Love's New Hope

An Unexpected Offer

"So what are we watching tonight?" Bucky asked Natasha once they had finally finished cleaning up the kitchen, which took a long time since not only did they have to mop up all the water off the floors but they also had to clean up the mess from the bubbles (Bucky had wondered if bubbles from a bottle and soap bubbles were the same thing; after about twenty minutes, he had to admit that they weren't).

"Hmmm," Natasha said, thinking. Since Natasha had been awake and on her own for longer than Bucky, she had caught up on most of the movies and tv shows of the century. But recently, she'd been going back and showing Bucky, and frequently Steve who practically lived at their apartment, many of the good movies he'd missed. So far, they'd worked through Star Wars, The Princess Bride, Star Trek, E.T., and various other classics. She'd shown him a lot of TV shows as well and his all time favorite was Hogan's Heroes, an old 60s farce about WWII. But tonight, she was going to show him one of her all time favorites.

"I was thinking we could work through the Back To The Future trilogy." She said finally.

Bucky raised an eyebrow. "Is it complicated?" He had a hard time following most of these new shows with their hard to follow plot lines.

Natasha smirked. "Yes, but I'll explain it to you as we go along."

Forty minutes later showed Bucky and Natasha cuddled up in the sofa, Natasha pausing the movie every few minutes to catch Bucky up on what was happening.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Bucky protested when it came to Marty's mother flirting with her future son.

"Yeeees?" Natasha asked innocently.

"That's his mom!"

"Yeah."

"And she's flirting with him?!"

"Uh-huh." Natasha said, grinning.

"That's horrible! She shouldn't be doing that!"

"Well it's not like she knows that it's her son." Natasha explained, loving how red Bucky's cheeks got when he was upset. Natasha had just begun to explain what was going on again when her phone rang.

Bucky glanced at her. "Who has your number?"

Natasha shrugged. "No one I want to talk to." She checked the caller ID. "Oh wait, it's just Steve." She answered it. "Hey Steve! I didn't know you knew how to use a phone." She teased her friend.

"Hey, Tash." Steve answered tiredly.

"What's up? I'm watching a movie with James and I think he's going to blow a fuse if I don't explain it to him." Bucky stuck his tongue out at her and she smirked.

"Really? What movie?" Steve asked, intrigued. It was rare for Bucky to get riled up at anything so anytime he found something that annoyed his best friend he was always eager to act on it.

"Back To The Future," Natasha replied, enjoying how Bucky had his brow furrowed as he attempted to work it out by himself.

"Oh, yeah. Stark had me watch that a couple of weeks ago. It would've been really hard to follow along except that Wanda was helping me out telepathically so Stark wouldn't get the satisfaction of talking down to me." Steve chuckled. "That is one weird trilogy."

"You can say that again. Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well Tash...." Steve took a deep breath and Natasha knew what he was going to ask. "There's this mission and... I know you're retired, but we could really use your help."

"Steve," Natasha sighed, hating to let down her friend but not wanting to get caught up in this whole deal. "I'm retired. I really don't want to do this anymore."

"Tash...." Steve said, groaning. "Just 'cause Buck can't work with us doesn't mean you can't."

"I know, Steve. I know, I just..." She broke off not wanting Bucky to hear what she really felt.

"You don't want to leave him alone in case something happens to him, or HYDRA finds him, or he relapses. Am I right?"

"Yes," she admitted, a little embarrassed. "Steve, you know I want to help I just can't right now."

"It's ok Natasha. I understand. I guess I'll just have to find another way."

"Thanks Steve. I'll see you soon." Natasha hung up and sighed.

"Another job?" Bucky asked curiously.

"Yep," She said quietly. "Steve said he'd find another way though."

Bucky nodded and for a few minutes they sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Then Bucky's cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID and smirked.

"Looks like Steve found his other way." He told her, standing up and walking into the kitchen. Natasha could only hear the tone of Bucky's voice, which annoyed her, what with her being a spy.

"Yeah, Steve. I'll catch you later, punk." Bucky told his friend as he hung up.

"What'd Steve say?" Natasha asked nonchalantly as Bucky settled back beside her on the couch.

"Oh, nothing much. He wanted to know if we were still planning on going to a couple of baseball games when the season starts and so I said yeah, and then he wondered if temporary hair dye was really temporary so I told him I didn't know, and then he wanted my mom's double chocolate chip cookie recipe so I gave it to him and then..."

"James Buchanan Barnes if you say 'and then' one more time without telling me what you were actually talking about, I'll punch you." Natasha threatened dangerously.

Bucky grinned at her. "Fine. Steve wanted me to convince you to come on this one mission."

"And what did you tell him?" Natasha asked, though she already knew the answer.

"I told him I'd try, although you're probably too stubborn to go."

"James..." she began, but Bucky cut her off, pressing a finger to her lips.

"No, Natasha. For once, listen to me." Natasha nodded slowly and he removed his finger. "Tash, I know you're worried about me, but I'm fine. Shuri did a fine job getting HYDRA out of my brain and you've done an excellent job helping me recover myself." Natasha smirked. "But I've also seen how you've been acting the past couple of months. This lack of action isn't you. Even when we were kids, we frequently had to pull Steve out of some fight. You're just not used to this lack of activity. And in a few months, I'll probably be itching to get out of here too. But for now..." he tilted Natasha's chin towards his face. "Steve is having a really hard time bringing the Avengers back together. He needs you Tash. And I think that you should go."

Natasha sighed, thinking over what he had just said. So he had noticed how much she was itching for some action. Even though she loved Bucky, the two of them hadn't exactly grown up in a calm environment. She wasn't used to down time, not now, not ever. So even though she thought that she should probably stay put, the rebellious side of her spoke first.

"I'll go." Natasha said resolutely. Bucky grinned and gave her a quick kiss, thrilled that she was finally going to do what she wanted.

"Great! You can call Steve and tell him the good news.... after we finish this movie."

Natasha chuckled. "Oh, you're going to love the ending to this movie."