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Who: Natasha Romanoff and Darcy Lewis (

sorryitasedyou
Where: The Music Room
When: Morning of 8/28
Rating: S for Secrets. ~~And sass. And stubbornness.~~
Summary: Some of the Avengers have been keeping secrets...

The Story:
An entire day had passed since Natasha had seen Darcy. The girl had never shown up for her training session yesterday, which was unusual, but Natasha had seen it coming. The girl had been closed off and distant for several days now and Natasha hadn't prodded too deeply at her, figuring the girl needed time and would talk about when she was ready.

Except apparently she'd turned to avoidance instead. Which was all well and good, if it hadn't interfered with the lessons Natasha had promised her. Besides, brooding over whatever it was didn't seem to be doing the girl any good.

Which is why, when the girl is late once more, Natasha doesn't let it go this time. Instead she leaves the training room, setting out to search the manor first - from top to bottom if she needs to. If there's a problem that needs to be dealt with, she'd rather do it sooner than later.

It's the sound of someone playing the piano that has her pausing in the doorway of the music room and peering in. Sure enough, there's Darcy, immersed in a familiar melody that Natasha can't quite place. It has her stopping short to listen, and instead of intruding, she leans against the door frame to let her finish the piece.

Besides, she's guarding the only exit. She can afford to take her time, now that she's found her.

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She was definitely getting the hang of it, relaxing slightly when she started talking about Loki. For a brief, glimmering moment, she thought she was off the hook.

And then that happened. Words. With Steve. It's a very real threat that she knows Natasha will follow through on.

"He didn't-- I'm not--" She gives a small groan, stopping her movements for a moment. "It's not Steve's fault. It's just... It's stupid circumstances about stupid things that may or may not happen in the stupid future." And that's as much as she's spilling right now, her movements picking back up with an added oomph.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain charming best friend of his, would it?"

Because Natasha knows how to read between the lines and she knows that Bucky and Darcy have also been becoming friends. Considering the amount of frustration she's taking out on the punching bag makes her suspect the 'stupid future' is more her own past and present. Apparently they weren't all keeping secrets as thoroughly as they thought.

Another fumble.

Shit on a cracker...

"Ok, fine. Yes. It has to do with Bucky. I found out and Steve mentioned you knew but I just... It's fine... Ok it's not fine, but there's nothing I can do about it and yeah - that's about it. So what's next?"

Avoidance. That's what she's going for, because she knew more than she'd ever anticipated and it was a lot of information she couldn't do anything with. She could just sit back and watch and wait.

Ah, yes... Another joy of being boringly normal.

Edited 2014-09-25 08:06 (UTC)

"Just because there's nothing you can do about it doesn't mean it's easier to deal with," Natasha answers, tilting her head to the side as she studies the girl intently for a moment. "And yes, I know. Steve and I both knew since the moment we showed up here, but Bucky did not. For his sake, Steve made the call to keep what happened in DC under wraps. Not only from him, but from everyone. We didn't want it affecting people's opinions of the person he was, since no one has had any encounters with him outside of here to judge him for."

She's not gonna fess up on who slipped, although it's not exactly like the pool of people was that big. She sighs, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "And I get that, I do. Knowing you're gonna be a scary killer in the future isn't exactly the best bedtime story. It's just..." She gives another groan. "It doesn't matter. Whatever happens happens." All she can do is take the time they've got to get to know Bucky before he gets ripped away, probably never to be seen again. The thought causes her breath to catch in her throat, arms wrapping around herself.

Natasha crosses around behind the girl, hands dropping to her shoulders to massage the tension she's worked up within the past few minutes, her tough light and soothing. "It matters," she counters quietly. "It's just what?"

She tries to release some of the tension, taking a breath - followed quickly by another. She doesn't want to say it because saying things out loud make them real - or closer to being real than before.

"Everything's gonna change." It's stupid, but she'd gotten used to thing being like this - kind of settled into the routine around here. She'd made the mistake of getting attached to people - to all of them. It was just an ugly reminder of the truth about their lives.

"Everything has a nasty habit of doing that," Natasha agrees gently, then draws the girl back against her chest, wrapping her arms around her from behind for a moment. "That doesn't mean it's the end of the world."

She lets out a shaky breath as she feels herself get pulled back, eyes closing for a moment as she attempts to not let herself lose it with the gesture. It doesn't go well, a hand moving up to brush at a stray tear as she looks up at the ceiling.

"I'll roll with it. It'll be okay. It'll be like Thor leaving back home except different." Because at least Thor came back as Thor and not a brainwashed assassin. She also wasn't crushing on Thor.

This sucks SO much. So much.

But at the end of the day, she felt like she didn't even have the right to feel worked up about it because her connection to it was so different.

"You're allowed to admit it's not going to be okay too, you know," Natasha murmured, not missing the rogue tear, although not commenting on it either. "The truth is, none of us know what's going to happen. And there's still a chance that it will be okay. He may stay just as he is while we're here, And even if he doesn't..."

She trails off for a moment, a slight frown on her lips before she gives the girl's shoulders a light squeeze. "I saw things in DC, from him, that made me think that maybe he's still under there after all. I don't think that's the end of it. And I know Steve doesn't believe he's completely lost either."

"Either way," she adds a moment later, tugging on a stray lock of the girl's hair before stepping back and facing her with a serious look. "You can't think about it that way. You'll drive yourself crazy wondering about possible what-if's in the future. Especially here. Stop mourning for something that hasn't happened yet and maybe never will. The Jabberwocky could show up tomorrow or the Queen of Hearts could permanently turn us rose bushes or god knows what else. Today? He's just Bucky. The same Bucky you've known since you met him here. He'll likely be the same Bucky tomorrow as well. Don't waste the days you do have worrying about the ones that haven't happened yet."

No, she wasn't. Not like this. She could be practical about it all - try and be the bigger person and move past it all. Find a new path, maybe get into quilting or something. A solitary hobby that wouldn't open her up to any more crap. As far as she was concerned, the desert was looking pretty nice.

Cactuses didn't go off to become brainwashed assassins. Sure you couldn't hug a cactus, but that was a price she was willing to pay.

She listens to what Natasha had to say, already feeling herself shut down slightly - internalizing it all. It was true, he wasn't gone yet and she couldn't treat him like that. It wasn't fair to him even and it's not like avoiding him was making her feel any better about any of it.

"Okay." Okay... She could try. And if it didn't work, then quilting was the way she was gonna go.

The desert was not nice, Darcy. Natasha needs to introduce you to a nice private beach somewhere. With cabana boys. Maybe when they go back. She's got nothing else on her plate in the near future back home, after all.

Cabana boys were always better than cactuses. Cacti? Whatever.

"Besides," Natasha adds, trying to keep her tone light as she brushed a lock of Darcy's hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear. "A few more weeks of this and you can hand him his ass. Right?" she added, giving the girl a fond look, one that softened into seriousness a moment later.

"Secrets can be terrible things to keep and I'm sorry you had to find this one out this way. We didn't see an easy way around it. Don't hold it against Steve? We all have to make some hard choices when it comes to protecting the people important to us. As I'm sure you know," she reminds her, her gaze dropping to the spot where she'd patched the girl up a few weeks ago after her run-in with a vampire. A secret she was still keeping for Darcy.

But the desert has cute little animals every once in awhile. Little animals that can't toy with your heart... Even if it was her own fault it didn't mean she had to like it or want to go through it ever again. Hot cabana boys could work if they weren't allowed to speak or... Nope, she could fetch her own drinks.

She could do a lot of things for herself. And Natasha was right, in a few weeks she might be able to hand him his ass. At least while he was still just Bucky.

Ugh. No. Nope. Not hopping on the sad train again.

"I get it, seriously. I do. And I don't and I won't." She groans as Natasha's eyes drift down. "And yes, I'm planning on telling Jane. I just haven't seen her long enough to get her to stop moving so I can tell her. Set it up so it's not a huge bomb drop."

"I think it's going to be a huge bomb drop either way," Natasha points out with a faint hint of fondness as she watches the girl. It's not fully fixed, she knows that - nothing is ever so easy and Darcy can only come to terms with this in her own time. Still, she lets the conversation flow in a new direction because it was something she needed to know anyway.

"Have you had any more trouble at all from that end? I haven't found you bleeding in any hallways recently so I'm guessing not?"

She runs a hand through her hair with a small sigh.

"No vampires, seemed like a one-time thing." Knock on wood. She doesn't want to push it, but she'd been lucky since then. Although, it's not like the mansion was so large that they'd never meet again... Kinda like if Bucky ever - nope -

One day at a time.

"And I mean, it was during an event so it's not like it was done for shits and giggles." Not like the encounter she doesn't remember.

"That still doesn't mean it couldn't happen again," Natasha points out with a serious look. "Unless there's been strange effects in an event I've missed, they'd still be a vampire outside of whatever chaos Wonderland threw at us. Granted, all I've got is a bunch of strange lore to base it on, but we all know there's strange things here and not all of them are friendly."

She couldn't argue with that - seriously. The vamp hadn't sprouted fangs thanks to the event. He just seemed to be ridiculously hungry, or at least that's what he'd been mumbling before the attack.

"Demons and werewolves and angels and vampires. This place is just... Yeah." She moves away to lean against one of the posts of the ring. This was just not her day.

"You forgot the alien-slash-Norse-god," Natasha retorts, leaving the punching bag for now to come join the girl against the edge of the ring, snagging a water bottle and holding it out to her with a sympathetic look. "You're still not alone in this, you know."

"Right, how could I forget that one." Because the others weren't enough. With a small sigh, she reluctantly takes the water bottle and gives a small nod.

"I know." Although it was a blessing and curse. She was grateful to have everyone, but she also didn't want to feel like a burden. "Should we get back to it?" Because she's not sure how much else she can say on the whole Bucky thing right now and not dissolve into an emotional puddle of goo.

"Wishful thinking?" Natasha jokes lightly before pushing away from the edge of the ring again and motioning for the girl to follow. "Yeah. Come on. Let's go a little more and then I think you're good for the day. You're certainly getting much better at this. Pretty soon we're going to have to come up with a codename for you."

Pushing off of the post she was leaning against, she lets out a small laugh.

"I totally have a new goal in life to get a codename."

"We'll work on finding the perfect one. Maybe something to do with tasers," Natasha teases her before taking up her spot behind the punching bag once more. "Alright, lets try this one more time."

She settles into the spot she'd been occupying before, letting out a breath before giving a nod. A little bit more and she can call it a day and stop avoiding Natasha.

Win/win.

She starts in again on the combo, her movements more relaxed than before.

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calling this good?