(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 7 - 3rd December 2015

"What?" Natasha looked from the view of a cold, crisp New York morning outside of her apartment window to side-eye her smirking sister.

"Nothing," Yelena insisted, shaking her head, though the smirk had begun to turn into a full-on grin by then. "I was just thinking, I don't know if I have ever seen you so happy. Not even when we were children. Not even when it seemed as if we had a family."

There was a crack in her voice that wouldn't have been there once upon a time. Black Widows were taught too well not to let any kind of emotion show, most especially in front of their tutors or when they were 'working'. Things were very different now. Yelena had learned fast, as Natasha had before her, that it was okay to have feelings, to let emotions show. Sometimes, it could even be a good thing, so long as you were around people you could trust. Natasha couldn't imagine trusting anyone more than those she now considered her family - Yelena, James, Steve, Clint and the Bartons, the whole Avengers team really.

"I am happy," she said aloud, almost laughing at how weird that sounded and on so many levels. "Can you imagine how much eye-rolling there would have been if anybody tried to tell us how our lives would turn out? Teenaged us would've laughed in the faces of some fool that said we would end up living in New York, fighting the good fight, keeping peace in the world..."

"Sleeping with two of the biggest heroes from World War Two," Yelena added without pause, making Natasha look at her wide-eyed. "What? You think we spend all this time together, on missions and dating, and that was all?" she said of herself and Steve. "Don't worry, we're not going for your title of love's young dream" she continued, rolling her eyes so hard. "We're just having a little fun. I'm pretty sure Rogers needed it. Not that he's exactly a slouch when it comes to-"

"No, please," Natasha urged her, holding up a hand in the universal gesture for, 'Please, stop!' "I'm happy to live my life never having to picture you two and... that," she said, trying not to shudder at the thought.

Of course, that only made Yelena laugh all the harder. It was a pleasure to realise that the guys were back from the store then, a more than welcome distraction from the latest turn in conversation. Natasha hadn't known what to think when James said he had to go out to fetch the gift for her birthday. She had sort of assumed that, as in previous years, it would already be there, wrapped and ready to give. He was kind of a stickler for birthdays that way. When Steve had offered to go with his buddy, James had been quick to accept, which was even more strange. Natasha was almost worried about what this great gift would turn out to be.

"You were gone so long, we started to wonder if you were ever coming back," said Yelena, when they finally let themselves back into the apartment. "Not that all this effort can be worth the trouble. Natasha already has the best gift," she insisted, leaning back on the couch and tipping her head to see her sister stood behind.

"The vest is great, Yelena," she told her one more time, repressing her smirk as much as she could.

"Obviously." Yelena agreed. "I am sad I could not get one as good as mine, but it is a fair copy, and we could always sew more pockets onto it ourselves, if you like."

"I guess we could." Natasha nodded, though by that time, she had to admit, she was a little distracted.

Steve immediately taking a seat on the couch close by Yelena now seemed more significant than it ever had before. Natasha wasn't sure she wanted to think about that too much, but just as she considered it, James appeared in front of her, holding out a large box.

"Okay, so, I hope I got this right," he said, urging her to take the gift already. "Happy birthday, Nat."

"Thank you," she said automatically, reaching to take the box from his hands into her own, unsure what to think when whatever was inside shifted somehow. "Uh, James, I don't..."

"Open it," he urged her, before she could ask a question. "Carefully," he advised.

Natasha put the box onto the back of the couch, then carefully prised the lid off with both hands. Inside, she wasn't sure what she saw at first. Something black, curled into the corner. For the first time, she realised there were holes in the sides of the gift box, and then, the black something moved a little. With gentle hands, Natasha picked up the little ball of fur and held it up for closer inspection.

"She's gorgeous," she said of the tiny little kitten that squirmed in her hands. "James, I..."

"I have tried to share Alpine with you," he explained fast, "but that darn cat is so attached to me, it's ridiculous. I don't know, I didn't want you feeling bad about it. You probably didn't, I know I'm bad at reading these things sometimes, but I just thought..."

Before he could ramble or worry anymore, Natasha leaned in close and planted a kiss on his cheek. When she pulled back to meet his eyes, she was glad to see him smiling, albeit nervously.

"Thank you," she told him sincerely. "I love her. I promise that I do."

He was relieved, she knew, and thankfully, what she told him was no lie. James always thought he wasn't great at getting signals, knowing what people were feeling or thinking, but Natasha knew better. With her, at least, he did a pretty good job, and never more so than today. As much as Alpine had made herself at home in their apartment, she was was distinctly a Daddy's girl. Though it wasn't his fault, of course that made James feel bad. He was too good a person sometimes. Not that Natasha would change him for the world.

"She is cute," said Yelena, reaching up to pet the little ball of fur. "Does she have a name?"

"That's for Nat to decide," said Steve fast, clearly aware of how much Yelena liked to take charge.

At that thought, Natasha had to swallow hard, recalling what her little sister had been telling her before the guys got home. She really, really did not want the thoughts that were currently in her head about those two. She hoped rather than believed that focusing on James, and her new kitten, plus a few glasses of birthday celebration champagne might help to clear it all away.

"You have any thoughts on a name?" James asked her then.

Natasha shook her head. She really didn't know at all. Staring at the little fuzzball, who seemed to smile as she she stared right back, a million thoughts ran through Natasha's mind. The obvious choices for a black cat came first - Blacky, Sooty, Onyx - then names more representative of what she was - Sweetie, Fluffball, Precious. Natasha wasn't so sure that any of them would really work, but then, as she listened to James explaining about the cat's origins, she had the perfect idea.

"She was abandoned by her mother, or so the shelter told me. I mean, there's every chance she went looking for food and something happened to her, so she couldn't come back. Anyway, there were six kittens when they found them, four already gone. Out of the two that were left, one got adopted pretty fast, but this one had problems. An injury to take care of, and then complications. She was sick for a while. Apparently, it's more or less a miracle that she made it this far. Somehow, that made her seem perfect for you," he told Natasha, with a soft smile.

She hadn't realised her eyes were welling up with tears until one streaked down her cheek, startling her. Carefully, she lifted one hand to wiped it away, then went right back to cradling her kitten to her chest.

"Liho," she breathed, not exactly surprised to see three looks of confusion when she looked to her family then. "It's Russian," she explained.

"Yes," Yelena agreed, frowning hard, "but it means misfortune."

"I know," her sister agreed easily. "But after everything she's been through, can you think of a better name? Besides," she continued, lifting her newly named kitten high in her hands to better look at her again, "she came through everything and she's probably stronger for it. Misfortunes aren't always bad things. Sometimes, they're the making of us. They can even lead to good things. Really good things."

At those last words, she looked at James, saw him smiling back at her and nodding his head in agreement. He understood, as she knew he would, as Steve would too, and though she might try to deny it, Yelena did as well.

"Welcome to the family, Liho," said James then, reaching out to pet her little fluffy black head, "and Happy Birthday, Nat."

After Bucky said goodnight to Steve and Yelena, closing the door on their bickering forms as they headed down the stairs together, unable to agree on the best route home, he turned around to see Natasha sat on the couch, a sleeping Liho in her lap and Alpine curled up near her feet on the rug. They made a pretty picture, he thought, almost not wanting to join them and spoil it somehow.

"You have that sentimental look on your face again," said Natasha, looking over at him. "Was this your plan?" she asked, smirking hard, one eyebrow raised. "To turn me into a soft-hearted cat-mother?"

"You don't need my help with that," he told her, smirking back, shaking his head as he pushed off the wall and came over to join her after all. "I've known you were more soft-hearted than you wanted to admit since almost the beginning," he said, sitting down beside her, "and if Alpine had been more open to it, you would have been mothering her long before now."

"Maybe." Natasha rolled her eyes, leaning into his embrace and settling in comfortably there. "You know me too well, Barnes."

"I think I'm supposed to by now, Romanov," he replied in kind, kissing the top of her head. "So, good birthday?"

"Excellent birthday," she agreed, sighing happily. "I'm actually amazed that Stark didn't make a bigger deal about us not showing up at the compound today. He's been so big on the whole training programme for the New Avengers."

"Hey, we are doing more than our share of training," Bucky told her definitely. "Everybody should be allowed to take off work on their birthday. Besides, we're not contracted to work for Stark."

"You sure?" asked Natasha, moving to look up at him. "I half expect to find he had some AI bot fool me into signing something when I was too tired to notice."

Bucky leaned down and kissed her lips. "I don't think even Tony is stupid enough to risk double-crossing the Black Widow."

"How about the Winter Soldier?" she asked smartly, knowing, of course, how much he could easily live without that code name.

"I don't get tired all that easily," he reminded her, with a look he was sure she couldn't mistake.

When she kissed him again, and again, and again, he knew he was right. They didn't need to talk about the training regime at the compound, or whatever was going on with Steve and Yelena, or anything at all, if they didn't want to. Today was Natasha's day, and tonight could be her night too, as far as Bucky was concerned. He was happy to please her in any way she wanted, not just on her birthday, but all the time. He loved her so much and hoped she knew it too.

He only got a little worried when she pulled away from him suddenly, with a very strange look on her face. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, half afraid of what the answer might be, when suddenly she spoke up before he could.

"I never expected to be this happy. What we have... I know I've told you before that I love you. Not all that many times, but I've said it. I mean it. I don't think I ever could say it to anybody else and mean it in the same way. Obviously, the team is our family, and I do love them all, but it's different. It's supposed to be."

She shook her head then, but whether she wanted to take back something she had said or was just annoyed that she wasn't saying all she meant to, Bucky couldn't be sure.

"This shouldn't be so hard," she muttered, glancing away, before bringing her gaze back to meet Bucky's own at last. "James Buchanan Barnes, I love you. Will you marry me?"

To Be Continued...