CHAPTER 7: Best Friends

"I don't know if I'm ready," Natasha whispers. She found herself slumped against the wall, trying to control her breathing. "It's silly, I know. But I've never been this nervous in my life. It's been five years Carol." Carol had never seen the redheaded avenger so fragile before.

Natasha took in a shuddering breath. And to her surprise, Carol sat down next to her. Carol had changed during the fly over. Natasha belatedly realised that had she woken up at a certain point earlier, she would've seen Carol changing. This though did not actually help calm her down.

Carol's Kree Starforce suit was hanging over the back of the pilot's chair. On one of the other chairs was a neatly folded set of fresh clothes Natasha hadn't noticed before. "You look so surprised," Carol said with a chuckle. "I don't wear that thing all the time you know. It smells gross after a fight."

Natasha cracked a smile at that. "You're looking formal though."

Carol glanced down at her smart black blazer and button up shirt. Curiously, the sleeves of both were noticeably too long; just by couple inches.

She shared a short look with Natasha before unbuttoning the collared shirt. Underneath that was a white shirt that had hot pink stylized letters across it in hot pink 'Ask me about my feminist agenda!'. Natasha failed to contain a snort of laughter. "Really?"

Carol shrugged before saying, "Don't tell anyone, but I stole this ensemble. I slept in the day of the funeral and didn't have anything to wear. It's just one of those things that never mattered in space, and it just kinda went over my head that maybe wearing my armour to a funeral among allies in America isn't really something 'civilized people' do." Carol said, using air quotes.

"Did you raid some hipster store?" Natasha asked with a grin.

"Nah, my daughter's dresser for this shirt. And my best friend's closet for the rest; she's taller than me," Carol added as she unbuttoned the cuffs so that they flared out over her outstretched hand.

'Carol's best friend?' Natasha wondered. She remembered what Steve had said in the letter, that she'd been involved with her friend. "Your girlfriend?" Natasha asked softly.

Carol's eyes widened before she let out a laugh, "Well, you wouldn't be the first to say that." Natasha suddenly felt embarrassed for trusting Captain America's gaydar all of a sudden. Carol noticed the change in Natasha's features before adding. "We used to be. Before all this happened," Carol made her hand casually flicker with godly powers, "And we tried after I left to ah, attempt to redeem myself. You know, resettle the Skrulls in a safe quadrant of space. But it didn't really work out." Carol's expression had changed from a smile to something a little more pensive. It wasn't sombre or dire, just more thoughtful.

"My memories had been tampered with you see, so when I came back to Earth after six years being the tip of the spear for the Kree's special forces, I came back a stranger. An awesome stranger, but I wasn't the Carol Danvers that Maria and Monica had lost. Maria's the friend and Monica's our daughter," Carol quickly clarified. Natasha just nodded. "I started to come back to Earth more frequently when Monica was a teenager, took on a more active role in her life. But things…" Carol took a breath, "Things were never as they were for Maria and I, romantically. We tried, and there was certainly a spark in those early days after my return, but the perpetual long-distance thing wasn't good for either of us."

"I'm sorry," Natasha said. What else was there to say?

Carol turned to notice Natasha's frown, "Oh, this doesn't have some tragic ending or something. Maria eventually met the love of her life, a flight attendant hilariously enough from Ireland named Katie. And I couldn't be happier for them." Natasha couldn't help but roll her eyes at Carol. The pilot smiled and shook her head, "And no, not in the 'suffering in silence but I'm pining forever' kind of happy, but genuinely. I was Maria's Maid of Honour when they got married legally.

Maria and I grew as people. And while there's nobody else I trust as much as her, except Monica, we just aren't the right people for each other in that way anymore. But our evolving relationship status never made me any less Monica's second mother, in either of their eyes." Carol's eyes shined with pride.

Natasha scrutinized Carol during this entire little backstory telling interlude. Carol really was telling the truth. "So your best friend's married? What about you?" Natasha asked clearly. She wasn't coming onto Carol, or implying anything, really. But even Natasha couldn't stop the slightest tinge of a blush in her cheeks sitting next to this goddess while discussing such human-like things like relationship statuses.

Carol shrugged. "Single. I mean sure, I fuck. When the moment presents itself, but a relationship has been a virtual impossibility considering what I do with my life."

Natasha blamed the really emotionally draining past several days (from her time-warped perspective) for her inability to regulate her physical reactions to Carol's words and proximity. Carol looked at her because of her silence, which didn't help Natasha's reddening face. Carol's lip twitched in something that was between a smirk and a smug grin before she schooled her expression. "Now isn't one of those moments," Carol leaned in to whisper in Natasha's ear, sending the spy's blush down her neck to her collarbone. Carol lightly tapped Natasha's shoulder and rose to her feet.

"You should change. You've been wearing that black spy suit of yours too long. I asked Fury for your sizes and paid for your clothes." Carol gestured to the clothes sitting in a folded pile on the one of the passenger seats. "I won't look," Carol had the gal to wink before promptly turning around.

Natasha dressed quickly: faded blue jeans, mercifully plain top, and a blazer-styled leather jacket with a hoodie lining. "Oh, I had this lying around too," Carol, quipped once Natasha had indicated she was done. The tall blonde pulled an old baseball cap from one of the compartments above the passenger seats and without ceremony plopped it on Natasha's head. It was an old S.H.I.E.L.D. hat. Natasha rolled her eyes and handed the cap back to Carol, who was grinning.

"Sorry, but I don't wear shitty hats unless I'm undercover, and that," Natasha emphasized, pointing at the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo, "is not covert at all."

Natasha was not prepared for Carol's full-bellied laugh. She just collapsed in laughter, and Natasha realised that Carol had this involuntary little snort when she laughed hard enough.

"I wish I caught that on line on camera," Carol said. "It's an old inside joke I had with Fury, and you totally just took my side."

Natasha rolled her eyes and walked over to the ramp. When Carol hit the release mechanism is when the spy really remembered whom they were about to see. She put a hand on the wall to stabilize herself as her breathing kicked up.

"Whoa there, it's gonna be all right," Carol said, all humour gone. Her voice was kind, but firm. She really believed it, and it showed. "Brace yourself, they're hurting worse than you right now."

Natasha looked up at Carol with lost eyes, "Know that from experience?" Natasha returned in a soft voice. Carol nodded, placing both her hands on Natasha's shoulders in a decidedly comforting gesture.

"There was never a definite permanence about their deaths. You know it; I know it. Even after we lost the Stones, it didn't quite feel real to you did it?" Carol said softly. Natasha considered briefly, but made a non-committal shrug. Carol smiled, "I thought so. You're not the only dead soldier to come marching home to the people who love you. Trust me, they had it worse. Chin up, tissues ready, it looks like your mini-me is already here," and she was.

Wanda was standing there in sweatpants and a t-shirt, looking very much not herself. But Natasha saw the young woman's eyes, wide with wonder and breathed, "Hey there Wanda, long time no see."

Wanda burst into sobs, and Natasha sprinted down the ramp. She lifted the girl in a crushing hug and spun them around once before letting herself break a little, crying into Wanda's hair.