Thank God for the Headphones
When the elevator doors opened Maria and Natasha found themselves barreling into a wheelchair.
A wheelchair that was carrying Morgan. And being pushed by Sarah.
“Fuck.”
“Crap.”
Natasha lifted one perfectly manicured eyebrow and fixed them with a look right as Maria spoke with a tone that left no room for arguments, “Back to your room.”
Morgan turned her head up to look at Sarah, “You think we could make a run for it?”
“ I could. Not so sure about you.”
“Oh, come on! You're a super soldier, just carry me out!”
“But how would I carry your ego if I'm already carrying you?”
“ My ego? Don't you mean yours? Must be real bad to get your big words all mixed up like that, huh?”
Natasha gave them an unimpressed look, “Do we have to wheel you back?”
Both girls looked at the adults, opting to close their mouths.
Morgan never would’ve thought that the Black Widow, dressed in yoga pants and a sweatshirt that was too big to be hers, would be so incredibly intimidating. Then again, Morgan found it easy to be unnerved by most adults these days, so who knew?
Sarah on the other hand, had acquired enough practice over the years to be unfazed by the assassin, this time, however, a shudder ran through her spine and she looked away from the woman. It had been a long time since she'd last been on the receiving end of that look and she couldn't help but miss it.
“Well, that shut them up.” Maria gave them their respective water bottles, “Careful, it's cold.” She added with a smirk.
The corners of Natasha's mouth tugged up minutely, which she hid with a roll of her eyes, before she sternly shifted her attention back to the girls, “Well?”
The girls let out twin groans before Sarah set her bottle on Morgan’s lap and turned them around, speaking between gritted teeth, “Told you it wasn't gonna work.”
“It was worth a try.”
When the four made it back to the room, Helen was waiting for them with her arms crossed. She extended her hand, palm up, to which the girls responded with innocent looks as Natasha went to leave the snacks on a little rolling table.
Seeing as Helen wasn't getting the desired response, she spoke with an exasperated tint to her voice, “My card, please.”
Sarah let go of the wheelchair, “Oh, fine!” She reached into her pocket for the identification card.
“Thank you.” The Doctor turned to Morgan, “You, back to bed.”
After a couple of claims from the girl stating that she was fine — thank you very much — and then almost falling face first into the floor when she did try to stand up she relented and let Helen and Maria, ever so cautiously, help her to bed. Once settled Morgan sent the Doctor a dirty look as the woman reattached all the wires, “Buzzkill.”
Helen smiled at her, making quick work of setting everything back up. Then, sparing a glance at the snacks on the table she spoke in her Doctor voice, “No solid foods until we are certain you can keep super soldier painkillers and nutrient-dense solutions down.”
“Come on Doctor Cho!” Morgan slumped down in the bed as she gave the woman the best puppy dog eyes she could manage with a black eye and a bandage firmly taped onto her forehead, “If you're keeping me prisoner the least you could do is let me get a Cheeseburger!”
“Not for a little while. Sorry.” At least she looked apologetic, Morgan thought, “I'll be back shortly to check the bandages. And don't steal any more IDs or the whole floor will have to change into facial recognition and handprints, please. It would be a headache to get done . ” With that, she left.
Morgan took her water bottle and opened it, “I bet they could at least throw a burger in a blender with some Captain America juices and put it into my IV.”
Sarah scrunched her nose up as she tucked her feet underneath her on the chair, “Gross.”
“At least you can eat.” Morgan took a gulp of water.
“Slow sips.” That was Maria.
“Wouldn't it be so nice to have one big, greasy burger right now? With that crunchy bacon and oozy cheese… mmmm I can already taste it.” Sarah commented with a devilish smirk.
Morgan flipped her off.
Maria watched the exchange with amusement written all over her face as Natasha spoke, “So, why'd you try to leave?"
Morgan lazily traced the pattern of the hospital gown with a cold, slender finger, “Wouldn't you try to leave if you were being held hostage by complete strangers from another universe?” She answered the question with another question. Cute , Natasha thought.
“Why'd you even care anyway?” Sarah's face turned slightly sour, “You don't know us.”
For all the girl had told them she had done an amazing job at answering their questions without revealing major details. She'd spoken so much and given them so little. Sure, they knew she'd been associated with the Avengers at one point — her last name was Rogers — and they'd been around when she was growing up. They knew that something bad had happened, no doubt there, but she just told them that the Captain America from her universe had left and that had been it. They were certain that there was more that she wasn't telling them, but Maria and Natasha didn't think that pushing it now would do them any good.
Morgan, although not fully aware of the reason behind the silence in the room, was growing increasingly uncomfortable with it.
The incessant beep beep beep coming from around her was starting to beat a hole into her brain and the smell of antiseptic was growing by the second. The sheets of the bed, and her hospital gown were getting impossibly tight and the bandages itched to the point that her skin seared. She felt the metal from the IV rupturing her epidermis and the sensation left a cold ache in her veins.
The lights were impossibly bright. They were loud and clamant and she couldn't look at them or she feared her eye sockets would burst and splatter dark crimson over pristine white and everything was too loud-
“Morgan?”
Too loud.
“Friday set the light to a minimum, please.”
Too loud.
“Right away Miss Romanoff.”
Too loud.
“Draw the blinds on the windows. The ones looking out to the Med Bay too.”
Too loud.
“As you wish, Agent Hill.”
Too loud.
Her hands went over to her ears.
“Morgan?” Someone was prying her hands away and she whimpered. Everything was too loud .
“This will help, I promise.” Something soft and padded covered her ears and as she opened her eyes she realized that the room was dark, and silent. Headphones were placed over her head.
She saw that Natasha was sitting on her left, “Get some rest. It's okay.”
. . .
Natasha and Maria had left the room a little after Morgan had fallen asleep. Thank God for Peter’s noise-canceling headphones.
Helen had been alerted of the girl’s state, which led them to the current discussion.
“She's clearly not comfortable in a hospital atmosphere.”
Helen sighed, “I know, but she needs to be monitored.”
“Friday would keep her vitals in check. Give us periodic updates.” Natasha bobbed her head toward Maria, “She’d be close to our room.”
Maria looked at Helen and spoke with the most Deputy-Director-of-Shield voice she could manage, “We won't interfere with your professional opinion if you truly deem it necessary that she remains here, but if we were to take her up to our living quarters we’d have both of them in the same place in the case of an emergency.”
“Besides, you'd have one free bed for whenever one of the idiots upstairs decides that they can fly," Natasha smirked as she saw Helen’s resolve start to crack.
Maria, clearly having caught on as well, decided to let the woman come to terms with the choice already made, “Listen, Cho, I'm gonna take Sarah up in a minute. We'll probably be down here again in a bit. Tell us what the verdict is then.”
Helen sighed before looking down at her tablet when an alert came through, “We'll talk more later.” With that, she turned around and walked to where she was needed.
Natasha turned to Maria, “You sure you wanna take Sarah?”
“She's not going to get any more comfortable by avoiding me, and we don't know how long they'll be here for.”
Natasha hummed, “I'll let you know when she wakes up.”
. . .
The elevator ride was awkward, to say the least. Sarah, as much as she tried not to, couldn't help but stare at Maria. She was amazed at how similar this woman was to the Maria from her world. This one’s hair was darker, and her glasses were nowhere to be seen but it was the same Maria she’d grown up with.
The same stand, the same analytical blue eyes, the same ting to her voice… It was her but then again it wasn't.
If she closed her eyes she could almost pretend that this was Masha going with her to MIT. That this was Masha walking around the tower in borrowed clothes from the guys. That this was Masha cooking a gourmet dinner out of scraps and leftovers for her and Nat when she stayed with them for a weekend and taking her to the ring to skate late at night.
But it wasn't. This wasn't her Maria and that wasn't her Natasha and the more distance she kept the better.
She didn't know them and they didn't know her. End of story.
The elevator dinged as the doors opened and the uncomfortable stillness came to a halt as Maria started walking, giving her a tour of the living quarters as they went.
This compound, she found, wasn't all that different from the one she knew. There were a few things that varied — decorations and colors were a good example — but the distribution was mostly the same, at least for the small part she was seeing.
Maria took her through the joint kitchen-living room, which seemed to be empty, and into an opening with various doors, one of which she recognized as Natasha’s room from those five years after the blip.
“This is mine and Natasha’s room.” Maria broke the silence, pointing to a closed door to their right.
“There’s more than a few guest rooms to spare,” Maria opened a door and took a step inside, “This one’s yours.”
Sarah took a deep breath and looked around. The room was dull, monotonous. If she hadn't known any better, Sarah would've thought this was a simple hotel room.
There was a bed with a carpet underneath it, a cabinet, and a closet.
“It's uh,” Sarah put her hands inside the pockets of her brown leather jacket and turned toward Maria with a humorous grimace, “It’s empty.”
Maria chuckled, watching the girl walk to the bed and feel the fabric with her fingertips.
“The bathroom’s two doors down the hall if you need it.” Maria went to say something else but Sarah spoke first.
“I know.” She froze. Sarah hadn't really thought her words through and she slowly turned around to see Maria trying to play it down.
Maria, ever the competent woman, figured she could've lived at the compound at one point and tried to subtly get more information out of her, “Yeah?”
She was prompting her to continue, Sarah presumed. She was quiet for a minute walking over to the window and gazing out to encounter green. There was no way they were staying in this universe for long, Sarah thought, so she might as well indulge the woman a bit. It couldn't hurt, right?
“I stayed here for a bit when I was younger.” Sarah turned around, “Not here . But, you know, The Avengers Compound in my universe.”
Maria hummed and Sarah found herself turning back to the window. It was a nice view, the trees swayed a bit on the edge of the property and they were prolonged into a beautiful sea of earthy tones.
As her eyes trailed the ridiculously large field of nothingness that extended around the compound she saw a figure standing there, looking up at her just as she looked down at him. He was gone in a flash and Sarah thought she might have imagined the whole thing.
Before she could ponder on it any longer she felt something rub against her ankle.
She looked down and her eyes widened.
Maria chuckled, “That would be-”
“Liho!” Sarah whisper-yelled as she crouched down.
“Hi, girl," She extended her hand out to the cat, who immediately rubbed her head against it, purring softly.
Sarah laughed — and maybe teared up the slightest bit but she would deny it for the rest of her days — and ran her fingers through the smooth black fur.
Maria huffed, “All I get from her is a hiss at best.”
Sarah looked up briefly and saw Maria cross her arms. She redirected her attention back to the cat and fully sat on the floor.
She swallowed and spoke with a quiet voice, directing her words to the cat, “You don't like Maria in this world either, huh?”
After she was certain she wouldn't end up crying, Sarah looked up at the woman, who had moved to sit gingerly on the bed with a friendly smile on her face, and said, “She ended up sleeping next to you back home so there's hope yet.”