The lost Widow - Natasha Romanoff x Female

Chapter XXIX

Unexpectedly, Natasha did not find the blonde in her lab, the first place she had gone to. A little surprised not to find her there, she moved away from that part of the building again. Not really focused, she went ahead and found herself in the kitchen sooner than expected.

Wanda raised her head when she heard someone enter the kitchen. The Russian woman stepped through the door, an expression of hope that immediately faded as her eyes landed on Wanda. "Natasha, I'm glad to see you too," greeted the latter, who hadn't missed it. "What? Oh, no, I didn't mean that," waved the redhead off.
The kettle hissed softly, announcing the heat of the water. Wanda quickly turned back to the kitchen counter and reached for a cup to pour in the hot water. "So, if it's not me you're looking for, what is it?"
"Have you seen Nina?" The hot water bubbled as she poured it into the cup with the tea bag. Immediately the delicate scent of berries spread and settled in the kitchen. "Nina? No, why?"
"Oh, no reason." As good as Natasha was at lying at times, no one really bought this. "Mhn, of course. So why are you looking for Nina? Don't even try to deny it." Natasha rolled her eyes slightly, but she knew Wanda wouldn't buy any lie easily.

"Yelena said you've already eaten. Nina and I haven't yet, so I thought she would be here making herself something to eat." It wasn't a lie. Wanda hummed in agreement before turning back to her tea and taking the bag out of the cup. With her back still to Natasha, she stirred the cup thoughtfully. "Natasha, what is Nina?"
"What? What kind of question- A human, I think." Natasha didn't really know what to make of that question. "No, I mean, what is she...to us." Wanda gripped the cup and turned so she was leaning her hip against the counter. "She was our prisoner, then she saved your life, only to try and strangle you afterwards. And after that, all of a sudden you're inseparable, then the three of you take off, no one knows where, and come back without a comment." It wasn't a question, it was a summary of events. Silently Natasha walked a little further into the room and settled down on one of the chairs, if it was going to be a long conversation she didn't want to stand in the doorway the whole time. "So, what is she, friend, foe or something else?"
"What do you mean, 'something else'?" Wanda's gaze, which had been lingering on the cup, suddenly shot up and found Natasha immediately. "Where have you been?"

The question hung heavy in the air. Sooner or later they would have had to bring it up, probably, and yet Natasha had absolutely no idea what to answer. Should she tell the truth? But hardly any of the Avengers knew about her past, Clint being the only exception. She had told no one about it and was never asked. They all had a less than sunny past and didn't care to make a big deal out of it.
Even if she were to tell the truth now, she would have to reopen her story and explain what it was all about Dreycov and everything. But if she did that, she would also be releasing everything around Nina. "Why do you ask that?" She could have slapped herself right then and there.
"Natasha, you've been gone for three days without saying anything." Natasha just opened her mouth to retort something, "No one knew where you were, you were just gone!"
She was right, absolutely and Natasha began to feel a little bad. Maybe they really should have said something, said what they were going to do. But then the conversation came back to her and what Nina had said, "Option one: we ask the others, go on the offensive and just hope we don't get roasted as soon as we get near the base..." And she was right, that's exactly what would have happened if they had shared their plan.

"We just had to tie up a few loose ends from our past," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "What loose ends?" chipped in Wanda. "We all have something we need to finish, Wanda."
Now it was the Sokovian who paused for a moment. "But why what Nina in this, you and Yelena grew up together, didn't you?" Wanda knew that Natasha and her sister shared a destiny, even if she didn't know the exact extent. "Yes, that's right," she agreed quickly. "But Nina helped us, we couldn't have done it so easily on our own." Again, it wasn't a lie, alone they wouldn't have even thought of it.
Wanda was silent for a while, only sipping her tea occasionally. "'Alright, I can't force you to tell me anything." The Russian nodded. "But I still want to know what Nina is to us."
"What do you expect me to say?"
"The truth, is she still a danger?" Only the fact that Wanda asked the question calmly and matter-of-factly prevented Natasha from immediately jumping at her throat. "No, she's not a danger... She never was," the redhead said in a firm voice. Wanda made a disdainful sound. "Then what was that at the base please, we had her in the cell for a reason."
Natasha's gaze remained stoic, "Did she ever seriously hurt any of us?"
"No-"
"Exactly. Because Nina is not a threat. She wasn't, is not now, and never will be!" Wanda was a little surprised by the sudden harshness in Natasha's words, the subject of Nina seemed closer to her than she had thought after all. A little uncertainly she sipped her tea again, a welcome opportunity to break off the eye contact. "Okay." she finally said. "I don't think Nina means harm."

-
"Nina, can you open the door please?" Once more Natasha knocked on the door.
"Natasha, this thing has a lock for a reason!" came the muffled reply.