We Can Have This.

Chapter 5

"James? I watched you die."

"Natasha, come away from the edge. Please," Bucky took another step forward and stretched out his fingers.

Natasha cocked her head at him, confused and peered back over the abyss. She heard him suck in his breath in fear and heard Clint and Yelena exclaim in theirs.

"Is this a dream?" she asked, not turning back to look at him but instead at the snowy air that spiralled below. "Or maybe it's Hell?"

"No, Natalia, neither. We've come to take you home. Please come away, take my hand."

"Home?"

She knew this place; this strange, lonely planet wasn't home; what was home? She couldn't recall. She turned back and looked at him, the steel-blue eyes, the metal fingers beckoning her. She stepped towards him, and then another reached out her fingers. The moment she glanced against his metallic fingers, he pulled her close, his other arm wrapping protectively about her. She remembered this; the warmth emanating through his clothes, his smell, it was the same, and she shuddered as memories swirled in her mind; this wasn't a dream.

"You're real," she whispered against his jacket.

"Yeah," he murmured against her head.

She relaxed a little as she accepted and remembered fragments as she clutched his chest to her.
"I was willing to do anything, pay any price to bring you back, and make it right."

"I know, and you paid it. We won. It's over. Thanos is dead. Everyone is back." He kissed the top of her head and embraced her tightly, "Rocket is waiting with his ship. Can you walk? I can carry you if not. It's not that far."

"Walk?" She pulled back to look at him, "If you want, I could fly."

He smirked, "Let's stick to our feet on the ground, OK."

He steered her towards where Clint stood with Yelena, his arm still wrapped around her waist, aiding her movement, the other holding onto her hand. As they came alongside them, she reached out her free hand to her oldest friend and sister.

"Clint. Yelena."

Clint's face was as she remembered it as she fell, screwed up and red with anguish; as their hands touched, his emotion overflowed in tears, "Natasha."

She embraced him, and then Yelena stepped forward, kissing her sister upon the cheek she could get to.

"Cестра." Sister

This was home, not a place, not for her, but with the people she loved most.

The walk back to the ship was slower than their arrival walk had been; no one wanted to rush Natasha. Yet, there was a sense of urgency; until she was on board the Benatar, was it real? Of course, she was real, but no one had any idea how she was back, and they were anxious to leave the planet with her to prove more than anything that they could. The gangway was down as they approached the Benatar. Rocket stood awaiting their approach, looking surprised, or at least as surprised as a genetically and cybernetically enhanced raccoon can look; he was almost speechless.

"Welcome back."

"Clint!" Bucky hollered as they walked up the boarding ramp. Clint immediately took over, escorting Natasha inside as Bucky stopped to speak to their pilot. "You got a sedative, Rocket? Something to knock her out till we're back. Needs to be strong."

"Yeah," Rocket scurried off inside and met them all in the main hold that housed the table used for everything and currently served as a medical bed on which Natasha sat. She was holding Clint and Yelena's hands, one in each of her own.