Along Came a Spider.

“Forever trying…occasionally succeeding…”

My fingers weave through your hair and your fingers caress the cut on my lip as gentle as possible.

It seems impossible to think that these hands once hurt people.

You smile, whispered: "This," and, my love, it is the gospel I desperately waited for.

x. for buckynat week

For Natalia

@savewithstories “I Love You to the Moon and Back” - read by @imsebastianstan 

He wanted to say there was nothing about her to be feared but he knew better than that; he had been part of the reason she had grown into a woman to be feared. The harsh lessons and the skills she had learned in the Red Room made her deadly.

Yet there wasn’t any fear to be found towards her in him.

He had seen what she was capable of, had felt the gentle touch of her hand, had taken comfort in her arms.

Though with Novokov on the loose, it could be just a matter of time before those hands turned against him.

“It’ll be fine.“

It had to be fine.

Natasha laughed, the sound hollow. She appreciated what he was trying to do; the lie he was telling to make her feel better. She knew if roles were reversed, if he had the same doubt in the pit of his stomach as she did hers, she’d tell the same lie too.

“I appreciate the attempt at a lie, James.” She offered him a small smile. “But we both know that there’s no ending to this that’s fine. Too much damage has already been done. Too many lives have been ruined - taken.”

Her gaze dropped down to her hands. “The only thing that’s left now is fear. Mine. Theirs.” Her green eyes rose to meet his, “yours.”

Of course, she saw through him and the words he attempted to use to soothe them both. She always could, always had but now he wished she wasn’t able to see through him and could believe that there had to be a way out of thi. One that wouldn’t involve anymore damage done.

Both of his hands covered hers, holding them as she met his eyes.

They’d figure it out. They’d stop Novokov. Of that she was certain. There wasn’t anything the two of them couldn’t do when they worked together.

But that wasn’t what she feared. That wasn’t what had her heart slamming against her rib cage. Her fear was that it would happen too late. That it would happen after the damage had been done, and stopping him would no longer really matter.

After all, they came from the same place. They, at one time, had the same ideals and same English goals. She knew how his mind worked. They both did. And they both knew that stopping him too late would be disastrous.

“I want to believe you, James, and some part of me does. But I can’t ignore the stares and whispers. They’re right to fear him. To fear me. We don’t know what he’s truly capable of. What power he may yield over me — over us.”

“Maybe, maybe we shouldn’t do this together.” Her words tasted like ash in her mouth. “It’s what he’d expect. What he may even want. Maybe this is something we have to do alone.”