[ Sam meets her halfway for a hug. Makes it tight, makes it the kind you give someone you've lost and mourned - and then lost and mourned all over again. It's her, but it's not her - the moment they make eye contact, Sam can tell. There's not the sort of recognition in her that would come from having spent the past almost half a year on the station together. She moves to him like she hasn't seen him in 5 years.
And it doesn't matter - Sam's relieved that no sense of disappointment rises in him, just relief that second chances can come repeatedly, apparently. It's Natasha, and he'll grieve her as often as he has to for a chance to get her back, always.
His arms are solid and firm around her, holding her tight. He can't fathom what this is like for her - when for him, it's been four years by her side nearly non-stop, then the battle in Wakanda, and then coming back to life to find out she'd died. Half a year of mourning her, fiercly. He can't fathom what five years of that and more must have been like for her. She lost so much more than just him, just one friend, and yet she's the one who was also robbed of seeing her mission succeed, denied a reunion with her loved ones as she deserved. ]
Been a while, huh...
[ And yeah, his eyes are wet, his voice thick with emotion. So sue him. ]
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And it doesn't matter - Sam's relieved that no sense of disappointment rises in him, just relief that second chances can come repeatedly, apparently. It's Natasha, and he'll grieve her as often as he has to for a chance to get her back, always.
His arms are solid and firm around her, holding her tight. He can't fathom what this is like for her - when for him, it's been four years by her side nearly non-stop, then the battle in Wakanda, and then coming back to life to find out she'd died. Half a year of mourning her, fiercly. He can't fathom what five years of that and more must have been like for her. She lost so much more than just him, just one friend, and yet she's the one who was also robbed of seeing her mission succeed, denied a reunion with her loved ones as she deserved. ]
Been a while, huh...
[ And yeah, his eyes are wet, his voice thick with emotion. So sue him. ]