Chapter 1
---2014, Six months after the fall of SHIELD---
Natasha quickly made her way through the small alleys of Chojnice, Poland, she kept her right hand firmly pressed on the side of her ribs to try and soothe the searing pain as she maneuvered through the conjoining alleyways; someone was following her, she could feel it and they have been for the past ten minutes. She tried endlessly to weave in and out of different alleyways, switching up her path to try and whoever was following her, but whoever they were, they were good at their job. No matter what she did, she couldn't seem to shake them. She eventually got to the end of the alley where the paths formed at T-shape opening up into another one; she knew that whoever was following her was waiting on the other side of the wall she was leaning against. She pulled out one of her hand guns from the holster under her jacket and quickly rounded the edge with her gun pointing straight ahead.
The barrel of her gun was met with the barrel of another. She looked up to see the face behind the gun and found that she recognized the man. His hair was dark and long –almost to his shoulders, his eyes were dark brown and he wore a black jacket with a glove over his right hand –presumably to cover up his metal arm.
"Barnes..." She said in a huffy voice while lowering her gun, though he didn't lower his.
From this angle she almost forgot how dangerous the man standing before her was(despite him pointing a gun at her); looking at him now she just saw James, the man she loved all those years ago. The one who used to silence the ghosts of the past, the one who brought light into a place that had been dark for so long.
"Relax, I'm not here for you." She said while shoving her gun back into her holster.
"Then why are you here?" He asked with a stone-cold face, still not putting his gun away.
"Rumlow. SHIELD got word that he was spotted here." Her breath was starting to get shaky as she leaned against the wall for support, while keeping her hand on her wound.
Bucky disarmed his gun, tucking it into the back of his jeans and for the first time since they began talking, noticed her injury.
"My place is close. Come with me." He said in a gentle yet firm voice while staring at the blood dripping down the side of her black turtleneck, it was concealed well under her brown leather jacket but was still noticeable to him.
"Thanks but I've got a place here." She tried to leave but he stood in her way.
"I know you do, but do you have someone to fix you up?" She gave him a slightly annoyed look, but he just returned a sincere one. "Don't be stubborn."
"Fine." She said sharply while reaching out her hand so he could help her.
They walked in silence for a little bit until they reached the end of one of the alleyways to an old, beat up apartment complex. Bucky pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and opened the crumbling, rusted door. Natasha stepped through the threshold while Bucky locked the door behind them and glanced at the spiraling staircase in front of her, groaning at the thought of having to climb all of them.
"Lucky for you my place is only on the second floor." He said, smiling down at her.
She chuckled even though her ribs were screaming at her not to. "Didn't think you could make jokes."
He smiled subtly while helping her up the stairs. They eventually got to his apartment door which he opened with another one of his keys; he walked her in and set her on the bed before going back and bolting his door shut.
Natasha looked around the apartment while Bucky ran into the bathroom to get the first aid kit; it was a small studio apartment –maybe one room with an open living room and kitchen. It looked as though no one was even living there, it was just so void of life and everything else that made a place feel like home –she couldn't help but feel bad for him.
He walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later with a small metal box and walked into the kitchen to grab a small bottle of whiskey out of the cupboard.
"I don't have any disinfectant so this will have to do." He said, holding up the whiskey bottle.
"Great..." Natasha sarcastically groaned while looking up at the ceiling.
He pulled up a chair in front of the bed she was sitting on and began examining her wound through the cut in her shirt .
"You're gonna have to take this off." He pointed at the shirt.
She nodded weakly and began trying to pull her shirt off but the sharp pain from the side of her ribs immediately stopped her from getting the shirt off.
"A little help?" She winced while holding her arms slightly up.
Bucky reluctantly nodded back and helped her pull the shirt off, he threw it to the side and continued examining the wound.
"Bullet wound?" He asked her while still looking at it.
"Yup, just barely grazed me."
"Yeah, barely." He said sarcastically, knowing full well that she was a few centimeters away from bleeding to death.
He grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the bed and unscrewed the lid; she closed her eyes knowing full well the pain that was about to shoot through her body. He got the lid off and held it slightly above her ribs then looked up at her.
"Ready?"
"Just do it."
He poured the liquid over her wound while she squeezed her eyes shut and took a series of deep breaths to try to distract herself from the burning pain in her side. He cringed at her obvious pain, but didn't know why. He had seen people in pain before and never really minded, what made her so different? After a few moments the pain had subsided to a manageable level; Natasha opened her eyes and grabbed the alcohol bottle from Bucky's hand, taking a large swig of it. He watched her drink the alcohol and chuckled, then threaded the needle he was gonna use.
They were mainly silent the entire time he was stitching up her wound; neither one of them knew what to talk about. After about ten minutes of semi-awkward silence, Bucky decided to try and make conversation.
"What was the mission?"
She looked down at him to find his eyes still trained on the stitches. "Catch and release. Get captured by Rumlow, trick them into giving me information during interrogation and get out. Would've been simple if there weren't about a hundred of them there. One of them got me pretty good." She joked while gesturing towards the wound he was stitching up.
He knotted up the final stitch and used a pair of scissors to cut the extra thread and put his tools back into the box then grabbed the roll of gauze sitting in there. He began wrapping up her ribs and smiled to himself.
"Well, at least it wasn't me this time." He chuckled, staring at the scar on the bottom of her stomach, then the one on her left shoulder.
She gave him a funny face. "You remember?"
He stopped and looked up at her with pain-filled eyes. "I remember everything." He broke eye contact and returned his focus on what he was doing. "I'm sorry for what happened in Odessa."
Natasha's mind was filled with thoughts as she watched him work. He remembered everything, does that mean he remembered her and the time they shared together? If so, then why hasn't he brought it up? Was he waiting for her to?
"Everything?" She asked.
"Everything."
"So tell me, Soldier." She said softly while leaning her face in towards his. "Do you remember... this?" She grabbed the side of his face and leaned in even closer, as if she were going to kiss him.
"I-" He stuttered while trying to figure out what was going on, yet he didn't pull away.
She immediately stopped and pulled away when she caught a glimpse of the confused look in his eyes. He didn't remember her. That much was clear now. She ducked out of the way and put on a fake smile to hide her disappointment.
"Am I missing something?" Bucky asked, still confused.
"I'm just messing with you, Barnes." She coolly played off. "Anyways I should get back to my apartment now, I've got a plane to catch later." She quickly announced while going to get her jacket, before he had any time to ask anymore questions.
"Back to New York then?" He asked, while watching her gather her things.
She nodded while picking up her jacket then stopped to look at him. "You could come with me, you know." Bucky looked down at his hands. "Steve would love to have you back."
"I don't know if I'm worth the trouble."
"You are." She declared, which made Bucky look up at her in disbelief. "To him at least." She smirked.
"How do you know?" He asked her truthfully.
"Because you're brothers. You fight for each other." She explained, then looked at the ground when the thought of her own sister came to mind. How she missed Yelena.
"I'm not ready yet. I promise I'll stay out of trouble here just please don't tell him where I am." He begged.
She nodded disappointedly and gave him a reassuring smile. "Okay... just promise me one thing." He looked up at her, waiting for her request. "Don't be alone. At some point, go out and start living your life and... make some friends on the way."
He gave her a genuine smile and nodded. "Okay."
"And remember that you're not a monster."
This time the shock was even more prevalent on his face. How could she just say that? She barely even knew him, at least, that was what he thought.
She continued on. "I've been where you are. I know what it's like to have been used for the wrong reasons, to be made into a weapon. The anger, frustration and guilt –I've felt it all... Don't let it consume you. It wasn't your fault."
He stood up and walked towards her, still not believing what he was hearing. It was like he had just met her, yet she saw right into him. Like she understood everything and knew exactly what to say. He couldn't fathom it. They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever until Natasha announced that she should be going now.
He watched her zip up her jacket over her bra and walked towards the door before looking back at him one last time.
"I'm sorry." She said solemnly.
"For what? You didn't do anything." He told her in a confused tone, not knowing how wrong he was.
"I'm just... sorry."
She knew full well that the reason he was forced to become a sleeper agent was because of the relationship they had in the Red Room. Even though they both knew the risks that came with their love, she could never get over the feeling that she caused so much of his pain –maybe it wasn't fair to blame herself, but she still did it anyway. She wanted to tell him everything, but she also wanted to let him move on. So she chose to keep the burden on herself. With that final thought, she opened the door and walked out of the apartment and then closed it again, leaving Bucky alone with his thoughts.
"Natasha Romanoff." He whispered to himself.
He had heard her name in the news multiple times but for some reason, the name didn't feel right. There was something about it that felt off, but he couldn't for the life of it figure out what. He turned and flopped onto his bed on his back and stared at the ceiling.
What bothered him even more than the name was the fact that he couldn't figure out how she had survived two encounters with him. Sure, the first time, she wasn't his target but even then the Winter Soldier wasn't one to leave a witness behind, especially not someone working for SHIELD. It didn't make sense.
The second encounter was even more confusing than the first: it was an easy shot, he remembered it. He should've been able to hit her right in the heart, yet he shot her in the shoulder, as if something inside of him told him not to kill her. He let her go, he just didn't know why.
---Hours Later---
Natasha parked her motorcycle in the long driveway of the Avengers compound and made her way towards the door. She breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of being able to sleep in her own bed again, but the thought of leaving Bucky in Poland was still bothering her. She knew that was what he had wanted but a part of her still felt bad for doing it –like she was abandoning him again.
She quickly wiped the thought from her mind and used her keycard to open the door to the compound and walked in. She entered the living room of the compound and was immediately greeted by the familiar faces of Tony, Pepper, Thor, Clint, Bruce and Steve, all huddled around the giant TV mounted on the wall.
"Hey, look who made it out alive!" Tony enthusiastically joked from his spot on the couch. He was immediately elbowed in the ribs by Pepper who was sitting next to him. "Ow! What? I didn't even say anything yet." He pouted.
"You said enough." She said in a firm voice while getting up and walking towards Natasha. "What he means to say is, welcome back. How was it?" She said while hugging Natasha, which made her instantly grateful that she changed out of her bloody leather jacket and into a hoodie and some leggings on the flight home.
"I'm sure he does." Natasha smiled while returning the hug. "Not too bad, I-"
"Is that my jacket?!" Tony shouted from the couch after taking a closer look at what Natasha was wearing.
"It's your fault for sneaking it into my laundry basket." She smirked while looking towards Steve, who was approaching her with two beers in his hand.
"We missed you." He said, handing her the opened beer bottle, which caused Clint and Tony to smirk at each other.
"Well, we both know you boys are a mess without me."
She smiled and sat down on the couch next to Thor, who greeted her with a warm smile, but left a spot open on her right for Steve to sit down.
"So, what are we watching?" She asked them, while taking a sip of her beer.
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Hi there,
So this story is a prequel to my other story -Next Target: Clint Barton. You don't have to read that one to understand this one but there are some references to that book so I'd suggest reading that first(It's also a pretty good story).
This story will be time jumping a bit because we have a lot of ground to cover with Steve and Natasha's relationship; there'll be fluff and sadness involved so I hope you guys enjoy that. I ill also be including other Avengers because I think that the friendships between the Avengers is just as important as the love story.
Yelena will also make an appearance somewhere down the line, for those of you who like her. The defenders and a few Agents of SHIELD characters will also be in the story too.
Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter!
Please leave a comment and vote if you enjoyed this chapter.
Thanks for Reading!