Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 73: New Beginnings

April 17, 2024

''Maya! Hurry your ass up or we're both gonna be late!'' Katya yelled from the kitchen, checking the clock while throwing all kinds of necessities in her bag at the last minute.

This was her second week at work already. She started last Monday, leaving home excited but anxious. It went great, though. Amazing, actually. The first two classes were a bit of trial and error, but at the third, she knew what to do. So, she came home buzzing, rambling hyper to her wife for at least an hour.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, she could be found in the gym, starting her first class at nine and ending the last one at either two or three. With hour-long breaks in between. Then, she'd hang around in the gym until it was time to pick up Maya from school. Usually, she'd clean a bit or help out Brianna with some stuff.

It was so nice to be busy. To have something to look forward to. To be out of the house, interact, be active, help people. Natasha saw how she shone and smiled after a good day at work. And she was so happy for her.

To both their surprises, it hadn't taken long for Katya to recover from the Russia trip. One whole day - until around two PM - in bed, and no significant mental hole she fell in. Even the transition back to her normal dosage of meds went alright. Though there was a lot of lake-sitting and napping in the first two days.

Natasha handed stressed Katya a plastic container and a flask filled with a smoothie. ''Lunch.''

She snatched it out of her hands and kissed her quickly. ''Thank you.'' Throwing the container in her bag, she sipped on her smoothie - after already eating breakfast - while throwing her coat over her zip-up hoodie and purple leggings. Natasha couldn't stop herself from stealing a glance at her ass. It was a required task as her wife.

''Nat, stop staring at my ass,'' Katya told her without having to turn around, stalking to the bottom of the stairs to yell upwards. ''Maya!'' Seconds later, she came stomping down the stairs, cheeks red. She couldn't get out of bed this morning, hence why they were so late.

''I'm here, I'm here,'' she panted, fiddling with her necklace. After learning that Natasha got piercings a couple weeks ago, she wanted to get her own ears pierced, so they took her to get them done. Just the normal earring piercings, but she absolutely loved them and they looked so adorable.

''Good. Shoes, coat, backpack, and let's go,'' Katya urged her on, snatching her keys from the bowl in the hallway and her bag from the counter. Natasha had to smile at her, cleaning up in the kitchen to stay out of her way. So driven and confident. Bossy but in a good way.

When they were both ready to go, Natasha followed them to the garage, hitting the button on the wall to open the door. While the brunette threw her bag into the trunk, Maya stood in front of her other mom and stared up at her with that pure childish smile.

''Mama, kiss,'' she pushed, bouncing on her toes impatiently.

Natasha chuckled but leaned down to give her a kiss on her cheek, doing a quick hug. ''Good day at school.'' With a smile, she watched the girl walk around the car, carefully open the door and jump in. She was so thrilled to be dropped off and picked up with Katya's car twice a week. Her classmates couldn't stop telling her how amazing Katya's presentation was during career day, and how cool her mom was.

When Katya slammed the trunk closed, Natasha opened the passenger door for her. She placed her other hand on her wife's waist and went in for another quick kiss. ''I will see you later, darling,'' the redhead smiled.

Katya's smile immediately widened at the nickname, though she really was late and couldn't steal more kisses. ''Love you.'' Quickly, she plopped down in her seat.