A/N: Just one chapter left after this! Thanks for reviewing!

Not a lot has to change

Natalia sent him a text, saying where she was going after Berlin. She didn't invite him to join her, and he tried not to be disappointed. They were relocating again anyway, which provided a nice distraction. Moving around every few days, at most a week, was certainly stressful. But they couldn't afford to draw attention, and the longer they stayed, the more likely someone would find one of them familiar.

Even if the news cycle had moved on from them, the former Avengers were still fairly recognizable. And so was he. Living out of suitcases made sense, and they made their way across Europe as a start. Sometimes towns were chosen for a particular reason – one of them had friends or contacts there – but mostly it was at random. If there was a significant anti-Avenger sentiment, they moved on quickly.

It was strange to see Steve dealing with this. He'd always wanted to help people, and having his hands tied by the government was a new situation. Following orders without question had never been his M.O., so it wasn't all that surprising that he would end up on the other side of the people who thought themselves in charge. He felt that Steve was handling it remarkably well. Better than the others. Keeping up morale was a challenge, but even in disgrace, Captain America could rally people to his banner.

They were just arriving at their new place – a large house in the country – when Bucky's phone actually rang. That never happened. Getting a text was rare enough. Stepping out onto the porch, he answered it.

"James."

"Natalia." He hadn't realized how anxious he was until he heard her voice and felt instant relief wash over him. "Where are you?"

"Pokrov. Thought I might, um, make a detour on my way."

He remembered that's where her parents were and felt a pang in his chest. "On your way where?"

There was a pause and he held his breath. "I was thinking that maybe it's not a weakness to work with people."

"You're coming here?"

"Yes."

That elevated his heartrate. "How soon?" I've missed you, he wanted to say, but was afraid it might make her change her mind.

"Soon. I'll head to Moscow in the morning for the flight. I just, uh, wanted to check in. Make sure I was welcome," she added quietly.

It was rare to hear her sound so unsure of herself. "Of course you are. We'd love to have you. What happened, Natalia? Did you find Belova?"

"I did."

Getting information out of her was next to impossible and he smiled slightly at how frustrating she could be. "Are you okay?"

"I think so. Hey, James… Is Steve around?"

"Yeah, you want to talk to him?" He wouldn't let it hurt that her attention was going to be divided between her other friends when she got here – and he had no idea how much of her time he would warrant after their brief collaboration.

She was silent for a long moment. "No, I just… Could you ask him if, um, if there's room?"

"Sure, hang on," he replied gently, surprised by her nervousness. Then he went back inside to find Steve, who was talking to Wanda about something. Covering the mouthpiece of the phone (or where he guessed that might be – phones were weird now), he waited patiently for a break in their conversation.

"What is it, Buck?" Steve asked, still looking at Wanda intently.

"Natalia was wondering if we had room for her to join us," he said, very proud of himself that his tone sounded natural.

Both Steve and Wanda turned to look at him, Steve with a slight frown and Wanda with a small smile. "Natalia?" she repeated.

Act normal, he ordered himself. "Um, yeah."

"We'd be happy to see her, Buck," Steve answered, glancing between Wanda and Bucky with a thoughtful expression.

"Yes, I'm sure we'd all be happy to see her," Wanda added with an emphasis he wasn't going to think about.

"Great. I'll tell her," he said awkwardly, and left them to whatever they were discussing. He could feel their eyes on his back as he walked away and he had a feeling he hadn't acted as nonchalant as he'd hoped. Once outside again, he lifted the phone to his ear. "Natalia?"

"Yes?"

"He says it would be great for you to join us."

He could tell she was smiling when she spoke again. "Alright. I'll see you in a day or two. Thank you, James."

"You're welcome," he responded, unsure for what she was thanking him. She hung up before he could ask, and he spent the next thirty-six hours waiting impatiently. He'd decided that he would have to speak up soon. Because living with her was going to be torture, especially with the others around, making an already delicate situation into something more volatile.

He was aware that his change in behavior had been marked. Both Steve and Sam tried to subtly question him about Natalia, about what exactly happened while he was with her. But he didn't give anything away, diverting the subject when he could and stonewalling when he couldn't. It wasn't his place to explain his nervousness. Of course, if she were just a normal girl he was interested in, he would have said something to Steve, at least. But their shared history made things complicated. So he just waited and tried to spend more time with Lang and Barton, who was back, instead of people who wanted to know why he was suddenly the one she called.

Finally, at four in the afternoon, she arrived. When the doorbell rang, Bucky resisted the urge to answer it. Barton did instead and he sat listening to their voices and waiting to see if anyone else would go greet her. He needed to be alone with her, but that couldn't happen right away, so he was uncertain of how to react to her until then. Wanda joined them next and he figured he might as well head down, too.

Sam caught up with him in the hallway and he had the sneaking suspicion he was there to see how Bucky reacted to seeing her. So he didn't. Even if she did look so pretty – had she gotten more beautiful or had he just forgotten? She was smiling at something Wanda said, and then she caught his eye across the room. Her expression didn't change but he thought it looked more genuine. Or maybe he was imagining things.

It didn't take long for everyone to come to the door and express their happiness that she'd joined their side – or whatever. Steve insisted that her successful mission meant they should have one of their dinners, and Bucky was somewhat relieved to help out in the kitchen instead of watching Natalia talk to other people.

Sam was also a good cook, and the two of them did most of the meals. Moving around as much as they did meant that they relied a lot on restaurants. But the dinners after a successful mission were important and everyone chipped in to make them a good alternative. Plus it was a nice way to relax after a mission and get out of that mindset. Bucky hadn't been on a mission in a few days, but it was still very helpful to have something to do tonight.

At dinner, most of the conversation was Steve telling Natalia about their adventures since they'd last seen her. Everyone chimed in from time to time except for him, and she was engaged without revealing anything about her own work. For the second time, Bucky was determined to stay here until the dinner ended. So he could talk to her.

"You're right, Sam, I'm sure catching any of us isn't very comfortable. But I don't think you can convince Steve to stop jumping off of stuff," Natalia was saying with a grin. Steve frowned at her in mock-offense and everyone laughed. "What do you think, Barnes? How long has he had this habit?"

Slightly startled to be addressed, he cleared his throat. "From what I hear, he jumped out of one of the first planes he was ever in on some half-cocked rescue attempt," he offered. "So I don't think he's ever going to stop. Must be something the serum did to his brain."

"Hey, I seem to recall that it was your sorry ass I was rescuing," Steve countered. "And it's not like either of you should talk."

"No?" Natalia asked politely.

"The first time I met you, you wanted my help to jump onto a moving alien vehicle twenty feet above us. And Bucky jumps off overpasses and buildings all the time."

"Looks like he has you there," Lang pointed out.

They all laughed, Barton affirmed Natalia's equally poor self-preservation skills, and the conversation moved onto other topics. Bucky was as quiet as he often was during these things, though he could feel Natalia looking at him from time to time. Finally, it started to wind down and he took a deep breath, going over again what he wanted to say to her.

Instead, she and Barton stepped outside to catch up and he was at a loss for what to do. So, to avoid anyone asking him any questions, he headed to the kitchen to clean things up. He gave brief responses to anything anyone said to him as they brought in their dishes and he was eventually left alone. To wait.

"Hey, man, thanks for all you did for her," Barton said suddenly, appearing in the doorway. "I didn't think it would turn into such a job."

"No problem," he replied. Barton nodded and left, heading upstairs. Hesitantly, he made his way to the porch and found Natalia still there, deep in thought. "Hey," he said quietly, uncertainly.

She looked up a little sharply, but then smiled. "James. Hey."

After an awkward moment, he left the doorway to sit down next to her. "Natalia," he began.

"It's nice being back with everyone. Having a support system," she said abruptly.

"Yes," he agreed, pausing to see where she was going with this.

"You know, all the stuff that Stark and Steve stirred up has been unpleasant to deal with. But one good thing is that it brought you here, with us, instead of hiding out by yourself."

He didn't know how to respond to that, so just looked at her in quiet surprise.

Pressing her lips together briefly, she continued. "I'm glad Clint sent you instead of meeting me before we went our separate ways. I've been alone too long," she added, almost a whisper. "I just… There's something I need to know before I decide to stay."

"What is it?" he asked, heart pounding in anticipation.

Her hands wrung together and she didn't look at him for a long moment. "Do you… Do you remember it all? Our time together when I was young?"

Reaching out to take her hand, he waited until she looked up again. "Yeah, I remember everything, Natalia. And you were the one good thing in all of it."