In The Line Of Duty (September 2012)

Kate felt torn about what had happened. How was she supposed to have guessed that Natalya was still alive? All the evidence pointed to her being dead. The SSB had even released a picture of her. She couldn't risk the lives of the rest of her team. That was just apart of the job. Everyone understood the risks they took. However, knowing that Natalya had been captured and tortured and raped got to Kate as both a woman and her friend. She had been struggling emotionally about this since Natalya had shown back up at the Tower.

Kate heard a knock at their door and watched as Steve stepped out and closed the door behind him. A second later she heard Logan push Steve against the door and heard what he said. He wasn't entirely wrong. She could have gone in to the building herself, but Natalya had insisted on going. Logan had been there and had heard it. Everyone on the team had different skills and the team utilized those skills. Natalya had the best espionage skills of everyone in the group. Kate was good at espionage, but Natalya was better. And Natalya spoke Russian. She had been the clear choice, but it was evident that Logan didn't feel that way.

Isabella walked over to Steve after Logan left and she looked at him. "He's just upset. Give him space and time to cool down. Natalya insisted on being the one to go in to the complex. There wasn't time to sit there and argue with her about it. She made that decision."

The next few days were some of the hardest Logan had ever seen with Natalya. On the last night she spent in the infirmary she had cut his throat with a scalpel and tried to strangle him with her bare hands. How she got the scalpel or if she had a waking dream and got it herself he didn’t know but it had come as a shock to the both of them what she had done though there were no ‘lasting’ injuries from it which made Logan the perfect person to help her recover.

The nights that followed were not quite so bad and he made certain that their room smelled of maple syrup and beer and other things that Natalya liked. The infirmary smelled like what it was and he knew that Natalya reacted better when her senses knew where she was before her mind did. Just as he knew it would happen she woke up screaming and elbowed him in the nose as he grabbed hold of her even half asleep as he was. She trembled in his arms but the nightmares passed like they always did. Kissing her neck and murmuring soothing tones in her ear.

When Peter had learned of what happened he came over to play cards with her. Since that day that she had been there to help him against that SSB agent, Peter had thought of Natalya as an older sister or cousin. Natalya liked the game called ‘Wolf’ the most, a hybrid of gin rummy and another similar game that she was quite good at. She usually won Wolf but sometimes Peter or Logan won, if not as often.

Logan was there for her but he knew by now that crowding her was not how she needed him. He was there for her when she needed comfort or just to be held or kissed. And when she didn’t want those things he was just nearby. Always there for her and never when she did not want him. In truth is was not easy for Logan to go back like this. They had made so much progress and now almost all of it...ruined! Logan would sometimes, while she slept get up to go to the bathroom and weep in private for her. NEVER where anyone, especially her, could hear him. He couldn’t know that she did hear him though, she knew him far more than he thought she did after all. Outwardly Logan was pretty much the same, belligerent guy he always was but he always had a soft space in his heart for Natalya. He loved her more than he loved anything else and the only thing he could do is help her and move forward.