Riding Out This Storm

The Ones I Could Hear Them Singing

"Yeah." The amusement was gone from Barnes's eyes and he looked down at his hands again.

"Thank you, Bucky. It means a lot," she told him sincerely, reaching out to pat his shoulder after a brief pause.

He shrugged.

"Do you want to take a walk or something before bed?" Steve suggested. "It might help," he added when Barnes looked like he would protest.

"It's a nice night. Light exercise usually helps me sleep," she offered.

Possibly seeing that arguing with Steve would be pointless, or maybe just unwilling to do it in front of someone else, Barnes nodded and stood up. The weather was pleasant for fall, but still required them to put on a few more layers before leaving the house. Sharon looked uncertainly at Natasha's door, but decided not to bother her. They wouldn't be gone long, she was sure.

The brisk air definitely woke her up and she smiled at Steve as they walked along. The sidewalk wasn't wide enough for the three of them, and Barnes dropped behind without commenting. After a few paces, Steve took her hand again and she thought the walk might go on a bit longer than she'd initially intended.

"You ever been here before?" she asked conversationally after a while.

"I'm afraid not. It's a nice city," Steve replied, appreciating the scenery.

They paused to let Barnes offer his view but he didn't say anything.

"I would think you'd be extremely well-traveled, especially lately."

Steve smiled slightly. "Yeah. I have been making the rounds. But Barton usually sends me to abandoned warehouses or old castles. We try to avoid the cities."

"Why?" She could guess but liked hearing him talk.

"Well, there are a lot more civilians there. And we try to avoid them as much as we can."

She nodded, thinking of their botched mission in Lagos. "That's a good plan, especially if you're fighting dangerous people."

"Yes, exactly. They tend to stay away from population centers as well, so there aren't any nosy neighbors. We don't want anyone recognizing us and getting a picture of what we're doing, either, so it usually works out."

"How does Barton know where to send you?"

Steve shrugged. "He has a lot of contacts. We all do. There are still HYDRA agents out there, other dissidents who just want to hurt people. We try to stop them."

He looked uncomfortable so she didn't pursue the matter further. It was clear that he was trying to do what he'd been made to do, and hated any inaction caused by the current political climate. Since she understood very well what being benched felt like, she knew it wasn't something he wanted to discuss at length. He and his people were trying their best, and that was all they could do right now.

"How many safehouses do you think she has?"

Steve shook his head. "Nat? A lot. Probably one in every major city around the world."

"And I'd imagine some that are in the middle of nowhere. For when she wants to get away," she added.

"A bunch in Russia, for when she gets homesick."

"She wouldn't do that," Barnes broke in, much more serious than they had been.

Glancing back, Steve raised an eyebrow. "You don't think she misses where she's from?" he asked, his tone making it obvious that he understood the sentiment acutely.

Barnes was silent for a moment, considering how to answer. "I don't think... I don't think it's somewhere she'd want to be reminded of."

It would make sense for Barnes to have had some experience with feeling that way about locations. Which might be why he didn't want to say if he'd been here before. If he had, it wouldn't be like she or Steve, saving people. Or at least getting intel to aid in saving people later. He would only be there to kill them. It wasn't unreasonable to think Natasha might have the same sort of history.

"What makes you say that, Buck?" Steve asked, clearly assessing his friend.

"If she felt that it was home, that she was Russian, don't you think she'd go by the Russian version of her name?" he said with a shrug.

That was a good point. Steve nodded then met Sharon's gaze. Barnes apparently had some insight into their friend that they did not share. Which was interesting. It was unfortunate that Natasha seemed much less comfortable with his presence than Sharon would have expected. She was a professional, after all, and had certainly needed to work with people who had hurt her in the past. Not that Sharon had any intention of pushing her – she'd been through enough lately.

They had come full circle and made their way back upstairs to the apartment. Barnes disappeared without a word back into the bedroom, while Sharon and Steve lingered outside. "You think he'll be alright?" she asked softly.

Steve pursed his lips. "I've been wondering that for a couple years," he admitted.

She reached up to touch his face gently. "We'll figure something out," she promised.

His answer was nonverbal but very pleasant, and it was few moments before they came up for air. "Good night," he whispered, kissing her cheek.

"Good night, Steve." She watched him go, smiling to herself. This all might be a mistake, but God, was it a nice one.