James lay in bed, Natasha gently tracing her finger over chest.
They had a few days rest in Brooklyn. The only funny part on this rediscovery is the leniency that Fury had given them.
She absentmindedly continued her slow circling down his chest before she abruptly stopped. There was a scar that wasn't there before.
It then clicked sickeningly just how long they had been apart. The fact still unnecessarily frustrating her. No she'd get at James as much as he was at her with that knowledge, were the tables turned.
"This is new." She said, unable to mask the true meaning of that statement.
Felt him analyzing her with his eyes before he answered. "Yeah, got it while fishing. Big tuna slapped me."
She got up to see him smiling.
"[Ass.]" She said.
He returned the jest with a smirk, before his face turned slightly serious. "I didn't die. I'm fine."
"I forgot to have you promise me that."
"I already signed it." James kid.
She began again, going slower, feeling every ridge even more than before. "...How many times did you get your Ass kicked without me?"
She found 2 more on his side, seemingly knife marks.
Knew her worry before she even spoke. "Russian base. Caught me from behind."
"What were you doing back there?" She asked, knowing what that meant.
"...Tried to obtain a file. Wasn't there."
Bucky took his hand, running it through her hair before slowly moving it down her body.
"This feels deep." A crease appearing on his forehead.
"Bratislava. Some AIM agent who wouldn't stay dow-" Before she could finish, Natalia found James' lips on her new scar, kissing it softly.
Once again, answering her question without her even having to ask. "[I want to be there for all the times I couldn't.]"
His fingers ran slowly down the smalls of her back, before he got to her shoulder.
"Geneva. Avenger mission." She said softly, as he kissed that small mark too.
Natalia slowly moved her palm down his right arm, finding one more.
"Poland."
She kissed it, as they each whispered quiet apologies for not being there, erasing the memory and rewriting it.
And as the movements became slower, Natasha moving herself atop him, James kissed every scar, every missed second on her body before he kissed her lips, making up for every lost moment that Leo took.
Every missed memory & fight.
James held her body, gratuity in every slide.
Every nightmare, where they stayed up & wished for a person that wasn't there.
Natalia grasped his hand, locking her fingers with his.
They once again beat time. Beat whatever fate their enemies had tried to give them.
They were here now.
And as they fell into each other, chests synchronized and smiling, no one of was going to take that away again.
Because they wouldn't let it.