At the sound of a knock, Maria makes her way to the front door of her new house and opens it. There she finds Natasha holding a six-pack of beer in one hand and a white plastic bag in the other, which to her eye and nose appears to have food of some kind in it.
"Thought I'd drop by and welcome you to the neighbourhood," Nat says, holding up the beer and bag of food.
"This doesn't look like brownies," Maria replies dryly as she takes the bag of food and leads Nat into the house toward the kitchen.
"Hey, at least it's not flowers," Nat counters with a roll of her eyes as she places the beer on the counter. "Oh, great view," she adds as her gaze drifts to the large windows overlooking the lake behind the house.
"Yeah, it isn't too bad," Maria agrees as she opens the bag. The scent hits her as soon as she opens it and her mouth begins to water at the familiar aroma. "Is this…Greek food?"
"Not just any Greek food."
Maria's eyes widen, and her brows raise in surprise. It couldn't be the same place as that hole in the wall Nat used to frequent when they'd been based at the Triskelion, could it? "Nik and Odessa's place?"
"Yep."
"They have a place here too? I thought they would have been enjoying an extended retirement."
Nat chuckles. "Not quite. They came to visit me a little while after Nik joined Odessa here. He told me their offer of food extended here in the afterlife too, and that any time I wanted food I just had to drop by and they'd cook me something."
"They are too sweet," Maria says with a shake of her head. She glances down at the beach, up at the sun, and then turns back to face her friend. "How do you feel about lunch on the beach?" she asks.
Nat gives a vague shrug and gesture of her hands. "Fine by me. Lead the way," she says, grabbing the beer from the counter.
Maria leads them down the short set of stairs and path down to the beach, stopping when they reach a set of Adirondack chairs positioned around a fire pit.
"You know, I never pegged you for the beach type," Nat says as she snags one of the beers, twists off the cap and offers it to Maria.
"Thanks," Maria says, accepting the bottle and holding it up in a toast. "My grandparents had a place on the beach where I visited them in the summer. I spent a good chunk of time out on the beach and in the water when I was a kid," she explains as she hands a food container and fork over to Nat.
"Ah, you joining the Marines makes a lot more sense to me now," Nat replies, taking the container from her and reclining back into her chair.
Maria arches an eyebrow. "What, you were confused about it before?" she quips dryly as she opens her own food container and inhales deeply, appreciating the aroma.
"No, just never figured out the motivation," Nat says with a chuckle.
"Well, you could've asked. It's not like we never talked about ourselves with each other."
Neither of them had ever really trusted many people, but they'd become good friends over the years and had confided in each other more than they had with most others. And if she's honest, Maria had, for a fair bit of time after Nat's death, regretted not having talked about more with her friend.
"Was more fun trying to figure it out," Nat deadpans. Her expression holds as serious for just a moment before it splits into a wide grin, and she chuckles. It was one of those Natasha Romanoff grins that Maria remembers from their SHIELD days. The kind that usually had surfaced when Barton had done or said something stupid, giving Natasha an opening to make a deliciously biting sarcastic comment. The kind that seemed to be unrestrained joy on a face that usually held far more schooled expressions.
Maria turns to face her friend, opting to break the silence. "So, how've you been?"
"Oh, you know… Not bad for a dead woman." Maria rolls her eyes at the blasé response and watches as a smile curls on her friend's lips. "Wasn't easy at first," Nat continues breezily, like a discussion of her death and transition to the afterlife is nothing special for her, "because God knows I had a hell of a lot of baggage to unpack and deal with." That's a fucking understatement , Maria thinks wryly. A career as a SHIELD agent brought enough trauma with it, let alone having the Red Room be the predecessor to that time, and then having significant time as an Avenger facing world-ending events following it. Nat pauses then for a beat, looking thoughtful. "But I found peace eventually," she finishes.
"Good," Maria replies succinctly with a nod. "You deserved that at the very least." She'd always thought Nat deserved some respite from the weight of the guilt and regret she'd carried around for all those years.
Nat smiles again at Maria's words. "So Tony and Phil kept telling me."
Maria makes a noise halfway between a scoff and a chuckle. "But let me guess — you were stubborn and refused to accept it?"
"Me? Stubborn? Never ," Nat answers with a grin and Maria snorts in amusement. "What about you? Getting settled in here?"
"Well, I've only been here for—" Maria stops abruptly as she realizes she doesn't know how long she's been in the afterlife. A few days? A week?
"Yeah, time here is…more of a rough construct I've found," Nat offers in explanation and Maria nods blankly. "You get used to it."
Maria nods slowly as she processes the information for a moment, then continues, "Well, things seem pretty straightforward. My grandparents brought me up to speed on how stuff works, but is there anything you think I should know?"
"Well, if you ever get sick of takeout or cooking for yourself, and don't want to abuse my connection to excellent Greek food, I have expanded my repertoire significantly."
Maria's eyes widen fractionally. "You cook? Did you pick that up here?"
"I've always known how to cook. I just…" Nat trails off for a beat, waving a hand in a shrug before she continues, "have had time to work on it more now."
"Huh. Somehow, you being a capable cook is both surprising and not at all surprising."
Nat snorts in amusement. "Thanks…I think?"
Maria flashes a smile in reply, and then adds, "I'm definitely going to take you up that offer. What kind of food do you cook?"
"A little of everything. Nik and Odessa have promised to teach me how to make some Greek dishes, so long as I cook some Russian ones for them."
Maria blinks as she processes this news. Natasha Romanoff becoming an avid cook and swapping recipes with people was decidedly not something she had on her bingo card. "Well, sorry to say I can't really contribute any recipes, but I will happily be a taste tester."
Nat grins and holds up her bottle. "Cheers to that," she says, tipping her bottle to clink against Maria's.
Hours later, after finishing the food and sipping at beers that never seemed to run out, the sun had begun to set, and Nat had suggested they start a fire in the fire pit. The necessary materials had appeared out of nowhere, and the two of them had made quick work of starting a fire before they settled back into their chairs.
"I missed you, you know," Maria says, truthfully a bit flummoxed by the words leaving her mouth. Sure, the many beers and food had mellowed them both over the past couple of hours they've been together, but Maria doesn't do emotional conversations. Never has, really. And yet for some reason, she feels an urge to wade into one with her old friend.
Nat nods, and Maria sees something in her expression — like she understands the abrupt declaration. Maybe it's a… thing in the afterlife? Maria wonders. Maybe everyone feels this way?
"Likewise," Nat replies. "Would've been nice to have you around those five years…you probably would have helped me keep my shit together a hell of a lot more than I managed on my own."
Her tone is light and almost teasing, but Maria hears the truth there plainly, too. "Well, at the very least I could've handled some paperwork," Maria offers, allowing the tone of the conversation to stay light, "but the way I hear it, you kept plenty busy and managed to keep it together pretty well."
"Keeping busy was how I kept it together. I was a wreck at first," Nat admits as she leans forward and begins to slowly spin her beer bottle between her palms.
The raw honesty is both surprising and not in the wake of Maria's revelation that perhaps everyone is driven to have these sorts of emotional conversations. "From what Rhodey told me, everyone was a bit of a mess," she says.
He'd told her about how they had all reacted to losing to Thanos and watching their friends drift away as dust. He'd described the bickering and fights that had gone on between Tony and Steve, and between Tony and Nat too. He'd explained how Tony had quickly left with Pepper, how Banner and Thor had each been fighting their own internal battles, and how Steve slowly pulled away, leaving Natasha alone in the Compound. And he'd told her about what he'd described as Natasha's functional depression — how she had stepped into the leadership role and led the team effectively, but had privately struggled in her efforts to handle losing the Barton's and some of her teammates while having to watch Clint fall into the same pattern he'd once saved her from.
Natasha's gaze is fixed on the dancing flames in the fire pit, but there isn't any pain in her expression; instead, her expression is bittersweet. "After we went and killed Thanos, and found out he'd destroyed the stones… None of us knew what to do. We were trying to find a way to fix it, but everything we found out pointed to it being permanent."
"I heard you flat out refused to believe that."
Nat gave a little smile, sliding her gaze over to Maria. "Me? Stubborn? Never."
Maria chuckles lightly at the callback to her earlier words. "Well, I'm sure you know this already, but the world appreciated what you did. Mind you, not many knew what you did, but they knew you sacrificed yourself for half the universe. Natasha was a popular baby name for the years following your death."
"Yeah, Tony and Phil made it their mission to make me aware of how I was being appreciated in the early days here," she explained with a soft chuckle. "Phil told me about some conventions they held annually for the Avengers. He said there were really nice tributes to Tony and me."
Maria nods, fully aware of those and a host of other tributes all over that had popped up in the wake of the news of their deaths. "Speaking of Phil, is he still excited to talk to Steve?"
Natasha chuckles. "Oh, yeah. Hasn't really wavered all the time they've been here. I mean, Phil can talk to him without grinning ear to ear the whole time now, but you can still tell he's like a kid meeting his hero, and that hero has lived up to the hype."
Maria shakes her head in amusement as she chuckles. "You know what? Good for him. We should all be so lucky."
"It's funny," Nat begins as she leans back in her chair, "but the urge to seek out your heroes, celebrities, and famous people seems to disappear for people here. And yet somehow, Phil still lights up with a wide smile every time he's in the same room as Steve."
Maria chuckles. "Well, I'm guessing they've had a chance to become friends over the years. Maybe the combination of idolizing him and becoming friends with him somehow makes it okay in the eyes of…whatever runs this place."
"Maybe," Nat agrees.
"It's really good to see you, Nat," Maria says, turning to look at her friend.
Nat turns to face Maria and offers a warm smile. "Yeah, you too," she agrees.
did I think Greek food and Nik would be a recurring theme in these? no, I absolutely did not. 😅
sorry to say the slow updates will continue...real life, I tell ya, never comes with a damn schedule.
as always, thoughts and comments are welcomed.
more to come...