(a/n) Hope you enjoyed Home?. I really can't wait for you guys to read this chapter. You are finally going to get to see the reunion between Nat and Steve. Yes I know they have only been apart for about one chapter but for real in this storyverse it is going on to nine months of them not seeing each other. Let me know if there is anything that you guys want to see I would be happy to include this. This chapter is going to follow the beginning of AoU. Enjoy guys! Please leave me a review or a PM. I love to hear from my readers.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters they belong to Marvel and MCU!
Avenger's Tower 3 weeks later
" Agent Romanoff wake up, is requesting your presence in the conference room" J.A.R.V.I.S announces.
Natasha rolls over and slowly awakens. She stretches out her tired limbs. The past few weeks she has been training harder than ever before. There hasn't been much going on since Hydra was exposed, which meant no missions. This in turn means Natasha was bored out of her mind. Her days have consisted of eating, lifting, cardio, combat training, tactical and weapons training, eating some more, then some tv, and back to sleep.
"Okay J.A.R.V.I.S, please tell Tony I will be right down"
"Right away Agent Romanoff"
Natasha jumps out of bed and heads into the shower. She starts the shower and makes sure the water is extra hot just the way she prefers. She begins to watch her hair with her favorite mango shampoo. All the while thinking about why she is being summoned to the conference room at 4:00 am. Normally Tony is passed out until at least noon. As she finishes up her hair, she grabs her loofa sponge and lathers it up with her lavender body wash. She mindlessly washes herself, rinses, and turns off the shower. She quickly dries off and throws on a pair of black yoga capris and a gray cotton v-neck t-shirt.
Natasha makes her way into the conference room quickly as she knows Tony will comment on the lengthy time she took to get ready.
Natasha rounds the corner of the hall and peeks into the conference room and there stands Steven Rogers. Why is he here and why has she been summoned to the same conference room. She briefly contemplates turning around and going back to her room but then she notices that all the other Avengers are also present. She opts to walk in the room head held high as if nothing has ever bothered her. Which the Black Widow is very good at. In this moment seeing Steve for the first time in almost a year, she has to be only the Black Widow and not Natasha Romanoff because if she is Natasha she might break.
She walks into the conference room and greets the team "Morning boys" she turns to see Hill "and Maria" she then takes her seat at the conference room table.
"So nice of you to join us Natalie" Tony greets"
"You are oh so welcome Stark" she sneers
"Okay enough, let's begin the briefing" Maria commands.
"Aye, Aye Agent Hill" Tony chants
Natasha rolls her eyes, he can never be serious for more than a few minutes. She makes the mistake of looking up. Her eyes meet Steve's for the first time in longer than she can remember. His eyes lock on hers and he gives her this soft and sweet smile. She looks away quickly averting her attention to Maria.
"We have been contacted by loyal S.H.E.I.L.D. Agents to be made of aware of an energy signature that they picked up. It is believed to be located on a hidden Hydra base in Sokovia. We have deduced it is coming from Loki's sceptre as it has the same energy signature."
Natasha decides to make some input "If this team found the energy signature, why are they not retrieving the sceptre?"
"Because Agent Romanoff, they do not have the expertise that the Avengers have. To take on Hydra directly on their turf we need the Avengers" Maria replies.
"Ma'am that is understandable. When do we leave for this mission" Steve asks.
"We are planning for you to take off from Avengers tower in about two hours, so please gather your uniforms and prepare for a trip to Sokovia" Maria tells the team.
"Okay then team lets suit up" Steve tells them.
Natasha gets up without looking at anyone and heads back to her floor to grab her go bag and suit. She is ecstatic to finally have a mission, she has literally been bored out of her mind.
After changing into her suit, Nat heads to the armory to grab a few knives and pistols. She can never be ready enough. Once she is fully stocked on weaponry she heads to the flight bay to board the quinjet. She makes her way to the elevator.
"J.A.R.V.I.S could you please send me down to the flight bay"
"Right away Agent Romanoff"
As the elevator ascends to the flight bay, Natasha begins her pre missions check of supplies in her head. She knows she has everything but it is always worth double checking. The elevator stops at Steve's floor. Where he steps on in a newly designed Captain America suit.
Steve steps on to the elevator and greets her "Agent Romanoff how are you, ready for this mission?"
"I am well Captain and cannot wait to finally get out for a mission"
"I am right there with you" he replies. Natasha nods and they are silent for the rest of the elevator trip.
Natasha steps off first and heads right for the quinjet. She grabs a seat closest to the cockpit and hunkers down for their flight to Sokovia. She is hoping to get some shut eye for a bit since she was woken so early this morning.
Just as Natasha drifts off to sleep she is jolted awake by a overly loud Tony.
"Boys and girl it is time to partttyyyy" Tony yells
"Tony some of us need to prepare for this mission so could you please shut up and sit down and get serious" Natasha says angrily.
"Geesh Red, calm down I was just trying to rid us all of pre-mission jitters"
"What ever Tony. Just keep it down. I am trying to get some shut eye before this mission"
"Okay Red, I will repsect your wishes."
Everyone quieted to prepare for the duration of the flight. Natasha slept until she was woken up ten minutes before the drop zone so they could prep for their jump.
Sokovia
There is clearly something fishy going on here. There is some form of powered person or persons working with Hydra. Natasha is battling Hydra henchmen while Stark infiltrates the Hydra base. He is able to get the scepter and they are out of Sokovia in no time. They met with some resistance by what is thought to be super powered fighters but they could not look into it further because they needed to transport the precious cargo home before they lost it once again. It still stung Nat that she had technically been involved with Hydra for her entire S.H.E.L.D. career. Then they had gone and stolen so many things during the fall of S.H.E.I.L.D., which was causing so much havoc now. She wonders who the team of agents was that discovered the energy signal in the first place. She will have to remember to grill Hill when they arrive back at Avengers HQ.
The flight Home
Finally back on the quinjet, Nat takes the same seat she had on the flight over. Except this time Steve decides to take a seat next to her. She is annoyed because she does not want to be this close to him. Not yet anyway. She has never felt this way before. Not with the Soldier, not with a mark, not even with Alexi. She does not know how to process these feelings yet. She feels staying away from Steve and acting like there is nothing is the best way to lock away whatever these "feelings" are.
"Hey Natasha, good work out there today, glad to see we all work together so well" Steve addresses her.
"Thank Steve, it is definitely good to be back out in the field" She tells him.
"You know Nat, I really missed you while I was searching for Bucky. I came back to the tower a fews times hoping you would be around but know one had heard from you at all. Where did you disappear to for the past year?" Steve asks curiously.
At this point Nat just wants to him to stop talking. She knows that she should have at least contacted him to let him know she was okay and to see how he was doing. Don't get her wrong she kept an eye out and checked in on him in her own way. But she means how he was doing emotionally. His childhood best friend nearly killed him. He must be a wreck. She feels awful but she is still coming to terms with how she truly feels for Steve. What if he doesn't feel the same way? She doesn't want to finally open up to him and just get hurt in the long run.
"Sorry Steve, needed to figure some things out you know. Glad you are doing okay. How has your search been going for the Winter Soldier?" Natasha asks genuinely curious.
"Thanks Nat. Not well haven't found any leads. Think I am going to suspend the search for a while give him some time to hopefully resurface on his own"
Natasha is happy to hear he has come to his senses "That is probably a good idea. I think I need some shut eye until we get back to HQ. We can talk later at base" Natasha tells him.
"You got it Nat." Steve tells her.
Natasha shuts her eyes and evens her breathing to mirror sleeping. She starts to think about what to do next since the team is back together. Should she even bother discussing her feelings for Steve or should she leave them be for now? He seems like he may be interested but it is too hard to tell for sure. First thing first she needs to find out if he ever called that "Nurse".
With that thought Nat drifts back to sleep.
(a/n) Okay guys I am officially back. I had this chapter 3/4 written and decided to bang it out this afternoon. Here is the deal. I am going to finish this story up with AoU. Then I am linking my newest story which is already written to When is enough, enough. Romanogers all the way but this story will flesh out their relationship. With major progression at the end and finally I will have them together in my next story. Please let me know what you think. Read and Review.
XOXO
Rushman