Natasha watched Tony for a while before she dared to join him. She warned him that it wouldn't go as smoothly as they wanted, but to tell the truth, she didn't expect that. Once again they got out of control, and this time it hit their own people.

"How is he?" she asked as she leaned against the railing beside him.

"He's in surgery. He has a spinal cord injured so he won't walk anymore," he snapped, running a hand through his hair.

"Can you fix it?" she asked, swallowing hard. She didn't know what her friend was feeling about her now.

"If I can fix it? I'm not a doctor! I'm a fucking mechanic."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about."

"I don't know if I can fix it, but you can be sure I'll do everything I can to get Rhodey back on his feet."

"Good."

"What the hell happened, Natasha?!" he asked, finally giving her a look.

"I don't expect you to understand, but I let him go," she said, her head upright as always. She felt really awful right now, but she left nobody to know. After all, she had her pride.

"It was supposed to go smoothly. We should only have taken them to Ross. Instead, one of us was hurt, really badly hurt. And now you're telling me you let him go? Have you lost your mind?!" he cried.

"You know him! You know he wouldn't stop. I experienced this with Clint. It's his choice, Tony. We're not going to stop him from doing that. You should understand that. Especially you."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, come on! Especially you who always did things your way. You're stubborn as much as he is. I know you don't want to hear it, but you're pretty similar."

"You signed, Nat," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but I told you the conditions aren't ideal. You were right, okay? Rhodey was hurt because we were not in control. What happened is done. We won't change it anymore."

"Ross keeps bothering me. He wants to know what happened," Tony said, turning his gaze back to the window. This was another test. He had to make decisions every day that didn't just affect him, and he was tired of it. All he wanted right now was a film marathon with his son.

"Am I a war criminal?" she asked, swallowing a sob. She would definitely not cry. It wasn't in her nature. Though with Tony and Clint, she wasn't far from that sometime.

"Don't be ridiculous. I would have lied if I said that you didn't hurt me when you picked Rogers instead of me, but I'd hate to see my son spend time with a war criminal," he said, and Nat gave him a startlingly look. If he mentioned Peter, she knew she could still atone for what she had done.

"I will not apologize for what I did, but you should know that it was not the choice between him and you, but what was the best. Clint's always the first, but you're always the second, Tones. I don't make an aunt to random children," she explained with a small smile.

"Before you arrived, Friday gave me some information. I don't say that easily, but it seems Captain was right. Do you know where he is?" he asked, ignoring her last claim. Both never solved their feelings with joy. She sometimes wondered how they actually became friends.

"Will you go after him?"

"I'd like to, I'm still pissed off of this situation, but I think he'll probably need my help, so if you were so kind..."

"They were going to Siberia, as far as I know."

"Well, that couldn't be better, would it?" he said sarcastically.

"Oh, it could be better if the freak activates those soldiers Steve talked about," she smirked.

"It's a really busy day. And I keep going. This doesn't change anything, Nat. We'll have to talk about it when I get back, okay? I know that both of us are not talking about feelings much, but I think that would really help us this time."

"Okay."

"Watch Rhodey for me, yeah? Pepper and Peter should arrive, so you'll have company. And I should get out really fast because I wouldn't be able to look at my dear Pepper right now," he said as they both made their way to the front door.

"Don't kill Steve, okay? And don't worry, you'll overcome it with Pepper and you'll be back together soon," she said and she patted him on the back in a friendly manner.

"I can't promise that, and you know it," he said with a grin and then sighed. "I hope you're right," he said as he opened the door where a surprise awaited him.

"Dad!" Peter exclaimed enthusiastically and immediately hugged him.

"Pete, you are here sooner than I would have expected," he said, surprised and hugged him back.

"Yeah, Happy broke a few speed laws, but don't tell him I told you," he laughed, pulling away from him to look at him. It seemed that the little time he spent with the Avengers did not improve his mood much. "What happened to your eye?"

"Oh, this. Just a little fight with a super soldier," he answered simply, looking at Nat.

"And where is my hug from my little spider?" she asked, smiling to distract him.

"Auntie Nat! I missed you," he said with a smile and his father was abandoned immediately. Normally he would make an ironic comment, but now he really needed to disappear. The problem was that another person stood in the doorway.

"Uh, hi, Pep," he murmured, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Are you going anywhere?" she asked, slightly disappointed, instead of greeting.

"Actually, yes, it's even more of a mess than it was," he sighed.

"Well, come back soon, okay? I think it is time we all took a break and returned home. Like a family," she said, and he finally looked at her.

"Really?" he asked hopefully.

"It will take time to get back to normal, but I want all three of us to be together again. Now go," she said with a small smile and stepped back from his path. Tony gave her a last look before he activated his suit and headed to Siberia. He seemed to have a lot of talking about feelings when he came back, which he didn't quite like. But there were people for whom he would do anything. Especially now that everything is falling apart. If he had to talk with Natasha about their feelings to overcome this Accords thing, he would. And it was clear that he would do anything for Pep to return home. So he'll take a break. He takes care of this last thing and then evaporates for a few months. A pause benefits him.

"Where did he go?" asked Peter, who for a moment left his beloved aunt and returned to Pepper.

"I don't really know. Why don't you spend your free time with Nat and I'll go find out about Rhodey's operation, okay?"

"Okay, it sounds good to me, mom," he said, heading back to Nat before she could say anything else. Pepper went to the hospital wing while Peter and Natasha went to his room.

"So, Pepper is a mom now?" she teased as the door closed behind them.

"When wasn't she? We just made it official now. Dad doesn't know anything yet about it because of their pause," he murmured and sat on the bed. Natasha watched him in silence for a moment (just as she had before with Tony) before she sat down at the table.

"How are you?" she asked simply. She knew the last few months hadn't been the best, and now to all this Rhodey was hurt. She was worried about him.

"It was better," he whispered.

"Can I do something for you? You know I hate to see you down like that."

"Can you tell me what's going on here?"

"Nice try, but you know I can't," she replied.

"Why?"

"It's complicated, you wouldn't understand."

"Of course," he snorted. "You know what? I've heard this sentence so often in the last few days that I'm really tired of this. Maybe I'm too young to be a hero, but I'm not a kid! I am fifteen for Christ's wounds, " he retorted. "What did you do when you were fifteen?!"

"You definitely can't compare that. I was brought up to kill. You didn't." And thank God for that.

"What happened to Uncle Rhodey?" he asked, wiping away the tears that had accumulated in his eyes. This was pretty shit, and she hated her nephew being part of it.

"He got hit in Germany," she replied simply.

"Really?" he asked sarcastically. "I already knew, so why don't you give me more than this."

"We're having control problems, Pete. We want to make the world a better place, but sometimes we fail. We can't always save everyone. And people hate us for it. They no longer see the good we do, but just how much damage we have left. So, it was either the end of the Avengers, or we will obey."

"Thaddeus Ross," he muttered rather to himself. He had contacted his father for weeks. Now he knows why.

"Yeah, Thaddeus Ross came and made us an offer. He called it the Sokovia Accords. Someone signed and some of us didn't."

"And you?"

"I did. I didn't mean to, but I did. Ross is not the leadership we need, but so far it was our only way."

"So what happened?"

"Steve's old friend came up and everything went to hell. We split into two teams. We should have brought Steve and the others to Ross. We didn't expect it to go smoothly, but we didn't expect it to turn into a real fight where there were no inhibitions. Steve and Bucky escaped. Rhodey went after them and Sam after him. Vision wanted to hit Sam, but he dodged and hit Rhodey. His system shut down and Rhodey crashed at big speed from a height. Both Sam and Tony tried to catch him, but they were too slow," she explained.

"But how did they manage to escape?" he asked, confused, and Natasha swallowed hard. These Stark men were really her weakness.

"I kind of let them run," she said in a firm voice.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I heard badly because I thought you said you let them run. But that would mean Rhodey's accident is up to you," he snapped.

"Вы должны успокоиться. Your dad knows about it. It wasn't ideal, I admit, but it turned out that Steve was right. With the profession we do, you must always count on the risk of injury."

"Don't tell me to calm down. I can't believe I still advised Dad to stick to your side. How could you betray him?! And please, don't bullshit me with 'the risk of injury'."

"Не будь королевой драмы. Твой отец не святой," she started to speak Russian because it was more comfortable for her in those moments, and Peter was perhaps the only one here who spoke Russian. Thanks to her and her teaching.

"Поверь мне, я это очень хорошо знаю. Do you think I worship him blindly? I know about all his mistakes. But he's still my dad who always made sure I was fine. And I want to do the same in return. I thought he'd be fine with you, Nat. I trusted you."

"I understand that there is a lot of it now. You should let it go through your head. The world is not just black and white and you know that. Я никогда не собирался тебя разочаровывать."

"Но это так. Can you leave me alone?" he asked, but they both knew it wasn't a question, more like announcing that he didn't want to see his aunt right now.

"As you wish. I'll tell Pepper to let you know when there's news about Rhodey," she said before leaving his room.