Chapter 2

Natasha Romanoff and Rosalie had been friends ever since the alien invasion. It turns out that these aliens were in fact from a completely different universe and were called the Chituari, and were being led by Loki in an attempt to take over the Earth. Rosalie didn't want to call it cliché, but it was, well, pretty cliché, and Loki's actions were predictable. The whole situation that day was as if it came straight out of a movie, she swore she had seen it somewhere, maybe not. Maybe she was just being an asshole, she just called an alien invasion to enslave the human race, cliché. How kind of you, Rosalie. Though, that's beside the point here.

Rosalie, being as oblivious as she is, didn't notice one of the Chituari vermin creeping up on her and then come Natasha to fortunately save her life, basically kicking the thing's ass. Seeing her do this, Rosie guess she had probably taken out at least 20 to 30 today, she was clearly way stronger and experienced in combat than she was. The most fighting Rosalie had ever done was just ten minutes ago down in the subway.

"You should probably pay more attention." Natasha walked up to her, clearly examining her. "Did you..fight one of these things? Sorry, couldn't help but notice the purple ooze dripping down your arm."

Rosalie glanced down and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, down at the subway, 3 of them. But I figure you've taken on way more."

Romanoff shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm more interested in how you did it." The redhead's eyes narrowed in at her. "If you fought and defeated them, you're clearly not just a regular civilian."

"You're right. I don't mean any harm, promise. They were going to kill those people in the subway, I couldn't let them, no one saw me." Rosalie explained to her, and was going to tell her about a few Chituari behind her because she was getting intimidated, but it seemed as if the iron suit came in and took care of them, it went without word.

"I know who you are though, the Black Widow." Rosie continued.

"More interested in who you are. Whenever we find someone who is a supernatural being they should be taken into S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Well I'm not interested in that. I'd like to maintain the normal life I have now. The abilities I have, they aren't that great anyway."

"Well then what are they?" Romanoff stepped closer. "Don't worry, you would still be able to maintain your normal lifestyle, whatever that maybe. Fury likes to keep an eye on-"

"Enough with the questions and persuading. I don't need anyone to keep an eye on me." Rose interrupted her, "I think you have a lot more bigger things to being worrying about right now." She said motioned to the portal in the sky before running off in the other direction, leaving a slight smirk on Romanoff's face.

"Did you get that Stark?"

"Yep."

About two or three months later after the incident, she showed up at Rosalie's apartment, and things went from there. They grew to be better friends, and Natasha decided to not make Rosalie turn herself into S.H.I.E.L.D as she felt something weird was going on. (Cough cough, HYDRA.) She saw that Rosalie wasn't up to anything bad, and truly believed that Rose was unsure of what she was. Amongst all of that, Natasha helped her grow stronger, and even trained her a little bit. Just so she could have some combat skills to back her up if she ever got caught in a situation like with the Chituari's again. It was possible.

Rosalie was glad that she and Nat were friends, it'd been awhile since she had really interacted with someone. Even though she preferred her own company most of the time, it did get lonely. They didn't see each other that often. Natasha was an agent, an Avenger. She had other things to do… like missions and kick butt. Rosalie was just a college student, she should've been going to parties and at least trying to /honestly/ pass her exams by studying, but being able to fade and look off of the paper of the kid with a 4.2 GPA was way easier.

Rosalie pulled up at the address Natasha had texted her. It was in the part of New York where there was..nothing. What was it called? Oh yeah, the country. Upstate New York where she grew up, and right before her was the foster home she grew up in. Old and abandoned in the middle of some grassland.

"Why here?" Rosalie walked up to the porch where Natasha stood in her dark navy blue jeans, a light nude jacket that complimented her auburn hair and black boots, her arms crossed over her chest. Her typical stance. "If we're going to hang out I would prefer it be somewhere less depressing."

"I figured you'd want to learn more of your past. I found some.. perplexing files in your foster mom's office." Romanoff shrugged her shoulders. "Thought it would might interest you."

"It's better if I don't know. Cause if I do I'll just wonder, and wonder, and wonder even more. Develop questions in my head that'll I spend way too much time searching for the answer to, facing the possibility of being disappointed and all my effort wasted. When I could be like, eating mozzarella cheese sticks or something." Rosalie explained to the woman before her.

"Everyone deserves to know about their past. There's nothing to be afraid of. I've told you all about mine." Natasha told her, the expression on her face gradually growing concerned. "And I don't think you want me knowing more about you."

Rosalie brought her lower lip between her teeth and averted her gaze downwards. Natasha could be pushy, and very persuasive. She had been hinting beforehand about beginning to look for where she came from, Nat thought it was important to 'know your roots'.

"Nat."

"I just don't want you to feel alone. It's a big world, a big universe, and you don't know where you're from. Where your place is. How you got here. I know how it is, and I know that you lose sleep over it sometimes."

Rosalie could feel her eyes burn, tears pricking at the edge of her waterline, daring to spill over but she held them back. She didn't need Natasha to give her a reality check, she knew she was alone already, she just wasn't ready to admit that to herself yet. Nat was spilling out every detail that she knew was true but kept hidden deep within herself. Somehow Natasha, damn Natasha was able to pull these things out and hit her with it. But what did she expect? She's the Black Widow, for fucks sake. Rosalie knew she was going to be faced with it sooner or later.

"I just want you to have some closure-"

"I don't /need/ closure Natasha!" Rosalie nearly shouted, shooting her head back up to look at her. The tears had won and were finally rolling down her heated cheeks. Her arms trembling, it had been a long time since she'd cried.

"I don't..I don't want to know where I came from! Or who my parents were, because what if I find out something terrible happened? What if I find out that they actually were killed by something, or even worse—someone! I don't need to know that! It would just make it worse! Every time I think of them they're dead, and I don't know if my mind is telling the truth or just playing tricks on me!" Rosalie continued with a sob, and cupped her hands over her mouth with the sleeves of her sweatshirt.

"What if they didn't even want me Nat? What if I was just a mistake?"

Rosalie shuddered and lowered herself down to sit on the steps on the porch as Natasha watched her. Her breakdown almost made the Black Widow cry herself, in fact pretty close, she was tearing up. Seeing someone she cared about in such despair wasn't always pleasant. She stepped over towards Rosalie who was looking out into the grassfield watching time pass by, tears still streaming down her face, making her skin glisten from the sun. Natasha took a seat beside her and glanced at her, then the clear blue sky. It was a beautiful day, way too beautiful for Rose to be crying.

"We don't see each other that often, but you're like my little sister." Natasha admitted to the girl besides her. "I just want you to be the happiest you can be, and not feel like you're alone. I know what I said, but I was just trying to get a reaction out of you. You're not alone. You and Clint are the closest people I have to family right now. I'm just looking out for you because I know the curiosity.. it bothers you."

Rosalie let out a shaky sigh, and looked over at her with appreciation. It was nice to know that she had someone looking out for her. She knew that she was, but it had gone unsaid, without any say, but it was comforting to hear Natasha say what she did.

"Thank you, I'm just." Rosalie muttered and wiped her tears with the sleeves of her sweatshirt. "I'm just not ready. Not now. I want to do it when I am, and do it alone. I think it'll be better that way."

Natasha nodded her head in understanding. "I just wanted to be here to make sure you just completely don't lose your mind while doing so."

They both laughed along with each other softly.

"I've already lost it."

"Don't worry, I don't think you're completely batshit crazy." Natasha said.

"Oh, I know I'm not crazy. You Avengers, you guys are the ones who are fucking crazy." Rosalie said, and soon she and Nat were both in a fit of giggles. "I mean seriously, come on. It's insane. I couldn't do any of that even if I wanted to."

Natasha snickered. "Well, yeah. You got that right, it does get pretty hectic. Ever since S.H.I.E.L.D was compromised and Sovokia..things have been pretty tense lately."

Rosalie nodded. "Where do you think he is?"

"Who?"

"Bruce. You guys had a thing going on didn't you?"

This made Natasha florid, bringing a tint of red to her cheeks that was just a shade darker than her hair. Among the few stories she had told Rose about the Avengers and her missions, she had mentioned him quite a few times. She nearly forgot.

"Some things just aren't meant to be."

"Hm."

They sat there for a few moments longer, just watching the peaceful scenery pass by. This is the closest Rosalie has ever felt to someone, she wasn't sure if Natasha felt the same way but it was special. She hadn't realized how important Nat truly was to her until now. As long as she knew Natasha had her back, Rosalie had hers.

Not like she needed it, but still.

"It's getting dark." Natasha spoke up.

"Yeah." Rosalie shrugged as she played with the ends of her long, dark hair.

"Want to go..pig out and order some pizza at your place? I don't think I can go back to headquarters right now. I need a break from all this Tony versus Steve nonsense."

Nat's suggestion brought a grin to Rosalie's face. It had been the first time she'd smiled all week.

"I'd love to."