"Emery, that's fantastic!" I said. We were laying on my bed in the hotel room, and we'd kicked the guys out to go get food while we talked.

Emery blushed. "Thanks, Nat."

"So you and Wanda...I think Pepper owes me ten bucks," I said.

Emery laughed and hit me with a pillow. "You knew?"

"I thought maybe something was going on. But just out of curiosity—when you and Bucky stumbled into our room that one night that I was supposed to be having a movie night with Steve...you know, before Bucky found out about us...did something happen with the two of you?"

Emery tucked her hair behind her ears. "Full disclosure? We ended up getting pretty hot and heavy. But nothing too serious happened. And we've been out a few times, but I don't think he felt it was anything more than just...friendship."

"Well, I certainly don't get hot and heavy with my friends unless I plan on having a relationship with them."

"Yeah, like what happened with you and Steve," Emery said, laughing. "Pepper told me about the Truth or Dare incident."

I covered my face with my hands. "Oh god no."

"Anyway, I broke it off with him before I got hurt. And that sort of led to Wanda and I getting together. It was mutual—she's not a rebound or anything like that."

I nodded. "That's good to hear. But given all of that, are you sure you're ok rooming with Bucky? I mean, we can always switch and get some rollaway beds."

Emery shook her head. "Thanks, Nat. I appreciate it. But, I'm used to dealing with exes on missions. Amelia, for instance. She was more than just a classmate. Things just didn't work out in our favor. I've dated other guys too, but..." she sighed. "I've never felt about anyone the way I thought I did about Bucky."

"You know, I think he probably does have feelings for you too. But you know how guys can be about that sort of thing," I said.

Emery nodded. "Doesn't know what he's lost until it's gone."

"Exactly. But, hey—if you and Wanda have a good thing going, don't let anything stop you. Bucky had his chance."

"Yeah." Emery sat up. "If it's meant to be, maybe we'll find our way back together."

"You do what's right for you, Em. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

She hugged me. "You're a great friend, Nat."

The boys arrived back at our room, food in hand.

"Sustenance!" Emery cheered.

Bucky laughed. "What have you two been talking about while we were gone?"

Emery and I glanced at each other. "You."

"Hopefully good things," Bucky said. He handed each of us a takeout container and we made ourselves comfortable.

"Well, for the most part. Although I might have to give my 'if you hurt her, I'll kill you' speech," I told him.

He turned to Emery. "You told her?"

Emery shrugged, taking a bite of her entree. "She's my best friend. I tell her everything."

"Cat's out of the bag, as they say," I said. "Or, what was it that Fury said? The flerkin is out of the bag? What even is a flerkin?"

Steve shrugged. "Don't look at me, I never understand Fury's old time references."

Emery snorted. "It's not an old time reference. There was an agent—Carol Danvers—she was a test pilot before she got these crazy superpowers yaddah yaddah yaddah—" she waved her hand in the air. "She had this cat. Although, it wasn't really a cat. It was a flerkin which is a creature that takes on the form of a cat but can consume things. It's also how Fury lost his eye."

"That is way less cool than I ever imagined," Bucky said.

"Says the guy with the metal arm. That is way cooler than an eyepatch," Emery countered.

"So, hold up." Steve took a sip of his soda. "If you two tell each other everything, do you really mean everything?" He dragged out the last word for effect.

I rolled my eyes. "Ok, maybe not everything."

"Yeah, only because if we did share everything, we wouldn't be able to look at you guys the same way," Emery said, dodging the pillow I threw at her.

"Anyway, what's our plan for the casino?" Bucky asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Well, the gala isn't for a couple of days. So we have some time to get to know the area a bit more." I pulled out a piece of paper. "This is the guest list for the gala. We need to divide and conquer, go over each of the names on the list and track any known aliases or other information that might lead us to Alexei or Kristina."

"The ultimate goal here should be to get to one of them so we can learn about the operation." Emery turned to Bucky. "What did you find out about the weapon?"

"It's a decoy," Bucky said and I nodded.

"Unfortunately, Katya's lead on the warehouse was wrong. Or we walked into a trap. Either way, we're back to square one." I held up the key. "We need to figure out what this leads to. I had Tony make a copy before we left, so he has Wanda and Sam checking out Katya's apartment to see if it's a match."

Emery nodded. "We need to use our resources here to see what else we can find. If Alexei really does have a hideout here, we can track down his known associates. I'll call Fury and see if he can give us an update on Katya. It would be nice to have a little bit more to go on,  but if she's still unconscious, there's not much we can do."

Once we were all in agreement, we split off for the night. I showered and changed into my usual oversized tshirt and shorts before climbing into bed with Steve.

"First mission, and we made it, no injuries," I said, laying my head down on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me.

"Well, then I think we need to celebrate," Steve replied, kissing my neck.

"Mm, yeah. I could use a distraction tonight." I closed my eyes and kissed him back. Deeply.

We stayed like that for a while before calling it a night and falling asleep to the sound of each other breathing.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The following evening, Steve and I were sitting in bed just reading and enjoying each other's company as we waited for Bucky to come back with dinner.

"This could be a fun vacation destination," Steve mused. He glanced at me. "Under other circumstances."

"Yeah." I leaned over and kissed him. "But honestly, it would be fun to vacation anywhere as long as I'm with you."

Emery burst into our room a few seconds later, jabbing her finger at Steve's chest. "You—out. I need to talk to Natasha." She steered him toward the door.

I laughed. "Em!"

"Sorry," she said. "But what I need to tell you cannot be heard by the prying ears of your boyfriend."

Steve pouted again. "I'll just be in here." He slipped through the adjoining door to the other room.

I turned to Emery with raised eyebrows. "Care to explain why you just kicked my boyfriend out of our room?"

She showed me her phone. On it, was a single text message:

Wanda: Hey, can we talk? Missing you xo

"Oh."

"Yeah. Exactly. What do you think it means?"

"I think it means Wanda wants to talk. I don't think you necessarily need to be freaking out about this." I scanned her face, but she wouldn't meet my eyes. "Wait, are you freaking out about this?"

Emery nodded furiously, her blonde curls bouncing over her shoulders. "Wouldn't you be?"

"Touché. Look, I'm sure everything is fine. She signed it with 'missing you', right?" I handed the phone back to her.

"Well, yeah. But now we have to get ready for this mission in a few days and...I'm not gonna get sympathy here, am I?"

"I'm sympathizing, Em. But I've honestly never been in that situation before."

Emery stuck her tongue out at me. "Lucky."

I laughed. "If you want to call Wanda now, be my guest. I'm sure she just wants to talk because she misses you. You two just got together, right? It's probably hard on her for you to have left so quickly, you know?"

Emery sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Hey, you wanna have a girls' night tonight? Hit a bar or two?"

"After we eat?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah."

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Ten minutes later, Bucky had arrived with the food as I finished getting ready and Emery hung up with Wanda.

"Any plans for the evening?" Bucky asked as we set up at one of the tables to eat.

"Nat and I are gonna hit a few bars," Emery replied. "You know, canvas the area, see what trouble we can get into."

I rolled my eyes as I saw Steve's smile waver. "She's kidding—about the trouble, that is. But we were gonna get a few drinks."

Bucky nodded. "Sounds fun." He leaned back in his chair and smirked. "I remember the days when we used to hit up bars. Steve couldn't hold his beer."

Steve laughed and playfully punched Bucky on the arm. "Well, that was before the serum and before the ice. I used to not be able to talk to women and look where I'm at now?" He flashed a smile in my direction.

I smirked. "You had some help getting me, remember? Three years of flirtation and you finally got the hint."

He grinned. "Best leap of faith I've ever taken."