I'll Be Back For You [NatXReader]

Chapter 2: Finally Talking

Here's the next chapter. At this point we are outside the original tiktok. I hope you all enjoy.
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Y/N POV: 

I kept myself from looking at my former lover while I worked with Tony and Bruce. Tony had a mind like I had only seen a few times and Bruce's analytical thoughts rivaled my own. 

"I've seen this only once before, but it's supposed to be destroyed." I commented after an hour or so of looking at it. The glow that emanated from the center of the object had me slightly confused, but I pulled up the schematics of what I thought it was on my laptop. 

"What do you mean, destroyed?" Tony asked, looking at me. 

"A handful of years ago, another scientist asked for my help with something to theoretically bridge the gaps between the universes. I helped with a set of schematics, but I had heard that it was destroyed in a fight with one of his enemies." I used the projection screen to show the schematics. "It's the Multisect, that's what he named it." 

"It looks like it's only a piece of it." Bruce spoke up, pointing out that the schematics showed a much larger object. 

"It's a shard, I agree. My question is, how did you get it?" I looked at the three men from New York. 

Tony told me how they came across the shard while dealing with a smaller group of enemies. While he was speaking, I could feel her eyes on me. I knew that she would want to speak to me, to explain, and I debated internally if I should even allow her to do so. I had taken her word that she would come back for me. After a year, I felt like something horrible had happened to her to prevent her from coming back. But to see her again, unharmed after five long years hurt deeply. Did she care about me as much as I had about her? 

"I can further destroy it. It really shouldn't be left as it is." I said, quickly turning the subject back to the shard itself. "I should talk to Reed and see if he has had some shards turn up as well." I made a note to myself to shoot him a message later. 

"Y/N!" A voice called from the door. I spotted Shuri, T'Challa's younger sister standing there. Her and I had become rather close in the years since I had joined the team here in Wakanda. "Dinner's ready, will the Avengers be joining us?" 

I looked at the men, once again completely ignoring Natalia's presence. They all nodded in agreement. "Seems like it." 

"Awesome, head up to the dining room." Shuri quickly disappeared out of the lab and back to the lifts. Her energy was infectious. 

I motioned for them to follow her. 

"Y/N." Natalia's voice caught my attention. I flinched as she spoke. "Please, let me explain." 

"I don't know if I should... it's been five years." I answered, not looking at her. "Tony, Bruce, Steve, if you would like to make your way to the lift, it will take you up to the dining room. We will be along in a moment." 

The three men looked at Natalia, who nodded in agreement, before they left the lab. 

"Y/N." Her voice was soft. 

"Natalia." I answered back, looking at anything but her. 

"Natasha." She corrected, putting her hand on my cheek. "Please look at me." 

"So you lied to me about your name too?" I flinched back from her hand, my eyes locking with hers. 

"No. I changed my name a few years back, when I left Russia for New York. Very few know me as Natalia Romanova anymore." She let her hand drop, knowing that reaching out for contact would only be met with more hostility. "You can call me Natalia, if it makes you more comfortable." 

"I shouldn't be talking to you at all, Natasha." I said angrily. I could feel the years of anger and resentment building. "Do you want to know what I thought when you didn't come back? For the first year, I was heartbroken that you didn't come back. After that first year, I was certain you were never coming back, because you were dead." I could see that my words had an effect on her. "Why else would you promise to come back, only to show up nearly six years later, alive and well; with seemingly no clue you were even going to see ME." 

"It wasn't my choice, Y/N. If I could have come back for you, I would have." She whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. She looked nothing like the confident woman I had fallen in love with just shy of six years ago. "I left your side to go on a mission for Them and before that mission was even complete, I was whisked off to New York to work for SHIELD. It took a year or so before I was able to even go looking for you again, but by the time I was allowed, you had disappeared. I should have looked harder, I'm sorry." 

By the time she was finished speaking, her voice was nearly inaudible. 

My heart broke once more, I knew that I still loved this woman, and I needed to figure out if I could forgive her for leaving me alone for so long. 

"I can't forgive you..." I watched her flinch once more. "Yet." I added, looking at her. "I still care about you, Natalia... Natasha." 

"I have never stopped loving you, Y/N." She admitted. 

My response was interrupted by a guard opening the lab door. 

"Ms. Y/N, T'Challa has requested you and Ms. Romanoff to report for dinner." The guard spoke up, looking at the two of us. 

"We are on our way now." I responded, motioning for Natasha to start towards the lift. 

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UPDATE - 8/10/21 - Minor Grammar and spelling issues, along with a time line issue. :)