ROMANOGERS: PAST TO PRESENT

Chapter Fifteen

Scarlett's POV

A/N SO NORMALLY I DON'T DO THESE BUT I JUST REALIZED I ACCIDENTALLY PUBLISHED PART EIGHTEEN WHEN I HAD FIFTEEN SIXTEEN AND SEVENTEEN LEFT TO PUBLISH. SO FORGET THAT HAPPENED, AND READ THIS INSRTEAD. WE CAN PRETEND THAT I GAVE YOU A SNEAK PEEK TO FUTURE EVENTS HAPPENING. SO SORRY! I CAN BE SUCH AN IDIOT SOMETIMES!

I stood with the others in front of the jet, my backpack slung over my shoulder. Most of our luggage had already been loaded onto the carrier but I had held onto this one. Sighing I stepped onto the ramp and made my way up and into the plane. I didn't fancy long flights, in fact I hated flying. At least in a car you could stop every now and then to walk around and stretch your legs. Flying, well that was entirely impossible. Tossing my bag into the seat that I had claimed as my own I sat down on one of the cots. Natasha took the one next to mine. She had disapeared for a little while but whatever tension had occured seemed to be gone for now. At least, that's what the others thought. I knew better, she was rather irritated, but good at hiding it.

Sadly this made Tony feel as though there was no reason for him to apologize. She smiled and talked like nothing ever happened. Clint had politley ignored the fact that something was up. He had known her longer than the rest of us and if he wasn't pressing the issue nobody else would either, but from Cap's worried expression I knew he was just as concerned as me. Things had been heated lately. The stress of an unknown threat weighing down on all of us and let's just say it affected people differently. What I truly was afraid of though was that if incidents like earlier today kept happening, Natasha would with draw more until she quit the team. It would start out with her talking less, then becoming scarce in apearance, after that she would be in her own world, locking everything up and throwing the key away. That was one option. There were two more.  She would become more violent, aggresive until she was forced to leave becasue she was unsure of how to deal with what was going on. Or we would push her to her breaking point. All three were terrible, but there was the fourth possible outcome. She could stay the same as she was now. Still the loveable red head at times, but I knew that would kill her just as much as the other possibilities.

As the ramp lifted and shut us inside the plane Tony walked by and instantly Steve latched onto him. I knew what was going to happen. Steve was going to make Tony feel guilty, he would apologize or do something to make up for what he said, but when the stress built up again he would snap. There was only one way to keep that from happening, we were going to have to get Natasha to talk no matter how difficult it was. Absorbed in my thoughts it took me a moment to realize we had lifted off. Now it would be a few hours until our destination was reached.

Leaning back against the pillow that accompanied the cot I closed my eyes remembering Fury's words.  Well, after that, I'm not entirely sure I want to explain. He then glared directly at Tony who shrugged. As I said, all of you will be staying at Clint's, you are not to draw attention to yourselves, you are not to do anything involving the case. Do not bring up anything that will upset Natasha. Understood? Even I don't know the extent of her problems, no one does, but whatever it is she will tell you when the time is right. Some people have a harder time dealing with their past than others. With a final glare at Tony we were dismissed to gather our things.

"I brought snacks!" Clint practically yelled breaking my thought pattern. He held an entire back pack up and started pulling things out before deciding to dump all of the contents out instead. A good sized pile of granola bars, trail mix, candy bars, and anything you could think of rested on the closest chair. My stomach growled at the sight of the pile and Clint must have heard it because he smirked in my direction.

"What did you do raid the pantries?" Steve asked having finished his talk with Tony. He walked over studying everything with wide eyes before hesitantly picking out a granola bar.