished there was some way to remove it. He was trying so hard for her, she knew that.

"You're doing everything you can. More than I ever could have imagined was possible," she assured him, eyes all around the walls of the strange underground lab full of technology beyond anything she had ever seen before, at least that she remembered anyway. "This place is... I don't even know how to describe it."

"Uh, you've actually been here before," said James, surprising her all over again. "Not in this lab, as far as I know, but to Wakanda."

"We came here together? To see your friend?" she guessed, looking over his shoulder for Shuri but she wasn't in view anymore. "Is she my friend too?"

"No. Well... it's complicated."

Everything was complicated, that much was very plain to Natasha. She was having trouble even remembering that was who she really was, after months of being Helena. Still, she liked Natasha as a name. Somehow, it felt as if it suited her better, probably because it did, because somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind she knew it was the name that belonged to her, even if she couldn't actually remember ever being called by it.

"I wish I could explain things better." James sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "I just think it would probably be easier if it could come back to you naturally, you know, with Shuri's help. There are gaps I can't fill for you, times when we were apart and..."

"And it's complicated," Natasha said for him, finding him a smile as she nodded her head in understanding. "It's okay. I've gone this long not knowing, a little longer won't kill me. I'm just... Well, as horrible as it probably sounds, I'm actually glad to know that other life was a lie. Damien seemed like a great guy, at first, and the kids seemed to like me, even though I always knew they weren't mine. I thought I'd get used to it, but I never did. I thought the memories would all come back but... well, that was never going to happen, since they were never there to begin with."

It had been less of a shock than it probably should have been to realise she had been living a lie for almost a year. She meant what she said about it being a relief too, though Natasha did wish she could fully understand what her life had been instead.

So far, James had told her she was some kind of hero, and what she had done to Damien when he first laid hands on her proved she was some kind of fighter, a soldier maybe. James also said that he loved her and would never hurt her, and somehow, above all else, Natasha knew that was true. She put her life in his hands when she stayed at his apartment, when she got on a private plane with him to come to a foreign country, when she allowed his friend to go delving into the depths of her mind. It never occurred to her to be apprehensive at all, not with him. She may not be able to trust her own mind right now, her own muddled thoughts and memories, but she trusted James, so implicitly.

"Come on, let's get out of here," he urged Natasha, reaching for her hand. "You look like you could use some fresh air and some sun. Wakanda has plenty of both, that I can promise."

With their fingers intertwined, Natasha followed willingly as James led the way out of the lab and up to the surface. They walked out into the sunshine, nothing but blue sky and white puffy clouds over their heads, the only sounds of nature and a few people working contentedly out in the open.

"This place is beautiful," she said as they walked along. "It's... peaceful."

"Most of the time," James agreed, the strangest look on his face when she glanced at him then, though the odd expression was gone before she could question it. "I actually lived here for a while, in a hut a few miles that way," he pointed with his free hand. "I never really saw myself as the type. I mean, a kid from Brooklyn, suddenly living off the land, raising goats, with the local kids running around, fighting over who gets to braid my hair next."

"Braid your hair?" asked Natasha, unsure whether to frown or laugh - it was a strange idea, made stranger by James' short haircut.

"Oh, it was longer then," he said, running his fingers back through the close-crop he had for the moment. "I kind of had a change of image recently. Another long story," he explained, looking away fast.

Natasha stopped walking and pulled him to a halt with her, the two of them facing each other.

"Do I look different?" she asked curiously. "To the last time you saw me, I mean. Not that I even know how long ago that was."

James stared intently at her, his real hand letting go of her own and coming up to her cheek instead. "When I first ran into you in the grocery store, it had been six years, two months, one week, and two days since the last time I saw you, and yes, you do look different than you did that day," he admitted, "but you look exactly like the picture I keep of you in my head," he promised, fingers trailing through her shoulder-length red hair before his hand returned to her cheek and his eyes met her own with a piercing gaze. "You know, you're the only woman in the world I ever felt this way about."

There were tears in her eyes that she couldn't entirely explain as she stared back at him, feeling so much that she didn't understand, but liked all the same. A warm glow in her heart and a sureness in the truth that James was telling her. She had no words for him, but that didn't matter. Stepping in closer, she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on the side of his mouth.

"Thank you," she whispered, hugging him tight.

James sighed, hugging her back, but didn't say a word.

To Be Continued