Who the hell is Natasha- part 2

                                    

                                          
TWO YEARS LATER...
                          
MARIA HILL'S POV: 
                          
It's been two years. Exactly two years. I glance at the empty bed on the other side of the one bedroom apartment we shared. I never had the heart to get rid of it. I never had the heart to even go through her stuff. Everything is placed on her desk, just like she left it. I gravitate towards it, but stop myself before I ruin something. 
                          
No, I think, Not now. It's too early. I'm not ready. At least not today. But another part of my brain argues for opening the drawer. That part of my brain gets the best of me and a shakily pull the drawer out. Sitting right on top, the most prominent thing in the drawer, was her photo album. Not now. Don't look at it yet. You can cry when you visit her, but not now. 
                          
Fury had given me the day off, I think he knew I'd be having some troubles today. And he was right. I do need today to myself. I hurried off to where she was 'buried'. They didn't have the time to go down and try to find her body, but it wasn't like it would have done anything. She never had any family, and Bobbi, Clint, and I had a small funeral for her. We didn't tell anyone, it was just too painful. 
                          
People noticed the absence of Natasha, but no one ever asked me anything. Fury definitely gave them orders to not talk about it, but that doesn't mean that people have to obey it. I sometimes caught people staring but as soon as I looked, they averted their eyes. Bobbi's mentioned once or twice that I need to get out more, talk to more people, but she knows that that's not going to happen. She knows how close we were, and she knows I know she knows. It pains me to see the tile they put on the fallen agents, but she died on a mission, she earned her place there. 
                          
She's buried away from everyone else's graves, and I know Fury had some pull with that. I settle under the tree, and open the photo album carefully. On the first page, we're only 19, and we'd just gotten ice cream, and our faces were covered in chocolate. I chuckle softly, and turn the page. There's another one when we were on a mission in France, and even though it was banned to take photos that didn't have anything to do with the mission but we'd snuck a couple of pictures on our various missions over the years. 
                          
One was on the rooftop of a building, right by the Roman coliseum. Someone was plotting to bomb it, and we were there to stop it. Another one was in England, and we had been in front of Tower Bridge. That time it was a hostage situation, and we were the closest agents.
                          
A tear drips down and plops onto the page, and I wipe it away before it leaves a mark. "Hey." Someone says and I glance up. It's Bobbi. 
                          
"Hey Bobbi." I respond, and she sits next to me, putting her hand on my thigh. I place my hand on top of hers and she holds my hand tightly. 
                          
"You doing okay?" She asks, squeezing my hand reassuringly. 
                          
"How do you think I'm doing?" I ask, my voice empty.
                          
"I'm sorry Maria." She says, pulling me into a hug, letting me sob into her shoulder. 
                          
"It's okay." I whisper. "I'm recovering." 
                          
—x—x—x—x—
                          
It was kinda short for one from these series. So the next one will be the meeting of them, and after that, I think there will be two or three more parts after that.
                          
❤️❤️❤️
Chloe