Momma Melina
Maria spends her down time going through files. Despite defeating Thanos, crises never stop coming. She's long overdue for a vacation, but the closest she'll come is a decent night's sleep. It's been a while since she's had one of those too.
Nick is someone she considered a friend. She's not sure what his official role is these days, but she knows he's not taking a vacation either. That's what she tells herself every time her calls go to voicemail.
With a sigh, she sits back and looks over at Natasha, who is fast asleep next to her. Her gaze falls onto the old photo that Natasha carries with her. Natasha has always traveled light, but they had received two photos in their post office box. One from an unknown sender and the other from Clint.
The first is an old family photo. Natasha's family, her Red Room family, but still family. Maria smiles softly at little Natasha with blue hair and her arms around her little sister, Yelena.
The second is a photo of Yelena standing next to Kate Bishop. A new young archer. Maria grins, remembering Clint's email about how he had his hands full with her. Maybe he has a better idea of all the trouble he'd given her and Coulson in the early days.
Her eyes fall back on to the first photograph. There's something familiar there. She has the files open because with every new threat she needs all the help she can get and hopes to find someone with a connection or experience. More often than not, she comes up dry and has to figure it out as she goes. One more thing she has to handle in addition to everything else. She remembers a time when she'd been on the helicarrier and missed being in the field. She'd like to take that back now. It not as easy now, not with how many times she's had to testify before some committee. Her face isn't unknown anymore.
She finds herself flipping through Clint's old files. She curses as the images fly past, stupid Stark and always needing an interactive interface. She misses him and his teasing. That's when she comes across it. That familiar face.
After Natasha was brought in by Clint and started working for them, Maria had things shifted. Natasha had proven her loyalty to SHIELD, but it didn't mean Red Room operatives wouldn't come out of the wood work seeking their revenge. Red Room was all some of them had ever had, having it seemingly destroyed wouldn't sit well so she took measures to keep Natasha safe. Leaning back, she shakes Natasha's leg to get her attention.
"Hmm?"
"When you started working with Clint as partners for good, I had our operations station moved."
"Looking out for me even then?" says Natasha in that voice that always gets to her as her arms go around her neck and she leans against her back.
"I had Clint go through a number of hoops before you two went out again."
"I remember that. Endless medical visits and enough stuff taken from me to make a clone. Why are you bringing this up?"
"Because it looks like Melina kept tabs on you. Made sure you were in good hands with SHIELD." Tapping on an image, she loads an employee's ID photo. Dr Marta Shearing. She can feel Natasha leaning in closer when she switches to another one. She feels her taking a shuddering breath.
"Mama Melina..." she hears Nat murmur.
Clearly the scientist infiltrated SHIELD as a doctor and could have interfered with numerous things, and that's with HYDRA already secretly among them, but that's for another day. Right now, she's letting Natasha know the woman she'd seen as her mom had never forgotten about her. It warms her own heart too, knowing that there are others who cared about her, loved her even, and didn't just use her. With a swipe of her finger she sends it to Natasha's private files.
"Do you know where she is now?" asks Nat.
"A general idea, but I can find out more."
"Later. Let's sleep for now." That sounds like a good idea. Pushing her tablet aside, she lets Natasha curl into her.
"I love you Nat."
"Love you too, Maria."