The Younger Agent - Natasha Romanoff x OC

Chapter 83 - European Tour

The three days leading up to the accord amendments were absolute hell. The compound had never known such awkwardness. Such tension. In the evenings, the dinner table would usually be full of at least half the team, eating whatever had been cooked and laughing the remaining daylight hours away. But since the discussion of the accords, people had been sneaking food away from the kitchen or ordering takeout, and eating in their rooms. Nat and Eleanor were just glad to still be in each other's company during this shitshow. Going from team dinners to eating in complete silence on your own didn't sound fun, so at least they could still talk to each other.

Some others had paired up too, like Wanda and Vision. Though both women were slightly confused as Wanda was leaning towards not signing the accords, and Vision was sticking to his initial decision. They had expected some tension to appear between them, but at the small glimpses they got around the compound they seemed to still get on like a house on fire.

The same could not be said for their trio. Awkward smiles were shared, and conversations were not had. Eleanor remembered the way her chest burned when Wanda walked into the kitchen whilst she was making a fruit bowl for her and Nat to share and walked out almost immediately. Eleanor was left feeling glum in the kitchen, swallowing thickly as she clumsily chopped up some melon with unsteady hands. She missed her best friend.

Natasha was masking her emotions a lot. As hard as she tries to, she never expects people to stick around. The only exception to that rule was Eleanor as she had proved time and time again that she would dig her way out of a grave before she would leave Natasha. It took a while to prove, but it was now drilled into Nat's head that she wasn't going anywhere.

But, because she never believes that people are going to stick around, in her mind she felt fully prepared for how everything was playing out. And because of that thought process, she acted like she was okay. Though what she didn't realise was that Eleanor could see through her as though she were a sheet of glass.

The two spent a lot of time together as it was, but with the isolation from the rest of the team, she had been extra clingy. If Eleanor went to the bathroom, she would walk back out into the bedroom and clutch her chest as her body jumped when seeing Nat sitting on the edge of their bed staring the bathroom door down, and smiling when Eleanor reappeared. "Hi, honey", she cooed at the woman on her bed and cautiously walked forward.

Nat stood up and engulfed her in a hug, "Hi", she smiled sweetly into Eleanor's shoulder, "Are you ready for training?". And that was how the three days went, but Eleanor didn't mind. It was Nat's way of anchoring herself to reality when everything she had gotten comfortable with seemed to be crumbling. All Eleanor could do was be there, and honestly, she liked the comfort she got from being near her wife just as much as Natasha did.

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The phone call that Steve received during the initial accords meeting had turned out to be because Peggy Carter had passed away in her sleep. The team sent their condolences regardless of the dispute. They were still a team after all, a family, and they were just going through a rough patch. But come high or hell water, they would be there for each other if needed, at least that's what Eleanor and Natasha hoped.

The funeral was on the day of the accords signing, which meant that Nat and Eleanor were able to go to London to see Steve before they headed off to Vienna. It was a last-minute decision so they weren't able to let Steve know about it, they didn't want to text him in case it interrupted any parts of the service, which would not be a great impression to give.

So, the two women were sitting on a quinjet, in similar outfits to what they had worn during their trial on Capitol Hill, on their way to their English detour. Under any other circumstances, Eleanor would be excited to be walking over home soil again, but it would be a ten-minute pit stop at a funeral for their friends 'once lover' before they went to a legal amendment hearing that has torn their family apart and will break it apart even more before it's finished its rampage.