The next morning Katya and Natasha were back in the car. Natasha still hadn't told her where they were going yet, but they suddenly parallel parked in a fairly nice neighborhood in the city.

"Alright we're here." They opened the door and entered into a nice lobby with chairs and couches and a coffee machine. The whole space smelled wonderfully, like lilacs and oatmeal. They quickly walked past the front desk and went up into the elevator. They walked down a nice, new carpeted hallway with wide and bright windows. Natasha paused when she reached a door with gold numbers on it , it read 320. Natasha handed Katya a key on a keychain with the signature black widow hourglass on it. Katya cautiously opened the door. It was beautiful. The apartment had a living room with a cozy grey sectional, plush chairs, a heavily stocked bookshelf, and it held the same lilac scent as the lobby.

"Welcome home." Natasha said quietly as she closed the door behind them.

"It's not much, but I think we'll be very comfortable here."

"It's perfect." Katya said, all of her thoughts focused on the texture of the pillow that she was caressing.

"I figured you and I needed a real home for once. One that's separated from spy work. Besides, living with Stark is finally starting to get on my nerves." Katya wrapped her arms around Natasha into a big hug. Which she accepted immediately.

"Nothing is ever going to be perfect in our lives, there will always be a shadow of pain, but now we have each other. And, pain only makes you stronger. Now, let's go see your room." Natasha said, discreetly wiping away some tears. Of course, this too was beautiful and cozy, Natasha had impeccable taste.

"I picked out everything, but feel free to get new bedding, or decorate your room any way you want. I don't know what you like exactly, so I just left the walls plain. It's your room, you do what you want with it."

"I think it's perfect."

"I'm glad." Natasha smiled warmly.

"Alright ready to head back?"

"What? But, I want to stay here."

"Come on you silly billy we have to go get some of your stuff if we're going to live here."

"Oh." They both laughed and drove back to the compound. They packed up some of their stuff, leaving some things behind.

"It's like having shared custody." Natasha explained when she told her the plan was to spend time at both the compound and the apartment, especially if Natasha had to work late or it was closer and they were tired. Katya didn't have much so it really didn't take her that long, only leaving behind about a week or so worth of clothes. Most of them consisted of borrowed ones from Natasha except the shield crew neck that was essentially hers now. The first thing Katya did was neatly organize all of her belongings.

Hers. Yours. Mine. Possession. Ownership. Were all concepts that were very new to her. The words and their roots, language of origin, and definitions, were all ingrained in her brain like many other things. Though, practicing them was still unfamiliar to her. After all of her belongings were put away, she laid down on the bed and let out a deep sigh.

That night she thought she would sleep better, without Tony's late night tinkering in the lab, Bruce's nervous pacing, or Thor's bellowing footsteps. Unfortunately, it was too much to ask for. She bundled herself under her new, blue bedding and stared at the ceiling that had turned a dark grey when night had fallen. She listened to the sounds of cars zooming by on the fairly empty city streets, and the distant sounds of sirens. She soon found that no matter how hard she tried, sleep was easier said than done. She crawled out of bed, the striking contrast between the frigid floorboards and her almost feverish temperature caused her to sit back onto the bed. She pulled on some socks she found already balled into a tight knot underneath her bed and pulled them on. She silently slipped down the hall and into the living room. She got a glass of water and sat cross legged on the sleek new couch. She carefully turned the TV on a low volume so that it was nearly silent. Any other person would have asked to turn up the volume, but her highly trained ears had no problem figuring out what the people were saying. She flipped through the channels scanning each title and frame quickly before setting on the familiar ears in the corner of the screen. She had put it on a few times mostly just to have something to do, but she grew very fond of the lighthearted antics in the show, even despite the teasing from the Avengers. After a couple of minutes she shifted so that she was laying down.

Natasha came in and sat beside her after about 20 minutes.

"Couldn't sleep?" Natasha asked Katya without meeting one another's eyes.

"No, not used to this place yet."

"Yeah, same. What are you watching?"

"Dvoynoye shou." She replied meaning twin show in Russian almost on command.

"Nat?" She asked without tearing her eyes away from the TV.

"Yeah."

"Will you turn up the air?"

"Yeah sure." Natasha got up, briefly passing in front of the TV.

"Katya, it's already almost 60 degrees here." Natasha said with a laugh. Katya didn't know if it was amusement or pure exhaustion, but she found herself laughing too.

"It's too… warm." She said, a fit of giggles racking her body mid sentence.

"If we were still at the compound everyone would think we were crazy."

"Can you imagine them all bundled up in like sweaters and scarves?"

"Yes! And Tony would make some joke about us being Russian behind our backs."

"Yeah." They both laughed. Then, neither of them said anything after that. Natasha liked it, she liked her sister, she liked the quiet. All the other Avengers always wanted action or conversation to fill in the dark moments when they remembered all of the horrors and monsters they had faced. Katya was really the only one who understood what she went through, she didn't try to talk, the truth was they were both too scared, though neither of them would ever let go of their stubborn ways to admit it. And so, they settled into the comfortable silence. Then, they allowed themselves to fall asleep to the laughtracks of the sitcom and the comfort of one another's presence.