"Maria, you love me, right?”
Maria paused where she was in the middle of writing a sentence, peering up at her girlfriend who stood at the foot of her desk with a sweet smile. “Normally I’d say yes without hesitation, but I feel like this is going somewhere I won’t like.”
“What makes you say that?” Natasha asked and Maria leaned back in her chair to inspect the woman in front of her.
“I know you, Nat,” Maria replied. She knew that Natasha had done something and was hiding out in her office to escape whatever consequences were coming. “You’re not seeking reassurances, you’re trying to appeal to my emotions.”
“Is it working?” Natasha asked and Maria rolled her eyes.
Maria’s phone suddenly rang and she looked down at it before looking back up at Natasha. It was too much of a coincidence. “If I answer this, is your name going to be mentioned in a way that I won’t like?”
The sweet smile on Natasha’s face only grew.
Maria sighed and reached for her phone, pulling it up to her ear. As anticipated, Natasha’s name was mentioned along with an incident that resulted in two agents being sent to the infirmary after being roughed up. She stared at Natasha during the entire conversation, watching as the sweet smile on her face grew a little more forced. When the call finished and Maria set the phone down she looked up at Natasha.
“Well?” Maria raised an eyebrow. “Care to explain?”
“Not particularly,” Natasha retorted and Maria sighed.
“You and I both know that wasn’t a request,” Maria tilted her head to the side to observe the way that Natasha carried herself. “I know you. You wouldn’t have reacted like that without a reason.”
Natasha shrugged nonchalantly. “Maybe I don’t have a reason.”
“You do have a reason, even if it isn’t a good reason. But I’ll be the judge of that.” Maria pushed her chair back and beckoned Natasha closer. “C’mere.”
Natasha paused for a moment before rounding the desk to stand at Maria’s side. Maria turned her chair to face her and looked up at Natasha.
“You and I both know that you’re going to have to tell me what happened sooner or later. You can drag it out for as long as you want, but the longer you wait then the longer I will have to put off my work, and the longer I will have to stay after hours.” Maria always tried to get off at a decent time if only to join her girlfriend in bed and decompress after a long day's work.
“It’s not important,” Natasha replied, folding her arms. “Just give me a punishment and get it over with.”
Maria’s brow furrowed at Natasha’s insistence to be done with it. She’d usually try to convince Maria that she was innocent and that if Maria loved her then she’d let her go with the promise of snuggles later on.
“No.” Maria’s answer took Natasha off guard. “You and I both know that that is not how it works. Are you going to make me look up footage and seek out witnesses to tell me what happened?”
The sweet smile finally dropped all the way from Natasha’s face, her lips twisting into a scowl. “Why can’t you just drop it?”
“Because something happened to make you react violently,” Maria reached out to unfold Natasha’s arms and grasp her hands. “You are not a violent person, Nat.”
Natasha let out a soft scoff and tugged her hands from Maria’s. “Don’t say that.”
Maria was a bit lost about what she should do. She watched Natasha for a few moments, observing the way she held herself more stiffly the longer time crept by. The innocent naivety that she put on when she entered Maria’s office to try and coerce her to not be angry was completely gone.
Maria finally leaned back in her chair and opened her arms. “Come here.”
Natasha’s brow furrowed in confusion as she regarded Maria. “I thought you didn’t want to mix work and personal relationships.”
“We both know you never listen to that anyway,” Maria said and beckoned her over again. “Come here.”
Natasha shuffled forward and sat in her lap, pliant as Maria wrapped her arms around her to bring her close. The fact that Natasha sank into her with no resistance told Maria a lot.
Maria had to walk the fine line between superior and girlfriend when it came to Natasha. She couldn’t be seen showing favoritism to her but she also knew that Natasha needed her as Maria instead of Deputy Director at the moment.
“I do love you, you know that,” Maria finally addressed the question that Natasha had asked her when she first barged into her office. “And you know that I will always listen to you and be a fair judge when it comes to whatever trouble you get yourself tangled up in.”
Natasha tucked her head against the crook of Maria’s neck to avoid her gaze and Maria let her hide away for a few moments, kissing the top of her head. She swiveled her rolling chair side to side gently, mimicking a rocking motion as she let the silence stretch on. She could feel Natasha gradually relax against her as the minutes ticked on.
“I usually have to chase you down because you’re a slippery little eel when you want to avoid consequences. Today you approached me first. That tells me that you didn’t do something wrong and you want me to know that.” Maria was making educated guesses based on the past. She would usually hear about something Natasha did and have to go hunt down wherever the woman was to drag her back to her office to lecture her about appropriate behavior at work.
“It’s not a big deal,” Natasha mumbled into her collar, which immediately told Maria that it was a big deal, at least to her.
“Then tell me,” Maria brushed her fingers over Natasha’s hair. “What happened, Nat?”
For a few moments she thought that Natasha was gonna play the silent game and she was gonna be in it for the long haul, already lamenting the fact that her paperwork was not going to grow any shorter while she sat there.
Then, in a quiet voice, Natasha replied, “They should have shut their mouths.”
Maria pinched her lips at the comment, wondering what could have been said that made Natasha react so viscerally. “What did they say?”
Natasha huffed into the shoulder of Maria’s uniform. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me,” Maria said firmly, soothing the harsh tone with a few fingers in Natasha’s hair, petting gently to ease the intense emotions. “Something upset you so it matters to me.”
Natasha was quiet for a few more moments. “They were talking about you.”
“Me?” Maria encouraged softly. She was a bit of a hard-ass and she knew that her agents whispered about her stoic and cold personality behind her back, often grumbling about their frustration at the way she ran things, but she’d be damned if they didn’t respect her.
“I know I shouldn’t have done it,” Natasha recited an apology she had told Maria dozens of times before, none of them nearly as sincere as she was at the moment.
“I’m glad that you know that what you did was wrong, but you still haven’t told me what happened,” Maria kept her voice calm, knowing that if she got impatient then Natasha was going to shut down.
“I just told you,” Natasha huffed. “They were talking about you.”
“Yes. But you have yet to tell me exactly what happened. I want it like a mission report if that makes it easier. What happened, where it happened, why it happened, and how it happened,” Maria listed.
“It’s foolish,” Natasha repeated and Maria wondered if she was pushing too hard and if she should give Natasha some time to calm down before trying again.
“You were involved in a physical altercation,” Maria gently pushed Natasha away from her enough to look at her face, not letting her hide anymore. “That’s not foolish. That’s serious. You know the rules about fighting. So I need to know why. What did they say that made you so upset that you did that?”
“They made comments about you,” Natasha reiterated before pausing, hesitating as though repeating the words would upset Maria.
“What did they say?” Maria encouraged softly, moving her hand to cup Natasha’s cheek and brushing her thumb along her jaw.
Natasha averted her eyes, taking a carefully measured breath. “Sexual things.”
Everything suddenly clicked into place. “You know that it’s only talk. They’re not going to hurt me, you don’t need to protect me.”
Natasha’s eyes suddenly latched onto Maria’s, a fierce determination in them that surprised her. “Don’t say that.”
Maria backtracked a little when she saw the slight hurt she caused. “I appreciate that you look out for me. I know that you have my back and that you will keep me safe. But all these agents are just all talk, getting their frustrations about me out. It's not the first time they’ve talked about me behind my back, and I don’t care what they say because I know what is and isn’t true.”
“It doesn’t bother you that they say that you’d be less of an ice bitch if you got fucked?” Natasha inquired and Maria winced slightly at the crass language.
“It’s honestly none of their business. I am Maria Hill, Deputy Director, Commander Hill, Hard-ass Hill, and Ice Bitch. You would be hard-pressed to find something I’m not called,” Maria cupped the back of Natasha’s head and gently tipped it forward to press her forehead against Natasha’s. The small touch was a form of comfort, an intimate action that Maria knew was reserved only for her. “Thank you for defending my honor, but in the future I would prefer you solve things like this without fists.”
“Are you upset with me?” Natasha asked. She was blunt with those types of questions when she was genuinely unsure if Maria was upset or angry with her. Maria always tried to be as upfront with her about it if she was.
“No.” Maria pulled her head away, kissing Natasha’s forehead before leaning back in her seat. “I’m not upset.”
A familiar spark of mischief was creeping back into Natasha’s eyes. “No punishment then?”
Maria laughed, patting Natasha’s thigh to indicate that she should get up. “I love you but not even you are the exception from the rules.”
Natasha pouted at her as she stood up. “Are you my boss again or can I kiss you?”
Maria rolled her eyes and tilted her head back to let Natasha bend down to press their lips together. “You already know the punishment for fighting.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Natasha pulled away. “I’ll clean the equipment in the gym.”
Maria watched Natasha go with a smile before turning back to her work and letting out a tired sigh.
Maria shuffled inside her bunk, absolutely exhausted from the long day that she worked. She kicked her shoes off and lined them up next to the door, smiling slightly when she saw the other pair of shoes there. She moved further into the dark room, taking in the sight of the lump under her blanket as she unzipped her uniform to get changed.
“Three in the morning might be a new record for you,” Natasha mumbled from her spot curled up in the blanket.
“I had to get some stuff finished,” Maria tugged a fresh shirt on and then approached the bed. “You gonna let me in?”
“Nope,” Natasha pulled the blanket tighter around herself. “That’s what you get for letting me sleep in your bed, your blanket is mine now.”
Maria rolled her eyes and reached out to scoop Natasha up and move her over so that she could climb into bed too. As soon as she was laying down, Natasha unfurled herself from the blanket and rolled over to lay on top of Maria.
“Comfy?” Maria asked in amusement as Natasha hummed against her collar.
With the warmth of her girlfriend pressed against her exhausted body, Maria was quickly starting to doze.
“You know my favorite thing about you?” Natasha inquired and Maria twisted her head to look down at her in sleepy confusion. Natasha could be very talkative at night if there was something on her mind.
“What’s that?” Maria asked between yawns.
“You won’t let me get away with shit,” Natasha replied, her fingers trailing along Maria’s collar. “No matter what I do, you won’t let me wiggle my way out of situations.”
Maria brushed a hand over Natasha’s back. “You like it when I do that?” She asked in sleepy confusion.
“I like it that you don’t let my title or my background intimidate you.” Natasha’s voice got quieter as she confessed that. “I could be yelling at you and you don’t care. I am deadly and dangerous and I have killed many, that alone will get me out of many situations. There are very few people who can call me out on my bullshit in SHIELD, and there are even fewer that I will listen to.”
“Thanks for letting me be one of them,” Maria hummed. Natasha intimidated a lot of people but Maria had seen a side of her that others hadn’t. Not much could surprise her after seeing Natasha mouth along when they watched Moonraker or watching her eat peanut butter straight from the jar.
“I’m glad you didn’t let things be earlier,” Natasha wiggled her way a little higher to press her forehead against Maria’s jaw.
“Of course.” Maria let her head tip to the side to rest against copper-colored hair. “I love you Nat, even when you are a pain in my ass.”
Natasha huffed out a laugh against Maria’s neck. “That’s the best part.”
“We’ll agree to disagree,” Maria commented before brushing her fingers over Natasha’s back. “Now go to sleep.”
Natasha let out a hum and settled down. Maria started to fall asleep first, and through the hazy feeling of weightlessness just before giving in to exhaustion, she felt a pair of lips softly press against her jaw.
“Love you too, Masha,” Natasha whispered against her skin.
And if Natasha noticed the agents she put in the infirmary also cleaning up the equipment in the gym when they were discharged the next day then she doesn’t mention a word to Maria.