The New Job
“So it’s a pretty intensive onboarding process,” Pepper talked quickly as she walked through the massive entryway into the Stark building, “background check, polygraph, about 100 forms to fill out, and a urinalysis.”
Maria nodded and followed the woman, making sure she and Ellie were walking quickly enough to keep up.
“Regardless of what Tony says, no you can’t skip any of it,” the blonde glanced back over her shoulder, “sorry.”
“No worries, I wasn’t expecting anything less,” she placed her hand on Ellie’s backpack and pushed her along as they got to an elevator that Pepper opened with a palm scanner.
“He’s always losing his keys,” the woman explained, “hasn’t found a way to lose his hands… yet.”
The three entered the elevator which quickly rose as the woman talked, bypassing all other levels, “1-55 are the true heart and soul of Stark Industries, 56-80 are where all of the labs are located, R&D, philanthropic research, bio and tech.”
Maria made a mental note of that and watched as the numbers continued to tick upward, the girl next to her covered her ears as the pressure increased.
“Sorry,” Pepper frowned as they began to slow, “80-93 are -”
The blonde was cut off as they got to level 78, the doors opened and Tony’s voice cut her off before she could continue. It was a large open space filled with a large desk in one corner, the rest of it was what looked like half-finished projects and glass monitors.
“Agent Grumpy! Ooo and what’s this, a baby agent grumpy?” he approached with a pen and went to tap Ellie with it.
The child grabbed his wrist, and with all of her body weight, threw both of her legs into the man's stomach causing him to double over.
“Oh my god!” Potts looked at Ellie, “are you okay.”
The girl shied behind Maria’s leg, “She doesn’t like to be touched by strangers.”
“Yep,” Tony coughed, “yep, got that. Definitely a baby agent grumpy.”
“I was just showing Maria where your office is, now that she works here.”
“First of all, you work here now?” Stark gave a boyish smile.
“I do.” Maria inclined her head, something told her the man would be worse than dealing with Clint after too much caffeine.
“Second of all, I thought your first name was Agent?”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes at her new boss.
“Last name Hard-Ass-Hill,” he raised an eyebrow before leaning down towards Ellie, “excuse my language.”
“Just Hill,” she clarified.
“And does baby Agent Maria Just-Hill have a first name?”
<E-L-I-Z-A-V-E-T-A> the girl finger spelled.
“Ah, I do not know what that means,” Tony stood to his full height.
Maria didn’t speak for her daughter, the girl knew what she was doing.
“You’re bright, I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” she smiled as the man continued to watch Ellie with knitted eyebrows.
“We’re off to fill out onboarding forms,” Pepper spoke over Tony’s groans.
“You don’t have to do those, I want to learn what the tiny one said,” he squinted again.
“Again, can’t skip the forms,” the blonde opened up the door and brought them back to the elevators, “bye Tony.”
The man waved, “JARVIS give me a visual playback of the last 3 minutes.”
“Anyway, that’s Tony’s office,” rather than go back down the elevator, Pepper opened up a door on the other side of the floor, “and this is where my office is.”
It was a stark contrast to the man's office; Peppers was covered in soft cream and beige colors which seemed to absorb the natural light coming from the floor-to-ceiling windows. The entire space looked like it had come out of a magazine, one that did not include children. Maria made sure Ellie didn’t have anything clearly sticky on her person before walking in.
“Come on in,” the blonde waved from where she sat behind her desk.
The desk itself was massive and perfectly organized with neutral-tone file organizers, Maria and Ellie sat in the two chairs across from her. Both were clearly the odd ones out as the child played with the ends of her braids and glanced around in her dark space shirt. Maria didn’t fare much better with her dark button-up and slacks.
“It’s a lot,” the blonde sighed as she slid over a thick stack of papers, “but necessary.”
The Commander reached out and quickly looked through the stack, “No problem.”
“Take it back to DC with you, we won't need it until your first day anyway.” Pepper logged into her computer, “remind me what day that is?”
“The 15th.”
It would give her and Ellie a little over a week to pack up their lives in DC and start their new ones in New York, something she wasn’t sure the child fully comprehended yet.
“Right, the 15th,” Potts typed away, “Okay, so I’ll show you to your office and where the polygraph will take place!”
The two followed as they descended back to the 55th floor where Maria’s office was located. She shared a look with Ellie as they approached the corner office that already had Maria’s name embossed into the placard next to the door.
“It’s been recently renovated- well the whole building really was after the battle of New York,” Pepper swiped a key card and opened the door, “it’s still a little bare but it’s a good starting point. We really push for everyone working here to design their office with their own personal touch.”
The woman from Chicago had been in the Military since she was 18, there was never an opportunity to put her own personal touch on anything. The fact that she could now, that she was encouraged to scared her. Until she looked at the little girl next to her who had huge eyes as she walked into the massive office.
Potts was right, it had good bones. The room was easily double the size of her last one with its own private meeting room behind glass on one side, and a desk that was just as large as Peppers on the other side. In the center of the room, there was a couch with two armchairs and a coffee table.
“Again, it’s all totally customizable, this was just what I kind of put together based on what I know about you,” the blonde talked quickly.
“No, no it’s great,” she continued to look around the room at what already looked like many personal touches.
The entire space was cool tones and light wood, something she had come accustomed to during her time as a soldier. It was not by accident she could tell as she saw the star emblem on the corner of her desk.
“Mommy,” Ellie spoke for the first time (to the surprise of Pepper who whipped her head around).
“Whatcha got there?” she walked over to where the girl was standing in front of a bookshelf, a picture frame in her hands.
“It was the only one we had,” the woman explained.
Maria took the frame in her hands and smiled back at the man who smirked in the photo. Phil, in his signature suit and tie standing next to the Stark logo.
“That was right after he overrode our security system, he said it was the only time he would be able to brag about beating Tony.”
“Oh, trust me, he bragged about that all the time,” Maria snorted at the memory.
“I was quite fond of him,” the blonde gave a small smile.
“He was of you too,” she was always happy to hear Coulson talk about his last trip to see Pepper, the man would come back with great stories every time.
She handed the frame back to the child and stood to face Potts, the feeling of sadness not striking her as fiercely as it used to.
“Polygraph?”
“Right,” the blonde swallowed, “it’s one floor down and shouldn’t take more than an hour. I personally think it’s a little overboard but after Rushman, Tony got a little paranoid.”
Maria smirked and nodded as she watched Ellie place the photo back on the shelf before following the women out of the room. They took the stairs the flight down, the girl hopping down each step until they were in front of another door.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to have to be just you in the room,” Pepper looked at the child, “I can try and find someone-”
“It’s okay,” the Commander looked at the glass around the room, “can we borrow a chair?”
“By all means.”
She pulled a chair over from an empty desk and placed it in front of the wall of glass. There hadn’t been time to find and vet a daycare for Ellie in the two days before they flew out, it was also the middle of summer meaning she didn’t have school even if she had been enrolled already. It was all a lot to think about as she placed the girl in the chair.
“Same as always, headphones on and you knock if you need something,” she pulled the old tablet and headphones out of the girl's backpack, “got it?”
<yes> Ellie signed.
“Okay, I’m going to be right here,” Maria smoothed her hands over the girl's braids and stood back up.
The room was small and smelled like fresh paint, two interviewers sat on the other side of the table, standing as she entered.
“Ready Ms. Hill?” One of the interviewers asked as she took a seat, unable to remember the last time someone called her “miss”.
“Ready,” she smiled and nodded as the other began to hook her up to the heart rate monitor.
True to her word, the rest of the pre-employment screening does not take more than a few hours and soon Maria and Ellie find themselves abc on the streets of New York City. The child shifts nervously around as the sheer number of people bustled past them both.
“Come on,” Maria’s fingers finding their way around the girl’s trunk before hosting her up on her hip, “I think we can still make it to a few open houses if we’re quick.”
It wasn’t the Commander's first time to the city, not by a long shot, but traveling with a child was new. The two stood next to one of the large maps on the wall of the subway, Ellie focused on absorbing the new information.
“So we’re here,” Maria pointed to the lower section of Manhattan, “and we’re going to go up here.”
Her finger was pressed firmly against the section labeled “The Bronx”.
“After that, we’re going to try and make it over here,” she trailed her finger to the left and pointed to “Washington Heights”
“Got it?” She looked at Ellie who gave a curt nod.
Both apartments they were looking at were small, probably too small for two people, but in the Commander's price range. Stark Industries paid quarterly leaving Maria to rely on her savings to pay for Ellie’s school, medication, food, and new apartment. There had been a brief moment where she had thought about pausing the money she sent back to the local Boys and Girls Club in Chicago every month. Almost immediately she dismissed the idea after remembering the number of times she had shown up to the club after coming home to her father in an angry, drunken stupor.
She shook her head to clear her mind of the memory and looked at her daughter, “Ready?”
Ellie nodded once more before scanning the platform as the subway came rolling in, her fingers gripping the straps of her backpack as she did so.
It was a long ride full of many stops and bodies pressed into each other. By the time they go to their stop, both Ellie and Maria were glad to be outside even in the heat and humidity of the day. She placed the girl on the sidewalk and took her hand as they walked toward the first apartment building. It was an old brick building with a few too many people lingering around outside for either of their likings as Ellie tightened her grip.
“Here for the open house,” Maria cleared her throat and talked to the lady at the front desk who motioned to the elevator with her head, “thanks.”
They rode the elevator up to the fifth floor and walked to the end of the hallway where the unit was located. The super opened the door and sighed as he took a look at the pair.
“Come on in, let me know if you got questions,” he signed again and Maria had to keep from grimacing.
She nodded and pulled Ellie inside with her, the space wasn’t very large, a one-bedroom slightly smaller in total square footage than her current apartment. The size however, wasn’t the problem, it was the stench of mildew and garbage that filled the space no doubt due to the close location of the garbage shoot at the end of the hall.
“It’d be first, last, and security with proof of employment,” the super coughed a little as he spoke.
“Got it,” the brunette continued looking through the apartment at the small bedroom and bathroom.
Ellie kept a tight grip on her hand the entire time, tightening it as another person came to look at the place.
“We’ll be in touch, thanks,” The Commander nodded to the man.
“Yep,” he popped the P at the end of the word and opened the door for them to leave.
It was a trend that continued at each of the apartments that they viewed, too loud, too far away, too smelly, too covered in mold. They were at their last apartment in Washington Heights, both assuming that it would be just as bad as the rest of the places they had viewed.
“Bueno,” the woman answered the apartment door buzzer system.
“Hi, we’re here for the open house?” Maria spoke back quickly in Spanish.
“Yes, come on in,” there was a buzz that caused Ellie to flinch before the door unlocked.
The two climbed the stairs until they were at the top of the building, both slightly out of breath as they made it to the door.
“Come in come in,” the woman smiled as she opened the door.
The space was small, a studio that felt only a little larger than Ellie’s entire current bedroom. There was no bedroom, one bathroom, and a kitchen but it was clean and quiet.
“It would be a tight fit with two people,” the woman shrugged, “but it’s a good apartment. The last tenant just moved away for a job but had been here for 5 years.”
Maria nodded and looked around the apartment.
“We also have a school nearby, you speak Spanish?” the woman asked Ellie who shied behind Maria’s leg.
“Yes,” her voice was quiet.
“And what grade are you going into little one?”
Ellie lifted one finger, glancing to double-check with Maria who smiled. They continued to talk and find out more information about the surrounding neighborhood until Maria’s phone chimed.
Nat: How's NY? And Ellie? Any apartments?
“Sorry,” she smiled and slipped her phone back into her pocket, “do you have an application for me to fill out?”
“Of course,” the super walked over to the kitchen and handed Maria a form that she quickly filled out.
“We hope to hear from you soon,” she smiled and lifted Ellie back to her hip, the girl going slack in her arms almost instantly.
“You will,” the woman assured her and walked them to the door.
The Commander walked back to the subway and then back to the hotel with Ellie in her arms the entire time. It had been a long day as was apparent by the little girl who slumped into the bed as soon as the hotel door shut.
Ria: <1 img.> About this good.
In the picture, Ellie was almost asleep as she sprawled out on the bed, her braid slightly fuzzy and pizza sauce still in the corner of her mouth.
Nat: looks exhausting.
Maria checked the time difference before deciding fuck it, and calling the Russian.
“Hey,” Natasha answered on the third ring, the sound of a door closing as she did so.
“I thought you might want to hear all about the misadventures of Maria and Ellie in New York,” she kept her voice low and made her way into the bathroom to try and prevent the child from waking up.
“Oh no, misadventure, that can’t be good.” Natasha gave a bright laugh, one that Maria had come to hear more frequently now that they spoke almost every day.
“Want to hear about the ‘stinky place’ or ‘sweaty place’ first?” she asked using the labels Ellie had made.
“I’d love to hear about them all,”
And so Maria recounted the day from Stark Industries to the last apartment in the Heights, answering all of the questions Natasha had for her as they continued to talk.
“I mean it’s the only place I could actually see living in,” she sighed.
“I told you to stop paying off rookies' debts,” the redhead chuckled, “maybe you’d be able to afford something better than the ‘it is okay’ apartment.”
“Couldn’t help myself,” Maria smiled.
If she had to do it again, she wouldn’t change anything including paying off the debt of Rookies who worked extraordinarily hard at SHIELD.
“I know, it’s what I lo-” Natasha stopped and coughed, “I like that about you.”
Smooth cover, Maria thought, “How’s Yelena?”
“She’s alright… she just got back from Prague with the newest windows. I think maybe she’s going to hand over some of that responsibility,” the woman dropped her voice, “the last group was hard on her. She lost one of the freed girls at the hands of one still under subjugation.”
“I’m really sorry to hear that,” Maria frowned.
“Me too.”
“Is she still going to start at the design institute in the fall?” it was the last big update she had heard about the blonde.
“That’s the plan for now, she still seems pretty excited about it,” Natasha’s voice returned to its normal volume.
Maria listened as Natasha told her all about what they had missed during the weeks when SHIELD had fallen. It turned out that the world kept spinning, and lives were still lived even while the ones around them crumbled. They talked about how Maria was going to be in the hearings that were still happening, and how Steve would be subpoenaed at some point as well. At some point, Yelena stopped pretending to not be eavesdropping and entered the conversation. Maria was positive she could listen to the two sisters talk and bicker all day even as it got later and later for her.
“Shit Ria it’s like 2am your time.” Natasha had cut her sister off mid-sentence.
“That’s okay,” the woman stifled a yawn.
“No, no we’ll let you go but text me okay?” The Russian spoke quickly.
“Will do, night,” she fully yawned now.
“Night-”
“She’s in lo-”
There was a slapping noise followed by muted yells from Yelena before Natasha spoke again.
“Okay bye Masha!” and then the call was disconnected and all Maria could do was shake her head and wonder if having a sister was always like that.
She walked back into the bedroom, in awe that Ellie could sleep peacefully nearly upside down. The blankets and pillows were in odd spots around the bed as she placed them back in their original spots before picking her daughter up and placing her back in the correct position as well.
“Love you, little bear,” she kissed the top of the girl's head and slid into her own bed, trying her best not to focus on all of the changes that were about to happen.