Natasha had let herself love her little group of misfits, of people broken in ways that made her feel like there was some hope. Steve, who turned it into something truly sensational, all the way down to Bruce, just trying to cope. They'd all made her believe, for a little while, that maybe the reason life broke some people was to let them find others, also broken, who could understand them enough to take them the way they were. They'd made her believe she could need people, and not be let down. She'd never had home, but for a while, she'd come damn close.

"Later than that," she said softly. "Things... don't turn out well." She wouldn't sugar coat things. Wanda didn't deserve to be lied to.