Torn

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"I- I can't accept this. It's too much."

"Natasha, for once in your life, just accept help! Look, it's got three small floors. One main floor with bedrooms bathrooms and whatnot, the top floor is empty so you can do whatever you want with that, and there's a basement with hidden a hidden weapons vault."

"For the last time, Clint, it's too much, I can get by on my own."

"Ah, but you're not on your own. You've got Kat with you. Look, it's protocol. This is standard issue housing for all of our agents. You'll also be provided with a safe house in New York just like this one. It's not special treatment."

Natasha took one last look at the exterior then looked at her phone which had the pictures of the interior. It was a nice, townhouse near the Triskellion in Washington DC, but not too close. It was pretty low profile too. Nie on the inside but not too extravagant on the othside.

"... Fine. But if I see you at my door with complementary groceries, I'm kicking your ass."

"Well, what am I gonna do with my afternoon, now?"

Clint remarked sarcastically. Natasha rolled her eyes and returned the sarcastic remark,

"That was so funny Clint. Honestly, I don't know why you're in intelligence and not standup."

After a small exchange of laughter, Natasha called Katia over from the car where she had been silently waiting. They both went inside and Clint drove off in his car. As Natasha and Katia walked inside, they both had no idea what to do with themselves. It was early in the morning, so they were used to having vigorous training workouts. The house was fully furnished already.

"Do you wanna pick out a bedroom?"

"I get my own room?"

The child's eyes lit up. Natasha smiled.

"Yes, you get your own room."

Katia ran through the living room down the hallway. All of the bedrooms were pretty big. Katia chose the smallest one. She didn't need a lot of space. It was already furnished with a twin bed, a dresser, a full body mirror, a bed side table, and a desk with writing and art supplies and a computer. Katia stood in the middle of the room, admiring the fact that she had her own space and her own privacy, and didn't have to be handcuffed to the bedpost anymore.

Natasha made her way to the main bedroom. She had never had anything so nice before. It might've been just a standard, middle class townhouse to everyone else, but to Natasha and Katia, it was a palace.

The whole first day was spent discussing what should be done with the top floor. It was one big completely empty room. The ceiling was slanted because of the roof. The stairs going up to the the room were a metal spiral staircase at the end of the hallway. Natasha thought that it should be used as a training room for combat. Katia thought that it should be used as a place to practice ballet.

"Well, why not both? We can put in a ballet bar and mirror on one side and have mats and punching bags on the other side."

"I like that idea."

Natasha and Katia agreed that this would be their first goal in their new home. The next day was Natasha's first day at SHIELD. Katia stayed home. Natasha wanted to keep Katia's existence a secret. Katia agreed. They both knew that Katia was a liability and liabilities had to be kept secret. Katia was fine with this. She even preferred to not meet people. She didn't know who she could trust anyway.

2010

Natasha quickly grew in the ranks in SHIELD. Soon she was the same rank as Fury's right hand, Maria Hill. SHIELD entrusted her with many under cover missions. One of which was at Stark Tower. For this job they temporarily lived in the safehouse in New York, which was identical to the one in DC. She was supposed to be a secretary. So far, she was not enjoying the job. To say that Tony Stark was an insufferable man child, would be an understatement. She often came home annoyed, but Katia always lightened her mood.

Katia had started schooling at her own pace. She had currently been resuming her studies in coding. She was currently nine years old. One day Natasha came home wearing her Black Widow suit. Katia was sitting on the couch with her computer. She was working on python code.

"I thought you were undercover?"

"I was, but then Stark decided to be a dumbass."

"Didn't you say He was always a dumbass?"

"First of all, watch your language. But, yeah, that's true."

Katia laughed and resumed her coding practice. Natasha went to the bathroom to get cleaned up after one more completed mission.