Unexpected

VIII

Natasha, Nina and Steve were in a room where Fury's body was being displayed. They had been asked to formally I.D. the body. Natasha was just staring at him, a few feet closer, tears now running down her face.

Nina was thinking about The Winter Soldier. Was his mission to kill Steve, now? He had succeeded his last one, that was obviously Nick. Did he need to kill her? Nina promised herself that if she encountered Bucky again, she would do her best to bring him back to his old self, help him escape Hydra. And this time, she wouldn't fail. She hadn't realised she had tears escaping her eyes until Steve called her name and pulled her away from her thoughts.

"Nina." He called her and she flinched. Natasha, who was now touching the side of Fury's head, talked before she could answer.

"Why was Fury in your apartment?" Nat asked.

"I don't know," Steve lied. Before she could say anything else, Rumlow interrupted as he walked into the room.

"Cap, they want you back at SHIELD," Rumlow told him, in an urgent tone.

"Yeah, give me a second," Steve said, not taking his eyes off Nina. She couldn't take the pressure anymore. Steve was going to find out one way or another. But... could she do it now? Nina felt her throat on fire. If she tried to say anything right now she would burst into tears. Steve approached her slowly, but Nina flinched and walked away leaving the room. Steve was about to follow her, but Rumlow stopped him.

"They want you now," he said.

"Okay," Steve said, looking at Natasha one last time.

"You're a terrible liar," she whispered to him before he left.

Natasha walked to the one place she knew she would find Nina; the roof. Nina was sitting on the edge, her legs dangling down. She had blood on her red dress and on her jeans jacket and cuts all over her face. Nat sat down beside her.

"Are you okay?" She asked her. Nina shrugged. "Who is he?" Nat asked. Nina looked down. She had told her about the Winter Soldier, never about Bucky Barnes. "To you, I mean. You told me you'd met him with Hydra, but that's not true, is it?"

Nina hesitated. She thought about it for a few seconds before shaking her head. "His name is James Buchanan Barnes," she revealed, making Natasha frown. She knew the name, somehow. "I know him because I trained him. He became a Sargent for the 107th under my training." She looked down. "Until I led him and his unit straight into a Hydra facility, the first one to ever exist. The general sent me off, so I started working with Stark."

"And that's where you met Steve," Natasha guessed. Nina nodded.

"I didn't know the two were involved until Steve decided to do a rescue mission. Two of us left against our superior's command, and we came back with the rest of my unit."

"That's interesting, and I'm glad you told me all of that, but it's not what I asked," Natasha said softly. She didn't want to push Nina too far, but she needed to know.

"Do I really need to say it?" Nina sighed in defeat. "He was there, and I was... it happened. Us." She paused. "Hence the Howling Commandoes were born. The three of us and some other men from the 107th. Until we had a mission to stop the head of Hydra, and--" Nina stopped herself before she said too much, or started to cry. That would be the worst, she hated crying.

Natasha passed an arm around Nina's neck. Nat would never get touchy and feely with anyone else, but for some reason, she was very open with Nina. Maybe because they had both been through a similar trauma with Hydra and the Russians.

"Let's get you home so you can change out of those bloody clothes," Nat told her. "You still got that old back pack of mine full of clothes in your apartment?"

" Yeah."