/ My first writing venture into Maria and Nat (long time reader Haha). Hope you enjoy!
Tw for general violence and blood and some medical talk./
…
'I love you'
The words rang through Maria's head as she dropped down behind an overturned table, breaths shuddering as she reloaded the gun magazine.
"Widow come in." Silence greeted Maria as the dark haired woman took a quick glance above the table before firing shot after shot at the men still coming towards her.
"Natasha?!" Her voice grew desperate as the sounds of bodies hitting the floor filled the room before silence once again clawed into her head.
Maria didn't know if Natasha was hurt or whether the comms had simply been disrupted.
All she knew was that gunfire had been heard over the device seconds before Natasha's breathless voice had whispered three little words.
Then nothing.
Maria growled low, fire burning in her veins as she kicked the table with all her weight, tripping men and giving her time to reload and stand, firing without mercy.
She stepped over bloodied bodies and into the hallway where her and Natasha had split up.
Maria wiped blood from her mouth, cringing as her tongue ran over a split lip, freshly spilling over her chin.
She carefully wound her way through the dim light of the hall, cursing with everything in her.
It was supposed to be a simple mission. Supposed to be easy.
But when was anything in Natasha and Maria's life easy?
There were easily five times the men the reports had suggested and that was usually fine.
They weren't the Black Widow and Deputy Director of Shield for nothing.
But these guys were literally coming from fucking everywhere and as soon as one went down, the one behind would get up and come again.
So the women had split up; Natasha to take on the ground floor and Maria to secure the package on the top floor and contact evac.
Now, with silence in her ear as Maria stepped over bodies, she cursed the very idea to split up.
She walked to the spot they'd last been together, unsurprised to find blood lining the floor and walls.
Fear still crept into her chest; she had no idea if the blood was the mens' or if Natasha was bleeding out somewhere.
"Natasha?" Maria's voice varely rose above a whisper, still unknowing whether there were more assailants coming her way.
"Nat I swear to god if you don't answer me-" Maria hissed, following the longest trail of blood.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose, bile climbing her throat as she forced her feet to carry her in the direction.
Maria knew. She just knew that something was badly wrong.
Natasha would never not answer unless she was hurt.
The blood trail continued, winding around the nearest corner and Maria felt her stomach drop before she'd even gotten there.
She ran the last few feet, covering her mouth with her hand as she stepped around the corner.
"Shit-" the woman gasped as she dropped to her knees beside the woman sprawled across the granite.
"Natasha?" Maria's eyes took in the redhead's prone figure, half leaning against the wall.
Natasha was bleeding heavily from somewhere under her ribs, hence the blood trail.
Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks as Maria pressed down on the wound.
"Natasha, baby, open your eyes." Maria used her free hand to quickly slide into her own pocket.
She dialled the pre-installed number and placed the phone under her cheek, against her shoulder.
She then cupped Natasha's cheek with her hand, thumb lightly sliding over her closed eyelid.
The phone against her ear clicked.
"This is Agent Hill. Agent Romanoff is down, the package is secure. We need evac now." She grit out the words, all the while trying to coax Natasha's eyes open.
"Understood. Evac is five minutes." The phone clicked again and Maria let it fall from her shoulder, all her attention on Natasha.
She pressed harder against the wound and a startled gasp escaped the redheads lips as she jolted up.
"Easy, Nat. Stay still-" Maria murmured, leaning forward to press a kiss to the younger woman's temple.
"What happened?" Natasha winced, tilting her head back against the wall behind her.
"You tell me." Maria swallowed hard before quickly lifting her hand to pull the torn catsuit out of the way of the wound.
She quickly clamped her hand back down as blood bubbled around the edges of what looked like a stab wound.
"Okay, it doesn't look like a gun was used but you were there, do you remember?" The older woman prompted.
Natasha's gaze was glazed as she looked up from the wound to Maria. "No gun. Something...fucking sharp though."
Maria snorted and shook her head. "Yeah, Nat, I'm getting that."
Natasha's woozy smile did nothing to calm the panic twisting Maria's insides.
"Alright babe, we can't stay here all day. Evac will meet us on the roof." Maria took Natasha's hand and pressed it to the wound.
"I need you to press down hard, okay? 'Cause someone's gotta get your ass to the jet."
Natasha smiled weakly, appreciating the humour barely concealing the panic.
"Yeah, wouldn't want you to be without this ass." Natasha muttered, her teeth gritted in preparation.
"That would be awful." Maria hummed, one arm sliding around Natasha's back.
The redheads other arm was wrapped around Maria's neck and the woman braced herself to support the extra weight.
"Okay. On three. One, two-" Maria hoisted them both up, cringing at Natasha's choice of expletives.
"I know, I lied and went early but we're up now." Maria took a few steps forward, carrying a good half of Natasha's weight.
The redhead had paled even more since standing, all colour gone from her face.
Her eyelids fluttered, threatening collapse if they didnt hurry.
"Okay." Maria murmured as she stepped forward again. "Not long now."
...
The pair made it up to the roof of the building. Barely.
By the last minute of the journey, Natasha had all but passed out and Maria was more carrying her than dragging her.
"Okay." Maria muttered, breathing heavily as she kicked open the door to the room and lifted Natasha outside.
"No..." the woman whispered, brows pulling together.
It had been five minutes, right? So where the hell was the quinjet?
Maria stumbled as she moved forward, wincing and steadying herself just before she fell.
"Okay, let's just sit down for a minute." She murmured, ever so carefully lowering Natasha onto the floor.
Maria landed in her knees beside her, the panic now ready to explode out of her if the damned jet didn't turn up right away.
Shaking fingers reached to measure Natasha's pulse, pressing into the dip of her neck.
She was alive at least.
But the faint thrumming foretold a bad outcome if they stayed there much longer.
Natasha had lost way too much blood, Maria and the woman herself were covered in it.
So god knows what damage had been done inside Natasha's body.
Not only was her heart struggling to beat with such a diminished amount of blood in her body, her breathing sounded...off.
Grating and wet, each inhale was met with a rattle inside the woman's chest.
Maria had been in way too many similar situations but none with Natasha, not like this, not so desperate.
Sure, they'd both been badly injured on missions before but...it felt different this time.
Natasha was barely hanging on and the jet was...
As if on cue, the familiar sight of a quinjet materialising met her panicked gaze and Maria felt the panic stop just short of escaping.
The quinjet began to land and Maria turned to Natasha, cupping her cheeks and leaning to press a soft kiss to blood stained lips.
"I love you."
In seconds, Maria was cradling the woman to her chest and carrying her to the quinjet.
She didn't let go until they had the stretcher set out and then Maria lay Natasha down, backing up out of the way.
Her legs shook and she fell onto the floor seconds later.
Maria could hear the medics talking, but the words sounded far away.
"Get her onto the monitors and start the blood transfusion."
"Get the oxygen started."
"She's bleeding internally, call ahead to medical."
A beeping filling the jet.
The shrill sound of monitors screeching and alarms ringing.
"We're losing her-"
The words were soon drowned out by Maria's panic; finally escaping after being pushed down for too long.
Hands touched Maria's shoulders, smoothing over her hair and trying to force her gaze up.
"Hill. Maria, you gotta breathe." A male voice. One she would recognise if she could hear over her own desperate breaths.
Maria clawed at the jacket the man wore, her eyes lifting to his face as she tried to do as he said.
"Breathe, Maria, nice and slow-" Phil kept her gaze on him, instead of on the medics and Natasha.
The deputy director looked ready to pass out herself, shuddering with each panicked inhale.
"Nice and slow." He soothed, making his own breathing perfect so she could mimic it easier.
Tears fell down Maria's cheeks.
"I can't lose her. I can't lose her, Phil-"
On instinct, Phil reached closer and pulled the woman to his chest.
She sank against him, fingers clutching his shirt as she sobbed against his neck.
He wrapped her tightly into his embrace, eyes watching over Maria's shoulder to the medics and his fallen agent.
"You won't lose her." Phil whispered. "She's a fighter, Maria, you know that. That's why you married her."
Phil was right.
Phil was always right.
Maria didn't lose Natasha and the woman had never been happier to slide the redheads wedding ring back onto her finger two days after the mission.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Saying and hearing those three words had never felt so sweet.