Work Text:
At first you had felt bad, observing the avengers from such a distance that they barely ever noticed you were there, but management had insisted. Now that you done the observations you had come to understand their reasoning. Naturally you had informed your subjects of the coming observations, told them that all you saw would not be shared with anyone but the person in question. None of them had been particularly happy to see you, but the contracts had been signed and your work had started.
All of them displayed some form of strain, some signs of stress. This wasn’t strange of course, perfectly understandable in fact. And your initial conversations with each member had been relatively easy going. Their hostility hadn’t been directed at you, just at the mandatory part of these observations and subsequent one on one meetings. All of them had been kind, polite and you could only hope they would be as pleasant at the end when you would hand them your discoveries and the followings tips.
Now, a few weeks into your observations it struck you that one person had been able to fool people rather successfully. She was good, really good at deflecting. It wasn’t surprising of course, she had been trained for it. Natasha had spend most of her life adapting to new situations, people and regimes. She been forced to do so, in order to survive, ever since she was a young girl. And despite the fact that she felt more at home now, that she was able to be herself, she easily fell back into old patterns when life got tough.
There were subtle differences in her behaviour whenever she was alone as opposed to being with her teammates and friends. She still smiled, took care of others, put out fires left snd right and she did all of it without a single complaint.
But upon closer inspection, one would see the growing bags under her eyes, the slumping of her shoulders as soon as she was alone and the sluggishness that had crawled into her movements.
You knew the only reason that you had been able to spot these changes in her behaviour was because of your place on the side line. The amount someone can discover from the outside looking in, is amazing. People don’t realise they have to hide anything from you.And that was how you were the one to discover that Natasha Romanoff, the strongest and most resilient person you knew, was overworked.
And though she was a master at hiding her struggles, it had slowly begun to show in her work. Assignments took her just a little longer, her agility was slacking and getting the upper hand in a fight got harder.
This week alone, Fury had called her into his office three times and though the contents of those meetings were strictly between the two of them, you could only imagine his worry. It was no secret that Natasha held a special place in the heart of the S.H.I.E.L.D boss. And if he was worried, it would be a matter of time before her teammates caught on, if some of them hadn’t already.
Before they did, and before her struggles would overwhelm her, you decided to take action.
There was no certainty that the woman would listen to you, but you had to try.
When you finally gathered the courage to approach her, you did so in a casual setting. You figured that she’d be more willing to lower her mask that way.
You begun with a re-introduction of yourself and your role in the tower, before you admitted that you thought she had been struggling a bit. Quick to deflect she had laughed it off, claiming that there was no need to worry about her and that she was perfectly fine.
As a therapist, you had expected such a response from her and countered with a summary of your observations and the promise that if she heard you out this once, you would not bother her again until the final therapy session in two months time. When she agreed after a long tense silence, you were elated.
You didn’t tell her to talk about it, not to you anyway. Though you did mention that it was an option. Instead you told her that there were other steps she could possibly try first. Some simply tricks to help her relax and recharge, just so she wouldn’t push herself past the point of no return.
It wasn’t your intention to get too personal, to invade her space too much, you knew how delicate personal space was. You simply wanted to help her in a way that would make her comfortable.
Still a little apprehensive, Natasha asked for suggestions and you gave her a few. Such as a vacation, a spa day or day of disconnecting from your mobile devices. Anything that would help her relax, a setting where there would be no expectations and no pressure. It didn’t have to be big, small steps were fine, they all helped in the long run.
After you had said your bit, you wished her a good day and went back to your office, unsure if she would take your unsolicited advice. Still, you had done all you could do for now and hoped she’d find a way to feel better.
The surprise was therefore very big when Natasha showed up in your office three days later, thanking you for the advice and informing you that she and Wanda had indeed booked a spa day the following weekend. She had decided to act on your advice and for someone as guarded as Natasha was, this was a huge step.
When you run into her a few days later you saw that the bags under het eyes had dimmed slightly. You smiled and approached her, asking her how she was doing and if she was happy to have taken the day.
“Yeah,” She nodded, a kind smile on her features, “I have to admit, you were right.”