(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 5 - 2nd July 2015

"You know, there are some serious advantages to having super soldiers for movers."

Natasha grinned, sitting down on her brand-new couch, and stealing popcorn from the bowl her sister held.

"Pravda," Yelena agreed with a nod, eating some more kernels herself, though she never looked down.

Natasha noticed her sister's eyes were well and truly glued to Steve's muscles straining under his shirt as he shifted boxes and furniture around. It was hard not to smirk at the sight, more so at the idea of the ex-Black Widow assassin and the great Captain America making a couple. Not that anything had actually happened yet, at least, Natasha was pretty sure. She and James talked about it several times, and always with the same result. Steve said they were team-mates friends who got along well, but that was all. Yelena said much the same, though she blushed less in the telling, of course.

Natasha wasn't sure what to think about it all, and today of all days, she refused to worry. Yesterday, she and James got the keys to their new apartment and moved in the most essential items. Today, their respective siblings had come along to help with properly arranging things and the whole settling in process. It was nice. Familial in a way that nothing ever had been before, not even when she was with the Barton clan at the farm.

She loved Clint and his family, she truly did. Nobody could have taken better care of her when she needed it most and she would always look to them as family, but this was different. This was something of her own that Nat had built. Different to being taken into something that already existed. Different even to the Avengers, who somebody else had put together. These were the people she chose herself. The sister she had sought to get back, the man she loved, and his life-long best friend who had become a great friend to her too.

"Hey!" Yelena said sharply then, throwing popcorn that hit the side of Natasha's head and caught in her hair. "Don't ignore me. It's bad enough you moved out and left me already."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "You make it sound as if I abandoned you, like a lost puppy in the street," she said, shaking her head. "You have your own place at the Tower, a real place in the team there, and you said yourself he has you running point with the New Avengers. Besides, we have a guest room here. You know you're always welcome."

They could joke and bicker with the best of them, but Natasha looked at Yelena seriously when she said these things. She needed her to understand that she never had to be alone again. That the bond they had as sisters was stronger than anything else, despite the fact they shared no biological link at all. The slightest nod of Yelena's head proved she did understand. The fact she managed not to make any kind of snarky remark also proved she was genuinely moved by what she had just heard, something that didn't happen all that often.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Again?"

It was James who made the exclamation, heading over to the door that had been left ajar and scooping something up from the floor. When he turned around cradling a small white cat in his hands, Natasha wasn't altogether shocked.

"I'm starting to think she likes you," she said, smirking some as she got up to go over for a closer look. "This has to be, what? The fourth time she's tried to follow you inside. She's a persistent little kitty," she said, reaching out one finger to scrub under the kitten's little chin. "She's also cute."

"Yeah, but why is she following me around?" asked James, sounding exasperated, and yet not offering to put the cat down or take him outside or anything of the kind.

"Probably because you're cute too," said Natasha smartly.

That earned her a smile from James, and an over-the-top gagging sound from Yelena. When the couple both turned to glare at little sister, she put on a big grin, like nothing ever happened. Natasha had to try not to smile herself then. It really was like having a real family.

"Oh, she actually made it in this time," said Steve, returning from the bathroom and spotting the kitten right away. "Good thing you like cats, Buck. Hey, you remember the little guy that used to hang around on the corner when we were kids? We saw him almost every day on the way to school."

"Yeah, I actually do," said James, smiling at what seemed to be a happy memory. "Orange all over, but one foot was black. Looked as if he got caught with his hand in the coal bin. Didn't you have a name for him?"

Steve blushed terribly at the question. "Blackfoot," he admitted softly.

Yelena giggled and Natasha tried not to do the same, while James didn't try hard enough.

"Right, Blackfoot." He nodded. "He was inventive," he told the girls then.

"I was six," Steve defended himself, shifting awkwardly. "Uh, anything else to come up from the van?" he checked then.

"Pretty sure this is everything," Natasha told him, surveying the scene. "You see anything missing?" she asked James, who shook his head.

"Nothing missing, just an extra that we didn't bargain for," he said of the kitten, who had apparently decided to curl up against his chest and go to sleep.

"That is adorable," said Yelena, around a mouthful of popcorn. "What will you call her? I mean, she's all white, so maybe Winter Soldier Cat," she teased.

"I don't know, I hear cats can eat you out of house and home. Maybe I'll call her Yelena," he teased right back.

"And that seems like a good time for us to go," said Steve, headed for the door.

"You could stay a while," Natasha suggested. "Give me a few minutes to find the take-out menus and I'll buy us all dinner."

"Honestly, we can't. While we're on this side of town, Tony wanted to us to look into reports of another potential New Avenger."

"That's right," Yelena confirmed, pulling on her jacket as she came to join the others by the door. "Some powered-up kid who can suck the knowledge right out of people's heads. Pretty cool, huh?"

"You'd never have to torture a bad guy for information ever again," said Natasha with a look.

"Huh. Well then, maybe not so cool," Yelena considered, sweeping by Steve to exit the apartment. "Come on, Cap," she said, tapping him on the chest as she went. "Time for work."

Steve rolled his eyes, but nonetheless, seemed quick to want to follow her out.

"I'll see you guys later. Enjoy your new place, and the peace and quiet, for as long as it lasts," he added, with a smile.

Natasha and James both thanked him for his help, and then, closed the door behind their 'siblings'. Just like that, they were alone in their new home.

"Well, I was going to say, 'Just the two of us, at last,' but then..." said James, looking down at the kitten still snoozing in his gentle embrace.

Natasha smiled and took a closer look at the little thing. "No collar, kind of skinny, and not exactly clean. Seems likely she's a stray. You know, if you did want to keep her..."

James looked torn. "Are you sure? I mean, I don't hate the idea of a pet, I guess, it's just... I don't know, like a lot of other normal life things, I just hadn't thought about it, until now."

"I don't mind either way." Natasha shrugged easily. "I'm just saying, I don't mind if she stays."

It wasn't a test. She didn't want for him to think so. If he wanted to take the kitten to the shelter, that was fine, and if he wanted him to stay, that was good too. Natasha could handle a cat. If she could handle a family, a forever love, and a real home, she was sure she would more than deal with being a cat-mom for a while, if James really wanted to be a cat-dad, of course.

"I guess, in the end, it's her decision." He sighed. "I mean, from what I know about cats, if they like you, they'll stay, and if not, they'll go. I have no problem with her hanging around if she wants to."

At those words, the little kitten snuffled awake, eyes blinking open and peering up at first James, then Natasha. A tiny little mewing sound escaped his tiny mouth, then he wriggled his rear and made an awkward attempt to move from his arms to hers. Natasha was quick enough to catch him and happily held him close.

"You don't really look much like a Winter Soldier Cat," she said, side-eyeing James as she smirked. "What do you think? Snowball?"

"Maybe," he considered. "But we can probably do better. Frosty?" he suggested, petting the kitten's little head.

"Chilly?"

"Snowdrop?"

"Chalky?"

"How about Alpine?"

Natasha was surprised by the suggestion, and yet, she couldn't deny it would make a really good name. It was a little more unique than some of the other choices, and not overly cutesy, which she also counted as a good thing.

"Alpine," she said, trying it out as she held the cat up higher, until they were eye-to-eye. "What do you say? Are you an Alpine?"

The little meow sounded too much like an agreement for them to consider any other name after that.

In a lot of ways, it ought to have been no different to any other evening they spent together back at the Tower. Curled up on the couch, watching an old movie, sharing take-out food and some whispered conversation, not to mention a few kisses. It was comfortable, nice, as normal as people like them could ever hope to be, and yet, in their own place, it meant so much more. Bucky wasn't sure he had ever been happier than he was, knowing he and Natasha were quite literally at home together.

As the credits rolled on the movie, he heard her sigh against his chest, at least, it seemed like a sigh, until he realised it was a yawn.

"It's been a long day," he noted, feeling oddly tired himself, given his super-soldier status. "Still, I don't think I'd trade it," he added, kissing the top of her head.

"It's been one of the better days of my life too," she said softly, carefully moving to look up at him. "Bet you never saw this coming, Sergeant Barnes," she said, eyes glittering with fun. "Living in sin at almost 100 years old?"

He laughed at that, like he always did when she brought up his age, which wasn't super often, but still. It didn't bother him anymore, if it ever had. Physically, he was thirty at most, not much older than Natasha herself, and she knew he was fitter than almost anybody else of that age too. Still, he didn't intend to let her get away with ribbing him like that.

"You're hilarious," he deadpanned. "Almost as funny as the fact Steve and Yelena are out on mission together right now, or maybe they're done for the day. Maybe they got a hotel room together someplace..."

"Hey, that's not fair!" she told him, socking him lightly in the chest. "You know how weird that sounds. It makes you squirm too!"

He had to admit she was right, but that didn't keep him from laughing at the look on her face.

"You were the one who said they could make a nice couple," he reminded her, even as she moved to sit up straight beside him on the couch, mindful of squashing Alpine who was curled up at their feet yet.

"I was thinking of them being company for each other," she said pointedly. "I can't think about Yelena or Steve like that," she said pointedly, "especially not together."

"Yeah, not sure I want my brain going there either," Bucky admitted, "but I can think of another Black Widow I would be more than happy to escort to the bedroom."

At that, she smiled. "And I can think of a super soldier I'd happily be escorted by," she replied in kind, rolling her eyes right after. "You're making me corny, milli moi."

"There are worse things to be," he assured her, reaching out to pull her closer and kiss her lips.

She went willingly into his arms, as she went willingly to their room with him, to christen the new bed in their new apartment, and really make the place their own.

To Be Continued...