D A R K

T E L L M E

PRESENT

They continued their routine for weeks, Maria would often walk into Natasha's cell and Romanoff would be sat on the floor waiting for Maria to sit next to her. She'd never directly asked for Maria to sit with her, but Maria knew what Natasha was implying every time she walked in and saw her sitting there.

"Maria" Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Natasha" Hill responded.

"When are they going to let me out of this cell. I haven't murdered you and I've complied. I'm getting sick of being cooped up in her, it's making my skin itch" Natasha sighed.

"I don't know Romanoff, I'm not accustomed to the protocol of how we treat ex KGB assassins who defect to America. There's not exactly a handbook on it." Natasha laughed at Maria's answer and slapped her arm playfully before falling quiet, that same old guilt rising up reminding her of who she was and what she'd done.

"I don't deserve to be let out" Natasha whispered, Maria knew it was true. Most of Romanoff's file was redacted, but she had read some pretty horrifying stuff. They both knew that Barton should have just shot her, ended her reign of terror, but none of them voiced it. Maria was seeing Natasha in a new light, it was hard not to after all this time that they spent together, Hill saw the Russian as a frightened little girl and not the deadly assassin she was. She sometimes saw hints of herself in Natasha's eyes, that far away look that you develop as a child when you allow your imagination to wonder to distract you from the pain. Maria often thought of the shadow monsters and her father, she couldn't imagine what Natasha's mind came up with to hide away from her life as a child. She just hoped her imagination was good enough that Natasha's innocence wasn't destroyed too young.

"Maybe you don't" Maria sighed, "But, I think you deserve a second chance."

"Why?" Natasha stared into Maria's eyes searching for an answer, to see if she was telling the truth.

"Because you can't waste all the things they've given you. They hurt you Natasha, but they also made you so strong. That has to mean something, you have to use that for the greater good" Maria stated honestly.

"Is that what you tell yourself, Hill? Natasha quipped, Maria glared at her. Natasha refrained, "I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry, I meant after whatever happened in the Army, do you tell yourself that you will save more people because you survived. That you owe it to the ones who didn't?"

Maria sucked in a breath, both hurt and comforted by the Russians words, also a little surprised with how easily the red head apologised, Maria nodded her head. "Yes, I do. And you do too. If we don't then we don't deserve to be here"

"Jeez Hill, you're not the evil monster that killed for a living, you're not the one behind bars. You just made a mistake and you're free" Natasha deadpanned, trying to release the tension that had built up in the small room.

"You're not a monster" and those four words gave Natasha hope, tears formed in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away. She wasn't ready to allow her emotions to corrupt her.

"But I am alone" Natasha let out, she was passed small talk a while ago.

"You are" Maria confirmed. She didn't feel the need to tell Natasha that she too was alone.

"You know, I had a family once." Natasha placed her head in her hands, Maria waited quietly for her to continue. "I was only eight at the time, they made us a proper American family. In reality we were just two Soviet orphans, and two KGB Agents."

"But it was more than that?" Maria pushed.

"Yes. Yelena was barely three when she arrived in America, too young to understand what was happening. She thought Melina was our actual mother, she believed that I was her sister. We didn't tell her any differently. It only lasted three years. Her whole entire world collapsed after Alexei, our dad, burnt the S.H.I.E.L.D institute"

"That was you?" Maria asked in shock.

"Yes, well him. We truly did live the American experience for three years. I'd never felt so free. Yelena and I would play with the other kids on the block, in summer she watched the fireflies outside. We never saw them back in Russia."

"Where is Yelena now?" Maria was cautious asking.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since she was six years old. I searched the Red Room for her, looked for her in every little blonde girl I saw. I hope she got out when Barton and I rigged bombs around the Red Room and assassinated Dreykov. If she didn't, then she is dead. She would have died years ago. But at least she would be free in death" Natasha's heart hurt, she didn't understand why she was sharing this information. It had grown heavy inside of her, like a rock in her chest, after all these years.

"I'm sorry" Maria offered, placing her hand on Natasha's arm. Natasha didn't flinch away, she accepted the woman's comfort. It felt strange to be touched in a caring way, but she didn't hate it. Maria slowly pulled her hand back, giving Natasha her space.

"No. Don't be, I deserved this. I've got too much red in my ledger, it will never be clean" Natasha replied.

"You don't know that"

"All my innocence died years ago, it died when I killed Oksana, it died in the Children's Ward and it was long gone before Dreykov's daughter" Natasha responded, mortified at her own words. Maria wanted to ask who Oksana was, but she didn't want to push the red head any more than she already had.

"You'll find it again, I promise" Hill started.

"I'm holding you too it, Hill" Natasha smiled, her eyes red from rubbing away her tears.

"It's okay to cry Romanoff" Natasha didn't respond, she simply placed her head on Maria's shoulders. She was so tired, exhausted to admitting to all the terrible things she had done. Maria didn't shrug her off, instead she sank into the floor to allow the Russian a more comfortable position as she was smaller than the American. Within minutes the red head was asleep. Maria wondered if this was the first time the Russian had slept for longer than a few hours. Maria refused to move, allowing Natasha to spend the next six hours sleeping on her. At some point the Russian's head ended up on Hill's lap.

Maria's heart sunk, she could see the horrors of Romanoff's life written across her sleeping form. Her legs curled up to keep her safe, her face scrunched up. Ready to wake at the slightest movement. Natasha had never felt safety, something Maria could relate to. She remembered scrunching up into a ball every time her father kicked her, compressing her body to avoid more bruising. It never worked.

But in this moment, behind the metal of Natasha's prison and the thick steal of the Hellicarrier they were safe. Maria was in no danger around the assassin and Natasha could finally sleep around the security that Agent Hill was not a threat.