Chapter Text
Deputy Hill walks into work ten minutes later than she usually would. Traffic had been an absolute beast, even though it was six am on a friday. Not even any type of holiday or anything. Surprised glances met her own as she stalked past bunches of desks and computers. Even this early, the department was in full swing. She swings into her office only to be greeted by the only and only Natasha Romanov.
A fiery redhead who also happened to be a confidential informant for her particular station. “Late today are we?” Her arms are crossed and she leans against a wall, seated on a cot that Maria was far too familiar with. She often slept in it if no one was occupying the cell.
Unfortunately, her office was the one with the cell as the station was older. But the room was closed off from the main chunk of the station, which was convenient. Inconveniently was Natasha back in this cell once again. At least once every two weeks she would show up for some petty crime or another. She’d give them information about the Reds.
The Reds were a notorious gang in this part of New York, mostly of Russian descent. They had lots of strong connections over the States and the station had been working for some time to take them down. Natasha, while not much of a help, had connections with the gang. She was deep in it and supposedly just wanted to redeem herself, but it was truly anyone's guess.
“Traffic,” was all she offered up to the redhead, promptly ignoring her presence in the cell. Natasha rolled her eyes.
“So boring,” she muses, shaking her head and uncrossing her arms. “I’ve got plenty to tell you.”
Maria perks up a little at this, looking at Natasha from her spot at her desk. She raises a brow, always interested in anything Natasha had to say about the Reds and any of their related business. And okay, she was always hoping for a little something on Natasha herself. As if she ever got anything in that direction. Nothing more than her name and age. And marital status, surprisingly.
That conversation stemmed from something far from sobriety. She was married, though not of her own accord. And she hated it. Maria herself had no one but herself. Well, and a fierce black kitten that wanted nothing to do with her. All it did was hiss and scratch at her unless she had treats. She had been wanting to get rid of it but didn’t have the heart.
The cat loved Natasha, too. Another thing about them. They had some sort of…after hours arrangement between the two of them. Wine, sex, and basking together in the after sex glow until Maria crashes and Natasha decides to leave Maria’s apartment. The redhead is never there after she wakes.
Maria doesn’t really have any way to contact Nat, so usually the latter does all the arranging and times and whatnot for them. They always end up in Maria's place, or her nice something close to new car. Never anywhere else.
Maria definitely does not have a little crush on Natasha either. Nope. She's plenty fine with their friends with benefits thing that they've got going on.
Maria massages her temples, her headaches getting worse by the second. “Look, Romanov, the faster you spill the faster you get out of here and back to wherever you spawn from.”
“Also so to the point,” Natasha grumbles and huffs. But she obliges, telling Maria about a couple new locations for trafficking. One for drugs and one for young girls. Venom in her voice as she tells Maria about the girls.
Maria nods, jotting everything down in the official case file notebook. “Anything else for me?” She almost always regretted taking on this case. It was a fucking headache, to say the least. Lots of paperwork, babysitting Natasha, and sorting out the occasional evidence that her field team brought in. Not to mention being the Deputy Director came with other responsibilities on top of her own cases and whatnot.
Babysitting other officers and all their paperwork. Why did she get a cat again? No wonder it hates her, she spent so many nights in her office to keep up. She really needed another raise. Not that she would even have the time to spend any of that money.
“No, Deputy Sweetface, that's all for now,” she sighs dramatically. “Can I be set free now? I have things to attend to.”
“What things might those be?”
“None of your business.”
“Tell me and I’ll let you out,” Maria tries, pressing her. She was always curious about whatever these extracurricular activities that Natasha claimed to have. So far her efforts have proved futile.
“Well, maybe try again next time? And stay further away from the cell…” Natasha grins and holds out Marias key ring around her finger, the keys clanging together gently.
“Not this again,” Maria sighs and watches as Nat unlocks the cell and tosses the keys to her, which Maria catches with ease. “Well, whatever. You know your way out don't you?”
“Should I expect to see you tonight?” Natasha asks in response, coming forwards to lean against the front of her desk. “The usual time?”
The usual time had turned into eleven at night on whatever given night Natasha decided to call. “You just want to see the cat don’t you?”
“Liho,” she corrects teasingly. “And no. I need a little more than your fabulous kitten tonight,” she winks.
“I suppose. Drinks on you tonight,” she says slowly, just to keep the Russian on edge. Whether it worked or not is up in the air, but she nods all the same.
“I’ll find your favourite,” She grins and leaves the office without a second word, as light on her feet as ever. The single board on the floor that needs to be resecured doesn’t even creak under her weight. Some day she’ll figure out what this girl is up to.
She closes her notebook, setting to the side before writing out an update to her detective team about the new locations. Maria has always been suspicious of stuff like this that she gains from Nat, but so far none of the information has screwed them over so far.
She’d have to report this to Fury, but for now she had a dozen reports to read over and a dozen more to write of her own. And apparently a hot date later while she was at it, cause apparently why not.