track suggestion to listen to for this chapter: right partner

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( twenty six. moving forward )

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Natasha felt light clouded her vision.

It was too bright for her liking that she couldn't stand staring at it for so long. She stirred her head slowly, blinking a few times while opening her eyes to adjust to the place.

The first thing that she came across with was a wall. Then her eyes landed on the boxing ring on the center of the room; the punching bags hanging on the ceiling; and the bunch of targeting marks attached on the wall.

She recognized it was the gym. Their gym. The one in the Avengers tower.

Wait. If this was the gym... then does that mean she...

She went straight to a mirror and took notice of her appearance.

Instead of the short blonde curls she used to see, she was relieved to see her natural fiery-red locks staring back at her now.

She looked down at the clothes she was wearing and was surprised to find herself wearing her gym clothes. She recalled it was the outfit she was wearing before she was sent back in 1943. Shockingly, the bruises and deep wounds that were present on her body earlier was nowhere to be seen now.

Though the scar on her stomach still remained.

"Excuse me, Agent Romanoff."

She jumped at the voice. It took her a few seconds to realize that it was just JARVIS. Man, how it seemed so long since she heard Tony's AI speak again.

"It's apparent that Mr. Stark asks you to see him back in his lab."

Now, she felt a sense of Déjà vu creeping up her spine. It was a strange feeling.

"Did he say what for?" She asked.

"I'm sorry but he didn't say specifically what it is."

Nevertheless, she was out of the gym in an instant. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest as her mind was filling with constant questions and thoughts.

Is everything still the same?

She took the flight of stairs because she couldn't afford to let the anxiety build up inside her any longer. Sweat trickled down her forehead and she felt her stomach twisting in all the wrong places. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so far, which was a good sign. But still, she didn't know for sure.

By the time she reached the level of Tony's lab, she pushed open the doors and ran out the hall. She was glancing at every side to see if she could spot something out of the ordinary.

And because she was so distracted, she didn't see the person climbing out of the vents and accidentally tripped over on her foot.

"Ahh!" She landed on the floor with a loud thud. Damn it. That was very clumsy for her to do. She let out a groan of pain and could vaguely hear the person's sigh of disapproval too.

"Jesus, Nat. Try to look where you're going next time."

Clint.

She pushed herself off the floor, like an electric pull had tugged her up so quickly, and stared at the archer in front of her. It was really him. It was her best friend. It was Clint.

Clint is alive. Clint is here.

He looked at her with puzzlement, feeling anxious by the way she was looking at him. "Tasha?" He snapped his fingers. "Hey, are you hurt?"

She suddenly threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. "Clint..." she breathed, smiling through the hug.

Despite now drowning in a sea of confusion, he returned her hug (quite hesitantly though) as well. "Err..." he brushed a hand across her back. "Are you feeling okay?"

Natasha couldn't speak. She was too overwhelmed the emotions spiraling within her. She settled with a nod for a response.

Clint gently pushed her away to look at her with concern. "You sure?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "Sorry, I just... I missed you."

Now, Clint's worry turned to utter shock, a faint pink started spreading across his face. "Uh..." He placed a hand on her forehead. "You're not sick, are you?"

She shook her head. "I told you I'm fine."

"Well, you certainly look anything other than fine. You're acting... weird." He said, raising an eyebrow.

Of course, she is. Who could blame her? After everything she went through? She needed to let them understand. To let them know.

She stood up. "I need to see Tony."

He stood up too, laughing in slight amusement, "Alright, something is seriously wrong. Since when do you call Tony Tony?"

Her breath hitched in her throat. Did she not call Tony by his name in this timeline? I mean, sure they were a little bit off track before she was sent back to the past, and she trusted him as far as she could throw him, but that all changed now.

Somehow, she found Tony tolerable enough to consider him close to a friend.

"Uh..." Her mind tried to think of an excuse.

But someone's footsteps reached her ears.

"Natasha? What are you doing here? I've been looking everywhere for you." A voice asked.

Her eyes widened in realization and she felt her whole world coming back up. The fear and worry about her not being able to see him again were quickly washed away.

"We were supposed to go sparring remember?" he asked again.

She turned around and she felt her eyes filled with tears as soon as she saw him. Him. Standing in front of her. She almost gasped softly.

"Steve?" she whispered, her voice coming close to breaking with joy and relief.

She couldn't remember if he was wearing the same outfit he did before she was sent back. Now, he was wearing black sweatpants and a blue shirt—which only brought out his eyes more.

Natasha almost let herself go and thought of running into his arms, but she didn't.

She was too nervous about what it might turn out. She didn't know if she and Steve still had the same kind of relationship they did before, though it might look like that now, she didn't want to risk ruining anything this time.

Somehow, he seemed to notice the look on her face and the way her eyes started to become glossy. His face shifted over to concern, a frown appearing, "Hey, are you okay?"

She didn't answer, only kept her gaze on him and swallowed thickly.

She still couldn't believe that he was here. Thank God.

Steve decided to turn to Clint for answers. He shrugged, raising his arms out in surrender. "Don't look at me. I'm just as clueless as you are."

That finally snapped her out of her daze. "We need to—I need to... talk to Tony." She said, tumbling over her words.

Steve's frown became deeper, seeing the distress on her face. "Is something wrong?"

She only started walking faster, ushering them to follow her. "I'll explain when we get there."

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Natasha was running.

And it didn't help to calm down Steve and Clint's worries on why she was acting so strangely today. When they got down to Tony's lab, she felt relief flood into her chest when she spotted him fixing something on a table.

"Tony!" she exclaimed, rushing into the room.

Tony glanced around to find her, striking up a wide smile, "What's up, Nat?"

She stopped just in front of him to look at the contents of the lab. She recognized the time machine sitting at the center of the room like it was before. There were still numerous wires and cables attached to it. Everything looked the same.

He seemed to notice her frantic expression and playful manner in his face died down. "Nat, hey, breathe. It's fine. You're here and it's alright now."

She arched an eyebrow, "You seem fine as you are now?"

"Yeah, well, weirder things have happened to me so I kind of had an advantage." He smirked.

Clint's the one with the guts to point out the obvious. "Alright, what's going on here? Why are you two suddenly acting like you're old friends when just yesterday you wanted to stab him with a fork for hiding your guns?"

Steve didn't object to that, so she assumed that was every bit true. He looked as lost and disbelieving as Clint is.

Natasha looked surprised while Tony just let out a sheepish laugh. "Yeah, about that..." he said.

"We actually need to tell you guys something. Something important." She declared.

Their eyes could never be wider.

Clint's jaw dropped. "Don't tell me you guys secretly have the hots for each other and just pretended to hate each other's guts and decided to come out now?"

Both Tony and Natasha protested the second those words were out.

"No!" They simultaneously shouted, shuddering in disgust.

Natasha's face scrunched up in disapproval. "I'd rather kill myself than let that happen."

"Same here." Tony disapproved, "No, it's not that. It's something more related to time traveling."

Steve looked confused, a familiar glint sparking in his eyes. "Time travel?"

Tony nodded, going around the table and past the control panel of the machine. They couldn't see what he was doing exactly, but it looks like he was tampering a part of the panel to pry something open.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Clint asked.

Tony gritted his teeth, grunting as he tried to wrench it open. "You'll see." He said, applying more force on the screwdriver until they heard a loud clank. "Ha."

The three of them moved closer to take a look at what the billionaire was so engrossed about. As soon as they got a glance at the object held between the pair of pliers, their jaw almost dropped.

Natasha, however, was more than familiar with what it is.

"Is that..." Clint stared at it in awe.

"Yup," Tony smirked, holding it up more for them to see. "One of pointbreaker's magical stones."

Steve's gaze turned more serious. "He gave you that?" he asked.

"Uh, no. I actually uh—stole it more or less." He admitted. Steve's face turned into a look of disapproval and opened his mouth to chastise him when Tony beat him to it. "Before you lecture me about how careless I am, don't even bother because I'd let you know that I'm already planning to return this."

"How?" Steve asked, eyes hardening.

Tony nodded at the door. "By the time he walks in and yells at me."

"Thor is still back at Asgard I doubt he'll walk in that door anytime soon." Clint chastised.

He only raised an eyebrow, giving them a lopsided grin. "You sure about that?"

He and Natasha share a knowing glance to which she smirked back. Sure enough, not a few seconds later, Thor emerged from the doors with his loud footsteps thudding across the lab. Clint and Steve were merely surprised at how Tony's assumptions actually turned correct.

"What on earth are you doing, Stark?" Thor demanded.

"Ah ah!" Tony raised both his hands in front of him to stop him from going any further. "I'd rather not let the same things happen again. I think I learned my lesson fair enough." He glanced over to Natasha who he sent a wink at.

Natasha rolled her eyes in amusement, smiling. "Yup," She walked over to where he was, stopping right beside Tony. "A very valuable lesson."

Tony made a move to place the stone in one of his fragile boxes. It looked sort of similar to a box where a ring is stored, only it's made out of metal. He shut it closed and handed it over to Thor. "Here." He smiled shortly. "I'm sorry I took it."

Thor furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion, eyes glancing at Tony then at the box in his hands. Hesitantly, he took it. "Alright, Stark."

"We good?" he asked.

"I cannot help but be suspicious of the sudden change in your character but then I figured you're always a strange one." He patted his shoulder, almost making Tony stumble, and offered a cheeky grin. "Thank you."

"I'll take your fancy words as a compliment." He said, holding his shoulder.

Clint decided to step in on their moment, not handling to take his confusion of the situation any further. "Okay, now that's all said and done, can we get to the important parts here? Mind telling us what the hell is going on?"

Tony and Natasha shared a glance.

"You wanna tell them or me?" He asked.

Natasha shrugged. "Either way is fine."

"Then I guess I'll tell my side of the story first, then yours."

So, he started from the very top.

Tony began to explain the concept of time traveling first to them and how it piqued his interest to push him to build one. From there, he told them everything that happened: the explanation why he seemed to know what was going to happen; why he and Natasha suddenly became more tolerable with one another; why she acted like it was the first time she was seeing them again; and why they seemed oblivious to what had actually happened.

After his scientific and logical babbling, it was Natasha's turn to tell her side. To further support and prove their crazy time travel story, she started telling them details of what had happened to her. Specifically, she was telling this to refresh Steve's memories and prove that she was indeed the girl from his past.

Steve was silent as she kept talking. Well, what could he say? He didn't know what to think or do while listening to her talk about the memories he vividly has up to this day too. The familiar tug in his chest and twist in his stomach all came back, it felt like he was being pulled back to the past. Back to the time he had met her and fallen in love with her.

The girl who he thought he had lost forever that day, is the very same girl who is standing in front of him right now. At this very moment.

"And that's it." She said, after finishing her lengthy explanation. "That's what happened. Other than my side of the story and Tony's, we have no other proof to convince you that it's true."

Silently, she was praying so hard and crossing her fingers that they'll believe them. The entire time she's telling her story, she couldn't help herself to look at Steve. She couldn't read him. His face showcased a thousand sprawl of emotions that was difficult to decipher. It was as if he was torn between the lines of wanting to believe it but also not wanting to.

"That is very intriguing and interesting," Thor commented, looking puzzles. "But I believe your story, Natasha, Stark. I've heard far more crazy stories than yours and all of them turned out to be real. As unfortunate that sounds."

"So you mean to say that the only reason why a whole lot of that happened... was because of this moron?" Clint asked in disbelief, pointing at Tony.

Tony looked offended. "Hey! I did apologize, right? And I was actually doing it for a good reason." He defended.

"And I didn't stick an arrow in his ass?" Clint shook his head, "I can't believe I didn't do that. I'm very disappointed with myself."

"Ha. Ha. Too bad then." Tony eyed him flatly. "If it makes you feel any better I think you did try to slug me in the face with one."

"Nah. Still not enough." He said, slightly smirking in amusement.

"Steve?"

Their captain was still fairly quiet among all of them. He still hadn't said anything since they spilled out their time travel story, and Natasha was starting to get worried.

Steve swallowed hard, trying to work his way with his emotions and kept his thoughts cleared out. He was still trying to process everything. "I'm sorry, I..." He looked at her, confusion and hurt was all she detected. "I need a minute, sorry."

They watched in silence as he away from them and stalked out of the lab. He headed straight for the stairs and disappeared from their sights.

Natasha sighed, worried, "I messed it up, didn't I?"

Tony laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently, "Just give him some time. It's going to be the hardest for him to accept this all."

She glanced at the spot where Steve was earlier, looking at it sadly. After everything she's done, she'll be damn lucky if Steve would still accept it at all.

Accept her, most of all.

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Later that night, Tony invited all of them to watch a movie at the longue. It had been awhile since the team was able to use the rest of their time hanging out like this. Recently, it would all just be about missions and meetings that stresses them out.

Tonight though, they would put all of those behind them and spend their 'team bonding' staying up until the morning to watch movies.

As expected, no matter how disappointing that is, Steve turned down the offer as politely as he could and promised Tony that he'll make up for it. And this only put Natasha on the edge more than before. She knew that he was purposely avoiding since this morning, and that put her to a bad mood for the rest of the day.

While Tony and Clint were still spending their time bickering over what kind of movie they were watching, she silently slipped out of the room to head over to the terrace. She stared at the city lights in silence, feeling the cool breeze prick her skin and brush past the strands of her fiery-red hair.

As she glanced up at the stars, where the bright moon shone above her, a distant memory worked past her mind.

"Do you ever wonder what it's like?"

"What?"

"To fall in love."

"Love is for children, Rogers."

"No, it's not."

It was still fresh and clear as if it only happened yesterday.

How ironic was it to think that he was right? And how shameful it is to realize her own words fired back at her?

"Not a fan of movies?"

A deep voice cut through her thoughts. She turned around and saw Steve standing in the doorway.

"Not really." She answered, looking at him as he made his way beside her on the balcony. "You?"

Steve shrugged. "Before? Nah. But I took a liking to them since you started coming over and our movie nights became a thing." He spared a glance in her direction, giving a short smile, "Remember?"

Yes, she did remember.

Ever since she was assigned to be Steve's partner she had been helping him cope with the setbacks the 21st century has in store for him. She had helped him adjust, little by little, and the sole reason how they became closer through time. And she knew, that even before she had gone back to the past, there were already these small feelings for him hidden deep down somewhere in her.

Maybe she just needed something to make her realize that.

"Yeah, I remember." She smiled back. And she was glad to know that their thing was still considered their thing. That nothing had changed so far.

Steve nodded to the breathtaking view in front of them. "Feeling déjà vu about this?"

She knew exactly what he was talking about. Just a few minutes ago, the same memory clouded her mind. One of the most important nights she would never dare forget.

"A little." She said, taking note of how much things had changed since then. What were once dull-colored buildings and propaganda posters were now filled with bright city lights and billboards. "It's still beautiful, though."

Like before, he turned away from the view and instead looked directly at her. "Yes," he agreed. "Still beautiful."

Natasha glanced back and caught him staring at her, though he didn't look away. And that made her blush faintly just as she did before.

She averted her gaze to the view instead, she gulped, "Are you mad at me?"

His response came quickly, "No, I'm not." He sighed, "I'm sorry I walked out. I just needed time to..."

She didn't need to hear the rest of his statement because it was clear enough for her. "I understand. This is a lot to take in after all, especially for you." She said quietly.

Steve ran a hand through his hair. "You have no idea how I feel right now." He didn't say it accusingly or with a hint of exasperation, he said it as if he was hurting deep inside. "I want to believe it, but at the same, I don't. Everything just kept coming back that I don't—I don't know. I don't know what to think or do or say."

Natasha swallowed thickly, her heart aching for him as he sounded torn and desperate to understand something. "Steve..."

"When I came out of the ice, and I saw you... I didn't know who you were. I didn't remember at first. I just thought you were different than the rest but a good different. You felt something closer to home, and after some time, I realized why. I remembered you were—you were my..." His voice faltered, stilling himself to say the words. He chuckled emptily, "But you? You didn't know who I was—didn't even remember who I was."

First, she was utterly confused and had no idea what Steve was talking about, but as he was telling her all these, it suddenly felt clear. Her new memories slowly started to shift as she began to remember details from this new reality.

She dug deeper, her mind recalling back to the time they first met on the helicarrier during their first mission with the Avengers in the Chitauri invasion in New York. 

She thought Steve was just shaken up from this new world he was forced to live in. She tried to make small talk, tried to help him loosen up a bit, but it didn't work. He kept glancing at her with a hollow look, as if he was trying to figure something out—figure her out. He was physically there but not really there at all.

Every single time, Steve would look at her with this lost, longing look in his eyes. It made her uncomfortable. The longer it went on, the more she got annoyed with it. For whatever reason, she didn't want him gawking at her 24/7.

She did get her answer. It turned out, she resembled his past lover in more ways than she could imagine. She wasn't sure whether to be flattered that it was the case or offended that it was the only reason Steve was sticking around her. 

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. His constant nagging, constant efforts to try and convince her that she was Anne Klein, and he had the guts to prove it. She wasn't listening anymore. This was no time to live in a fantasy world, and Steve needed to see that. She lashed out on him, spatting at his face that he needed to wake up; to move on because that girl was dead. No matter how much he tries, he couldn't bring her back.

The last shred of hope from Steve's face was trampled and crushed just like that. Without saying a word, he walked away and left her. He didn't speak about Anne Klein ever since.

Natasha didn't even realize she was crying when the tears just started falling down her face. The memories filled her with so much guilt. Oh, God. "Steve, I'm so sorry. I—I didn't... I didn't know."

Steve blinked back the tears as well, huffing out a breath. "You made me accept that you were dead. That I couldn't do anything to bring you back because you were gone. And I did, no matter how hard it was, I did accept it. I moved on."

She swallowed the lump in her throat, unable to form any words.

"And then I slowly started to see you as this, as Natasha Romanoff. Not as Anne Klein or Nat. No matter how similar your names were, I tried so hard to forget it." He stared at her, falling apart as much as he was before, "It took a while because every time I looked at you I always see her. Your smile was her smile, and your laugh was hers too."

"Steve, if there was any way I could've known you know I would never hurt you." She said, staring deep into his eyes to let him know she was every bit truthful. "I never wanted to." She stepped closer to cup his cheeks.

He didn't pull away, instead leaning his head closer to kiss the palm of her hand. "I know." His eyes shut close, a few tears trickled down his cheek and her hand. "And now that you're here, and everything I thought about you was really true... it feels like I just died all over again."

"I'm sorry, Steve." She gasped a soft cry, pressing her forehead against his while their eyes shut close. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

His hand went to hold one of her own as the other went to stroke the side of her cheek. "But you were there, Natasha." He murmured. "As you."

Her eyes fluttered open and she saw him smile weakly. "But I hurt you..."

"You brought me back." He whispered, "You became a reason to help me let go of my past. You hurt me... but you were the one who got me back together. Not as Anne, but as Natasha."

She stared at him in surprise, her mouth going limp.

"You became my strength and my weakness." He whispered, "I guess no matter who you are I always end up falling for you." A hint of amusement was evident in his tone.

Natasha laughed softly, looking up at him.

They were silent for a moment until she spoke again. "I missed you."

He suddenly wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. "I missed you too. So much." He hugged her tighter, murmuring, "I'm glad you're back."

"You never lost me, Steve." She whispered, smiling into his shoulder, "And you can damn well keep it in your mind that I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

Steve chuckled. "Good because I don't plan on letting you go, anyway." He pulled away, smiling at her, "Not this time."

They gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, letting the stars shine brightly above them. The soldier and the spy were caught up in each other's arms, not caring about the world around them.

He slowly leaned in, his eyes slowly falling shut as soon as his lips reached hers. He kissed her slowly, eager and lingering. His arm wrapped around her back as he tugged her closer to him. She almost let out a grunt of surprise and felt his lips pull into a smile in the kiss.

In that kiss, they felt everything. The time they spent apart together, how they thank fate and time for bringing them back again. It was all worth it.

Natasha kissed him back with more fervor, her hands looping themselves around his neck as she stood on her toes to taste his lips with a searing kiss. It was desperate, raw, and passionate. It was all them. No more masks or walls.

This was her. And she didn't mind letting him see her.

They pulled away to gasp for air, just breathless and flustered like the first kiss they shared.

Steve grinned at her cheekily. "Okay?" He tipped her chin upwards to stare into her green eyes.

She leaned closer again to give him a sweet lasting kiss. "Okay," she smiled.

"Love you." He whispered, hugging her tighter. "Anne Klein or Natasha Romanoff. I don't care. I love you, Nat."

She remembered how familiar it sounded to his own words back then. She pressed her cheek to his chest, melting into his arms. "I love you too."

Steve smiled widely, holding her tighter.

"So, about that date?"

Natasha smiled brightly, laughing softly through her glistened eyes. "I still owe you one, don't I?"

Their moment was cut short when a voice interrupted.

"If you two are done sucking faces, we actually like to get started on the movie."

Both glanced up to see the irritated look of Tony Stark.

A prominent blush began coloring the cheeks of Steve while Natasha couldn't stop the amused chuckle that escaped her lips.

Still her same old Steve.

Tony shook his head while cursing out under his breath, but Natasha didn't miss the smile tugging at the corner of his lips before he walked back inside.

She turned to Steve, her fingers lightly brushing his. "You up for a movie?"

He looked down at their hands before she felt his own fingers weaving through hers. He glanced up at her with a playful smile, "Where did we stop? Disney, right? Mulan?"

She looked at him, surprised, "You remembered?" 

Her smile could never be brighter. "Of course. I doubt Tony's going to let us watch Disney movies though." 

Natasha couldn't think of any smart-ass remark to that. Her emotions were all over the face; she was too overjoyed to even think of ending this moment. She squeezed his hand affectionately, feeling a tear slipped down her cheek once again.

Steve reached out to wipe the tear away, cupping her cheek. "Let's go?"

She nodded.

Together, hand in hand, side by side, they walked out of the balcony.

You see, if there's one important thing Natasha had learned from her own story, it was that she was wrong. Yes, she was actually admitting it that this time, she turned out wrong.

Love is certainly not for children.

It's far more powerful than people think it to be. As people described it to be. It's more than just a feeling, a noun, or an emotion.

It's a miracle.

Just like Steven Grant Rogers is, and always will be, her miracle.

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I'm finally done! Whoo!