Happy Wednesday! You've made it to the middle of the week and you're doing great!

And in case no one has told you this, I'm proud of you. Keep going! ^^

Chapter 5:

Passing and Failing

Are Two Different Things

SHEILD HQ, August 2006.

"Run it again." Natasha told the girl who lay on the mat groaning, her opponent standing over her. Harlow winced as she tried to get up, abdomen screaming in pain. Her legs and arms were like jelly and she stumbled slightly as she stood, readying herself. The hulking agent stretched his neck and arms, prepping himself for Harlow's attacks. "Passing and failing are two different things Channing."

"No Sh*t Romanoff." She spat at the woman standing off to the side of the combat mats. It had been a long year indeed as they lived together. However, the pair of women now just simply tolerated each others presence, not really communicating outside of work. At least they were on a last name basis...well, when they were training anyway. If you could call Natasha's training actual training and not hell which is what it felt like most of the time.

Harlow took a deep breath, steeling herself as she and the agent before her circled the mat...Once...Twice...Her eyes flicked to the stance of his ankles without him seeing, the girl noticing a slight limp. An old injury maybe? It would be weaker than the right and if she faked him out, it would catch him off guard, providing her with an opportunity. Maybe being around Romanoff all the time had some advantages, her way of thinking rubbing off on the girl.

The girl soon made her move, running at the man moving to the right but quickly switching to the left. Sure enough, when he tried to turn quickly on his left, his leg seized. Harlow quickly delivered a swift punch to the side of his left knee dropping him down. She then used her momentum to grab his left arm, flipping to her free hand to bring her legs around his neck. His body flipped forward, causing him to land with a thud. She kept as tight a grip as she could, pulling his arm straight, legs clamped on his throat.

Natasha felt her lips partly in surprise, brow slightly furrowed, more so at the fact that Agent Hendricks was groaning in pain. He tapped Harlow's leg with his free hand and she let him go, the color soon coming back to his face as he coughed. The girl could only lay on the floor, sweat pouring off her, stinging her eyes. It was only after resting for a moment, that she sniffed and wiped at her nose, finding herself flinching, blood on her fingers.

Rolling over, the girl watched as splotches of red hit the training mats. As she stood, she pinched her nose slightly, making her way over to a nearby bench to grab a towel. It stung like mad, her eyes watering as it was hard to breathe, tenderness evident. Definitely something wrong, but she wasn't sure it was broken.

"Good job kid." Hendricks told her, patting Harlow on the back causing her to cough slightly. "You alright?" Harlow nods, simply giving him a thumbs up. He eyed her cautiously as she kept her face from his vision. "Well, if you say so...See you in training tomorrow then."

"See ya." She mustered up before crying out slightly.

"You didn't tuck in tight enough." Natasha's voice hit her ears, but Harlow noticed through the pain, that the woman was just stating a fact.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed...Maybe if you didn't run me ragged..." The girl gestured with the bloody towel and the red head could see a now slight crooked spot in Harlow's nose. In a flash the girl felt Natasha take her nose in her hands and she gave it a quick twist. Hot pain washed over the girl as she blinked tears away, cursing her mentor for not giving her a warning...She'd be lying though if she said she didn't want to learn how to do that...

"Better?" Harlow saw Natasha place a hand on her hip, waiting for an answer. The girl brought the towel back to her nose, still flinching. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been, though she was sure her under eyes would be black and blue later.

"As much as it can be...Warn a person next time." She noticed an eye roll from the woman. "Look, if you do that much more, your face is going to stick like that." Harlow noticed a stifled noise come from Romanoff, a slight twitch at the side of her mouth. Natasha watched the hazel eyed woman narrow her gaze at her, as if she was trying to assess something...Maybe she was teaching Harlow a little too well.

"That's already been proven that can't happen...Hit the showers, you smell." And with that she watched as Natasha took her leave of the gym, running into Barton on her way out. The blonde watched the two converse briefly, Natasha looking over at Harlow for a quick second, before leaving. Clint shook his head, a slight smile on his face as he made his way over to the blonde.

"She likes you." He told the girl as they now walked toward the lockers and she looked at him incredulously.

"You could've fooled me..."

"Trust me."

"Listen Robin Hood, I have no reason to." The pair laughed as she gathered her belongings.

"Hey now, I'm in the neighborhood for a wolf new pelt." Barton pointed at her, that familiar half smirk on his face as he tilted his head. The pair hadn't worked together but bonded over a few drinks over the past few months. Harlow welcomed the berating brother figure and he welcomed the person who could keep up with his insults. "Make sure you put ice on that, alright?"

"Okay mom." She told him, sticking out her tongue and he promptly clapped her on the back of the head before wrapping an arm around her neck, knuckling her head.

"Hey!" All the while, the pair didn't notice a familiar Russian watching from the window of the training room door. If Clint liked her and trusted her, it was time to see why.

"You can't be serious. I'm not anywhere near ready." Harlow told Fury over the phone as she fiddled with the tape across her nose. Sure enough after a 24 hours, violent bruising had settled on her skin.

"Romanoff has a surveillance mission and needs a second set of eyes. Yours see infinitely better than most..." Fury wasn't wrong, not only had she been training and expanding on her normal knowledge, but under Natasha's tutelage, her abilities were growing stronger...Although she wouldn't tell the woman down the hall in her room that.

"True but-"

"No buts. Your mission starts in a week and should it go well, I have another assignment lined up for you."

Click.

Harlow sighed, putting her phone on the coffee table before laying back on the couch with an arm over her face. She didn't feel ready at all, still not confident that she could keep someone else safe. Sure she could handle herself better now, but when you focused on yourself it was easy. Watching someones back? That was a different story and it caused anxieties to rise into her chest. If she made the wrong move or lost focus for even a millisecond, it could cost Natasha her life. The idea that she was responsible for the woman was overwhelming and suddenly, Harlow found it hard to breathe.

Air. She needed air.

The girl scrambled for the balcony doors in the kitchen, thrusting them open. Cool air hit her face as she stepped outside. Her hand white knuckled the metal banister as she looked over the city, gasping for breath. She couldn't do it. Natasha could handle herself, but if Harlow screwed up-

"..." She shook her head, her limbs trembling as her eyes scrunched shut, her chest tight. Surely this was just first mission jitters. It was just surveillance, observe and report. But no matter what she told herself, the tightness in her chest didn't leave her.

Natasha jumped awake, aiming a gun at the door that she had been holding under her pillow. Her chest rose and fell quickly, waiting for the danger to show, but it never came. It had been an entire year and yet, she and Harlow both were no more used to the others noises than the sky was blue. The woman took deep breaths, calming herself before slipping the gun under her pillow.

Though she knew it was Harlow that made the noise, she slowly and carefully made her way down the hall. Her feet were bare and soundless as they usually were on the wooden floors. Looking around she found Harlow standing on the balcony, a slight tremble in her legs. Her knuckles were white, the side of her hand starting to turn purple from how tight she gripped the banister. Natasha's ears picked up on the slight chattering of teeth.

Anxiety attack.

The woman kept quiet, knowing that if she made too much noise it would only stress the girl out and herself. She made her way outside onto the balcony, sitting in a chair near Harlow. Be predictable. Her brain told her, knowing that Harlow had learned, for the most part, she was a quiet person.

Harlow could hear Natasha begin to count to ten slowly in her native tongue. Her voice was soft, accented on each word. She swallowed hard, following the counting as she breathed a little slower as the woman counted. A long time passed before Harlow dared to let go of the banister, her hands numb from how tight she'd been holding it.

The red head noticed Harlow's nod of thanks as she sat down on the concrete balcony, ignoring the other chair. She hugged her legs, still trembling slightly, her body aching and tired from everything. While they got on each other's nerves, it had been little things like this that caused them to acknowledge the other's presence and past.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Harlow immediately rolled off her bed, her senses on high alert, her hand reaching under the mattress for her Shield issued handgun. Her braided hair grazed her bare shoulders, enhancing the tingling she felt from her nerves. Increased strength and smell entered her being as she stayed crouched, sneaking to her door. She stood slowly taking a deep breath before opening it, searching the apartment gun first. There was no evidence of anyone in the front of the apartment, front door showing no signs of break in.

Steeling her nerves further, the girl checked the balcony doors, no sign of forced entry there either. It was only when she made her way back down the hall, she noticed the bullet holes in Natasha's door. Her heart beat like mad, praying the worst hadn't happened, all the while staying prepared. Harlow could hear her voice as if she were standing next to her.

'Stay alert. Always.' The woman was nothing if not concise and straight forward.

The girl knew that there might be a chance that she could get hurt, entering Natasha's room. For one, it was practically off limits or at least that's how it felt when the red head holed up in there for the night. But Harlow also knew it could have been the woman who fired the gun and she may just shoot her right in the door way once it opened.

Carefully, she put a hand on the knob and turned it slowly, gun at the ready in the other. Her throat was obscenely dry from fear when she found that it had not been locked. When she spoke out loud, her voice cracked from the emotion she couldn't hide.

"Romanoff?" It was all the woman could muster, but as she waited, it remained quiet. Harlow continued forward, opening the door slowly. She swept the room before focusing on the woman who sat up in bed, gun in hand still aimed at the door. Her eyes locked onto the girl and yet she seemed to look past Harlow. The nineteen year old studied the twenty two year old a little closer.

A slight tremble.

Face ghostly pale.

'Nightmare maybe?' It was unlike her to show anything on her face or so it had seemed in the year that Harlow had known Natasha Romanoff. She was unsure of how to proceed but she knew it would probably be easier with out the guns.

"Romanoff." Harlow gently called out to her, finding now her green eyes stared straight at her. The woman said nothing, her hand still tensely holding the gun. She watched as the girl set her own weapon down on the nearby dresser, hands raised, eyes golden in the dark room.

"I'm going to approach you." the girl spoke in broken Russian, having picked up a few words here and there at Natasha's request. When they spoke in the apartment at all, it seemed to make the woman more comfortable speaking in her native tongue. Harlow's heart threatened to beat out of her rib cage as she made her way to Natasha's bed side, finding the gun now trained on her. Gently, the girl reached forward, placing her hand on top of the gun, pushing it down slowly.

"I swept the apartment. No one's here." Time seemed to slow as Harlow's words finally reached the woman's ears and she eventually slid the gun under her pillow, nodding. The girl wanted to leave but there was something about the way the red head looked that told her to stay. Her hazel eyes took notice of a nearby chair, soon bringing it beside the bed.

Natasha could only watch as the young girl removed the casings from her bed, tossing them in a nearby garbage can before sitting in the chair she had moved. Nothing was said, the hum of the air conditioner the only noise in the room. She wanted Harlow to leave, to allow her to process what had happened in her nightmares, but it seemed she had no intention of going anywhere.

What was even more shocking was after the girl calmed herself, the golden yellow leaving her eyes, she laid her head down on the side of the bed, but not before putting a hand out, palm upwards. Natasha found she could only stare at the hand, something pricking at her eyes as she sniffed. After blinking, the woman realized her eyes were teary. Sounds of Harlow sleeping entered the room, small breathy snores came from her. However, her hand never moved, the invitation available.

Once the woman felt herself calm enough, she dared to lay back down, careful not to disturb the girl who had fallen asleep in the chair. Before she could convince herself to leave it alone, Natasha took Harlow's hand, squeezing tight. It trembled slightly but it stopped when she felt the girl give her hand a sleepy squeeze in return.

Sorry this was a day late! I'm in the middle of moving and work has been a little crazy lately. Hopefully things will slow down a little bit here soon!