D A R K

A C Q U A I N T A N C E S

PRESENT

Weeks had past since the incident between the two women, neither of them had tried to communicate since. Hill would come in for guard duty, and Romonova would ignore her choosing to stare at the wall above her bed instead. Maria would keep her eyes trained to the floor. The air felt stiff in the cell, the Hellicarriers ventilation system which also fueled the heating system was lagging causing the room to feel a lot colder than usual. Maria laughed silently under her breath, of course the floating fucking ship in the middle of nowhere would add to her list of issues. She was fucking freezing and had an eight hour shift ahead of her.

Maria was three hours into her shift, trying to keep her mind occupied from the fact she couldn't feel her toes. The Russian stared at her, all attempts to be discreet had left the room the moment Hill had sat on the floor and pulled her knees up to her chest to keep herself warm. Romonova wanted to laugh, Hill looked adorable with her combat boots and baggy combat trousers pushed into her tight frame. Romonova didn't realise how attractive Maria really was, she couldn't help but stare at her chest. She blamed S.H.I.E.L.D for making the top uniform too tight. Maria coughed, gaining Natalia's attention.

"Stop staring at me" Hill ordered. Natalia's face felt hot.

"I wasn't staring" she insisted.

"Right"

"It's not my fault that you can't handle the cold, Agent Hill" Natalia accentuated the word Agent for effect, boredom was eating her alive.

"I'm not cold" Maria lied, wrapping her arms around her knees even tighter as if to keep the heat in. Maria was not the Ice queen yet, she was naive and broken. But she wasn't there just yet.

"Right" Natalia huffed.

Natalia didn't understand what was happening but before she knew it she was taking the shitty scratchy blanket off her small S.H.I.E.L.D issued bed and making her way across the contained room, reaching her arm out to Hill. Maria just stared at her, she had never expected Natalia to be kind.

"I can't take it" Maria refused, "You'll be cold"

"Maria, I was born in Russia" Natalia joked, earning a small smile from the brunette. Maria took the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders, Natalia continued to stand over Hill. Instead of walking back to her bed she sat against the wall with the Agent. She wouldn't admit it, but she was lonely. Maria didn't object.

They sat next to each other in silence for a few moment until Maria bit the bullet, "What was it like in Russia?"

Natalia let out a silent chuckle, "cold"

"I bet" Maria joked.

"I think you would of hated it Hill" Natalia suggested, Maria raised her eyebrow in response.

"Why?"

"Agent Hill, you are quite literally sat on the floor huddled in a ball with an uncomfortable blanket wrapped around you, your biggest concern is keeping warm and not the deadly assassin sat less then a half a metre away from you" Natalia pushed her head against the wall, how on earth did this become her life?

"You're not that deadly" Maria deadpanned, they both stared at each other until they burst out laughing. "Ok, yes, you're very deadly. But I know I'm safe" Maria voiced.

"How so?"

"Because Romonova, if you wanted to kill me I would be dead right now. I don't think you would have given me your blanket if you were planning on killing me"

"I could be planning on smothering you with the blanket, Hill" Natalia raised her eyebrow, they both erupted with laughter.

"How cold was it?" Maria asked.