An Assassin's Creed | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 2

Natasha was jolted awake by a small hand shaking her shoulder. She sat up in the small hospital waiting room seats, winced at the pain that flared in her back and neck, and rubbed her sleepy face with her hands. She eyed the nurse and groaned.

"What time is it?" she asked, stretching her back and sighing a bit at the satisfying cracks.

"It's after eight," the nurse replied, holding out a small paper cup. Natasha mumbled a thank you, took the cup, and downed the water inside. "She's been asking for you."

Natasha nodded and stood up, following the nurse down the hall. They both stopped outside of Eden's room, and with a reassuring nod, the redhead assassin opened the door. Her green eyes connected with Eden's grey ones, and she walked over to the side of her bed, sitting in the chair beside it. Eden looked over at her smiled a bit as she stretched as best she could despite her injuries. A large white bandage was wrapped around her head and covered her right ear, a thick bandage was taped to her side and Natasha could see the blood pooling under it, and her left arm was stuck in a sling.

"How are you feeling?" Natasha asked, feeling awkward and avoiding Eden's eyes.

Eden shrugged and chuckled. "I've been better. So...how are you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well...no offense, but you look like crap. Have you been here all night?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to leave until I knew you were okay." Nervousness filled Natasha's being, but she refused to let it show. The Red Room taught her that.

"Never let the world see who you truly are. The world is a terrible place that will work to ruin you. It will take the things about you and use them against you. Harden yourself, protect yourself, hurt first and the world can't hurt you."

"Well that's sweet," Eden said, breaking into a yawn. "Sorry about that."

"Did you not sleep?"

"No, I did, it's just hard to get comfortable in these beds. Especially with the pain."

"How is the pain?"

"Right now? Manageable. They gave some pain killers right before you came in." She smiled and started to laugh, snorting and wheezing after a few seconds.

"So...why did you want to see me?" Natasha asked, leaning back in the chair. Eden sat up in the bed and looked over at Natasha, suddenly serious.

"You saved my life—"

"That's not true. You would've been fine..."

"No. One of the nurses told me that had no one been there and if I stayed inside that car, I would've died. And I can't thank you enough. You saved my life, and I don't even know your name."

"It's..." She thought a moment. She didn't know this woman and therefore couldn't outright trust her with her name. Her name was a key into her life, and if someone had that key, then they could worm their way in and ruin her. Just like her mentors in the Red Room taught her. But...she had to give her something. "Natalie. I'm Natalie. And you're Eden."

"Yeah," Eden chuckled and held out her hand. "Thank you, Natalie, and it's nice to meet you." Natasha smiled and took Eden's giving it a gentle shake.

"It's nice to meet you too, Eden. And don't worry about it. I'm just glad I was there."

Natasha sat with Eden for most of the day, talking and getting to know the woman whose life she saved better. Little did either of them know, they both thoroughly enjoyed the other woman's company, and in a way, Natasha felt something that she hadn't felt in a while. Ever since she left the Red Room, it was hard for Natasha to make room for other people in her life. Of course, she had the Avengers which she considered her friends and even her family, but they didn't become that way overnight. In fact, if she could remember right, it was mostly because of Steve that everyone stayed connected and Sam and Tony that engaged everyone in fun activities.

She was sure that if she didn't have them she probably wouldn't have gotten close to anyone. Well, perhaps Clint. After all, he was the first one to get through to her. Then Coulson and then Maria and then Fury...you know what, maybe she would've been just fine without the Avengers.

The rest of the day past quickly, to Natasha's disappointment, and before long, Eden started getting tired which was Natasha's cue to leave. The redhead stood up from her seat, gave Eden a small smile, and walked towards the door.

"Hey wait," Eden said, reaching for Natasha even though she was already at the door. Natasha turned around, looking back into Eden's soft grey eyes. "Is it too much to ask if you could come back tomorrow? It's just...I just moved here and don't have a lot of people that I can call that can come and—"

"You want me to come back?" Natasha asked incredulously, not quite believing that this woman that she just met would want to see her again. Eden smiled and nodded her head.

"Yeah...I enjoyed our time today, and I was kinda hoping to do this again. If you got stuff to do or just don't want to, that's fine, I mean you don't have to—"

"I'm...not doing anything tomorrow. If you want me to come back...I will."

Eden smiled and waved Natasha over to her. Grasping her phone, she unlocked it and held it out to Natasha. "Can I get your number?"

Natasha hesitantly accepted Eden's phoneand typed in her number, not used to this kind of attention. Giving her phoneback, Natasha flashed Eden a smile, one she usually used when she was feelingbrave, and left the hospital to go back to her apartment.