13 : BREAKAWAY

Steve was walking towards the Stan Lee Hall, he had no football practice so he was planning on doing his project, hanging out with his friends, and scoring some girls. He whistled a song happily until he heard a very familiar voice but speaking in a different language. He peaked around the corner and saw Natasha talking on the phone with someone.

She was talking to someone in her mother tongue. Steve was shocked at how hot she sounded speaking in Russian but he quickly ignored this as her voice started to shake and she began to cry.

His Little Red was crying, crying her heart out.

Somewhere deep inside him he felt pure pain for her. He had never seen Natasha cry before. Steve sat down behind the column adjacent to Natasha, she couldn't see him because she was burying her face in her knee and talking to whoever was causing her to cry.

The sound of her voice was really heartbreaking even the heartless person Steve was could feel it.

Natasha got the unexpected phone call when she was about to head back to her dorm. It was the ID of a blocked number but she immediately knew where it came from. Still, she answered it. The voice that answered her back was very familiar to her. Oh yes, she had been familiar with it for her whole life.

"Hello, Alexei." She talked to him in Russian. Alexei Shostakov, her ex- boyfriend. She tried really hard to leave her past in Russia but somehow, it still haunted her. A conversation with him was never easy for her, It was always the same thing he repeated to her again and again. Asking her to take him back. Asking her to come back home, come back to him. Asking her to abandon her dream to be with him. She answered the same way:

"I thought we talked about this, Alexei."

"This is my life."

"I will never set my foot back inside Russia ever again."

"I'm sorry, Alexei but this is what I want."

"Don't do this. This is not good for both of us. I've already moved on with my life now."

"Please, don't do this."

They hung up within the hour, leaving Natasha with utter sadness. All the memories flooded her mind, all the painful memories about Russia. She couldn't hold back anything anymore.

She had lied about her life back in Russia to her friends. She didn't like the idea of telling everyone about her past, she lied because she had only known them for a month and a half. But she hadn't lied about why she leaving Russia. One of the many reasons Natasha Romanoff had moved away from Russia. One of the two major reason anyway:

Alexei Shostakov, her ex- boyfriend…

Natasha had grown up in a small town her whole life. She had never seen outside the damn town her whole damn life, never knew what was out there and always wanted to know what was waiting for her on the outside.

Her real name was Natalia Alianovna Romanova

She grew up in a neighborhood where she met with her first boyfriend Alexei Shostakov. They had been friends since they were little kids. Natalie and Alexei against the world.

They began to date one another when they were in high school. She could say that he was the most popular guy in the school. He was a bad boy type that you couldn't help but falling for.

Yeah, she knew she had a really bad taste of boyfriend but Alexei was always a gentleman to her. He never, ever disrespected her.

Together, they ran this school. No. They ran the town. Their close friends, Boris Turgenov, Yelena Belova, Alex Nevsky, and Galina Nerirovsky were helping them and they all enjoyed each others company.

The group were often described as the gangster of the town. Alexei was their leader. He also introduced her to many things. Many bad things. She could say that she lived her life pretty wild during high school. He was also her first.

They were madly in love. Natasha always thought to herself that she was really lucky to have Alexei as her boyfriend and she really hoped that their relationship would last for eternity. They both felt that they could take on the world together and nothing would change them or tear them apart.

But real life hit them both in the form of graduation and university.

"What do you want to do when you graduate?" Natasha asked as they spent their time together at his house on the rooftop.

"I don't know." He replied. "My dad wants me to study in Marketing, you know, to help with his company." He turned to her. "What about you, babe?"

"I just found an interesting course but it's a university in the US." She said. "I already talked to my parents. They all agree with me to apply for a scholarship."

"WHAT?!" He practically yelled at her. "You're planning to go to the US. Are you crazy? Not to mention that you're just telling me this now!"

"Alexei, it's my dream. I really want to do this."

"You can do it here, baby. Moscow University has the best courses too." He tried to convince her. "At least, we're still in the same country." It took Alexei two weeks to convince Natasha and her parents that she should stay here and not leave him to go to the US. Even if that means she had to give up her dream for him.

"Nat, it was just a childish dream. You would never make a real career out of it." She couldn't believe that was saying that her dream was nothing. She thought that she was important enough for him to care more about what she wanted more than what he wanted. But she was young and naïve and believed in happily ever after.

She chose Alexei's dream over her own.

The big surprise came to her on their graduation day. After the ceremony they were gathering in the school gymnasium. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Alexei dropped down on his knee and opened the velvet little box with his family engagement ring in it.

"Natalia Alianovna Romanova we've known each other all our lives but I couldn't wait another minute to spend the rest of my life with you." He said. "Will you marry me?"

It had been the longest moment in her entire life. Everything went on in a slow motion. Millions of thought flashed into her head but the clearest was that she didn't want to do this. She didn't want to get married this young and throw her future away for a happily ever after.

There was so much more opportunities and potential in her future. She didn't even have a chance to fly by herself to the outside world, she needed to see the outside world for once. She needed her own life outside this town and Alexei. There were so many things she wanted to do before she settled down to have a family. She was too young for this. She wasn't ready for a commitment at this level and she also knew that Alexei did this to put a shackle on her. He afraid of losing his Natalie to the world, losing her to her dream.

"No, Alexei. I cannot marry you. Not now. Not in the near future." She finally said. "I'm sorry. I do love you but this is not the time for this. I'm not ready for this and I'm pretty sure that you are not ready too."

Well, at least she didn't have to endure anything or listen to Alexei mourn about her turning down his proposal. She got on the plane the next day to Moscow, to her university. She hated saying goodbye to her loved ones back in the town so she decided to disappear right after the day of their graduation. It's not easy to say goodbye.

Natasha found herself a very nice apartment and it was located near the university. Her parents were more than happy to support her with anything she wanted. But her boyfriend being his usual self, tracked her down and showed up at her door step with a new proposal.

"I'm sorry for dropping bomb like that on you." He said and held her hands gently. "I think we can try a long distance relationship."

"Great but I don't think it's gonna work." She bluntly said, she didn't want to let himself get hopeful.

"Natalie, please have faith in us." He begged. And Natasha found herself getting nowhere with getting over her dependence on Alexei.

"Okay, we can try."

That was the biggest mistake she ever made in her life, yet.

It went well in the first couple of months but they grew in distance between one another. They weren't able to connect anymore. They also fought a lot. Natasha endured it for almost a year, until she had enough of everything and the fighting between her and Alexei was getting worse every day and left her very emotionally drained. But the timing for her future was perfect, she just got an acceptance letter from Marvel University with a full scholarship offering.

When everything in Russia was about to fell apart, at least she got another exit. A chance for her dream.

She had it all planned out. She would leave Russia when this semester ended and transferred all her credits. She booked a flight and got everything done at both ends. She had already talked to her family and asked them to keep this news a secret.

At least, they supported her decision. The only loose end was her relationship with Alexei, if you can call it that. One day, after her last final exam. She went back to her room and found another surprise. Her boyfriend was standing in the middle of her room. She could see that he was ransacking her place. Everything was not in their position. In his hand was the acceptance letter from MU.

"When do you plan to tell me about this scholarship, Natalie?!" He asked. "Or do you plan to tell me this when you get there?"

"I was planning to tell you today, on the phone, but since you are here." She said. "And you've already found out about everything."

"You cannot do this to me, Nat."

"It's my life, Alexei. You have no right to decide my future for me."

"You're not gonna make it. That country is full of cruel people. You're not gonna survive." He said. "This dream is just the waste of time. Give up this dream, Nat. It's not worth it."

"It's my dream, Alexei. It's my future. I can do whatever I want with it." She just wanted someone who supported her decision, not making the decision for her. And clearly, Alexei was no longer supporting her anymore.

"This is the stupidest decision you'll ever make. You're never gonna make a career out of it." He said spitefully. "You cannot do this to us. You have to stay here with me."

"What can you do to stop me, Alexei?"

"Don't make me beg, Natalie." He caught her by surprise and took her stunned state to his advantage and kissed her. They had sex that night and he slipped the ring on her finger but Natasha had already make up her mind. Natasha made sure that he was in a deep sleep before getting up from her bed, dressing, bringing her luggage she hide in her closet, packing everything and heading for the door.

The last thing she did was take off her engagement ring and place it on the desk. She was keeping their promise ring that he gave her since they were dating back in high school. Natasha walked out the door and never looked back again. She didn't even give him a chance to say goodbye. She took a taxi to the airport, boarded the plane to New York, leaving everything behind. It was time for her to break away. She would take all the risks, take all the chances she had.

But she won't forgot all the ones that she loved

She dared enough to spread her wing and fly away. Dared enough to choose her own dream, her own life.

Start it all from zero.

Seeing her crying like that broke his heart and Steve knew, something icy cold inside him started to break down. Seeing Natasha cry like that sparked something within him and he was sure it was his protective side.

No one hurts her and gets away with it.

But now, he needed to do something to cheer her up.

She knew she was a bitch for leaving Alexei like that. She also knew that karma would bite her back in the ass. She knew she would have to face the same consequence. Someone she really loved will leave her just like she did with Alexei, he will leave her to wake up alone ad he will never come back to her.

She cried until there were no tears left within her. Her eyes were red and swollen she could hardly open them. Damn you, Alexei. For making me weak all over again, she muttered in her head as she walked back to her dorm.

Natasha found something in front of her room. It was a roll of white paper. She stretched it out and found that it was a sketch of her with many states of her smile and various happy faces of her. It also had a small caption at the lower right hand corner that said 'You got a smile that only heaven can make' with a small arrow that told her to turn the page. Natasha found another caption that said, 'I don't want to see you cry, it just broke my heart to see you sad'

She didn't know why but she let out a small smile after seeing the drawing and reading the captions. It was really nice of whoever had drawn her it. Unbeknownst to Natasha, that person was hiding around the corner, watching her heavenly smile and found himself smiling too.

AN:

- Special thanks to my friend, sleeplessinbudapest. For everything *hugs*

- Thanks to my beta readers, Gabby Bensaro NCIS-SVU-Fan & keepcalmandwrite.

- Please kindly leave a review :)