Part I: She's Been Everybody Else's Girl, Maybe Someday She'll Be Her Own

From In the Shadows, She Calls

A/N: Hey!  I just wanted to say that you guys have made me feel SO welcome here on Wattpad and I really appreciate it!  Now that I've finally had time to write something new, I'm so excited to share it with you all!  It will be 3-4 parts total.  I've finished the first part, so I will be posting every day and I can't wait to hear what you think!

Catriona Liddell was the new secretary for Clifton McLaughlin, the chief partner in McLaughlin & Wilson. The firm had the reputation for getting the minimum penalty for their wealthy clients. There were other, darker rumors surrounding their business dealings, and Catriona had been hired to delve into them. Not by Mr. McLaughlin, of course – though he had hired her. How could he resist the young, pretty redhead when she interviewed? Notwithstanding the fact that her application had been tucked into the pile of prospective new hires without human resources getting their hands on it first.

With an eye for detail and a near-perfect memory of names and faces, Catriona made an excellent secretary for men of influence. She was discreet and anticipated Mr. McLaughlin's needs before he could think of them himself. During important meetings, she was available but never seemed underfoot. In a few short weeks, Mr. McLaughlin had stopped sending her out of the room during more sensitive discussions and had come to rely on her completely.

Natasha Romanoff was growing tired of Catriona Liddell, though she was certainly a useful person to be. The cover had excellent references and was helpful without being overly noticeable, so looking into older cases had been easy enough. Mr. McLaughlin's clients no longer glanced at her dubiously before telling their lawyer whatever it was that they had done, for which they needed his assistance.

A small flat above a shop was Catriona's residence – lodging was hard to find in the area on short notice, but the shopkeeper was glad to rent out the unused space to "such a pretty girl." She'd smiled, blushing, and thanked him. After work, it was a nice place to spend her time, even if most of that time was researching Mr. McLaughlin's clients and keeping a lookout for her next job. She wasn't exactly living hand to mouth, but she was actually cashing Catriona's checks, which hadn't been necessary before.

Of course, if cash flow really became a problem, she owned many properties, under various untraceable aliases, and could sell off a few. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Her skills were generally marketable, so she could pick her clients to some extent. She refused to do assassinations, kidnapping, or anything high-profile. The last thing she needed was for General Ross to hear that she was not only evading his questioning but obviously not retired.

She didn't know how things stood with him and what power he really had, should he choose to hunt her down. Stark had said they were coming for her, and her instincts for self-preservation took her very quickly off the grid. Multiple covers were always available, so she chose one to leave the country. The mess that Tony had gotten them into, worsened by Steve, was far from cleaned up. Captain America and his friends had broken out of custody and gone to ground – the news was less than clear on this point, but she could tell what wasn't being stated. General Ross wouldn't allow for that kind of bad press. How could he be trusted to run the task force if he couldn't even keep tabs on the good guys?

When this all started, her priority had been to keep everyone together. She had feared, and tried to tell Steve, that they would be sent out in the cold for their sometimes fractious team to be broken up entirely. Thus General Ross could take control of a no-longer-united group of people and use it for his own ends, whatever those were. But he hadn't anticipated how far it would go. Neither had she, frankly. Once Barnes got involved... Well, Steve had opposed the Accords from the start, and hearing how many civil liberties were being taken away from Wanda, himself, and of course Barnes, he'd revolted.