watch your back

chapter 15

florence had been sleeping a little bit over an hour now, with natasha watching her in case she woke up. she watched how her chest raised and then lowered again. watched her face and studied all the freckles. she noticed one that was right on the upper edge of her upper lip, looking very cute. then she quickly quit staring at her, realizing what she was doing. and it was a good thing she did, because right that second florence gasped, sitting up.
"i was asleep.", she said, panic flaring up in her eyes. "why did you let me sleep?"
she was shuffling out of the bedsheets, trying to get out of bed, but natasha, who had gotten up now, quickly pushed her back down.
"sorry.", she said. "no can do."
florence looked up at her, dumbfounded.
"what?"
"you're supposed to rest."
"fuck you.", she countered.
"thanks.", nat replied dryly.
florence looked at the ground shortly, then she took a deep breath.
"sorry."
natasha nodded and slowly sat back down.
"no it's okay, it was cute."
flo frowned at her, but a little smile formed around her lips. then her face turned serious again.
"i need to know how she is, at least."
natasha could see in her face how she was preparing for the worst. and she hated to give her bad news. she didn't even want to think about the ones that were still coming. after yelena, tony and nat had found out that malum was her uncle, all three had questioned their trust. and florence never had the others trust to begin with.
"she's... stable. for now. tony put her inside some kind of tube, jarvis is working on solutions, i don't know much more, i wasn't there for an update yet."
"why not?", she asked, confused.
"because i've been watching you."
flo frowned.
"yeah, about that... why have you been watching me?"
nat smiled to herself. "strict instructions from tony."
"and you're the type to follow them?"
"how would you know? maybe i am.", nat shot back. florence grinned and just as she was about to reply, the door slid open.
"ah good, you're awake.", tony said. he remembered their last interaction and pressed his lips together. "we need to talk."
nat frowned and got up, whispering in his ear.
"she just woke up. maybe give her a little more time?"
he shot her an incredulous look. "since when have you become this soft?"
nat sighed at that comment, but backed off.
"let's go.", tony commanded. flo slowly got up, still looking a little weary and nat wished he would've just given them a little more time.
stark was guiding them through the building, over the indoor bridge with the huge glass wall, that left natasha in awe, even after seeing it so many times.
when they got to the conference room clint, kate, and yelena were already there, the others were on separate missions at the moment. flo shot natasha an unsure look and she felt a sting of guilt in her chest. she ought to have prevented this.
"sit.", tony said. the coldness in his voice couldn't be missed.
florence sat at the table, nat sat down next to her and watched her expressions carefully. it was her job to determine if she was someone to trust. even though she had made that decision for herself already.
"whilst you were gone, we made a few discoveries.", stark began.
flo raised her eyebrows and listened attentively.
"for one, we found out that malum is your uncle."
she saw how florences eyes closed slowly.
"if i could just tell you where i was...", she began, but clint interrupted.
"it's our turn first.", he said, signaling tony to continue.
"secondly, we found out who your parents are. desmond and monica fernsby."
suddenly, florences eyes were wide open and full with hope.
"my parents are alive?"
her voice was only a stunned whisper and nat suddenly hated what tony was doing to her. she obviously didn't know about any of that.
as tony shook his head, flo lowered her gaze, staring at the table silently.
"should've led with that.", tony scratched the back of his head. "sorry."
"look", forence started, snapping out of her silence, "it was malum who took me, you've probably gathered that by now. and i didn't know he was my uncle, he told me a couple hours before you did, and then i wasn't even sure if i believed him." she took a deep breath. "but i thought that it didn't really matter, because what would it change? i still hate him. with my whole heart. i still want to stop him."
she looked around the room, challenging anyone who still had doubts. nat smirked at that.
"and i didn't know about my parents. i barely remember them.", she added.
the present avengers all exchanged looks, no one quite knowing what to say. tony seemed to regret his distrust, alongside with clint.
"okay then, what's the plan now?", kate asked to fill the awkward pause.
"i need to tell you about everything i found out. everything i saw.", florence decided. and then she told them all about malums plan, his second base, that he was gathering troops for a big fight, but that they won a little time by destroying the mansion.
"he's searching for them. for all of them. and he'll probably come here too, he knows we have william and george. and elizabeth and me."
"he'll probably come here last, because it's the best protected, but we need to be prepared anyways.", clint said decidedly and the others nodded in agreement.
"florence you'll start your training with natasha and as soon as she's awake, elizabeth will start training with clint and kate."
"you think she'll wake up?", flo asked, surprised by his faith.
"i'll do everything in my power to make sure she does."
tony looked into her eyes and it was a promise that he had made just now, not only to florence but also to himself.
"alright, let's get to work.", stark ended the meeting and nat relaxed. everything was going where it was supposed to, for now at least.

after the meeting natasha was looking for flo, who had left so quickly, she hadn't had a chance to talk to her. she wanted to start with their first training session today, just to see what florence could do and where they had to put in a little work.
she wasn't in her room and nats second guess was that she was in the infirmary with elizabeth. romanoff made her way down the stairs, back through the conference room to the little hallway that led to the infirmary. when she got there, the door was already open, revealing florences back, sitting on one of the chairs.
the infirmary was quite the big room, so that it had been easy to fit the tube in there. the tube basically consisted of three parts: the lower part with four metal legs and castors at the bottom, then a middle part which was a big, white hospital-mattress with a fake-leather upholstery, and up until there it looked like a normal nursing bed. but on top of it was a glass half pipe that had a touch of orange. on it were different screens, monitoring the patients vitals. right now there were also several tubes going in.
natasha stepped into the room, careful not to make a sound. the smell of disinfectant surrounded her immediately, a bad memory every hospital-like surrounding brought. florence was staring at her sister inside the orange containment and nat thought she could see tears on her cheeks until she hurriedly wiped them away as soon as she noticed romanoff.
natasha took a seat next to her and for a bit they stared at elizabeth together. there were tubes going into her mouth that made it almost impossible to look at her face, but you could see her brown hair. she looked peaceful, like she was sleeping in a very stiff manner.
„what happened, over there?", nat asked, her voice quiet and a little reverent.
florence glanced at her and romanoff could see the chaos of her brown curls in full extent.
„a lot.", flo replied, already staring at elizabeth again.
natasha didn't reply, she let her take the time she needed. after a bit, florence inhaled sharply.
„i told her not to do it. i was willing to stay."
she was visibly fighting against tears now and nat clenched her jaw involuntarily.
"but she didn't listen to me."
she had only whispered the last sentence and natasha wished she would've known what to say just now. how to be there. how to tell her that it was okay, that she was going to be okay, that this wasn't a forever feeling.
"she'll wake up.", nat said instead.
flo just nodded, tiredly. "she'll wake up.", she repeated back to her, like a mantra.
natasha decided that she was going to wait until tomorrow to start the training. florence needed just a little more time.