2011-

Around 2 years had passed since, it had been relatively calm for a while, but then the last year had been extremely busy for the two women, and the entirety of SHIELD. With Tony Stark announcing himself as Iron Man, many criminals that had been lurking in the shadows had come out to challenge him thinking that they had correctly matched his technology. Stupid. This, however, meant that many Agents were given triple the cases that they usually had and had to keep tabs on a lot more 'quiet criminals' because they don't seem to stay quiet for very long anymore.

On a more personal level, Nat and Eleanor had celebrated their first anniversary by going on a weekend away to a small cabin and they had enjoyed their time away from everyone in nature. For their second anniversary they, unfortunately, could not get time away from work, so they did something more low-key and just went out for some nice food and a drive. Eleanor had said "I love you" about 5 months into the relationship, and both women were slightly surprised when Natasha said it back with no hesitation.

They no longer had separate rooms, Eleanor's old room was now occupied by another Agent. There was a debate on which room to keep, Eleanor's had been lived in for longer so they initially thought that, but then they decided to go with Nat's, it was the first space she's ever been able to call her own, and Eleanor thought it would be nice for them to live in that space together, which Nat appreciated. Natasha had grown her hair out, whereas Eleanor had cut hers to shoulder length.

They were both happy. Very happy. Nat felt like she had some stability in her life for the first time.

---

They had both been assigned to a new case involving the Iron Man himself. Natasha would be sent in as 'Natalie Rushman', a notary, to try and get close to Stark and keep an eye on him and assess his potential use in the 'Avengers Initiative' and whether he was appropriate for it. He was showing impulsivity and recklessness, not ideal for a man in such high power. He was also becoming ill, as to which they were not sure why, so that was also a main factor in this operation.

Eleanor was more in the background of this operation, she organised everything, put out fires, and planned out the next move, allowing Natasha to play out her role with ease, and hopefully, no hurdles will present themselves for her. She was the one in correspondence with Pepper Potts, meaning that Natalia Rushman was hired.

In order to complete this mission, the two were temporarily relocated to Malibu, the home of Tony Stark's futuristic mansion. Sure, the two missed home, but it was a nice change of pace. Unfortunately, it would come at the cost of Nat interacting with Tony on a regular basis.

Today was the day that Nat would be meeting Tony for the first time, and she was not thrilled. She had been complaining to Eleanor for the entirety of the previous week about her lack of enthusiasm for this task, and Eleanor was more than happy to be her outlet for this, reassuring her that she knew that it sucked, sometimes a person just needs to vent without being offered solutions.

"I don't want to", Nat whined whilst buttoning up her shirt in front of the full-length mirror in their bedroom.

"I know, but you're going to do a really good job, and I'll be here at the end of the day, okay?", Eleanor responded, getting up from sitting on the edge of the bed, and walking over to her and wrapping her arms around Nat from behind. Nat sighed and leaned into the touch. Eleanor could always make her feel more at peace.

The two enjoyed the brief moment of calm before Nat turned around and put her forehead against Eleanor's, "I'll see you tonight детка", and then she walked out of the room, Eleanor following Nat with her eyes.

Eleanor didn't really have anything to do today, she had done all that she could do, for now, she had to wait and see what happened today before she could do anything else. So, she decided to spend the day tidying the small apartment that they have been given and cook a nice meal for tonight.

---

Nat was walking through the halls, folder in hand, preparing to meet Pepper and Tony. Stark's reputation was known by pretty much everyone in the States, and she was not looking forward to having to deal with him. Walking into the training area, both Happy and Tony turned to look at her as she made her way toward Pepper.

"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company", Pepper directed toward Tony.

Nat opened up the folder once she reached Pepper, "I need you to initial each box". Pepper complied with Nat's request instantly, so far so good. Although it wasn't like she was expecting any issues with Pepper.

In the background grunts from the men fighting could be heard. "What's your name, lady", Tony shouted whilst pointing at her, making Nat internally groan, here it goes.

"Rushman, Natalie Rushman", as she said it she realised she sounded like James Bond.

"Front and centre. Come into the church". Was he seriously asking her to come and fight 3 seconds after introductions? Nat thought.

Pepper had the same thought process, "No. You're not seriously gonna ask-", she started before being cut off.

"If it pleases the court, which it does". Okay, apparently he was seriously asking.

"It's no problem", Nat smiled sweetly at Pepper before making her way over to the ring.

"I'm sorry, he's very eccentric". 'That's one word for it', Natasha's inner dialogue spoke. As Tony lifted up the ropes, she slid under, and stared at him with doe eyes, making her want to throw up. But he got a bit flustered so, job well done on her part.

"What?", He stated after sipping his drink, even though no one had said anything, "Can you give her a lesson?".

"No problem", Happy responded.

Happy was rambling on to her about something in the ring, but most of her attention was still on what Tony was doing across the room, given that he was her mission.

"Have you boxed before?", Happy asked, blissfully unaware of the damage that she could do.

"I have, yes", She once again responded sweetly, playing her role to perfection.

"What, like Tae Bo? Booty camp? Crunch? Something like that?". The arrogance was astounding she thought, so she just sighed in response before Tony shouted something over.

"How do I spell your name, Natalie?".

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N".

She turned her attention back to Happy who was really starting to piss her off, and so she turned to look at Tony again, she was pretty sure he was looking at her on the screen but she couldn't see well from that angle, and didn't have time to look properly before Happy piped up again. "Rule number one, never take your eye off your opponent".

He went to punch her, so she swiftly turned, grabbed and twisted his wrist, and flipped herself over so that her legs could wrap around his neck and pull him to the floor. Happy very quickly tapped out. 'That was easy' was all she thought as she started standing.

"Oh my god! Happy!", Pepper shrieked from across the room.

"That's what I'm talking about", Tony said at the same time Happy said, "I just slipped". Natasha internally eye-rolled. Although it was fun throwing Happy to the floor, she needed to finish the main part of her 'job' for the day.

She slid out of the ring in front of Tony to get her shoes back on and carry on with her 'job' in legal, "Just, I need your impression", she looked at Tony.

"You have a quiet reserve, I don't know, you have an old soul", he responded. Oh lord.

"I meant your fingerprint", she said showing the page to Tony.

"Right", he inked his thumb and then did the impression.

"Will that be all Mr Stark?", She asked smiling at the man in question.

"No", Tony responded but Pepper interrupted, "Yes, that will be all Miss Rushman", and so she walked away, feeling confident that Tony would want her back at some point.

---

Back at home, Eleanor had already received some emails from Stark Industries asking Natalie Rushman to fulfil the assistant position. Pretending to be Natalie, Eleanor accepted the change in job roles within the company. Everything was going smoothly so far, Nat had done a good job.

Once the emails had been dealt with, she got back to the task at hand, cooking. She was crap at cooking, but hopefully, this would taste alright. Chicken and bacon risotto. It seemed to be going okay at the minute, and Natasha had called to say that she was on her way, which was perfect timing as the food was nearly done.

When Natasha walked through the door and into the kitchen area she groaned whilst kicking off her shoes and dropping her bags, making Eleanor pout at her, "That hard, huh?".

Nat just hummed a bit in response before pulling Eleanor in for a hug, though she quickly pulled away slightly, but was still holding her waist with both hands, and looked at the pans on the stove, "Are you cooking?".

"You don't have to sound so surprised you know", she retorted whilst smirking, then placing a small kiss on her lips, turning to plate up the meal.

"Yeah but- I already had a tough day and now I have to deal with your cooking?".

'The audacity' Eleanor thought before she slowly turned around, 2 plates in hand, and narrowed her eyes, "Thin ice, Romanoff".

The redhead chuckled, "I'm just kidding детка, I'm sure it's wonderful". She was in fact not sure that it was wonderful. Eleanor had had many cooking mishaps in the past, including but not limited to somehow burning a pot of soup but serving it cold. That was a weird one. So, it was understandable that Natasha was a bit dubious about seeing Eleanor cooking a meal.

The two went to sit down on the sofa, tucking into their meals. Nat's eyes went wide after the first bite, "Wait... why is this actually good?".

"Did you not just hear my thin ice statement?", Eleanor scoffed. The pair laughed before inhaling the rest of their food. Eleanor played it off as no big deal but inside she was chuffed to bits about the meal being successful, she had wanted Nat to have a nice homecooked meal after dreading today so much.

After the dishes were done they cuddled up on the sofa and talked about work, a regular routine for the pair. "So, how did today really go?", Eleanor asked whilst playing with the rings that Nat was wearing.

"I beat up a guy", she responded nonchalantly, making Eleanor hastily sit up and face her.

"You did what?!".

"Oh, they asked me to don't worry".

Eleanor shook her head, and then placed herself back in her original position. She was still confused but at least Natalie Rushman hadn't committed workplace assault a few hours prior.

"Who?".

"Happy Hogan".

"Oh yeah, that guy, why did you beat him up?", Eleanor was majorly confused and Nat hadn't given much away still.

"They were training, Tony asked me to step in with Happy, who was being very condescending, assuming my only experience was 'Booty Camp'", this made Eleanor snort, "And so when he threw a punch at me, I threw him to the floor", She finished by shrugging her shoulders. Fair enough.

"Well, whatever you did worked, because Natalie Rushman got an email today with a promotion offer, which she gratefully accepted, so maybe go and beat up some more people", Eleanor smirked.

"A promotion?".

"The assistant job".

Nat groaned, "That doesn't feel like a promotion".

Eleanor laughed, "I know bub, but what would Natalie Rushman say?".

"She would say fuck this I'm getting another job".

"No", Eleanor responded, dragging out the 'o'.

To which Nat responded with, "Yes", dragging out the 's' to mock Eleanor.

"You're so annoying".

"But you love it", Nat replied, planting a kiss on top of Eleanor's head.

"That I do, that I do".

"So what's Natalie's first task as an assistant?".

"We are going to Monaco".

"Huh?".

"Stark's been invited to the Monaco Grand Prix, you are to accompany the great Stark Industries trio, whilst I will be hidden away in a nearby hotel room on comms with you, being in front of all the press and stuff is the perfect opportunity for Tony to go rogue, so Fury wants me to have ears on what's going on".

Nat nodded in understanding, "So kind of like a vacation, but you and I will be on separate flights and have to avoid each other like the plague?".

Eleanor swivelled slightly and grinned up at Nat, "Precisely".

"At least I'll get to hear your voice".