The Devil's Keeper - Blackhill

Chapter 10 - The Girl Who Waited...

[April 16th, 2007 – Helicarrier, location classified]

Fury handed her a change of clothes so she could change into civilian attire, fake IDs, a baseball cap and sunglasses, and then he took off her handcuffs.

He explained her the mission, a simple data retrieval the day before, that an agent had missed. He told her when and where to find the USB flash drive and that it shouldn't take too long.

Yet, Natasha didn't see him get ready to set a timer or something similar.

"Enjoy your time away, Agent Romanoff."

Natasha nodded and disappeared.

She went back to the point Fury told her and recovered the data. It took less than an hour since she jumped pretty close to the exact point. But what kept ringing in her ears for the whole time were the words he used. He told her to enjoy that time away. Like it would be her last.

But if she was going back to a life in jail, there was one thing she absolutely had to do.

- - -

[March 3rd , 2001 – New York City]

First Saturday of March. The coffee shop was still the same, but the crowd was a little larger. She stopped a pedestrian and asked for the time. It was seven sharp, she was right on time. Then again, Maria did advise her not to be late.

She was already there, waiting for her with her shoulders against a wall and her hands inside her coat's pockets.

The skinny eighteen year old with haunted eyes and a smile that lit up the world had been stripped away, replaced by a woman with a muscled body and a strong stare.

But it was still her. It was still that stubborn, closed off kid that changed the way Natasha saw the world by merely kissing her on the cheek with a softness that had never been known to her before.

"Seven o'clock. Just like you asked." Natasha smiled as Maria looked up and recognized her, smiling back immediately.

"Hey there." She pushed herself off the wall and greeted Natasha with a kiss on the cheek. It was a simple gesture but it threw her off balance a little. "I see you found your coat."

"Bought a new one, actually." She smiled and opened the door for her before following Maria inside.

"How's your super secret government job?"

"Still super secret. How's the army?"

Maria shrugged. "What's your favorite dessert?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change of topic. "I don't know. I don't think I've tried a lot of different desserts. Why?"

"How can you not know what your favorite dessert is?" Maria chuckled. "They have chocolate cake, cheesecake and apple pie." Maria pointed to the counter, past the end of the line.

"What if I don't like either one?"

"Well, we gotta start somewhere. Have you ever tried those?"

Natasha could have lied. It would have seemed a lot more average if she told Maria she just liked cheesecake, had some and pretended to like it. But why would she? It wasn't a mission where she had to pass as something close to the average American girl.

She could just be Natasha.

"Never. Let's have a piece of each, we can share."

Maria laughed at her, but then nodded. "Still like cappuccino?"

She smiled and nodded, a little pleased that Maria remembered. "Still like espresso?"

"Yep." Maria told her popping the 'p' while taking out her wallet as they reached the end of the line.