Natasha woke up with Bucky's hands clasped tightly around hers. She smiled because she didn't remember reaching out. She soundlessly climbed out of the bed, grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom to shower.

As she rubbed shampoo into her hair, she thought about what to do today. It was a Saturday and she was getting restless, she couldn't spend another stuck in this tower. She wanted to get out and take Ekaterina out for the day, the girl had never even left the Tower. All she knew of freedom was a few floors in the Tower. Natasha wanted so much more for her, she wanted to give her the life she never had.

She was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair when she headed the door open. She didn't think anything of it and closed her eyes so the shampoo wouldn't get in them. She heard the sink turn on,

"Hey I think I'm going to take Rina out today. Show her the city. Where do you want to go? Manhattan? Brooklyn?" She called over the sound of the shower.

The water from the sink shut off and silence followed. Natasha couldn't see him because of the curtain and her curiosity got the better of her. She held the curtain against her body and poked her head out. He was looking right at her, toothbrush in one hand, and toothpaste in the other, with a blank look on his face.

At the sight of him, Natasha started to panic.

"James? Are you alright?" With the curtain still covering her she reached a hand out to shake him. As soon as she touched him, his eyes cleared and he smiled brightly at her.

"Yeah I'm good" he said shaking his head,

"Did you say we could go to Brooklyn?" he sounded like a little kid with a huge smile on his face.

She gasped with a look of mock surprise on her face,

"Did I say that? I meant Queens" she said shutting the curtain in his face, knowing it would get a rise out of him.

He gasped and pulled the curtain back, getting inside the shower with her.

With her back to him she said,

"What do you think you're doing, Barnes?"

With the water making his clothes stick to him as he reached out and turned her around so she was facing him,

"Brooklyn is better than Queens, it was in the 40's and it is now" he argued with her

She sighed, "oh I don't know. Don't you think there are cities better than your hometown?"

"Not a chance" he said crossing his arms over his chest.

With a smirk, she sighed and turned back around,

"Fine"

"But while you're here you might as well shower, your hair is looking a little greasy there, Barnes" she teased him

"You're the worst" he joked with a smile, removing his now wet clothes.

"But you put up with me anyway" she said

"I'll always put up with you" He said earnestly

She laughed,

"And I love you for that" she started and then stopped when she realized what she said.

She looked at him with wide eyes, this is the first time she had told him that since their Red Room days. She didn't know if it was just a fling again, she had secretly hopped it wasn't and that his feelings were still the same.

He stared at her for a second before smiling. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She was shocked for a second before she returned the kiss, their mouths moving in sync. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers,

"I love you too. I've always loved you"

*****

Ekaterina woke up and immediately wanted to go back to sleep. She sat up, stretched and contemplated on how mad Natasha would be if she went back to sleep. She looked over at the clock, 7:15am. Shoot, she thought jumping out of the bed, I'm late. She quickly threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and ran down the hall to the elevator. On Saturdays the whole tower had breakfast together at 7am and she was late. She jumped into the elevator,

"Good morning Ms. Ivanovna. Which floor would you like?" The robotic voice greeted her

"The kitchen floor please, robot. And my name is just Ekaterina" she called

"I will stop calling you Ms. Ivanovna when you stop calling me 'robot'".

She was one floor away, she bounced anxiously on the balls of her feet. She was never late.

The doors opened,

"Goodbye robot!" She called running out of the elevator.

"Goodbye Ms. Ivanovna"

She ran into the kitchen where Sam was standing at the stove flipping pancakes. While Steve was filling glasses with orange juice. Tony had his head on the table, surrounded by coffee cups that Ekaterina assumed we're all his. Wanda, Vision and Peter were all talking animatedly to each other.

She skidded to a halt by the door,

"I am so sorry that I am late. It will not happen again" she said facing everyone. She put her head down like she was ashamed and ready for a punishment.

Sam recognized this and laughed,

"Don't sweat it, kid. It's alright, see only one out of the three Russian assassins are here" he assured her

"Oh" she said, realizing her tardiness wasn't a big deal. She then looked around and noticed Nat and Bucky weren't there.

She looked at Steve with a confused look, they were always on time. Steve smiles at the girl,

"Hey Rina I bet if you ask nicely Sam will put some chocolate in those pancakes for you" he called teasing while continuing to pour the orange juice.

She lit up, everyone was aware of her chocolate obsession. Everyone let out a chuckle

"You don't need to ask girl. You know I got you" Sam said, opening a drawer and pulling out a bag of chocolate chips.

Rina saw this and immediately made her way over to Sam. She got up on the counter and sitting with her legs crisscrossed, she grabbed the bag of chocolate chips and began taking a few out of the bag and popping them in her mouth. Sam laughed and reached down to grab a handful but the girl pulled them away,

"Hey, you want chocolate chip pancakes or not, kid?"

She reluctantly held the bag out to him and took it back immediately after he had grabbed a handful to put in the pancake mix. She sat there happily munching on chocolate while Sam made her pancakes and the others waited.

"Really Rina?" Natasha sighed with a smile walking into the kitchen, Bucky close behind her.

When her back was to Rina, her smile turned to a scowl as she scanned everyone present,

"Who gave her chocolate at 7 in the morning?"

Not wanting to face her wrath they all pointed at Sam, who was pointing at Steve, who was now making coffee.

"Don't look at me! Look at Rogers, he told her to ask me. You know I can't say no to that face. Look at her"

He pointed at Rina, who was holding the bag behind her back and giving Nat puppy dog eyes.

"Ugh, fine" she gave in

"But that doesn't apply to you!" She called to Bucky who was eating a handful of chips.

"Come on Natalia" he pleaded teasingly,

"Just have one" he said offering her a chip.

"No" she said making a sour face at him,

"Sam, I want strawberries in mine"

"I know, Red" Sam said opening the case of strawberries that were already out.

Sam handed Rina a plate full of pancakes and she made her way to the table, sitting next to Peter who was already halfway through his pancakes.

«Привет паук, привет тетушка» (hello spider, hi aunty) she greeted Peter and Wanda and sent a wave to Vision, she wasn't used to him yet.

"Good morning, dear" Wanda said over her cup of coffee. She was smiling into her cup, she loved when the girl called her that. Ever since her brother's death she never thought she'd get a niece or nephew but here Ekaterina was. In all honesty the girl reminded her so much of Pietro, with the blonde hair, brown eyes and quick witted spirit. While it made her heart ache, it also made it feel full again, like a missing piece of herself came back to her.

"What are you up to today Ms. Ivanovna?" Vision asked

Rina made a face, she wasn't fond of her last name, it was a reminder of the family she had lost,

"It's just Ekaterina or Rina, Mr. Vision" she corrected him,

"And I don't know. Maybe watching movies with Nat?" She asked taking a bite and looking up at Natasha who set her plate down and was sitting next to her.

"As much as I love watching movies with you. How would you feel about going out for the day? We'll show you our favorite places. How does that sound?"

Rina stopped mid chew, her mouth full of pancakes was hanging open and she dropped her fork in shock.

"Rina, you ok?" Natasha said cautiously after a few minutes of silence

Rina quickly shut her mouth and continued staring at Natasha when a big smile broke out on her face,

"Are you serious?! Oh my gosh oh my gosh" she squealed jumping in her seat

Natasha smiled at her childlike enthusiasm,

"Yup, we can do whatever you want" she said

Rina clasped her hands together and squealed some more.

"Let's go, let's go!" She exclaimed getting up and dumping her half eaten pancakes into the garbage can.

Bucky set his plate of freshly made pancakes onto the table,

"Hold on there, kiddo. Let us finish" he laughed at her excitement.

She bounced around the kitchen, too excited to sit while everyone else finished. She danced around the kitchen, curiously looking at everything. She picked up an extra mug of coffee and was about to drink it when Tony, who was putting his plate in the sink, took it from her,

"I don't think so, Chica" he said taking a sip of the coffee.

"Hmpf" she sighed still bouncing around the kitchen.

Nat picked up her plate and laughed at the girl's childlike behavior,

"Alright let's go" she said with a small smile

She threw her arm around the girl's shoulders and the girl wrapped her arm around the red head's waist. They walked out of the kitchen, joking and laughing.

Sam turned off the stove and took a plate, making his way to the table. Vision grabbed his, Wanda and Peter's empty plates and put them in the sink before walking out of the kitchen with Wanda. 

"I think that's enough coffee this morning Mr. Stark" Peter said, gently taking the cup from Tony's hand and grabbing all the mugs that were littered around him.

Sam, Steve and Bucky stared in awe, only Peter could say something like that to Tony without fear of being physically harmed. Even though the kid is a relatively new addition, Tony has only seen his YouTube videos around 3 years ago, the kid had completely changed his life. Within his first two months of living at the Tower, he had convinced Tony to go to sleep at a normal time, something neither Pepper or Happy had ever been able to do.

Tony lifted his head up, looking ready to argue with the teenage boy when Peter reappeared with a mug in hand,

"Here it's decaf" he said offering the mug to the sleep deprived man.

Tony was about to argue but then he looked up into the kid's concern filled eyes and couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Fine, kid" he grumbled taking the mug

The kid smiled brightly, bouncing on his feet with energy.

"Ok good. I'll see you later Mr. Stark!" He said said walking out the door.

A crash was heard in the hallway and the three men looked up to see the teenager panting in the doorway.

"Goodbye Mr. Steve sir"

Steve waved his reply

"See you Mister Sam"

Sam chuckled,

"See ya"

Peter's eyes landed on Bucky,

"Have fun on your trip!"

He let out a low laugh,

"Спасибо. веди себя хорошо" (Thanks. Behave yourself)

The kid let out a fake gasp,

"я всегда делаю" (I always do)

Bucky only shook his head,

"Yeah, yeah"

With that the boy took off leaving the four men in silence. Tony cleared his throat before saying,

"I gotta go. Pepper has been bothering me about paperwork. I better go check it out"

He was met with grumbles of agreement from the others.

"Yeah" Steve said

"Yeah, that woman scares me" Sam says under his breath

Tony sets his mug in the sink before leaving.

The three sat in a comfortable silence. Steve and Sam were still eating but Bucky has taken a notepad out of his pocket and was working on a drawing of the backs of two people.

"You've got it bad, don't ya?" Sam commented after leaning over and seeing the drawing of the backs of a certain red head and a curly haired blonde girl.

Steve leaned over to look at the page while Bucky blushed and looked away.

"Yeah" was all he said

Steve shook his head, eyes still on the page

"I really don't know you survived all you have" he admitted quietly

"Me either" he said quietly, "I might have put a bullet in my brain to quiet the ghosts... if not for Natasha."

Nobody knew what to say. He never spoke of his past or what he faced or how he got past it.

He closed the notebook, put it in his pocket before standing up.

He put his plate in the sink and walked out the door, leaving a stunned Sam and Steve behind.

Sam stared at his friend with a shocked look on his face,

"Damn.."

Steve mirrored his look of shock,

"Yeah"

*****

An hour later they all met in the garage. Nat was leaning against a black SUV, laughing with Rina who was making silly faces at the woman when he finally arrived.

"Look who finally showed up" the red head mused with a smirk as she pushed herself off the car. She threw her arms around him in a hug.

Rina grimaced slightly. She still wasn't fond of hugging, Peter had just recently gotten her to give high fives freely but that is about all the contact she will allow with anyone other than Natasha, who the girl allowed to wrap an arm around her while walking or even the occasional hand holding but if anyone else tried that they would be met with the girl jumping away and a cold stare.

Natasha pulled away and sighed a small laugh,

"I thought you were getting past your dislike of hugs"

The girl's small grimace disappeared and she almost looked sad,

"I don't trust them, it's just a way to hide your face" she said opening the car door and getting inside.

"I had never thought about it that way" Nat said turning to the man at her side.

"Yeah me neither" was all he could manage, his heart in his throat as he took in her sad expression that transformed into a happy one as she said,

"Well let's go!" The keys jangled in her hand as she pulled them out of her brown leather jacket.

He plucked the keys out of her hand,

"Nope. I'll drive, I want to arrive to the city alive, thank you very much"

She folded her arms after she buckled herself into the passenger seat,

"I am a good driver"

Bucky put his seatbelt on and started the car, scoffing at her comment.

The girl leaned forward, her chin resting on her hands as she leaned her elbows on the center console,

"You are good at so many other things though!" She exclaimed innocently.

Bucky let out a laugh as they turned to look at the girl.

Natasha stuck her tongue out at Rina before saying,

"Yeah, yeah. Sit back and buckle your seatbelt, kiddo"

The girl did as she was told and sat back, buckling the belt. The drive to the city was quick to Rina at least, she loved staring out the window seeing all the people and buildings they were passing by. She about squealed in excitement when Bucky rolled the window down so she could feel the wind on her face. Natasha merely rolled her eyes at him while he laughed along with the Ekaterina.

He parked the car and they all got out ready to explore the city. The weather was starting to take a turn for the colder, even though it was only early November. Natasha mentally cursed herself when Rina climbed out of the car and immediately shivered in the wind. She had dressed the girl in only jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers, she must be freezing.

"Here, wear this Rina" she said taking off her brown leather jacket, leaving her in only a cream colored sweater. Rina graciously accepted the jacket, putting it on.

Natasha smiled seeing the girl in the slightly too big jacket, thats sleeves went past her fingertips and hung off her shoulders slightly.

"Come on, there's so many things to see" she said wrapping one arm around the girl's shoulder and the other on the dark haired man's waist, underneath his jacket, to keep herself warm. She basically dragged them as she took off down the crowded sidewalk.

After a exploring some buildings and a walk around Central Park to get some hot dogs and cotton candy, which Rina discovered she loved almost as much as chocolate, after having eaten all of hers, she continued to take Natasha's while she wasn't looking. She was only caught when Bucky pulled out his phone, laughing. Nat gasped as the girl took off running with her stick of cotton candy in her hand. Bucky took photos as she caught up with the girl wrapping her arms around her, spinning her around in circles before setting the giggling girl down. They both collapsed onto the green grass in fits of giggles.

When he finally caught up with them, he took a seat on the grass, letting the girls have their giggle fit while he looked at the photos he had taken. He had just learned how to work the camera feature on his smart phone, so a lot of them were quite blurry but he came across one that he absolutely loved. He had perfectly captured Rina in Nat's arms as she spun around. He laughed at Ekaterina's look of surprise and joy and Natasha's smile as she looked down at the girl in her arms. He'd have to ask Steve how to make that picture the lock screen of his phone when they got home.

He had been so focused on his phone that he didn't see that the girls had gotten up and were waiting on him.

"Can you figure that new technology out, old man?" The red head questioned with a smirk

"I'm 95, Nat. Not dead" he replied, getting up and shoving the phone into his pocket.

Rina laughed at their banter, grinning ear to ear as they began to walk again. They joked and laughed as they made their way back to the car.

They were almost out of Central Park, Rina was in the middle of laughing at something Bucky had said when she fell silent and stopped walking, staring straight ahead at a man sitting on a bench, like she had seen a ghost, which she had.

Natasha stopped walking and turned around but before she could ask what was wrong, gunshots were heard throughout the park. Two shots, to be exact.

Bang

Bang

Ahhhh, a kind of cute, fluffy chapter before it all goes downhill. (Sorry that's just they way it's gonna go, y'all!) But.. we got some cute Buckynat moments and now we know why Rina doesn't like hugs and Peter is a bean. If you couldn't tell Sam and Steve's friendship is one of my favorite things ever so I had to include them!! Sorry this took so long, I've been really working on my other book which is about Peggy Carter so I've been neglecting this one but fear not! More chapters shall be out soon! Thanks for sticking with me on this journey!!
Xo,
Renee