Homecoming

[iam_ironwoman]

Early in the morning of the day that Natasha was supposed to be back in the US, Toni got up with the sun, sucked down a few cups of coffee, and hit up her backdoor into SHIELD'S databases to see what airport the spy would be landing at. From there she had a three hour window, it turned out, to divert the driver that was sent for Natasha to the wrong terminal, pick out a casually adorable outfit and to select an appropriately sleek and black car from her collection.

She had an unhurried drive to the airport, found a rather ideal parking spot in the shade outside the terminal, and took her place by the side the car as the clock hit 8:35. Toni settled in sipping her mocha and holding up a little cardboard sign with 'Romanoff' written on it in big sketchy sharpie letters in her free hand as the morning's first flood of passengers emerged from the doors.

Comments

[agent_romanoff]

Even though interrogating was her speciality, Natasha prefers the missions where she's undercover. Where she can be someone else for a few days, or weeks, and just escape SHIELD and her troubles. But 3 weeks away was long enough, and all Natasha wants to do is get back to the US and be herself again.

Well, what she really wants to do is get out of this dress and into some sweatpants.

She drags her suitcase behind her and stands outside of the doors, looking around over her sunglasses as her eyes land on Toni and her sign. Well that's what she gets for not mentioning the 'undercover' bit. Oops.

Natasha makes her way over, any surprise she has over seeing the other woman there rather than the SHIELD agent she was expecting is hidden by a small smile on her face.

"You've changed since the last time we met, Agent Anderson."

[iam_ironwoman]

"I wasn't sure you'd recognize me, Agent! The sex change operation was a rousing success, obviously." Toni quips in reply, tossing the sign into the back seat and stepping aside, opening up the passenger door and waving Natasha in.

"Good to see you again. How was your flight?"

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha chuckles, pulling her case closer to the car and leaves it next to the back of the car so Toni can put it away. She's not going to do it herself, she's had a long flight after all.

Natasha leans against the side of the car instead of getting in. She slips her sunglasses off and perches them on the top of her head.

"You too," she means it, "It was fine. Can't complain."

[iam_ironwoman]

Toni hefts Natasha's bag into the trunk on her way around to the driver's side of the open convertible, sliding into her seat and reaching for the drink tray. She offers up a large cup from Starbucks, Natasha's usual order, with a grin.

"Well good, glad you're back in one relatively relaxed piece. Care to go out for some breakfast on your way home?"

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha watches Toni an amusement for a moment then gets into the car, pulling the door shut behind her. She accepts the cup and takes a sip of the coffee, sighing happily as she relaxes into the chair.

"Sounds great." She's just not going to mention to Toni that she has no way to pay for it. That'll be a nice surprise later.

[iam_ironwoman]

"What do you feel like? I know a really good waffle place." Toni asks as she buckles up and puts the car in gear, glad to have it confirmed that she didn't choose poorly on the flavor shot.

"So it took me a week to get Jarvis to stop talking in Russian by the way."

[agent_romanoff]

"Waffles are fine by me," Natasha glances over to Toni, sipping at her coffee again.

She snickers, "a week? Thought it would take you less time than that." Natasha turns her eyes to the road, a smirk on her lips, "you're losing your touch, Stark."

[iam_ironwoman]

Toni laughs at that, pushing her bangs back at they pull out onto the highway.

"I liked it so I left it for a few days. Used it to brush up on my Russian, even! My accent is getting better."

[agent_romanoff]

"I'll be the judge of that," Natasha says in Russian, pulling her sunglasses off her head and puts them into the glove compartment, "but it can't be any worse than what it was."

She clears her throat. "So you missed me," she states, slipping back into English. Natasha's teasing mostly, and she's not really expecting Toni to admit it out loud.

[iam_ironwoman]

"Of course you will. I'd expect nothing less." Toni replies, her accent not exactly stellar but far from unpracticed.

"'Missed' is such an icky codependent sort of word. I thought of you fondly in your absence, shall we say?"

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha looks over at Toni and pauses for a moment before finally giving a nod of approval. C+ for effort, Toni, but still a long way to go.

"Works for me," Natasha shrugs. She's going to take that as a yes anyway.

[iam_ironwoman]

"Are you allowed to tell me ANYTHING about what you were up to out there?" Toni asks, practically pouting as she glances at her passenger. "What country you were in maybe?"

[agent_romanoff]

"Classified," Natasha shakes her head with a smile. She has the file number memorised though. Give it a week and it'll be in SHIELD's file database.

Natasha smiles sweetly, tilting her head slightly as she looks over at Toni. There is a sparkle of amusement in her eyes again, "Tokyo."

[iam_ironwoman]

"Oooh, I love Tokyo!" Toni coos, grinning wide. "Did you get to eat anything good? The food there is simultaneously delicious and mind-bendingly weird."

[agent_romanoff]

"I do too," it's a shame she's only been there twice. Natasha smiles at Toni's enthusiasm. "Of course I did. The restaurants are still as amazing as I remember. Weird, but amazing."

[iam_ironwoman]

"Next time I'm off that way I'll call you if you're not on assignment." Toni sounds all kinds of excited about this.

"We'll go to one of those classy bars where they cook everything in front of you and be mysterious international ladies."

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha rolls her eyes, "like the people in Tokyo don't know who you are. It's hard to be mysterious when everyone knows your name."

She doesn't say no though, it honestly sounds like fun.

[iam_ironwoman]

"Well of course they know who I am but that just means we'll get the really good liquor." Toni says conspiratorially, glancing over her shoulder as she switches lanes and takes them down the next offramp. The waffle place is, fittingly, topped with a great big waffle on it's roof and impossible to miss.

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha shakes her head, not bothering to hide the half smile on her face and turns her attention to the view out of the window.

"I take it Pepper would come with us." Liquor usually means the press would need to be...controlled.

[iam_ironwoman]

"We can leave Pepper at home. I don't need a babysitter to go to dinner." Toni makes an indignant face.

"Besides, you'd be there so I'd be on my best behavior." She winks as she turns into the parking lot. "I know what you can do to me if I'm not."

[agent_romanoff]

The 'Pepper wouldn't agree' remark stays on the tip of her tongue, and she hums instead.

"Well that sounds....kinky." Natasha rolls her head to the side, a shadow of a smirk on her face as she looks at Toni through her eyelashes, "and you don't know the half of it."

[iam_ironwoman]

Toni laughs, pushing her sunglasses up into her hair as she swings them into a parking spot and puts on the brake.

"I think I should warn you that if you try to get some sort of revenge on me and it turns out kinky I'll probably just be encouraged to misbehave all over again." she says and puts on an extra charming smile as she hits the button to bring the roof up on the convertible.

[agent_romanoff]

"So you are into that," Natasha kind of figured that out a while ago, but it's nice to have suspicions confirmed.

And with the amount of times Toni has misbehaved in the last few months alone- "Pepper's revenge must be really good," or non-existent.

Probably the latter. Miss Potts doesn't seem like that kind of woman.

[iam_ironwoman]

That just makes Toni laugh even more.

"Honey I'll try anything once." she teases, making sure the roof is latched before sliding out of the car.

"Peppers revenge has gotten old hat and is therefore ineffective. But I don't make her life quite as hard as I used to. Now that the transition of making her CEO is well behind us anyway..."

"Of course she's also getting laid on a regular basis now which has improved her mood in all possible ways."

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha studies Toni quietly for a moment before shaking her head. She chuckles and gets out the car herself, not bothering to go back for her sunglasses.

"Good for her," she doesn't ask for details. She has thought about Pepper Potts sex life for far too long already.

[iam_ironwoman]

"Good for Happy! I was ready to lock them in a closet or something oh my GOD..." Toni groans, dismissing the topic with a handwave as they head inside.

"Anyway, enough about them. Coffee, waffles, and I'll catch you up on the 'office gossip'."

[agent_romanoff]

Okay so her eyes widen a bit at that. Happy? Natasha didn't expect that to happen.

She follows Toni inside, quietly contemplating whether or not she should get in contact with SHIELD to say she hasn't just disappeared off radar, but decides against it. She doesn't need Fury or Agent Hill barging in on this.

[iam_ironwoman]

In a few minutes they're settled into a booth with menus and coffee, and Toni has picked up her phone to flip through the photos she's taken in the three weeks Natasha has been gone.

"So, take any noteworthy damage while you were away?"

She lifts her left hand to show how her baby finger no longer QUITE lines up evenly with the ring and middle.

"I caught a missile funny and broke two fingers the week you left the country, only got out of the splints a few days ago. Typing has never been more infuriating."

[agent_romanoff]

"Fractured a few ribs, but that's it," she shrugs, "there wasn't much of a chance to get injured to be honest."

Natasha snickers, reaching out to gently push Toni's baby finger to where it's supposed to be, only stopping before she actually hurt her and watched as it went back to being out of place.

"Why were you catching missiles?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"You know it's pretty badass that you consider fractured ribs a minor injury." Toni comments with amusement, wincing just a little but not losing her smile as Natasha pushes at her finger.

"Rhodey and I went and did some target practice with soldiers learning to fire launchers. They learned to aim, we caught and neutralized. To be honest the fingers hurt a bit but I didn't really notice how much damage I'd done till I took the glove off later."

[agent_romanoff]

"I've had worse," she admits honestly. Name an injury and she's probably had it, maybe even multiple times. The medic team hate her for it. After one particularly bad mission, she went to them claiming it was just a scratch...well, turns out she had been fighting with fractured ribs, a punctured lung, minor internal bleeding, and a bullet to her shoulder.

That was a surprise.

"Owch," she lets her touch linger a bit longer before pulling her hand away entirely, "isn't Jarvis supposed to monitor that? Or was he too busy being Russian?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"I don't know how you professional types do it. Getting injured and then carrying on like... "

Toni shakes her head, a worried sort of cringe flickering over her features. She's read up enough on the Black Widow to know about some of the really big injuries and remembering those case notes honestly kind of gives her the shivers.

"I mean I can keep going through pain when it really counts but jesus christ, if I broke my ribs in a fight I'd want at least a week off to lay in bed and eat painkillers and candy. I can't imagine how you can just tape up a rib and get back to it like that. It's... well, impressive, but in a scary 'am I really that sure Natasha's not a cylon?' way."

She smirked. "That was my bad, actually. J was pissing me off rattling percentages so I muted him."

[agent_romanoff]

"Like it doesn't bother us?" Natasha smiles, putting her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand.

"We're trained to ignore it," she's aware of the people around her so she keeps her voice low, "there's always a chance that we'll die on any mission. May as well go out with a bang then whimpering in an alley, or on a couch." She snorts, "a cylon? You've been watching too much tv."

Natasha shakes her head, "well in that case, you get no sympathy from me. It's your own fault."

[iam_ironwoman]

Toni's expression falters at bit at that, her lips pursing together thoughtfully. She knew, logically, that it was more than likely that everything Natasha or Clint were asked to do by SHIELD carried a risk of death - they didn't put their best operatives onto simple tasks, of course - but hearing it confirmed was a step apart from that nebulous 'presumption' knowledge.

As usual sees fit to deflect her discomfort with a joke, bringing her coffee to her lips with a snort though her grip is tight on the sides of the mug.

"God woman, do you even FEEL fear?"

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha gives Toni a sympathetic smile. She didn't mean to make her uncomfortable, but there's no point in lying about it.

Natasha stares off into space like she's remembering something. There have been times where she was terrified, especially when she was younger- just getting into the business and going through training. It amuses her slightly that the only times she has felt fear since then is during her time with SHIELD. Before that...she was lucky if she could even feel anything most of the time.

"Sometimes," she mumbles, blinking once before looking back over at Toni, "careful. That might break."

[iam_ironwoman]

Toni glances at her mug, then loosens her grip but only a little, laughing sheepishly at herself.

"Not likely, I left the gauntlets in the trunk." she quips, taking another sip before setting it down. Natasha's faraway look and obvious awareness of her discomfort just kind of makes her more uneasy.

She reaches across the table and squeezes one small warm hand around Natasha's wrist.

"Well, it's really not a secret that you are far better suited to super heroics than I will ever be. I shouldn't be surprised by how much you can handle by now. You'd probably be bored stiff in anything less challenging, even if it is insanely dangerous."

[agent_romanoff]

"I'm no hero. You're the one with the super suit." Natasha covers Toni's hand briefly with her free one, "but thanks....I think."

She can't help but smirk, "that's true." She's take danger over paperwork any day.

Natasha taps Toni's hand once more before pulling away, reaching over for the nearest menu, "what kind of waffles are good here?"

[iam_ironwoman]

"Honey there were murals with your face on them in Times Square." Toni laughs, plucking up a menu.

"You are absolutely heroic. Slightly more heroic than myself on account of being far less defenseless when unarmed. More heroic than Bruce but less than Steve, but he's sort of winner by patriotic default." Oh yes, she's ranked the whole team on a very finite 'heroism' scale...

"Anyway, yes, they have chocolate chip waffles with whip cream, you can get strawberries too if you want. They are amazing. However, as always, I am still staring down the maple-apple cinnamon strudel waffle and questioning my life choices. Decisions are so hard."

[agent_romanoff]

SHIELD wasn't impressed with that. Having the faces of their spies on display wasn't something they had planned for.

"But we're working on that," Natasha teases lightly. The training and sparring has definitely helped Toni- Natasha can see the improvements, but there's still a long way to go. She does agree that none of them is more heroic than Captain America though. The name practically says it all.

"They are," she looks over the choices and has to restrain herself from buying almost everything she sees. Eventually she does decide on the chocolate chip waffles with whip cream, and a hot chocolate to go with it.

[iam_ironwoman]

"So we are! I kept up what you told me and I can finally do that kick without falling over or dropping my guard to keep my balance."

Toni hums and haws over chocolate chip or apple maple until Natasha orders, then asks if she can put chocolate chips in the maple apple waffle and sends the waitress off saying she'll see what she can do. She then helps herself to all the flavored creamers piled in the bowl and starts topping off he re-filled coffee with hazelnut vanilla.

"So, lets see. What have you missed at the office..." It was easiest to speak about SHIELD in nonspecific and mundane terms - both for security and for laughs.

"Clint is away on assignment, he left you a letter. Steve has developed some kind of moral objection to Instagram. Aaand Fury got a new hat. I think that's about it."

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha didn't seem surprised. It was only a matter of time before Toni had that move down. Just means it's time to move onto something else. "Well done," she claps a little, "you can show me next time."

"Steve was introduced to instagram?" She's just going to assume that it's Toni's fault for that. She's not sure why Fury's new hat is office gossip, but whatever. Stranger things have happened.

"What kind of letter?" Depending on the assignment, a letter could mean one of two things. A goodbye...or a reminder to set something on his DVR.

[iam_ironwoman]

"That one is ALL on Darcy!" Toni said, throwing up her hands. "She showed Thor and Thor showed Steve and he got grouchy about the whole idea of faux antiquing."

She picked up her phone again and flicked through, digging up the page she was looking for and handing in to Natasha. Captain America has a twitter account now. Probably for the best that it's not yet confirmed as the real Cap.

Toni smirked.

"It was the kind of letter he felt was safe being left stuck to the fridge at the mansion with a magnet he got for free with some beer. So, you know, probably a love confession, last will and testament, something like that."

[agent_romanoff]

"Thor can use technology?" Natasha asks, a bemused look on her face.

She takes the phone and smiles fondly, reading through the tweets that she knew instantly were from Steve himself. That could only be a bad idea.

"I guess so," Natasha does sigh with relief, "I hope he left me his bow.

[iam_ironwoman]

"Apparently. Only touch screens though. Actual keyboards are a little lost on him still. He can totally do that iPhone whale thing though."

She takes the phone when Natasha hands it back and flicks over to her email.

"If he doesn't come back I'm spending what's left on his Starbucks card. It's what he would want."

[agent_romanoff]

Natasha made a mental note to self: don't give Thor her phone number. Clint spammed her with those whales for a week when everyone thought they were funny.

"Of course it is," maybe they should spend it anyway, he hardly uses it. "How thoughtful of you."