“How did it happen?”
Natasha knew Captain Carter was waiting to ask this question ever since the Guardians of the Multiverse arrived on her cold, abandoned, dead planet. But she figured there wasn’t really time to ask it between gaining her trust and fighting Ultron. After everyone left for their own universes - that was as good a time as they’d get.
“Ultron,” Natasha spat bitterly. A part of her still couldn’t believe that he was gone and yet all the loss in her universe remained. A part of her was still hoping Ultron was a terrible dream she’d wake up from any moment. “My planet was the first to go,” she elaborated, “my planet... was where he was created.”
Peggy looked at her, somewhat with surprise, “who? Who would create something like that?”
Natasha sighed, looking away, the memories too painful. Still, she answered. “Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. I don’t recommend speaking ill of the dead but...” she stopped in her speech, thinking of her dead teammates. They played with dangerous things, yes, but now that they were gone... it was hard to rip them apart for it. They would never live to hear it. “He was supposed to be a force for good, sort of. He wasn’t.”
Peggy hummed thoughtfully, “I’m on a team with them. I get it.”
Natasha snorted at the teasing statement, remembering herself the early days of the Avengers, when they were strangers who understood each other better than everyone. She remembered Tony’s quips and Bruce’s awkwardness. She missed it with an ache deep in her soul. She missed the simple times. She missed what Peggy still had.
If Natasha was wiser, she’d tell Peggy what to do different. How to stop Ultron from happening in her universe too. But she can’t, because she doesn’t know how. She just hopes Peggy will be better than her (and the rest of the team) at figuring it out.
“What is your team like?” Natasha asked, instead. She always wondered what it would be like to be on a team where she wasn’t the only girl.
“It’s...” Peggy hesitated, speaking slowly, thoughtfully when she answered, “Stark wears a suit that reminds me of Steve and Thor reminds me of the aliens in the wormhole. I can’t understand Clint like she does or understand Bruce like Stark does. And then there’s... her.” Peggy Carter’s face softens.
Natasha raised a brow at her, curious at the expression. Very few people looked like that when talking about her. “You said ‘BFF’s, huh?” she questioned. .
Carter nodded, face softening impossibly. “She is everything that makes me want to come back to this century. After the war and the wormhole and losing my time... after the battle of New York... I was lost. Lost in this new century, lost in the past, lost in all the things I went through. But she... she understands.”
Natasha looked into Carter’s eyes, knowing all that trauma, all that pain; she knew she had the same look in her eyes. She knew what it was like to have your life ruined, to be robbed of your future, to lose everything. She understood that even before Ultron. She understood that better than anyone.
“And she gives me hope it will get better,” Carter utters, her words filled to the brim with fondness.
There was something in Carter’s words, in her tone, in the look in her eyes... like she was looking into a face she memorized lovingly, like she was speaking about a person she grew to love.
Oh.
Natasha resisted the urge to smirk, almost needing to hide her face once more. This wasn’t the first time anyone had a crush on her. “You know,” Natasha began, “I didn’t ever think I’d have a BFF. It wasn’t part of my training. But then, I met Clint. Then, I became part of SHIELD. Then I became an Avenger. I didn’t only get a BFF; I got a family.” Natasha tried to sound, look, be as earnest as she could, boring into Carter’s face, trying to drive her point across. “But I don’t think you’re only BFFs.”
Carter bit her lip, not looking as embarrassed as Natasha expected. She knew how she felt too. “I’m not supposed to... I know it’s different now, but-” Carter shock her head, shaking away those thoughts as well. Instead she argued with, “she keeps trying to set me up with other people. She doesn’t feel the same.”
Natasha smiled to herself, remembering that time with Steve. She missed Steve so much... Another thing she and this Carter have in common. “You should still tell her,” Natasha suggested, smiling flirtatiously, “if she’s anything like me, I’m sure you’re her type.”
Carter laughed, hope and joy tinged in her chuckles. Natasha hoped that meant she’d listen.
The Watcher cleared his throat, “it’s time.”
Carter looked at the Watcher, nodding once. She knew it was time to go too. With one last smile turned her way, Carter stepped forward, light bathing her shielded back.
“Hey,” Natasha called after her, unable to stop herself from making sure, “will you tell her?”
Carter turned backwards, the light hitting the strong but soft features of her face this time. She was looking at her some way Natasha couldn’t quite figure out. But before she could try to, a hand reached out towards her, dragging her forward. Their lips crashed together just as Carter directed it, but Natasha still couldn’t help but gasp with surprise. Is this how Steve felt back in the time Carter was going back to? When she closed her eyes, she could just picture the uncomfortable Watcher looking away.
Peggy tasted like sweat and smelled like leather, but her lips were sweet to the touch. Like biting into marshmallows. Natasha kissed her deeper with a hand on the back of her neck and their tongues colliding. Peggy moaned into the kiss.
She let go of the collar of Natasha’s Red Guardian’s suit. “I’ll tell her,” she said, grinning at her, a little smug at the winded look on her face.
Natasha scoffed, still a little flustered from the kiss, “was that your first kiss since 1945?”
“What?” Peggy frowned.
Natasha waved her hand, “never mind. It’s a private joke.”
~~~
As Natasha settled into the new team, with just Steve and another secret Fury hid from her, she hoped Carter was happy in her universe.
