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SHIELD Helicarrier

"Good work on finding the doctor," Fury praised when Natalie and Serana entered his quarters.

"We had great timing," Serana answered. "Great intel led us right to him- we weren't even in the shop for two minutes when we spotted him."

"I heard," Fury said. "I must say that your subtlety wasn't too bad, Morgan."

"Following orders, sir," Natalie replied. "Has he said anything?"

"Nothing about the steroid, but he did mention that you'd told him that his, and I quote, 'boys will go boom.'"

"He was getting a little ... loud," Natalie answered. "It was the best option to get him to shut up."

"What's next?" Serana asked.

"You go to the infirmary to be with Striga," Fury answered.

"How bad is it?" Serana demanded.

"Nothing serious- just a few bruised ribs and cracked collarbone," Fury assured her.

"Did you at least get the guy that shot him?" Serana asked.

"Yep; Romanoff is interrogating him right now," Fury replied coolly. "Both of you are dismissed for the evening."

"Thank you sir," Natalie and Serana replied in unison.


Natalie had spent the last hour and a half laying on her bed, thinking about the events that had turned her family's lives upside down.

Bobby Claybrook had reemerged, hell-bent on domination, and tried to kill her and her cousins.

Velkan had taken two 30.06 rounds to the chest, one lodging itself in his vest and cracking his collarbone, the other repelled and bruising his ribs.

Dave had apparently lost his mind with Kosovo and knocked him out of his chair, only to be shooed from the room by Maria and Natasha.

Jesse took on Johnny Charles, who'd been armed with a minigun at that time.

Ben cursed over the comms when Volchenkov got away.

Schmidt had tried to run away from her and Serana, only to get caught.

She'd been introduced to Maria Hill, kissed her senseless, been busted by Coulson while kissing Maria, and gone after Kosovo and Volchenkov.

Maria... Natalie thought to herself, the thought of the older agent making her heart flutter.

She'd been holding that thought when someone knocked on her door. "Come in!"

Maria opened the door and found her lover laying in her bed, a grin plastered to her face as she stared at the ceiling. "Hey."

Natalie shot up out of bed and bolted towards Maria. The older agent caught Natalie in her arms and held her close, taking in her scent. She'd been anxious to get off duty for a while so that she could spend time with her lover.

"Holy shit, I missed you like crazy!" Natalie admitted, pulling away from Maria and shutting her door.

"Did you now?" Maria asked.

Natalie shook her head and pulled Maria close. "I swear I almost lost my mind being in London with Serana."

"How do you mean...?" Maria trailed off.

Natalie grinned at her lover. "I wanted us to find Schmidt and bring him back here so that I could at least see you."

Maria was touched by Natalie's words. "You're amazing."

"Look in the mirror?" Natalie asked.

Maria's confusion lasted long enough for Natalie to pull her into a kiss. Her lips were softer than Maria remembered, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. She placed her arms around Natalie's waist and pushed her gently against the wall, deepening the kiss as she did so. When they broke apart to catch their breath, they gazed at each other lovingly. Natalie moved to lock the door to prevent anyone from disturbing them- particularly Coulson.

"Music?" Natalie asked.

"What do you have in mind?" Maria retorted.

Natalie grinned and snatched up the remote for her CD player. "You'll love this."

Maria was confused for a second, but once the all-too-familiar tune of Breaking Benjamin's "Forever" began playing, she couldn't help but grin. "You just had to choose this one, didn't you?"

Natalie didn't hold back; she pulled Maria close and held her there. "I need you."

"What?" Maria asked, caught completely off guard.

"I need you," Natalie repeated. "I need you, Maria Hill. How I feel about you ... I won't find the right words to say it. I-"

Maria cut Natalie's statement short with a kiss. She needed Natalie just as much as Natalie needed her. Her heart shattered at the mere thought of losing her. They spent the entirety of the song wrapped in each other's arms.

Maria grew aroused as the faint smell of coconut invaded her nostrils, and she tried to drive her naughty thoughts out of her mind.

Natalie's heart fluttered when she got a whiff of Maria's lavender scent, and the visuals that she got almost pushed her over the edge.

The sudden sound of loud guitars caught Maria and Natalie off guard and forced them apart.

"What the hell?" Maria wondered aloud.

"Sorry..." Natalie replied sheepishly.

"Grab her ass, actin' tough, mess with her, she'll fuck you up!" the CD player blared.

"Theory of a Deadman, eh?" Maria asked a now-red-faced Natalie.

"Yeah ... forgot to hit repeat on the remote," Natalie finally admitted, her face now flooding with dark red embarrassment.

"That's alright; I like Theory of a Deadman," Maria disclosed.

"Do you now?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah; this is my fave song by them along with 'Bitch Came Back.'"

"Ooh, not bad! I used to blast that song around my ex all the time- she was a complete bitch."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah; she once yelled 'fuck you' in class and I just laughed at her. Felt bad for only a moment."

"That bad, huh?"

"She tried to out me when I wasn't ready and sent her best friend- I mean bitch- to try and fight me."

Maria laughed out loud at Natalie's explanation. "What happened with her?"

"Knocked her flat on her ass," Natalie disclosed. "But I'm more focused on more important people now... You, for example."

Maria had managed to crack a grin before Natalie kissed her again. This one was softer than the others, full of emotion, and it almost set Maria off. She instantly deepened the kiss and ever so gently started to push Natalie towards her bed. She didn't want the moment to end. Out of nowhere, Natalie pulled back, which upset Maria.

"You want a drink, babe?" Natalie murmured, using the term for the first time in three years.

"Sure ... babe..." Maria trailed off, wondering what Natalie was up to.

Natalie cracked a dopey grin and opened up what Maria had thought was the hard drive to her computer, but was actually an incognito mini fridge. "What's your poison, baby?"

Maria stared at the fridge and noticed that Natalie had quite the collection of drinks- pop, iced coffee, energy drinks, iced water, and milk shakes. She was actually surprised that Natalie didn't have any alcohol given her slightly rebellious nature. Maria pointed at a pop bottle and Natalie handed it to her in a flash. Their fingers touched when the bottle swap occurred, sending a lightning bolt of emotions through both of their veins. Maria grinned before she brought the bottle to her lips, savoring the lemon-lime flavor that echoed through the drink. She then realized how thirsty she was and began taking heavy gulps, and Natalie decided to be a jokester and started pumping her fist.

"Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug!" Natalie cheered playfully, earning a half-amused grin from Maria as she downed the drink.

"You act like we're at a drinking contest," Maria joked as she set down her mostly-empty bottle.

"You just chugged three quarters of a fucking pop bottle," Natalie pointed out, "and I must say that I'm really impressed. You put my father and I to shame when it comes to chugging drinks."

Maria laughed at Natalie's remarks. "Only difference is that your father probably drinks heavy alcohol and you stick with cola."

Natalie smirked at Maria's response. "Not every time ... I've had some alcohol before. Mind you, I was under heavy supervision and didn't leave the house!"

"And here I was thinking that you were this rebellious teenage girl that brought booze everywhere!" Maria retorted.

"I'm surprised that Serana didn't let slip that I'd been drinking with Jesse and the others on New Year's while our parents were out," Natalie supplied. "Jesse had gone and purchased replacement booze, but Nikolai's lightweight ass had wandered out into the garage right as our parents were pulling in, which got us busted. I was about sixteen at the time."

"Wait, you drank behind your parents' backs?!" Maria nearly shrieked.

"Oops," Natalie shrugged nonchalantly. "Only person to get even remotely tipsy was Nikolai, and that was funny!"

"He could've gotten hurt!" Maria countered.

"But he didn't!" Natalie pointed out. "He just got tipsy. We kept an eye on him and made sure that he didn't leave or throw up in his sleep. Jesse cut him off when his speech started to slur and made sure that he ate."

"And you didn't get tipsy?" Maria questioned.

"Half Norwegian," Natalie pointed out, "which means that I evidently have a fucking cast iron liver ... however, after that, none of us had more than two drinks ever again."

"Sounds like you learned the hard way," Maria teased. Natalie's eyebrow shot up instantaneously and her light blue eyes were full of mischief.

"Not my fault Nikolai is a fucking lightweight!" Natalie fired back, holding back the smirk that tugged on her lips. "Nor did any of us know that he was going to stumble into the garage!"

"Suuure...!" Maria giggled, winking at Natalie.

Natalie's brow rumpled like a dented car as waves of slight irritation flashed over her face. She was about to say something when Maria crashed their lips together, catching the eighteen-year-old off guard. Natalie deepened the kiss and steered Maria toward her bed with ease, a smile tugging at her mouth.

They broke apart when Natalie lifted Maria into her arms and gently laid her on the bed, pale blue eyes piercing the gaze of orbs in a blue-green sea.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" Natalie remarked, the taste of Maria's lips on her own still lingering.

"Maybe," Maria purred, nearly setting Maria off.

"Are you trying to set me off?" Natalie asked.

"Not really..." Maria trailed off in confusion.

Natalie chuckled and hit "skip forward" on her stereo remote. Moments later, both her and Maria's ears were invaded by a smooth, symphonic metal song that Maria didn't recognize.

"Evanescence?" Maria guessed.

"Nope, Nightwish!" Natalie declared. "Ben used to play this song in concert with his band, and Dad used to sing this to Dave and I when we were real young."

Maria closed her eyes, taking in the sweet sound.

"...the sun is sleeping quietly, once upon a century... Wistful oceans calm and red, ardent caresses laid to rest..." Natalie sang softly, slightly losing herself in the song. She was brought back to reality by Maria, who pulled her flat against her body and into another kiss. A grin stretched across the teen's lips as her heart slowly morphed into a pair of hummingbird wings. Hell, Maria's touch alone sent Natalie into overdrive, and the teen slowly leaned back for a moment and gazed at her lover. Her grin was dopey and Maria found it adorable. Silence followed when Natalie turned off her music, surprising Maria. Natalie seized the opportunity and left a trail of steaming kisses down Maria's jawline, stopping at the pulse point.

"... Natalie..." Maria trailed off, feeling her body temperature rise. Her head arched back at the feeling of Natalie's lips on her throat, and Natalie enjoyed it.

"Mmm..." Natalie murmured, stopping for a moment and glancing up at Maria. She noticed the spark of desperation in Maria's eyes and grinned like a madman. Her body snaked across her bed and out of nowhere, Maria's pager went off, surprising both of them.

"I'm sorry..." Maria trailed off, checking her pager. Sure enough, Fury had paged her, and it pissed her off as she'd been hoping to spend the night having fun with Natalie.

"Fury?" Natalie deduced, her voice thickened with venom.

"As always..." Maria sighed, rolling her eyes. She'd been looking forward to spending time with Natalie, and as always something else had interrupted it.

"Go," Natalie urged, planting a light kiss on Maria's cheek. "I'll be here waiting for you, babe."

"You sure?" Maria asked, raising a brown eyebrow at Natalie.

"I'm absolutely certain," Natalie answered, wrapping her arms around Maria's shoulders. "Duty calls, soldier."

"Hey!" Maria fired, playfully swatting Natalie's arm. Natalie only stuck her tongue out at Maria and leaped off the bed.

"Don't get me wrong, I hate having to see you go," Natalie began, glancing briefly at the floor, "but there's a psycho mobster that needs to be caught. If Fury needs you to help out with that, then so be it."

Maria's brow rumpled at Natalie's statement- did she really place her feelings for Maria below the mission? "What are you gonna do?"

"Listen to the radio," Natalie responded. "If shit hits the fan, I will hop on one of those quinjets and fly to you and whomever else you're with."

Maria was in shock- Natalie would hijack a quinjet and fly out to her if something happened? I'm not sure what to think of that... Maria's subconscious echoed as the older agent fixed her hair (it had started falling out of its bun when she and Natalie had gotten onto Natalie's bed and kissed one another fiercely.) "I'd rather you not hijack a quinjet..."

Natalie shook her head and smirked. "If that asshole so much as touches you, I'm comin' out there!"

Maria grinned at Natalie's statement and pranced over to the door. "I'll keep you updated."

"I'll be listening in on comms," Natalie remarked, joining Maria at the door. "Be safe out there, yeah?"

"Of course," Maria responded, placing her hand on the younger agent's shoulder.

Natalie shrugged Maria's hand off and pulled her into a kiss. She really didn't want Maria to leave, but she had no choice- duty had called, and Maria had to answer.

"I'll see you later," Maria murmured, embracing Natalie one last time before she left. Natalie managed to crack a small grin before she headed out to the bridge.


So there's chapter eight (8!) Hope you guys enjoyed, and I will definitely start the next chapter soon! Thank you for your views, faves/follows, and reviews! :D