One Ticket to Marialand
Maria woke up early, she woke up earlier than Yelena or Natasha, she was an early riser by habit. As she sat up in bed she realized Natasha was back in bed sleeping next to her. Maria had to take a pause as she recalled what happened last night, did Nat have bad dream or did Maria have one? Maria moved silently and as slowly as possible to not disturb Natasha, taking tiny gentle steps around the bed carefully.
“You know I’m awake.” Natasha muttered with her eyes closed, Maria smiled to herself as she heard her say that. It was such a classic Natasha thing to say and she said it in her snarky Natasha voice.
“Yeah, you look awake.” Maria observed sarcastically.
“I could shoot circles around you without even lifting an eyelid, Hill.” Natasha shot back.
“If that’s the case, you sound like a good candidate for work from home program.”
Natasha laughed under her breath and she turned her head into her pillow.
“You need a lighter foot.” Natasha grumbled as Maria walked by.
“I have a light foot.”
“Nah, really heavy step.”
“I do not have a heavy step.”
“It’s not your fault, you’re just too tall to be light footed.”
“I’m only four inches taller than you.”
“That’s a lot of inches…”
“Is it?” Maria tilted her head.
“Well, not usually no.”
The two of them laughed.
“Try your tip toes next time.” Nat smirked as she turned over and leaned up in the bed a little.
“If you think I haven’t been walking on tip toes this whole time with you.” Maria muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes and Natasha shot right up quickly at that remark.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“What the hell do you think it means?” Maria tilted her head at her.
“What were you expecting a grand reception, roll out the red carpet with string quartet upon your unwanted arrival?”
Maria looked way from Natasha and shook her head to herself and Natasha could tell she was rolling her eyes in the distance.
“Oh yeah, sure, real mature, huff to yourself and act all indignant like you didn’t do the same thing to me years ago.”
“I didn’t.” Maria said sternly.
“Wow, okay, sure… you know what? I want one ticket to Marialand please, because it sure seems nice to live somewhere where you can just edit out the stuff of your past you don’t want to acknowledge.” Natasha responded, she had a snotty tone in her voice that Maria did not appreciate.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Am I kidding you? No, not at all. You did the exact same thing when you were having a problem and you don’t get act all high and mighty and…” Natasha started and Maria cut her off.
“That stuff is different Natasha! First of all, I was staying with you for quite a while when it happened if you forgot that part, huh? And second, I wasn’t a fugitive on the run from the government!”
“I mean first of all, you kind of were, a little bit… at the end there, that was a gray area around then, wasn’t it?” Honestly?” Natasha asked with a little smirk and Maria did not look impressed so she moved on.
“Do you think that maybe me being a fugitive is exactly why I don’t want you here? Not only are you a huge liability just being around me for both me and you, the second something goes wrong and you get put to the fire the very first thing you’re going to do is sell me out!” Natasha yelled at Maria.
Maria gasped at that accusation. Sell her out?! She could not be serious. Maria looked horribly offended and Natasha realized she was just talking in the heat of the moment to get rid of Maria.
“Sell you out? Yeah… sounds just like me…” Maria said disgusted with Nat’s accusation and Maria started to walk away from here because that one hurt. Nat did feel bad about it. She was high on the emotions from her nightmare still and she didn’t mean it. It was one of her big fears and she just wanted to put out there so Maria would leave.
And then Maria turned back before leaving the room and she glared at Nat.
“Sell you out? I took a bullet for you.” Maria said glaring at Natasha, just letting her know how much saying that to her was pretty terrible, and Maria never wanted to pull this card on Natasha, but she was being ridiculous and she had to know how awful it was to say that to her, considering.
Natasha paused because that was true, but then she thought about it for a moment.
“And you told me, to my face, that was, and I vaguely quote ‘a strategic choice you would have made for anyone because you were protected and I wasn’t, you knew you would live and it would work but I would die and it wasn’t a gesture of anything, it didn’t mean anything,’ and this part is a direct quote from you ‘don’t get hung up on it.’” Natasha glared at Maria and Maria made a face at her.
“Do you remember that? You remember saying that to my face?” Natasha asked and she looked very smug as if she had just ‘got’ Maria with her own words. Maria looked at Natasha and she was mad but she thought about it for a moment and she did say those things but it was only after Natasha told her she couldn’t talk to her about what happened because she was feeling too guilty about almost getting Maria killed and also Maria was mad at her for other reasons at the time. She thought Natasha had read through the lines, maybe not.
“I didn’t know it was going to work.” Maria mumbled and Natasha leaned forward a bit staring at Maria and the two of them were quiet for a moment.
“What?” Natasha said in softer yet still harsh tone.
“I didn’t know it was going to work because it was a prototype and it hadn’t been tested at that close of a range yet.” Maria admitted a bit quietly and then Natasha threw her hands down on the bed and her jaw dropped. She made a fist with her hand, because not only did Maria lie about why she did that years ago, she didn’t even know it was going to work!
“What!!!” Natasha yelled at her and Maria shrugged making an uneasy face.
“You did it and you didn’t even know it was going to work!” Natasha exclaimed this was the worst news Natasha could get, it was even worse than her totally irrational fear of Maria selling her out, knowing someone cared about you that’ much? Natasha couldn’t stand it—despite having the exact same feeling for Maria in every way, she simply could not accept this. It made everything so much worse especially because Natasha believed this to be true when Maria told her it wasn’t but she didn’t want to be so vain and conceited to think Maria was just faking and covering for herself.
“Why the hell did you do it, then!!!” Nat yelled again as if the answer wasn’t obvious.
“I don’t know…field test…?” Maria answered unconvincingly, what did Natasha think she did it for? Of course Maria was lying back when she said those things, she was mad at Nat!
“What the hell is wrong with you! Why would you do that!?” Natasha said in disbelief.“and then you lied about it?”
“Of course I lied about it!” Maria shot back, what was she supposed to do? She knew it would make Natasha feel guilty about what happened especially after Maria told her not to show up and she did, and it’s not like Maria felt like she could be open and honest with her feelings because she tried and Natasha left her on read!
“You lied about it and then you weaponized it against me years later!” Natasha growled.
“I didn’t weaponize it I was making a point that it’s unbelievable and hurtful for you to say that I would sell you out when you have absolute proof that is not true and you know it. You just said that to be a dick and get me be mad at you and leave, and don’t even pretend you were doing something else.” Maria growled.
“Well I didn’t know I had absolutely proof of it because you lied to me about it!”
“I lied to you about it so you wouldn’t feel like an asshole.”
“Great, thanks, I still feel like an asshole.” Natasha groaned loudly.
“You should! You said an asshole thing!” Maria huffed back at Natasha.
“Wow, sorry for saying an asshole thing then!” Natasha said almost sarcastically to Maria
“Will you two stop shouting about assholes!” Yelena yelled in from the other room and both of them were quiet.
“Yeah, thanks.” Maria rolled her eyes and she turned to leave toward the bathroom.
“Where are you going? You aren’t going to apologize for lying?” Nat asked.
“To pee, and no.” Maria said with sharpest, most hateful tone she had used the whole argument which set Natasha back.
Natasha made a face to herself, that did not go great. Natasha sighed. The problem with trying to have an argument with Maria was that she was really smart, calculated, and stubborn person. And Natasha knew better, really she did. Natasha was worried about being hurt about Maria hypothetically turning on her because it happened in a stupid dream, and Natasha knew it would never happen, really, well she was almost positive but the hate she saw in Maria’s face in her nightmare, when she learned about what Natasha did to Antonia, Natasha wondered if that detail would push Maria over the edge, that’s why she believed it so much in her sleep. Natasha had tried to sleep on the couch alone, but she was wide awake all night, not getting comfortable, she could just feel the panic she had felt over and over again. She finally calmed down when she snuck back into bed with Maria, it was nice to see her at ease and not making a hateful disgusted look at her like she was when Natasha closed her eyes. Still, when Maria woke up Natasha took the opportunity to try and push her away again. Natasha couldn’t be weak and riddled with guilt if she was going to take on Dreykov again. Maria had to understand that getting rid of her wasn’t personal, it was strategic! It helped Natasha and if Maria wanted to help Natasha she should go. Why was that so hard for her to understand?
Maria washed her face in the sink, as she realized that conversation was rough. She was not innocent of anything either during that argument. Maybe Natasha was right, she should leave and if she never saw her again, so be it. Clearly, these two were never going to work out. It was like the were simultaneously the bane of each other’s existence and so struck in love at the same time—even if neither of them would ever admit it again. They fell into such a flirty pattern so easily. Maria had to admit she was shocked when Natasha was back in bed this morning, when she first realized it she thought it meant something, something good. Now she realized maybe Natasha was just cold.
After a few minutes and cleaning herself up, Maria went into he kitchen where Yelena was eating cereal. Maria started washing some fruit to eat and she started to clear the dishes Yelena and Natasha left in the sink over night. The air was tense with the awkwardness of Maria and Natasha’s argument. Everyone felt tense. Natasha returned into the kitchen and Maria could feel the heaviness in the air sink even further around her even though she couldn’t see Natasha come in.
Natasha walked over behind Maria.
“Do you mind?” Maria said under breath as she could feel Natasha looming. She hated the looming presence of someone behind her.
Natasha moved up to the counter so she wasn’t stalking Maria from behind.
“Maria, I’m sorry.” Natasha said.
“It’s fine, Im going go, you’re right.” Maria mumbled as she started to dry the dishes.
Yelena was dying, cringing inside from the awkwardness and the tense mood. She wished she had friend she could text just to avoid being present in the moment for this. She ate her cereal so slowly, really crunching it, stirring it in her bowl
“Maria.” Natasha whined quietly. Natasha was finally getting what she wanted and she felt terrible.
“I shouldn’t have said that.” Natasha continued and Maria shook her head at her ignoring her. Natasha bit her bottom lip.
“I am trying to apologize…” Natasha added in a little frustrated Maria wasn’t just saying it was okay and moving on.
“I see that.” Maria said she finished drying the dishes. Yelena slowed down her eating desperately so she could avoid eye contact with either of them. She started to read the back of the cereal box intensely.
“I can get you some money to help but after I leave I wont be able to send you anything.” Maria said under her breath.
“I know you’re not going to sell me out.” Natasha muttered.
“Sure.” Maria seemed unimpressed but in fact she did know that Nat knew that, it still hurt to hear her say that.
This was frustrating for Natasha, she could not have a relationship problem right now—and she wasn’t even in a relationship. Strangely she had a lot of empathy for the Maria back in 2015 when her whole issue was going down and she was pushing Natasha away.
“It is best for you leave, though.”
“Sure, yeah, I know.” Maria was short and curt.
“I am sorry. I trust you, I know you would never do that.” Natasha repeated.
“I’m sorry I lied.” Maria said responding quickly.
“I guess its good you did, maybe, at the time it made sense.” Natasha shrugged.
“I don’t know, maybe.” Maria shrugged.
“Is there any way for you to leave and not be pissed at me?” Natasha sighed because she actually did feel bad, she even surprised herself.
“Yeah, no, it’s fine, I get it.”
Yelena finished her cereal and the two of them were blocking the sink having their conversation. So she twirled her spoon around the empty bowl.
“It’s just not safe.” Natasha said again.
“Natasha, I get it.” Maria’s response was sharp and Natasha was taken back for a minute.
Maria left the kitchen and went back into the room she and Natasha shared. Natasha and Yelena exchanged a glance. Yelena looked at Natasha like she was being an idiot.
“I am not.” Natasha huffed at Yelena.
“What?” Yelena asked.
“You know what look you gave me.” Natasha and Yelena both gave a knowing glance to one another.
As Maria grabbed her clothes from the bedroom, she got a call and she answered it.
“Yeah?”
“Maria!” Priscilla’s voice said cheerfully despite Maria’s rude greeting.
Oh, sorry… I…” Maria sighed to herself.
“Hill, are you where we think you are?” Fury said without indicating what place.
“Yeah.”
“Well, we had some of our folks working on deflecting an arms deal by Russian oligarch, nearby… Gravik picked up some video and we don’t know for sure, but we think you might be interested in seeing who is there.” Priscilla explained.
“Aren’t you retired and Fury is on vacation?” Maria asked.
“Work still goes on.” Fury reminded casually.
“Also, I might need you to lend us a hand.” Fury threw in and Maria figured this was going happen.
“I can be right there, send me the information and the video.” Maria sounded a bit annoyed and Fury and Priscilla looked at each other.
“I mean, you don’t have to if you don’ want to…” Priscilla assured.
“No, no, I do, please.” Maria couldn’t wait to do something else.
“You might not be as shocked as we were, but I sent it.” Fury responded and Maria pulled her phone from her ear and she watched the video from far away of the man the skrulls were following, and he was talking to none other than a man who more than vaguely looked like General Dreykov.
“Oh, shit.” Maria said rather loudly as she looked at it.
“I don’t know what you are getting into, but maybe if you team up with some of our friends in the field you might be able to get in some questions…” Fury poised and Maria raised her brows because that might be a way for them to find Dreykov.
“Soren is posing as the Duchess of Death tonight at one of these swanky oligarch parties, I’ll send her your number if you want to tag along.”
“Uhh… yeah okay…” Maria thought about it, maybe it was nothing or maybe it was something.
“You got a dress?” Priscilla asked and Fury laughed.
“I’ll work something out.” Maria mumbled as she turned and she saw Yelena and Natasha standing in the doorway listening to her conversation. Maria hung up and the two of them looked at her eager to refilled in.
“What?” Maria asked.
“You said ‘oh shit.’” Yelena pointed out wide eyed.
“Well, I might have something that can help you two, but, unfortunately for you Natasha, I have to stick around for it.” Maria said and Natasha looked at with a glare.
Maria took her phone and turned it and she showed the video of the oligarch talking to a man with a strong resemblance to Dreykov.
“There’s an event tonight and the man he’s talking to is going to be there.” Maria explained.
Yelena gasped. "So we’re going to a party!?” she asked eagerly.