Archive of Our Own ^beta

It’s late by the time Maria returns to her quarters. Or early if you really want to get technical about it. She swears her eyes are crossing when she takes a glance at her watch, and she can’t even make out the time. What she does know is she hasn’t had a proper night’s rest in well over 36 hours. The three thirty-minute power naps she managed in her office certainly haven’t helped any.

Stepping into her quarters, she immediately rids herself off her boots, haphazardly kicking them against the wall in a careless display that’s uncharacteristic of the usually well-kept deputy. As she tracks through her room, she doesn’t even acknowledge the lump starting to shift underneath her blankets. She simply continues into the bathroom where she closes the door without a word.

Across the room, Natasha blinks with bleary eyes as she’s pulled into the realm of consciousness. A quick glance to the bedside table tells her it’s just past three in the morning. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she yawns and stretches in catlike fashion, releasing some of the tension in her muscles. She then turns her attention to the bathroom door, where she can hear the shower running.

Yawning again, the assassin tucks herself back underneath the blankets and waits. She hadn’t intended on falling asleep to begin with, but as time ticked on, the day started to catch up with her. She can only imagine that it’s the same for her lover.

Soon, the water in the bathroom is shutting off and Maria emerges moments later, toweling her hair dry having changed into a tank top and pajama shorts. Her jaw is still pulled tight as she slides into bed and she says nothing as she turns onto her side facing away from Natasha.

Natasha blinks at the lack of contact. She had fully expected Maria to assume their usual position, curling around her protectively with Natasha’s head tucked safely into her shoulder. Turning over, she arches a brow at the sight of her girlfriend facing away from her. After a moment, she shuffles over and props her chin on Maria’s shoulder.

“Wanna talk about it?” She prods carefully.

Maria lets out an aggravated breath and Natasha can practically feel the stress radiating off her in vibrant waves. 

“I’d rather not,” Maria grumbles lowly.

“Hm…” Nat hums. “Is whatever it is the reason you’re coming to bed at three in the morning?”

“It is.”

“Is it something I did?”

“No.” Maria sighs tiredly and turns over onto her back. Her brow is furrowed deep as she looks up at her girlfriend. “But if there’s something you’ve done that I need to know about I suggest you tell me now to avoid the lashing I’ll give you later.”

Natasha chuckles and wiggles her way into Maria’s side. She throws a leg over Maria’s and drapes an arm across her waist. She doesn’t miss the sigh of contentment that escapes the other woman’s lips as she settles with her head on her chest.

“Well whatever it is, it’s tomorrow’s problem.”

“It’s already tomorrow, Nat.”

Natasha rolls her eyes and pinched Maria’s side. “You know what I mean. Get some rest. Whatever it is will sort itself out tomorrow.”

Maria lets out another sigh, but she allows her arm to tighten around her girlfriend. Despite her body screaming that she needs sleep, she finds herself unable to nod off. She instead tries to focus on Natasha’s breathing as it eventually evens out. Only god knows how long she stares at the ceiling before she finally gets some sleep.

When Natasha wakes up the next morning, she’s a bit disappointed to find the other side of the bed already empty. She reaches out and touches the pillow, her lips tugging downward when her fingers ghost the chilled fabric. She concludes that Maria’s been gone for a while, and she sighs audibly.

It had been a rough night. While she was able to catch decent sleep herself, she could tell that Maria had spent the better part of the night tossing and turning. Occasionally, Natasha found herself temporarily woken by sounds of an aggravated grunt and a heavy sigh. She had attempted to reach out and offer the other woman any form of touch for comfort, but it had all proven futile as the restless movements had shaken her off.

Glancing at the time, she knows that she should get her day started, not that she would want to sink back into a cold bed anyway. While in the shower, her mind drifts off back to her girlfriend. She’s no stranger to Maria’s stress, but something about last night had just felt off. The tension had physically manifested in the way her shoulders were tight and Natasha could’ve sworn she physically felt the stress radiating from her in dangerous waves. It bothered her that she couldn’t do anything to ease it.

Natasha’s own lack of appetite has her settling for a coffee and a plain muffin for breakfast. She currently finds herself sitting across from Clint, rolling her eyes as she watches him stuff his face like a toddler from the mountain of food he’s acquired.

“Yurf ooomf kwawf toomfs.”

Nat screws up her face as Clint tries to talk around a mouth full of food. God the man really could be a child sometimes.

“You’re not five, Barton. Chew your fucking food.”

Clint hunches sheepishly and does just that, dabbing his face with the napkin thrown at him before he tries again.

“Heh, sorry. I was saying, you’re awfully quiet this morning.” He then nods at her sad excuse for breakfast. “It’s waffle day. You normally don’t miss out on waffle day.”

Shrugging a shoulder, Nat picks at her muffin before popping a bite into her mouth. “Not really feeling it today. Was a rough night.”

Clint’s demeanor shifts and he frowns in concern. “Is everything okay?”

Shaking her head, Natasha can only shrug again. “Maybe? I’m not sure. Maria got back late last night. I mean, it was almost 3 AM. She hardly even said anything and when she got into bed, it was like I was sleeping next to a rock all night. She was gone before I woke up this morning.”

Humming quietly, Clint rolls his head from side to side. He’s never been the one to give expert relationship advice. In fact, he’s notorious for giving generally questionable advice, but for Nat he always does his best to sound reasonable. Even if sometimes their versions of reasonable vary drastically.

“I mean, she does have a lot going on, I’m sure.” He waves a hand, gesturing to the entirety of the cafeteria. “Being second in command and in charge of running this place can take a lot out of anybody.”

“Yeah, I know. But it just seemed so different. Like there was something she’s not telling me.” Natasha shakes her head. “Maybe I’m overreacting. I just worry about her, you know? She’s not exactly known for taking care of herself.”

Clint snorts. “And you are?” He expects something to be thrown in his direction, but instead Natasha moves with lightning quickness and steals a couple pieces of bacon from his plate. “Hey!”

Nat meets his pout with a smirk and makes a show of enjoying his bacon before she pushes herself to her feet. “I’ve got a briefing in a few. Thanks for listening.”

“Anytime,” Clint sighs before pointing his fork at her menacingly. “You owe me for that bacon, by the way!” He shouts, huffing as he can hear the proud laugh from her retreating form.

“You look like shit.”

Maria arches a brow at the bluntness. She rescinds on her staring contest with the floor to focus her attention on the man next to her. She looks up to find Fury watching her closely.

She scoffs. “I feel like shit.” She responds. “Are you surprised?”

Fury raises a brow. “Honestly? Yes. I’ve seen you work yourself into the ground on countless occasions and never have you shown up actually looking like you got what? 3 hours of sleep?”

Maria shifts on her feet and folds her arms. “It’s probably been 6 hours for the entire week.”

In a rare display, Fury turns to her and steps closer. “Look Maria,” his voice is uncharacteristically soft as he speaks. “If you need to step away from this…”

His softness does nothing to put her at ease, and Maria finds herself tensing even further. She turns to him and lifts her chin. “I can do my fucking job, Nick.” She grinds out, her teeth clenching tightly.

Fury’s eye narrows as he watches her, only slightly surprised at her response. He wants to push the issue further, as this behavior of his deputy is abnormal, but he doesn’t get the chance to. He steps away at the sound of the door opening, and he places his arms behind his back, nodding a greeting to the agent that has just entered the room.

“Agent Romanoff.”

“Directors…” Natasha nods her greeting in return, but her suspicion is not lost on anyone in the room. She certainly hadn’t expected her briefing to be graced by the presence of both SHIELD’s first and second in command. When she realizes she’s also the only agent in the room, she suddenly wonders just what this is about.

“Whatever it is you think I might have done, it’s Clint’s fault.” Natasha quips, trying to ease some of the obvious tension in the room. She takes note of how Fury actually snorts quietly but she’s a bit disappointed that Maria doesn’t seem to react. The commander simply continues to stand with her arms folded tightly across her chest while she stares at the table in front of her.

Fury shakes his head when Natasha’s eyes meet his in silent question. “Have a seat and we’ll get started.”

Natasha nods, noticing how Fury takes the seat directly across from her but Maria doesn’t appear to move. Her eyebrows furrow in concern, something Fury picks up on as he clears her throat loudly.

“Agent Hill, would you care to join us?” His tone is professional, but anyone could hear the ‘you need to fucking relax’ in his voice.

Maria appears to blink herself back in existence. Her movements are almost robotic as she moves to take a seat at Fury’s side. She catches Natasha’s concerned eyes watching her, but she’s not able to hold her gaze for very long. She simply drops her gaze back to the table.

Fury produces a file folder and slides it across the table. “We’ve got an assignment for you. High profile, undercover.”

Natasha’s eyebrows raise as she takes the folder. It’s been a long time since she’s done an undercover op for SHIELD. Most of her work as of recent has been a lot of in and out intel gathering. Even the extraction op she had a month ago was pretty run of the mill. Certainly nothing that would require her to be briefed by Fury himself no less.

Opening the folder, Natasha’s eyes roam over the first page and her eyebrows raise high. “Tony Stark?” She wonders aloud before looking up at Fury. “The rich idiot who admitted to flying around in a weaponized tin can?”

“The one and only,” Fury leans back in his chair. “We need you to infiltrate Stark Industries. Get close to him.”

“Okay?” Natasha drawls out as she continues to flip through the file. A few words catch her attention and her eyebrows raise again. “Says here that he’s dying?”

“He is.”

For the first time, Maria finally speaks. Her voice is quiet but devoid of any emotion. It’s not lost on Natasha that something passes over her girlfriend’s eyes, but it’s gone in such a flash she’s not able to identify what it is.

Maria clears her throat. “That thing he’s got in his chest. It’s poisoning him. On top of that, he’s become incredibly reckless. Not only do we need to know more about what’s going on, we need to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid and get anyone killed…or himself.”

There it is again. That…is it softness? Natasha isn’t sure.

“Right so. Basically a glorified babysitting job for a grown man with too much money, too much ego, and access to way too much technology.” Natasha angles her head at Fury. “I get all that right?”

Fury kind of smirks as he chuckles quietly. He’s sure he’ll never grow tired of Natasha’s spitfire attitude, even in a professional setting. He surmises that’s what makes her quite the match for his deputy.

“Our scientists have developed an antidote for the poisoning. We hope that it will slow his symptoms long enough to get him to pull his head out of his ass.” Fury says gruffly.

“It’s just a matter of getting him to take it,” Maria sighs.

Natasha hums, flipping the file closed as she leans back in her chair. “You said get close to him. Does that mean I have to sleep with him?”

Given her history, it’s a very honest question but that still doesn’t stop it from taking Fury off guard. He coughs and his eye immediately shoots over to Maria who tenses even further, if that were even possible. He quickly looks back over to Natasha who has no doubt noticed his deputy’s subtle reaction.

“I don’t foresee that will be necessary, Agent.”

Natasha certainly hadn’t missed the way Maria’s jaw pulled impossibly tight at her question and she knows Fury hadn’t either. He’s one of the two total people who actually know about their relationship, and she can only imagine the conversation between the two of them when he presented this operation. She files this away to bring up some time soon.

“How long do I have?”

“You leave at the end of the week. That should give you substantial time to prepare. Agent Hill will be your point of contact for the duration of your mission.”

Maria doesn’t move as Natasha pushes away from the table and thanks them. She looks up momentarily and catches Natasha’s gaze. She can see the silent pleading in her eyes and for the first time that day, she feels her shoulders sag just a bit. She gives a subtle nod, seemingly answering a silent question.

“Hill. I meant what I said,” Fury starts after Natasha has left the room. “If you can’t do this, I can find someone else.”

Maria wants to snap at him. She wants to kick and scream and shake him for putting her in this situation, but at the end of the day she knows she can’t. Not because he’s her boss but because she knows it’s not his fault. Chance has a very shitty way of operating and no matter how bad she wants to assign that blame to a physical being, she knows she’s can’t. It certainly doesn’t make it any easier.

“I can do it, Nick. It’s just,” she sighs and runs at her tired eyes. “It’s going to be hard.”

Fury reaches out and presses a reassuring hand to her shoulder. “Romanoff is the best we’ve got for something like this. And Stark—”

“I know.” Maria cuts him off, feeling her body sag as her exhaustion begins to catch up with her. “I know.”

“Take the rest of the day. You could use it.”

“Nick—”

“Maria.”

She knows that tone. It’s the one he pulls out that sounds like a father gently scolding his disobedient child. She wants to protest, but her exhaustion won’t allow her to. She simply hangs her head and nods, silently exiting the briefing room feeling like the weight of the world is on her shoulders.

Maria swirls the amber liquid in her glass around for the nth time before she takes a hearty sip. There’s a satisfying burn in her throat as it makes its way down and she lets out a sigh, sinking further into the couch. She jumps sightly when a presence makes itself known behind her.

“Drinking on a weekday, Commander? That doesn’t seem like you.”

Maria sighs again but allows her head to roll to the side as hands come up and begin to massage her shoulders. She’s unable to stop the groan that escapes her as dangerously talented fingers knead away the tension in her muscles. it’s almost enough to make her forget the drink in her hand. Almost.

“Been a long week…” she grumbles before bringing the glass back to her lips.

“I noticed.” Natasha halfway leans over the couch and presses a chaste kiss to Maria’s cheek before she makes her way back to the counter where she’s sorting through some toiletries. Her brow furrows slightly as she looks over and watches Maria top off her glass. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Maria snorts, seemingly satisfied with watching the bourbon swirl in her glass. “Would cost more than a penny for these thoughts.”

Natasha angles her head. “You wanna try me?” When she’s met with nothing but silence in response, she’s unsure if she should push further. Instead, she tries to take a different approach. “Okay…” she drags out. “Wanna help me build my cover?”

At this, Maria actually turns to look at her, arching a brow in interest. “Since when do you need my help with your covers? You’ve got hundreds of them.”

Nat shrugs. “I dunno. It could be a fun game. Humor me.”

It goes unsaid, but Maria knows Natasha picked up on her tension during the briefing earlier. She had done a piss poor job at hiding it, no wonder Fury all but forced her to take the rest of the day off. She knows better than anyone that the last thing Natasha actually needs is help to build a cover. There’s no one in all of SHIELD that has her level of expertise in espionage. Maria can only guess that it’s Natasha’s way of offering her some form of control, since she obviously isn’t too happy about the op.

“Alright,” Maria tilts her head back to rest against the back of the couch. “How about Anya. You’re a Swedish model who has done shows all over the world. You speak eight languages, including ASL. Your hobbies include skydiving, snorkeling, axe throwing, and knitting. Your favorite movie is Legally Blonde because Reese Witherspoon reminds you of yourself. Your favorite food is fish tacos but only if they’re tempura fried.”

There is silence as Natasha only blinks at Maria as if she’s grown three heads.

“You cannot be serious.”

Maria grins, a genuine one for the first time that day as she looks back over the sofa. “Not in the slightest.”

The two women share a laugh and Natasha abandons her packing as she rounds the couch. She commandeers the glass, taking a small sip as she settles herself comfortably into Maria’s lap. She pulls a face as she reaches back to set the glass down on the coffee table behind her.

“I really need you to start drinking proper liquor.”

Maria arches a brow in challenger. “Is that so? Just because you down vodka like it’s water, doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t know how to drink.”

Natasha shakes her head. “I didn’t say you didn’t know how to drink. I just said you don’t have any taste.”

Maria laughs despite herself. She lets out another sigh, this one seeming to be more content as she allows her hands to rest on Natasha’s hips. She feels even more of her tension ease away at their closeness. Apparently this is something Natasha notices as well as she loosely drapes her arms over Maria’s shoulders.

“I wouldn’t have done it, you know,” Natasha says quietly. “If Fury had asked me to. I wouldn’t agree to sleeping with Stark.”

Maria feels something akin to a retch forming in the back of her throat but she’s able to quell it in favor of actual words. “He wouldn’t have asked that if you. We’re not the…” she cuts herself off abruptly and sighs. “We’re not them.”

Natasha shrugs a shoulder. “Sometimes it is required for an op. I wasn’t sure if—”

“Natasha,” Maria’s voice is firm. “I will never ask that of you. Ever. Neither will Nick. He won’t go that far to get things done and besides, he knows I’d kill him.”

“I’m not sure that man can be killed,” Natasha chuckles with a shake of her head before her brow furrows. “But it still bothers you.”

Maria sucks in a breath and opts to focus on her fingers absently playing with the belt loops of Natasha’s jeans. “It bothers me for a number of reasons.” Many of which she can’t even voice right now. “Guess I’m just worried. A lot could go wrong here. I just…I want everyone to be safe.”

Feeling soft hands cup her face, Maria allows her head to be tilted upward where soft lips are pressed against her own. She hums in satisfaction as Natasha deepens the kiss and she soon finds her hands gripping her girlfriend’s waist just a bit tighter as she reverses their positions to press Natasha into the sofa cushions.

“I know you can take care of yourself out in the field,” Maria presses a gentle kiss to Natasha’s lips. “But let me take care of you tonight?”

Maria watches patiently as Natasha searches her. When she seems satisfied, she is granted a nod and she leans down to gingerly press her lips to her girlfriend’s neck. It’s as if in that moment the weight of the world melts away, and right now the only thing that matters is the woman in her arms.

The hangar is thankfully empty on this early morning and that’s how Maria has found her arms full of assassin as Natasha clings to her tightly.

“You act like I’m going away to war,” Natasha chuckles though she doesn’t loosen her arms around Maria’s neck.

Maria echoes the laugh. “With all the chaos going on out there, you might be.” She pulls away long enough to look into Natasha’s eyes. Though their embrace is anything less than friendly, Maria knows better than to kiss her this out in the open. “Be careful, Nat.”

Natasha raises an eyebrow as her eyes dance in amusement. “It’s a simple undercover op, Maria. Stark is harmless. I’ll be more than fine.”

Maria momentarily worries her bottom lip before she nods. “I know, I know. I just,” a heavy sigh. “Tony is acting like a hardheaded idiot right now and I don’t want you to get caught up in his mess.” 

“Tony?” Natasha echos back with a tilt of her head. “I didn’t realize you and Stark were on a first name basis.” She smirks and shakes her head. “I’ve got it, babe. I’ve got plenty of practice with hard heads.”

She grins when Maria rolls her eyes, picking up the jab at her expense. Glancing around, Natasha deems it momentarily safe and she steps up on her toes to place a quick kiss to Maria’s nose. “I’ll call you as soon as I land.”

Maria grins slightly. “You better. It’s protocol for you to check in with your commanding officer.”

Natasha gives her a playful swat, but gently squeezes her hand in goodbye before heading off for the jet that will be her transport. Maria folds her arms, and as the jet exits the hangar, she doesn’t startle at the presence suddenly at her side. She doesn’t need to look over to guess that it’s one of the two remaining people that would be comfortable enough to approach her.

“She’ll be alright, Hill.” Clint offers sincerely.

Maria only hums and barely glances at the archer out of the corner of her eye.

“She’s not the only one I’m worried about.”

The phrase is mumbled so quietly that he misses it, and before Clint can even think about asking the commander to repeat herself, he turns to his right to find her already gone.

Maria has a headache. The type of headache that just sits behind your eyes and no matter how many painkillers you down throughout the day, it still shows no sign of letting up. As a matter of fact, she’s almost certain that it’s slowly becoming a migraine.

Her day has been an eventful one. First, she had to introduce herself to a new recruit class, and that hadn’t gone well as two of them couldn’t even fall in line correctly without tripping over themselves. Maria understands first day jitters but good god. Second, she had spilled coffee all over her desk, successfully soaking a near finished report that Fury wants on his desk by end of day. Lastly, she’s been in and out of meetings all day, all of which were supreme wastes of her time and she wasn’t shy about making sure everyone knew that. She could care less if everyone thought she was an asshole after today. She just wants to take a fucking nap.

That nap will have to wait. Currently, she’s pacing in her office, not-so-patiently waiting for a video call to connect. When it finally connects, she stops her pacing and faces the video board with her hands clasped tightly behind back.

“Agent Romanoff.”

“Hey—whoa. ‘Agent Romanoff’? Are you not alone?” Natasha’s video image tilts her head and she leans in appearing to squint. “No, you look like you’re in your office.” Her eyes widen just a fraction. “Am I in trouble?”

The way Maria’s jaw clenches does absolutely nothing for her headache. “If you have to ask, I’m sure you already know the answer.”

At this, Natasha winces and has the audacity to look a bit sheepish. “Alright, where do you want me to start?”

“How about around the time where you thought it would be a great idea to take a grown man probably three times your size to the ground in front of an audience?”

Grimacing again, Natasha shifts a bit uncomfortably. Even though hundreds of miles separate them, Natasha can’t hide the fact that Maria’s stone cold glares still have an effect on her. She’s mulling over different ways to start in her head when Maria interrupts her.

“I’m waiting.”

“Alright listen,” she inhales and lets out a loud puff of air. “It was a natural reaction by any human person.”

Maria’s eyebrows shoot up. “Natural react—Natasha you put him in a headlock with your legs!”

Natasha raises a hand in defense. “You wanted me to draw attention and that’s what I did. I got everyone’s attention.” She shrugs indifferently. “Besides, I got the job and I’m in. That’s what Fury wanted, right?”

Maria’s fist clenches because far be it from Romanoff to just this once tackle a simple undercover operation simply. She should have known better than to think otherwise. No matter how much she wants to reach through the screen and throttle the other woman, she knows Natasha is right. They did tell her to get Stark’s attention and she went and did just that and then some.

“How’s the rest of it going?” Maria asks after taking a moment to force herself to relax.

Natasha once again shrugs indifferently. “Pretty boring. Stark is drunk ninety eight percent of the top. The big guy is now terrified of me. Oh, and I’m pretty sure Potts hates me, but that’s neither here nor there.” Her fingers momentarily clack across her keyboard. “I’m sending some stuff through to you now. Again, it’s not anything interesting.”

Maria snorts and steps forward to access the files on her computer. She simply shakes her head at the uploaded information.

“He’s building suits in his drunk induced state?” She scoffs. “He’s gonna get himself killed.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m gathering to. I concluded that maybe I could sneak in one night and stab him with your antidote or whatever, but I’m not even sure that man sleeps. Admittedly, I do lose track of where he is about three hours out of the day, but he always turns back up.”

Maria curses quietly under her breath. Leave it to a simple operation such as this to cause her so much stress. She thinks back to Fury’s offer of handing it off and a small part of her wonders if she should have listened. She quickly shakes the thought away. If anything, she’s the only one qualified for it.

“Are you sleeping?”

Maria looks back up at the video screen to find Natasha watching het worriedly. She opens her mouth quickly, ready with a retort on her lips but she knows that there’s no use in lying at this point.

“Not as much as I should be.” She shrugs. “Been running off coffee and spite for the past 72 hours.”

“That bad huh?” Natasha chuckles. “Rookies?”

“Rookies. The WSC.” Maria rolls her eyes. “Barton. I swear that man is an overgrown toddler. I don’t know how you put up with him.”

Natasha cracks a laugh, one that splits her features into a wide grin. “Remember, you were putting up with him long before I even got here. Surely you’re no stranger to that.”

Maria groans. “I know. It’s like he sets out to make my job hard on purpose. Both of you do.”

“Hey, I’m not that bad.”

“I’m sorry? Do we need to start this over from the beginning where you dropped—”

“Okay okay.” Natasha waves her off. “Seriously though. Get some rest. Our next check in is in a week. Next time I see you, I wanna see a smile. Not a death glare reserved for the newbies.”

Maria rolls her eyes, but grins nonetheless. “No more incidents and you’ll receive just that.” Her gaze suddenly falls to her shoes and she worries her lip for a moment before she looks back up at the screen. “Make sure Stark doesn’t hurt himself.”

Maria can tell Natasha wants to ask and she waits with bated breath in case she does. She relaxes a bit when Natasha only nods. Her heart swells when Natasha presses two fingers to her lips and then to the screen. Grinning, Maria repeats the action and does the same.

“Next time I check in, I promise there will be less trouble.” Natasha grins.

Maria snorts. “I’ve known you for years. You can’t promise me that.”

Natasha’s grin widens. “No, but I can promise it won’t be my fault.” She laughs before tilting her head. “I should get back. Maybe if I can get some free time before next week, I’ll try to call. I wanna talk to you not as Agent and Commander, but as just us.”

Maria knows it’s against the rules to communicate with an undercover agent outside the necessity, but she’ll never deny time spent with her girlfriend. If anything, any R&R she can get will help move this along. The sooner this is all over, the better off she’ll be.

Maria’s ears burn in anger as she watches the embarrassing scene play out before her. She’s currently in Fury’s office where the two of them are standing side by side watching a twitter live feed.

There, in all his hungover glory, is Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. The man currently sits in half an iron man suit, lounging comfortably in what looks like a giant donut sign. His foot kicks lazily as he munches away, apparently completely oblivious to the small crowd he’s formed.

“This has gotten out of hand,” Fury slams a hand on the keyboard, closing the feed. “Tell Romanoff we’re pulling her off the op. I’m going down there myself.”

“No.”

Taken aback by his deputy’s clipped tone, Fury looks up in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”

“I said no.” Maria responds firmly, meeting his gaze dead in his eye. “I’m going.”

Fury actually lets his surprise show. His mouth falls open just a fraction as he searches for his words. “Hill, the man is not stable. At this point—”

“At this point he is going to get himself killed, and you know we— I can’t let that happen. I’m going.”

“Hill I can’t authorize you to do this. It’s too close.”

Maria scoffs mirthlessly. “Nick, you knew it was close the second you assigned me as Romanoff’s handler. Yes you know it’s because she listens to me and she trusts me, but you knew all of it. There’s no sense in pulling the punches now.”

Fury sighs and rubs his eye tiredly. “There’s no way of talking you out of this, is there?”

Maria folds her arms tightly across her chest. “You’ll have to drag me to a holding cell, Sir. Just know whoever you send, they better be ready for a hell of a fight.”

Fury studies her for a long time. He’s not surprised at her defiance. Hell, one of the main reasons he chose her as his second is the fact that she doesn’t put up with any shit. Not even from him. On most days it makes him a little proud. Today, however, that pride is overridden by concern.

“Seems like I don’t have a choice here do I,” he shakes his head. “Go down there and do what you can. Hopefully he’ll at least hear what you have to say.”

“He will.” Maria nods as she turns away from Fury’s desk. Her voice drops to a dark grumble.

“I won’t give him a choice.”

The sun is high in the sky when Maria touches down in LA. She’s thankful that the crowd for the ‘Drunken Iron Man’ attraction has dissipated. Looking up into the giant donut, she finds said Iron Man lounging lazily in the center. She frowns behind her sunglasses when she can’t tell from this distance if the man is even conscious or not.

“Sir.” She calls out hoping to get his attention. “I’m going to need you to exit the donut.”

The dismissive waft of a hand she receives in response is enough to piss her off even more than she already is. She glances around wondering if there is a brick that she can throw in his direction. She’s always had a pretty good arm so she’s fairly certain she’d be able to clock him right in the head if she wanted to.

Frustrated at not finding anything to throw, Maria places her hands on her hips as she refocuses her attention on the man.

“Anthony!”

That gets his attention.

Tony startles, his box of half-finished donuts falling from his lap. He looks over the edge and the glare from the woman on the ground is enough to sober him completely. He lifts his sunglasses and his eyes widen to about the size of the giant donut he’s been chilling in.

“Mia?”

If the circumstances were different, Maria would laugh at the way he looks like a deer caught in headlights. Unfortunately for her, this is no laughing matter, and she makes sure he knows as such.

“Get your ass down here. Now.”

Maria doesn’t wait for to see if he’s going to follow her. She knows her presence alone has gotten his attention. The diner is thankfully empty and she picks a booth and slides into it, crossing her hands atop the table as she waits.

She’s not waiting long as soon a rather flushed looking Tony Stark meanders his way into the diner. Gone is his suit of armor, instead replaced by a simple long sleeve and jeans. Maria’s eyes momentarily shift towards the obvious glow in the center of his chest. Her gaze darts up to meet his as he shuffles his feet for a moment before sliding into the booth across from her.

They simply engage in a silent stare off for what feels like a solid ten minutes before Maria speaks.

“You look like shit.”

Tony scoffs and makes a face. “Wow. You wound me, Mia. Really. After all this time, here I was thinking you’d shown up just to tell me how beautiful I am.”

Maria’s jaw ticks. She wants to punch him and she knows he knows that. He is her brother after all. If anyone were to know what’s going on in that convoluted arrogant little mind of his, it’s her. When she catches him shifting uncomfortably under her gaze, her features relax.

“It’s been a while, Tony.”

“Yup. What was it? Dad’s funeral?” Tony tries, and fails miserably, to shrug off his discomfort. “What are you doing here anyway? We don’t talk for years and then all of a sudden you’re popping up crashing my afternoon snooze.”

Maria rolls her eyes. “As much as I enjoy a family reunion, I’m here on business.”

Tony’s eyebrows raise in interest. “Business? What’s that got to do with me? I thought you worked for the CIA or something.”

“Definitely ‘or something’.” Maria looks up as the door to the diner dings are momentarily her heart skips a beat.

Having changed into her field shit, Natasha’s hair falls in gentle curls over her shoulders. A small smirk tugs at the corner of her lips as she can see the desire behind her girlfriends eyes, despite the professional mask she’s spent years perfecting. She may or may not be adding an extra sway in her hips as she approaches the table.

Maria clears her throat and slides over, making room for Natasha to sit at her side. She tries not to snort at the way Tony’s eyes almost bug out at seeing what he thought was an inconspicuous assistant dressed to kill in more ways than one. She’ll file that away as one of the little victories she has over him.

“Tony.” Maria nods her head to her left. “SHIELD Agent Natasha Romanoff.”

“Huh.” Tony blinks dumbly. “You’re fired.”

Natasha rolls her eyes. “I don’t work for you.”

“Romanoff, huh? You’re Russian?”

“You need to mind your own business, Stark.”

“Well I’m here, aren’t I? Clearly you need me for something. Otherwise, why else would my pain in the ass sister show up and—”

Maria barks out an incredulous laugh. “I’m sorry, I’m the pain in the ass? I’m not the one drunk flying around doing god knows what in a highly weaponized suit I can barely control while I’m fucking dying.”

Even Natasha is taken aback by how quickly Maria’s voice has raised. She blinks in confusion as she looks between the furious woman at her side and the defiant man across the table. Now all of a sudden Maria’s behavior makes a world of sense.

“You know about that, huh.” Tony actually slumps in his seat and highs heavily.

“I know more than you think I know.” Maria sighs tiredly before giving a subtle nod.

It all happens so fast. One moment they’re sitting there, the next, Natasha is moving to the other side of the booth where she jabs a syringe into Tony’s neck.

“Ow! Hey!”

“According to R&D, that show slow your symptoms long enough for you to get your head out of your ass.” Natasha pushes herself to her feet and gives Maria a nod, indicating that she’s going to give them some more time alone.

Maria refocuses her attention on Tony who is cursing and still rubbing at his neck. She chuckles quietly and leans back in her seat, a bit casual for the situation.

“How can I ever forget you’re afraid of needles.”

“I’m not afraid of them! I think even you can agree it’s different when a super secret spy lady attacks you with one.” Tony huffs, but soon lets his guard down. “You said this stuff is temporary right? So it’s not gonna matter in the end. I’ve done all I can to try and stop the poisoning. There’s literally nothing that can be done.”

Maria shakes her head. “You know Dad wouldn’t stand to hear you talk like that.”

Tony snorts bitterly. “Yeah well. Sometimes I wonder if dreaming of the impossible is what got him killed.”

It’s a shared story they don’t like to discuss for obvious reasons. Maria remembers the cold day of Howard Stark’s funeral. She remembers standing in the very back of the procession, dressed from head to toe in black, donning sunglasses despite the cloudy overcast. She hasn’t stayed long for fear of being recognized.

Sighing, Maria shifts and produces a worn chest that had been sitting on the booth tucked safely into her side. She stares at it for a moment before sliding it across the table.

“There’s some of Dad’s old things in here,” she says softly. “We’ve…I’ve reviewed them, of course but you know the whole science-y part of it was always your thing. I really think you could find something in here that’ll help you.”

Looking at the worm chest, Tony examines it for a moment before pulling it closer to him. “How do you have this?” When Maria simply gives him a look, he chuckles. “Right. Super secret spy stuff.” He opens the lid of the chest to find various film reels. “What if I can’t do it, Mia? What if this is it for me?”

Leaning across the table, Maria ducks her head to force his eyes to meet hers. “You’ll do it, Tony. You’ll find a way. You always do, right?” She she’s back once again. “I don’t suppose now is a good time to tell you that I’m under strict orders to place you on house arrest until you figure it out.”

Tony’s eyes go comically wide. “You cannot be serious.”

“As serious as that literal heart attack in your chest.” Maria slides from the booth, purposely flicking him the ear as she walks past.

“Get moving, Flyboy. None of us have the time to waste.”

“So…he’s your brother?”

Maria pauses where she had been buttoning up her shirt just long enough to catch Natasha’s gaze in the mirror. Natasha watches her closely, having paused from securing a small pistol into her thigh holster. Maria eventually sighs, breaking the silent staring contest.

“It’s…complicated,” she mumbles as she finishes the last button.

Natasha arches a brow. “It sounded pretty complicated. Care to share with the class?”

If Maria’s being honest, she’s surprised Natasha hadn’t asked her about it sooner. It’s been days since her rather impromptu family reunion and she had fully expected Natasha to be on her in a second with questions. Natasha, to her credit, had read the room and given Maria the space she so obviously needed. As they both prepare to depart for the Stark Expo, apparently the time for avoidance has run out.

Bracing her hands on the vanity, Maria taps her fingers against the wood before she speaks.

“Howard Stark is…was my father.” Her shoulders involuntarily tense. “I never had much of a relationship with him. I was the byproduct of an affair and I was left to be raised by my mother.” Her jaw tightens. “You know the rest from there.”

Natasha’s brow furrows as her face softens as she knows what Maria is alluding to. It had taken some time, but once they had settled into their relationship, she recalls how Maria had drunkenly disclosed her upbringing. She talked of how her mother had died unexpectedly. How she had been left to fend for herself far too young with a violent man who Natasha now knows was her stepfather.

Maria doesn’t hear Natasha cross the room, but she relaxes when she feels arms encircle her waist from behind. She swallows a few times before clearing her throat in an attempt to find her voice.

“I wanted to hate my dad. I even wanted to hate Tony because he was the one who got to spend the most time with him. Raised to be the heir to the Stark fortune.” She scoffs. “What would the world think if they knew the great Howard Stark had a bastard?” A sigh. “I suppose no one would be surprised.”

Natasha hums quietly as she reaches up to gently rub at her girlfriend’s shoulders in an attempt to ease her tension. “But you couldn’t hate him…” she says gently. “Could you?”

Maria shakes her head. “No. I can’t. No matter how bad I wanted to.”

“That’s why you’ve been stressed beyond the norm for this mission. Why you’ve been so worried about Stark.” Natasha tilts her head when Maria solemnly nods. “Oh baby…why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wish I knew the answer to that. Maybe it was my own need to compartmentalize. When Fury told me he was sending you to the ground for this one, I wanted to throttle him. He’s literally the only person that knows.” Maria clicks her tongue. “At the end of the day I knew you were the best one for this. Even if it meant sending you down here to somewhat seduce my idiot bother.”

Natasha scoffs. “I gave up on that angle the second Potts walked in the room. You should tell him the kicked puppy eyes he gives her are a bit too obvious.”

Maria turns around and pulls Natasha into her arms. “You’re not mad at me for not telling you?”

Natasha shakes her head. “At first I was a little hurt, but I knew it wasn’t because you didn’t trust me. You had your reasons and I trust you on that. I can see how this would be a lot for you.”

Maria hums and leans down. “You’re too good to me. You know that?” She murmurs against Natasha’s lips.

Natasha smirks and takes the opportunity to initiate a full kiss. She pulls back, however, when she feels Maria’s tongue dart out beckoning for entrance. “Ah, ah. As much as I’d love to continue this, we’ve got some place to be.”

Maria groans and tries to dive back it when Natasha nudges her face to the side. “C’mon. I haven’t seen you in over a month. I can be quick.”

“You and I both know that’s not true. Besides, all day I’ve been looking forward to seeing you in a suit.”

Maria just barely has time to reach up and catch the tie thrown at her head. “Fine.” She points a warning finger at her girlfriend. “But after everything I’ve had to put up with from both you and Tony, I deserve a hell of a break after this.”

Natasha looks over her shoulder and grins wickedly.

“I think that can be arranged, Commander.”

If Maria never sees another Iron Man suit for the rest of her life it will be too soon.

The Stark Expo had been a disaster, as expected. Surely she had known that something was going to happen. What she hadn’t expected was to be suddenly fighting an armor of highly weaponized unmanned drone bots.

With only a pistol in hand, Maria had done what she could to assist getting civilians to safety. On one occasion, she had been caught in a hand-to-hand situation, and she had silently sent a thanks to Natasha for the bracelets that acted as a smaller scale version of the Widow Bites. They had been a gift a couple of Christmases ago, and while Maria had tutted saying they’re not really her style, Nat had insisted she never knew when they would come in handy.

In the end, the battle is won albeit a nasty mess left to clean up. Maria currently sits in her office aboard the helicarrier, poking indignantly at the bandage covering the stitches to the side of her head. She flinched when she suddenly feels her hand slapped away.

“Stop that. You’re going to irritate it.”

Maria looks up at her girlfriend with a small pout. “How come every time we get into a fight, I come out looking banged up and you walk away looking like you’re ready to grace the cover of a magazine?”

Natasha smirks and places a hand on her hip. “Years of practice.” She grins as she spins Maria’s chair around and invites herself into the other woman’s lap. “God, I never thought I’d say this but I really missed this place.”

Maria chuckles, leaning forward to place gentle kisses to Natasha’s neck. “What, sunny California wasn’t your cup of tea?”

Natasha shrugs, reaching up with deft fingers to pull the pin from Maria’s hair, allowing it to tumble down to her shoulders. She tangles her fingers in dark tresses, nails lightly scratching just at the spot behind Maria’s ear.

“Maybe without the murder bots,” she lightly tugs on Maria’s hair and leans back just enough so their eyes can meet. “Maybe we can rent a beach house. White sands.” She places a kiss to Maria’s forehead. “Clear oceans.”

“Hmm,” Maria hums, closing her eyes to picture it as Natasha punctuates each of her words with a kiss.

“Margaritas.” A kiss to her nose. “I’ll even wear that swimsuit you like. The red one.”

“Mmm say less. If you file for leave, I can have it approved by Monday.”

“Monday? Don’t these things usually take a week.”

Maria hums again, completely drunk off the woman in her arms. “All leave is subjected to approval by the deputy director. I’m sure she’d be more than willing to make an exception due to…time constraints.”

Natasha laughs openly, leaning her head back which exposes her neck for Maria. “Are you sure? I hear the Commander is a real jackass.”

“Well. I hear she has a soft spot for miniature red haired assassins.”

“Oh no, she better.”

The kiss that follows is heated. Maria circles her arms tighter around Natasha’s waist, pulling her impossibly closer. The fingers in her hair are driving her absolutely mad and she knows Natasha knows it. She can practically feel the other woman smirking triumphantly into their kiss.

Mentally cursing Natasha’s need to be in her field suit, Maria is highly displeased that she doesn’t have as easy access to skin as she would like. She is about to say damn it all and resort to laying Natasha across her desk to have her way with her. She tightens her arm around Natasha’s back and begins to push herself to her feet, but she only gets so far as standing when the moment is broken by a sputter of coughs.

Tearing her lips away from Natasha, Maria’s head quickly snaps towards her door.

“Tony!?”

Maria doesn’t have time to think as on reflex, her arms shoot out to her side. Unfortunately, those had been the arms supporting Natasha’s full weight and the absence of that sends her plummeting to the floor. A hissed string of Russian curses soon follows.

Sending an apologetic look to her angry girlfriend, Maria turns on her full Commander Hill glare towards the door. “What the hell are you doing here!? Haven’t you ever heard of knocking!?”

Tony raises a fist towards the open door and mimics knocking. “I did! Knock that is. Several times. You just didn’t hear me.” his eyes dart to Natasha as she gets to her feet. “I see why. I mean, don’t let me interrupt you, feel free to continue as you were. I can come back. Schedule an appointment. You know, however you people do things around here.”

Maria pinches the bridge of her nose. “Nat, would you mind giving us a minute?”

Straightening herself up, Natasha smooths out her uniform. “Gladly, but you owe me later.”

Maria leans into the assuring squeeze to her arm and she watches as Natasha heads for the door. She watches with bated breath as Natasha slows to a stop near Tony who has inched his way to let her pass. Natasha suddenly starts at him and Tony flinches violently. Maria doesn’t even try to hide her snort when Natasha shoots her a self satisfied smirk on her way out.

Obviously flustered, Tony closes the door and wipes his hands on his jeans. “So…you and her, huh?”

Arching an eyebrow, Maria lowers herself back into her chair. “Yes…” she drawls out carefully. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Tony waves a hand. “No, of course not! I was just saying it makes sense now. You and her. She’s a catch, and totally your type.”

Maria chuckles. “And what exactly is my type, Tony?”

“You know, the…” Tony trails off, making a bunch of weird motions with his hands. “I don’t know! Like the ‘probably knows ten ways to kill you’ type.”

At this, Maria openly laughs. “I can assure you that she knows far more than just ten ways.” She angles her head, her tone growing more serious. “What are you even doing here?”

Tony finally sinks himself into one of the chairs across from her desk. He finds himself at a loss for words for a moment, completely thrown off by the imposing nature of his very own sister. He’s not particularly used to power imbalances, but here he knows he’s in her element, and he has no choice but to respect it.

“Well, originally I was here to see the big guy. Can you tell me something? What happened to his eye by the way? I wanted to ask, but I figured that’s not a good ice breaker.”

She’s honestly surprised Tony hadn’t asked Fury about his eye. He does have that nagging habit of speaking the very first thing that comes to his mind. Then again, Fury does give out the kind of energy that tells you to shut the fuck up before you can even think about what you were going to say. She supposes the two balanced each other out.

“He doesn’t like to talk about it,” Maria shakes her head. “That doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

“Well right. Fury wanted to see me and to talk about some things. I could’ve just left, but I dunno. I guess I wanted to stop by. See how you were doing after everything.”

Maria isn’t entirely sure what exactly ‘everything’ means, but she doesn’t ask. Her eyes narrow as she tries to analyze his body language. She can tell he’s nervous based on the slight bounce in his knee and the way he’s eyes occasionally dart from her firm gaze.

She can’t exactly say she’s ever had a relationship with him. She doesn’t know what to call it. They’ve always been on relatively good terms despite their obvious differences. Tony had been there when she graduated and told him she was going to join the marines. He then proceeded to try and talk her out of joining said marines, but when she wouldn’t back down, he relented with a simple ‘fine. Be careful or whatever’.

In the deepest parts of her mind, Maria knows she wishes things had been different. Maybe it’s the little girl in her that still wonders what it would have been like to grow up in the Stark household with two attuned parents and an overprotective big brother. She wonders how she would have turned out if that was her life.

Blinking herself back to reality, she refocuses on Tony to find him watching her as closely as she had been watching him. For some reason, that causes her to put her guard down. A small smile tugs at the corner of her lips as she sits back in her chair.

“This isn’t the CIA.”

Tony lifts his eyebrows and then he chuckles as the realization hits him. “Yeah I figured that out. SHIELD is definitely at the top of the mount of ‘or something’. What do you do here?”

“Fury, the big guy?” She angles her head as Tony nods. “I’m his deputy. I’m in command of this helicarrier and anything else that needs executive attention.” 

Tony’s eyebrows lift high and his mouth falls slightly ajar in wonder. If Maria didn’t know any better, she’d say she sees a hint of pride in there somewhere. Against her will, she feels her face begin to warm.

“A commander, huh? Wow,” Tony shakes his head in disbelief. “Not that I don’t think you could do it. It’s just—Maria that’s so badass.”

Now she’s full-on blushing. “Stop it. It is what it is.”

“Is what it is!? You just told me you’re the second in command of Super Secret Spies Anonymous. That’s pretty fucking badass.” Tony points a finger to his chest. “And that’s coming from me! I’m Iron Man!”

Maria rolls her eyes but she can’t stop herself from smiling. “Yeah, I know. Hell, the whole world should know it by now.”

Tony barks a laugh. “They better. I would say I’ve made enough of an ass of myself to keep people talking for a while.”

“Ah yes, Tony Stark. Ever the attention whore.”

“Hey, it’s what I do best.”

The two find themselves sharing a comfortable laugh. It’s almost as if they’ve been doing this for years. As if it hasn’t been over a decade since they’ve last seen each other. Everything comes with ease, even the talking and the banter. Suppose there are some things time just can’t take away from anyone.

“Thank you.”

Maria hadn’t realized she had spaced out and she blinks dumbly. “Huh?”

“Thank you,” Tony’s voice is full of sincerity as he leans forward in his chair. “I know you were doing your job, but you didn’t give up on me. I didn’t realize it at the time but seeing you again after all these years really did give me the reality check I needed. So…” he breathes shakily. “Thank you.”

Maria’s eyebrows furrow and she taps her fingers repeatedly on her desk. “I was doing my job, but there was no way in hell I was going to give up on you. Fury was supposed to show up that day. I disregarded him and told him that I was going and there was nothing that could be done to stop me. I had to talk some sense into you. I needed you to listen to me.” She sighs. “And I’m really glad you did.”

Tony smiles, holding her gaze for a moment before he leans back in his chair. “Christ. What would Dad think if he could see the two of us right now.” He chuckles quietly.

“That we’re both grade A idiots for throwing ourselves around the way that we do,” Maria laughs before turning sincere. “But I think he’d be proud. The work we do is for the greater good and we do it because we want to protect people as much as we can. I know he’d be proud of that.”

They spend a few more quiet moments just talking. They have just finished recalling the literal disaster that was the expo when Tony’s watch beeps alerting him to an incoming call. It’s Pepper, and he answers it quickly asking her if he can call her back as soon as possible.

“Go Flyboy. Don’t keep her waiting too long,” Maria smirks as she stands up from her desk. “You know she probably misses those puppy eyes of yours.”

“Whoa whoa, puppy eyes???” Tony stands up. “I’ll have you know, Tony Stark does not have puppy eyes.” He then points at her. “You on the other hand? You’ve got some serious puppy eyes a certain red-haired beauty. I should be complaining by the way! Thanks to you and your not-CIA people, I’ve gotta hire a new assistant! She was so good at her job!”

Maria scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Please. Spare me the sob story.”

“I mean it! Whatever am I gonna do???”

“Do what you always do. Build one.”

“That…that’s not a bad idea actually. Ooo maybe it can be like a Natasha clone. Nat Bot. She’ll have all her killer moves and everything.”

“Annnd you’re leaving,” Maria turns him around and begins pushing him towards the door. “You do not have permission to clone my girlfriend. If I find out that you do, I’m sending her to deal with you personally.”

Tony’s gulp is pretty much audible. “Scratch that. No Nat Bot. Terrible idea anyway.”

Reaching the door, they say their goodbyes but Tony doesn’t leave yet. Maria is about to question him when suddenly she finds herself pulled into a firm hug. She feels herself automatically relaxing and she finds herself returning the embrace.

“I’m so proud of you, Mia. Really, I am.”

Maria nods, trying to ignore the stinging behind her eyes at the words spoken gently in her ear. She pulls back just enough to hold Tony’s gaze. “You should try calling sometime. Make sure I know you haven’t flown into a building or something.”

Tony laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind. Besides, the big guy says he kinda wants to keep me around.”

“Kinda?”

“Kinda does. Kinda doesn’t. You know how it is. Point being, I’ll be around. Maybe next time we see each other it can involve sushi. I know that’s your favorite.”

Maria grins. “I’ll hold you to that, Stark. You do owe me after all.

Tony’s mouth falls open. “How do I owe you!? You know what,” he waves his hands. “Never mind. I know when I’m beat.”

Maria is soon left alone in her office with a small but knowing smile.

By the time Maria makes it back to her quarters, she doesn’t need to look at the time to know that it’s late. Stepping inside, she steps out of her boots and lines them by the door as she proceeds in into her bedroom. A small smile tugs at the corner of her mouth as she makes out a familiar lump tucked underneath her blankets.

She makes quick work of changing into a comfortable pair of pajamas before she is crawling into bed. There’s a shift and a quiet yawn as the lump materializes into her girlfriend. Maria can’t help but chuckle.

“Hey sleepyhead,” she murmurs.

Natasha blinks blearily. “What time is it?” She wonders, before a yawn overtakes her.

Maria reaches out and gently brushes her forehead. “Late. Go on back to sleep, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Natasha simply jumps and turns over, but not before grabbing Maria’s arms and pulling them around herself. Maria follows the cues and comfortably curls herself around her girlfriends. A happy sigh escapes her as she feels herself start to relax.

“How was the rest of work?”

“Was work. Tony stayed for a bit. We talked. It was…it was nice.”

“Nice?” Natasha inquires. “Nice, nice or polite nice.”

“Nice, nice as in it was really nice to just sit and talk to my brother.”

“I still can’t believe he’s your brother.”

“Shit, most days neither can I.” Maria lets out a familiar tired sigh. “He said that Fury was talking to him about something and I know Fury is working on some special project. God only knows what that could be.”

A soft snore alerts Maria to the fact that she’s talking to herself. Chuckling quietly, she maneuvers Natasha further into her embrace and she ends up resting her chin right on her girlfriend’s head. Allowing her eyes to slip closed, Maria finds herself finally catching up with the rest that she so desperately deserves.