Untangling a Future

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By the time Natasha and Steve returned to the compound in upstate New York, she was already a changed woman.

Natasha had previously accepted that she would never tell the others about her past relationship with James. The problem had always been- how do you explain that you had once been in love with a person who supposedly never existed.

While he was the Winter Soldier, James had always been  at risk, of being killed by the other side, even if the "good guys" had known who he used to be. He had too much red in his ledger and he might be too far gone to be saved. She couldn't depend on them to take that risk. But even if they did, she knew they'd never find him. After all, through all his reprogramming, he didn't want to be found.

So, not until his mind was clean and clear, and they knew it was safe, had Natasha even considered the possibility of telling the others. In the process of building herself up to it, Shuri and Wanda had discovered on accident, creating three who knew aside from herself. But now they were all gone and Natasha was back to square one.

...Until she told Steve.

She'd always worried how he would react, learning that she'd known all this time and never told him. But the more she'd explained, the more he understood. It was a purely selfless act in every way. She wanted to protect Steve, to protect James, to keep them all safe and alive. And while it may have been misguided, the only way she thought it had been possible was to keep it all a secret.

Now, Natasha felt different. The weight she had been carrying around for years, but especially recently, had been lifted. And though she forbid Steve from telling anyone else, she no longer had to walk alone.

Promptly upon their return, Natasha received the medical attention she had been trying to reject the entire flight back from Eastern Europe. While others would have been concerned by her annoyed attitude and dismissive behavior, Steve was comforted. Natasha being stubborn about such things meant she was getting back to being her old self.

Back in her room, Natasha had no guards at her door and no one checking in on her. It wasn't that Steve and Rhodey had given up on trying to protect Natasha, they just saw that she had turned the corner. She was back to joining them for meals, sitting at the counter enjoying her morning coffee and watching them do dishes, and keeping a regular schedule that wasn't in hiding.

Within a day or two, Natasha was back in the lab, catching up on what Rhodey had been working on. While she was still disinterested in having much contact with the Security Council, too burned by previous interactions, she was excited to help with other projects.

Other members of the team had begun missions and tasks around the galaxy, and Rhodey and Steve were attempting to coordinate as a central point of communication. Their hope was that if trouble started in one place it wouldn't have time to build and spread to another before it was noticed.

So far, Okoye had been handling some of the on-earth incidents. Throughout the rest of the galaxy, Carol was still cleaning up issues with the planets to which she was most familiar, while Nebula tried to convince Rocket helping was worth more than simply taking paid jobs. Rhodey still had hopes of getting Thor and Bruce's assistance as well, but without much luck so far.

Now, with the aid of Natasha, Rhodey was looking at a wider scope of operations. While the three of them discussed going on missions together the way they used to, they no longer had anyone else to run a central command while they were on assignment. If all of them went out together, they were on their own. So, while they decided that each of them could go on solo or duo missions, it was agreed that leaving no chain of communication wasn't a wise course of action. Someone would always be needed to stay at the compound.