#todeserveit

They tell her not all her memories are back. Not which ones aren’t, or how many she’s missing, just that they couldn’t successfully retrieve everything. No obvious holes are apparent, but she’s sure she’ll find them in time. For now, there are some memories she wishes they hadn’t brought back, because every time she closes her eyes she sees Sitwell’s corpse silhouetted against her eyelids.

She’s so lost in thought that she almost doesn’t notice when a man enters her room. Her eyes slide over him, assessing. A stranger, not dressed like a doctor, looking at her with sad eyes.

Grace: We can still flirt, but not if you're gonna feel guilty for letting yourself have a little fun that you've earned at this point.

Bucky: Hey, I wouldn't feel guilty for having fun; I'd feel guilty cause I'm in love with Nat.

Grace: It's understandable, but it can't hurt to let yourself try to heal a little bit in the ones where things didn't turn out so well. How are you supposed to really live if you hang onto things?

Bucky: Usually by hanging onto things.

It should have been a reasonably straightforward mission. Protect an important target from assassination. Then two of her guards don't check in. No surveilance footage, they're good at dodging cameras. She investigates, wary. No doubt she's up against one of the best assassins money can buy for such a high-level target. But when she catches sight of her, Natasha's breath catches in her throat.