The Second Life of Natasha Romanoff

I can see you're lonely down there Don't you know that I am right here?

The next morning

When Marta awoke, it was already light in the room; she lay still for a few seconds before slowly opening her eyes. She yawned and stretched, turning on her other side to wake Lydia who, to her surprise, was already awake and out of bed. In all the years they had known each other, it had always been the other way around.

Astonished, she sat up in bed and felt for her phone on the bedside table. "Strange," she thought because she could not remember connecting the phone to the charging cable last night. When she finally held it in her hands, she could not believe her eyes.

"Great. Really fucking great. Bloody hell," she grumbled as she gathered her things and ran out of the room, where she stopped in the middle of the hallway.

Nat and Lydia were sitting together at the kitchen table, talking and laughing.

As soon as Nat noticed her, she turned all her attention to Marta.

"Oh... you are finally awake. I hope you slept well. Although you look so stressed again.", she tilted her head, "Do you need anything? A coffee? Some tea? Something to eat?" She gave her a broad smile.

Marta's eyes twitched nervously, "You seem very comfortable after not even 24 hours here? I have a question, have either of you looked at your watches? I should have been at work four hours ago," she said.

"Don't worry," Lydia replied, "you won't be late."

"If I've to be at work at seven and it's now 11:13, I'll be late, Lydia, thanks for nothing," growled Marta, just as she was about to go back into the bathroom.

Confused and annoyed, Lydia pointed at Nat and called out.

"Wait, it's not my fault. I told her it was a bad idea and how you'd react, but she said she'd take care of it."

Marta slowly turned back around.

"Oh yeah, and how?" This question was directed at Nat.

"I'm the Black Widow, you have a PC, internet and a printer. I put you on sick leave, well" she smiled" Then I called your boss and told him you were sick, and he asked me to send out the sick note. Pretty old-fashioned, if you ask me.

We need to focus on other things right now, not selling dog food.

So for the next seven days you're sick, and after last night I thought you needed some sleep,"

Nat announced as she eyed Marta from head to toe with a smirk on her face. Marta turned scarlet, not because she was uncomfortable, but because she wasn't used to someone looking at her like that.

"Ah, okay, and this ....." Marta was about to continue when Lydia interrupted her, "Wait." Her mouth fell open, "What happened yesterday after I fell asleep? ???? I want answers. I mean, I'm on team BNBTHFAF."

"Team What?" asked Nat and Marta at the same time.

Lydia frowned.

"Team Take Nat back to her friends and family. Don't be so stupid."

In disbelief, the two stared at Lydia, "And... What happened when I was asleep? I mean, she wouldn't say you needed sleep for no reason. Wouldn't she?

She joked with a sly smile.

"Nothing," Nat said, "nothing of consequence," Marta added. "Well, I wouldn't say that, I mean, you told me about your daughter, I think that's important," Nat remarked.