Over the next 3 nights, the two women carried on with their evening routine. Eleanor bringing drinks and UNO, and Nat getting better at the game, somehow. She was even starting to talk more, which both of them were secretly proud of.

Natalia had made her first proper friend, and she loved it. Someone spending time with her because they wanted to, and who genuinely liked her company, and not just assigned to be with her for various jobs. Each evening she would look forward to Eleanor visiting, this even helped her sleep better, the warm feeling she got from the younger woman made her feel safe, and so she was not as tormented by nightmares as she usually was.

However, this had to end, temporarily.

Both women were informed that whilst the process of finalising Nat's case was being finished, Nat could not have visitors. With Eleanor's role in the case being officially completed, she was no longer authorised to go and see her. They knew it was temporary, but it still hurt. Having gotten used to each other's company it would be a jolt to their systems to suddenly go to zero contact, but it wasn't like they had any other choice.

The next 4 nights were not nice for Nat, waking up every few hours in a panic, visions of her past tormenting her mind. She just wanted to see her, even for a few seconds. She was fully aware that she had become reliant on the younger Agent, and that scared her, but she was determined not to put her walls up, wanting to keep her friend; she made her feel grounded.

---

Eleanor wasn't having nightmares like Nat was, but she still felt a bit lost in the evenings. She had a movie night with Maria which she loved, and it helped. But she felt guilty that Nat didn't have that, she was just stuck in her cell. This ate her up inside that she had no choice but to let her friend sit there alone. Her mind often drifted to the Russian, wondering what she was up to at the time, because well, there wasn't anything for her to be doing at all really.

Zoning out with these thoughts during work didn't go unnoticed. Clint would usually just tease her, but he was genuinely concerned with how low his friend had looked over the past few days.

"What's wrong El?", this immediately snapped her out of her trance, he usually just called her by her last name, unless he was concerned with her, or just wanted something badly, like food or something.

"Nothin'".

"You can't lie to me, I know you too well".

She just stared at him for a few seconds before thinking of what to say, he was right, she was like an open book to him, "Just worried about her, she's all alone down there, you know?". She turned away from Clint before taking a sip of water.

"I know, but her final interview is this afternoon, if it goes well she can beco-".

In shock, her whole body tensed up, and she ended up spitting her water all over her desk and laptop.

"SHIT", she quickly dabbed her laptop with her sleeves hoping that it was not broken, luckily it didn't seem to be. Thank God, she did not want to go and request a new laptop because of some water damage.

"What the hell was that", Clint looked at her unamused.

"I forgot that was today!".

Rolling his eyes, "You're attentive".

"Shut it Barton, well you've been more involved than I have these last few days, do you think it will go okay??". Everything over the last week had been leading up to this and hearing that the decision was being made today, well, she could have passed out.

Hearing the panic in Eleanor's voice he responded with "Hey hey, calm yourself, she's done a good job so far, unless she royally screws up today I think she has a good chance".

Eleanor slowly nodded at him before turning back to her work.

---

It was now 3:30 pm, Eleanor was sitting in a chair in the hallway by the room Nat, Barton, Fury, Hill, and some important people she honestly couldn't remember the name of, were in, they weren't her main priority. Her leg bounced up and down with nervous energy. She was honestly terrified.

After waiting a further 20 minutes she couldn't sit anymore and began pacing around. Is she okay? Are they making her uncomfortable? What happens if it goes wrong? Would Eleanor be partially to blame if her new friend was harmed because her work on it wasn't good enough or something? All of these thoughts were running around her head over and over. Being an overthinker was not doing her any favours right now.

Eventually, the door flew open, scaring the crap out of Eleanor, she quickly changed her stance to a straight-backed posture and moved out of the way of people walking past. She politely nodded at Fury and her other superiors, before seeing Clint and Nat walking out. She didn't want to look at Nat, not knowing what happened, she didn't want to make eye contact yet. What if it had gone wrong? Fury and the others had walked off quite quickly which worried her.

She stared at Clint with desperation showing in her eyes. When he saw her face he just nodded with a big smile on his face. Eleanor felt a huge weight lift off of her shoulders, feeling as though she would be able to float it felt that light now.

Nat hadn't noticed Eleanor standing halfway down the hall yet but was feeling ecstatic. She was finally free, she could work on wiping the red from her ledger. Fury had mentioned that there would be a mission she and Barton would need to go on to finalise it all, but that was at the back of her mind at the moment. It was something to deal with on another day.

Eleanor finally turned to Nat, a huge grin on her face, this caught Nat's attention now that eyes were on her. Feeling as though she was being watched, she looked up and saw the strawberry blonde, and then she did something no one expected, hell she was the last person who was expecting this. She ran forward and hugged her. It had been a while since she had shown this type of affection towards someone, but she was happy, free, and hadn't seen her friend in days. She was being overrun with unknown emotions and needed her anchor.

Eleanor hadn't expected this and so when Nat collided with her body she almost toppled over, both women giggling when they regained balance. Feeling the raw emotion the hug held, Eleanor squeezed a little bit harder into it.

"Thank you so much", Nat said breaking away from the hug and looking into the bright blue eyes in front of her.

"I told you that I got you didn't I?", she returned with a small smirk.

This made Nat smile, then remembered that Barton was behind them, so turned on her neutral demeanour again almost instantly and turned around to him, offering a small smile.

He walked over to the two. The redhead had grown on him over the last week, so he was also very happy that she was sticking around. He was also slightly relieved that there might be someone else he could talk to. He loved the young woman sure, but damn she could be annoying sometimes. What he didn't know was that the pair would eventually become a tag team against him, almost as though their sole purpose in life would be to annoy him.

"So Agent...", he said smirking at Nat, "Shall we go and sort out your documents, then go over your schedule?".

Nat nodded before turning her attention back to Eleanor, not wanting the woman to leave her, but also not wanting to say this out loud.

"Don't worry, I'm coming too".

It was like she could read her mind.

---

The trio were now sat at Clint's desk, going through all the paperwork that Fury had assigned to them, to make a start on Nat becoming an official SHIELD agent. To start with they just had to go over the basic information and paperwork, then go over all of the confidentiality and protocols, and to top it off, training organisation and work times.

"First things first, name, Natali-", he started saying whilst typing.

He was quickly interrupted, "I'd like to change my name", seeing the confused look on his face, Nat continued, "If that's okay".

"Sure, what to?", he said nonchalantly. SHIELD had a lot of influence, and so they would be able to sort this out for her with no problem.

She sat in thought for a few minutes. Clint and Eleanor stayed quiet knowing that this was important to her. Nat wanted more of a 'Western' name, it would throw her enemies off, making her harder to find, and she wanted to cut ties with Russia, the place had been nothing but cruel to her.

"Natasha Romanoff?", she looked toward Eleanor, looking for her approval.

She of course smiled at the redhead, "I love it, suits you".

With this, Nat turned her head to Clint and nodded at him.

It took about an hour to fill out everything. Nat now had her SHIELD ID card, and she kept looking at it, and her new name. A fresh start. Her thoughts were interrupted by Clint.

"We should go over your schedule, training will begin tomorrow".

"Sure", she responded with a small nod.

Eleanor had been out to grab a few bottles of water for the 3 of them, walking back in she tossed the water for them to catch, she gently threw Nat's bottle, but launched Clint's at his head. Unfortunately, he caught it. He wasn't even phased. He just put his middle finger up at her whilst carrying on getting the training sheets ready. Eleanor was used to this and often returned the favour, so she wasn't phased.

"Unfortunately, I will have to love and leave you, Fury wants me".

Both Nat and Clint turned to her confused, with Nat's eyes showing a bit of disappointment.

"What for?", Clint said finally turning to look at her.

She shrugged, "He was being cryptic as always. Only said 'pack a bag, and meet me in my office'".

Clint scoffed before turning back to his screen, "Vague". Eleanor gently nodded, it did frustrate her at times that they weren't usually given more information before being summoned, it's nice to go into a briefing with at least information like mission length or location, especially when being told to pack a bag. How was she supposed to know what to pack? Warm or cold weather? Casual undercover clothes or mostly SHIELD uniforms? It was a guessing game.

The words 'Pack a bag' ran through Nat's head a few times, she frowned a bit, realising that Eleanor might not be around for a short while, even though they just got the opportunity to hang out again.

"I'll see you guys in a bit though, yeah?", Eleanor asked, hopeful that this would be the case.

"Yeah of course", Clint said as Nat simultaneously smirked.

"Yep, can't leave me without saying goodbye this time".

Eleanor gasped and acted offended, in reality, it was nice to hear her joking around, "Listen here Romanoff-".

Sensing that there would be a back and forth banter, Clint stopped it as he had a banging headache from the events of today.

"Just go!", waving the younger Agent off.

"Love you too Barton, bye-bye!" she responded cheerily before walking towards her room, packing for God knows what.

Once Eleanor had left, Clint turned to Nat, "Soooo, you and Hughes huh?".

"What?", Nat liked Eleanor, but their relationship was purely platonic at this point in time, with the feeling being mutual for Eleanor. She was a bit uncomfortable with what Clint was insinuating, as she was always told that love was a weakness.

"You two seem comfortable together", he added with a small smirk.

"We are friends", she crossed her arms across her chest, subconsciously closing herself off with her body language.

Clint turned and looked at Nat and just saw her looking at him with a serious look. "Okay, sorry I said anything, let's just carry on with the scheduling, yeah?".

"I'd like that, thank you".

Clint was in charge of her training and so for a couple of months, the two would be forced to spend a lot of time together. They didn't mind, they enjoyed each other's company. He was going to oversee her initial physical training, whilst also going over some preliminary tests of her capabilities, and of course, teaching her SHIELD protocol and how to use their tech.

---

Ultimately Eleanor had gone for clothes to keep her warm as it was autumn, and just hoped that she would not be sent to the Southern Hemisphere, and a couple of SHIELD uniforms just in case. Then began trekking up to Fury's office.

Duffel bag in hand, she knocked and opened the door when hearing him shout through. "You wanted to see me, Sir?".

"Yes, take a seat", he responded whilst gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.

"As you've probably guessed, I'm sending you somewhere", amusement showed in his voice.

"Mmm, don't need any training to guess that", she flashed a grin at the Director, who gave a small smirk back. When he was in a good mood the two were often very sarcastic with each other, he was only like this with a handful of people. The others received sarcasm to show them how stupid they are.

He sat up a bit straighter, if that was possible, getting straight to business now, "You'll be flying with a team to Sindi, a small place in Pärnu County, Estonia. There's a small weapons smuggling ring there, amateurs for now, but showing signs of being able to grow, and they're showing interest in some dangerous stuff. We want to put a stop to it before it becomes an issue. An easy enough mission for you, stake out the place for a while, then confiscate the weapons and detain the appropriate people".

Eleanor nodded at the important parts of his explanation, "How long? And when do I go?".

"We estimate about 2 weeks to get the relevant information and arrests, and you leave at 9 tonight". Eleanor felt her heart drop at this, she had only just got Natasha 'back', and now she was leaving for 2 weeks, she had to keep a strong exterior though, not really wanting to explain to the director why she was so upset. He could be judgy.

"Do you have enough for 2 weeks?".

"Will I be able to do laundry whilst there?".

She had definitely not packed enough, expecting to only be gone a week maximum. He only nodded in response. "Then yes, I have enough".

"Good", he said whilst placing a mission debrief packet in front of her. "You're excused, good luck Agent".

"Thank you, Sir", grabbing the file, and her bag, she walked out of the room. She was gutted really, that she was going to be gone for a while, but she had a job to do.

The time was 6:45 pm, so she had enough time to quickly grab a bite to eat, and hopefully, find Nat and Clint before she had to leave. Sprinting to the floor her room was on, she stopped outside of her door when she heard voices coming from inside, and saw her door open slightly. At first, she thought maybe Maria was in there and had been careless this time and not closed the door, ruining the element of surprise, but Maria only ever went into her room when alone, and there were definitely multiple people in there. Was she being robbed? No, if SHIELD was being robbed they wouldn't go and rob Eleanor's room, she internally chuckled at how quickly her brain had jumped to such an extreme explanation.

She opened her door, seeing no other than Nat and Clint... Raiding her wardrobe? She was utterly confused. The two were looking at her wide-eyed, not expecting to be caught.

"Wh- huh? How did you get in?", you could only access her room with her bedroom key card.

"Nimble fingers", Clint stated whilst wiggling his fingers at her and throwing her key card on the floor in her direction. Okay, so she technically had been robbed, kudos to her brain.

"You ass", she bent down to pick it up, "Okay, next question, why?".

"I needed some clothes", Nat was looking at the floor sheepishly, thinking she had made her angry, she was hesitant to do it in the first place, but Clint said it would be fine.

"Oh yeah, that's fine! Here I'll help", Eleanor said, walking over and grabbing some things of hers that she thought would suit Nat, and throwing them on Clint's outstretched arm, he had become a coat hanger.

Their antics were making Nat laugh, which put a smile on both of their faces. Once Eleanor was sure Nat had enough clothes to last her a while, she turned to Nat, "So, where's your room?".

"Opposite you, but 1 door to the left".

"Well then, let's go! Your new amazing clothes will need to be put away". Both were excited about having their rooms close to each other.

This caused Nat to scoff and chuckle, before turning around and leading the others to her room.

Yes, her room, she still couldn't quite believe it.

Walking in, Clint and Eleanor helped her put away some of the necessities. Both Nat and Clint had noticed that over the course of this activity, Eleanor kept checking the time.

"Got somewhere to be Hughes? Bored of us already?", he said smirking.

Eleanor looked over to Clint, then to Nat, before looking at the floor, shuffling her feet a bit. She had been caught out.

"You do have somewhere to be", Nat quietly stated, sounding a bit deflated. In the fun that they were having she had completely forgotten that Eleanor had been summoned for a mission.

"How long?", was all Clint said. He would never admit it, but he did miss his friend when they were apart on missions.

She looked up, "2 weeks".

Nat and Clint looked at each other before turning back to her.

"When?", Nat asked.

"Uhhhh... about", She looked at the clock before answering, it was now 8 pm, "An hour, but I have half an hour before I have to make my way down". Eleanor really didn't want to go, so it was hard to be explaining this right now.

Nat felt a small pain in her chest, not one caused by physical pain, but just sadness.

"Is it dangerous?", Nat asked, worried about her well-being.

"It's on the lower end of the spectrum, gotta do a stakeout and confiscate some weapons, arrest the bad guys too". She really was confident that it wouldn't be anything too risky, Fury had said that they were amateurs after all.

Not wanting there to be tension in the room anymore, she wanted to break the new silence that had taken over the room.

"But hey, by the time I'm back you'll be settled in, and we can hang out all the time, I promise!", she directed this to Nat.

This forced Clint to clear his throat trying to get Eleanor's attention, "Oh yeah, and I suppose you too Barton", she quickly reacted.

"Well thank you for the invitation, asshole".

They all broke out into small laughs, before continuing to organise Nat's room, eating some food at the same time, and before they knew it 8:30 came around.

Going back to Eleanor's room, Nat and Clint waited outside whilst she grabbed her file, placed it in her bag, and then they all headed down to the hangar together, a cloud of tension above their heads following for the entire journey.

Waiting for them was a jet, with a group of 4 other agents waiting outside. Eleanor was going to be second in command for this mission, so she walked up to her superior and greeted him, before turning to Fury. Every now and then he would say farewell before she left.

The Director pulled her into a small side hug, wishing her good luck, then telling them all to go aboard.

She placed her bag on the ground before making her way over to her friends who were standing in the background. She hugged Clint who gave his usual pep talk before she went away, "Be safe, no unnecessary risks, you hear me? If you need help, ask, no one will judge you, and if-", he was cut short by the younger Agent, who had heard this speech a million times before.

"Yeah Barton, I know I know, if I die you'll bring me back, and kill me again".

He smirked, "You bet".