"So how are you feeling today?" Natasha asked into her phone as she held it pressed against her ear with her shoulder, unwrapping and placing a hot pocket into her microwave. She hopped up onto the island counter watching the timer count down and began chewing on her nails as she waited for Eden to respond.

"Ah you know, the usual. I barely feel my arm anymore, it's more of a nuisance, but my side and head still hurt. Particularly my side. It hurts whenever I move or do anything...my head only hurts when I brush my hand against it." Eden huffed into the phone, causing the redhead assassin to chuckle dryly and smile into the phone. When the microwaved beeped, she jumped down, grabbed her hot meal, and walked back over to the island, hopping back up on the counter. "How are you? How was your workout? Today was your gym day, right? God, I miss going to the gym..."

Natasha chuckled and shook her head. For the past two weeks, Natasha spent every spare minute she had with Eden, helping her do things for her while she was recovering and consequentially becoming her friend and keeping her company.

"It was alright, and honestly you're not missing anything." She paused a second and took a bite. "It's more therapy at this point; it's not fun. It's like work."

"Still. Must be better than what you actually do for a living. At the very least it's better than sitting at home all day bored out of my mind."

"Well, maybe if you went for that walk everyday like I suggested, maybe you wouldn't be so bored," Natasha quipped as she took another bite and rolled her eyes. A smirk worked its way onto her face, and it stretched further when she heard Eden huff a big sigh.

"You know what, Nat..."

"What?"

Eden was quiet for a second, and when she answered back, her voice erupted in loud surprise. "You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"I just realized that I don't know your last name. Like obviously you're not just Natalie; you're Natalie Something Someone. God, it's like you're not even real, like I made you up or something. Can you tell me your name? Would that be weird? Am I crossing a line or something?—"

"Are you high or something?" Natasha asked, swallowing a giggle. She was reluctant to give out all of her information to this woman who—despite their closeness—was still a relative stranger, but a large enough part of her wanted to change how she viewed people. It was a lonely existence to look at people through the eyes of a spy.

"Perhaps...I might've taken too many pain relievers..."

"It's Rushman."

"What is?"

"My name: Natalie Rushman."

"Oh. That's pretty. So...what're you up to right now?"

"Nothing much. Just eating my lunch/dinner." She finished her hot pocket and licked the stray sauce off her fingers. Getting off the counter, she grabbed her plate and placed it in the sink, grimacing at how full it was getting. She mentally groaned at the thought of having to eventually man up and do the dishes.

"I hope it was something healthy. After all you spent most of the day at the gym; wouldn't want to undo all of that progress..."

"Are you calling me fat?" Natasha asked, with a humorous smirk and feigning hurt.

"No—"

"Are you fat-shaming me?" Natasha continued, trying hard to burst out laughing at the panic in Eden's voice.

"No Natalie! I'm not fat-shaming you! I just...I want...I—"

And that was it. Natasha couldn't keep it anymore, and erupted in a fit of obnoxious laughter. She heard Eden sigh on the other end of the phone and that only fueled her laughter.

"I'm glad you're having fun. Well, while you're laughing at your little joke, I'm gonna hang up—"

"No, please don't," Natasha said as she forced herself to calm down, ignoring her hiccups. "I'm sorry, okay, but I couldn't resist. It was just too easy."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Oh, come on. It was funny."

"Whatever you say, Nat." She could practically hear the shrug.

"I said I was sorry," Natasha said with a slight giggle. She knew any minute now, Eden was going to break, she could hear it in hear voice. She just needed to remain one step ahead of her. Just like in training.

With a big sigh, and just how she expected, Eden relented. "Fine, whatever. God, you're so annoying."

Natasha smiled at the humor in the woman's voice and imagined her grey eyes rolling in playful annoyance.

"Hey so are you doing anything tomorrow?" Eden asked sounding more nervous than her usual confident self.

"Depends. Why are you asking?" Natasha opened her fridge and took out a juice pouch. She usually kept them for the rare occasions when Clint would drop his kids off at her apartment, but today she was feeling like she was in the mood for some fruit punch.

"Well, my brother is coming into town tonight and coming over tomorrow to help me finish moving in, and well...for lack of a better term, he's an asshole. And I heard through it the grapevine that he's bringing his fiancé who is an even bigger asshole, plus we think she's a gold digger—"

"And you need me for what...?"

"Kinda like a buffer, I guess? Please Nat? I can guarantee that they'll team up and spend the whole time making my injuries feel like they were my fault, and I'm not going to be able to get them to shut up. Please Nat? Please can you come? I swear if I have to deal with my asshole brother by myself I'll either end up killing him or myself."

Natasha laughed and took another sip of her juice.

"I'm serious, Nat..."

"Oh, I'm aware." She chuckled when she heard Eden's exasperated sigh, and could just picture her friend dropping her head in defeat. Feeling a bit sorry for the grief she was causing her friend, Natasha gave a small sigh of her own, and replied, "If you need me to be with you tomorrow, then I'll be there. But I won't kill your brother or his fiancé for you, understand? You'll have to do that yourself."

"I hear ya loud and clear. Thanks Nat, you're a life-saver." Natasha smiled at the definite smile spread across Eden's face. "I'll text you my address and the time. Thanks again, Nat. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"No problem, Eden. I'll see you tomorrow." The two hung up and Natasha placed her phone face down on the counter beside her, and took a deep breath. She hopped off the counter and stretched her back. Letting out a guttural groan as she felt her muscles and bones stretch and crack, she walked in the direction of her bathroom, only stopping when her phone ringing cut through her empty apartment air.

Walking back to the counter, she picked up her phone and groaned when looking at the caller id. "What do you want, Sam?"

"Do I have to want something just so I can call you?" the Falcon asked with a laugh. Natasha rolled her eyes and tried to suppress the groan that built up in her throat.

"Never stopped you before," she muttered under her breath. "So what's up?"

"Just calling to say hi..."

"Sam..." Natasha's patience was wearing thin, as it usually did when it came to the Falcon. Don't be mistaken, Natasha liked him well enough and had great respect for him, but she couldn't help that Sam very quickly got on her nerves.

"Alright, fine. I get it, you're not in the mood. Steve wanted to me to tell you that you need to suit up. We've got a mission at 1800 and you need to be at the Tower by liftoff at 1900."

Natasha hung her head and let out a big sigh. Of course there was a mission to go on now. She couldn't get one day where she didn't have to go to the tower.

"Nat? You still there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. Tell Steve I'll be there as soon as I can." She ran a hand through her hair and sighed again. "Do you have any idea how long this mission's gonna be? I kinda have plans tomorrow..."

"No idea. All I know is that Steve said something about some drug cartels in South America terrorizing some local village. Shouldn't be too long."

"Okay," Natasha said with a sigh. "Let me hop in the shower and I'll be right over. Tell Rogers I won't be long."

"Copy that," Sam said, and Natasha could imagine the playful salute he gave with a goofy grin.

"Goodbye Sam," Natasha said as she hung up and took the phone away from her ear. Sighing, she opened her messages and found Eden's contact, saw the address to her apartment and the time she should be there, and a small pang of guilt shot through her. Reluctantly she typed out a message to Eden explaining her situation as best as she could without revealing the truth. She hoped Eden would understand, and added that she would still try to come over, though she may be late.

While she waited for Eden to respond, she walked to her bedroom and gathered the things that she needed for her shower, and entered the bathroom. The hot water burned her skin but also soothed her aching muscles. She hummed in content as the hot water cascaded through her hair and down her back, washing away the sweat and grime of her workout and helped her relax. As she was finishing up and drying off, her phone went off again.

No worries, Nat. Don't rush, I understand. Hope work doesn't kill ya, babe ;)

Natasha smiled and quickly got dressed, grabbing her holster and her guns and her keys, and left her apartment. She sprinted all the way to the Tower, and when she reached the front doors, she wondered why the walk home seemed so long a few weeks ago.

After showing the security guard her I.D., she walked to the elevator, nodding over to Maria who was walking with another agent. The ride was short, and when she reached the floor designated to the Avengers, she was met with Steve Rogers.

"Nice to see you, Romanoff."

"You know I was just here, right?" she asked as she walked out of the elevator and past Rogers. Steve followed her as she walked into the kitchen, grabbed a glass and filled it with water, and then took a sip.

"Yeah unfortunately that's how this job works. When there's a call, we answer it. Night or day, we go—"

"Yeah, I know, Steve," Natasha huffed, finishing her water. "Are we ready to go?"

"As soon as you are."

"Alright. Let's move out."

○○○

The mission was by all accounts a success. Captain Rogers and his team took down the White Cobras—Brazil's leading drug overlords and brought them to the authorities, and no one was hurt. Granted there were a few cuts and bruises, but all-in-all, everyone was fine. Natasha sat in the co-pilot's seat of the Quinjet, staring at her phone. Clint Barton looked over at her a few times, watching her with curiosity—one of his fatal flaws—for a few minutes before he cleared his throat.

"You expecting a text from a hot guy or something?"

"Shut up and mind your business, Barton," Natasha fired back, rolling her eyes but still staring at her phone. Right before they boarded, she sent a text to Eden letting her know that she had finished up and would be on her way, and now she was waiting for a response. She couldn't deny that she was nervous. She kept overthinking, wondering if it was even okay for her to come over anymore considering that it was about two hours after the agreed upon time, and because she hadn't known Eden for that long, it was hard to gauge how she felt about certain things.

"Alright, geez. No need to bite my head off," Clint said as he settled in his seat, turning his eyes away from Natasha and raising his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Clint," Natasha said, hanging her head and turning the screen of her phone off. "I'm just tired, it's been a long day and I haven't been sleeping well."

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Filling the slightly awkward air, Natasha's phone rang with Eden's ring tone, notifying her of a text, and Clint looked over at her phone and raised an eyebrow.

"Who's Eden?"

"She's nobody!" Natasha exclaimed as she stuffed her phone into her pocket after reading and smiling at her text. Again Clint turned back to stare at the open evening sky. He took his hands off the controls and raised them defensively.

"Alright...listen, you know I think it's cool that you got a girlfriend, I got nothing against that—"

"Jesus Clint, what? Eden isn't my girlfriend. She's just a friend...that happens to be a girl. But it's strictly platonic."

"Okay, fine. So what's Eden's story? How'd you two meet? I'll be honest, I didn't think you had friends outside of the team. Didn't even think you were capable of making friends..."

"Wow thanks, Clint." Natasha relaxed back into her seat and rolled her eyes. Clint chuckled and shook his head.

"Come on, Nat, you know I have a point..."

"I know, but you didn't have to phrase it like that. It's not a crime to be cautious."

"You're right, but I was just surprised is all; I wasn't meant to be a dig at you." Clint shot Natasha a smile before looking back outside. "So, tell me about her. Is she someone from SHIELD?"

"No, she just moved here." Natasha looked back down at her phone, avoiding Clint's curious gaze and trying to ignore the growing heat in her face. Clint's eyes widened and a large smile grew in place of his little grin.

"Ah! A civilian, huh? Interesting. How did Natasha Romanoff come into friendly terms with a civilian?"

"Clint, I'm not really comfortable talking about this—"

"Come on, Nat. I promise I'll leave you alone if you tell me. Please? Pretty Please?" Clint begged, slightly pouting his lower lip and widening his eyes. Natasha chuckled and shook her head.

"You know the puppy dog pout doesn't work on me, right? I had to build up an immunity to it when Lila was three. She kept using it on me get extra portions of ice cream."

"That's not what I'm doing..."

"Sure, Clint. Sure."

"But seriously...I know you, Nat; you're not very social. You barely hang out with the team on the very rare occasion when we have free time—"

"You don't hang out with the team either..."

"Yeah, but I have a family that I need to be with and take care of," Clint said rolling his eyes. "But really, how did you meet this chick?"

Natasha sighed. "I witnessed her get into a car accident while I was walking back to my apartment. After bringing her to the hospital, I kinda just hung around to make sure she was okay. I felt...responsible for her. Over the past two weeks we kinda just...clicked, I guess. It's nothing too exciting."

"I think it's sweet, Nat. Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine; just a broken arm, a cut on her forehead, and a small puncture wound," Natasha huffed. Clint nodded his head turned away from Natasha.

"That's good." There was silence between them for several minutes, during which Natasha closed her eyes and relaxed into her seat, hoping to grab at least a little nap before they landed and she had to make her way over to Eden's.