Breaking Free | Natasha x OC

Chapter Nine

"A weapon?
A monster?
a child."
______

The air seemed quieter. The way it always did when you went to sleep early afternoon expecting a quick nap and woke up hours later, disoriented and a stranger to the time around you.

Nat could sense it was dark out before she'd even opened her eyes, she could tell by the sound of the air outside and the temperature of the room around her. Her eyes snapped open though when she remembered the events right before she'd fallen asleep and her vision was immediately filled with the body next to her.

Natara was on her back and she obviously tense, Nat could see that all the way from the position she lay. The brunette's one hand rested on her thigh, thumb going in fast circles. She could see how red the finger was too, as if Natara had been circling the fabric for a while. Nat recognized the familiar anxious tic that Natara had always shown if you knew how to look.

She watched her jaw muscle jump and could feel the emotions rolling off of her.

Nat immediately grew apprehensive. She was almost too scared to even alert Natara that she was awake yet. If the brunette was this freaked out then she could only imagine everything about to be said. But needing to know and not wanting to remain feeling the way she was with only her thoughts to add, Nat gently gave Tara's hand a squeeze. The ex-assassin startled and immediately turned to face her.

Natasha gave a little smile and couldn't help but notice Natara's eyes softening at the sight. "What's wrong?" She whispered. The brunette's eyes furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you look like you're freaking out... Is this about earlier?" Nat tried to show she wasn't angry and that Natara could express her emotions, no matter how much she was freaking out internally at what they may be.

"No. Well, yes, kind of."

Here it comes. Nat propped herself up on her elbow, feeling herself frown as Natara looked away, avoiding eye contact. Her thumb started circling aginst the index finger beside it now, even faster than before.

"Gods," Natara muttered, seeming to talk to herself. She took an audibly deep breath and Nat watched her fist her hand for a moment. "Okay."

Natasha made herself sit up now, trying not to wince at her healing injuries. "Are you okay?"

"I've been trying to figure out how to tell you. About everything. How to... open up." Tara's eyes were darting everywhere now, as if they couldn't stay in one place too long.

"Okay," Nat murmered, growing more worried by the second.

"You deserve to know. Especially if-" Tara didn't finish her sentence, instead forcing herself to face the blonde next to her, looking worried. She took another deep breath. "I want to tell you everything about me. From the beginning." She saw Nat about to interrupt and already knew what she'd say. "Please, if I don't say it now then I never will." So the blonde nodded, keeping quiet but holding her hand firmly.

Natara looked ahead. She wouldn't be able to say any of this while looking at Natasha. Her heart thrashed wildly and she felt like both crying and laughing at the nervous and tense energy inside her. But Natara just took another breath.

"You know I was born in Syria. What you don't know is that I only lived there for the first eleven years of my life. I was raised in an Arabic family. My mom and eventually my step-father. My dad was never part of my life... We lived in extreme poverty, I grew up in the very heart of the war. Kids wandered all over, starving, sick, injured. War sirens blared every second of the day. The only things louder were the screaming and explosions that never seemed to end. It was just death and destruction. Every day for years."