The following week at the infirmary proved to be challenging for Eleanor. There wasn't enough time to allow her to slowly heal like she and Natasha would have liked, with being on the run and Maria being spotted coming in and out during the start of the stay it was too risky to stay for long. So, this meant that as soon as Eleanor regained the slightest amount of feeling in her legs she was up and about doing exercises to try and rebuild her strength, as going out whilst being hunted down without being able to at least jog was also risky.

Every time Eleanor made a pained face as she walked with the help of a walker, Natasha felt her heart break. Her wife was struggling and in pain, being pushed to the limits that her body shouldn't be doing during recovery, but there was nothing that she could do to help. She couldn't get the nurse to change the physiotherapy plan as they needed to leave the hospital in a few days, they needed to know that Eleanor had a shot at making a break for it if they started being shot at, and so they had to keep pushing her body whilst in a controlled environment.

Eleanor kept pushing on through the pain, ignoring the looks she got from Natasha, even though it felt like someone was smashing her spine with an axe. She knew that over the next few weeks she would have to get used to being in pain whilst moving around if they had any chance of escaping the authorities as they moved around to reach a safe place. She just wished that she didn't feel so useless. If she hadn't gotten flung away at the end of the fight then she wouldn't have hit her spine against the railing - at a very high speed - and Natasha would most likely have already reached safety. She knew that she was holding Nat back, but she couldn't fasten her progress without completely damaging her spine, it was already holding on by a thread.

Though through all of the blood, sweat and tears, the remaining week at the hospital that started when Eleanor had woken up was over. She was able to slowly walk around with her arm linked with Nat's, and that was good enough for now. They had discussed various plans of where to go and who to trust in order to get them there, but after a lot of late-night debates after one of them noticed a flaw, they had finally settled on one.

When they were settled at their apartment and had completed the necessary checks to ensure that there was no one who had followed them there, Natasha would then reach out to one of her old contacts, Mason, to try and organise a safe house for them. The safe house would be their final destination for hopefully a few months at the minimum, they didn't particularly want to travel around dodging people left, right and centre. Comfort was wanted, even if they were on the run.

Either way, depending on the space that Mason would be able to get them, they needed to look around for more places to stay whilst on their journey. It wasn't going to be somewhere in America that was for sure, but if they ended up in Europe or Asia, then they needed to organise places to stay during pitstops and rest breaks. So, they looked around online to find any secluded motels and monitored past and current CCTV activity to check when their busiest times and days were. They weren't going to use the front desk at any of these places as they would be recognised, but during quiet times they could sneak in. It was something well within their skill set.

Whilst in the car on the way to their apartment, Eleanor was going through everything over and over in her head. Even after a couple of weeks of accord arguments going on and knowing that being on the run was on the cards, she still couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that it had actually happened.

Going down familiar roads through Washington wasn't helping either, only bringing back memories of their life from a few years ago. Back when their lives were simpler. Granted their lives had always had complexity running through them, but in the grand scheme of things, it was very simple compared to now. As they travelled through the city, all Eleanor could picture was her and Natasha walking hand in hand to grab coffees, heading off to work early in the morning with Eleanor feeling dead in the passenger seat, their little dates to new restaurants that popped up. She would give anything to be living in those days again.

With Eleanor's legs still feeling wobbly, there was no way that Natasha was going to allow her to drive the multiple-hour journey to the apartment. So, as Nat was driving, she kept sparing small glances at her wife next to her, and could practically hear the grinding of the cogs in her head, moving at a speed that they shouldn't be.

"Hey, honey, what's going through your head?", Nat gave Eleanor a comforting thigh rub, though this only pushed Eleanor over the edge as tears formed in her waterline. The touch didn't feel the same. Nat was patiently waiting for an answer whilst keeping an eye on the road, but she wasn't expecting to hear a gut-wrenching sob pass her wife's lips. Natasha's eyes widened and she did a double take to make sure she was hearing correctly, and when she saw Eleanor's shoulders shaking she knew that she was. "Woah, woah, okay", Nat rushed out and swerved the car into the next lane so that she could pull over.

As soon as she got into a layby, she harshly yanked the handbrake up causing the car to screech down the road a few metres, tire marks being left in their wake. Though Natasha wasn't bothered about that at the moment. She unclipped her seatbelt and immediately threw her arms around Eleanor, and felt her hands immediately wrap around Nat too, squeezing with a death grip. She held her for a few minutes, allowing her to get her breath back before leaning away from the hug and cupping her face, searching Eleanor's eyes for answers. Both women seeing pain in each other's irises.

"I'm sorry it's stupid", Eleanor gave a dry laugh and shrugged, earning a fast noise of disagreement from Natasha as she shook her head. "Whatever is bothering you isn't stupid, El. You can feel, it's okay".

With a loud sigh Eleanor nodded, "Just being back here reminds me of when we first met, when we first started dating, and- I don't know I guess just in times like this I wish we could go back to then. God I miss then", she chewed on her bottom lip and Nat nodded, going back in time sounded nice. "I just got caught up in my head about it, and then you touched my leg and I couldn't feel it properly and I just spiralled I'm sorry".

Immediately Nat placed her forehead against Eleanor's and nuzzled their noses together affectionately, "It'll all be okay, we'll be together and that's all that matters, детка. And you're recovering so well, so well, you'll be back to normal in no time I promise you".

With a shaky exhale Eleanor pressed her lips against Natasha's, needing to feel something, needing to forget. Natasha smiled into the kiss, sending a bolt of joy through Eleanor's body. She had Natasha. "Yeah", she breathed out when pulling away from Nat, "We have us, that's all that matters". Natasha smiled, they would be okay.

---

"Home sweet home!", Nat announced as she unlocked the door, and both looked around their apartment in awe. It was a bit dusty, but it was home. Their home. They gave each other giant grins as the door closed behind them and they took it all in. The living room where they had spent many movie and games nights, the small kitchen that they had slow danced in at three in the morning whilst cooking up some fajitas after a mission. The office where they had helped each other fill out report after report into the late hours of the night.

Both felt emotional as they looked around, but eventually, they knew they had to go in fully, so Nat linked her arm around Eleanor's again and guided her over to the sofa. "I'm going to go and check the perimeter, check that no one followed us here", Nat spoke and placed a kiss on Eleanor's forehead before walking away, but quickly came to a standstill when she heard a cheerful, "Okay, I'll come with".

Nat turned around with a grimace as she saw Eleanor shuffling towards her with a big smile on her face, "Sweetheart...", Nat started and Eleanor's smile dropped, "I need you to stay here, it's not safe for you yet". Eleanor visibly deflated, "Well what can I do to help then?".

"You", Natasha exaggerated with a smile and tried to guide Eleanor back to the sofa, "Can sit your ass down and relax, okay?". But Nat ended up huffing out a breath when Eleanor fought against her guidance and shook her head, "No, no. I need to move around a bit after sitting in the car for a few hours, I've really seized up and it hurts".

Nat didn't argue against it like Eleanor had expected her to, if she was in pain from sitting for too long then that was fair enough. But she did want to find an easy task for her, so looked around before having a lightbulb moment and rushing over to the bathroom, leaving a very confused Eleanor standing idly in the middle of the living room. It took a few minutes, but after hearing a few crashes from inside the bathroom, Natasha walked back out with a feather duster in hand, a grin still present on her face, likely because she had convinced Eleanor to stay inside of the apartment.

"You can dust this place, it's a mess", she placed the duster in Eleanor's outstretched palm, pressed a kiss onto her cheek and walked out to do the perimeter checks. Eleanor watched her walk out with blank eyes before shrugging and slowly moving around the apartment to make it look more appealing, and less lung-killing. She could only move so fast so by the time she had done half of the apartment Natasha had already returned and assured the other that no one had seen them go into the apartment. They were safe.

That news made Eleanor feel like she was walking on air, she had been feeling as though with their luck they would have been immediately arrested. "Are you nearly done?", Nat walked over to Eleanor and inspected the little trinkets she was dusting on the fireplace. "Almost! Just have to finish the living room and then the kitchen". Natasha nodded and placed an arm around Eleanor's waist to stabilise her, and slowly moved around the apartment alongside her wife, rubbing small circles onto her hips with her thumb.

With the pace of a snail, it took a further twenty minutes, which Eleanor kept apologising profusely for, but Natasha kept assuring her that she didn't mind. She'd shuffle around the apartment for hours if Eleanor needed her to. Though eventually, she had finished, so Natasha went to go and check the supplies in the kitchen that Maria was supposed to bring for them. Luckily there was a whole supply of canned foods, noodles, pasta, bread, fruits, and some frozen meat. They would be good without going on a stock run for a month if they needed to. Thank God for Maria.

---

Once they were settled on the sofa they called Eleanor's Aunt Sarah from a burner phone that Maria had provided, which was to be destroyed immediately after. They had a lovely but short conversation explaining Eleanor's recovery and the situation from their point of view, but not saying where they were or where they were going on the slim chance that they were being listened in on. Sarah understood completely and also insisted on not knowing just in case she was questioned.

After that, the pair had nothing to do but relax for the first time in a few days. They sat on their sofa, Natasha's arm draped over Eleanor with the younger woman cuddled into her side, just revelling in being together again. It had been an extremely rough few weeks. Eleanor had thought that Natasha was livid with her for choosing to go with Sam, and was half expecting divorce papers to be delivered to the safe house that she would be in alone. And Natasha was half expecting Eleanor to have either been killed or thrown in the raft for the rest of their lives.

Being on the run was a much better outcome, so while it was not ideal, they were still so grateful to be on that path instead of the others that they had conjured up in their minds. Eleanor had been silent, so much so that Natasha was sure that she had fallen asleep, especially as she had her eyes closed. So, when she suddenly went "Oh!", Nat almost jumped out of her skin, which doesn't happen often, but before she could complain, Eleanor continued, "Could you get the shoe box from under our bed?".

"Sure, but why?", Nat questioned whilst gently removing her arm and standing, making sure to place a cushion behind Eleanor to make up for the absence of her hand. "You'll find out", Eleanor smirked, and Nat tilted her head, but went to grab the box anyway.

A few moments later a confused but intrigued Natasha entered the room and sat next to Eleanor, with a gap where the box was placed. When Nat looked up she saw Eleanor looking at her expectedly, which confused her further. "What?".

"Open the box, dingus", she laughed, and Natasha just pulled a face at her before her demeanour stilled as she opened it. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought, she recognised the contents of the box. Of course she did, how could she not? "You... you kept these?", she spoke in a whisper as she gently pressed the pads of her fingers on the contents.

"Of course", Eleanor said even quieter somehow, "I couldn't throw out a single one". Natasha felt herself falling in love with Eleanor all over again. She used to leave little notes for Eleanor on coloured paper dotted around the apartment when they lived there full-time. When they disappeared she had always assumed that Eleanor had read them and then tossed them out, which she didn't mind. They were just silly notes. Never in a million years had she expected to be faced with the hundreds of notes that she had written again, all in one place.

She watched as Eleanor smiled and rummaged through the box, picking up a note and gently opening it, showing Nat the note. She felt tears rush to her waterline as she saw something she didn't recognise on the paper, Eleanor's handwriting at the bottom showing the date that it was written, so Natasha picked up another note, seeing the date again. And then another note, the same outcome. "You're incredible", she breathed out as she took the note out of Eleanor's hand.

"23.10.13 The smileys you showed me are cute. :) :D".

Natasha smiled at the memory and picked up another note, but not without saying "You write your dates the wrong way around", earning a scoff from her wife, who disagreed with the American date system. "2.3.14 I love waking up with you in my arms, do you wanna date? :)". She loudly laughed at that one and showed it to Eleanor whose eyes sparkled with fondness. But then Natasha picked up a note that made the very air in her lungs get stuck, and the tears she had been holding back fell.

"5.2.14 Happy 5th Anniversary my love. You are the reason I wake up every morning, the reason I take my next breath, and the reason for all of my smiles. You deserve the entire world and I will spend the rest of my days trying to give that to you. I love you with all of my heart. - N xx :)".