Summary: Despite the nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her they should all split up instead of staying together, Natasha works hard to keep their small group together during the time they have to hide from 117 countries. She finds lots of excuses for keeping Sam and Wanda around (they're never done this before; they're technically still in training; etc. etc.), but she can't think of any good excuse to keep Steve around and not let him go off on his own. On the other hand, it doesn't appear like he's ever planning on leaving her anyway, so she's willing to overlook the logical side of the situation.

What started off as a way to make sure all of Steve's team was safe from the government had really just turned into a way to keep her sanity. Over the past two years of being on the run, she'd made sure Scott and Clint got reasonable deals in order to stay with their families, she'd taught Sam and Wanda more about being on the run than she'd ever hoped to, and she'd developed this annoying need for Steve. In the beginning, she told herself she needed him around to help with the others (lie; she had Clint at the time and they could have been just fine). Once the fact that wasn't true became obvious, she decided she needed him around because there were some places she was too easily recognisable after the fallout with HYDRA and SHIELD (if anything, he was more recognisable). After Wanda had pointed out this unfortunate fact, she decided that she hadn't forced him to stay (true) and that he had stayed because he wanted to. Whatever the reason, she was now glad he had stuck around because, at the moment, he was the only other one in the safe house.

It hadn't always been just her and Steve obviously, but now it was a pretty regular occurrence. Wanda liked to go off for long weekends with Vision (when she'd first asked if she could go out a year ago, Natasha had followed her to make sure Vision wasn't playing double agent for Stark). Every now and then, Sam would go into the nearby towns for a few days and wander around on his own. Both would be back within four or five days though and often Steve and Natasha were only alone for a day or so. Even though Ross was still conducting a manhunt for them all, the other countries had greatly relaxed and some had even reconsidered their view on the Accords, making it easier for them to move around.

"I'm going to go grab some groceries," Natasha announced, starling Steve as she walked into the small living room. Holland was one of the few places Natasha could walk around without a real disguise and not have to worry about capture, something she regularly took advantage of.

"Call if anything happens," Steve told her. She nodded, stopping behind the couch where he was sat and reaching down to run her fingers through his hair. "I'm still not cutting it," he told her with a grin. She rolled her eyes but didn't argue. She'd come to like his new beard and hair despite whining about it in the past. "If you try to bring home a razor, I'll throw it in the toilet."

"I'm not going to cut your hair," she promised, tugging on the long, dark blond strands of hair. "I've come to accept the nice hobo man living in our house as he is."

"That's very kind of you," Steve teased. She grinned and he turned his head to kiss her palm. "Stay safe."

"I will," she replied. She walked out of the small safe house they were renting for the time and walked to the nearest train station. It wasn't a long walk and within thirteen minutes, she was on a train getting ready to arrive in downtown Amsterdam.

The markets had just opened when she arrived and the crowds had yet to form. She still had an hour until most people would get off work and arrive, so she took her time wandering around the stalls and getting their food. When she was finally walking back to the train station with an armload of food, she was both exhausted and very relaxed. The smell of the fresh bread she'd bought drifted up to her from the bag it was stuffed in and she was munching on one of the homegrown apples she'd bought. Of course, the train station smell made it difficult to enjoy the smell of fresh bread, but she continued to enjoy her apple until she stepped off the train at her stop and started towards the house.

She was halfway to the house when she realised she was being followed. Just to make sure it wasn't her imagination, she took two left turns down random streets before groaning in frustration. They'd had such a good set-up in Holland for the past month, but she supposed she should have known it would have to end soon. As she continued to try and lose her tails, she pulled out her phone to call Steve. She'd been just about to press his contact when she was suddenly attacked from the side.

The bags she'd been carrying dropped to the ground as a fourth man tried to tackle her. She growled and threw him off of her, brushing the gravel from her elbows before turning to see the other three running at her. She pulled a knife from her waistband and lashed out at the first man. Cutting his upper arm, she dove past him to attack the next two men. The one who had appeared out of nowhere got to his feet behind her and grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arm around her neck. With an annoyed groan, she drove her knife into his forearm and released her. He howled loudly, but Natasha ignored him and began to choke one of the men.

"Bitch!" the man with the knife in his arm yelled. She ducked to avoid the third man's attack and kicked his friend at him. The fourth man managed to kick her square in the back before she could move and she stumbled forward, out of breath for a second. One of the men in front of her raised his arm and punched her in the face. Her eyes watered, but her nose didn't break and she couldn't taste blood, so she punched the man back harder and he fell unconscious.

Now with only three men to worry about, she charged the widow's bite bracelets she always wore and punched one of the men in the gut. He convulsed but didn't go down. Before she could fully knock him out, the second man tried to attack from behind. She ducked and kicked him back, twisting around to punch him with the widow's bites only to be picked up and thrown harshly to the ground. Her back throbbed at the impact and she struggled to catch her breath. Black dots danced in her vision for just a second, but she was back on her feet before any of her attackers could pin her down. The sudden bounceback made her vision swim once more and one of the men was able to land a hard punch to her throat.

Angry at the fact she wasn't done with them yet, she threw herself at the man and stuck her widow's bites to his head. He was out after a few seconds and she rounded on the last two men. The first man she'd knocked out was already regaining consciousness so she wasted no time in bashing his head back into the sidewalk with her foot before facing the last two men.

"We know where you live, Widow," one of them taunted. That didn't matter. They'd be moving again as soon as Sam and Wanda got back thanks to this attack.

"Then you'll know where to send the apology card," she replied. She struck out at him but he dodged and let the second man try to kick her. Jumping out of the way, she wrapped her legs around the first man's neck and used her weight to throw him to the ground. He screamed in pain as she dug into the knife wound she'd inflicted on him earlier. She only stopped her attack on him when she was suddenly tackled from behind.

Cursing herself for forgetting about the man behind her, she quickly overtook him and smashed his face into the sidewalk. He went limp, so she returned to the last man and did the same. She didn't care about how they found her or who had sent her; she was mostly just annoyed she hadn't gotten rid of them so quickly.

She backtracked a few meters and picked up her groceries before starting directly back to the house. Knowing Steve would panic at the sight of her, she mentally prepared herself to be pampered. However, the thought of Steve fretting over her and making her take it easy didn't necessarily annoy her at the moment, so she didn't take the long way home.

As she walked in the house, she locked the door behind her and headed straight to the kitchen. At the very least, she could get the groceries put away and make sure none of them had been too terribly squished before going to find Steve. She was in the middle of stuffing the bag under the sink when Steve walked in to see what she was doing.

"Don't freak out," she said, her back still to him as she closed the cabinet. Before he could ask what she meant, she turned around to face him and he immediately went into panic mode. He raced forward and gently cupped her face, looking her over intensely then examining the bruises on her face and neck.

"What happened?" he asked, brushing some stray strands of hair from her face. Thankfully she wasn't bleeding anywhere so he wouldn't need to stitch her up, but she had a couple of bruises already that were bound to only get worse.

"I was attacked on the way home," she answered, leaning into his touch subconsciously.

"I see that, Nat," Steve replied, "Why didn't you call me?"

"I would have," Natasha told him, letting him pull her into the living room and onto the couch. Melting against him as he pulled her close, she said, "But I was tackled before I could."

"I would have come to help," he said. Natasha didn't doubt that for a second. Instead of letting him wallow in guilt for not coming to help fight off four guys, she curled closer to him and closed her eyes as she relaxed even more. He really was nice to have around if only because he made a good teddy bear.

"I know you would have," she replied. They left it at that, sitting in the living room in silence. It wasn't long before it was dark outside and Natasha was in a strange half-conscious state. Even though they both had things to do like check-in with Sam and Wanda or cook dinner, they didn't bother moving until Sam was banging on the door, complaining loudly about being left in the cold and Wanda was lighting up Natasha's phone with a call to FaceTime.