AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello again there lovelies! I'm quite enjoying the reviews I got on the last chapter, even if they were short winded haha a review is a review huh. :) Anyhow, here is the second chapter! Keep in mind that I only skimmed over it for errors, so there very well might be some. Also, I wanted to point out that the shift between Angelova and Angelov, is intentional. In russian, the sir name adds an 'a' when referring to a female so ya know, slightly accurate. Now! Without further adieu!

Russian Beauty / American Psycho

This feature is rated T, for obscene language and mild gore. But mostly the language.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Natasha and Dimitri Angelov. Things that are unfamiliar and original in plot, also belong to me. Anything recognizable, does not but to its respective owners.

I'm evil to the core
What I shouldn't do I will
They say I'm emotional
What I want to save I'll kill
Is that who I truly am?
I truly don't have a chance
Tomorrow I'll keep a beat
And repeat yesterday's dance

Fairly Local by Twenty One Pilots

Two

New York

June 2, 2001

Natasha had been in the great country of America for one month. It was definitely a land of prosperity and opportunity she had decided very quickly, much to her chagrin. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. The buildings were tall, sparkling and multiple. The people were cultured and outnumbered only by the vehicles crammed onto the streets and the vermin at their feet.

Within her first week in the city she had come face to face with a rat that had been twice the size of her fist. Reddington had assured her that the only reason she had even seen it was because they had been on the subway. She hadn't been convinced then and now, nearly three weeks later still wasn't. Her eyes always suspiciously watching the ground and sewage drains for any suspicious furry things.

The air was always thick with a mixture of ocean air and residual build up of car exhaust. The one thing shed grown to miss, was fresh air. She was learning to distract herself from the pungent smell however, with people watching. It was something Reddington had suggested to her after one of her annoyed rants. She never ceased to complain to the man about just how much she hated America. Even though she kinda didn't.

He had told her however, that people watching was going to be a crucial part of the point of being here to begin with. She needed to learn how to blend and observe. How to take on the persona of anyone in the world. She thought he sounded just nearly insane, but didn't complain against the whole free reign thing. The entire city was at her beck and call and after spending nine years locked away on a mountain? She liked that. She was out all day and all night, only coming back to the somewhat hijacked apartment of Reddingon's at that awkward hour before night and morning.

Reddington didn't seem to care about the late hours the young adult kept either. His only request was that she be immediately available if he came to need her assistance. With what? He couldn't tell her, which perturbed Natasha deeply. Why should she be available for his beck and call? She wasn't his maid. Small blessings too because he was so damn picky with how clean everything was. She'd dropped her shoes at the front door once, just once and had gotten freaking eye daggers thrown at her until she picked them up. Did he even realize that it wasn't his apartment to even be particular about? Gosh.

But, she kept having to remind herself, she was his supposed partner. So beck and call it was and no shoes at the door.

As much time as Natasha spent away from Reddington and his commandeered space, she hadn't made many friends. Only sources, pieces of meat full of whatever information she was interested in. Not that she was really putting any effort into it. Any of it really. She'd always been antisocial at best, as much as she had tried to be social with the other students, it just never worked. She got over people and their little things very quickly. Making conversation and actually caring how someone was doing? Tedious to her in every single way. Once a person's newness wore off, she was no longer interested in keeping them around. It made Natasha seem like a cold-hearted bitch and maybe she was, but after growing up in the way she had, what else could you expect?

One of the monks had told her when she was younger that her internal compass was backwards. What was everyone else's south, was her north. She'd never be following the same direction as anyone else, in anything. She wasn't wired like that. She was different. The only thing she had gained from that observation from the older man, was that she was broken. Disconnected. She half blamed it on her lack of parental units and half blamed it on her unconventional savior of Raymond Reddington. Either way, Natasha Angelova did not make friends.

That's why, like every other night of the past month, Natasha was coming back to her home of sorts at four in the morning, solitary in every sense of the word. Most nights when she was making her entrance, the apartment was quiet. All the lights were off, aside from the one he always left on in the kitchen that would shine into the wide entry hall so she could see. She would always note the kind gesture of the man she still wasn't sure of with a frown before entering the kitchen and looting around for whatever food the kitchen was stocked with. Seeing every part of the city that you could possibly see, left a young girl quite famished.

Tonight, however, was different from every other night. Instead of finding an empty kitchen, Natasha found her rather absent business partner perched on a barstool. What she assumed was paperwork was scattered on the grey marble countertop in front of him along with a half empty wine glass and a pen in hand. He looked like he was concentrating and she had half a mind to just go straight upstairs to her room. But she hadn't seen him for a week or so and found herself stepping further into the kitchen with a yawn. Not even bothering to see if he was acknowledging her or not, she made a straight beeline to the fridge. There was a carton of strawberries with her name on them.

Another thing she loved about America, she didn't have to eat or do anything with restrictions.

"Hello, Natasha. How was your evening hmm?" Raymond asked with a cursory glance in her direction as his pen stilled. She couldn't tell just how much attention he was giving her, by the way his eyes moved over the paper in front of him but, like most times, Natasha didn't really care. Especially with her strawberries. Heaven in a fruit if you asked her.

"Oh, I'm just peachy!" Natasha replied with a roll of her eyes, feigning enthusiasm. "Why're you up so late?"

"Are you trying to infer something, Natasha?" He asked, raising his eyes to meet hers. She noticed a comical glint in his light eyes and almost couldn't believe it. Since the moment they'd gotten to New York, he hadn't been anything but serious in whatever encounter they'd had. She wasn't even sure he had a sense of humor. Well, she still wasn't, but it was up for debate perhaps.

Raising an eyebrow at him she leaned against the counter and took a bite out of one of her strawberries, sighing happily for only a split second, she returned to the task at hand. "No. Just curious. I didn't think you knew how to stay up past nine, honestly." She laughed lightly at the end, feeling rather proud of herself at his slight frown in her direction. He didn't seem offended per say, maybe surprised? With himself or her, she wasn't too positive on that one. With the small amount of time she had spent with him so far, she was finding it was harder and harder to read Raymond Reddington.

"It's rather sad when you've become so predictable that the woman you live with and barely see, knows your schedule better than yourself isn't it?" He hummed to himself as he sat his pen down on the counter and picked up his wine glass, swishing the Crimson liquid that was inside of it around. He looked thoughtful as he stared down into the glass. Almost philosophical.

"You said it, I didn't."

Raymond laughed, it wasn't a forced laugh but Natasha could still tell that he wasn't entirely humored by her short statement. That he was just putting on a show. A man of many faces, she supposed. From what she had learned on the streets from the few rather shady people she'd conversed with, he was a man of many words and many brutalities. You didn't fuck with Raymond Reddington and he didn't fuck with you. He was the man that could disappear into a crowd and destroy an entire country with a raise of his brow. He was a puppet master she was coming to learn. Not surprised in the least, Natasha was trying to take it in stride. She didn't know how credible her sources were, hell they were sources she had gained in a short month with little to no effort. So in some way, she knew they weren't credible at all, but still.

She was still patting herself on the back for even getting anything out of anyone. The shadiest person she had dealt with in her life had been the African boy at the school, and that was a bad pun all in itself. But, once she got out on those streets and in the right places? It's like she couldn't even control herself, it all came so naturally here. She could sidle up to just about anyone to get a few details that she wanted, something that had normally been a feat all in itself.

"Do you think I could ask a favor of you, Natasha?" Reddington suddenly asked, his wine glass back in its original position and quite the serious look on his face. Natasha was startled, if only slightly, by the sudden switch of the conversation and immediately chided herself for it. He was a business man as he said, and any business man she had met in her short life had switched topics like channels on a television. Quickly and without effort. It must be part of the whole selling your soul to the devil to be successful bit, she concluded.

Sighing with a close of her eyes, she nodded her head at Reddington. If only silently praying that she wouldn't live to regret it. But it's not like she could honestly turn him down without the potential of being kicked out on the American streets just outside and as talented she was finding herself to be on those streets, she didn't like the idea. Not one bit.

"There's someone I need you to become friends with. A infiltrate their lives sort of situation really," He began with a straight face, immediately gaining an intimidating eye contact with her the moment her eyes opened. A chill went down her spine, he could be quite intimidating when he wanted to be she supposed. It stirred something in the young woman that she quickly pushed aside. She needed to focus.

Focus, Natasha.

"I'm not really good at the whole friends thing, Reddington." She admitted blandly. Her eyes never strayed from his, the longer she stared, the more she felt like this was a mines bigger than yours contest going on between them. She wasn't backing down.

Shaking his head, Reddington sighed at the young woman before him. Trying to act like some big shit that she wasn't quite yet. He knew she could be and would be at some point in the foreseeable future, but right now? She certainly wasn't. He was still the master. He had plans for Natasha, lots of plans and she needed to know who was boss for any of these plans to work out for him. Sure, she could come and go as she pleased. Do whatever made the little Russians heart happy, but when it came to things he wanted her to do, to further his own great scheme? She was doing them. No questions asked. He knew she understood this on some level. She'd been as complaint as an Angelov would be with any instruction he had given, even now. But, he could still see the distrust and the hesitation shining in her light eyes. Raymond knew that he'd have to gain her trust the old fashion way, she wasn't easily scared but he didn't have time for that now. The only reason he had brought her to New York was already at hand and needed to be tended to. She needed to make friends with the young woman and quickly. He had no other way to keep track of her at present aside from Natasha and he wasn't going to let that opportunity slip through his fingers.

"Her name is Elizabeth Scott. She's just graduated high school and come to New York, so she's your age. She's solitary, not many friends. She'll be easy for you to approach, eager to be friends with someone so similar to her and in a new place. She'll be hard to infiltrate at first, but you will. You will tell me everything she does, everyone she talks to and about. If it concerns her, you will alert me to it. Do you understand?"

Natasha frowned at him. She didn't understand in the slightest. What would Raymond Reddington want to do with another girl his age? Did he have a fetish? Was he building some freaky female army? She was so utterly confused by him and any motives he had and it sounded like he didn't even need her to get close to the girl. Sounded like he already knew an awful lot about her so it's not like she'd be helping really. Aside from any new information. But it seemed like he had a handle on that too.

"I really don't." She admitted softly, almost afraid to say it out loud. But, she knew that he expected her to do this for him. She could see it in his eyes, the way they wouldn't disconnect with her. The way they were trying to force the idea into her head, like it was her very own. It made her uncomfortable and fidgety, but she tried to still herself. She wasn't supposed to crack under pressure. She was trained better than this. Shit, even before she'd been trained for it, she'd been better. She needed to settle herself. She needed to not think and just listen.

"She is the daughter of a friend or more of an acquaintance, really. She may or may not know things and come to learn them. I need an eye on her at present, Natasha. You're the only one that can help me. I trust you to do this for me." Raymond told her firmly. He wasn't even sure why he had told her the last part, maybe to make her more accepting of the idea. Maybe because some part of him did trust the little Russian doll he had saved. He really wasn't too sure of his motives in that brief second. But, he did note the way her pale blue eyes lit up at the mere word like it was a form of currency being traded between them.

Her heart stopped nearly at the mere mention of trust. A five letter word that had always meant so much to her. She could honestly say that she'd only trusted not even a handful of people in her life. She'd learned early on with the very man in front of her that trust was something easily betrayed and hard to earn.

She didn't remember much of anything from her childhood aside from Reddington saving her. But she did remember a blurry image of a man prattling on in eloquent Russian about trust and how as his daughter, it would be hard to come by and something to hold on to tightly. It was something that was always so far out of her reach. Considering her less than desirable social skills and talent for acquiring close relationships with people, it came rarely. She remembered trusting Raymond when she was little. She thought he was her savior, her very own superhero. But just as quickly as he had gained it from her tinier self, he had lost it and left her feeling more confused than any nine year old should. Then here he was trying to say that he trusted her? Wasn't that a bunch of bullshit if she ever saw some.

She wanted to trust him, or some part of her did. He'd been good to her in the past month, she couldn't deny that fact. But he'd been good to her for an entire year before growing tired of her the time before so she couldn't bring herself to even try. What if he got tired of her again? It'd be worse this time. She was older, an adult in most definitions of the word. She knew she could handle the world – if just barely, but she didn't want to by herself. Natasha didn't want to admit just how sheltered she'd been growing up, but she had been and most of the world was rather intimidating to her. She wasn't ready for that. Not a single part of her was, not even the part that considered herself to be so solitary in the world.

With a single breath, Natasha quickly decided that whatever reasons he had for wanting information on this stranger of a girl and using that five letter with her; she didn't care. She cared about this business deal that was conspicuously going on between them and making it last for the foreseeable future. Or as long as it took for her to figure herself and this new world out.

"So how exactly is this thing gonna work?" Natasha asked finally with a deep breath trying to calm the sudden nerves chewing at her insides. She could handle this. Getting information was turning out to be one of her talents, so it's not like it was going to be hard.

Right, just keep telling yourself that.

"Is that a yes I hear?" He asked with a smile that pulled his lips back and showed off his pearly white teeth. Natasha wouldn't admit it, but it almost made him seem more predatory. She didn't like it. But the young woman opposite what was turning out to be a goddamn monster was desperate to keep her cool in front of him. Constantly reciting the wise words of the monks to herself and nodding her head at his question.

"I already have an alias set up for you, Natasha. Along with an enrollment alongside Elizabeth at NYU, just in case it happens to carry on that long. An apartment in Soho has been leased in your new name and a bank account. Anything you need, I'll happily provide as long as I get the information I need." He informed her slowly, as if he could smell the sudden unease on her. She wouldn't have been surprised if her could honestly. Natasha actually found herself rather impressed with the efficiency of Reddington and his confidence in her accepting his proposal. He truly was a conceited man, she was quickly deciding the longer she was in his presence.

"If you're successful here, after we wrap up, we'll be going to the UK. Plenty of things to still teach you, Natasha."

"Like what?" She found herself asking him with earnest curiosity, letting herself get distracted from his off handed skepticism in her. She'd always been interested in Europe, from what she'd read in the history books, it was quite the beautiful country. Not nearly as free and opportunity filled as America she was quite sure of now that she was here, but it'd offer more familiarity than New York did at the present. She had a niggling of a feeling too, that after this job of hers, that's just what she'd want.

"Oh I can't spoil the surprise, Natasha!" He laughed happily at her as he scooped up all his paperwork in one hand and his wineglass in the other and stood in one fluid motion. Earning only a frown from his young companion as he moved to leave the kitchen and retire for the evening. Natasha had been right; staying up this early just wasn't for him.

"When I get whatever it is you want from this girl, you have to promise that you're going to tell me more. I don't think it's fair that you call me your business partner and promise me all these things in this company of yours and then tell me absolutely nothing." Natasha said firmly just as he passed her. She had so much resolve in her voice that it stilled Raymond and brought a smirk to his lips.

Her true colors were beginning to show through more and more. He noticed how they seemed to fade every so often, he wasn't sure what cause it but he was always happily surprised when they were brought back to his full attention. It made young Natasha incredibly attractive to him. He had to keep reminding himself that she was the same age as his own daughter and no, not right at all.

"Anything you say, Natasha." Raymond said with a soft chuckle. "I'll be seeing you in a few hours hmm? Lots of things to get moving."

Natasha did not like the way that sounded at all; it left a lot to be desired, which wasn't really anything new when it came to him. It left a nasty taste in her mouth too. She didn't have any idea at all what exactly she had just gotten herself into. Which perhaps was a new trend she had going with Reddington, he had a knack for getting her to sign the dotted long without much question it seemed.

Well it looked like Natasha was going to be getting a new friend. She really was hoping Elizabeth Scott wasn't the least bit annoying.