Maybe she’d been naive to not consider this a possibility. That whatever they were doing in Wakanda might dig up other ancient history in addition to just getting rid of the conditioning. She’d stayed away for sensible reasons: he was Steve’s friend, he had enough going on, he’d shot her (twice!), there was no reason for her to be involved when she had her own plate full with staying off the radar and away from Ross. But now, here it is, laid out in the plain light of day.

Natasha stares at her glass, ruefully, then gestures for the bottle. They’re going to need more vodka for this.

“Steve doesn’t know,” she puts out there, conversationally. Seems like the most important thing to clarify, though she can tell already there are hurt feelings there. After all, she’s here, not Steve. “Never got around to telling him.”

She’s had decades to try and rationalize lies — white lies, lies of omission, lies to protect others… But in the end, it’s all dishonesty. No sense in trying to call it anything but what it is, at least in this case. Steve rarely asked about her past. She never told him about it. Whatever shared history she had with Bucky (James, it’s always James in her head, no matter how many times she tries otherwise), it hadn’t come up.

“How much do you remember?”