Chapter 23 was uploaded yesterday-but the date of update didn't change, so you might wanna go back and check if you read it:)

The scenes of TWS that didn't make it into this chapter are canon for this story and happened like in the movie

Chapter 24

He couldn't really comprehend what just happened. One minute he talked to Pierce after running into his neighbour who was actually a SHIELD agent and spying to him. God, he thought that Nat was paranoid when she said there was something going on with Kate. He should only listen to her from now on.

And then he got attacked by STRIKE and he had to jump out of the fucking elevator and then he lost his Harley because he had to bring down a fucking Quinjet. This was so not his day. And Fury was dead and he couldn't be with Nat to comfort her because this whole fucking mess happened. He needed to get to her as soon as possible. He didn't know what was going on but if they were after him they would be after her too. SHIELD bugged his apartment, they knew that he and Natasha were a couple. He got sick when he thought about how much they apparently knew about him and her. They spent many hours there even before they got together. Every conversation with her was recorded, every time they were intimate someone was listening.

If Fury was still alive, he would break his jaw. How could he do this Natasha? She trusted him! And he didn't think she knew that his place was under surveillance. They were too many things she said and did that wouldn't have happened if she knew about it. She shared her only memory of her mother with him in this apartment and SHIELD knew about it too.

He ran as fast as he could down the bridge. He needed a plan. He needed to get to Natasha and they needed to find out what was on that USB drive he gave her at the hospital. First he needed to change his clothes. He wasn't really incognito in his uniform and the shield on his back. How was he supposed to find Nat? Was she still at her apartment? Was she already on the run and looking for him?

He was in byroad when suddenly a SUV was racing towards him. Fuck, did SHIELD already find him? The car got closer and he could finally see who was driving. Natasha was in the driver's seat and a hoodie covered her hair.

She did a turn and opened the passenger's seat. "Get in." She screamed and he jumped into the car.

"How did you find me?" He breathed out and thanked his lucky stars that she was here and unhurt.

"I had Stark put his alert he has on us on my phone. When I got the info that you were now a fugitive, I knew I had to come and find you. I've been circling the area and then I finally saw you." She nodded at the backseat. "I have clothes for you. And I have cash, weapons and fake passports. We are covered for now."

God that woman was incredible. But she couldn't have gotten the passports today, good ones took time. "Nat, how long do you have this stash?"

"For me? For years. For you? Since we started dating." She admitted without looking at him. She was probably embarrassed.

He leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Thank you. What would I do without you!" She smiled and turned her head to give him a short kiss.

She patted the front pocket of her jacket. "I have the USB drive in here."

He nodded and crawled on the back seat to change his clothes. He put the glasses and baseball cap on and and got back into the passenger's seat. "Did you get a look at what's on it?"

She shook her head. "SHIELD can trace it as soon as it's plugged it. We need to go to a shopping mall where we can't be easily made. Blend in with the people."

"Okay." She was way better at espionage than him. He would let her take the lead. "Nat, I am so sorry about Nick. I know how much he meant to you."

Natasha stared at the road. "Yeah." Her hands tightend on the wheel and her knuckles turned white. "I know who killed him. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

"So he's a ghost story?" He never heard of an assassin lasting that long. They were active for maybe one or two decades before they got killed.

"No, he's not. He's the one who shot me in Odessa." She looked at him briefly. "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." She pulled the drive out of her pocket and handed it to him.

He took it and hid it in his jacket. "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."

They ditched the SUV at the shopping mall and were now on their way to Camp Lehigh and his past. It couldn't be a coincidence that the coordinates led them to the army base he was trained.

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha was cleary amused.

"Nazi Germany. And we're borrowing. Take your feet of the dash."

She chuckled and did as he told her to.

"You were right."

"Hm?"

"About Kate, she's a SHIELD agent. Send by Fury to protect me." He laughed dryly. "And my place was bugged."

"What?" Natasha looked shocked. "That can't be true! I checked regularly for bugs when I was at your place. Even before we got together!"

"That's what Fury told me. And Pierce." He looked over at her and she was practically fuming.

"That's not possible. Unless he had some tech I never heard about." She was angry and he couldn't blame her. He was pretty pissed himself. "That means that Fury knew about us before we told him. Kate saw us together and with the audio from your place... It's in the files, Steve. They are probably looking for us together."

"I know. I'm sorry, Nat."

"Did Fury tell you to give me that USB drive?"

"No." He whispered because he knew his answer would hurt her. "He told me to trust no one."

"That's rich." She scoffed. "He gives me different orders behind your back, spies on you and me and then thinks I'm behind whatever the fuck is going on."

He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to it. "I trust you. I trust you more than anyone in this world. I knew immediately that you had nothing to do with it and that the stick would be safe with you."

She laced their fingers together and rested his hand on her thigh. "Thank you. That means a lot. I feel the same." She gave him a small smile.

SHIELD was HYDRA or HYDRA was SHIELD. And they were trying to kill them. He was so furious, they tried to kill her. Natasha was unconscious in his arms and he was running through the forest to the next town to borrow a new car. They needed to hide somewhere to come up with a plan. He didn't know what Project Insight was but with HYDRA being behind it, it couldn't be something good.

He found a car and placed Natasha gently in the passenger's seat. He started the engine and drove off the parking lot. Where could they go? They had to go back to DC, whatever Project Insight was it would be operated from the Triskelion.

Sam, they had to go to Sam. Sam was never in his apartment, so hopefully SHIELD didn't know about him.

Natasha began to stir and groan right before they entered DC. "Nat, are you hurt?"

"No, no. I'm okay. Are you hurt?"

"No. I'm driving to Sam." She nodded and closed her eyes again.

Of course Sam gave them shelter and let them get some rest in his guest room. They showered together and Natasha let him wash her hair. He was still in the bathroom while she sat on the bed and dried her hair. She looked lost and distant.

"You okay?" He sat down on the chair facing her on the bed.

"Yeah."

"Natasha, talk to me." He placed his hand on her knee.

"When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but...I guess I can't tell the difference anymore." She gave him a sad smile and his heart ached for her. He knew how much she counted on her work for SHIELD to make amends and now she found out that she still worked for the bad guys.

"I'm sorry,Nat. We'll figure this out."

"Thank you for saving my life. I owe you."

"No, you don't. We protect each other. That's who we are. You would have done the same for me." He leaned forward to kiss her. She cupped his face and kissed him with everything she had. She ended up in his lap and they kissed with a desperate need for each other. He could have lost her last night. He poured everything in his kisses. He wanted to tell her so badly that he loved her.

Suddenly there was a cough. "I made breakfast. If you aren't too busy for that."

"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me." How could Bucky be alive? And how could he work for HYDRA? What did they do to him?

"How's that even possible? It was like 70 years ago." Sam said.

He thought the same thing, unless of course... " Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..."

"None of this is your fault." Natasha tried to assure him. But wasn't it? He wrongly assumed that Bucky died. He should have looked for him. He failed him. "Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky." Bucky who had always had his back and when it counted Steve didn't do the same for him.

"We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in the truck" Sam yelled and he looked up at Nat. She was pale and blood was oozing out of her wound. Some boyfriend he was. He didn't even realize she was that badly hurt and even then she comforted him. He didn't deserve her.

One guard suddenly electrocuted the other one and pulled their helmet off- it was Hill. "That thing was squeezing my brain."

Hill saved them and got them out of that truck and drove them in a van to what looked like a dam. Natasha was getting weaker and rested against his side during the drive. He hoped that dam had medical supplies to treat her gunshot. His best friend shot the woman he loved twice. God, this was some kind of twisted fate.

The dam harboured a secret facility and he helped Nat to walk into it.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint." Maria yelled at a man who was running towards her. Wasn't that one of the doctors operating Fury?!

"Maybe two." Sam interjected.

"Let me take her." The doctor said and wanted to get to Natasha.

"She'll want to see him first." Maria replied and led them down the corridor. See who? Natasha looked as confused as he felt.

They followed Hill into a room and came to sight with a not so dead Fury. What the fuck was going on?

"About damn time!" He greeted them.

Tomorrow they would take down the helicarriers that carried out Project Insight and SHIELD. He felt terrible that he would destroy Peggy's lifework but it had to be done. HYRA, SHIELD, it all had to go. Fury seemed a bit pissed with that decision but Nat, Sam and Maria agreed with him.

He and Sam would deal with the helicarriers while Nat would infiltrate the Council meeting. She wanted to take down the third helicarrier but he could convince her that she was needed at that meeting to make Pierce comply with their plan. He had a feeling that Bucky would be protecting the helicarriers and he didn't want Nat to face him again. Her wound was treated and he knew that the Red Room gave her a serum but she still wasn't on his level of enhancement. She was better now after a blood transfusion but she still wasn't at 100 percent and he didn't want to think about what he would do if Bucky hurt her again.

He was staring at the ceiling of the room he was staying in for the night. Natasha would come later because she needed to talk to Fury. She was pretty upset about everything. That he spied on them and that he didn't trust her. Did Fury really think Nat was HYDRA? He didn't question her loyality for one second. Fury would probably say that his feelings were blinding his judgement but he knew that Nat was one of the good guys.

He would have to face Bucky tomorrow. No, not Bucky. He would face the Winter Soldier tomorrow and he prayed to God that he would be able to break through to him. Bucky was his best friend, he was his brother. No matter what happened tomorrow that would never change and he hoped that he could help him and bring Bucky home. Natasha went through something similiar and she got out. Bucky could to the same.

The door opened and Natasha's head peaked through. "Hey, you got room in that bed?"

"Of course." He smiled briefly and she got into the room and slipped out of her boots and jeans and crawled under the blanket with him.

"How are you?" She rolled onto her good side and faced him.

"Confused. Angry. But mostly sad." He looked at the banage peaking through her top. "I didn't even notice how badly you were hurt in that truck."

"It's okay." She traced her finger over his face. "Finding out that your best friend isn't dead after 70 years is a pretty good excuse."

He kissed her palm when it was over his mouth. "You're so good to me. How are you? How's your shoulder?"

"Hurts a bit but it's okay. Fury's guy knows what he's doing."

"How did your talk with Fury go?"

Her features darkened. "He said that I would have done the same thing. Said we are spies and that's how we worked. Maybe that's true but I don't want to live like that anymore. I don't want to have a life built on lies, mistrust and isolation."

"People trust you and you're not alone." He cupped her face and she closed her eyes. "Clint trusted you with his biggest secret and welcomed you into his family. And I, I trust you with everything. I trust you with my life. And my heart." She opened her eyes and they were glistening. "You are the only one I completely trust. You are the only one I trust enough to give my heart to." This was the moment, now or never. "Natasha, I love you."

She smiled beautifully at him and a tear fell down onto the pillow. But then she looked sad. "I...I want you to know that I feel the same. But I can't say those three words. I never said them before in my entire life. I'm sorry. But I feel the same!" She had a pleading look on her face.

"I know. Take all the time you need to say it to me. Or don't say it to me. But I know you love me too." He could see it in her eyes that she loved him. Of course he would love to hear her say it but he wouldn't push her.

"Okay." She nodded and stroke his cheek with her hand. "I'll say it to you, one day. But know that I never felt this way for anyone before."

"Me too."

Natasha buried her face into his neck and he placed his chin on her head. They needed all the sleep they could get. Tomorrow would be a big day. The whole world was about to change.