"So you guys finished the government project already, then?" Ned asked on their way to lunch that day, the disappointment he was probably trying to hide still obvious from his tone. Katya clasped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm sorry- it didn't really go the way we expected. But next time-" she hoped to god there would never be a next time, but this was more for placation than anything else- "We'll let you know as soon as we can. Promise."

This seemed to cheer Ned up a bit, as he went back to blubbering about how his Christmas break was. He'd gotten another Lego set- Katya had missed the name, but still sounded exciting- when she received a text on her phone, in Russian.

Touchdown in an hour

She glanced across Ned to Peter, before darting her gaze over to the double doors they were passing that lead out of the school. They had to go.

"There's just, er, one more thing we have to do to wrap it all up." Peter told Ned to save Katya from having to, "But it's super low-key, no surveillance needed."

Ned heaved a heavy sigh. "So I guess this means I'm eating lunch alone?"

"You could always sit with MJ," Katya added, her tone lighter than expected. The girl always had a tendency to hang around near where the three of them ate, anyway, and she was on the Decathlon team with Ned. Ned shrugged.

"Maybe. You guys sure you don't need backup? I could set up in the library like last time-"

"We're sure, Ned, but thanks." Peter told him, jostling him on the shoulder. "If anything we know who to call."

Ned smiled at that and nodded seriously. "Okay, got it. Be careful."

Katya and Peter took that opportunity to divert their path towards the double doors, and out into the sunlight.

— —-

It was a bit of an awkward drive upstate, as they'd offered Aneszka a ride, who carried a single knapsack and spent the entirety of the ride exchanging uncomfortable glances with Happy in the rearview mirror. Katya and Peter'd both managed to start up a few conversations, but they quickly fizzled out, as Aneszka seemed so distracted she was incapable of anything more than one word answers.

But Katya knew how she must be feeling. She'd been terrified, too- the prospect that you essentially existed your whole life without being aware of it, to then suddenly be punched in the face with a whole wide world of opportunity and choice, was a harrowing one. Even though it was technically a good thing, it was scary. When she'd been Woken. she hadn't spoken to anyone but Yelena for an entire day. But Aneska would soon at least have the comfort of the other Widows with her- people who knew what she was going through. Katya had rashly begged to be shipped out as soon as possible, which, now that she thought back on it, had probably made her adjustment a little harder. But she didn't regret it- he glanced at Peter, who was looking out the window, and squeezed their intertwined hands- not in the least.

They finally made it to the Avenger's compound, which was the only place with enough land and security for the Widows to touch down. The ship looked exactly as she remembered it- A Soviet utilitarian gray jet, which, even though it had no special markings, Katya would recognize anywhere.

Katya scrambled to undo her seatbelt, urging Peter out of the car so she could slide out of her place in the middle seat. He was smiling in a knowing way, and she wasn't sure why or what it was he thought he knew, but her whole focus, in that minute, was on the sidehatch of that jet.

Aneszka had gotten out of the other side, much more cautiously. She regarded it with some concern, but Katya waved her along with her, her brisk walk quickly turning into a jog as the side hatch began to open, turning into a sprint as she finally glimpsed some of the many faces she'd left behind.

There was about a score of them, Woken Widows, all in variations of a typical Black Widow's suit, their weapons strapped to their backs and in holsters, but Katya could tell by their faces that they were just as happy to see the two of them.

There was a bit of shuffling, and soon a figure in a white suit- contrasting so brightly against all the tactical blacks, a suit made for snowy terrain, a suit that stood so out of place- made her way to the front, and Katya sprinted directly into her arms.

Yelena squeezed her back in a tight hug, kissing the top of her forehead and stroking her hair. "Hey, malenkaya myshka." She pulled away so they could look at eachother. "We've missed you."

Katya was fully aware- or more, not surprised by, for once- the fact that she was crying, and she reached out to the nearest Widows that surrounded them for hugs, as well. A couple of others must have made their way towards Aneszka to bring her along, as she soon joined the group.

"Remember me?" Yelena asked Aneszka, flicking her shoulder playfully. Aneszka laughed, and accepted the hug, which made the rest of them laugh, too. Katya rubbed as much water as she could from her face as she giggled.

There was a little bit of catching up- mostly listed names of where others had gone, who else they'd managed to free so far, and the next few names on the list- but there wasn't much time. Their landing there was technically not government sanctioned, so they had to get off the property before that became a problem, which had become an increasingly problematic issue since the Sokovia Accords- and they had to continue their way north, to Quebec, where the next Widow on the list was planted.

Katya'd gone around and hugged them all, receiving plenty of hair ruffles and forehead kisses from all of what were essentially- she'd known it in her heart but never thought it out in a full sentence before- her older sisters, the same way she'd addressed Aneszka when she'd first woken up. Something beeped- on Yelena's own wrist, another tracker- and she announced to the group that "We've got to get moving, guys, it looks like she's headed to the airport-" so they had to make their goodbyes short.

When it came time to hug Yelena again, Katya practically clung to her. After wanting for so long to leave this behind, she was having such a difficult time letting go. But this was not that. This was something she'd be proud to be a part of.

Yelena must have read her mind. "You sure you don't want to come with us? You did a really good job-it usually takes a couple of us to take one down-" she nodded towards where Aneszka was standing, back in the jet already, with most of the others. "-we could really use you."

She picked at her potatoes, covered in a thick sour cream sauce leftover from the fish she'd managed to choke down. She was still pissed from earlier that morning, when Oliviya had commented that her footing was off when they were running Sambo drills. She'd been corrected, of course, by the instructor, because Katya's footing hadn't been off, but still, the nerve of that girl.

"If you don't finish you're getting double shots, you know." Oliviya said, in a playful way, but Katya'd had enough. Of course she knew that, and she already got double the shots everyone else did anyway, so it's not like that was fair either, and she didn't appreciate-

The next thing she knew she and Oliviya were on the floor, Oliviya's eyes suddenly wide and lifeless. Blood dripped off of Katya's hands, but she couldn't tell from what, until she'd picked a piece of porcelain out of her palm- the remnants of the teacup that she must have smashed over Oliviya's head before snapping her neck. It mixed with the rest of the tea that was on her hands, dropping in rusty rivulets onto Oliviya's lifeless face. What the-what had she done? She reached down to pat Oliviya's face in vain, knowing she wasn't going to get a reaction out of it- at some point, the alarms had started going off, and the heavy metal doors to the mess hall had shut down. She didn't mean to- it had just happened-

"No, No, I'm sorry, Oliviya, no-"

Someone grabbed one of her arms, and someone else her other one- she tried to jerk it away, but their grip was too strategically placed and strong- and hauled her off of Oliviya's body, a third worker pressing two fingers to the girl's neck to check for a pulse. Katya kicked as her feet left the floor, and one of them was grabbed by a fourth worker, but the fifth didn't get her leg in control in time, and she managed to kick him in the nose, aiming on instinct for the nasal bone rather than the cartilage, and smashing her heel hard enough into it to crumple him to the floor in a heap, and there was more shouting, and someone else managed to grab her leg, and they were dragging her off to the quiet room, she knew it, and she didn't want to go in there-

Katya sniffled, laying a hand over the one Yelena had on her shoulder affectionately. She stumbled for words, and was momentarily unsure if she actually knew the answer.

She glanced back across the field, to where Happy was parked and Peter was standing, leaning against the car. He waved.

"No, thank you." She finally mustered out, "I'm happy with what I have here. I just missed you all so much-" her voice broke, and she urged herself not to break back into tears, "keep in touch, will you? When you can? I know you're busy and all, but-"

Yelena smiled and leaned forward to press one last kiss to her forehead. "You'll hear from me soon. The more Widows we free, the safer it is for us to communicate. We'll see you soon, malenkaya myshka."

Katya gave Yelena's hand one long, last, hard squeeze before letting go, backing up so the hatch could close. "You better!" She shouted, as the jet's engines started up.

As the door closed, Yelena offered her a two fingered salute, which Katya returned. And then the hatch was shut.

And they were gone.

— —-

Peter's arms were already open for her to fall into when she returned to the car. Her eyes were still streaming, but she felt giddy, almost, in a way she didn't know how to identify or explain.

"Mission accomplished?" He asked, holding her close. She nodded into his chest.

"Mission accomplished."

They pulled back, and she grinned at him, so he mirrored her expression. "I take it that went well?"

Katya nodded, rubbing at her eyes. She was surprised she wasn't dehydrated from all this. "I just missed them all a lot more than I thought I did."

"Then why didn't you go with them?" Peter asked softly, as if he almost didn't want to know.

Katya tugged at his hand playfully, "What, and leave you to patrol all by yourself? Don't be silly, pauchok. I'm more than happy right where I am."

Peter grinned at this, and began to pull her in for a kiss, but there was a clearing of a throat from the driver's seat of the car- Happy, who had been there this entire time. "I'm glad all of this is going so well, but I'm on a bit of a schedule here and I'd rather you guys did that…literally anywhere else."

Peter reddened whilst Katya giggled, and they both got back into the car. "So what's your schedule, then?"

"I gotta get you guys back to school as soon as possible and then head back up here to do some stuff for the Boss." Meaning Tony, of course.

Katya glanced down at her phone. School had let out almost forty five minutes ago, but school was near patrol area so she wasn't going to correct him. She glanced at Peter, showing him her phone. He smirked, and she knew he got the message. "All right, Happy," she called up to the front seat, "Take us away."