Ch. 8

Natasha woke up feeling the best she had in a long time. She had no nightmares that night, her dreams were usually full of memories she had tried to forget. She sat up and stretched her arms. She immediately got the sense something was wrong. It was too quiet.

She jumped out of her bed, throwing on some workout clothes before heading to Ekaterina's room. The door was slightly ajar. She pushed it open, revealing an unmade bed and no Ekaterina. She shut the door and ran to Bucky's room, he wasn't in there either. She let out a sigh of relief. Bucky had probably gotten her. What time is it? She thought.

With a quick glance to make sure no one was coming, she walked into his room to check the time. His room was quite empty, nothing personal was in the room she noticed except for an old photograph of him and Steve from the 40's, before the war. She walked to the nightstand where the clock was 8:40 am the digital numbers read. I never get up this late, she thought to herself. She was about to walk out when a photograph caught her eye. It was closed between the drawer, like someone had tried to hastily conceal it.

She tried to leave but her curiosity got the better of her and she took it out. She gasped when she saw what it was. It was a photograph of them together on a mission, it was worn and torn at the edges. They were standing in a field together posing for the camera, James's stood behind her, arms wrapped around her while she leaned her head back against his chest. Even though it was for a mission she was so happy, being there with him, pretending to be different people. That was before they were caught.

She heard footsteps approaching but it was too late, the photograph was still in her hand when Bucky entered through the open door.

He looked at her and the photograph in her hand and said,

"You know for a super spy this is just lazy"

She scoffed in mock offense,

"You wound me. If I was spying you'd never know" she told him

He began walking toward her,

"What have you got there?"

She handed him the picture, he looked at it saying nothing.

"I didn't know you kept this. How did you?"

He shook his head,

"I don't know. It's always been with me after every freezing. In my boot, in my pocket, always in a different place. I never remembered putting it there but even all those years ago I knew it was important"

She took the photograph back from him, looking at it.

"I was so happy that day" she said tracing her finger over the photograph.

He smirked,

"Why? I thought you hated those missions"

With her free hand she shoved him playfully,

"No" she stared at him in mock annoyance, "we got to spend the day together, we were gathering intel but still... we were together"

"Wait I remember. We were pretending to be Sadie and Nathaniel Davis, a married couple on vacation. Right?" He said scratching his head

"Yeah" She said

"Horrible names" he murmured

She laughed,

"While we were trailing the suspect, that little old lady wanted to take our picture-"

"Yeah, we were laughing and joking around and she said we reminded her of her and her husband when they were young"

She smiled, she didn't think he would remember that,

"She wouldn't leave us alone"she said

He shook his head,

"It was cute" he insisted

"Hmm"

She sent the photo back on the nightstand.

"What're you doing in here anyway?" He asked

"I overslept and went to check on Ekaterina but she wasn't there so I came here. When I didn't see you I figured you were with her. I just came in to check the time" she explained

"Yeah she knocked on my door around 5 am" he said and she looked to the ground. Why didn't she come and get me? She thought, my room was right across from hers.

Bucky seemed to read her thoughts,

"She said that she could hear you sleeping through the door and didn't want to wake you. And I was already up anyway"

She nodded her head, happy with his reply, for now.

"So where is she now?" Natasha asked

"I promised her that she could train with the team" he said

She looked at him, a shocked look on her face,

"Already? Is she ready for that?"

"She's probably already better trained than any agent here so I figured why not"

She nodded her head,

"Yeah, you're probably right" she conceded

"What was that?" He grinned,

"Did you say I was right?"

She laughed,

"Yeah, yeah don't get used to it, Barnes"

He got some workout clothes out the dresser and said,

"Come on. She'll be here any second. Maria got her some clothes and necessities"

"Ok ok I'll meet you there" She laughed at him rushing her out.

As soon as the door closed behind her another opened and Ekaterina stepped out, smiling when she saw Natasha exiting Bucky's room.

"Good morning Natalia" the young girl greeted happily.

"Hi Rina" she replied taking in the girl's appearance. Her hair was clean and hanging in messy curls down around her shoulders. She was in well fitting standard SHIELD workout clothes.

The girl smiled even brighter at the nickname. Walking next to the older woman, she felt safe. Like she belonged there. She followed Natasha down so many hallways, remembering the steps so she could find her way back.

Finally they stopped in front of two double doors, Natasha blocked the way saying,

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, you know that right? We train to help other people, you don't have to train to survive anymore"

"I know Nat. I know you wouldn't let anything bad happen to me" she softly told her.

Natasha sighed,

"Okay" as she opened the doors walking in.

Almost everyone one was there. Steve hitting at the punching bag while Sam held it in place. Tony was talking with Rhody on the side while Peter stood next to him. Wanda wasn't there yet, she was probably with Vision.

Ekaterina took in the room with its many punching bags, workout machines, a cart filled with different weapons and targets and a large ring in the middle of the room.

"Hey Nat!" Steve called

She smiled at him and looked at Ekaterina,

"What would you like to start with?" She asked her

Ekaterina looked around,

"I think I will watch for now"

Natasha nodded, secretly relieved. Well until Steve called,

"Hey Nat want to spar?"

Before she could answer a voice called,

"She'd beat you in a second, punk"

Bucky walked next to Ekaterina and Natasha who began walking towards the ring,

"I'd hate to harm a senior citizen but you asked for it" she teased

He laughed and got into the ring as well.

"Oh no here they go again" Sam groaned

Everyone laughed, those two were so alike it was scary to Bucky.

They got into fighting stances,

"Ready old man" she smiled at him

"I don't know Romanoff, I'd hate to win in front of the kid"

She scoffed as he came at her.

He threw a punch at her jaw that she dodged and spun around kicking his back causing him to stumble.

She laughed and relaxed her position,

"That all you got, Rogers? I'm disappointed" she taunted

He threw some more punches that she blocked, and sent returning kicks at him which he blocked. They danced around each other sending kicks and punches.

Ekaterina knew that she was playing with him, she could have taken him down at least five minutes ago. Bucky noticed this too calling,

"Stop messing with the poor man, Nat"

She laughed,

"I don't know what you're talking about" continuing to block punches and kicks only to return them a moment later.

"Fine" She said sending and especially hard kick to Steve's chest causing him to loose his balance, she used this to her advantage. Using his leg as a step, she propped herself onto his shoulders and throwing her weight forward she flipped him onto his back where she pinned him.

Steve tapped the floor twice, signaling his surrender.
Natasha got up and held her hand out to him. He took it and she helped him up.

"Next time ask for a senior discount" she said patting his back.

"You know what, Romanoff" he said getting out of the ring.

Her adrenaline was pumping, she was bouncing on her feet ready for another fight.

She scanned everyone in the room looking for who to fight. Her eyes landed on Sam who knew what she was thinking,

"Oh hell nah" he said walking way from the ring toward the punching bags.

She shrugged and continued her scanning until her gaze fell on the brown haired teenager standing behind Tony.

"Peter!" She called, "You're up"

His eyes widened,

"Woah, woah, woah! Nat I'm not ready for that yet" he said backing away

"Yeah Nat ease up on the kid" Tony said trying to intervene.

Ekaterina was confused at the scene, all Natasha was trying to do was help the kid. Why were they not letting her?

Before she could stop herself, Ekaterina was on her feet and walking toward the other teenager,

"Natasha is the nicest person I've ever meet, let her help you" she softly said to Peter in a matter-of-fact tone.

Peter nodded and started toward the ring while Ekaterina went to stand back by Bucky who nodded approvingly at the girl. Natasha smiled at the girl before turning her attention back to Peter.

"You ready, little spider?" She asked as he got into a fighting position, nodding timidly.

Peter made the first attack, throwing a punch at her right shoulder, which she blocked and sent a soft kick to his chest causing him to stumble.

"Come on Peter, you can't let your opponent know your next move"

He nodded and readjusted his position, Ekaterina looked over the boy's stance. He was doing almost everything wrong. His hits were sloppy and misplaced and his feet were too far apart, he was so unstable a breeze could knock him over. How could Natasha not see this?

Peter made a move towards the red head, this time shifting his right shoulder before throwing s punch this his left hand. Natasha caught his hand and swung it behind her, flipping him onto his back.

"Again" was all Natasha said

Peter tries again with a similar outcome. He got up off his back and back into his terrible stance.

"Again"

Ekaterina couldn't watch him get flipped again. She walked to the end of the ring.

"You are doing it wrong" she whispered

He turned to look at her with confused eyes.

"Move your feet closer together"

He stood straight up, Ekaterina rolled her eyes. He was so confused, she found it cute, he was like a confused baby. She looked at Natasha who nodded at her and crawled into the ring.

"Like this"

She got into a fighting position, feet shoulder length apart, shoulders spurred and head high. He copied her movements.

"She can tell what you are going to do by your shoulders and your feet. Don't give away your move before you make it"

He beamed at her,

"Thanks Rina"

"Your welcome"

She moved to the edge of the ring, giving them room to fight.

Peter took her advice kept his feet and shoulder squared, not giving away his movements. He lasted longer than any times before. Punches were being thrown and blocked when Peter threw a punch that Natasha couldn't block and his fist connected with her cheek bone.

He immediately stopped and backed up before rushing up to her, hands covering his mouth,

"Nat! I'm so sorry oh my gosh"

She didn't say anything

"Mama spider?" He asked, her silent, unreadable face was scaring him.

Ekaterina thought she was going to kill the kid but eventually Natasha's face slowly spread into a smile,

"Peter! You're improving" she said, raising her hand to give him a high five which he returned.

Everyone released the breath they had been holding and congratulated the boy. He beamed and thanked everyone, going around the room giving out high fives. When he got to Rina she stared confused at his outstretched hand.

He laughed,

"I'm going to have to help you get caught up on current things, aren't I?"

"Your customs are strange" she admitted before smiling, "I would like that!"

"Great! High five!" He said raising his hand again

She stared blankly at him again, what is he doing she thought.

"You hit it" he explained

Her eyes narrowed and she sent a firm punch to the center of his hand.

"Ow! No Rina I meant with an open hand!" He exclaimed shaking his hand.

Her eyes widened,

"Oh no!" She exclaimed, "I thought that was strange but you told me to hit it!"

Peter cradled his hand saying,

"Yeah that was my fault" he laughed

Natasha had made her way next to Bucky at some point and was currently both were trying to stifle a laugh but failing as everyone stared at them.

"That was like when I tried to put your hair behind your ear and you gave me a black eye"

"How was I supposed to know! I thought you were going to attack me" she laughed

They seemed to forget there was anyone else in the room and were leaning against each other laughing and thinking of their shared memories.

No one knew what to do. Neither of them ever shared stories of their past. Ever. But here they were laughing on their shared history. Everyone only knew that he had trained her in the Red Room, but nothing else. Tony cleared his throat and the two stopped laughing and split apart.

Ekaterina thought the man would say something to make them uncomfortable so she jumped in.

"May I?" She asked walking over and nodding at the weapons cart.

Tony nodded

There was a row of guns and cartridges on the top of the cart and various weapons in the sides. She took a small gun, felt it's weight in her hands before snapping her arm up and firing all the rounds into a target before emptying the magazine and replaced it firing again emptying all the rounds and dropped the empty cartridge to the floor.

She kicked the two empty cartridges to the side and turned around. Everyone was staring at her with wide eyes.

"What?" She asked

They all were staring at the target. There was only one hole in the heart of the target. She had shot two whole rounds of bullets in the same exact spot.

"Damn kid!" Sam called, "I wouldn't want to get into a gun fight with you"

She chuckled,

"I bet you could hold your own"

Bucky laughed,

"Ekaterina, you'd beat him in two seconds"

"Я был вежлив" (I was being polite), she told him in Russian, not wanting to offend anyone.

"отличная идея" (good idea), Natasha said coming to stand with them.

Everyone was staring at them, not understanding a single word they were saying.

"ты прав, его эго довольно хрупкое" (you're right, his ego is pretty fragile) Bucky said while staring directly at Sam.

Ekaterina gave him a pointed look,

"будь милым" (be nice)

He held his hands up in mock surrender while Nat laughed at their antics saying,

"вы голодны? пошли что-нибудь поесть" (are you hungry? Let's go get something to eat)

"я голоден!" (I'm starving!) Rina said with a smile

Without saying goodbye, the three of them walked out the doors leaving everyone staring with confused faces.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my damn life" Sam said

Sorry for not updating as often, school has been kicking my ass lately. But I have plans for next chapter and it's gonna be really cute, we're gonna see the family bond a bit more. I tried really hard to write the fighting scene and I don't think I got the gun terms right bc I have no experience in either lol.  Have a fantastic day or night where ever you are!!
Xo,
Renee