Summary:Skye returns to New York and gets to know Natasha better. Meanwhile Natasha is busy saving a billionaire's ass.
Or, it's just Skye and Nat being adorable through Iron Man 2 and the direct aftermath, featuring a dying Tony and a protective Clint
Notes:As promised, the second part of this series!
I hope to have a chapter ready every week, but i'm writing more things a the same time, so it will probably be longer :)
anyway, i hope you all enjoy this. You seem to so far, which, all your lovely comments and kudos are cherished deeply <3
(See the end of the work for more notes.)
Work Text:Skye didn't look up from her laptop as someone sat down on the other side of the little booth she'd picked out. She'd seen Natasha approach after all.
"Cute little place," her ex-partner commented. "A booth giving view of the only exit, public space... Pretty nice."
Skye chuckled and closed her laptop. "If you say it like that, it gets less cute. You know that, right?"
Natasha shrugged. "It got your attention, at least."
A waiter approached to bring Natasha her tea, and they smiled and thanked him. When he left, Skye cleared her throat and looked back at Natasha. "So, what should I call you these days?"
Natasha smiled. "Natalie. Natalie Rushman."
"Wow. Not feeling particularly creative with the names, are we?" Skye asked with amusement twinkling in her eyes. Natasha shook her head. "Wanted to be more me, this time. If that makes sense?"
Skye quickly nodded. It did. Natasha sighed. "It's stupid. Forget it."
"It's really not. If anyone knows the importance of names, it's me," Skye insisted, tapping Natasha's hand to make sure the woman knew she was being serious.
Natasha's mouth twitched, and when she spoke it was with a fake smile. "Speaking of, you never told me your real name." Subtle subject switch. Really subtle. Skye eyed her for a moment, before deciding to go with it. "That's because it's a god awful name."
"You know I could just look it up, right?" Natasha raised an eyebrow at her. Skye flashed her a cocky grin. "Well, you can certainly try. But SHIELD doesn't know my name, and I dare say that even Tony Stark is not capable of finding out."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Stark is not capable of anything. He's an idiot."
"You need to be his PA to find that out?" Skye jested. She saw surprise flash in Natasha's eyes before it disappeared behind amusement, real this time. "No, but it's so much worse than you'd gather from TV."
Skye laughed. This was nice. Just drinking coffee, or tea in Natasha's case, talking about nothing much. She felt relaxed in a way she rarely ever did. And from what she could tell, which wasn't much because Natasha was a spy and a damn good one at that, her partner was quite at ease as well.
Natasha sipped her tea, amused when she saw Skye getting lost in her thoughts. "Where are you going, love?" Skye startled and blushed slightly. "Nowhere. Just... thinking I like this. You're nice. Easy. Safe, I think."
Natasha blinked. Well, no one had ever described her as nice or easy, let alone safe. But... "I like this as well," she admitted, surprised at how easy the words came. "It's almost... normal. You treat me like I'm normal. It's refreshing."
They smiled at each other, a bit awkwardly. Natasha had never felt this awkward before. And Skye was suddenly very interested in the pride sticker on her laptop. Suddenly she veered up. "Oh, I almost forgot!"
She pulled an envelope out of her pocket, completely ignoring Natasha tensing up momentarily. She shoved the envelope towards Natasha with a bright smile. "I got the photos developed!" Natasha grabbed the envelope, suddenly hesitant. She flipped it in her hands, but didn't open it. Skye's smile faltered, and she frowned. "What is it? Shouldn't I have?"
Natasha shook her head, a sad smile settling on her face. "No, that's not it. Just me being stupid. I… really liked our few days together. This is… just a reminder that what I do, for a living, is so… well, I suppose gruesome would be a good word."
"You mean you kill people," Skye deadpanned, and Natasha flinched. Skye just shrugged. "Only bad guys, as far as I can tell. And both your last mission and your current mission don't involve any killing. As long as you don't kill innocents… well, I wouldn't say 'go you', and I'd prefer it if you didn't kill people, I really do, but SHIELD tries to maintain a take-no-kill-policy, right?"
"My former… employer, didn't. Skye, I have done horrible things. The bad guys I take out now can never make up for the wrong I did before I joined SHIELD," Natasha explained sadly, placing the envelope back on the table. "This here? This is something I can't have. Something I don't deserve."
"This?" Skye asked. "Me?"
Natasha's sharp nod felt like a punch to the stomach. Skye shook her head. "Well, too bad. You're having me anyway."
Natasha frowned. "What do you mean?"
Skye grinned. "I'm forcing you to be my friend. You said it yourself, you're allowed to have civilian friends. Well, I'm a civilian, and I'm going to be your friend. And you can't change a damn thing about it." She stood up, rounded the table and sat down next to Natasha. She took the envelope and pulled out the photos. "And now we're going to see how fucking fabulous we looked on our wedding day."
///
Skye shifted awkwardly from foot to foot as she waited for her turn at the reception desk. Finally, the woman behind the computer looked up at her. "How can I help you?"
She smiled, completely ignoring the dead look in the woman's eyes. "Hi. Yes. Can you please let Natalie know that Mary is here? I'm supposed to meet her here, but she hasn't showed up yet."
"And what makes you think I can help you with that?" the woman asked in a bored tone. Skye rolled her eyes. "Because she is Mr Stark's personal assistant, and you can contact her."
The woman's eyes gave her a once over. Skye shuffled, suddenly a bit embarrassed in her ripped jeans, shirt and old flannel. She supposed she didn't look like an acquaintance of Ms Rushman. But she really was. A friend, even, she dare say. The woman shrugged, picked up the phone and dialled a number. "Hello Ms Rushman, I have Mary waiting for you in the lobby. If you're not expecting anyone I can send… Oh. I see. Okay, I'll let her know. No problem, bye."
Skye couldn't help the slightly cocky grin when the woman put down the phone. "She said she would be down in a minute. Please, take a seat." Skye took a seat on one of the chairs, fidgeting with her fingers. She stood up quickly when she heard the ding of the elevator. She watched as Natasha strode out, and made a move to meet her halfway, but then she noticed a shabby man following her out. Was that…
Natasha spotted her and approached, her smile growing more genuine as she came closer. Skye shook herself and smiled too. She hesitated for a moment, but then opened her arms for a hug. She was surprised, but really happy when Natasha stepped into the hug. She was the slightest bit taller, even with Natasha on heels, and grinned. She squeezed her friend tightly for a moment, before pulling away again. "Missed you," she said with a grin, but she hoped Natasha could hear the genuine undertone.
"You too," Natasha mouthed back, before stepping back. "Mary, this is Tony Stark. Stark, this is Mary."
Tony waved with a mischievous grin. "So you're the girlfriend." Skye raised an eyebrow and turned to Natasha. "You have a girlfriend?"
Tony's eyes widened comically for a second before he caught them exchanging an amused look, and he spluttered. "Christ, for a second I thought…"
"That you had caused some serious problems?" Natasha hummed. "That's what comes from meddling, which is why you shouldn't. Also, not my girlfriend."
"First of all, I don't believe that. Second, I am still your boss," he replied with a huff. "I meddle with my personnel if I want to."
Skye snorted, and she could see in his eyes that he knew what was coming. "I don't think your girlfriend would be happy about that."
Another huff, before he turned around. "Next time you bring a girlfriend, Rushman, tell her to be nice," he called over his shoulder, but when he turned towards them once in the elevator, he waved and smiled. Skye looked at Natasha. "Does that mean he likes me?"
Natasha laughed and linked their arms together. She waved at the woman from the reception desk and they made their way out. Skye was happy enough to follow wherever Natasha led her. "So," she started. "How is working for Stark? He did not look good, by the way. Not at all."
Her friend hummed in thought. "He is still a massive pain in the ass, but he can be nice. He's losing a lot of sleep between being Iron Man and dealing with his addiction, so he's a bit short sometimes, but I can forgive him that."
"Huh, I almost feel bad about hacking him now," Skye mumbled, but Natasha heard her anyway and stopped short. "You hacked him? Wait, you're Skyenet," she realised. Skye said nothing, staring intently at her shoes. Natasha took her in for a moment, before laughing. Honest to god laughter erupted from her friend, and Skye's head shot up. "Why are you laughing?"
Natasha started walking again, her laughing subsiding but leaving behind a lovely smile. "Because I'm a spy, and I'm supposed to figure stuff like thisout, but I didn't. And also because for some reason I don't even care that I didn't."
And suddenly Skye got it. The way Natasha was relaxed on her arm, laughing about the fact that Skye had been hacking her 'employer', the way she didn't care that Skye had been hacking her missions.
Natasha was oblivious to her momentary crisis and pulled her into a cute little coffeeshop. "Come on, let's have a drink. I want to hear about your week." Skye nodded dumbly and sat down at a table with her, noticing absentmindedly how Natasha took the seat facing the exit.
Natasha trusted her. Superspy, agent of SHIELD, ex-assassin Natasha Romanoff, trusted her. Her, a rogue hacker, spreading information around the globe that she stole from her friend's employer. Her, Skye No-last-name, a random girl that stalked and married her in Vegas and then drank coffee with her from time to time. Natasha trusted her.
Warmth started to spread throughout Skye when she looked at her friend as she ordered tea and a coffee by the waiter. And oh boy, she knew that warmth. If this wasn't about the worst thing that could possibly happen. She shook herself, forcing herself out of such thoughts and trying to focus on being the person that Natasha needed her to be. The person Natasha trusted. She could do that.
///
The phone rang for the second time. Skye groaned and pulled it from under her pillow where she'd muffled the annoying sound earlier, to see who had decided to call her in the middle of the night.
Natasha.
She'd never pressed the accept caller button faster. "Nat?"
"Do you have a secure line?"
Skye sat up with a frown, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she tried to focus on Natasha's slightly panicky voice. "Yeah, what… What's going on?" She suppressed a yawn as she pulled her laptop towards her. It was still on from the work she'd done the night before and she was quick to pull up the internet.
"There's been a… complication in my mission. I need your help."
Skye raised an eyebrow. "You? Need help?" Then her eye caught onto a news flash about the Stark Expo. She quickly opened it, and froze when she read about reported explosions and fire. "You're at the Stark Expo, aren't you?"
"Sort of? I'm with Hogan, Stark's bodyguard. Stark is with coronel Rhodes fighting Hammer suits. It's a mess, and Rhodey's suit is being hacked."
"You want me to de-hack it," Skye realised. Natasha hummed. Skye sighed. No sleep for her anymore. She grabbed a hoodie and pulled it on, then took her laptop and sat cross-legged down on her bed. "Give me ten minutes or so," she told Natasha.
"You're the best!" her friend called from the other side of the phone. "If you'll excuse me, I need to clear the hallway. Stay on hold, please."
Skye put the phone on speaker and placed it next to her, smiling when she heard nothing but grunting men over the line as she went to work. She was glad she'd hacked Stark before, because that made it easier to do so now. She tried to find the coding for the suits, until suddenly a voice came from her laptop.
"Hello, my name is JARVIS. You are Skyenet. Mr Stark ordered me to keep an eye out for you in case you 'popped up in the chaos' as he said it."
Skye's fingers froze on the keys. "Jarvis, as in, Stark's AI?" she asked, surprised and a bit freaked out about this.
"That would be me, yes."
She hesitated. "Ehm, okay. I am not here to hurt you or steal anything. I am trying to find the fault in the code to colonel's suit. Can you help me with that?"
"I most certainly can, Ms Skyenet. Ms Rushman asked me to help you if needed," the AI replied politely. An interface appeared on her screen, and she beamed. "Thanks, Jarvis!"
The noise coming from her phone had stopped. "Nat, you still there?" she asked, never stopping her fingers' movement.
"Alive and kicking idiots in the shins. How are you doing?"
Skye pressed a few last keys, and smiled. "All done, with a bit of help from Jarvis, which, thanks for that. The colonel should have full control of his suit again."
"You're the best!"
"I know," Skye said cockily, grinning even though she knew Natasha wouldn't be able to see that. "I'll see if I can do something about the other suits, but they have pretty good security, so I think Stark will beat me to I, quite literally."
Natasha hummed through the phone. "Be careful. You don't want this guy after you. And thanks again. Sorry to call you at this time."
"You can call me anytime, Nat," Skye said honestly. "Text me or something when you're done there."
"Will do. See you later, babe."
And before Skye could respond to that, the call ended. She felt her cheeks heat up, and shook herself. "Jarvis," she asked unsure.
"Yes, Ms Skyenet?"
Good, he was still there. "What do you say we hack some Hammer suits?" Skye asked. "And please, call me Skye."
"It would be my pleasure, Skye."
She was pretty sure that if possible, the AI would be grinning as much as she was.
///
"Sooooo…" Skye drawled. She was leaning against the headboard, watching as Natasha sat at the dining table of her small apartment, fiddling with something silvery in her hands. Skye thought it might be a throwing knife, and decided not to ask. "Your month of 'vacation' and rehab is over. What happens now?"
Natasha shrugged. "I get to sleep a couple of nights more, fill in some paperwork. And then it's preparing for the next mission." Skye frowned at that. "Surely you're not going away again already?"
Another shrug. "I'm one of their best, so I'll have to. They have a mission, and they assign it to me."
"And you're okay with that?" Skye asked, honestly curious.
"It's all I've ever known. I wouldn't know what else to do."
The simple answer hit something deep inside Skye, and she decidedly shook her head. "No, we're not going to do that. Come here." She patted the space next to her. Natasha looked up, sighed and moved to the bed. She dropped herself rather ungracefully onto the mattress and pulled herself up until her head was resting on Skye's lap.
Once again, Skye was momentarily baffled by the amount of trust. In the last month, where they'd spent most of their time together, it had proven difficult to forget that Natasha was a spy. She flinched at loud sounds, had knives and guns literally everywhere, and she had nightmares. Not that Skye cared about any of that. Hell, the nightmares and the flinching she was all too familiar with herself. But it made the trust the spy had in her all the sweeter.
She started carding her fingers through Natasha's hair. "I know what else you could do. You could pick up a hobby, like painting. Or running, except then for fun. Trail running or something. You could teach self-defence classes at a local gym." Natasha hummed. Skye hesitated for just a second before deciding to just shoot her shot. "You could go on a date with me."
Natasha's head turned so their eyes could meet. Forest green eyes bored into hers with an intensity that would normally scare Skye. But it just made her smile. "I would like that," Natasha whispered. Skye's smile broadened, but she couldn't care less. "Good." She pressed a soft kiss to Natasha's forehead, and the spy hummed happily. "How is tomorrow?"
"Hmm. Gotta be at work. Need to hand some final paperwork and do a bit of private research. But the day after that?" Na tasha asked with a hopeful smile.
Skye nodded. "Sure. It's not like I have a job or anything." Natasha snickered. "I'm sure Tony would be happy to hire you."
"I'm not sure I would be happy to work for him, so no thank you," Skye replied with a smile. Natasha sighed and closed her eyes.
"I'm happy being here. With you," the redhead whispered, so soft that Skye wasn't sure she was meant to hear it. She looked down at her friend, hopefully soon more than a friend, and her smile broadened. She couldn't wait for their date.
///
Skye was waiting outside the coffee shop, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Natasha was late.
She checked her phone for the umpteenth time, refreshing her messages and everything, before checking her surroundings again, but there was no sign of her date anywhere.
Just as she was about to give up and call, she heard someone call her name. She turned around and saw Natasha striding towards her with a smile, a blonde man on her heels. She raised an eyebrow when they halted in front of her, and Natasha gave an apologetic look.
"In my defence, I told him not to come, but he said he'd stalk us if I didn't bring him. He just wanted to make sure you were not a serial killer," Natasha said with a half shrug. Skye rolled her eyes and turned to the man. "You must be Clint."
Clint side eyed his partner. "You told her my name?" Natasha shrugged and he face palmed, before turning back to Skye. "I am. You must be Skye."
"The one and only," she grinned. The corners of his mouth twitched, and Skye decided to count it as a smile. Natasha rolled her eyes at both of them, but turned to Clint. "Okay, now you've met her. Am I allowed to be on my own with her? Or should I remind you that I am a Red Room trained assassin?"
He shook his head, a bit pouting, but Natasha completely ignored him. "Great, then off you go. I'll come see you before I leave." He nodded. "You better. Have fun," he told them both, and Skye got the distinct feeling that he wasn't so bad. He saluted and before she'd blinked twice he was gone in the crowd. "Wow," she said, slightly awed. "He's good. Did you tell him we got married?"
Natasha nodded. "He is, and I did not. He will get mad about that later, but I'd rather not talk about Clint or anything else work-related while on my date. "
Skye took her hand and pulled her into the coffee shop. "But you love teaching me cool spy work stuff! I gotta say, picking locks is an incredible useful skill." Natasha rolled her eyes. "Not what I meant," she muttered with a tiny smile. Skye squeezed her hand. "I know. It's okay."
They took a seat in what was by now their regular booth and ordered a tea and a hot chocolate. Skye fiddled a bit with her rings as they waited for their order to be delivered. Natasha noticed, and her eyes lit up as she recognised one of the rings. "I know this one," she said teasingly as she tapped the one on Skye's left ring finger. Skye blushed a bit as the touched its smooth surface. "I wanted to keep it," she admitted softly.
Natasha gave her a comforting smile, as she pulled down the zipper of her vest to pull her necklace from under her shirt. It contained a charm in the shape of an arrow, and Natasha's wedding ring. "So did I," the redhead said. Skye beamed.
The waiter took that moment to deliver their order, and Natasha quickly put her necklace back under her shirt. Skye wrapped her hands around her hot chocolate, relishing in the warmth that came from the cup. She leaned back with a satisfied smile and waited until the waiter had left. "Now tell me, what is your favourite colour?"
Natasha gave her a baffled look. "You want to know my favourite colour?"
"Of course." Skye gave her an incredulous look. "This is a date. We're supposed to get to know each other. And I want to know your favourite colour. Mine is purple. And forest green," she added, with a hint of a blush that she hoped Natasha wouldn't notice. "Now tell me yours."
Natasha seemed to think about it for a moment. "Well, obviously, black is fine. I like blue. Either really soft baby blue or the dark blue of the evening sky. And red," she finished, seemingly satisfied with her own answer. Skye nodded, and thought of another question. "What do you like to do in your free time?"
"What kind of questions are these?" Natasha laughed, but she raised her hands in surrender when Skye gave her an unimpressed look. "Okay, I'll answer them. Ehm, let's see." She took a thoughtful sip of her tea. "I like to read, I suppose. Ehm, throwing knives? Not at people, but just… It's calming." She seemed almost embarrassed to admit it. "Anyway, how about you?"
Skye gave a reassuring smile. "Coding, just, so much coding. I've been thinking of building my own AI, like Tony, but that's massive, and I haven't gotten around to it yet. Other than that, just driving around. I like going somewhere new. Exploring cities and stuff."
"Is that why you went to Vegas?" Natasha asked curiously. Skye nodded, then thought better of it and shook her head. "Yes and no. I wanted to get out of New York for a while, because while this is home, I just wanted to see more. But Vegas was specifically for the money."
Natasha hummed, before taking another sip. "How did you even get in Vegas? You bought your van there, so you can't have driven there. Wait, do you even have a driver's license? A real one?"
"Ehm." Skye was definitely blushing now. "I have one, but it's not real? And I hitchhiked there. Some truckers are nice, but I definitely had to punch a few." Natasha blinked at her. "Remind me to teach you how to knock any guy out in three punches."
Skye raised an eyebrow. "Protective much?"
Now it was Natasha's turn to fight a blush. "Just making sure you'll be alright when I'm gone."
"When will you be gone again?" Skye asked, dreading the answer.
"Three days." Natasha spun the glass of tea in her hands and looked away. "Please, Skye. No…"
"Work talk, I know. I'm sorry."
It was silent for a few minutes as they both sipped their drinks, looking at each other over their glasses. Suddenly Skye couldn't stand the silence anymore. "Let's get out of here."
"And go where?"
"Do we have to go anywhere? We can just walk. Or back to your place," Skye offered. "God I still can't believe you have your own place."
Natasha chuckled and finished her tea. "Why not? Did you think I just lived... well what exactly did you think?"
Skye flagged the waiter for the bill. "Honestly, I thought you just lives underground. Or somewhere in one of those massive complexes? Almost like a campus."
The waiter came to their table and before Skye could do anything, Natasha had pulled her card. She ignored the dirty look Skye gave her and flashed the waiter a smile. He smiled back, happy enough with their standard tip and bid them a good day before returning back to his other duties.
"I could have paid," Skye grumbled. Natasha squeezed her hand and pulled her towards the door. "I know. But Stark is paying me guilt money and I don't know what else to do with it." Skye giggled.
They walked side by side their hands brushing. Skye took Natasha's hand and intertwined their fingers. The redhead looked down at their joined hands for a moment and smiled.
"You know, we do have a campus. But only the students and teachers actually sleep there. I've been there occasionally, as a guest, but it's way too busy for me. So my own apartment it is. Lots of agents have one; it's nice to have your own place," Natasha explained. Skye nodded along, happy to just listen to Nat's voice.
"But most of your work is in DC right? So why an apartment in New York?" she asked curiously. Natasha looked away, a hit embarrassed. "I might have another apartment in DC."
Skye stopped short for a moment. Then she pointed an accusatory finger at her date. "You are the reason housing is so goddamn expensive." She walked on.
Natasha laughed, hurrying to catch up, and Skye thought it was one of the most wonderful sounds ever. But also , SHIELD really was not helping any housing crisis. "You are the reason I live in a van," she mocked, but with a smile on her face. "And you don't even use it full time?!"
Natasha halted them again, suddenly standing very close. "So how about we use it now."
Skye did everything she could not to blush under those blazing green eyes. Natasha wiggled her eyebrows, and Skye couldn't help the burst of laughter that erupted from her chest. "Already on the first date? Not very conventional, are we?" she teased.
Natasha gave her half a shrug. "We fucked and got married in Vegas before going on a date at all. I think we passed conventional a while ago." Skye supposed she had a point, and she hadn't been planning on saying no in the first place, so she pressed a quick kiss to Natasha's lips, surprising them both. "Okay then, lead the way."
Natasha blinked out of it and grinned. As she started to pull Skye in the right direction, the hacker couldn't help but think that stalking a SHIELD spy may be the best decision she's ever made.
Notes:I hope you all enjoyed! I am personally really enjoying writing this, so there will be moreeeeeee. in time. uni has some deadlines coming up, which have priority, so we'll just see.
love you all (regular) readers. comments and kudos are much aprreciated
have a lovely day, take care of yourselves <3
Series this work belongs to:← Previous Work Part 2 of The Secrets We Keep Next Work →