Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 2: The Simple Life

''Was that speech short enough?'' Sam joked when Katya and Natasha found them afterwards. His smile didn't completely reach his eyes, the emotion from before still flooding through his body. Everyone wanted to talk to them. The press had a lot of questions too. They answered some of them, just to be kind, but they really needed to go. 

Katya shrugged. ''A bit too short for my liking, but it'll have to do.'' Her feet hurt because of the heels and she really wanted to take them off. She hadn't been to one of these events in a long time and wasn't used to crowds this large after a couple months of just her, Nat and Maya in a quiet house.

Sam chuckled and shook his head, eyes flickering back and forth between the two Russians. They had content smiles on their faces. ''So I suppose you'll be going home now then.'' He hated that this reunion was so short. 

''Yeah.'' Natasha nodded faintly, feeling guilty for having to leave so soon. ''Maya's school's out in-'' she checked her watch, ''four hours, so let's hope we don't run into any traffic along the way or we won't make it.'' Those were the things she stressed about these days. Oh how innocent her life was now.

''I see,'' Sam smiled. ''Thanks for being here today. It means a lot.''

Katya could see he wasn't truly certain of his decision. Still. It would swim around in his brain for weeks to come. ''You should come by the house,'' she offered. ''Have a drink, maybe bring Sarah and the kids.''

Sam smiled thankfully. ''I'll see if I can get a couple days off.'' He missed his Avengers family. And the only people he still talked to were all in this room. Katya, Natasha, Rhodey. Thor was somewhere in the galaxy, Bruce had his own stuff to worry about, Clint and Tony had their own family, Wanda was missing. And so on and so on. 

''Alright,'' Katya said, giving him a short hug. She'd have to be content with that answer. ''Don't be shy.''

He chuckled at the wink Natasha threw him over her shoulder. ''See you.''

Katya followed Natasha out the glass doors, into the warm sun. She passed her the car keys and sat down in the passenger's seat. It was always completely random who drove, but since she drove on their way over here, Natasha would drive back. 

She revved the engine like always, which made Katya roll her eyes every single time, and which made Natasha smile in return. Car rides were quiet and peaceful with Natasha. They didn't say much, but the silence was always comfortable, both disappearing in their own heads. 

Katya would play with the hand that lay on her thigh sometimes, but not today. Today, she stared at the landscape, lost in her head. Wasn't hard to figure out what she thought about.

They sped through town, down the Interstate, in the direction of New York City. The decision to build their home there didn't take long. They always felt a connection to that city, more so than D.C.

The neighborhood was perfect, quiet, lots of greenery. Very much like Tony Stark's cabin, but less of a cabin vibe and more of a house. Actually, it looked a lot like Clint's house. Not too big for three people but not too small either. 

The lake in the back was a must. Katya refused to live somewhere that didn't have a lake. They changed a couple things to the already existing house. Painted a lot of walls, redid the floors, bought all new furniture. Overall, they just wanted privacy and that's what they found.

''Kat.'' Natasha's amused voice broke her out of her head, her hand squeezing her leg.

Katya ripped her gaze away from the city. She didn't realize she had zoned out. ''Hmm?''

''I've been talking to you for a minute now,'' Natasha chuckled. ''Where's your head at?''

''Sorry,'' Katya apologized, turning a bit in her direction to give her her full attention now. ''What did you say?'' She could stare at Natasha for hours, didn't matter what she was doing. Something as stupid as driving a car totally fit on that list.