Budapest

Chapter 3:

Natasha: My entire body turned, ready to kill, that is until my instincts kicked out and I remembered  I wasn't afraid  of   the voice. The Winter Soldier  stood, smiling.

"Wint!" I said in surprised. He didn't  know his real name, and I didn’t  have the guts to get it. I walked over to him, hugging him tight to me. "It's been so long!" I said happily.

"I'm sorry it has been, my beautiful   Natalia," Wint said, "I didn't   want to risk seeing you. Not after what happened  last time."

The last time, we had been caught. He had been trained with me. We had feelings for each other. Then he had been shipped off the the United  States, to work as a hit man, for a man with no name, but an alliance to Russia. We continued  to   find each other. Until we got caught. The upside to being "Drakov’s Daughter " was I was not the one who was punished. He had been the one to take the blow. I had been told they beat him until he was put on life support  so he could breath. We hadn't ever ended things, despite that being over a year ago.

He seemed to be doing well now. I looked around. Then I pressed my lips to his, pulling him close. He seemed shocked, almost  like   he didn't  know  what to do because  of  the  time  we  had  been  apart . When I parted from him, we both smiled, which I knew had to be hard for him, having   been tortured over and over.

"Natalia," he said, playfully, "You really did miss me."

"How are you?" I asked, "Did they do anything to you?"

"They beat me," he said, "I couldn't breath when they finished with me." I shook my head.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"It's not your fault, Natalia," Wint  said, "I promise you I don't blame you."

"How did you know I would be here?" I asked, curiously.

"I was keeping watch on the hotel, and then I saw you," Wint said.

"What's your mission?" I asked him.

"Natalia, are you interrogating me?" he asked, seeming almost upset.

"No, I just-" I stopped. I shook  my  head, "I'm just curious if we are on the same mission."

"I'm just on a clean up. A man who posed a threat to the man I work for," Wint said, shrugging. I nodded. I kissed him again.

"Are we going  to  get  caught?" I asked.

"I sure hope not," he said, holding me, his cold metal arm pressing in, the cold coming  in through my shirt. His hair was long. It hung down in his eyes, almost chin length. I kissed him again.

"How long do you have here?" I asked, hoping the answer was a few days.

"As soon as my mission finishes I have to go," he said.

"A few days?" I asked.

"You have to go don't you?" Wint asked, sadness in his voice. I shrugged.

"Sooner than later," I said.

"I'll try to be here when you get done," he whispered, kissing my forehead, "But you can't  take  too long. They will kill me if I take too long. Or worse." The idea that anything they could do to him was worth than death made me shutter. I got back down on the ground, putting together my gun, trying to just concentrate on the parts of it. I heard him chuckle.

"You're  cute when you do that," he said. A moment later I finished, turned around, and he was gone. The elusive Winter Soldier.