Chapter 5
2013, date redacted
Natasha falls into her comfortable day to day routine. She wakes up, gets some coffee and cereal, or a granola bar, sends Galina and Yelena off, trains, lunch break, trains, and trains and trains, makes dinner when Maria isn't around, tries to catch up on paperwork (fails mostly), and then sends the kids to bed, unwind and meditate before sleeping.
It's stable, its good. She and Nick worked out a deal where if Maria was gone for work, Natasha would not go on any mission that took more than three days.
Sure, a little bit of a waste of her talents, but she's okay with it. Once Maria gets back, she'll breathe again. It's like they're still in the honeymoon phase.
Also, she needed to make sure Yelena and Galina didn't destroy the apartment.
It's been a week when all the agents she has to train somehow end up on missions or injured, or on leave. Natasha misses the times where she can train with Maria or maybe Steve. Clint was also nursing a broken arm from his latest mission in Portugal, involving a nasty genetically mutated horse that nearly killed Clint. Natasha may have laughed. Clint may have scowled.
Natasha spends five hours at the gym alone before she gets bored and wanders around the Triskelion again. Rediscovers places and hiding spots and nooks. Climbs into Clint's vents and leaves him a chocolate bar just in case. She's so bored, she really needs something to take her mind off the boredom. Maybe learn Japanese? She's never learnt that yet, she specialises in undercover work in European or Western countries, so she learnt French, Italian, German, Latin, Italian, et cetera.
Maybe she could do some online shopping, she needs new leather jackets, hers are worn out and may have a few bullet holes in them. Maybe.
If she borrowed Maria's and did anything to it she would toss her off the Helicarrier without a parachute, or give her decaf. So, no. Anyone who thought Commander Hill was not scary or intimidating was either extremely stupid or had seen Maria off duty and drunk.
Poor Maria, stuck with 30 rookies on their first Helicarrier flight. The amount of puking that's going to go around. Admitedly, Natasha had felt woozy for a week the first time she was on the flying aircraft, but no one knew. Except maybe Clint, but she could still beat his ass even when repressing the feeling of throwing up every five minutes.
So, she'll request for a mission. Besides, every since her re programming, she hasn't been on more than two simple ones.
The paperwork though...
Ah well, I'll suffer a bit.
Time to go pick up a form.
She swings her legs off the edge of the roof and heads down to the lift.