I think/hope that this chapter is less confusing and shows where this story will go.

Chapter 39

The last time Natasha went to a gala was back when she worked for SHIELD and had to pose as an heiress to get access to an high class criminal ring. Apparently being filthy rich gets boring one day and you gotta find a new hobby. She played a role at that banquet which had made it easy for her. But she'd never been to the White House before, let alone to a ball there. And this time she would go as herself, Natasha Romanoff co-leader of the Avengers (and Captain America's girlfriend).

She called Pepper to help her find a dress because Pepper had all the connections to every important designer and she wanted to look amazing when she walked on Steve's arm into the room. People couldn't know they were a couple but she still wanted to scare any woman away who might thought about hitting on him. And she liked spending time with Pepper even though it was a bit weird after her break up with Tony.

She took an Uber to Pepper's appartment at the Upper East Side and was greeted by Pepper's warm smile.

"So good to see you, Natasha." They hugged and Pepper moved aside to let her in. Her penthouse was beautiful and proved again that Pepper had exquisite taste.

"Thanks again for helping me with this."

"No need to thank me. I love fashion." Pepper winked and led her to her living room. She gasped when she saw the clothes railes. Some dresses were in clothing bags others weren't and she spotted sequin, satin and other fabrics in every imaginable colour.

"I think I died and went to heaven. Not that I ever thought I would land there."

Pepper laughed and sat down cross-legged on her carpet that had probably cost more than a small car. She joined Pepper and oh that carpet was so soft! They enjoyed macarons and champagne while talking about anything and everything. Pepper didn't mention Tony and she followed her example.

"You ready to climb that mountain?" Pepper pointed at the clothing railes behind her.

"I thought you'd never asked, Potts." She grinned and helped Pepper up. The fun was finally about to begin.

She didn't remember how many dresses she tried on, she only found out that changing into different clothes a millions times could be quite exhausting. She was too tired afterwards and sent Steve a text that she would sleep at Pepper's place. It was already way past midnight and after some drinks and sushi she finally found the perfect dress. It was a black (what a suprise) velvet one with a sweetheart neckline that accentuated her boobs in a sexy yet classy way and a slit on her thigh showed some leg when she walked.

"I don't think you will get out of your hotel room when Steve sees you in this." Pepper said while she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked smoking hot if she was inclined to say so herself.

"It's not too much for the White House?"

Pepper shook her head. "No, it's perfect. It's elegant with the right amount of sexy. You don't have to look like a nun. Just don't do that weird Angelina Jolie leg thing with that slit."

"I'll try my best." She laughed and Pepper helped her out of the dress.

Steve seemed a bit nervous on their way to the White House because he wasn't sure he would be convincing enough to get the AG on their side. Matt and Nelson had prepared Bucky's case and Wanda managed to find the first usable information about HYDRA in his mind. That and the prospect that Wanda would be able to make sure that HYDRA wouldn't be able to trigger the Winter Soldier anymore would hopefully be enough to get Bucky immunity. She had met with Hill in the last weeks on numerous times and some intelligence services were very interested in Bucky. They either wanted for him to rot for eternity ( there were rumours about an underwater prison) and others wanted to experience on him. Either way they hadn't planned anything good for him.

And on top of that Steve and Tony were supposed to get the Avengers back out there. It had been months since Ultron and the World Council was still fighting about what to do with them. They didn't want them to let them operate on their own and they didn't want to be puppets. HYDRA could be anywhere.

Steve was playing with his seatbelt and she grasped his hand to calm him. "You gonna do great! And I'm right beside you and Tony's gonna be there as well!"

"I don't know. I'm not good at this."

"Aren't you the man with the plan?" She teased him and the corners of his mouth twitched in amusement.

"I did NOT write that song!"

She began to hum the melody and he rolled his eyes at her.

"Have I told you how beautiful and breathtaking you look tonight, Nat?"

She smiled at him and gave him one last kiss for some time. She wasn't his girlfriend tonight but his second in command. "You have. Serveral times."

The gala proved to be quite the success. She talked to Gideon Malick from the World Council and he told her that the Council would be willing to give the Avengers all kinds of authorization that an agency had if they promised to work close to the Council. She didn't see how that would be a problem and told Malick that she looked forward to working with him and the other council members.

She saw that Steve was talking to AG Sally Jenkins and hoped he would receive similiar good news. Maybe sooner than later the Avengers were back for good and they could fight the good fight again and make amends for Ultron. Maybe Bucky could join them after he would hopefully get immunity from the Justice Department. And maybe she and Steve could take the next step in their relationship. Marriage was now quite often on her mind. She never thought she wanted to be someone's wife but she really liked the idea of becoming Steve's. She hoped he felt the same way.

She was talking to the First Lady and her daughter when she saw that Steve wasn't with the AG anymore. She excused herself and made her way over to him with two glasses of champagne. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo and she couldn't wait to be alone with him in their hotel room. Hopefully he didn't plan on getting much sleep tonight.

"Hey." He took the glass she offered him. "So I checked and I stand correct you are the most beautiful woman in this room."

She chuckled into her champagne. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Rogers."

"That a promise?" His eyes darkened for a moment and he licked his lips.

She smirked at him. "You can count on that, Captain." She took a sip from her glass. "How did it go with Jenkins?"

"Good, I think. I told her about looking for Bucky and that I was worried about what would happen to him since none of this was his fault and she said that I shouldn't worry too much about it. That's good, right?"

"Yeah, I think so too. " She nodded and told him about her conversation with Malick.

"So, Bucky might have a future as a free man and the Avengers are gonna be back in business soon? That needs to be celebrated." He offered her his hand." Can I have this dance, Miss Romanoff?"

She gave him her hand and he led them to the dancefloor. Suddenly the windows burst and pieces of glass were flying everywhere. Before she could really register what happened Steve threw himself on her and covered her with his body. People were screaming and another explosion further away went off.

"Are you okay?" They asked at the same time and both nodded.

He helped her up and and people were running out of the room flanked by Secret Service. President Ellis and his family were nowhere to be seen.

Tony ran towards them. "Are you guys hurt?""

"No, you?"

He shook his head and pulled his Starkphone out. "FRIDAY tell me what's going on!"

"Three bombs appear to have been set off, Sir. Law enforcement is on its way."

Steve turned to Tony. "Do you have a suit here?"

"No."

"Okay, then see if anyone needs medical help. Nat and I search the building for perpetrators."

They didn't come far because the Secret Service had the whole place on lockdown and they were forced to stay in the ball room. Several people of the White House staff and Congress members were killed. The president was hurt but stabil. Dozens of people had cuts from the broken windows.

They wanted to stay but the FBI told them to get back to their hotel after talking to her, Steve and Tony. Not that they could tell them much, they were as surprised by the attack as everyone else.

They were watching the news in their suite and Steve was trying to call Bucky to tell them that they were okay but he didn't pick up. There were wild theories about who could be behind it but no one had yet claimed to be behind the attack.

Someone knocked on the door and Tony stormed into the room. "We need to talk!" He said frantic and already connected his phone to the hotel TV.

"What's going on?" She asked him when she stood next to him in front of the TV.

"Just look."

He pressed a button and the surveillance feed of the White House appeared. Did Tony hack into their system? She wanted to say something but then her breath got caught and her whole body frooze. A man was sneaking into the White House and hiding something under a table in a hallway. Was this a one man job? The man turned around and she could see his face. It was Bucky.

Steve was suddenly behind her. "That's not possible. That's not him!"

"Can you be sure?" Tony asked him. "He's not at the Tower. I had FRIDAY check. He disappeared this morning."

Steve shook his head. "No, no. There has to be an explanation. He would never do something like this!"

Her heart was racing and she didn't know what to think. She wanted to agree but she had no explanation for Bucky's face on the surveillance feed. Did someone tamper with it? "Tony, did you get this directly from the White House?"

"Yes, no one had their hands on it yet. It's not fake."

Steve sighed and buried his face in his hands. She felt so bad for him but she didn't know what to do. Was this the reason why they couldn't reach Bucky on his phone?

"Maybe HYDRA got to him?" Tony mused. Was that possible? "Wanda didn't try to lock the Winter Soldier away in his mind yet, did she?"

"Steve?" She asked carefully. This was an explanation that made some sense and Bucky was still innocent and didn't do it on purpose.

He looked up. "No! He didn't do it. How was HYDRA supposed to get to him? He was the whole time at the Tower and-" He looked at Tony. "You claim that it's the safest building in the world."

"Maybe he's been playing us the whole time." Tony said and she and Steve stared at him. No, she would have seen right through that, wouldn't she?

"Are you saying he was a sleeper?!" Steve yelled and stormed off the couch and towered over Tony. "He did not play us or betray us. This is some kind of misunderstanding!"

She placed her hand on his shoulder and turned him away from Tony. "Sweetie, try to calm down." She looked at Tony. "I think it's better if we continue to talk about this in the morning."

Tony nodded and left without a word. He really looked scared when Steve pounced at him.

"Do you think Bucky is behind it?" Steve asked quietly.

"I don't know what to think but I do know that there has to be a bigger picture." She tugged on his arm and led him to the bedroom of the suite. "I know it's not easy but try to get some sleep."

She didn't know how but she eventually fell asleep. It was still dark outside and the space next to her was empty and cold. Thinking that Steve was pacing around in the living room of the suite she got out of bed to look for him.

The living room was empty. "Steve?"

No answer.

She got a bad feeling in her gut and turned the light on. She saw his phone on the coffee table and a note beside it.

I'm sorry, Nat.

He needs me.

She ran back to the bedroom and his suitcase was gone. She slipped into jeans and shoes and "borrowed" one of the cars in the hotel parking lot. She raced to her old apartment in DC that she still had in case they needed a safehouse. The adress was still confidential.

She ran up the stairs and the apartment door was slightly open. The lock was damaged and she pulled her Glock out of her jacket and went in.

She checked every room but no one was here. She went to her safe that was broken open and cash, weapons and the blank passports were gone. Steve was the only one who knew about this.

She sank to the floor and hugged her knees. Steve had been here and took everything he needed to disappear. She didn't need to check if the quinjet that bought them to DC was still at the hangar, she knew that Steve took it. He could be anywhere by now and they had no way to track him. Did he go to look for Bucky or was Bucky already with him and they ran away together?

All she knew was that Steve promised her to never leave her and he broke that promise. She always feared that Steve would have to chose between her and Bucky one day. And now she knew that he would chose Bucky over her.

Steve was gone.

He left her.

And something told her that he was not coming back. She didn't stop her tears and mourned the fact that the love of her life didn't love her enough to take her with him.

Please don't scream at me!

I hope it's now more obvious where the last chapters had been leading to.

Rumlow told Steve before he died that Steve won't know what'll hit him.

Peter has been mentioned because he will show up soon.

Wanda worked on Bucky's mind but didn't erase the Winter Soldier yet, so Tony now suspects that Bucky is the Winter Soldier again.

Natasha confessed that Steve was the love of her life and made him promise her that he would never leave her. A promise he that he has now broken.