''Nat?'' Clint's voice called out from the hallway. He knew better than to just barge into their room without knocking first. He learned that the hard way. ''Fury's here, he wants everyone downstairs.''

Natasha pulled away from Katya with a sigh, turning her head around to shout an answer. ''Be right there!''

Katya furrowed her brows after Natasha gave her one last kiss and stood, offering a helping hand. ''Nick? Which part of Hell did he crawl out off?''

Natasha snickered, walking back into the bedroom while Katya dried her hair. She pulled some clothes from the closest, some comfortable ones, and sat on the bed to look after the blonde. After the breakdown she just witnessed, she didn't just want to leave her alone.

Katya saw her waiting, staring at her with those concerned eyes. ''Nat, it's fine. Go. I'll meet you downstairs.''

The redhead rose from the bed, unsure whether she should follow up on that request. ''Are you sure?''

''Yes. Go.''

But Natasha still wasn't convinced. With her arms crossed, she leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom. ''What about the news, should we tell them?''

Katya looped her arms around the redheads neck, thinking about it for a moment. ''What do you want?''

A devilish look filled Natasha's eyes. ''I say we see how long it takes them to figure it out.''

Katya understood what she was hinting at and mirrored her smirk. ''You wanna make a bet?''

''Twenty bucks says it takes them at least a week.''

''Alright, you have a deal Romanoff.'' Katya sealed it with a quick peck on her lips.

''We should probably have a conversation about what to do with our last names.''

''Let's not get ahead of ourselves here,'' Katya chuckled. ''We need to kill this robot first.''

Natasha sighed and rolled her eyes. ''It's always something.'' With one last kiss, she left the room, softly closing the bedroom door behind her. 

Katya took a deep breath, staring at herself in the mirror. She looked absolutely horrible. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her voice was hoarse from screaming. A headache also plagued her from either the witch's magic or dehydration. The happiness from the proposal slowly faded away, leaving behind that same empty feeling she had felt since the mission.

It was better however. The gaping hole in her chest slightly closed by her happiness. The thing Katya was best at was faking things. Like the spy she was, forcing emotions and smiles came natural. She knew she didn't have to fake with the team, they had already seen her at her lowest, but for Laura and the children's sake, she would have to act fine.

Slowly, Katya counted to three, focusing all her energy on pushing that horrible feeling down. On one, she blocked the images from that dream. On two, she blocked all those bad emotions from her heart. On three, she was smiling, although it never quite reached her eyes.

Natasha and Clint would see right through her facade, but would also understand why she did it.

With steady hands, she reached for her hairbrush and started making herself look presentable. After all, two adorable kids were waiting for her downstairs.

''Where's Katya?'' Clint asked when Natasha walked into the kitchen. Like Katya, she had shoved everything down and was quite on edge herself because of her own vision.

''On her way,'' was her short answer. She didn't have to say anything else, the two being able to communicate without words.

''Romanoff,'' Fury greeted Natasha, who nodded her head in return. She grabbed all the things needed for a sandwich, since dinner had already turned cold and Katya needed something to eat.

She wanted to scream from the rooftops she was going to get married, but also knew his wasn't the right moment. At all.

Steve stood next to her, abandoning his conversation with Laura. ''How is she?''

Something in his voice, the worry or pity, was too much for Natasha.

''What do you think, Steve?'' She snapped, drawing everyone's attention to her. She just wished everyone would leave her alone. ''You saw yourself what that Maximoff does. How do you think she is?''

Steve's shocked eyes turned into shame. ''I'm sorry, you're right-''

''No, I'm sorry,'' she cut him off. She dropped the knife from her hand and ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated she couldn't do more to help her fiancée and was now also snapping at her teammates. ''I'm just tired, that's all.''

''Aunty Kat!'' Lila jumped up from the floor when Katya walked in, deserting her drawing on the coffee table.

Katya was just in time to catch her, smiling brightly at the little girl. ''Hi beautiful! Oh you've grown so big!''

All eyes were on them, but Katya didn't care in the moment. She didn't care about everything she had done to embarrass herself previously. Not while holding this adorable little girl in her arms.

''I missed you,'' Lila whispered in her ear. 

Katya almost cried, knowing how much she disappointed the kids by not visiting more often and now that she was here, she didn't have the energy to play with them.

''I missed you too, honey.''

Lila pulled her head back so she could look at Katya's face. ''Dad said you didn't feel so good. Did something happen?''

Katya wanted to strangle Clint for making his little girl worry about her. Lila shouldn't worry about things she didn't understand. ''I'm fine, Lila. Nothing for you to worry about.'' She felt the disapproving stare from Natasha for lying to the child, but she ignored it. ''Now why don't you show me what you've been working on.''

Lila nodded enthusiastically, pulling Katya to the table by her wrist as soon as she had put her down. The girl held up the drawing, which was obviously of a pig. A little pink pig with a pool of mud underneath her.

Katya looked at it as if she tried to figure out what it was, playing dumb with the girl. ''Is it... a cow?''

Lila giggled loudly, shaking her head swiftly. ''No.''

''A dog?''

Lila giggled louder, climbing on Katya's lap as she sat on the couch, pushing the drawing into her face. ''No silly! It is a pig!''

''Oh! Now I see it!''

The rest of the team witnessed the scene with smiles on their mouths because of how cute it was. Behind their backs though, Natasha and Clint shared a worried look. Katya may be acting fine, but they knew which technique she had used for that. It would be harmful to her in the long run so they had to keep a close eye on her.

''Hey, do you remember that word I taught you last time I was here? Did you practice?'' Lila had been begging Katya to teach her Russian for months and last time she was here, she had taught her one word, telling the girl if she could pronounce that one correctly, she would teach her more.

Lila perked up, her big eyes snapping to Katya's. ''I remember!''

Katya smiled. ''Alright, let's hear it.''

Lila thought for a moment, her eyebrows scrunching together in concentration. ''цветок,'' she finally spat out, her pronunciation almost perfect.

'Flower' was what Katya called Lila from time to time so that was the first word she wanted to learn.

''Good job,'' Katya praised the girl, who smiled at her dad proudly. ''Guess I'll have to keep up my end of the bargain and teach you more now, huh?''

Lila practically jumped up and down on Katya's lap. ''Yes! Can you teach me now?''

Katya laughed, shaking her head. ''I'm sorry Lil, but I need to have a talk with the grown-ups now.'' She lowered her voice, whispering in the girl's ear. ''But why don't you draw something for Nat, I think she'll like that.''

Lila nodded enthusiastically, climbing off Katya's lap and grabbing an empty piece of paper. Katya watched her for a second, dreading the conversation ahead.

She caught Laura's gaze, who sat opposite her. The brunette woman gave her an encouraging smile, nodding her head to the team, telling her to go ahead. 

Katya smiled at her gratefully, hoisting herself up from the couch with heavy legs. Avoiding eye contact with anyone, she took place in the chair next to Nat who pushed a plate with a sandwich in front of her. 

Katya patted her thigh in thanks and although she wasn't really hungry, dove into the sandwich anyway, knowing she needed something to eat. It went slow and she had to flush every bite down with some water but at least she was eating. It didn't do anything to fill the hole in her chest though.

The team had already started talking about Ultron and she just listened to it. Natasha glanced over at her from time to time, slowly dragging her fingertips up and down the blonde's back for comfort.

''Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time,'' Fury said. He didn't look that much different from the last time Katya had seen him, but it felt different. He was no longer the director of SHIELD so the power relations were different. ''My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing.''

Lila tapped Natasha on her shoulder, distracting her from the conversation. A drawing of a butterfly got placed on the table in front of her.

Natasha pinched the girls cheeks playfully, smiling at her and thanking her for the drawing. 

Lila took off after that, following her mother up the stairs who was bringing the children to bed.

Katya stared at the butterfly on the paper, not bothering to look up to follow the conversation. 

''What about Ultron himself?'' Steve asked. Katya didn't know whose minds had been messed with, but there was some hidden pain in his eyes that betrayed he had seen something too. The same pain that was visible behind her own eyes.

''Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit.'' Normally, Katya would have appreciated the joke and chuckled. Now, she stayed silent. ''Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though.''

''He still going after launch codes?'' Tony was throwing darts on the board behind Katya and every time a dart hit the board, she jumped a little. She was so on edge that every little sound had her panicking.

Fury was making his own sandwich, carefully cutting some tomatoes. ''Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway.''

Tony scoffed. ''I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare.'' Another dart hit the board with a thud.

Katya thought back to the time she broke into the Pentagon, but that was a whole different story. It definitely wasn't by hacking in. 

''Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that.''

''NEXUS?'' Steve asked confused. Like Katya, he knew nothing about computers. But at least she knew what the NEXUS was. 

Bruce stepped in, explaining it to Cap. ''It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth.''

It wasn't clear whether Steve understood it now, but he wasn't dumb so he probably understood at least half that sentence. The man leaned to the doorframe across from Katya, which meant he had a good view of her, which made her very uneasy in return. She wished he would move away or sit down at the table, not stand there towering over her.

''So what'd they say?'' Clint chimed in. He was twirling his own dart around in his hand, probably up to something.

''He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed,'' Fury explained. 

The codes were being changed? Who would do that and who was powerful enough to go against an AI like Ultron. And why were they helping?

Tony stood next to the dartboard, just as confused as Katya was. ''By whom?''

Clint threw three darts into the board at the same time, causing Katya to jump again. Natasha threw him a glare with a shake of her head, telling him to stop doing that for the blonde's sake.

Fury eyed the situation warily. He couldn't begin to imagine what the team must have gone through to turn his best agents into almost mindless zombies. ''Parties unknown.''

Natasha kept dragging her fingers up and down Katya's back mindlessly, something everyone saw but didn't care about. ''Do we have an ally?''

Fury shook his head. ''Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is.''

Tony lowered his head. ''I might need to visit Oslo, find our "unknown''." It would mean losing him for at least half a day, which sucked because they needed his suit against Ultron.

Natasha took a deep breath, disappointed with the lack of information they really had right now. ''Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that.''

She was right, Katya realized. Fury was here and was telling them about the launch codes, but that was it. No telling them what to do or helping them figure out where Ultron was. He stood here in the kitchen but he didn't bring much with him.

''I do, I have you.'' 

That statement was so ridiculous that it made Katya scoff, the first thing she had said or done since the conversation started. 

Everyone turned to her, surprised she had unfrozen for a moment. Even Natasha's hand on her back faltered for a second. 

Katya raised an unimpressed eyebrow to Fury. ''Sorry to say, boss, but you don't have much with us.''

''That's not true. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world.''

Katya didn't look at him as he walked closer, seemingly only talking to her to prove she was wrong about herself.

''Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this,'' Fury gestured around the kitchen, ''laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard.''

He sat down in a chair at the end of the table, on Katya's left. His gaze was on her but she ignored it. Fury didn't need to see the trauma behind her eyes.

''Steve doesn't like that kind of talk.'' Natasha smiled at Cap mischievously and Katya could feel her own mouth twitch.

Steve almost rolled his eyes, glaring at her playfully. ''You know what, Romanoff?''

''So what does he want?'' Fury interrupted their joking, turning back to the more serious topic of Ultron. 

There was a silence when no one knew how to answer that question. Problem was they didn't know what he wanted beside the Avengers' termination. But how was he going to do that?

''To become better,'' Steve finally spoke up. ''Better than us. He keeps building bodies.''

''Person bodies,'' Tony corrected him. ''The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it.''

From the corner of your eye, you saw Banner shuffle closer to the dining table, looking at Lila's drawing of a yellow butterfly.

Natasha eyed him before turning back to the others, although she was addressing only Tony and Bruce. ''When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed.''

''They don't need to be protected,'' Banner suddenly concluded. Something he had seen in the drawing had given him the clue he needed, ''they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve.''

Fury lowered his drink, not sure on how to understand Banner's statement. ''How?''

''Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?''

Dread flooded everyone's features. Helen was able to build entire bodies from nothing and with the Vibranium Ultron took from Africa, it would be one of the strongest and most powerful bodies ever. They needed to get there before he could mind control Cho with the scepter and force her to do it for him.

''All right everyone, suit up,'' Steve ordered. ''Nat, Clint, you're with me to Korea. Stark, get to Oslo, see if you can identify our third party. Banner, go with Fury back to the tower, see what you can find out from there. Katya, you're going with them.''

''No.'' Her voice was quiet but everyone heard it.

Steve blinked in surprise. ''Sorry?'' 

Katya rarely went against the Captain's orders so it came as a surprise when she spoke up.

She abruptly stood from the chair, the wooden legs scraping over the floor loudly. ''I said no. I'm not going to stand on the sidelines like some helpless, wounded animal. You need every last body in this fight so I'm going with you, whether you want to or not.''

It was a good thing the kids were already in bed. She wouldn't have wanted them to see her like this.

Steve shook his head, that worried crease returning between his eyebrows. Katya hated when he looked at her like that. ''You're not ready, Katya. What you saw-''

She quickly cut him off before he could continue. ''I can handle it. I don't need a babysitter.''

The words were venomous and spoken to Steve directly, but they were also meant for everyone else. Katya didn't want their pity let alone have people tiptoe around her. 

What she did want was sleep, but she wasn't even sure if she would be able to fall asleep. Nightmares would plague her for the next few weeks for sure, so maybe it was a good thing they were already leaving Clint's house. She had scared the kids enough with screams and cries in the night, they didn't need to hear more of it.

Steve was so surprised by her outburst he didn't know what to say. And since nobody else said anything either, Katya took off to put her suit on again.

Ignoring the fear in her stomach at the sight of the black and green outfit, she slipped it on and checked her weapons. She would need new magazines but luckily she had her own locker on the jet with some weapons and extras. 

Tony and Steve were talking at the bottom of the staircase when she walked down. They saw her and stopped their conversation, but she just pushed past them to the front door. 

It was impolite to leave without saying goodbye to Laura. Katya would call the woman later when she was back to her old self. There was just too much tension and anxiety built up inside her to have a normal conversation with anyone right now. 

Outside it was deadly quiet. The wind blew through the tall grass and made a comforting noise as Katya walked through it. She could think better outside, under the darkening sky. The sun was slowly disappearing under the horizon, leaving behind the smallest streaks of orange in the otherwise dark blue sky.

The Quinjet was parked not too far from the house and it was tempting to walk to other way, back into the woods or to the dirt road leading up to the house. To follow that until she reached the city. To not having to deal with all of it. 

However, once again, the world was counting on her and needed her to protect it. That duty was a straw she kept holding on to. A red thread running through her life that gave her the footing she needed right now. Fighting was what she was best at. It cleared her head and blocked everything else out. 

So if that was what it took to get the memories out of her head, she was ready.

~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Guys!! Thank you so so much for all the love on the past two chapters! My heart can't take all the compliments I've been getting and I'm so happy you liked it. I definitely feel pressure to keep up that level of writing and I promise I will try my best to keep writing such chapters. When I started this book, I never expected for so many people to love it but I fell in love with their relationship the more I wrote and I am far from finishing this book. After all, we still have 4 movies to go (BW included), so I'm looking forward to writing those. For now, enjoy this chapter :)

Oh and Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating! I hope everyone has a good time and I'm thinking of everyone who has to celebrate alone or without loved ones.