"Not exactly where I'd expect us to meet," Natasha says with real humor. The last few decades, she would have been surprised anywhere they ran into each other. Maybe in the 70s, when they were both neck deep in politics—often cross-purpose politics.

How was she supposed to handle this now, when she was one step removed from a fugitive and barely sure what she was doing herself? Wryly, she asks: "Work still good?"