As promised, when Skye finally wakes up from her short slumber, Natasha is still there. Skye groans in embarrassment, recognizing the warmth of Natasha's body against hers and instantly she feels her cheeks burning as the memories of their exchange become clearer to her still fuzzy mind. It's not that it doesn't feel incredibly safe and comfortable but she's suddenly at a loss regarding what to do and how to react. To make her predicament worse Skye becomes painfully self-conscious of their position and slowly, as if she's trying to sneak out unnoticed, even though she knows Natasha is awake and undoubtedly aware of their intertwined limbs, she untangles herself from the redhead. Sensing her discomfort Natasha gets up and gives the excuse that she needs a shower, which she does, having not had the time to get out of her uniform when she boarded the bus. Although they're not too awkward with each other, although they feel the strong pull every time their eyes meet, even though it's obvious they, not just want, need this interaction, both of them are grateful to be apart. They know to thread carefully and to respect personal space. Although their personal facts remain very vague to one another, there's an understanding, and maybe that's why they feel so familiar to each other, that neither one of them has had had the healthiest upbringing when it came to nurturing and sharing feelings. It's blatantly obvious to both women that they need to process alone and not make a big deal out of physical contact and affection. Skye blushes at the thought of clinging to the spy and lets out a frustrated groan. She wonders if she's passing the idea that she's needy and the sort of fragile person she's never really been. She hates that she might.

It's late at night and neither one of them has seen the other, both having the same thought of seeking refuge in the safety of their own rooms. Skye busies herself with her laptop, but she finds her thoughts keep trailing to Natasha and how she really doesn't want the spy to leave. When she tries to find an explanation, she's happy telling herself she just feels like, somehow, they clicked and understand each other. It has nothing to do with deeper romantic feelings and she shakes her head quite violently when those ideas threat to linger in her mind for too long, dismissing them as ridiculous and out of place. She tells herself there's no logical explanation. She just likes the spy and she's intrigued by her. She enjoys the fact she seems to be able to read beyond the mask while everyone else just tends to stick with the inaccuracy of the obvious. She likes that the spy is not as guarded with her, whether that's voluntary or not, and she likes the idea of spending time together with the woman. She knows they could be an interesting duo in regards of friendship. She has a feeling Natasha will have a soft spot for pranks as well and she cracks a smile at that thought that they certainly could give Fitz-Simmons hell.

Uncharacteristically Natasha is the one not shying away from probing her feelings. She knows she's too fond of the brunette and she knows this, whatever it is, is something complex because she doesn't have these kinds of feelings for just anyone. These are different, these go beyond mutual understanding as it happens with Clint, and respect and admiration as it happens with Steve. These feelings are not circumstantial either. They're something else entirely, something that's been previously forced on her. This time, however, she's somewhat in control, the feelings are real. Natasha is both scared and defensive. She doesn't want to delve into those, but she doesn't want to pull away either. Making yet another unusual decision, she heads to Ops room and spends the next half hour printing. She may not want to delve into complicated feelings, but she knows she'd maybe like a friend and this is her first step into building trust. Against everything she always believed, she's going to come clean with Skye. Screw protocol, screw repercussions.

#

"I have something for you," Natasha says in a hoarse whisper, letting herself in Skye's room.

By the look in the spy's face and the tone in her voice, Skye knows it's serious and so she sets her laptop aside on the bed and sits up straight, even though her legs remain crossed. She looks intently at the spy, hoping they are not about to have another push and pull moment.

Skye is about to break the silence when Natasha hands her a folder. To be honest, Skye hasn't even noticed the folder until that moment, which is surprising because this one is particularly large. She wonders what it is about.

"What's this?" the brunette asks, confused.

She accepts the heavy folder but her eyes are trained on the red haired woman. Natasha just looks down and her lips part. She hesitates though, and no words come out at first. Finally, with a sigh, she manages to give the brunette the answer she's waiting for. "It's my folder. It has everything on me."

Skye takes a sharp intake of breath, her own lips parting in surprise. "But…" she stammers.

"I want you to know." Natasha tells her softly. She'll be lying when she reassures Skye that she should read it, because deep down she's unsure. She's not ready to openly admit it but she's afraid reading the file with actually push the younger woman away. On some level she hopes it does, so she doesn't have to do it herself later on, when she's sure she'll regret this very moment. Then, there's that part of her that's she's trying to learn how to voice that wants her to believe this will be something good that will help Skye to trust her. "If there's someone who should know, it's you," she adds.

Skye finally looks down at the folder, paying very little attention to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s logo and the obvious disclaimer, warning her these are level 8 documents. She doesn't say anything, instead she purses her lips and slowly opens the folder, carefully as if something will break by the mere turning of the pages.

There are so many pages in it, Skye realizes as her thumb grazes through the side of the folder. She knows it would be impossible to read everything in just a night. However, she keeps silent and scans the first document, the one with Natasha's stoic picture. Skye frowns in disagreement. She sees her entirely differently now.

NATASHA ROMANOFF ASSET 506

BLACK WIDOW BLKWID 4-562

CASE FILE: 242-66

FOLDER 1-35: AGENT IDENTITY - PERSONAL FILE

Skye sighs and shaking her head she closes the folder with a loud snap, placing it in front of her, next to her laptop. She looks up at Natasha, who's still standing next to her, looking uncomfortable and uncertain. She takes the spy's cold hand in hers and pulls her down so she's sitting in front of her. She doesn't force her to face her though. Skye knows it will be easier on her this way. However, she refuses to let go of Natasha's hand.

"I don't want to read your personal file," Skye explains. "It doesn't feel right."

"It's okay. I gave it to you." Natasha looks to her left, straight into Skye's eyes, trying to convey the message that she really thought things through.

"I know," Skye says. "But I don't want to know you like this, by reading some interpretation of you that S.H.I.E.L.D. wrote. I'd rather hear it from you, your version. No one will teach me who you are better than yourself."

"I wouldn't even know where to start," Natasha admits, more in introspection than anything else.

"Just tell me what you feel is important. Those are the things you'll probably remember first anyway." Skye squeezes the thin hand in reassurance. "You don't have to tell me everything today either," she chooses to add, giving Natasha the option to stop if she needs. She knows she won't, but she doesn't want her to feel cornered. It speaks volumes to her that the spy even decided something as drastic as this. She's feels something building in her chest, as if she could boast with pride.

"My name," Natasha starts. It's not an important piece of information, but it's an ice breaker. She just needs to start speaking. "My name wasn't always Natasha Romanoff. That's the American version I chose for myself. I have had many aliases due to my job, but my real name, my birth name is Natalia."

"Natalia," Skye repeats after the redhead. "Natalia, I like it."

"Natalia Alianovna Romanova."

Skye smiles. "Say that again?"

"Natalia Alianovna Romanova."

"I really like the sound of that."

Natasha raises her eyebrow in curiosity. She wants to figure out Skye's grin.

"It's just that your English is perfect, no accent at all, but I think I really like how Russian sounds, coming from you," Skye admits, stopping herself just before she finishes her thought out loud. She blushes, chastising herself for even thinking Natasha's Russian is sexy.

"Вы очаровательны."

"What's that?" Skye laughs, mesmerized, feeling a shiver running down her spine.

"Just that you're adorable," Natasha tells her softly.

Then Natasha's mood shifts and suddenly her expression turns serious. Skye gives her hand another, very faint, squeeze, letting her know she's listening, that she knows it's serious, that she will try not to interrupt. Surprisingly, Natasha does get the message, she just seems to know what Skye means. "For a really long time I couldn't tell what was true, what was a lie. On some level, I still can't. I still mix who I am, I still get confused by my own origin," she confesses. "But that has probably more to do with the fact I've never been just one person for a long period of time, than the fact that I was implanted with false memories by KGB as to ensure my loyalty to them," she explains.

"Wait, what? What do you mean they gave you false memories?" Already she's surprised by what she's hearing and she's certain this is not even the most important detail of the story.

Natasha laughs, but it's a sad laugh. One of defeat and loss, one Skye also understands. "It's rather unlucky that the best part of my life is nothing but a lie," she says, clenching. "When I was 17 I was a dancer, I was a student at the Bolshoi Academy and was offered a place at the Company. I was the youngest, at the time, to ever make it there because I truly was so good at it. I was happy. I was a ballerina, I had this amazing path ahead of me, I was in love, engaged and dancing with the best. I was just… happy," she stresses. "I had a life. It was tough and tiring, but I loved it, how it felt."

"I don't understand…"

Natasha cuts Skye, being the one to squeeze her hand this time, silently asking her to be patient so she can continue and make sense of everything. "Soon after I married, I started having these moments when things just didn't make sense in my mind. I couldn't get my facts straight and when someone asked me my age I'd say I was 19, but my mind would scream that I was 29. I'd tell them I was a ballerina at the Bolshoi, I'd boast about the role I'd landed in Swan Lake, and my mind would scream I was a secret agent. It didn't make any sense to me. I thought I was losing my mind. Then my husband died, or so they made me believe, and my mind must have jump started because suddenly I had this inexplicable desire to become a spy to avenge my husband's death. Somehow I knew I'd be positively amazing at it, I knew I had skills, even though all my life I'd been a ballerina and had lead a very peaceful life. It just sort of became clear to me, after a long while that my life was not what I thought it was. At all. Things started to come to me in flashbacks during my re-training and by now I think I sorted what was actually something I lived and something KGB made me believe I lived, but it wasn't easy to get there. I didn't know who I was, I was confused and getting glimpses of my true life as if I was watching a horror movie through electromagnetic interference." Natasha pauses, taking a deep breath as memories assaulted her mind. "I don't know who I am now," she finally says. "But at that moment it was terrifying in a whole different level. I may not know who I am now, but then I didn't even know what I was doing. I was being controlled."

"What kinds of stuff were you seeing? What did you remember?" Skye whispers, trying to absorb everything Natasha tells her.

"I was saved from a building on fire by a man, Ivan Petrovitch. He raised me for a couple of years. He was a soldier, kind…" Natasha smiles, remembering the only father figure she could think of. "On my fifth birthday, he took me into this massive compound. I knew he worked there but I'd never been there. It looked huge from the outside. I remember I'd never seen anything like it. It was a real indoor city - a fortified one. I didn't understand at first, but that would become my home for the next several years. It was known as the Red Room Academy, a secret department to train orphaned soviet children in espionage. Not just any children," Natasha adds, feeling the need to clarify. "This academy was designed specifically for orphaned girls. Beautiful orphaned little girls," she explains.

Skye rubs her thumb on Natasha's hand and the spy looks down at their linked hands. She needs this, she doesn't even realize it, but she's trembling as her head fills with horrifying images she'll forever have engraved in her mind.

"It's a very frightening place, made specifically to rewire our brains. Everything was red there, almost as if to, in a very basic, subconscious level, make us comforted by the sight of spilled blood. I forgot most colors existed. We were trapped in that city, being tortured into becoming obedient soldiers, conditioned to always avoid emotions and human contact, drilled with various idioms at every minute and learning other countries' cultures, their idiosyncrasies and ideologies before we were even taught our own Russian origins. It was a separate world of rigorous programming and for every time you didn't deliver, every time you weren't the best you could expect severe torture. Competition was encouraged. Bonding, compassion, help, hope… those were not. I became really good, really fast. I exceeded expectations and senior agents at age 12. That's how long I've been spilling blood."

"Natasha…" Skye whispers with a deep frown, ready to protest. But Natasha cuts her off again.

"I served KGB as a NOC for over a decade and then suddenly I forget all about it. I lived 2 years under direct mind control. Those weren't orders. They actively had me unmade and controlled by hijacking my brain to a whole new level. Suddenly I'm Natalia Romanova, 17 and already the Bolshoi's golden ballerina, the girl who fell in love with a test pilot, Alexei. I had a very nurturing upbringing, a wonderful relationship with my parents and a promising career ahead of me. I found out later that this was KGB's plan all along. They wanted me with Alexei, they forged my feelings. I was their puppet, a sleeper Agent. Every day I thought I was going to that magical theater I adored and, instead, I was going right into KGB's headquarters. I'd arrive home at night, to Alexei, the man I thought I loved, believing I'd been rehearsing when in fact I'd had information tortured out of me, I'd been locked, trained combat, done everything but what I thought I'd been doing. I'd be having my mind wiped and replaced with memories and convictions that weren't even mine every single day for 2 years. Funny part is… Somehow I even acquired the skills of a ballerina." Natasha smiles sadly and attempts a look at Skye, who's visibly shocked by what she's hearing. Natasha doesn't blame her. It is surreal.

She sighs. "I guess KGB found a way to still torture me today. Making me remember something that despite not being real, once made me so happy. They did that to me, they gave me everything and then took it away. As if I could ever live a normal life… Silly Natalia," Natasha finishes with a whisper, taking a moment to calm her anger. Skye just remains silent, knowing this wasn't the moment to interrupt. She could see Natasha's profile and by he way her body tensed and her forehead formed creases, she knew the spy was struggling. Skye was sure if Natasha could she'd be at the gym, lashing out at the punching bag. She doesn't want to startle her. She's not even remotely scared, but she knows better now than to risk confusing the spy and trap her into her nightmare.

"I was even lying about my age so successfully, and this will help you understand your own doubts, because I was biochemically reprogrammed. It was important that KGB's deadliest would be able to withstand almost anything and survive. I have an inhuman immune system, my cells regenerate five times faster than a normal person's, I hardly get sick and I don't age as fast… I was perfectly enhanced to survive the test of time and the torture I'd withstand over the years." Natasha sighed. "I remember various procedures done on me for that very reason. I remember being locked in this sort of trance. It made me very willing to obey, to remain still and silent despite the excruciating pain of being experimented on."

Skye takes a deep breath, squeezing Natasha's hand a little too hard, while trying very hard not to pull her into a hug. She knows it wouldn't have the desired effect. At all.

"I was pregnant when KGB told me Alexei had perished, which turned out to be a lie. I witnessed his death later on, he'd thought me dead as well. Turns out we were both working for KGB, even if at different times," Natasha confesses. "When we crossed paths again, I was already a rogue," she adds as an afterthought.

Skye knows there were many things that probably deserved voicing astonishment over, but she just doesn't realize she's blurting out a question until it's too late "You had a child?" The brunette's eyes bulge. Not that she'd been expecting anything of what she'd just been told, but this definitely came as a shock.

Natasha gives her a curt nod. "The baby was a stillborn. I fought under KGB's orders until the water broke, I was still very much under their influence, the glitch was too tiny still to have an immediate effect, but that changed considerably right after I delivered," she explains. She is very aware of the fact that the baby's death was not her fault and that there was nothing she could have done. She's never even imagined herself as a mother because she's sure she'd be horrible and her job doesn't permit such thing, but she still feels the guilt of killing her own child as if it had just happened. "I learned, much later that the baby was condemned from the beginning," she admitted. "The serum that gives me inhuman longevity also prevents me from carrying anything but stillborns. I suppose it's KGB's wicked idea of contraception, since sex is in the job's description. It's mother Russia's secret weapon, that's why women spies are so valuable to them," Natasha murmurs, hurting. "A Slovak woman and her family helped me deliver the baby. I buried her near the Dobročsky forest and they helped me through that, to get back on my feet. I had too many conflicts in my mind and I started to question everything, they provided me with shelter and food without being invasive. I went back every year on the baby's birthday until the woman died. Then I just stopped going. I suppose it coincided with the time I finally was able to dismantle the web of lies KGB had implanted in my mind. It took me several years to finally remember everything and pursue leads to confirm facts. By this time it wasn't KGB controlling me, I was the one making poor decisions. Every death during those years… is entirely on me," Natasha says, retrieving her hand from Skye's. She's just reminding herself of how tainted she really is and how she has no right to be spilling her red all over Skye.

"Anyway," Natasha lets out in a breath. "The day my daughter died marked the end of my life with KGB. Until very recently…"

Skye's eyes snap wide open at the words. "What do you mean?" she asks, alarmed.

"I'm not one of them," Natasha reassures. "But it's come to my attention that the program I thought had been shut down, resurfaced in 2004 under the name of Project 2R. Every 8 years they activate the new spies, terminate the ones who proved not to be good enough to meet the Agency's demands and then they bring a new group of girls. They're already training the second batch of kids, but it's early enough to save them from that life, there's still hope they can find a home away from that place."

"You mean the Red Room is still active?" Skye asks, appalled.

Natasha nods. "I'm working with Barton to shut it down for good," she explains, her hands closing into fists and her jaw clenching. She's going to do everything in her power to destroy the facilities and every file, name or person that could possibly be used to restart the project. "They're just kids. Kids that have already lost too much, who have no families, who aren't missed. No one will look out for them, they're just at KGB's mercy, as I once was. I have a lot of red in my ledger I need to wipe. I don't want them to be me someday. We're going to free them from being used and controlled, give them a chance to make their own choices and live a normal, happy life. We'll restore their identities and find them safe families."

"Natasha," Skye starts, her voice laced in concern.

"I know what you're going to say." Natasha smiles slightly. "I'm alright," she reassures.

"Are you?" Skye questions. "I mean… What happened… with me," she hesitates. "It has something to do with what happened to you, doesn't it?"

"It's not going to affect my focus."

"I don't doubt your skills Natasha," Skye says, jumping out of bed. She hesitates but eventually crouches in front of the spy, resting her hands on her knees. "Are you sure you're ready to be confronted with that place all over again? I get it. I get it that it's something you need to do but what happens if you…"

"If I snap?" Natasha smirks.

Skye shrugs. "I was going to say, if you go into an involuntary killing spree but that works."

"It's going to be alright," Natasha tells Skye. "I didn't tell you all that for you to start freaking out about everything."

"Sorry." Natasha is right. She can't all of a sudden feel like she can question Natasha's decisions. Certainly she knows what she's doing, plus she has an ally working with her. "Damn…I hope you destroy them," Skye lets out, anger building up as she moves yet again to sit on the bed, next to the spy.

"Me too."

Natasha's eyes are bright with venom. If there's something she really wants to do is to save those kids from that hellhole, save them from becoming monsters, from ever having to come to that realization themselves, from being violated and controlled in the most degrading ways. She's going to shut the red room for good and maybe then she'll be able to find some peace.

"What are you thinking?" Skye whispers, looking at the older woman to and noticing the severe frown, indicating she's in deep thought.

Natasha straightens her back and licks her lips, trying to decide how to voice what she's feeling.

"Everyone assumes that because I'm a trained assassin and spy that I'm no good. I wasn't any good for the first part of my life, but then I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and I thought I was going straight. I was using my skills for the benefit of the good guys. Yet, even then, people kept thinking the same of me. Everyone's always been so afraid of me, even at the academy no one dared to train with me. Actually no one dared training at the same time as I trained – as if I was going to snap and break their necks. They saw me, not as one of their own, but as the Russian spy and assassin. And why shouldn't they? I have more kills associated to my name than I care to count. It's not that I didn't know I wasn't good, it's just that when I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. I thought I'd be the only one knowing it. They all saw me for what I am though and if they did, how couldn't I?" she admits, her voice failing her just barely. "I don't want to admit the possibility that one day those kids could feel this corrupted."

"It doesn't matter what people think of you, Natasha. You have to believe first that you're more than what you were forced to believe in," Skye tries to reason with her.

Natasha shakes her head, looking at Skye through guilty eyes. "I wasn't always forced, Skye. I was killing by the time I was 12. I was made to do it then, I was programmed to. It's in my nature. I'm a killer. When I went rogue it was my decision to kill, those were my standards. I could have found a way to restrain myself but I still killed. I killed innocents on my own. I still kill now, for S.H.I.E.L.D., but I'm a killer nonetheless…"

"You have a good heart though," Skye doesn't hesitate to say even though she could tell it was somewhat unnerving to the spy. "Just listen to yourself, Natasha. The kids are your priority. When you said you wanted to shut that place down, it wasn't because of what they did to you, it wasn't revenge. It's because you know they are hurting children. That was your first concern. You're looking out for them," Skye tells her. Her heart is beating fast, matching her increasing conviction. "So you see? It's a lie when you say those kids have no one to protect them," the brunette protests. "They have you," she says softly, placing her hand over Natasha's heart while maintaining eye contact. She desperately wants Natasha to stop belittling herself. "And anyway," Skye raises her voice. "How can you say those were your standards? You must have been confused as fuck, trying to figure out on your own what was right, what was wrong, trying to decide what was your will and was KGB's implanted will. What really matters is that you made it here and regardless of your past, you're doing some real good now. Right now you're not Agent Romanoff, you're not a spy, you're not an assassin and you're not Black Widow. You're just Natasha." Skye pauses for a moment to grab Natasha's hand because she knows it's the only place where it won't be too invasive to touch. She squeezes the spy's hand and pulls on her arm to make Natasha look at her. "You're just Natasha," she repeats when their eyes lock. "And you're here with me and your eyes tell me you're hurt, that you regret it, that'd you'd take everything back if you could, if it had been your honest choice to begin with."

"My eyes are deceitful," Natasha says out of instinct with a hint of annoyance.

"Not to me. Natasha, you didn't want to kill innocents, you were made to think you did! It wasn't your fault, do you understand that? Because that's what I see and you have to give yourself a break and accept it. Stop trying to convince me you're dirty," Skye says, grabbing the spy's hand once more when she pulls away. "I don't care what you do with other people but I know you're not deceitful with me. And there's a reason for that. You want to start living. You should try to let some of these walls go. When you start trusting, as you're doing with me, everyone else will too. They'll see there's so much good in you, Tasha," Skye whispers. "That you're so beautiful."

"Maybe I'm fine with you, Rogers and Barton as my buddies." Natasha shrugs.

Skye raises her eyebrow knowingly. Now the spy is just contradicting herself and Skye realizes this is probably what she means when she says she doesn't know herself. She's still trying to sort her feelings, she's still trying to define herself, fluctuating between her own opinions of herself. "You're not fine knowing everyone is always afraid of you, making excuses to not be next to you. No matter how strong you are, no matter how skilled you are at seeming unaffected, it gets to you. It would get to anyone. Everyone needs to feel wanted."

"Do you?" Natasha fires back. "Feel wanted," she adds.

Skye knows Natasha's being defensive and that their conversation is nearing its end. And that's alright with her, she knows Natasha pushed through a huge barrier by letting her in the way she did. Skye knows she can't take this interaction lightly, she knows it means everything. So, even though she's honestly taken by surprise by the question, she doesn't shy away from answering.

"There was a time I didn't," she starts. "I spent nearly half my life being tossed around with labels plastered on my forehead. I was the problem kid. The kid no family wanted. I was never good enough for anyone. Then I ran, I learned CS and I was so good at it I erased myself, any trace of my existence, and I went on the run. I joined people I shouldn't have, I made every mistake I could have done, but ultimately this team found me. I feel like I belong here. And there's a part of me that is still afraid they'll leave me, but I try not to think about it. I don't know about feeling wanted but I feel like they really care."

Natasha nods. She can certainly understand that.

"I care too," Natasha tells her in a throaty whisper.

Skye smiles. "I know that," it's a simple acknowledgment, but she doesn't want to make the redhead feel self-conscious. The whole "feelings thing" is hard, she knows by experience.

"Good," Natasha says, nudging the younger woman playfully with her shoulder.

"I know they'll care about you too, Natasha." Skye isn't lying. She knows the team will embrace Natasha just as easily as they embraced her if she just shows them some trust. Even just a small hint.

Natasha smirks. "Please, Fitz-Simmons look like they could pee their pants every time I so much as glance at them."

"In their defense you really do have a mean face when you want to," Skye teases. "Be gentle," she says in a more serious tone. "You're acting all mean on purpose, drop the mask a little. Do something nice for them. I'm pretty sure soon you won't be a threat. They'll feel safer than ever with you around. Don't be afraid to lose the walls just a tiny bit and they'll look after you too."

Natasha ponders. "Do you feel safe with me around?"

Skye smiles, squeezing Natasha's hand. "Like no one can hurt me."

"I'll never allow that."

Skye tries not to look at the meaning in terms of the future, but she still can't help it but smile at the promise. "I know Tasha."

"You know… I'm not invincible. Rogers has saved my life more than once."

"No one expects you to be invincible. You don't have to make up for anything. You're doing the right thing now. You are not in debt to anyone and you don't have anything to prove, nor are you responsible for keeping me safe."

Natasha smiles playfully. "Can you believe I was his first kiss in decades?"

There it was, the complete change in topic.

Skye looks surprised. "Is he a good kisser? He looks like he might be," she says, amused.

Natasha shrugs. "I did most of the kissing, he just tried not to feed me his heart through his mouth."

Skye chuckles. "That bad?"

Natasha shakes her head, smiling and finally gaining the courage to really look at Skye, now that the tension was dissipating. "He was nervous," she says. "I thought it was cute. It's not like it was that bad, he just needed practice."

"Well… did you help him practice?" Skye asks with a smirk.

"Not that I didn't suggest that," the spy lets out with a grin. "But Rogers is too proper. He's still trying to adapt to the new world. Honestly, that was sort of a turn on. He's pure, he's not tainted…"

Skye understood what Natasha meant. She thought the Captain was the complete opposite of her, having parts of the person she'd like to be. "So why didn't you lure him? I'm pretty sure you could have if you wanted," she continued the banter. It was easy to just follow along. It was comfortable.

"Same reason I don't lure you."

Skye tilts her head and squints her eyes. "Why is that?" she asks slowly, again choosing to ignore the possible deeper meaning of that statement. She wonders if Natasha realized what she said.

"I respected him because he was so kind and genuine. He didn't deserve to be manipulated into something I knew he wouldn't be comfortable with just because I wanted to try him. I teased him for sure, but I left him alone. It was funnier to make him uncomfortable anyway. Cap is a good one."

Skye purses her lips. She's very unsure how to interpret what has been said.

"So you're basically just saying you wanted to fuck the Captain?" Skye asks bluntly.

Natasha nods, shrugging. "Just sex," she clarifies. "But the Cap doesn't just have fun and let go. He's not like that. He deserved better than me wanting to just test a toy."

Again, Skye is very blunt, completely disregarding what Natasha just said. "So are you basically saying you want to fuck… me too?" she asks slowly.

"I wanted to, yes," Natasha replies without hesitation. She's the expert in bluntness contrary to what she probably made Skye believe.

"Wanted?" Skye presses, blushing.

"Same reasons as Cap," Natasha explains. "I liked what I saw, I was intrigued and I wanted to test the toy," she says simply. "Except I started seeing you as more than a toy," Natasha admits.

"I feel like I should be really offended, yet at the same time I can't," Skye says with laugh and a frown. "And at the same time I feel like I really have no idea what to say about that."

"Well, how about we let you figure that one out by yourself?" Natasha suggests, dropping a gentle kiss on Skye's forehead. The brunette just gives her a small nod and they fall into a comfortable silence, Skye's mind being a lot more in overdrive than Natasha's. Between everything that's been said and the heaviness she suddenly feels in her chest, she feels like she will have a lot to process.