Rattled Bones

Natasha yanked her feet off the table once she saw Steve entering the room, smirking with her eyes twinkling, “It’s not nice to keep a girl waiting, Cap.” Her smirk dropped the second his cold blue eyes stared back at her before closing and locking the door. Sitting up straight, concerned washed over her. “Steve?” She questioned as he started to draw the blinds down. Natasha was hardly scared of anything, she was trained to be fearless and by god, she did it well. But there something in his stare that bothered her.

Steve took his spot opposite of her, standing with a manila folder in his hands, He was beyond angry but he tried to keep his cool as he whipped the folder down the length of the table. Watching as it teetered off the edge, “I thought we were friends, Nat.” His jaw was clenched, creating his statement to be more hasty.

She could the hairs on her neck stand straight up, Steve had never spoken to her this way not even when he thought she knew about HYDRA infiltrating SHEILD. Pressing her lips together, she touched the file. “What is this? What are you talking about?”

“Open it.”

Obeying his words, she flipped it open, her eyes widening as she recognized the files. Natasha could feel every knife and dagger that Steve’s eyes were giving off. Chewing on the inside of her cheeks, “Steve,” Her eyes scanned over the documents as she tried to find her words for a plea. It was never her intention to keep this from him, it just sort of happened on its own. Natasha didn’t want to be the person to break the news to him about there being a person out there that he possibly knew to be alive. She locked eyes with him, feeling the hard blow from his betrayed expression, “We found her right after you came out of the ice. You were still adjusting and we didn’t know for sure that you’d even know her and-“

“-that is bullshit and you know it.” He spat.

She flinched from the Captain using such language. She had heard him use words like those under his breath but never actually towards someone. She inhaled deeply and let it out slowly as she searched for the right words, “We weren’t going to give you this information after you found out that you had been asleep for seventy years. You were having a meltdown trying to adjust to this new life, you have to know that we did this because we were looking out for your best interest.”

He broke from her stare, trying to grasp her intentions. Ultimately, he couldn’t. Looking down at the desk and rubbing his forehead, he sighed until he replayed what she had said. Steve’s head snapped up, his bright blue eyes clouded, “We, on who’s orders?” He growled out.

Natasha looked away from him, speaking through her teeth, “Fury’s.”

“OH, come on, Nat!” He finally sat down, beginning to feel exhausted. He had spent the entire ride to the Avengers base heated and angry. Steve trusted Natasha, probably one of the few that he did. Sam and Bucky were a natural given, they were both soldiers at one point in time and you never leave a soldier behind. He rubbed over his eyes, a long irritated sigh coming from his lips. It took all the convincing in the world to keep Bucky from coming after Natasha and as strong as she was, he wasn’t quite sure that she would be able to take on his strength with the added desperation and anger. Leaning back in his seat, he replayed their conversation just before they had parted ways for Steve to talk to Nat.

“I never admitted my feelings for Rose to you because I didn’t want it to be real.”

“Why? We were best friends.”

“I know, I know.” He paused, “And because it was supposed to be you and I till the end of the line and I didn’t want to lose sight of that by loving her.” Pausing again, he looked down at his hands,“If it ever came down to saving you or her, I wouldn’t know who to save.”

“If that were the case, Buck, it’d be an easy answer. Her. No questions asked.”

“Yeah, I don’t know…”

“Rose meant something more to you than I ever could, Bucky. She was the light in your eyes and by god that sounds cliché but damnit it was true. I’ve known you my whole life and never once has a dame ever knocked you off your game like she did. That means something, Buck. If something ever happened to me, she would be able to help you move on. If you lost her, I wouldn’t have an ounce of power to help you.”

“The thing is, I’ve already lost her.”

He tapped his knuckles against the table, he voice low and still full of anger. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

Shifting in her seat, she spoke slowly. “When the time was right,” Natasha toyed with her hands, understanding his right to be angry with her. There was a huge part of her that didn’t think Steve would know The Fox, it was the point in time where HYDRA was slowly picking up its steps in becoming an unstoppable terrorist organization. It wouldn’t surprise her if it came out that they were kidnapping random civilians of the US to use against them in a way of being the smug bastards they were. But, there was sliver of her that believed that Steve could know her and at that point, Natasha really didn’t want to break the news to him. Fury made the calls; he didn’t want Steve knowing anything about The Fox until a time came where he could handle the truth. “When Loki came to the city and unleashed the Chitauri, the whole thing got put on the back burner. I even forgot about it Steve, so much was going on and we were in the middle of assembling the Avengers and dealing with political backlash and bullshit.”

Steve inhaled, remembering back to that time. Shaking his head at the fact that Rose was locked up somewhere, afraid and confused about where she was. “And did you continue to forget about her when we found out who the Winter Solider was? Or did you decide to keep it on the back burner to burn?”

“How did you even get this? Fury made it to a point to keep it on paper and off the database?”

“Answer the question, Natasha.”

She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowing, “I made that executive decision, Steve. After the fall of SHEILD, I saw what Bucky was doing to you. I saw the damage and vulnerability but I still helped you and gave you his files. I respected that you wanted to find him but giving you another motive to go after another fugitive was not going to be put on me. I made that call for your best interest-“

“-don’t give me that crap.” He sneered, shaking his head. Steve rubbed his hands over his face in aggravation. He was tired of people keeping information from him because it was in his best interest. Nothing was in his best interest, he wanted honesty. Would he have gone after her too? Yes, there would be no doubt about it. If anything using Rose would have been a lot easier on luring him out of hiding, it would have helped tremendously during the entire time they were trying to prove Bucky’s innocence. Steve didn’t doubt that Rose would have been the one to pull Bucky out of his brainwashed self.

Natasha stood up, slamming her hands on the desk. “I don’t even know where she is, Rogers! Believe me when I say that I wanted to tell you and when I thought the time was right, I tried finding her and I have not a single clue on where Fury transferred her to. Secrets are there for a reason, Steve.”

He matched her stance, standing up, hunched slightly over. His eyes driving daggers into hers, “Secrets are mistakes for liars!” Steve whipped out a folded stack of papers, sending it flying down towards her. “I know where she is. The Raft, but you already knew that. She’s chained and kept in freezer to await orders to execute us. What you didn’t realize what would happen after the fall of SHEILD is that all of SHEILD’s files; paper or paperless would be transferred to the Secretary of the State. They found Rose and brainwashed her again to take us out if they need to.”

Natasha winced as she picked up a paper that read, Project Fallback. She slumped down in her chair, “You can’t pin this on me.” Her eyes were scanning the document, her chest heaving. Shaking her head, “Fury would have never approved this.”

“To hell with Fury, Natasha! There’s nothing he can do now.” He slammed his fists down on the table again, eliciting a small flinch from the redhead. He stood straight up, running a hand through his blonde hair while the other rested on his hip. Shaking his head, he pointed towards the door, “You know how much convincing it took for me to tell Bucky not to come in here and tear you apart?”

“What’s the big deal, Steve?!” She stood back up, starting to feel threatened. She loved Steve but she wasn’t going to have him talk to her the way he had been any longer. It was time that she stood up for herself and backed up what she thought was right. “So you two knew her, you know where she is, go get her.”

“The big deal,” he growled, feeling his blood boiling. “is that the girl you kept from me is the same girl that Bucky had a picture of in his left pocket of his chest at all times during our missions.”

Natasha’s eyes widened, her defensive stance backing down as she stood up straight and soaked in the information. “You really did know her,” she murmured in slight horror.

“I think I knew her a lot more than what I’m remembering but Bucky remembers her enough for the both of us.” Pointing a finger towards her, “We’re going to get her out of there and you’re helping. There’s no discussion. You had the opportunity to tell me about her and now you’re taking the opportunity to break her out.”

“Are you kidding me?” She hissed, “The Raft is not somewhere you just break into, Rogers.”

“It’s already been done,” he snapped.

“Steve, this isn’t a good idea. It’s not a thread you want-“

“-I’ve heard that before,” he cut her off. Not wanting to hear her warning. “Sam and Wanda are volunteering, you, you have no choice.”

“Listen to me,” she stressed. Her head shaking a little, “She’s dangerous, Steve. Whatever HYDRA did to her is far more complicated than what happened to you and Bucky.” Natasha relived a small fraction of a memory she had with her run in with The Fox, she shuddered. “I told you the Winter Solider got a slug in me, but so did she.” Natasha ran both her hands through her red curls, “She got one in Clint too. She’s not going to be easy to get out of there. And if we break her out, that’s our asses on the line. Is she really worth all this?”

“Clint knows about her?” He asked.

“What? No. He just knows her alias, nothing about where she came from.” Shaking her head, she narrowed her eyes, “Are you really ready to ruin your name again?”

He didn’t answer; instead he walked over towards the door, unlocking it. He was halfway out the door, when he turned his head, not even looking at her. “Suit up, we leave in an hour.”