Tony had never been the affectionate type, at least not with Natasha, but he didn't hesitate to wrap her in a hug as soon as she and Steve walked into mission control. Tony's eyes, like her own, were bloodshot and puffy.

"How you holdin' up?" he asked after a few seconds. Natasha took a shaky breath wondering how she could even answer that question. She looked around the room at the somber sight in front of her and remembered her loss was a loss for all of them.

"I don't really know," she answered with a shrug. "I've had a lot of shitty days, lost a lot of people, but this is by far the worst."

Natasha took a seat at the conference table between Bruce and Steve and recounted for the team what happened on Vormir. She told them how she'd planned, from the start, to sacrifice herself for the stone, how she realized a split second too late that Clint had been planning to do the same. She told them how he let her think he was going to allow her to be the one to jump.

"The son-of-a-bitch pulled me in for a hug and stuck me with stunner arrow. I tried to grab onto him, but once I hit the ground I could barely move," she said, balling her hands into fists. "I managed to get to the edge and got my grappling hook around him, but he was too heavy. I couldn't pull him back up."

No one spoke. What could they say? Whether they wanted to admit it or not, everyone knew from the start what it meant to go after the Soul Stone. They knew Thanos had sacrificed his own daughter for the stone, which meant to obtain it themselves either Nat or Clint would have to do the same.

"Did he say anything?" It was the first time Thor had spoken since they returned. Natasha looked at him from across the table. His voice sounded hollow and broken.

"She bowed her head slightly and closed her eyes, "He told me it was OK. He told me to let him go."

Natasha's voice was thick with emotion. She swallowed a lump in her throat but couldn't keep the fresh tears from spilling onto her face. She felt Steve's hand press lightly against the back of her neck, and his touch grounded her in a way she didn't know she needed.

Thor shook his headed and stood abruptly. Blue sparks began to crackle over his hand where it was gripped tightly around Stormbreaker. "No. NO! This isn't right. He can't be dead. We have the stones, now. We can bring him back."

"Thor…" Steve's voice, though soft, issued a warning.

"Cap, tell them. Tell them we can bring him back."

As hard as it was to watch Natasha fall apart, seeing Thor this way was somehow worse. He knew the man blamed himself for not stopping the snap, and as a result, was almost definitely blaming himself for Barton's death.

"Thor." Steve said his name again, this time with resignation in his voice. "He's not coming back."

For the second time that day, Thor walked away leaving the rest of them startled and in silence. This time, Nat followed.

He heard her footsteps behind him in the hallway and stopped. "I'm so sorry, Natasha. I could have stopped this. I should have done more. I should've killed Thanos when I had the chance." Thor's voice broke as wrestled with a myriad of emotions – anger, grief and, most of all, guilt.

"Thor, listen to me. This is not your fault. Clint made a choice." She reached up and braced his face between her hands, forcing Thor to look her in the eyes. "The only one to blame here is Thanos, which is why we need to go back in there and finish what we started."

He nodded at Natasha as tears fell from his ocean-colored eyes, and she pulled him down into a hug. Thor and Clint didn't have an exceptionally close relationship, but Natasha knew how the man in front of her felt about their team. He considered them family, which meant losing Barton felt like losing a brother, and God knows Thor had lost enough family to last several lifetimes.

She stepped back and laid a hand against his bearded cheek. "C'mon," Nat said with a sad smile. "We have work to do."

Steve admired the way the entire team rallied that day to finish the new gauntlet, despite everything. He wasn't surprised, though. In their line of work, learning to compartmentalize emotions was a necessary evil and probably a large part of what's kept them all alive for so long.

He found himself watching Natasha, waiting for even the slightest indication that it was all too much or that she needed a break. Every so often, she'd catch him staring and raise an eyebrow or send a closed-lip smile in his direction. She'd taken care of him when he needed it most, and now he would do the same for her.

"I'm worried about her too, Cap," Steve startled slightly as Bruce appeared at his side. For a giant, green man, he was incredibly soft-footed. "You know her better than anyone. How's she doing?"

Steve puffed out a breath and crossed his arms over his chest. Natasha had her back to them and was leaned over a table cleaning her gun. If she was grieving Barton the way he'd grieved Bucky when he fell off that train in 1945, no words could properly express the pain she was feeling inside.

"Probably about as well as you'd expect."

"And what about you?"

Steve glanced over at his friend. It was still so strange to see this new half-Hulk, half-human version of Bruce, but despite the physical changes, the kind, intelligent and brave man Steve had come to know over the years remained. "About the same. You all right, Banner?"

Bruce clapped Steve on the back so hard it would've sent an ordinary man to his knees. "I just want to get this over with."

"You and me both."

Tony kicked them out of the hangar a few hours later, claiming he needed space to tinker with the glove before it was, as he described it, "more-or-less safe" to wear. Steve suspected he just wanted everyone to get some rest. He glanced in Nat's direction, expecting her to argue, but she was the first one out the door, nodding to Steve as she left.

Steve had just showered and settled into bed with a book when Natasha appeared in his doorway. He looked up to see her leaned against the door frame, one foot crossed over the other, arms folded at her chest. Her hair was damp and down around her shoulders.

"The Hobbit?" She asked, flashing him that trademark smirk.

"It was Bucky's favorite." Steve dipped his head and smiled at the memory of his best friend. "Couldn't sleep?"

Natasha pushed off the doorframe and walked toward him, trying her best not to stare. He was in a pair of fitted navy joggers and a light gray tee shirt, nothing she hadn't seen him wear a thousand times before, but for some reason seeing him like this now made her heart beat a little faster

Steve moved to one side of the bed, an invitation for her to join him. She settled in at his side and rested her head against his shoulder. "I'm kind of afraid to try."

He set the book on the nightstand and draped an arm around Natasha's shoulders, pulling her into him. When he pressed a kiss into her hair, her familiar scent attacked his senses. She smelled ever so slightly of vanilla and coconut, and it made Steve's head swim. He caught a whiff of something else, too, something he'd smelled before but never on her.

Cedarwood and citrus. His cologne.

"Nat?"

"Hmm?" she hummed softly against him.

"Is that my hoodie?"

Natasha sat up slightly so she could see Steve's face. His eyebrows were raised in an accusatory but playful way, and he tried to suppress a grin.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she deadpanned, tugging the black zip-up sweatshirt around herself possessively.

Steve rolled his eyes and let out a hearty laugh. "I've been looking for that thing for a week, Romanoff." His eyes crinkled at the corners. They were clear blue and calm now, as the sea would be after a passing storm. Natasha missed seeing him like this. If she tried hard enough, she could almost pretend the last 12 hours hadn't happened.

"You should take better care of your things, Rogers." She smiled and settled back into him and resting a hand across the expanse of his chest. The urge to slip her hand under his shirt and feel his warm skin against her fingers was overwhelming. They had been toeing this line for a while now, finding a comfortable solace in once another in the years after the snap. They'd never talked about it, but lately it felt like maybe it was something more than just comfort between two friends.

If Natasha was being honest with herself, she'd admit that she'd felt it a long time ago, probably even before they went off the grid in 2016. She thought maybe he did, too, but they were both too focused on the mission then to consider what might have been between them.

And now? Well, who the hell knows what'll happen after tomorrow. Regardless of the outcome, they were still The Avengers, and for people like Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff, there would always be the next mission.

The pair sat in comfortable silence for several minutes before Steve spoke again. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"I am. It's time to bring them home."