~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know I hurt you, I can see it in your eyes
I can sense the hurt in your frown,  and I will do 
anything to make it better

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quick note: Instead of 10 years Natasha being away it was only 5 
I realized it wouldn't fit with my timeline if I did it any other way. 
Thanks! Enjoy the story

Steven stood outside of Natasha's room, she was still recovering and he had yet to visit her. He didn't know how, because the woman he 'loved' had tried to kill her. She Killed his best friend. She was a murder who took over his mind.

Just go in. Nothing will happen.

He took a deep breath and lightly knocked on her bedroom door. He heard a faint voice telling him it was okay to come in. He reached for the door nob and opened the door slowly. He quietly poked his head into the room to see Natasha. Her body was covered with a blanket and her skin was pale. He felt his stomach drop, even in this condition she made him nervous. 

"Steve?" She said looking at him. She was sure that he wouldn't come to visit her. After the first two days, she was sure he was blaming her for Sharon's actions. That somehow she offended Sharon. She felt bad for thinking such things but how could you not when all you have is time to think. 

"Hi," he said, his voice was filled with such guilt and regret it was easy to tell. She watched his reluctant move into the room and his slow shutting of the door. Whatever he was going to say, he didn't want anyone else to hear about it. 

He took careful steps toward her making sure he wasn't stepping over any boundaries. He didn't want to do something she didn't want, even to random eye seemed harmless. He took a seat at the foot of her bed and looked down at his hands. 

"Steve, why have you come here?" She asked, not rudely, but curiously. Steve was quiet as if he was trying to find the words that were lost in his mind. She didn't pressure him to talk, because she knew from those few days they spent together that he had something on his mind and it was hard for him to get out. 

"i- I uh... I don't know how to say this." He admitted, he still wasn't looking up at the princess who had to stare at the side of his head. "It's kinda hard to say. I stood outside your door trying to find the right words but nothing seemed to come up." She knew that someone was out there because she saw the shadow on the floor but she couldn't exactly tell who it was. She could also tell that Steven was here to apologize, for something that wasn't his fault in the slightest.

"I don't think you have to say anything." She said as a matter of fact. Steve looked up at her confused and worried. 

"No I think that I was-" He was interrupted by her voice once more. 

"You made a mistake. You were in love." He looked at her confused as to how she knew he was in love. "Word spreads Steve, people speak and besides the many deadly looks I had been receiving from her I put two and two together," She said leaving some details out."The point is, you don't have to apologize. People do stupid things when they are in love." She said, Steve, laughed lightly but didn't sense the seriousness of Natasha's voice. 

"What do you know about being in love?" He asked and his laughed faded when he heard that Natasha wasn't answering him. "Oh... I am sorry." He said feeling even worse.

"You wanna hear a story?" She asked. Steve didn't answer but didn't leave her gaze so Natasha took that as a cue to keep going. She was going to tell him why she disappeared for years. 

Five years ago. 

Princess Natalia was sitting in her chambers combing her long red hair. Her maids had just left her room, they were getting her ready for the ball later that evening. She was young, barely the age of 13. She would be coming to age in 5 years. And tonight she was would dancing the night away with young princes looking for her hand.  

She was not too interested but she loved dancing and that was what excited her. It relaxed her nothing could ruin that. 
"Natalia!" A young voice said poking her head through the door. Her friend Maria, aka her lady in waiting, came dressed in a white dress, that wouldn't take the attention away from the princess with her hair curled behind her and pinned half up. 

Natalia, on the other hand, was wearing a blue dress that made her hair pop. The dress had flowly sleeves and she pairs it with a silver necklace. Her hair was braided back with strands of hair falling out and a tiara placed neatly on her head. 

"Come we must hurry." She said as if it was the most urgent thing in the world. Maria had a thing about being early. She always wanted to call dibs on any of the men who happened to not being lined up to meet Natalia. 

"Maria. Patience is key. If you are to take the crown one day if my fate so choices to end my journey in life you can't rush around." Natalia said. She sounded so much like her father and mother that it made Maria laugh at times. 

"Well ms know it all, let me get you out there and then I can go rush all those boys to dance with me." She said. Natalia shook her head and stood up to follow Maria downstairs. She could already hear the music playing along with the steps of guards who have been assigned to follow them all evening. 

"PRESENTING PRINCESS NATALIA, AND HER LADY IN WAITING LADY MARIA HILL." Announced the man, he signaled for the band to starting playing because now that Natalia was her they could begin. 

Natasha noticed Maria had already left her side and her parents seemed busy talking to officials. She knew better than to announce her presence to them during a conversation. For the time being, she would need to find some new company.  

"You look lost." Someone said startling the young princess. She turned her head and was greeted by a young man who didn't seem very familiar to her. 

"Aren't we all? "She asked making conversation with him. He was young, however, he was older than her, probably about 15 or 16. He wore a velvet vest over his white dress shirt and his shoes were very shiny. 

"I suppose we are." He said. He looked at Natasha as if looking into her soul, which made her squirm just a little. The song ended and a new one was just about to begin, the boy raised his hand up to her and she raised an eyebrow, "care to dance?" 

"What do you get out of dancing with me? You are obviously not a prince, because if you were then I surely would have spoken to you before." She said. He laughed lightly as he took her hand into his and led her to the dance floor. 

"No, I am not a prince. I am a son of a royal traveler, this is my first time here in Romanavia, but I must ask, is everything here as beautiful as you?" He flirted, and surprisingly it made Natalia blush. Most princes were charming, but none compared to how this man was making her feel. 

"You are quite the charming one aren't you?" She asked slowly getting into the rhythm of dancing with him. He moved his hand, which was on her shoulder adjusting her poster down her arm with such care back to her hand. He did it so slowly that it enchanted the young princess. 

"Well that the nice way of putting it I suppose." He said shrugging his shoulders. Natalia noticed he had an accent, similar to her own. Not many people she knew had it because her mother was not born here. 

"Are you a Russian? I have never met another Russian besides my mother." She said in awe. Although her mother was good at explaining to Natasha what Russia was like she had never been there. Their kingdom and Russia were separated by a sea border so they didn't travel over their so often.

"Why yes, I am. I am surprised it took you so long to notice." He said, his voice was deep and rich and it somehow enchanted Natalia. 

"Well, I guess my senses don't work as well sometimes." She said with her cheeks were flushed with red, but it was very visible. 

"Was my handsomeness clouding your judgment?" He teased. Natalia laughed. She had only met Princes before. She had never met someone like him. Someone who didn't care about marrying her. "You seem lost at these gatherings," he said as they danced to the music.

"Well, when you have them so often it seems to take a toll on you. They just aren't as amazing as I remember them being as a child. But alas it's the life of a royal." She sighed. He stopped dancing with her when the music stopped but didn't let go of her hand. 

"Looks like it's my time to leave." He said. "They are practically ready to kill me." He said referring to then men waiting to dance with her. "I should go." Natasha was upset that they were done dancing but understood they have duties. 

"When will I see you again?" She asked. He gave her a charming smile before telling her to meet him in the courtyard in the morning, he had only a few days left and he wanted to spend his free time with the young princess. 
"I never did get your name." She said as he begins to walk away from her. She stood there as he walked away not answering only leaving her with his charming smirk.

~~~~~

The next morning it was early, not a single soul awake because not even the sun had risen quite yet. Natasha was dressed in a black simple dress and over it was her white hooded cloak. She carefully snuck out of her room and out to the courtyard. 

It was too dark outside to see anything, so even the guards who patrolled at night couldn't see her, not that they were looking for intruders inside the castle. They were patrolling the outside. She stood by the four trees by the wall that gave her a better view of the courtyard to look for 

She looked out for what felt like an hour, still seeing no sign of the young man. He was different, there was something about him that made her trust him. She never believed in love at first sight before him. 

What made her smile, even more, was when she retreated to her chambers the night before she noticed a note attached to her mirror that caused her to smile. 

Loved speaking with you princess meet me in the courtyard tomorrow morning.

She carefully folded the note and hit it away from any prying eyes. Then when the time arrived she left her room to meet the mysterious stranger who had been able to capture her affection. now she sat on a branch waiting for him to come swaying her legs back and forth. 

"You know a Princess like you is sure to be kidnapped if she was out this late with no one to protect her." A voice said above her. Natalia smirked as she recognized the voice. She looked up to see him a few branches above her. 

"Well I can take care of myself, how about you? Most certainly a handsome stranger as yourself should feel wiery when he makes a young princess sneak away from her guards to meet him on a tree." She said with a smirk plastered to her face.

" Now that would certainly be the case if I cared. and I didn't make her do anything because the young princess came out here on her own free will. Maybe because the man she was to meet is a handsome stranger who she can't get out of her head." He said. Natasha laughed lightly. "Come up here." And so she did. 

They sat there and the branch was high enough to see over the wall that blocked her view. And they talked. She wasn't sure exactly what they talked about but she knew he was listening. She talked and he listened to whatever came blabbering out of her mouth. And for the first time in forever, she felt happy. 

With two days left, Natalia and the mysterious man met up many times throughout the day. Natalia being young and thirteen started to define the relationship of love. She was head of heels for this boy and didn't know the difference of being in love and making a mistake. but then again what was the difference? 

"You know Natalia it's my last night here." He said on their very last night. Natalia looked over at the man, who still hasn't told her his name. 

"Must you really go?" She asked. The man turned to look Natalia in the eyes. the look seemed content at the time. They were both silent as he moved closer to her lips. And that was that. He took away the virginity of her lips. And then he left a newly heartbroken girl. 

That night she laid awake in her bed and reached for her wrist. She noticed the bareness and her heartbeat raced. How had she not noticed it before? How could she have lost it? On his wrist was a key that opened the vault of her families fortune. Only her and her father had access. 

She didn't know where it had gone because she never takes it off, and that was when she heard it, the shooting of arrows and yells of her guards. She looked out the window and saw a horse and carriage speeding down the low light pathway. And on top was the man who claimed he loved her, who she loved. She looked at him as the guards chased him and saw a familiar bracelet being thrown off the carriage as he got away with half of their fortune. All that was left of that man was a note he left on her mirror. 

Thanks for the help princess, you surely did help me.
~Alexia

Alexia... the highest rebel in the red room. They were a dangerous group and she let one of them come into her kingdom and steal from them. She let him come in and kill her guards, kill her servants, her friends all for some money. She was beyond upset and disappointed in herself.  The blood of her friends was on her. She was the reason they were dead. 

" I will not let this happen again." 

And from that day she hid, from everyone. So no one would have the chance to abuse her in such a way. She stayed in her room as the demons in her head haunted her for her actions. As the voices in her head blamed her. She was an empty soul for five years and when she came out she swore no one could have the chance to hurt her in such a way ever again. 

~~~~~

"Wow," Steven said in shock. To most, it would have seemed like such a small thing. Yeah, she robbed and whatever but he knew she blamed herself. He knew personally how love can make someone act. 

"So like I said Steven, please don't apologize to me because you were in love and the other person wasn't." She said looking into his baby blue eyes. She knew the story had touched him in such a way that couldn't be done by anyone else. Maybe because her story was true or maybe because he trusted her. 

"I am just upset that you got hurt in the process of all of this." He said lowering his eyes. Natasha reached out her hand a little and sat up despite being told not to. She reached out for his hand and rubbed her thumb abound his hand. 

"Steven if you try to apologize I will get out of this bed and give you a hug." She said. Although her voice showed much humor she was quite serious, she didn't like that he blamed himself and was going to show him that she didn't blame him. None of it was his fault and even if she was shocked at first she wouldn't blame him for something he had no control over. 

"You can't get up Natasha, you are in recovery." He said in all seriousness. She gave him a smile because it was so cute to see him all worried about her. "I am glad you are recovering." He said giving her a smile. 

"Me too Steve me too." She said. They sat their staring into each others eyes feeling a sense of peace. She had to admit she missed his presence even if they were still practically strangers. Since being here they have both grown so much. There was still the topic of marriage and if she was still going to unite the kingdoms, and although he knew that she had all the right in the world to deny he secretly hoped one day he would be able to call this amazing woman his wife.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you care for someone
it's not all about being with them 
but being there for them

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~