Chapter 30 - North

A/N: I loved all your reviews even if it wasn't easy, and I hate cliffhangers as well. I didn't want to let you all wait for too long.

Natasha could feel herself sitting upright when she slowly drifted out of her sleep, something flat and cold pressing into her right temple. She tried to lift her head, producing a sharp pain behind her eyes and she relaxed down again, leaving a steady pounding to remain in the back of it. Instead she opted for opening her eyes just a tiny bit, seeing a dark landscape flit by her passenger's side window. Apparently it was night time. She squinted to her left. Barnes' dark form sat next to her behind the wheel, just the two of them in the car.

"Hey." He rumbled quietly.

She groaned, trying to make sense of it.

"What happened?" She mumbled in a tired voice.

Suddenly she bit her lip. I care about you. The pained voice he had uttered those words in still fresh in her memory. What the hell had come over her? She had drawn her weapons on him, attacking him in rage and anguish, letting her emotions get the best of her. She hadn't wanted him to leave and resorted to violence, pressuring him until he had confessed his feelings for her. When she couldn't even confess her own feelings to herself. And what had she done?

She stared straight ahead. "Sorry I zapped you." It came out raspy.

"No." He interrupted her immediately. "It was my fault. Everything." He sounded upset with himself, deep creases on his forehead, then his face turned mild again.

Natasha didn't answer. She should be angry with him, but she couldn't make herself. Instead she felt drained, having spent it all earlier. Their fight hadn't been pretty, both of their ugly pasts rearing their heads and clawing at their minds, taking them down into dark places. She didn't like to admit weakness in her, but it was there, hidden under all those layers. They had both hurt each other in more ways than one, showing how much damage there truly was inside of them.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly, noticing something missing around her wrists. Natasha dropped her hands back into her lap and chewed on her bottom lip, throwing him a glance. He was still wearing his full uniform, a handgun strapped to the thigh that was facing her. It made her look down on herself, but she could already tell by just feeling the missing weights on her body. She was still wearing her suit, but all her guns and knives had been removed, as well as the Widow's Bite.

He saw her mustering herself.

"I had to remove those little stingers from you. They hurt quite a bit." He smiled apologetically. He seemed to be drained in the same way, a tiredness in his voice.

A long sigh came over her lips. "Yeah." She looked out of the windshield towards the dark road ahead, small taillights of other cars hovering in the far distance. "They're supposed to."

She tried to swallow and had to cough, her throat completely parched. It produced a coughing fit into her elbow. Her eyes went to his half full water bottle in the front cupholder and she took it with both hands, opening the cap and emptying it greedily with a few big gulps.

"There's more water in the back." He nodded over his shoulder, then tried reaching for it with his right hand.

"It's ok, I got it." She leaned back and not very elegantly hung over the middle console to feel around the back floor, grasping another bottle. The duffel bag was on the back seat, along with other dark items she couldn't all make out. It looked like guns and more clothes.

She heard him rummaging in the front as well and he suddenly held an aspirin bottle in his right hand when she leaned back into her seat. She took it wordlessly and shook out two pills, throwing them down her throat with more water. Her headache was already reduced to a dull pain in head and neck, feeling mostly a throbbing bump somewhere on the side of her head.

He suddenly spoke up.

"I'm sorry about what I did. That I wasn't honest with you. And that I took you with me." He paused and added more quietly with a hoarse voice. "I will drop you off wherever you want, if you want me to leave."

Natasha sighed, silently accepting his apology even if it stung her. It wasn't like she wanted him to leave. It was rather the opposite. She had wanted him to stay, to assimilate like she had done. But now she realized that she had been asking too much, too soon for selfish reasons. He just wasn't ready. The only thing she was frustrated about was the dishonesty, and that was saying a lot coming from someone like her.

But had he simply vanished, she couldn't have accepted that either.

"Where are we going?" She asked instead.

He hesitated for a moment as if he had expected to hear something else. Then he simply answered. "North."

Signs came flitting by the windshield, and she had missed the first one. The second announced the city of Buffalo in another 60 miles. He wasn't kidding. They were going straight north near the border.

The two lane interstate that they were on was rather empty at this time, only a few cars in the distance in front and in the back of them. Fields and trees lined the sides of the road, and if there were any city lights, they were far in the distance. He kept just over the speed limit, apparently not too badly in a hurry. The green digital clock on the dashboard told her it was 11:43pm, meaning they must have been on the road for about six hours.

It was a strange feeling having her suit on but no weapons, it made her feel almost naked and vulnerable. She started eyeing his. There were the two usual knives strapped right on his back, she could see part of the handles. She looked over her shoulder into the backseat, but couldn't make her own out in the darkness.

Frustrated she leaned into her seat again.

"We'll take a stop soon." He cut through the silence. His bionic arm was holding the wheel, his human hand loosely in his lap.

"Where are we going exactly?" She looked out of the windshield again, seeing mile markers for interstate 86 racing by.

"Are you hungry?" He asked instead.

She hadn't really thought about it. Her stomach did feel hollow, she'd just been ignoring it out of habit.

"I can eat."

"Then we are going to dinner first." He said with a small smile.

000

Barnes had taken an exit into a smaller town that she had missed the name of, and was driving down the busy restaurant mile right off the interstate. He was looking concentrated out of the window, trying to pick a place while she leaned back and watched.

They left some of the flashier and busy fast food restaurants behind and he slowly rolled down an empty part of the street, the streetlamps getting sparser. He suddenly turned into a dark parking lot next to a mom and pop diner that was standing by itself. He killed the engine and pulled the handbrake. The sudden silence loud within the car when they glanced at each other.

He turned to her as if he wanted to say something, wisps of hair hanging around his shoulders. Distant lights danced in the dark corners of his eyes and all she could do was stare back at him. It was his bionic hand that crept over her own in her lap, the cold metal almost soothing on her skin. She brought her fingers up and intertwined them with his.

His eyes told her everything; that he regretted very much what had happened in that parking deck. Hers told him the same. He took a deep breath.

"I hurt you. I can't-"

"It's ok." She cut him off. "So did I."

He nodded and sighed. "Of course I care about you. But... I had to leave."

"I understand." She held his hand tightly.

"I took you because I needed to talk first. Are you angry that I did?"

She shook her head.

He blinked a few times, then lightly squeezed her hand and removed it again. Natasha leaned back and looked him up and down, mustering his intimidating uniform, then glanced out of the window. The interior of the diner was brightly lit behind large windows.

"I can run in and get take out." She suggested.

"No, I want to go in." His hands were on his hip holsters, unclasping them from his legs, pulling out another gun from his back. He leaned past her and far into the backseat, letting it all drop on the floor, then she heard him rummaging in the duffel bag. His hand stuck out and dropped her hoodie into her lap before he sat back again, putting on the jacket she liked, the grey and blue one, and zipped it all the way up.

Natasha still wasn't sure if that was enough to hide under, but he was already exiting the car. She took his cue and exited as well. They walked next to each other towards the main door of the small restaurant. He automatically held it open for her and followed in right after.

The diner seemed like an original from the 50ies, homely and old but cared for. The lights were yellowish, the leather on the red colored booths worn and cracking, the checkered floors mostly clean. And it was all but empty except for an older couple sitting lonely at the long bar, eating their meals in peace, a jukebox providing quiet background music.

Natasha liked his choice.

She let him organize a table while she went straight to the bathroom, having to go urgently. When she stepped back out of the stall to wash her hands she caught her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was disheveled and messy, one part sticking out wildly and he hadn't even said anything, letting her walk around like that. She rolled her eyes and smoothed the red strands back down, then carefully parted where the painful bump was. She guessed he had knocked her out in that spot and it looked red and swollen.

She glowered at it. She knew she'd been beside herself, but still... Maybe he had thought that she'd keep lashing out at him, and maybe she would have.

With a sigh the hair dropped over it again, rendering it invisible. She had been through worse by the hands of people she still trusted.

Her hand went to her back pocket, feeling around on her belt. The phone in it was missing. James had been thorough with removing everything. She took one last look in the mirror, noticing that she'd spent a while in here already and was almost surprised that he hadn't come looking for her by now.

Barnes sat listening attentively in a booth in the back corner when she stepped back into the main room. An older lady with a kind smiling face stood next to him, a half-full pot of coffee in hand while she talked. The way she carried herself made Natasha guess that she was the owner. Barnes looked up to the woman with a crooked smile and replied a few words. She actually laughed in response and quickly patted his shoulder, her grey curly bun in the back of her head bobbing. There was something motherly to it, Natasha thought.

She slowly approached the scene and they both looked up to her. The lady greeted her with warm eyes and a kind expression, the creases around her eyes indicating that she smiled a lot.

"Your sweetheart already ordered you a coffee, can I get you anything else, hun?"

Natasha smiled warily, piercing Barnes as she sat down across from him. "Just a water." A steaming cup of coffee already in front of her while he hadn't taken one for himself. She immediately took a sip even though it was past midnight now, but she just couldn't say no to a fresh cup.

"I'll be right back for your orders, my name's Elsie if you need anything" The older woman turned to leave now to head back to the kitchen. She threw Natasha one more smile. "Congrats again hun, we don't get a lot of honeymooners here."

Natasha gulped too much coffee at once and burned her tongue with a hiss, all while keeping a neutral face. Barnes had been watching her and saw it anyway, a quiet rumbling laugh coming out of his chest. Her cup went back on the table.

She looked over her shoulder to see if they were alone and narrowed her eyes at him. One corner of her mouth curved a little. "Yeah, honey, do you kidnap all your fiancees?"

"Only the special ones." He chuckled even more at that.

She involuntarily had to grin and sipped her coffee more careful now. Her face turned serious again.

"I need my phone back to let them know that I'm still alive or things are going to turn really bad really quick." Natasha leaned closer to him with her arms on the table, keeping her voice down. "They might have already canceled that mission and come after you instead."

His smile had vanished as well. "I already took care of it." He answered her calmly.

She looked at him confused. "In what way?"

"I called your boss and told her I wasn't staying." He stated as if it was as easy as that.

Natasha thought he was joking before he continued. "I did it from a payphone, not your number. She wasn't too happy but we talked for a little while." He shrugged, enjoying Natasha's widening eyes. "I told her what I told you earlier, that I'll be on my own for a bit and they'd be wasting their time and resources looking for me."

Natasha just stared at him unbelieving. "What did she say?"

He shifted his head. "Maria can't admit it, but she knows I'm right."

Natasha's crease on her forehead deepened. She doubted that Hill would give in that easily. "But they found us twice before."

"And do you know why?" He said quickly. "Because Grant was keeping tabs on you. I questioned Hill about it the first time we talked after the brief. I asked her how they got on our trail and she finally admitted that it had been him in both cases. The first time it was that laptop that alerted him. The second time he kept routinely sending agents by your house, until we showed up there." Barnes paused as if mulling over it. "We shouldn't have stayed there as long as we did." His voice had turned into a growl now, admitting his mistake.

Natasha sat stunned. Grant shouldn't even have known about her address, but of course he had been abusing his position at SHIELD to find it out. He had poured so much work into hunting them down, just in order to get Barnes back with Hydra. And now he was dead, at the hands of his subject.

She licked her lips, suddenly nervous about what else they had talked about.

"Did you mention me in any way?" She asked him quietly and held her breath.

He didn't answer right away and that didn't ease her one bit. Even with the way she felt about SHIELD at the moment, she didn't want it to look like she had run away with him and abandoned everything.

"Your boss thinks that you went chasing after me, after you failed to stop me." He said finally and she could hear apprehension in his voice. He didn't like lying about that part.

Thank god. As much as it pained him, it worked in her favor.

"I'll leave it up to you to elaborate to her." He continued quietly, then stopped when Elsie came bobbing back with water and to take their orders. Natasha picked some random sandwich, while Barnes poured over the menu for a while then pointed at the pancakes. A corner of Natasha's mouth went up at his choice.

The older woman collected their menus again and James looked up to her, saying a "Thank you Ma'am." It earned him a big smile.

Natasha was watching him. He wasn't forcing those niceties, they just came automatically, that was obvious to her. And he seemed to like this older lady, another positive thing.

He exhaled once they were alone again and leaned back into the booth. His eyes suddenly much more clear, scanning the room until he faced her again. She stared back while sipping water, as if waiting for him to continue. To do his talk. His human hand opened the zipper on his jacket just a bit, showing the black uniform underneath. It went somewhere inside it, searching in his pockets. He finally pulled out a small notepad and laid in on the table, pushing it towards her. She followed his movements until the pad was in front of her, then she took it into her hands.

"What is that?" She opened it up and her eyes went up and down the first page. It was full of names, dozens, written in a meticulous, neat handwriting. Much nicer than mine, was her first thought. They were arranged in two tight columns. She went to the next page, finding the same thing. She glanced over all of them and some sounded as if they should ring a bell, but the harder she thought the more nebulous it got. They appeared to be completely random and from different origin. She saw american ones, russian, hungarian, german, french, japanese, and more. Mostly russian though.

Natasha looked up to him with deep green eyes.

"They are names taken from the file. Officials, scientists and handlers." He answered quietly. "Those are the ones that are still alive as far as I know."

She breathed in and out. "They were all in your file?"

"Yeah and more. These are only the most important ones that were… involved in my project." He didn't like using that word. It dehumanized him.

She stared at him. Natasha could guess his intentions with this long list and it made her heart beat faster, wanting to hear it from his mouth. "And what are you planning to do?" She said under her breath.

He looked at her with unreadable eyes, they were turning hard. Then he averted them as if trying to recall something.

"Do you remember when I took you to the park?" He asked her quietly. "Near the Potomac? We talked about a few things while sitting under that tree." His voice had grown very serious.

"Yes." Natasha recalled that sunny day under a blue sky.

"You told me that ever since you defected, you are trying to pay your dues. And I told you that we are what we are."

She nodded. Assassins.

"It's what we were made to do." He paused, trying to keep the emotions out of his voice. "And this is how I will pay mine."

His pale eyes were filling with rage and sadness even when he tried to hide it. She stared at him, knowing exactly how he felt. Finally realizing what they had done, been made to do. The anger over it. The guilt. Then gave him a quick nod. She guessed it was what he had been planning to do for a while, to end the ones that had hurt him. The ones who had sent him to murder others. And he had been wanting her to come along even when she had repeatedly said she wasn't able to. She couldn't say anything, feeling a clump rising in her throat.

He blinked a few times, clearing his eyes again, then suddenly reached over and tapped on the top of the list in her hands. "Do you recognize the very first name?" He asked her.

Natasha looked again. Sergei Buskov. She shook her head. "No." But in the back of her mind a voice said yes. "Who is it?"

He withdrew his hand and sat up straighter, crossing his arms on the table. His bionic hand hid tucked under a sleeve. James took a deep breath. "Have you ever wondered why you couldn't remember much of me? And why I didn't recognize you at all?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. Had she wondered? That's all she'd been doing in the back of her mind ever since Barnes had reappeared in her life. "Of course I have. They did something to us."

"And do you know why?"

She shook her head, but she had a faint idea.

He breathed deeply. "There were a few documents in my file regarding us." His eyes were piercing her now. "We were sent on a few missions together which turned out to be very successful. The result was that we were made constant partners, giving us even more time to spend with each other. We were able to hide it — our relationship — for a few years. But they eventually found out what we were doing. Look at the next page."

Natasha's heart was beating loudly in her chest when she turned to the next page. He had written down what appeared to be direct quotes from old reports written in her native tongue.

February 1963

Codename Winter Soldier has shown signs of resistance upon completing the mission in Ekaterinburg. The asset has been observed expressing personal wishes that were not part of the programming.

April 1963. Regarding: Abnormal Behavior.

Codename Winter Soldier has been displaying increasingly aggressive behavior against handlers since returning from the mission in Ekaterinburg, leading to complications. There were two losses so far. We request immediate actions to be taken.

S. Buskov / Truth Serum Test Results on Codename NR0043 were conclusive. There have been relations between Codename NR0043 and Codename Winter Soldier that went beyond the mission objective, corrupting the asset. Demanding immediate separation and aggressive reset procedure for both. Codename NR0043 is to not be sent on a mission with the asset again.

Natasha swallowed hard, all color fading from her face as she read about herself. The hands holding the pad were shaking now, when she looked back up to him. James had made it clear to her before that she had years missing from her mind, but reading it black on white, and the reasoning behind it, was too much. Entirely too much. She bit her trembling lip.

His face was mild now. "They forced us apart, Natasha. They made us forget." His pale eyes looking at her sadly. "Because you made me too human. I wanted to leave with you, but I couldn't make it happen."

She was about to open her mouth when Elsie came back with two plates and a huge smile "Here you go, guys. Enjoy." James said another quick thank you, while Natasha just stared at her plate, unable to say anything now.

They took him from me. They turned him into a stranger, a bad memory. All those years, all this emptiness...

Her eyes were burning.

It had been worse for him, he'd been reduced back to a blank sheet, a mindless weapon, void of anything. Eventually sent to kill her, accepting that order like a machine accepts a command. If only she could have remembered, she would have found a way to get him out.

Barnes' mind was now occupied by food and he looked hungrily at the plate full of pancakes. There was a second of happiness on his face before he dug into them, all bad thoughts forgotten for the moment. Natasha took a few bites of her sandwich, eating not as blissfully as he was.

He looked up with a full mouth and raised eyebrows. "This is really good."

Natasha tried to force a smile on her face. "These places tend to be." She said softly.

Neither talked after that, both sunken into their own thoughts. They finished their meals quickly and were only interrupted once by Elsie, asking how everything was and to tell them they had to see the Niagara Falls if they were headed in that direction, like most tourists here were.

Natasha promised to do just that and then left cash on the table, quietly leaving the diner while the kind lady was in the back somewhere. She didn't want Elsie to remember this young tourist couple too well.

000

A crescent moon stuck out behind clouds and Natasha breathed in deeply, crisp northern air filling her lungs. The temperature made her shudder for a moment. She noticed again that he liked the cold, or at least he didn't seem to mind. It was a short walk back to the car, their boots crunching over the loose gravel in the parking lot.

They stopped by the passenger's door and Natasha turned to face him before he had the chance to open it. She thought of the list in his pocket containing dozens of names. Two columns on two pages, written in neat handwriting.

She looked up to his dark figure, trying to find his eyes.

"You want to hunt them all down?" Her breath left little puffs in the air.

James nodded slowly.

"And Buskov. He is your first target? Is that where we are going?"

"Yes." He said quietly.

"Are you sure he's still alive? This all happened in another place a long time ago."

"He is operating over here now." Barnes shifted his head and she wasn't sure how he knew, but she believed him. Natasha didn't reply. She felt him tense up and his head dropped lower as if he was afraid to continue. What came next was of great importance to him.

"I want you to join me, Natasha." He said quietly. "But I understand if you can't." His words hung in the air.

Buskov. She repeated the name in her head. Just one of the many faces who had worked for the Department and just one of the men in the background who had decided over their fate. Her fate. One of the few that were still left and apparently still in business. For the first time her anger started to simmer up again. She knew there were other responsibilities with her job, but she would find a way, she would...

"Don't run off again without telling me why." She stepped closer to him, recalling what their entire bad fight had been about. "I need to be able to trust you."

He nodded his head.

She exhaled sharply and her eyes turned hard, making her decision. "Of course we'll take him down. Together."

He had been watching her intently, his mouth pressed into a hard line. But as soon as the words left her mouth something in him relaxed, and he gave her a quick nod. Then his arms shot out and he pulled her into a tight hug, pressing her so hard into his chest she felt it might crack the ribs on her sides, taking all the air out if her lungs. Her face pushed into his shoulder, breathing in his scent as her arms wrapped up around his neck, pulling him closer as well. They held onto each other tightly and it was a while before they got into the car again.

000

The drive had been for another two hours. She couldn't believe at first how far north they were actually going. When he told her the final destination was Toronto she had at first been surprised and that had quickly turned into a headache. Crossing the border required certain documentation, unless they wanted to turn this into a huge hassle and do it the stealthy way.

Natasha of course had a number of fake IDs in her wallet. While she was sorting through them, James had pulled one out of his own pockets as well. She had snatched it out of his hands in surprise and read with wide eyes that it was one of Barton's. Clint always had a stack of them in his desk at the headquarter and James must have taken one without her noticing. The photo on this one might even work, she thought with furrowed brows.

When they got in the line of cars at the gated border her stomach started to flutter anyway. Barnes' human hand was resting calmly on his thigh near the gun he had strapped back onto his leg. He laid that hand on the wheel once they rolled up to the booth. Natasha flashed a big smile at the tired border agent and answered his questions, brushing her hair out of her face. Maybe it was pure luck that the man didn't look too closely at their photos and he let them pass without a problem.

000

"Your laptop and phone are in the trunk if you want to get them." He was looking at the road ahead while he spoke. They had left the slow traffic near the border behind and were driving in canadian territory now.

Natasha unbuckled and climbed into the backseat, then bent over the last row to feel around in the cargo area. The smooth top of her machine was under one of the bags laying in a pile. Her phone was right next to it. She took both and climbed back to the passenger seat.

"How do you know that he's in Toronto?" She asked him, buckling up again.

"One of the documents had a small note." He explained. "He defected over here to start a new branch."

She thought for a moment. The Department had officially ceased to exist several years ago, but it seemed its former member had found other ways to continue.

"Well, let's see if we can find him." Natasha hooked up her laptop to the hotspot on her phone, waiting for the internet to get a stable connection. Her eyes went over the messages that had accumulated on the cell. Apparently Barnes had sent off a text in her name, telling Hill that she would be in touch. She pressed her lips together, leaving it at that for the moment.

Natasha worked in silence for a while, trying to find unsecured databases within canadian immigration offices to see if his name showed up and if it was changed to something else. She ran into several walls, there would be no easy way into those unless she'd all out hack them, which was time consuming.

What if he hadn't changed his name? She ran it through the Toronto White Pages. That would be too easy. It came up with nothing, but it gave her an idea. She scoured local government sites to see if he had naturalized and become a citizen, or if he was registered to vote. Then she found an unsecured backdoor into the Ontario vehicle registration.

"Got him."

Barnes looked over to her and she grinned. His BMW was registered under the name Sergei Buskov and within the document she found his private address. It was pulled up on a map immediately, then she turned the laptop towards him. Barnes quickly glanced at it while driving.

"His address is outside of the suburbs, looks pretty rural." Natasha explained and glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It showed just after 3 am. "We are still forty minutes out. Do you want to go tonight?" She kept looking at him while he stared out of the windshield.

"Yep, we are going." He stepped on the gas.

Her body tensed in response but a calmness came over her, enveloping her mind. She relaxed back into her seat and started to navigate him to it.

000

The highway turned into a smaller road, winding through thick forests. After twenty more minutes the wooded area made way for a pastoral setting. Farmhouses and large expensive homes were starting to appear every other mile, separated by fenced in fields and horse stables. The moonlight was fading and Natasha could only make out rough silhouettes at that point. The properties were large and well cared for, located on expensive pieces of land where a former soviet official could live out his life seemingly in peace.

The address ended in a long private driveway and they slowly rolled by it, continuing down the road until Barnes suddenly pulled off into a small gravel path that led into a field.

He parked the car out of sight from bypassers and they exited wordlessly, taking their jackets off as they went. He snapped the trunk open and pulled a backpack out, handing it to her.

"Your weapons."

Natasha opened it and blindly felt around, taking both her guns out and holstering them. Her sheathed knives were in there as well and she attached them back on her body. It made her feel whole again.

Barnes shouldered his sniper rifle in the meantime.

"Take the backpack." He said quietly.

She swung it on her shoulder without questioning him, feeling more weights in there. The trunk closed again, sounding loud in the quiet open field. A light wind was rustling trees in the distance and crickets were chirping in a constant, monotone background noise. She looked up into the sky. The stars were so much more bright and prominent out here, for a moment Natasha was mesmerized by all the colors.

She stopped staring and caught up to Barnes again who was striding down the small path. They crossed the street and walked up a different field, their boots quiet in the tall grass. The large colonial farmhouse came in sight after about a quarter mile, tucked under huge mature trees and surrounded by a tall brick fence that snaked around the property, a white gate in front. Barnes led around the home in a big half circle, up the only raised area in the otherwise flat landscape. She guessed it was about 80 yards to the fence when he kneeled down on the highest spot and she crouched next to him, their black uniforms rendering them invisible in the darkness.

She looked concentrated at the house in front of them. A larger home with an attached huge garage, a wraparound front porch that led into a courtyard. A single car stood parked by itself. Natasha immediately noted the small cameras in the corners under the roof.

"There are no guards and it only has minimal security." She whispered in his direction. The old man wouldn't stand a chance against them if they went in right now.

Barnes breathed evenly next to her, his dark eyes just as concentrated. He was thinking as well.

"Does this look like he would operate from here?" He asked her neutrally for her opinion.

Natasha shook her head, glancing over the place. "No, seems just like a private home to me, nothing more." She suddenly bit her lips, thinking of the possibility of his family in there, maybe grandchildren. She didn't want to do this in front of them.

Barnes had other plans. "We will track him." He rumbled quietly. "Find out where he works."

If he truly still was in business at his age.

Natasha looked ahead again and gave a quiet "Ok." She knew what that meant, they'd have to spend the rest of the night out here in the cold until the target made a move. "You want to stay right here or near the car?"

"I have a better idea." He slid the backpack from her shoulders and started searching through it. Eventually he pulled out a black metal cylinder and she recognized it immediately.

A freaking long range tracker.

"Are you serious? Did you take that all from the armory?" She hissed.

"Yep." She could hear him grin, turning towards her. "Can you put it under his car? There is a-"

"A dead angle for the cameras. It's a sloppy install, I saw it too." She interrupted him.

His eyes had a glint in them when he handed her the cylinder. She took it and continued. "Wait here, it won't take long. Watch the doors just in case." She didn't need to say those things out loud but the words came out anyway.

He already had the Dragunov in both hands and was getting into a more stable position on one knee, attaching the scope to it with a small click. His dark form nodded once at her.

She stared at him a moment longer, a feeling welling in her and she swallowed hard.

Then she jumped up without another word and fell into a light jog down the hill, steering towards a dark corner of the fence. She clipped the tracker to the back of her belt and walked a short bit along the brick wall that towered over her, then decided on a good enough spot. A running jump later she hauled herself over the top and silently dropped down on the other side.

There was only silence coming from the house at this time, all windows empty and dark. A single outdoor light shone into the courtyard but didn't fully hit the silver BMW that was parked in the shadows, outside of the garage. Natasha crouched along the walls of the building, aware of where the cameras were pointing at. She'd be able to reach the car unseen if she stayed at a certain angle.

For a few minutes she slipped through the shadows, making her way to it. It took a quick run out in the open and she was kneeling by the car's back door. The cylinder attached itself under the back side with a magnet, well hidden out of sight.

She traced back the way she had come without making a sound, hopping over the wall and coming up on the field. Barnes had kneeled unmoving, blending completely into the tall grass without as much as twitching a muscle. Only once did she see a faint reflection hitting his exposed arm.

When she was only a few yards out he slowly stood up and handed her the backpack.

"Good job." His voice a whisper.

"Mhm." She hummed in response.

They walked back to their black SUV out in the other field, stowing the big weapons in the back of it again. Her mind had been working overtime for the past hours, ever since their talk in the diner. Now that her task at hand was completed she felt wariness creep into her bones. They would track him for the next day or two, see what dubious connections he had. Then they'd make their move. She looked at Barnes once they had their seatbelts on.

"Do you just want to sleep in the car?"

He sounded surprised. "No, I'll get us a room." The car's engine revved to life and he carefully backed it out the way they had come, leaving dust clouds in the beam of the front lights.

000

The room in the interstate motel was small and dingy, pretty much exactly what she had expected after seeing the dilapidated exterior. The wallpaper peeled in several places and the carpet came with questionable stains. It didn't matter. The queen sized bed looked like heaven to her after nights of uncomfortable sleep.

They peeled out of their uniforms in the darkness, letting them drop on the floor near the bed. She could see his silhouette in the morning light that came in behind the curtains, watching him as he took his vest off. Natasha stood just in underwear and unclasped her bra before crawling under the covers, the clean but musty smelling sheets feeling cool on her bare skin. He lifted his side of the blanket moments later and joined her, the mattress sinking low under his weight.

It had been an exhausting day and she tried to let her mind go blank instead of thinking about it too hard. All she wanted was to sleep now, turning onto her side away from him. When had she last not been tired? The past weeks had been mostly exhausting.

His warm hand crept around her waist, pulling her tightly into his chest.

Her eyes were falling shut when she mumbled her thoughts out loud. "After this is all done I could really use a vacation."

He went rigid behind her for a moment, the gears in his head turning and he lifted his face up. Then he asked her firmly. "Where do you want to go?"

He was taking her completely serious again and she didn't have the heart to explain otherwise.

"How about Alaska?" She whispered instead, the first ridiculous thing that came to her mind.

"I'll take you there." Was his immediate response.

She finally let out a breathy laugh into her pillow. "It's a joke, Barnes."

He buried his face back into her hair, tucking his hand under her belly. She felt his breath on the back of her neck and she drifted off into sleep when she heard a quiet. "Not for me."

.

Hope this answers a few questions, some of what you might have guessed already. I have about a couple more chapters in mind and after that, I'm not sure.