Broken Glass | Natasha Romanoff

talk about awkward.

"We have about nine minutes from... now." Natasha hit enter on the laptop and booted up the drive along with the program it contained. Lin watched from a short distance away as Steve glanced cautiously over his shoulder despite the fact that Lin was in the middle of standing guard next to the entrance.

She sighed at Steve's lack of faith as he and Natasha conversed quietly while staring down at the screen in front of them.

A quick scan of the room showed no signs of suspicion, the white-washed walls weren't a great aesthetic choice in Lin's opinion and the atom-like logo that the company had chosen to represent them wasn't eye-catching or creative. It explained why the café was so... empty. All of the people, a total of ten, looked unassuming and slightly bored, so Lin shrank back against the wall and ran her fingers through her short hair.

A tall man with a long blond beard and even longer hair approached Steve and Natasha and Lin crept forward as unassumingly as possible as a her anxiety spiked. But when she got closer, she spotted the name tag of the hippie-like man and stopped within earshot.

"Can I help you guys with anything?" He asked, and Natasha and Steve flew around in mild panic.

"Oh no," Nat responded. "My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations. Her voice went up and octave and she wrapped her arms around Steve's back while resting her head on his shoulder with a fake, slightly terrifying smile.

Lin withheld a snort of laughter as she watched the rest of the interaction.

"Right, we're getting married," Steve added in the most awkward manner possible. This time, Lin really did giggle. The smile Steve had pasted across his face was dopey and uncomfortable to look at from any and every angle.

She crept back to her post by the door and laughed softly to herself as Steve continued to talk to the hippie. Everything seemed fine until a look of recognition passed over the man's face as he stared at Steve and Lin leaned off the wall suddenly, gearing up for a quick exit. But the man simply pointed at Steve's Clark Kent glasses and moved on, and a minute later, Steve pulled the drive from the laptop and he and Natasha rushed out, Lin following close behind.

The nine minutes were obviously up as the trio hurried through the mall, scanning for the faces of the Strike team sent out after them. Lin walked hand-in-hand with Steve, pretending to be a couple while Natasha walked behind them alone, watching their backs.

The agents would be looking for a blond and redhead together and by being two blonds together, Lin and Steve were slightly less assuming. "Two in front," Steve muttered while looking ahead and Lin wrapped an arm around his waist and laughed at nothing. He looked down at her in confusion and they got past the two agents without an issue. Natasha had drifted between a big family to avoid attention and the three of them continued on.

The escalators leading down to the main exit were just up ahead and Lin split up from Steve, walking next to Natasha as they stepped onto the sliding steps. Steve waited a couple seconds and stepped on, leaving about five people to separate them.

It moved at an excruciatingly slow pace and Lin scanned the ground floor, looking for potential threats. At that same moment, Natasha turned around with a startled look in her eyes and muttered, "Kiss me." Lin's eyes widened in confusion and she shook her head; Natasha was hot as hell and bad-ass and all that, but she and Lin would've never worked out.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," She added and Lin's eyes widened further as she saw the face of one of the Strike team members approaching on the opposite escalator.

Without thinking she closed her eyes and leaned in, pressing her slightly parted lips against Natasha's. Nat's hand touched her cheek and Lin's arm unconsciously wrapped itself around her waist. They kissed for a solid twenty seconds before Natasha pulled away, leaving Lin slightly breathless despite her better judgement.

Without uttering a word, the pair stepped off the escalator. Steve followed and an awkward silence ensued as the trio exited the mall without any further issues. Lin was still struggling to believe what had just happened; Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow and Avenger, had just kissed her. She'd kissed Black Widow.

Steve led them over to a 2014 Chevrolet Silvarado in the stereotypical black that most pick-up trucks favored. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around his fist, ready to break the window. But Natasha stepped up with a bobby pin in hand, crouched down, and picked the driver side's lock in a second. Steve then climbed into the front seat and hot-wired the vehicle. In a few minutes, the engine roared to life.

"Shotgun," Nat stated as she walked around to the passenger door and climbed into the vehicle. Lin glared at her and sighed as she opened the door and climbed into the back.

She wasn't sure she was really prepared for the four hour drive it would take to get to New Jersey, which was apparently where the drive they had originated from. Natasha was hoping that that would give them a hint as to the information it contained, and why Nick Fury had left it to Steve before he died.

Trouble Man by Marvin Gaye played from the truck's stereo and Steve leaned forward and turned the song up, driving out of the mall's parking lot. The awkward silence followed them all the way from the mall on to the highway and Lin slouched back into her seat, resting her head against the window.

What was she doing here? How was helping these two going to get her anywhere near Pierce if they were on the run from SHIELD? She supposed that she could turn them in which would get her into the Triskelion, but that just didn't feel right. She needed to be up close and personal to Pierce and she needed a way to escape.

And on top of this and her own stupidity, there was the matter of her brother. Why he was in the same city as her and in the hospital, she didn't know. But the tracker she'd placed on his shoe would let her find him once she got her job over with and she and Nico were going to need to have a long talk.

"So, how was it?" Natasha turned around in her seat and grinned at Lin, who opened her eyes and tried to shake her spiraling thoughts back where they belonged.

"How was what?" She asked, already knowing the answer but trying to postpone her embarrassment for as long as possible.

Natasha raised her eyebrows suggestively but made no further comment; she was clearly waiting for Lin to respond. Steve sighed and leaned his head back against the seat but didn't come to Lin's defense.

"If I'm being honest, Lin began, hiding her mortification with brazenness, "you could use more practice. But it wasn't, technically speaking, bad." Natasha's grin widened and Lin added, "But don't feel bad, we all need practice."

Directing the attention off of herself while adding fuel to the fire, she said, "What about you, Steve? Kissed anybody since, what, 1945?"

Lin met his eyes through the rear view mirror as he rolled them. "I'm 95, I'm not dead." She and Natasha shared another grin, although Lin was mostly just content not to sit in awkward silence any longer.

"What's the game plan?" She asked while turning her gaze to the window, watching the city fly by. In the corner of her eye, she saw Natasha and Steve share a glance as one of their silent conversations took place.

It was Steve that spook first. "We need to find out what's on this drive. Once we do that, we'll form our plan." Lin wasn't pleased with the vague answer but Steve made it clear that that was all she was going to get.

So Lin took a deep breath and leaned her head against the car window; long drives always made her inexplicably sleepy and a nap might help clear her head. "Wake me when we get there," she muttered before closing her eyes and letting the sound of the truck's engine wash over her.

A/N: Welp, look at me go with a writing style that just keeps going downhill. We love this.