nothing burns like the cold

maryjanewatson:

I really wouldn’t mind if she never got her memories back, as long as she knows the truth about what happened (although, of course, the former option is preferable). I don’t mind though, mainly because one of the wonderfully beautiful things about the BuckyNat relationship is that, no matter the change in who they are/become, they always fall back in love. Natalia in the Red Room was, in a lot of ways, a different person to the current Natasha Romanoff. She grew, she changed, she developed, she went through a whole new life’s worth of experiences before she found Bucky again. And likewise, the Winter Soldier of the past was not the same man Bucky is today. When they met again they spent months getting to know each other before they really fell in love a second time. It would be totally in keeping with their beautiful love story if that happened again here, with her having no memory of her love for him and him having to accept that he isn’t an intimate part of her life anymore and has to start from the ground zero again.

It’s a tricky line to toe, right? Because, lbh, the whole storyline that resulted in Nat losing her memories was kinda.....dumb. And regressive for a relationship that’s has a track record of being one of the most mature, adult, and realistic partnerships in the Marvel universe. 

Black Widow (2016) #10

…the past is not dead. There are things that wait for us, patiently, in the dark corridors of our lives.