The Presents
“Come on Jarvis, I told you to open up all the doors,” Tony sighed as they waited for another two doors to open.
“Apologies, sir,” the automated voice sounded, “but due to the security measures you have put in place, no more than two doors may be unlocked and open in sequin-”
“Okay- alright,” the man huffed and cut off the voice.
“Really, I think we can make it to the door, Stark,” Maria winced slightly and looked at Natasha who was still helping her keep the weight of the incision on her stomach.
“I have other things I could be doing, really busy guy ya know?” the man waved his hands around “But, I’m already here.”
He was playing the part perfectly, Natasha had no idea what would meet them behind the front door. Maria tried her best to cover her smile with another wince but given the painkiller she had taken before they left the hospital, she wasn’t truly in pain.
“Whatever you say,” she shrugged and covered the last few feet to the front door, from the corner of her eye she could have sworn she saw Natasha smirk.
It had been 5 days since the surgery, a week since the accident, Maria couldn’t have been happier to place her hand on the familiar handle, waiting for the unlocking noise as the scanner recognized her fingerprints. She stepped in first, turning on the lights just as Natasha walked in.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” a chorus of voices sounded out, and the redhead smiled at all of them.
“What- how could you even plan this?” she whirled to face Maria who gave a small shrug.
“Most of the people you like already live here, the rest-” she swallowed, knowing she had to come to terms with what had happened a few days prior, “were here because of the accident.”
Natasha gave a sad smile and nodded, crouching down until she was at eye level with Ellie and Liam.
“Happy birthday!” they said in clearly practiced unison.
“Thank you,” the woman gave them both a smile and acted as if the handmade cards they gave her were worth more than gold.
Ellie’s cheeks blushed as she played with the ends of her braids, Liam adjusted his glasses.
The boy had been self-conscious about them the day before when he showed his new specks to Ellie who wanted to try them on immediately. The curly-haired girl placed the adjustable strap around her head and looked out through the frames. It was later that night that Natasha had confided that Ellie would most likely never require glasses, the Red Room disposed of girls with eye trouble before they had the chance to need them.
“These are great, thank you both,” the redhead opened her arms and let the two 7-year-olds wrap her up in a deep hug.
“Yes, yes, now let me through,” the blonde looked to Ellie who giggled, “It is rude to take all of the time with the birthday girl, Rat.”
“Lena?” Green eyes filled with genuine surprise as Natasha stood to her full height and hugged her sister before the woman could answer.
“How?” Natasha pulled the blonde away from her, looked her over once, and then her gaze was on Maria.
“Alright, there may have been a couple people who came in only for this,” she couldn’t help the smile that crept over her face.
Natasha shook her head and started quickly talking to her sister as the two moved through the space, greeting other visitors as they did so.
“You did good,” Laura tapped her shoulder into Maria’s.
“Only because you helped,” she bumped her shoulder back.
“How are you feeling? It’s a lot to come home to.”
It was a lot to come home to, she looked at Liam and Ellie who continued to race around, the boy’s parents standing next to Clint and Bobbi, no doubt reminiscing about old SHIELD days. Maria wasn’t sure what Bobbi was doing these days but when Clint had mentioned she was in New York, she didn’t have to think twice about inviting the woman. Stark, Pepper, and Bruce all sat on the couch in another corner, the two men talking with their hands as Pepper typed quickly on her phone.
Natasha and Yelena had just reached Bobbi as Ellie and Liam went flying by, the girl accidentally clocking the nearby bookshelf with her cast-
“Ria?” Laura moved her hand from her stomach to the brunette's arm.
“Yeah- good, I’m good,” it wasn’t that far from the truth.
The pain medication helped, she had a prescription to get her through the next 2 weeks and was left with only a small headache and a dull pain in her core. They however did not help with the spaciness and inability to concentrate.
“You leave tomorrow?”
“Tonight.”
“Right, tonight,” Maria nodded, trying to recall the specifics of the flight.
Most of the people in this room had no idea that the Bartons had their own lives, their own family outside of SHIELD. Not wanting to accidentally say something in front of the current guests, the Commander just nodded again and excused herself to talk to Pepper and find out what to expect the next week at work.
“You’re out of your mind,” the woman didn’t look up from an email on her phone, “literally.”
"Pepper," the blonde finally looked up, her gaze locked on Maria, “I have meetings already scheduled for Wednesday.”
Small Hydra related fires were starting to pop up around the world. Maria had been in the game long enough to know that without intervention, those little fires would grow and grow until they were Avengers-sized. And so she pushed it with her boss, she figured she still had 4 days to get her shit together and hold a productive meeting.
“Two words,” Pepper shook her head, “Brain. Surgery.”
“Surgeon said they’ve seen much worse,” she shrugged.
“Six to eight weeks,” Pepper shrugged back.
“Until I’m back to 100%, not until I can start back,” Maria argued.
It had been one of the pieces of information that fully stuck in her mind, along with the reminder not to lift anything heavy (Ellie included) for the next 2 months, and that she should try and get as much sleep as possible. The rest of the recovery information was written down and tucked into the back pocket of the pants she wore.
“comme ci comme ça,” the blonde waved her hand and focused once again on the phone in front of her.
Maria sighed, her mind was too foggy to come up with a rebuttal and so she went to mingle with the guests. It wasn’t until 45 minutes later and the realization that she hadn’t actually made much conversation, just sort of floated around, that a knock brought her back into the moment.
Clint smiled and threw the door open wide.
“Happy Birthday to you,” Steve sang as he walked into the room, cake already aflame in his hands.
The rest of the party members joined in as he continued to advance until he was directly in front of Natasha. The Russian gave a small smile as the reflection of the candle flames danced around her face. Maria wasn’t sure if it was the painkillers or the setting sun that cast the space in dim light, either way, she was unable to take her gaze away from the woman as the flames reflected off Natasha's hair and cast her fair skin in a beautiful display of shadow and light.
She was so engrossed in the woman that she hadn’t noticed the singing had stopped until a round of applause brought her back into the moment. Ellie pulled on her sleeve, pointing to something else she had missed in the moment.
Yelena’s gaze was locked on the man in front of Natasha as her sister closed her eyes and blew out the candles.
“Sorry,” Steve chuckled, “took longer than I thought it would to cool down.”
It would explain the blonde's absence during the first half of the party, Maria wondered if that was why Yelena was staring. Only as Steve moved away to place the cake on the countertop, Yelena's focus didn't move with him, instead, it stayed perfectly intact with the man who had been behind Steve. One that stared right back.
“Mommy,” Ellie urged.
She nodded to her daughter and made quick work of crossing the room, placing her hand under Yelena’s elbow as she approached. Still, blue eyes were unwavering on the target in front of them. Maria glanced once at Natasha who continued to cut the cake in front of her and then slid between Yelena and Barnes until she was all the blonde could see.
“Let’s get some fresh air,” she looked down at the woman in front of her whose eyes were still slightly unfocused.
It took a firm tug and a few strides until the two of them sat in the cold winter air on the balcony. Yelena pressed herself into the concrete column in the center of the space, her hands pressed firmly into the cool surface.
“Still with me?” Maria leaned on the rail opposite the young woman.
Yelena nodded but kept her gaze downcast. The brunette waited for a minute, and then another before she spoke up.
“Have you made a list of schools yet?”
“Schools?” the blonde finally looked at her, this was certainly not the question she had expected.
“Yeah, fashion schools,” Maria nodded, noticing how she could see her own breath, “last I heard, you were still looking into international programs.”
“I… I started the application process to schools in Copenhagen, London, and Milan,” she twisted one of the silver rings on her fingers.
“So all international then?” Maria paused and shrugged “Listen, I don’t know a lot about fashion, but I do know that there are plenty of schools in New York that have programs.”
Yelena gave a shaky huff of a laugh, “The best schools are in New York, I do not think I would get in.”
“You’re joking, right? You’ve gotta be joking, your designs are incredible Yelena.”
“When have you seen them?” light came back to the blue eyes in front of her.
“You left one of them behind when you were here for fashion week,” Maria pulled on her memory of the sketch, fighting the fogginess of the pain killers, “yellow and black checked jacket, chunky boot?”
She looked at the face in front of her, a subtle blush crossing her face, “I have not found the right bottoms for that outfit.”
“But you have the rest of the pieces?” the brunette leaned back into the rail and raised an eyebrow.
Yelena gave a noncommittal shrug and then nodded, “I think so, it is a work in progress along with most of the other designs I’m working on. I think that I will need to start working on creating pieces rather than just tailoring the ones I have found.”
“Is that something you need to learn before you go to school or will they teach you there?” Maria continued the conversation with ease, finding she was genuinely interested in Yelena's response.
She listened but also looked back at the glass door in front of her, on the other side Natasha was talking to Ellie who sat on her hip. The two looked at Maria, Natasha subtly motioning with her head to Yelena who continued to talk about potential classes. Maria nodded back in response, she was okay, they both were.
Natasha hesitated for a moment longer before readjusting Ellie and walking back to the party behind them.
“I think you should at least apply,” she concluded to Yelana who had once again determined that she wasn’t advanced enough to join the top Fashion schools in New York.
“Maybe,” she shrugged once more and readjusted her necklace.
“Do you want to talk about what happened in there?” Maria motioned to the glass door, knowing if she didn’t start the conversation now, she would certainly get hypothermia before she got an answer.
“No,” the blonde shook her head but Maria could tell there was part of her that truly did want to discuss it.
And so she nodded, and waited, and waited, and just before she went to push off of the rail she leaned against, Yelena spoke up.
“He is not bad-” she huffed and tilted her head side to side, “he did not ever hurt me when we worked together, he stayed quiet and performed his job. I am not afraid of him .”
The emphasis on the last word was all Maria needed to put the pieces together, “You were caught off guard, maybe reminded of the life you lived the last time Barnes was in it?”
“Maybe,” the 20-year-old sighed, not making eye contact with Maria.
“That’s okay, our healing journeys are never linear.” Maria tried to offer support.
“Elizaveta likes him?” blue eyes met her own as the Commander smiled.
“She does, or at least she relaxed around him faster than pretty much anyone else she’s been around.”
“Her handler spent more time with him than I did, they all looked… similar, passed as a family easily,” Yelana supplied.
Maria could see it, the dark hair, the light eyes, the only difference was the slightly darker skin, Ellie. Yelena wasn’t wrong, they could pass as a family, more so than the woman had previously realized.
“I would like a slice of the cake,” the blonde spoke up, pulling Maria from her thoughts.
“Then let’s have cake,” she finally pushed from the balcony and held the glass door open.
The party continued inside, likely no one even mentioning the two women who had stepped out. Maria rubbed her hands together, noticing it caused more effort to keep them moving at the same pace and let out a sigh.
“Frosting,” Ellie popped up out of nowhere, chocolate covering the sides of her mouth.
“Tasha let you have more than just a little slice, huh?” Maria winced and used a nearby napkin to wipe the excess sugar.
“Frosting,” Ellie’s pupils dilated as she looked around the room at other plates. Likely trying to find her next target.
The little girl took off as her friend called her name across the room. The Commander shook her head, she was in for a long night.
It was after 10pm by the time the last guests left, the Bartons and Bobbi heading back to the farm, Steve, Banes, Tony, Pepper, and Bruce all left to various floors of the tower. The Ruizs were one of the last to return to their apartment with the promise of a new start to school in two days.
The two youngest party-goers had crashed on the couch after too much sugar. It was an hour later when Liam's parents left with him wrapped in Dominic's arms that Yelena came back into the living room. After cake and presents, she had a hard time not constantly looking over her shoulder at Barnes.
"The room is the same," she said as she faced Maria, Natasha, and Ellie who all occupied the couch.
"Was there something missing last time you stayed?" Maria furrowed her brows.
Yelena's eyes darted between the women, "No, I just- I did not know it would be the same."
It clicked quickly for Maria, someone who had been used to having her personal belongings rifled through growing up. It was never technically her room, just the room her father allowed her to stay in.
"Of course," she nodded, "it's your room, Yelena, no one goes in there without your say."
The brunette had thought she had made that clear already, having gone in and added a massive pinboard for the young woman's design ideas and an architect desk to find comfort while sketching.
"My room?" blonde eyebrows rose and blue eyes searched for reassurance in her sisters.
"Ria told you last time. It's your room Lizochka, just like the one in Prague," Natasha gave one small nod.
The 20-year-old suddenly looked much younger as she stood there, worry and mistrust in her eyes. Maria did what she did with Ellie and raised her pinky finger. The blonde hesitated for a moment but linked her own and gave a shake.
"Yours," the brunette smiled.
"Mine," Yelena whispered.
The young woman looked over the scene once more, raised an eyebrow at her sister, smiled, and turned on her heel back down to the room at the end of the hall. Maria pretended not to notice and slowly took out both braids in Ellie's hair if just to give her hands something to do.
"I should get her to bed," she spoke as she finished.
"I can carry her," the Russian offered, not waiting for a rebuttal before she scooped the child up and carried her to the room covered in stars.
"Thank you," the Commander whispered as Ellie stirred slightly.
Natasha said nothing as Maria maneuvered the child into her pajamas and kissed her once on the forehead before tucking her in. She whispered her love into the girl's ear and met Natasha where she still stood in the doorway, her eyes moving quickly over the room.
The Russian didn't spend much time in the girl's room, something that was apparent as her eyes raked over everything. The bunk bed was painted in dark colors with constellations dotted along the railing, similar to Ellie's cast. The rest of the space was mostly open, save for a desk pressed against the floor-to-ceiling windows, something that the child took full advantage of as she ran and played in the area frequently.
"She has a slide," Natasha noted in a whisper.
Maria grinned and looked at the slide that wrapped from the top bunk to the ground, "Tony kinda went overboard."
It was the understatement of the year, the entire place was huge, beautifully furnished in creams and dark wood. With every picture and personal touch she and Ellie placed in the space it felt more and more like home.
The redhead took Maria's hand in her own and they crossed to the other side of the apartment as if they did this every night. It felt more right than anything else they had ever done.
"Thank you," Natasha smiled as she closed the door and walked into the bathroom that was connected to the massive bedroom, "for the surprise party."
“You knew,” Maria winced and pulled her top off as she entered the bathroom, following Natasha who brushed her teeth.
“Intel is my thing, Ria,” the redhead spit and pulled her curls into a messy bun on the top of her head, “Lena was a nice addition though, I didn’t think she would make it until after the party ended.”
“Mark my words Romanoff, one of these days I'm going to shock the pants off you,” Maria stood in only a sports bra and inspected the stitches around her abdomen.
They were still red and angry but were no longer oozing fluid as they had been days prior. Still, she winced and added more antibacterial ointment before covering it in a new bandage, the bottle of painkillers in her fingertips almost instinctively.
“I don’t doubt it,” Natasha lifted to her tip toes and kissed Maria’s cheek.
The Russian then tilted Maria’s head to the side and inspected the staples that formed a semicircle on the right side of her head.
“They don’t really hurt,” Maria answered before Natasha could ask.
“I don’t really trust you,” she tilted Maria’s head a little further, still on the balls of her toes to try and look closer.
“Liar,” the brunette chuckled and used the extra few inches to kiss Natasha.
“Maybe,” green eyes crinkled as Natasha smiled and deepened the kiss.
Maria’s tongue entered the Russian's mouth for just a second, a glorious, savoring second before Natasha pulled away.
“Nothing strenuous, you might not remember everything Dr. Strange said,” the woman tapped Maria’s back pocket where the list still sat, “but I do.”
“Who said making out was strenuous?” the Commander barked out a laugh.
“No one, but I know you Hill, you’re going to escalate it and I-” Natasha placed her hand on Maria’s bare sternum, “Will not be able to stop you at that point.”
“Come on,” blue eyes darkened as she pulled on the waistband of Natahsa’s pants.
The redhead gave in for just a minute longer before shaking her head, “No- no, it’s just going to delay your recovery.”
Maria threw her head back in exasperation, regretting the motion almost immediately as dark spots clouded her vision, “Fine. I have presents to give you anyway.”
“Presents?” the spy raised an eyebrow.
“Well… one of them is a bit of a 365-day delay,” the woman motioned for Natasha to exit the bathroom and sit on the huge bed.
She entered the closet and reached for the top shelf, careful to not let Natasha see.
“It was supposed to go to you for your last birthday but given what happened last year,” she suppressed a shudder at the memory of Ellie having been taken, “well… it was delayed.”
The Russian took the hand-crafted box in her hands and inspected it with a small smile, opening the top and finding the cartilage cuffs with ease.
“Ellie made the box, I just put the jewelry inside,” Maria watched as immediately the woman took one of her many piercings out and added the new jewelry. She left out he part where she and Ellie had painstakingly put the box back together after it had been broken in the break-in.
“How's it look?” she batted her eyelashes and it took everything in Maria to not say fuck the rules and take her then and there.
“Like you should have had it for the last year,” the brunette shook her head and joined Natasha on the bed, “your other present however, I think would only make sense now.”
Maria dug in her pocket for a second, keeping her hand closed as she hovered over Natasha’s open palm. She waited for a movement longer before releasing the key that fell into the redhead's hand.
“I don’t want you to think that this is because I got hurt or that I need help because I don’t. I have that all under control and I had already been talking to Ellie about this for weeks,” Maria looked into Natasha’s eyes, “this is because I want you. I want you here, with us, with me.”
The Russian said nothing as she looked at the tiny key that rested in her hand, Maria didn’t know if it was the painkillers or just her own nerves but soon words came flowing out of her.
“It’s um,” she cleared her throat, “symbolic in a way because Stark is all about finger scanners ya know? But I was thinking... maybe you’d want something physical to show that I want you to be here. Officially I mean. As my girlfriend who lives here all the time. And I know you might want to keep your apartment with Steve because you get nervous going all in on things- but it’s just that he lives downstairs now and-”
Natasha cut her off with a searing kiss, Maria couldn’t help but smile as she pulled back, “So I’ll take that as a yes?”
“Yes,” Natasha kissed her again, “but, why this key? You trying to lock me up?”
“Oh!” Maria shook her head as she realized she had forgotten a significant detail, “no- um quite the opposite actually.”
Natasha raised an eyebrow, “freedom, with a key to handcuffs?”
“It’s the key,” Maria’s voice became soft as she looked at the small metal item, “from the first pair of cuffs SHIELD ever put on you. It’s a reminder of your freedom, that you get to make choices.”
The silence stretched on and on, long enough for the Commander to completely regret her gift and think about how she could make up for such a botched attempt. Her mind continued to spin out until a pale, cool hand slowly cupped the side of her face.
“You, Maria Hill,” green eyes met blue, “are one of the most exceptional people I’ve ever met.”
Maria gave a small smile, her mind calming instantly.
“Thank you,” Natasha whispered before her lips met the brunette's, soft and slow, as if they had all the time in the world.
Maria knew that one day, she would ensure that they did. They would spend every moment they could like this. But until then, she simply closed her eyes and kissed her girlfriend back.