Cap Quartet One Shots (Romanogers)

To Be Continued - Part 5

In the morning, Sam and Bucky did not realise that Natasha was sleeping in the den, and so when they started playing season 2 of Brooklyn 99 at full volume, they both jumped out of their skin when she jumped up and yelled, "Who's there?" Holding up her hairbrush as a weapon.

"Shit Natasha, we didn't see you there!" They exclaimed.

"Language," a shirtless Steve said, entering the room.

"What is it with being topless, guys? It isn't hard to put on a shirt," Natasha said, but she couldn't help looking at Steve.

"Oh come on, it's hardly a bad view," Sam said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"He's got a point," Bucky said.

"So does the knife in the kitchen, you've been warned," Natasha said, and abruptly left the room, diverting her eyes away from Steve's chest as she did so. Steve noticed but didn't say anything, after all, he had done it on purpose.

When Natasha went to the bedroom, she quickly changed but then packed all her things into a bag and put her boots next to it for later. She knew Steve was going out later, to see if there was anything new about them in the newspapers; to see if they'd have to move somewhere else again. And she couldn't leave when he was there, it would be too difficult to just slip out without a goodbye, she'd have to go when he was out.

She soon found out that that was much sooner than expected, when he suddenly announced five minutes later, "I'm going out to see what's new, I'll be back in an hour." This came as such a shock that she found herself stuttering over her words when he came into the bedroom to tell her.

"You alright? Anything you need from the store?" He asked, ignoring the bag and shoes.

"I'm okay," she said. As he was about to leave the room, she grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug. He awkwardly hugged her back and then said, "I gotta go, the weather isn't looking great. To be continued?"

The smile on his face was so genuine Natasha couldn't help but reply, "To be continued," even though she knew it wouldn't be. And so Steve left the small flat, and Natasha got her boots on. Sam and Bucky were still watching Brooklyn 99; they'd be through all seven seasons in a week at this rate. Before she left, Natasha decided to leave Steve a note on the back of the drawing of her, as she knew he was bound to look at it again.

"Guys I'm going for a walk, I don't know when I'll be back," she called through to the others. They responded with various noises and then burst out laughing again. Natasha grabbed a handful of money from the jar, an umbrella, and one of the two credit cards they collectively owned with her, and then shut the door. But where to now? That was the only question running through her mind.

*one hour later*

"Hey I'm back," Steve called as he entered the apartment. He went into the living room, where Sam and Bucky had moved around the whole room, completely rearranging everything. The sofa was on the opposite side of the room, the television wire was stretched so far it was like a burglar trap, and blankets, cushions, and dirt in general covered the floor in a thick layer.

"What the hell guys? Are you serious?" Steve exclaimed.

"This took us a long time Steve, don't criticise our interior design arrangements!" Bucky said back, arms folded.

"What he said!," Sam chimed in.

"What did Nat have to say about all this?" Steve questioned. Surely she'd have something to say.

"Oh she went out, haven't seen her since right after you left," they said, shrugging, then started to clean up.

"Okay," Steve said and went into the bedroom. He got onto his bed and opened his sketchbook to a clean page. He'd seen an adorable dog when he was out and he wanted to capture it before he forgot. But when he flipped through, some writing scrawled on the back of the drawing of Natasha caught his eye. He looked at it and read it.

'Steve.
I'm sorry. You'll understand soon, why I have to go, and leave you guys. I didn't want to, but it's just that whenever I get close to someone they get hurt or disappear, and I can't let something happen to you.
I like you, a lot, but 'we' can't happen. It just won't work out. I want to, Steve, oh believe me I do want to be with you, but it's too difficult, what with everything else.
You'll be okay without me, I'll write, I promise. And sorry I took some of your herbal tea. And a pair of your socks, and maybe a sweater.
I'll see you when I see you,

Nat xx'

And there the note ended. He didn't understand, she had left? He got up and checked her drawers: empty. Her shelf in the kitchen: cleared out. And some money was missing too. He read the note again and again, wondering if maybe this was a prank, but last time he checked it wasn't April Fools. Was she really gone? It seemed so. But she'd promised 'to be continued.' He guessed that would never happen then, maybe she really had fled.

"Steve, you okay?" Bucky said, sticking his head around the doorframe. "We've cleaned up."

"It's Natasha, she's gone."

"Yeah, she's gone out. Want to come and see our progress?"

"No, she's gone, Buck. Run away. Fled. Disappeared," Steve said, staring at a point in the room Bucky couldn't identify.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, she left me a note. We have to find her, there's nowhere for her to go," Steve said, still not blinking. Bucky didn't know what to say.

"I'm so sorry Steve, I should've noticed things were missing," he said eventually.

"It's okay, you couldn't have known," said Steve, and then looked up. "How good are you with tech?" He'd had the idea of tracking the use of the credit card she took, but then maybe she was too smart for that and had found a way to make it untraceable.

"Steve, I'm 106. I hardly know how to use a smartphone," Bucky said. Steve chuckled.

"Yeah okay. I guess we can just hope that Sam's better than both of us." At that moment a loud crash was heard from the living room. They went in to see Sam sitting in a heap of cushions and ripped fabric.

"What the hell happened here?" Bucky immediately said. Steve told him to watch his language.

"I think it's had its last," Sam said.

"You don't say," Steve muttered under his breath.

"How do you feel about a cushion fort instead of a sofa? Because I don't there's any putting this back together," Sam proposed, then he noticed Steve's distant look. "What's up, man?"

"Natasha, she's run away. Gone. She took some money, food, a credit card, but nothing else," Steve said quietly. Sam didn't know what to say, and when Steve left the room neither him nor Bucky followed. They didn't want to make it any worse than it already was. Bucky had put the pieces together about those two, after all, it was him that had been trying to push them towards each other for the past year. He and Sam knew what had happened in the bedroom earlier, but neither one of them said anything, for fear of getting concussed by Natasha's foot.

a/n: lol is this any good and comment if you're also a massive brooklyn 99 fan :)