Two days since their talk found them on the couch definitely pushing the sex boundary they had set; Natasha had settled herself over Maria gently and was now kissing her way down Maria's neck, enjoying that sharp tug at her hair.

Most of their morning so far had been spent in the same position on the couch, the only thing changing was the pace of their kissing. They had not managed much sleep the night before; at 3 am, Maria had woken from a nightmare thrashing beneath the covers and almost managing to clock Natasha across the side of the head. Natasha hated that she had nightmares, but had never been scared that she might hurt herself because of them until then.

Maria smirked into a kiss and pulled the redhead in closer, if that was even possible at this point.

There was a groan of disappointment, neither were sure who it came from, when Natasha's phone rang, and she groped over the edge of the couch to find it.

"Romanov," she answered, trying very hard to slow her breathing down and not paying attention to the caller ID on her phone.

"You, Hill. Airfield, now," came the four word reply with Fury's voice

"Sir?" she asked in slight confusion. Maria was looking up at her, almost impatiently waiting for the call to end.

"We have a suspect in custody, possible faction leader or head of their interrogation."

Natasha had to push herself up in order to focus; her proximity to Maria was literally clouding her brain and her ability to do her job. "The ones responsible for kidnapping AD Hill?"

"Yes. We need her to identify him."

"You can't send a photo?"

"Psych department thinks that there is a higher chance of her getting the answer right if it's in person. Airfield, ASAP."

And with that he hung up the phone, leaving the dial tone ringing in her ear.

"What's going on?" Maria whispered.

"I think the protection detail might be coming to an end." Natasha looked down at the brunette with a sigh of sadness. Neither of them wanted to be separated from the other. "Fury needs you at the Airfield to possibly identify one of your captors. I, uhh, didn't want this to end."

"It doesn't have to," Maria whispered, sitting up to kiss Natasha gently before letting a smirk grace her lips. "We will figure it out. Besides, I have absolutely no issue with you staying over whenever you want."

"Oh really?"

"Really, really."

Natasha grinned. "We should get dressed. You have you appointment with Meyer after we visit the Airfield."

Maria had visibly paled slightly at the thought but managed to regain her composure relatively easily. They had talked the night before about the appointment, knowing it was coming the following day and discussed Maria's conclusions about how she had been affected rather than the details of what happened to her.

She still had at least another week of medical leave before Pillicker was willing to sign off on a return to field duty, but he had conceded to allow her back into the office at least to give her something to do and keep her busy outside of her physical therapy and sparring sessions that would start the following Monday.

Unfortunately, it was Meyer that would have the ultimate say in whether or not she was allowed to return to field duty at all; any mental instability would not be tolerated by human resources because it was a risk to everyone involved.

"You'll be okay." Natasha knew the thought of reliving the trauma was terrifying for Maria, but had promised that afterwards that they could do whatever Maria wanted if it could help. "I need to check your back before we go anywhere though."

Once they were upstairs, as per their usual routine, Natasha busied herself in the bathroom collecting the antibiotic cream and gauze while Maria stripped her top half and covered her front with a towel.

However when she returned, Maria was not sitting on the bed with her bare back facing Natasha waiting patiently.

She was in fact standing in her jeans and a bra, facing the doorway. Natasha couldn't help the slight smirk that settled on her face as she took in the sight. "Well damn."

"What?" Maria asked nervously. She looked down at her chest and stomach; she had some burns across her front as well and was more critical of these purely because she could see them more easily than the ones on her back.

Natasha's eyes grazed the body in front of her as she walked towards her…her Maria. "You're beautiful."

Maria scoffed. "No, I'm not."

"I'm serious," she repeated, her hands settling on Maria's bare hips. The brunette shivered and Natasha had yet to break eye contact after her initial appreciative glace at Maria's body. "You're gorgeous, even with your burns."

Maria fidgeted. She was getting uncomfortable with the attention. Natasha simply turned her around and got to work, checking the wounds that were healing nice and cleanly according to Pillicker.

"Thank you for showing me," she whispered.

"That's okay." She was quiet and subdued as Natasha finished, as Maria got dressed and as they made their way out to Natasha's car for the drive.

"You're beautiful," Natasha repeated, once they had stopped at a red light. She leaned over the console with their hands traditionally linked, and pressed a kiss to Maria's cheek. "Are you okay?"

Maria simply nodded. "Just nervous…..and scared."

"I'll be right there."

"I'm counting on it to get me through this," Maria admitted. "You've ended up being this….strength that's helping me get through the day, the nightmares, even talking about it or thinking about. I can breathe a bit easier when you're around; I don't think I can let you go just yet."

"Well then I'm not going anywhere." Natasha smiled and kissed her again. A horn honked behind them.

Natasha put her foot down.