Most of the time, the Avengers compound was empty. Nobody was working there anymore, between the people who got dusted and the ones who decided to quit because of how the disappearance of their loved ones affected them, there was no one left, except this one constant thing.
Natasha.
Most people lost hope after a few months, were starting to move on with their lives, like Steve, but she never did. Two, three and soon four years passed and she was still working in the compound, coordinating missions with the Avengers that were left and those who joined. Carol. Rocket. Nebula. Even Okoye in a way. They were the new generation of Avengers.
Every day, Natasha was reading mission reports, watching the news, giving new assignments. She kept track of everything that was happening on Earth, the good and the bad, and listened to what the "space team" was doing. Those were endless, exhausting days, she never really knew when one started and the other ended. Her sleep schedule was not only fucked but also kind of non existent,. Most nights, she couldn't sleep and, when she did, she had nightmares. The strict diet that she had begun years ago after leaving the Red Room was now a distant memory and her last session at the gym went back to the last time Steve visited the compound, at least six months ago.
It wasn't the best way to live, if Melina and Alexei were there, they would scold her as if she was still a seven years old, but it was like that that she was still going, that she still had hopes.
The last time Steve was there, he told Natasha about how much his support group helped him and he proposed her to give it a go. He meant it in a good, caring way, but Natasha didn't take it like that. To her, it felt like he thought she was desperately trying to fix what was happening on Earth to keep it like it was before the snap so the dusted wouldn't be shocked with what the planet became in their absence. Maybe, in a way, it was what she was doing, but she also just wanted to be useful and stopping bad guys was always a good way to help.
After a long argument, he left and didn't visit since. Maybe he was giving Natasha some space, or maybe he was just done with her, done being her friend. Even if it hurt to think that she might have lost a friend, Natasha was okay with that because she wanted him to be happy, whether she was in his life or not.
And Natasha had other friends. Some that she had for a long time like Rhodey and Tony, and some she met in the last few years. Out of all these new friends, Carol was surely the one she got close the most. It happened really quickly, they just got along well. Carol was the kind of person that could annoy Natasha to her core, but somehow she was fine with it. She was also very caring and a great listener, two thing Natasha needed a lot during the first few months after the snap.
If it wasn't for Carol, Natasha might have ended her life somewhere around the first anniversary of the snap, too hopeless to see that life was still worth living. Carol showed her that, told her how she felt too, confided in her to let her know she could do it too, and since then they were each other's emotional support, the person that knew all of the others darknesses.
Just like Steve used to do, Carol was often visiting the compound, even if she was light-years away some times. She was scheduling her visits and warned Natasha when things came up, preventing her to make it on time. When those happened, Natasha would be sad, but she never told the Captain, although she probably noticed.
Having Carol around was a delight. It was only a few days, a week at best, but it was enough to give Natasha the energy boosts she needed to keep going. Most of the days, they stayed at the compound and talked, played games, cooked, did normal activities.
A few times, when Carol was there, Natasha was needed to assist on a mission and Carol joined as well. It felt like old times for Natasha, to fight crimes alongside an Avenger, a friend, like she used to do at S.H.I.E.L.D with Clint. One of those missions they went to together was after a massacre that was put on Clint, some Mexican mobs killed in their safe house by "a person with perfect aim". It was very hard for Natasha to see all these dead bodies knowing that her best friend was responsible, but having Carol by her side to support her was all she needed to put on a brave face.
That time, when they went back to the compound, Natasha burst into tears in Carol's arms and cried most of the night. It was the first time Carol allowed herself to stay with Natasha in her room, and bed. She had been there a few times but, when the naturally red haired woman told her she could stay for the night, she always refused. Natasha got to learn with time that Carol said no because she was afraid of doing something she would regret, to cross a boundary that she knew Natasha was not ready for.
Carol liked her, in a romantic way.
It didn't take Natasha much time to come to terms with this information, it even made sense to her. They were very close, they loved each other's company so one falling for the other could happen. What Natasha didn't quite realise after this revelation was that she felt the same way. When she did understand her feelings, she began to act awkwardly around the blonde, that was around the same time as her fight with Steve.
Carol didn't mind awkwardness but she was still curious to know why Natasha's behaviour suddenly changed. It took her three visits to get her to tell her that she felt the same way as her, but they eventually had the talk.
It didn't surprise the blonde superhero to hear that Natasha wasn't ready for a relationship, and in a way she wasn't either. She tried a couple times to maintain a romantic relationship while flying around the universe and it never went well, she didn't want that to happen with Natasha. The only promise they made to each other was that they would try if they succeeded in their ultimate mission, bringing everybody back.
After that time, Carol planned less visits but they were longer, at least a week, two when they were lucky.
But one night, when Natasha was not expecting anybody other than the delivery person, Carol landed on the training field of the compound and surprised her. She was passing by Earth, literally this time, and had to go see her (girl)friend, she would have felt bad if she hadn't.
The pizza that Natasha had thought would be her dinner for three days ended up totally eaten, mostly by the blonde, and the night that she thought would be sleepless turned out to be great, one of her best in a long time.
The compound, somewhere Steve had not set foot in eight months. It was still the exact same as when he last came here, after all why would anything change except for the way Natasha arranged her office.
Considering the time, ten past ten, Steve supposed Natasha was still working – despite all the times he and Carol scolded her about her sleep schedule. As he made his way to the living area – that Natasha turned into her office – Steve recited his apology speech in his head.
Saying he was surprised when he stepped into the living room to find Carol and Natasha asleep on the couch was an understatement, he almost ran away. He felt like he was invading their privacy, because they seemed close, closer than he had ever seen them. It was true that he didn't visit Natasha for a long time so he didn't get to know how her relationship with Carol evolved but, from what he had in sight, they had taken another step.
He stood on the doorway for a minute, smiling as he saw the happiness on his friends faces, and left. Next time, he would call before showing up.
Natasha was the constant thing in the compound, Carol could sometimes be there but it was extremely rare to have three people in there at the same time, let alone four.
Rhodey was coming back from a mission and wanted to make his report straight after it. Some times, he would go to the compound and work from there to feel less lonely. He couldn't really complain about loneliness, he still had Tony, Pepper and little Morgan, he was seeing them very often, but going on missions was starting to be hard therefore he liked to be in the compound and with Natasha to debrief.
Knowing that day and night didn't really exist for Natasha anymore, Rhodey – in his War Machine suit – landed on the field and made his way to the living room. He saw an old car parked outside and didn't realise it was owned by someone he knew, someone he used to fight bad guys with.
As usual, he took the backdoor and walked in the living area from the patio door, which always startled Natasha when she was working. The moment he closed the sliding door, he heard an engine starting and supposed it was whoever owned that car who was leaving. With that in mind, Rhodey thought he would find Natasha at her desk, in a weird sitting position with the holographic TV on but it was not quite was happening under his eyes.
There he stood, speechless, in front of Carol and Natasha cuddled up on the couch. Carol was behind the redhead, both her arms around her waist, and Natasha had her fingers entwined with Carol's. If it wasn't for the "little secret" Rocket told him, he would have been surprised to see them that way.
As silently as possible, Rhodey exited the living room to go work somewhere else.
After one last glance at his two friends, he smiled and said, "Good for you, Nat."