If Nothing...

Steve

I snap my eyes open at the sound of the knock on the door. I calm my heartbeat and stand to see who is waiting on the opposite side of the door.

I lower my eyebrows in confusion as I spot the tall man in front of me. Surprisingly he appears to be just a little taller than myself,with black wavy hair in which is styled neatly. His eyes are dark blue and large in size. He is thin although his muscles are outlined beneath the jacket of his suit. He is tanned,but only a little.

"Can I help you?"

He offers his hand."Sasha Frankfurt. You are Captain Rogers,yes?"

I shake his hand."Yes."

"May I come inside."

"Yeah,sure."

He smiles and nods walking past me inside."I don't mean to intrude,Captain-"

"Steve."I say simply.

"Steve then. I don't plan to stay very long. I have to be back home by Sunday and my flight leaves at eight."

"You can sit down if you want."

"No I'm quite alright."Sasha looks down at the photo of Natasha and I on the coffee table and swallows."I'm sorry for your loss. Both. I know Natasha meant a lot to you."

The familiarity he speaks with tickles my interest."Did you know her?"

"Briefly. We didn't get to know one another very well before she was captured."

He speaks quietly,pain taking hold of his caricature.

"You saw her get captured?"

"I was there,Mr. Rogers. I regret not being able to do anything more than ever now."

"How did you know Natasha?"

"Would you care for the short blunt answer or the long and interesting one?"

"Long version please."

"Well then if the offer still stands I'd like to sit."

I nod and motion for him to sit as I sit down."So,Natasha."

"Well,Natasha had suspicions that she was pregnant a few weeks after leaving here with you. I recieved a call from Agent Morse alerting me of Natasha's suspicions, and Bobbi set up an appointment for the next day. I specialize in students from Red Room,and was very excited to be helping out the famous black widow."He nods toward the bottle of scotch on the table."May I?"

"Go ahead."

He pours himself a small glass of scotch and takes one sip of it before he continues speaking."Natasha was not at first thrilled about the news,but she grew into it. I advised Natasha to end her search for Jonas,but she didn't listen. I gave her a possible lead on Jonas and sent she and Bobbi to France to find Jonas's father. Natasha was injured and out of fear for her child,called me. Natasha found out about Zachariah here and traveled back to Amsterdam without Bobbi."

"You were with her?"

He nods.

"Go on."

"I took Natasha back to my home in Amsterdam so that she could be comfortable while we waited for her flight back here."

"She wanted to come back?"

"Yes. She had given up all hope. And out of compassion for the child,she thought the best thing to do was to come back and reconcile with you so that the remainder of her pregnancy could be spent comfortably. Well,that is what I wanted to do. She was coming back to reconcile. Or at least attempt to. She didn't know whether uou would accept her back or if you would shun her."He takes another sip of scotch."The night we were scheduled to leave,a horrific snowstorm blew in and we were standed there in Amsterdam. The second night we'd been stranded,Jonas arrived and took Natasha."His eyes fall to the ground."I wanted to save her. I tried,but-"

"It's not your fault."

"I'd sure like to think it was. If I had been able to combat Jonas,perhaps Natasha may still be here. But I am just some weak human being who is incapable of such things."

"Jonas is too powerful for us. Even the Avengers. Natasha was brave enough to take him on her own and this is what came of it. None of this is your fault and you can't blame yourself for that. Alright?"

"I wish it were that simple to accept that this isn't my fault. But  I guess knowing Natasha in the short period of time I knew her impacted me enough so that I adopted some of her traits."

"This is completely off subject,but if you specialize in Red Room students,there had to be a reason."

"My sister."He says."She had been one before she was killed."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Leading the lives they all lead,their sins catch up with them unless they choose to cleanse themselves of them. As a matter of fact,all heroes have been burdened with that unfortunate outcome. Eventually their legacies must end. Eventually every great thing must die. And unfortunately those ends are not very quiet not are they very peaceful."

I look down at the ground."Yeah."

"I apologize if it came out rudely. I hadn't meant-"

"No. It's just me."

"I'm being insensitive. You probably don't want to hear about these things after her passing-"

"No,no. This is-it's helping me in a sense. It's been really hard these last couple of days trying to accept that she's actually dead. This helps ease the pain in some sick way that I will never be able to understand."

"Natasha was a special piece of work. It only took me a few days to feel so oddly connected to her. She had that ability. You only needed to know her a few moments and in those few moments you were unable to decipher whether she was your best friend or your worst enemy. I suppose it was just because she was brutally honest. And her lack of trust for human being may have helped out a bit with that as well. I suppose we'll never know why. Maybe it is all just in our heads."

"Maybe."

He downs the remainder of his drink before he stands."I express my condolences, Mr. Rogers. If there is anything I can do,anything,call me."He hands my a small rectangle of cardstock with his number scribbled on the front."I must be going,but remember I am but a phone call away."

"Thank you."