Echo| Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 9

We walked back to the apartment and I quickly excused myself to the bathroom. As soon as I shut the door I took a deep breath and gazed at myself in the mirror. My lips had red lipstick smeared on them, my cheeks were a pink blush and my mind was a mess of thoughts. I filled the sink up with cold water before splashing it over my face.

Never again, I thought to myself. I could feel it, the new sense of feelings I held for Natasha and I could feel my fear and anxiety settling in the pit of my stomach. It started a while ago and it was only getting stronger. It reminded me of what people described as having a forbidden schoolgirl crush, except you had to live with said crush and pretend you're married to them.

On undercover missions I would sleep with the enemy as a way of getting information. However, I was never in the right mindset that I realized what I was doing wasn't normal. This wasn't normal, this was too different for it to be normal. I never held feelings like this, so why were they coming now? Natasha's my friend, I don't want to screw that up.

The only other relationship I've had was with Ryker and that wasn't voluntary. I was forced into it every time. This was all new, my feelings weren't being mind controlled into me, they were developing and I didn't like that. I didn't like the fact that although I had the most control I've ever had in my life, I'm slowly losing it for a red headed beauty.

Natasha's p.o.v

When we strolled into the apartment and Andrea excused herself to the toilet, I took a deep breath. I leaned against the door, and moved my hands to ghost my fingertips over my lips where she kissed me. I've kissed people before, hell I even kissed Steve and never have I ever felt like that.

The feeling this gave me made me feel everything yet numb all at the same time. How does she make me feel this way with one touch, one kiss? Something that no one has been able to do. Slowly the ex Hydra agent was breaking down my walls, but I would keep building it because I couldn't fall for the girl.

The people in my life get hurt, they become a target to society and I don't want that for her. I fought for her to stay at the avengers tower instead of a prison because I thought that she could have a better life. If she's with me she would be stuck in the trap that is being an Avenger. I didn't want that for her.

People look down on me, especially after the information on me being an assassin came out. If she is even associated with me her life is over before she's even had a chance to live it. So I came to the conclusion that there was one thing I needed to do, save the girl and in doing so, I can't let any feelings be mutual, she would be an acquaintance, nothing more nothing less.

So when the brown haired goddess opened the bathroom door, I avoided all eye contact and began to write the report I needed to write. "About that kiss-" the ex hydra agent began but I cut her off. "It was for the mission, we were just playing characters, it was smart," I smiled at her before continuing the report.

Andrea's p.o.v

When those words escaped her mouth my facial expression dropped. A part of me wanted to confess these new feelings. Yes I was attracted to her but ever since Russia, other feelings have been coming into play and now I was ready to tell her. This confidence I had was something I hadn't had since being under mind control. Harmlessly flirting was as far as I would go with anyone, but actually telling her how I felt was a big step for me and she shut me down before I could even get the words out.

"What did you see?" I quizzed, referring to the agents. "I got descriptions for all four Hydra, I noted weapons and what they were buying, which were phones to which I assume are to talk to other Hydra bases under the radar," she described the situation to me. I nodded and looked out the window for anything else I could get, but was distracted by a knock at the door.

"I got it," I announced, although the Black Widow didn't make a move anyway. As soon as I opened the door, I was greeted by a man and a woman. The man held the woman in a way that suggested they were a couple. They each had bright sickly smiles on their faces as I opened the door, making me feel slightly uncomfortable.

"May I help you?" I asked politely. "Oh sorry, where are my manners. My name is Riley and this is my husband Tom. We noticed you moved in and wanted to invite you to dinner as a welcome to the neighborhood," Riley introduced, placing her hand out for me to shake. I returned the handshake confidently, and kept a fake smile on my face. "Uh, I believe we're kinda busy-" I was cut off by Natasha walking up behind me, placing her hands on my waist causing me to jump. She snaked her hands around me and rested her chin on my shoulder, placing a fake smile on her own face.
Remember, it's all pretend, I told myself as I felt the familiar butterflies in my stomach.

"Honey? Who are these people?" She asked sweetly, causing my heart to warm at how she was acting. "Uh, this is Riley and this is Tom. They're a couple from the neighborhood and they're inviting us to dinner as a welcome," I informed my 'wife'.

"Oh, so good to meet you. I'm Natalie and my wife here is Maddie. We would love to join you guys. Which apartment do you live in?" She stepped in front of me; whilst I held the door open. "We live just across the hall at 11. We figured we'd give you enough time to settle before inviting you," Riley smiled.

"It's perfect for us honestly. Maddie is usually the designated cook but we've both been swamped, a decent meal might be good for us. Thank you for inviting us," Nat joked causing us all to chuckle in politeness. "Well, come over at 6 and we'll have a delicious meal for the both of you," Tom, who doesn't seem like a man of many words told us.

The conversation stopped there and we said our goodbyes before Nat shut the door and looked at me. "Why are we going to dinner with them Nat? What if they're Hydra Agents who realized we're spying on them!" My mind wandered into the many possibilities of what could happen if we went to dinner with the seemingly friendly couple.

"We need to establish our characters. We can't do that if we won't even talk to our neighbors," Nat informed me before going to our room to change. I huffed as I sat on the couch looking at the report she wrote. Her handwriting was unusually scruffy compared to her naturally perfect writing. It was like she was rushing.

Decidedly, I ignored it and turned on the TV to get a daily intake of the news. As I was watching the screen I felt my vision become blurred as the news anchor morphed into Natasha. I furrowed my eyes and tried to get a closer look but when the bedroom door opened I jumped and it was gone. "What the-" I muttered under my breath in utter confusion.

"What's wrong?" Nat asked, her usual stern face glaring down on me. "I uh, nothing," I rushed before standing up and rushing to the bedroom so I could change into something a bit more presentable. I opted to wear casual clothing due to the fact that it was only dinner, so I wore blue skinny jeans and a yellow knitted sweater. When my hair looked decent, I left the room and finally caught a glance at Nat.

She also opted for a more casual look, wearing some black jeans with a black denim jacket that adorned her body so perfectly. I looked away, not wanting to be caught checking the redhead out. By the time we had both finished setting the apartment up so that in case there was any movement in the Hydra base pictures would be taken, it was time to go to dinner.

We both left our apartment and walked across to number 11 where we knocked loudly enough so they could hear, but not annoying enough that they wouldn't answer the door. When it opened up, their smiling faces greeted us, ready for a long night of dining and pretending to be a married couple.