Learning to Love - Natasha Romanoff and Maria Hill

Eleven

"So what you're telling me is that one: the Red Room tracked you down and found a way to stalk you and Hill from her apartment and two: you and Hill are together," Fury raised an eyebrow at the Russian as he looked through the photos. Natasha, thankfully, had remembered to take out the one of them showering together to save herself and Maria from too much embarrassment.

Maria's face turned a shade darker as she listened in to the conversation from the other side of the room.

Natasha looked over at the brunette,"Well, um, yes, sir. Yes to both."

"I'm not mad. I saw this coming. Just a little hurt that Agent Hill didn't feel obliged to tell me."

Maria let out a sigh of relief. Nick wasn't mad. He was joking with them. Thank Thor, she thought to herself.

Fury took a moment to think,"Well, the only logical thing to do is to get these sons of bitches, but clearly, neither of you can go undercover considering the fact that they clearly know who both of you are."

Maria stepped in,"Sir, with all due respect, we can't send agents in there without someone who knows those facilities like the back of their hand. Agent Romanoff should be on the mission."

"Letting her go in there is exactly what they want, Maria."

"Yes, but she escaped with nothing but a shard of broken glass. She's our best equipped agent to handle this, Nick."

Fury sighed, turning to Natasha,"When did she get so damn smart? Okay, Hill, since you seem like you can handle this, you'll be creating the plans for this mission. Don't make me regret it."

"I won't. Thank you, sir."

"One last thing..Agent Hill, do you feel like, regarding the circumstances of your relationship with Romanoff, that you should still be her handler."

Maria thought about it for a second. Truthfully, she wanted to be Natasha's handler, but she didn't know if her emotions would get in the way of her decisions. Uncertainty leads to deaths. Her uncertainty could lead to Natasha's death, and she refused to be responsible for that.

She took a breath,"No, sir, I do not. I recommend that she be moved to Agent Coulson as soon as possible."

Fury grinned. He gained more respect for Maria everyday. She was becoming like a daughter to him.

"Thank you for your honesty, Maria. I'll have Coulson be Romanoff's handler, effective immediately," He stood up, grabbing the copy he made of the folder Natasha had given it and handing it to Maria,"Now, get to work, agents. You both have a lot of planning to do."

"Yes, sir," Maria turned on the heel of her boot, leaving the office.

"Aye, aye, captain," Natasha smirked, closing the door behind her as she left Fury's office.

Maria turned to look at the redhead as they walked side by side down the corridor,"Are you okay with Coulson being your handler?"

Natasha nodded,"Yeah, I think you did the right thing. I was actually hoping that you would have me switched. I just..don't think that you being my handler would be the best thing for us."

Maria nodded,"Good. I'm glad."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Maria shook her head.

"Mia, what's wrong?"

"Can you not call me that when we're at work?" Maria's tone was cold and harsh. Natasha felt as if she were being scolded.

The redhead raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend,"Okay..Guess I won't call my girlfriend by her nickname when we're in an empty hallway at work because she happens to not like it today. Got it."

Maria rolled her eyes,"I need to go."

"Alright. See you later."

Maria didn't respond as she walked off. Natasha was stunned.

What the fuck just happened? She asked herself.

Later that night, Maria returned from work late. The two women decided to live in Natasha's quarters due to the fact that she had the largest quarters on the Helicarrier.

"Hey, I ordered Thai. Yours is in the oven," Natasha glanced up from her book at the brunette who was practically stumbling all over herself,"Did you go out for drinks?"

"Yeah, with May and Carter," Maria responded dryly.

"How'd you get home?"

"Melinda drove me."

"Was she sober?"

"God, why are you interrogating me? I'm not irresponsible, Natasha, for fucks sake. Yes, Melinda was sober."

"Okay, what did I do? Just tell me what I did, whatever it is, and I'll fix it," Natasha closed her book, looking up at the other woman.

Maria just shook her head,"You really don't know, do you?"

"No," Natasha shook her head,"I don't."

"You didn't think that I was capable of being you handler, and to top that off, I figured you would have at least wanted me as your handler, but no. You were all,'Yeah, I was hoping you would switch me' and 'I don't think it would be good for us.' God, Natasha, I wish for once that you would just be on my side."

"Maria, I don't know where this is coming from. When have I not been on your side?"

"Remember last week when you bypassed my direct order and went ahead and did your own damn thing? Or the week before that when you fucking argued with me during a mission debrief when I was trying to help another agent by telling him his mistakes? You always find a way to make me feel like I'm shit at my job, and I'm so fucking sick of it!"

Natasha shook her head,"No, you're drunk. I'm not arguing with you."

"Oh, there she goes. See, it's just like you to avoid the subject when someone calls you on your bluff. You act all big and tough, but it's actually just a front because you can't fucking handle confrontation, Natasha!" Maria's voice grew louder.

Natasha stood up,"No, Maria. It's not that I can't handle confrontation. It's that I can't handle confrontation with you. You're my girlfriend, for fucks sake. I don't wanna argue with you because I care about you, and I don't want either of us to say something we'll regret," Natasha wiped away a tear she didn't even know was there,"And, no, I didn't want you to be my handler because I can't have you telling me what to do when I'm on a mission like I could anyone else because I can't think straight when I hear your fucking voice. And you don't deserve to have to feel responsible if I ever get hurt on a mission. Next time before you assume things and yell at me like I did something unforgivable, maybe you should just talk to me, Maria."

Natasha felt tears stream down her cheeks, and she didn't even try to stop them. She went into her bedroom and slipped on her sneakers before grabbing her phone and keys.

"I'm gonna go stay somewhere else so you can do whatever you need to do to cool down. Call me when you think you can talk to me with some sense," Natasha moved toward the door and felt a hand on her wrist. She pulled away.

"No, don't go. Please don't go. I'm sorry."

Natasha shook her head,"Maybe you should have thought about that before you screamed at me for no good reason."

"I'm sorry, Tasha. I'm so sorry. I would do anything to take it back," tears filled Maria's eyes as she dropped to the floor, sobbing softly.

Maria wrapped her arms around Natasha's legs, pulling her closer and resting her head on the shorter woman's stomach. Natasha rested two gentle hands on the brunette's head, softly caressing her hair.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Maria repeated over and over into Natasha's stomach, crying more and more as her tears stained the redhead's t-shirt.

Natasha felt tears fall onto her own face. Maria was shit-faced drunk. She didn't mean it. Natasha had to believe that.