Forgotten Ghost | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 28: A Loss

Because they slept for about six hours in the morning, Natasha and Katya weren't tired in the afternoon, leading to them filling out their mission reports at eight o' clock at night while chewing on some dinner. 

The food from HQ cafeteria was fine. It didn't taste amazing, but it gave them enough energy if needed. Most of the time however, they got takeout, preferably Chinese or pizza. Tonight was pizza night, since neither of them felt like cooking today and they were craving something salty and fat.

Katya sat on the floor, legs crossed, her laptop on the coffee table along with her pizza. Filling out mission reports sucked. It took such a long time to explain the events of the previous night, especially because they had to work around the fact that they went on a separate mission. Natasha and Katya had to match their stories perfectly so nobody reading this rapport would have any suspicions. 

The Captain's rapport lay on the table. Natasha had stolen it from the file cabinet at Mission Control. If he said something about them not responding over the comms during the mission and doing their own thing while he needed their help, their story would fail immediately. Luckily though, Rogers seemed to understand something secret was going on. He had left out their part and didn't mention the grenade.

That wasn't an option for both women, since the doctor knew about it and was a witness to their lie. 

Only the sound of fingers tapping the keyboard was audible in the room, Natasha's nails making a lot of noise against the plastic. How she kept them so perfect was a big mystery to Katya. 

Natasha sat across from her on the couch. Her laptop resting on her own crossed legs. The glow the screen emitted lit up her whole face, the green of her eyes a lighter color than they normally were.  

Katya stretched her back with a loud groan, the muscles in her back stiff from sitting in the same position for so long. Natasha rolled her eyes at the theatrics but kept them on the screen. That was until Katya stood up to clean the dishes.

''You done already?'' she asked, frowning when Katya took her plate too.

Katya nodded. ''Just enough detail to keep them from asking questions but not enough to raise suspicions.'' Waiting for the water to turn hot, she leaned against the kitchen counter to see Natasha nod and turn her attention to the screen again. 

''Maybe I should just copy yours.''

''That will definitely raise suspicions,'' Katya laughed.

''Yeah, but then I can finally be done and I can do something fun.''

Suppressing the smirk on her face, knowing damn well what she meant, Katya answered her like she was completely oblivious. ''Like what?''

Natasha smirked, her eyes still on the screen and tapping away at the keyboard. ''You.''

A loud chuckle left Katya's lips. Very subtle Natasha. ''Well, you better keep typing then.'' She could see the redhead's eyes widen a bit, but she didn't react otherwise. Although her fingers moved a little faster than before. 

Turning around to the sink, Katya threw in a bit of dish soap and cleaned the dirty plates and other dishes that had piled up during the day. Her hand reached for the towel when the loud ringing of a phone sounded in the apartment. With her hands still wet, she called out for Natasha to take it for her. ''Can you get it, babe?''

A groan came from behind Katya, the sound of rustling telling her the spy stood up and walked over to the phone on the nightstand. ''Yes?'' Her stern voice said curtly, not in the mood for any of it.

Katya could hear someone talk on the other side of the line, but after he or she went silent, Natasha didn't say anything back. Worried, she turned around from the counter and saw the frozen body of her girlfriend stand next to the bed. Katya all but dropped the towel, quickly making her way over to her. ''Nat? What's wrong?''