Bed of Roses [N. Romanoff]

Chapter 2

"Make that two cokes," Nat informed the waiter, ordering for both herself and Bailey.

Emma giggled from beside the Eidolon, besides herself by the fact that her best friend had become so awestruck by the woman sitting across from her.

Natasha had the simplest white hoodie with a black leather jacket on, but somehow that had become more gorgeous than any ball gown Bailey had ever seen in a matter of seconds.

"You picked up on her drink fast, yeah?" Emma joked, and sipped from her wine glass.

"Heads turn when a woman orders a non-alcoholic drink," Nat agreed.

"You guys are getting on too well," Bax grumbled out.

"Don't complain now, it's too late for that," Emma moved her chair closer to the table, "did you have to book an 8 person table?" she exasperatedly asked.

"Of course, I love being that type of hated person," she grinned like an idiot.

Conversation had been running smoothly for the three girls, it was easy to speak about topics, and they loved sharing opinions. Bailey was actually happy that her best friend was enjoying Natasha's company, she felt that the two of them could really use each other in the next few months while they tracked down Loki's sceptre.

She watched Nat throughout the night, how her back kept straight and her shoulders squared, she wasn't inconspicuous at all.

Natasha couldn't shake the feeling of always being watched. Her eyes continuously darted around in case someone would spot her amongst the crowd. Her hair was a faltering detail that always left her recognisable.

She was so paranoid, that when she introduced herself to Baxter's best friend, she had greeted with the name 'Nicole Rutherford'.

She wasn't so sure how much Bailey had been allowed to tell Emma Wade, and if the woman would even choose to speak of their certain predicament involving the Avengers. Does Emma know that Bailey is risking her life for a group of strangers? That she's giving up her normal life for one that would keep her on death lists for as long as she lives? Was she aware of the enemies she would make with each mission she completed for Tony Stark? Or just having her name involved with the group that the world often labelled as Terrors to humankind?

No one understood just exactly why they all did what they did. Why risk your life to protect a species that are destroying everything you've ever known? It was particularly odd when Natalia joined S.H.I.E.L.D's ranks in 2008.

A woman that was being head hunted by the agency for all she did wrong, had been switched around in her roleplay. Suddenly, from being the bad guy, she was labelled as a recruit they would absolutely need. She owed everything to Clint Barton.

Instead of being someone who would assassinate another assassin, he looked in her and saw her true potential. Why throw away someone who had been known as the sole survivor of the Red Room's antics?

He gave her the chance to a second life, for the family of friends she now knew, and the life she lived where she loved what she did for a living. Of course her past would never be erased, there were terrible things she had done, and good people she killed, innocent lives were forever at risk around her.

But this family of super humans were slowly helping her balance the good and bad she's completed in her life, helping her wash out and erase all the blood on her hands. For once she felt she was doing a good thing, and for the right reasons.

Times like tonight was when she really appreciated the life she had turned around, rather than living as the killer she was raised to be, she wrote her own path. Suddenly the idea of Bailey Baxter being a good friend of hers didn't seem so alien, or the idea of being around the Ghost like person at all, she was completely comfortable with her. This wasn't something she would allow anyone to know though, she had a reputation to uphold.

"So, what do you do for a living, Nicole?" Natasha snapped out of it, and gave the woman a sweet smile.

"She's, uh, a personal trainer, right?" Bailey gave her a look.

"I can totally see that," Emma laughed, noticing the Assassins' muscular body.

"Actually, I work for an organisation as an agent," she didn't feel guilty at all for giving a little bit of her truth. She worked as an Avenger now, and Emma had to know what Bailey was getting herself into.

"Rutherford, I'd watch what you say..." Bax warned her.

"I work with Bailey, actually."

"That can't be," Emma laughed off her comment, "she just..." realisation dawned on her face.

As far as she was concerned, Bailey had been somewhat of a hero in the streets of New York City. She would stop a few fights, catch some gunmen, prevent a small robbery, and so forth. Bailey might've stretched the truth on how dangerous her job might actually be. Was she part of the NYPD?

"Okay, Em, listen. Let's not get upset about this- Thanks Nat." Bax rolled her eyes and tried to calm her friend down.

"I'm just working a little with Tony Stark, that's all," she reassured her best friend.

Emma gave her a frantic look, and then gave a rough point towards the Avengers Towers.

"Right... yeah... you're smart and figure things out," Bailey's face paled.

"You're a friggen' Avenger?" Emma shout-whispered.

"Nat, I'm so getting you back," Bax shot her a playful glare.

"Who the hell is Nat?" Emma whispered again.

Before Bax could climb into bed late that evening, she heard a small knock on the wall of Tony's lounge area.

"Nat, I swear to Thor-"

"It's not Nat," Bailey then looked up from her couch she was setting up to lock eyes with Steve Rogers.

"Yes, Steven?" she asked him.

"Did you just call me Steven?"

"That's what you ask? Not why I just swore to Thor?" she gave him a lost puppy look.

"Yeah, no. I mean, Steven is my birth name. Where did you-" before he could finish, she cut him off instead.

"That's not the point, you're here to talk about me, right?" the exhausted woman flopped on the couch.

"But, how? - why Steven?"

"Listen defrosted chicken, I'm tired, let's get back to the topic of me."

"I see why Tony likes you now," He laughed, and fell into the couch next to her.

"I only have a small question," He placed his hand on her knee.

"Shoot," she offered him, but heard nothing out of him.

He held a confused look on his face, "Shoot me with your question, you know? Like ask away," she offered as an explanation.

"Oh, yes. Of course. Well, anyways. Why is Romanoff carrying around a potted plant?" he asked her, and Bax busted into a small giggle.

"Simple explanation, I'm forcing her to make up for all the oxygen she wasted tonight."