Breaking Free | Natasha x OC

Chapter Fourty-Three

"Then I lost you somewhere
Along the way."
____

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I know it sounds bad," Natara defended quickly, holding the phone as close to her ear as possible and trying to keep the conversation quiet.

"Bad? For someone as dramatic as you, that's a severe understatement."

"Natasha," Natara started, trying to reason with her.

"No." Nat cut her off. "It's been over a year now. I've seen you three times. That's bad, Natara. You leave and I hardly hear from you. That's hard." From the breathing on the otherside of the line, Tara could tell Natasha was getting worked up.

"The last time I mentioned going to Solomon's house, you freaked out on me. So hearing you tell me you've been there, and now you and your ex-girlfriend are traveling together and she's seeing you everyday while I don't see you for months. Yeah, I'm not sure bad is the right word."

"It's not like that, Natasha," Tara pleaded. "You should know that. And her and I were never technically dating-"

"Natara," Nat warned, and so the redhead shut up. Natasha took a shaky breath that made Tara frown. She couldn't decipher that breath. Whether it meant anger, irritation, or the verge of tears.

"This isn't fair," Nat whispered, voice breaking.

"Do you have any idea what it's been like? I put my own feelings aside to let you do this, and now you're doing this with the one woman you know would upset me?"

"Natasha-"

"No. I- I can't do this right now. I'm swamped with work, and there's a lot happening here. Not that you'd know about any of that." Nat was definitely frustrated now, that much was clear.

"The press are still going crazy over my marriage announcement. Which is funny, because I always thought a marriage involved two people. Yet here I am, dealing with all of it, alone."

"I'm sorry-"

"I know. I'll talk to you tomorrow, if you can sacrifice that time."

"Of course. We'll talk then, whatever you need. I lov-"

Nat hung up.

Natara closed her eyes and put the phone away, taking a slow seat and a heavy breath. She kept screwing this up.

____

"What's wrong?" Alessia asked, re-folding all of Natara's clothes and then re-packing them properly, too. They left for Korea in two days time.
The Italian eyed the redhead cautiously, words itching at her lips.

Natara blinked hard and dragged a hand over her face. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"Was that Natasha you were speaking to?"

"Maybe."
Natara moved all the bags to one side of the room, going through their paperwork and aliases to make sure they had what they needed.

"I take it she wasn't happy about me traveling with you?" Alessia asked, focusing unnaturally hard on the clothes.

"It's not personal," Natara eventually answered. "You can't blame her. It's my fault, really."

Alessia wasn't surprised by Natara defending her wife. She also wasn't surprised that the redhead blamed herself, either.
"If it's going to cause an issue, we can go our separate ways. Truly. I don't want to upset anyone."