By the time the World Championship ends, they've come up with an agreement on how to make their relationship work that even Bucky doesn't argue with. It takes a lot of arguing with Ivan for him to agree, but eventually, Natasha convinces him that spending half a year in America will give the Russian team inside knowledge of how the American athletes train. She doesn't intend on telling him any secrets that Steve shares with her, but she knows that she'll have to come up with something.

When she first lands in New York City, Steve has to hold her hand so she doesn't get lost. She's never seen anything like it and spends the entire trip up to his apartment with wide eyes and her head tilted up. It's a wonder that Steve doesn't make fun of her.

"Where do you want to go first?" he asks.

Natasha doesn't know how to answer and instead just stares at him.

"Everywhere," she says quietly. "I've never been to America."

"Alright," Steve says, pressing a warm kiss to her brow. "We'll go everywhere."

They spend hardly any time at all in Steve's apartment.

Steve shows her the city and takes her to his gym where they compete with each other more often than not. By her second week there, they've established a pretty good routine of working out in the mornings and exploring the city in the afternoons. It's a shame Ivan has to ruin it.

He hardly gives her enough warning to open her laptop and answer the Skype call. She manages, though, and his face appears on her laptop screen right as Steve moves to the other side of the room.

"You have not reported anything," Ivan snaps immediately. She hadn't yet found her headphones to her laptop so she knows Steve heard what he said.

"It's been two weeks," she replies in Russian.

Her eyes flutter over to Steve, but he doesn't act as if he understood her or Ivan. She knows he did.

"If you are fucking useless in America, you will come back and do better."

She scrambles for her headphones then. It takes her a few seconds to untangle them but before he can mutter any other veiled threat, she plugs them in and Steve can no longer hear what he says.

"Your American athlete doesn't suspect anything?"

"No, everything is going well," she promises.

"And you have not stopped the program?"

"No."

He throws out several more questions and Natasha makes sure to answer each one quickly. With a little luck, the conversation won't last very long and she can go see what Steve has started cooking in the kitchen.

By the time Ivan hangs up the Skype call, though, Natasha is almost too tired to stand up. Luckily, she doesn't have to because Steve pokes his head into the room about a minute after she closes her laptop.

"I thought you said he was your father, not just your coach," he says.

Natasha groans and slides down the bed. She'd felt bad about using his only bedroom for her call with Ivan, but as she burrows into his blankets, she can't help but relax a bit.

Steve joins her on the bed and gently runs his hand over her hair. "He shouldn't talk to you like that."

"It's just how he is," she mumbles. She turns her head and looks up at him. In Russian, she asks, "Did you understand much?"

"Enough." He scowls slightly and she knows he's thinking back to Ivan's earlier comment. "Are you safe in Russia? If you go back, you'll be okay?"

"You'll be with me," she reminds him. The idea makes her smile, but he doesn't.

"If Russia isn't safe for you, we don't have to go back," he tells her.

"Russia is as safe for me as it can be." It's not much of a reassurance, but she isn't going to lie to him.

* * * * *

The thing about America is that Ivan's program is considered illegal and it's difficult to continue. During her first few weeks there, she's able to find a clean source and Ivan is pleased. When she comes back from the European Championships, however, her supply chain quits.

Apparently, rumors are spreading about Russian athletes doping and after winning gold in two of her three routines, her name is a bit more recognizable.

"I can't continue," she tells Ivan. This time, the door is closed and Steve can't hear either of them. "It's not clean here."

"Find someone else," Ivan demands. When she asks to just stop altogether, Ivan cusses her out so crudely that she almost cries. "Find someone else or you will be brought back."

By the time Steve leaves for the US Nationals, she's found someone else who's able to provide enough of the three drugs Ivan insists on her using.

When Steve returns with the winning title, they take a flight to Russia so that Natasha doesn't overstay her visa in the States. Just like the first time he visited, Steve is wide-eyed and happy to get lost in the city. Natasha lets him.

He tries to order for them at a restaurant and does well enough that Natasha doesn't have to intervene. Later, though, when he tries to tell her a story, he stumbles through his words so often that he eventually switches back to English. It makes her smile.

"Show me your gym," he says one morning.

Unlike the first time he visited, he's sharing the bed with her. Wrapped up in his arms on a cold November morning, the last thing Natasha wants is to take Steve to her gym.

"I don't think that's a good idea," she murmurs, burying her face in his chest.

"Why?" He brushes a strand of hair from her face and bends to kiss her head. "I showed you mine."

"You won't like mine," she warns. "Ivan is there."

It's not enough to convince him that it's a bad idea, but she doesn't want to tell him more. All it takes is a long kiss before he drops the subject, though, so she doesn't have to worry about him asking her again.