With the exception of the moans coming from the injured inmates on the floor, the room was silent.

Maria was fuming. How could Tasha walk away from her like that? One second she was trying to protect her, attacking the inmate who had the knife, and the next she was giving her the cold shoulder. She'd said it before and she would say it again. Natasha Romanov gave her fucking whiplash.

Maria looked down at her hands. They were shaking, from the anger, and the sudden spike in adrenalin. She needed to calm down, she hadn't come to run the largest secret government organisation by losing her head in a mission. No. She was Maria Hill. She had control. She put all her concentration into slowing her hands before she looked back up to the stares from everyone in the room.

She didn't give them a moment of thought, before she started in the direction Tasha had gone in. She was just about to reach the door, when she heard, 'Hey, Hill, where do you think you're going?'

She paused, and turned slowly, her face blank.

'What.' She dead panned, keeping her emotions in check.

The douche guard with the moustache spoke.

'We need to take you and Romanov down to the SHU, you didn't think we would let it slide, just because of who you are?'

Maria snorted derisively. 'Oh, you mean the fact that either one of us could kill you in your sleep and no one would find you till the morning? Is that what you mean?' Her tone was ice. She was done with this bullshit. She was Maria Fucking Hill.

The guards stiffened their grips on their batons, and a palpable shiver ran through the inmates.

'Are you trying to-' the guard started, before Maria cut him off.

'You really think you are going to be able to contain a pissed off Natasha Romanov? No. Give me 15 minutes and we will come with our hands up.' The guards seemed unsure, but Maria walked out anyway. No one was stupid enough to follow her.

The inmates looked at each other in confusion, before one said what everyone was thinking.

'Who the fuck are they?'

Yep, that seemed to sum it up.

Tasha laid down on the bunk, and laid her arm over her eyes. She let out a sigh. She had probably ruined everything with Maria, and she wasn't even sure if there had been anything to ruin in the first place. Maria was just her 'Boss.'

She mulled these thoughts over in her head. Surely she hadn't been so blinded by her emotions that she had missed what was happening right in front of her. How could she have seen something that was never there? She was trained to observe and analyse any situation. She just wasn't trained on her to deal with a stupid crush.

Tasha let out another frustrated sigh, before she spoke out, 'I know you're there,' without uncovering her eyes.

'Right, I was trying to sneak up on you. Rookie mistake,' Maria said to herself, tying to diffuse the tension.

'I would have thought the mistake was following someone who wants to be alone.' Tasha muttered.

'You didn't really give me much choice. They want to take us down to the SHU.' Maria defended herself.

'Right,' Tasha responded, understanding the underlying meaning. 'Wouldn't want the Black Widow to take out her anger on one of our lovely guards,' Tasha finished, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

'Why wont you let me help you? You're pushing me away again.'

'Because!' Tasha exploded. 'All you want to do is help me. Like I'm some stupid broken toy that needs fixing! I thought we were friends, that you came with me because I asked. But really it was you doing your job, being my handler, because I 'Don't know how to cope without one.''

Maria suddenly understood.

'Tasha. I am your friend. You really think I would get myself arrested for a job I don't even have anymore? I stopped you from killing that woman today. Not for her, I couldn't care less, she tried to kill me. No, I did it for you. You cant cope with the guilt that comes afterwards. I did it for you, so you wouldn't torture yourself, over some stupid criminal.'

Tasha looked down at Maria, who was still standing by the doors. Her eyes were glistening with moisture.

'You're not the mindless killer you were made to be any more. You joined Shield, and tried to be better. And when you found out about Hydra, you gave it all up. The clean slate, the anonymity, all of it. You gave it up, and that makes you a pretty incredible person, and I didn't want you to taint that. I did it for you.'

Tasha wiped the tears away from her cheeks, and let out a laugh. 'God, Hill, I didn't know you were such a sap.'

Maria laughed in relief, at the joking tone. She finally crossed the doorway, and sat on the mattress next to Tasha's legs.

'If you tell any of them I said this, I will deny it, but... Black widow is my favourite avenger.' Tasha burst out laughing, and Maria smiled. This was nice, seeing Tasha laugh so unbridled.

'Really? Have you seen Thor's arms?' Tasha asked teasingly, but was completely flummoxed but Maria's response.

'Yeah, I have, but have you seen your legs lately?' Maria was only half joking.

Tasha's cheeks turned slightly pink, before she contained herself.

'Weren't we supposed to be going to the SHU?' Tasha asked, in a topic change

'Right. On our second day.' Maria sighed slightly.

'Would you really expect anything else from us?' Tasha joked.

'True, although the press would have a field day if they ever found out. And I hate to think what Pepper will do, once we get out.'

Tasha suddenly paled. 'Oh god. She is gunna be pissed. She will give us one of her lectures, oh crap, they're worse than Coulsons!'

Maria laughed, before standing up. 'Come on, they're already out for our heads.'

'Right. Lets go.'

The walk down to the SHU was quiet. Maria was humming again, and it brought a smile to Tasha's face. The guards probably thought they were mental, but Tasha couldn't help it. The tune seemed familiar, but she couldn't recognise where she had heard it from. The guards had cuffed them both, and Maria rolled her eyes. She could have broken out off them when she was 15, and Tasha when she was... well, far too young.

The guards were careful not to touch them, after the display they had given in the cafeteria. They had also been surprised, when Tasha and Maria were on good terms, when not so long ago they were throwing knives at eachother.

Once they made it to the Security Housing Unit, they went through the system. Before long, they were being ushered into their separate rooms. They were rather unimpressive, with just a hard bed, a sink and toilet, and about 2 meters square floor space.

Maria sighed, as she entered. Her guard had neglected to mention how long this little 'vacation' would last. The same guard slammed the door behind her, leaving her alone.

Maria went over to the bed, and sat down. She had gone through worse, been held captive on missions. Aside from the various tortures, they bad guys tend to leave you alone. Its the hope for a rescue team that keeps you going. Your chance to get out. Maria frowned. There was no rescue team. The 'good guys' were the ones putting her in here. She would have to find something else to keep going.

She began to hum, as she mulled it over. What was it that kept her going, these days? It wasn't a job, she was jobless. She was no longer saving lives, or helping people. What was she living for? Her mind flashed to a certain redhead, and then on to an archer, and then a metal man, a monster, a Shield and hammer. They were what kept her going. She hadn't realised how important the avengers had become to her, but now she was relying on them for her sanity over the next few days.

Her mind became consumed with memories, of stars and stripes, and lighting, test tubes, arrows and rays of electricity. But most of all, she thought of her.

Tasha sat with her back against the wall and fiddled with her hair. She really needed a hair cut. Maybe once she got out, she could find one of the inmate hairdressers. She was musing over what style she would get done, when she paused. She could hear, or maybe she was imaging it, a faint humming through the vent on the wall.

Tasha paused, before she cautiously called out, 'Maria, is that you?'

The humming was quickly stopped, and replaced with, 'Tasha! I cant believe they were stupid enough to put us next to each other! This is great.'

Tasha grinned at the happiness in Maria's voice. Maybe this wouldn't be as tedious as she thought.

Suddenly, it clocked in her head where she had heard the song, that Maria was humming, from.

'Maria...'

'Yeah,' she replied.

'Are you really humming the Avengers cartoon theme tune?'

Maria laughed. 'Maybe. I knew Clint made you watch that, Coulson owes me ten bucks.'

Tasha feigned disgust. 'Ugh, you were making money of Clint torturing me? How could you!'

Maria laughed again. Her cell had probably never heard such happy sounds.

'Always so dramatic, aren't you,' Maria teased, before her voice grew tentative.

'Hey, Tasha... Would you mind telling me a story? I don't like the quiet.'

Tasha was surprised, but she nodded. Once she realised Maria couldn't actually see her, she cleared her throat.

'Umm, sure. Did I ever tell you what happened in Budapest?'

Maria slid to sit down at the wall, near the vent. She leaned her head on the wall, and closed her eyes, letting Tasha's voice waft over her. It was nice, peaceful even. It felt like Tasha was right there next to her, and the idea brought a smile to her face. It definitely wasn't the worst room arrangement, not by a long shot.

They spent the next few days like that. In between sleeps, they would talk, swapping stories and jokes. They managed to keep the air light, but when neither felt like talking, Maria would hum, just to feel the silence.

Every morning, Tasha would greet her with a 'Morning Maria,' and would be replied with a 'Morning,' in return. Their throats were dry with thirst, and their bodies aching from lack of movement, but they made it work, for both their sakes.

In the night, after their 5th day in solitary, Maria was thrown roughly awake by her door opening, and a harsh light shining through it.

'What?' Maria asked in dazed confusion.

'Congratulations, Inmate, you are returning back to your slightly nicer prison cell,' the guard quipped, his voice brimming with bored sarcasm.

Maria didn't leave a moment for him to change his mind, and scrambled to the door. She was cuffed, and taken away, back to the main building. As she was reaching the door to leave the SHU, she looked back to what would be Tasha's cell.

'What about Romanov? Is she coming?' she asked the guard, barely keeping the worry out of her tone.

'No, she has a longer time. You were just protecting yourself, but she put 5 inmates in the infirmary. She's got at least another 2 weeks.' the guard responded, bored.

Maria paled, and twisted round to look back at Tasha's cell again, but was quickly dragged through a set of doors, and out of sight.

Tasha woke and stretched, like a cat. She yawned, and picked herself up from the hard mattress. She went over to the sink, and wiped her face with lukewarm water, before she went to her spot by the wall. She grabbed her pillow from the bed and placed it where she usually sat, a small comfort against the cold, stone floor.

'Morning, Maria, how did you sleep?'

Nothing.

'Maria?' Tasha said again, panic rising in her voice.

'Are you there? Maria?'

She was greeted again with silence, and Tasha felt a sob grow in her throat. She was alone. Maria had gone, and she didn't know when she would see her again. The silence was deafening, and seemed to crush Tasha. She stopped a sob from escaping, before emitting a weak hum. She did it gain, growing stronger, till she quashed the silence, and instead, filled it with Maria.

Maria. Where are you?

Okay, wow, kinda sad ending on this chapter :( sorry.

Shout out to FollowerOfFanfics007, for being awesome, and chatting with me :)

let me know what you think, thanks lovelies.