Set just prior to A:AoU

Langley

Natasha swerved the car between the parallel row of concrete blocks heading toward the security check point. She smirked as the guards at the station house twitched in response.

"You know this is why no one let's you drive." Natasha glanced at her companion, who had now taken hold of the passenger hand hold, a crooked grin on her face.

"It's not like anyone gets a choice."

Maria Hill rolled her eyes as the tires screeched to a halt at the line. Natasha rolls down her window, giving the guards her and Hill's IDs. "Hey boys."

"Ma'am, the speed limit is still 15." The lead guard informs Natasha as he checks their names off the list in front of him, returning the proffered IDs. "We don't have this problem when Captain Rodgers drives. Maybe he could give you some lessons?"

Natasha pops her bubblegum at the guard, sliding her sunglasses back up her nose. Returning her ID to its spot above the visor, she offers the guard a wide smile. "I'll have to check into that." She keeps an eye lock on the guards glare as her tinted window rolls up, until the window hums shut.

Dropping the car into gear, Natasha grins as she lays into the accelerator, the corvette's rear wheels generating a thick plume of smoke as the car takes off.

Maria Hill sighs, shaking her head. "We have got to get you back into the field."

Natasha shrugs as she flings the car into a ninety degree skid, sliding into the visitor parking spot, stopping just before the tall blonde waiting for them. Stepping out, Maria sees the agent waiting for them, and smirks.

"She only misbehaves when you're coming to meet us, you know that?"

The blonde shrugs. "I like to think it's a compliment, ma'am.". Sharon Carter extended her hand to her one time boss, who shakes it back warmly before meeting each other in a brief, if warm, hug.

"Carter." Natasha approaches from around the car, sliding her glasses up into her thick red mane.

Sharon looks the interloper up and down, nodding as she acknowledges the Russain. "Romanov." Looking between the two women, Sharon nods towards the door down the path from their location. Looking at Hill, Sharon begins the briefing as they walk. "We found the information you asked for, and have been using it to triangulate the location of several of the remaining Hydra bases. Once we're inside we'll be able to go over some of that information, and then you can decide what parts you want to take with you."

Maria was inside the SCIF, selecting the data package they wanted to take back to New York with them. Natasha and Sharon waited outside, each flanking a side of the secured door to the SCIF. The silence was only marred by Natasha occasionally popping a bubble of her gum.

Sharon finally broke the silence, her voice quiet but confident. "I had thought Captain Rodgers would be coming this time."

There was a pause as Natasha didn't reply right away.

"He's away, actually." Another pause, this one less pregnant. "I heard your Aunt has taken a turn for the worse. I'm sorry."

Sharon nods, looking away from Natasha pensively. "Thanks."

Sharon turns back to Natasha, who is now scrolling through her Starkphone. "So... I heard a rumor... " Sharon pauses, trying to see what reaction she gets. "Heard that you were trying to set up Rodgers and me, and half of female agents in SHIELD."

Natasha's thumb pauses as she scrolls, tilting her head to look at Carter between the locks of her red hair that was hanging down. Looking back to her phone, she begins to scroll again, stopping to type while she replies. "He needed to get out of his shell." She concludes the comment with a shrug. Putting the phone away, Natasha stands to her full, if still somewhat diminutive height, smirks at the taller blonde. "Why, do you want me to pass him a note in study hall?"

Sharon pushes off the wall, crossing her arms. "Not quite. But maybe I'd like to see him get out of the house more often, so to speak. I watched him come and go from that apartment, you know." She met Natasha's eyes with a challenging glint. "He spent a lot of time there by himself."

"It's not that we didn't try to drag him out, but when you consider the only two who can actually drag him out are either not on this planet or wouldn't fit in the hallway, it's hard to make him do anything he doesn't want to."

Carter lifted her hands in a friendly surrendering gesture. "That's not what I meant, I'm sorry." She pauses, obviously choosing her words judiciously. "I just know that a lot of times when women push guys like that, there's usually another reason below the surface."

Natasha smiles again, blushing a bit as she demurs. "I'm already seeing someone."

"Yeah, I've heard those rumors as well."

"You seem to hear a lot of rumors these days, Carter."

"I do work for the CIA now, we hear a lot of things."

"Right. Well, like I said, I just want to see him happy." Pulling out her phone again, she leans back again. "But I think you should give him a call. At the least to apoligize for spying on him." Natasha smirks, unseen to Sharon. "He really hates being watched."

Maria Hill stepped out on that comment, eyeing the two women. "You two should just play paper, rock, scissors for him already." Having made her snark, Hill starts forward, the other two woman glancing at each other before following her to the exit.

The ride back to Avengers Tower was more sedate than the drive inside the Langley parking lot. Natasha had spent most of the drive in silence, which wasn't unusual for her, Maria figured. However, while she may have been verbally quiet, she was exuding a vibe that was surprisingly not being taken out on the fellow drivers on the interstate.

"So that Carter, huh? Still carrying a torch for Cap?"

"Hmmmm."

"You don't think that's wierd, right?"

"What?"

"She's Steve's true love's niece. That's kinda incest-y, right?"

"I think that most times it'd be cradle robbing, but what is normal with Steve, anyways?"

"Sports."

Natasha's forehead crinkled as she reacted to that. "What?"

"Sports. He was already a baseball nerd, or at least once he got over the Dodgers moving west, and now that Tony and Sam have him hooked on football, he's a normal guy watching sports on TV."

"Well, nice to know he's normal at something."

"So, does that mean ..." Maria pauses dramatically.

"What?"

"You're the only one I know who's kissed him. Not-Normal there, too?"

Maria can't help but see the reaction that flirts across Natasha's face for the briefest of milli-seconds before the spy schools her face. "He was more than adequate. There were other things on my mind at the time."

Maria smiles, looking out the passenger window. "Right."

"Besides, it's not like my opinion matters, I'm happy with Bruce."

Maria's silence was deafening as the road passed along.

Natasha let it ride for a few minutes before pushing the subject. "What?"

Maria squeezed her lips, shaking her head. "Nothing."

Rolling her eyes, Natasha looks at Maria. "Just spit it out, Hill."

"You found the one guy who has a bigger guilt complex than you."

"We have shared life experiences."

"Right."

"...and?"

"You found someone who's more messed up that you, Natasha. You're still hiding, you just found another way to do it."

Natasha laughs, shifting gears to take the exit for Manhattan. "And you think Steve Rodgers will make me happy and whole?"

"I think you're afraid to admit liking someone who is so 'good', that you'd taint him with your guilt."

"You've seen my file..."

"Everyone has seen your file now, Natasha."

"...I've done a lot bad things."

"That doesn't make you unloveable, Nat."

Natasha smiles softly, a sad warmth in her eyes. "Maybe, but I don't think he'd like what he'd find under the surface."

"I think you sell your friends short too often, Nat."

Cold silence responded from the driver.