The Avengers: After The Invasion
by John O'Connor

Disclaimer: "Marvel's The Avengers" and its characters are the property of
Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios.  Situations, and story are the property
of the author.

Some spoilers for "Marvel's The Avengers".



Maria Hill was tired.  She couldn't remember when she had last been this tired.  If she ever had.
But she was still keyed up from all the adrenaline flowing through her system.

The past few days had been a whirlwind of activity for SHIELD.  First, the theft of the Tesseract
and the destruction of the dark matter energy project by Loki - Loki of Asgard who had been
brought to the Helicarrier by Captain America, Iron Man and Thor.  Then, the turned agents'
assault allowing the demi-god to go free as well as the Hulk's rampage through the ship.  All this
was followed by the insanely hectic hours during the attempted alien invasion of the Earth and
the nearly-successful attempt to nuke mid-town Manhattan in response.  Fortunately, the
Avengers were able to stop them and Tony Stark used the nuke to stop the aliens in their own
sector of space.

Nick Fury, her boss and the director of SHIELD, finally ordered her below to catch some rest.
'How come he doesn't look half-dead?  He's been on the go longer than I have,' she wondered as
she made her way down a corridor in the dormitory section of the massive flying aircraft carrier.

With a loud sigh, she blinked after the retinal scanner ran over her eye.  The door lock cleared
and she entered her quarters.

"Lights.  Lights!  Damn!" she swore when the lighting did not come up in her cabin.  The affects
of the attack and the Hulk's rampage was straining Damage Control.  As a result of necessity for
full power and resources in the command center and the flight deck, the labs, the cabins and the
storage areas were browned out - at best.

By feel, Maria made it to the smaller of two cabinets she had been allocated for personal affects.
Inside, she found an old camping lantern.  It didn't give off much light but she really didn't need
much in her small, Spartan room.

The main room was a bunk with a shelf and reading lamp above it, a small table below her
cabinets, a clothing locker above the bed and a door to the side to a small bathroom.  The
bathroom was barely bigger than an airline lavatory but with a standup shower.

The room was nearly bare of anything to indicate someone actually used the room.  But her
apartment back home in Brooklyn wasn't much better.  And, being on the command staff, she
warranted her own cabin.  Most of the crew were housed in co-ed dormitories with a bunk and a
single cabinet on the lower decks and had to use communal bathrooms.

The belt with her weapon and other accessories went onto a small shelf in her locker.  Then she
started to unzip the front of her jumpsuit.  'A shower will feel so good...' she mused as she began
to pull the sleeves of her left arm.

"What...?" she muttered as her hand froze.  Muted by the background hiss of the ship's HVAC as
well as the structural creaks and groans from the stress imposed on the carrier, she failed to
immediately notice the sound of her shower.

Yanking open the door of her bathroom, Maria took a single step and pulled the shower door
open.  She froze and stared at the wet, naked redhead before her.

"Well, it's about time you got here," Natasha Romanoff stated.  "Who were you expecting?  That
leggy redhead who nursed Cap after he thawed out?  By the way, the water's cold."

"Tasha?  When did you get back?  I thought you were still in Manhattan."

"I was.  I wanna tell you about this great little restaurant Tony Stark took us to after...well, you
know.  But first things first..."  The Russian reached out and grasped the unzipped sides of
Maria's jumpsuit, her fingers brushing the still-concealed nipples, saying, "So sexy.  Teasing
me?"

The suit came open as Natasha pulled it down, trapping Maria's arms as her small, but round
breasts came into view.  "Get naked and get in here!"

In moments, Maria's jumpsuit and boots were tossed back into the main room and she stepped
into the cold stream of water.  Natasha grabbed her and kissed her deeply.  Maria returned the
passion as they pressed their bodies together - completely forgetting the aches, pains and
injuries they had each suffered.  As her tongue traced the brunette's ear, the Russian pulled the
pins holding Maria's hair and let the tresses fall down around her shoulders.  Whispering into
Maria's ear, Natasha said, "You look so much prettier with your hair down..."

"When the fighting was going on, I had no time to think about anything but surviving.  But when
there was any lull, all I could think was 'I need to get through this for Maria.'" Natasha whispered
before kissing Maria's ear.

"I knew you could take care of yourself but, when the Council ordered the nuke..." Maria
shuddered at the memory.  "I was afraid I'd never see you again."

"I'm here my love.  As long as I have you to come back to, I'll always make it out."

Jumping out of the shower, they quickly dried each other.  Natasha held Maria's head and tilted
it.  "You're hurt," she said as she saw the remnants of the clotted blood near Maria's hairline.

Observing a couple of cuts and a clot near the redhead's hairline, Maria replied, "You too.  And
this bruise..."  Her hand coasted across Natasha's stomach, tracing a large, undoubtedly painful
bruise.

"It's nothing."

"Damned Russian pragmatism," Maria snorted.

Feeling the redhead's lips on her neck, she muttered, "Love me, Tasha.  Let me love you too."

Natasha lowered Maria onto her bunk and lay atop the brunette.  They resumed kissing.  Slow
languid kisses that slowly grew heated as tongues traded places in each other's mouths.

Moving down Maria's body, Natasha claimed her small, round breasts, sucking each nipple until
it was rock hard.  Then she ghosted her lips further down her lover's body.  As she knelt between
Maria's legs, the SHIELD office touched her shoulder.  "I want to please you too."

Quickly climbing off the bunk, the woman shook her still-damp auburn locks teasingly.  With a
smile, she crawled back over the brunette but with her head towards Maria's feet and her legs on
either side of Maria's head.

Impatiently, the reclining woman pulled the Russian's hips down and began to French kiss
Natasha's red-furred mound.  With a pleased moan, Natasha lowered her head and began to kiss
and lick Maria's sex, her tongue exploring the humid depths of her woman.

They fell into a loving rhythm as they continued to please each other through two orgasms.
When Natasha came, she lifted her head and groaned loudly.  When Maria climaxed, her head
fell back as she called out her lover's name.

And neither had more than flicked the other's clit.  Maria started off, her lips wrapping around
Natasha's bud as she sucked and tongued the throbbing little member.  Natasha followed suit
and added several fingers sliding through Maria's netherlips.

They managed to bring each other off at almost the same instant - crying out their cresting
pleasure into each other before Natasha slumped down.  Her body lay on Maria's equally
boneless body as they recovered from their intense experience.

Her head resting on Maria's hip and her hand cupping the dark-haired mound, Natasha muttered,
"I wonder if they have the hot water on yet?"

The two lovers laughed as Natasha maneuvered her way around to kiss Maria, tasting herself on
her woman's mouth before they resettled themselves and dozed off.

Slowly, waking on the cramped bed, holding her lover, Maria began to trace some of the scars
on the redhead's body.  So much pain and loss but she knew that Natasha felt it a fair trade for
the moments they could steal away for themselves.

"I'm so lucky I found you," Natasha whispered as they cuddled on the small bunk.

"I'm so glad I found you too," Maria replied.  "I love you."

"And I love you, my Maria."

The End

  (c) John O'Conner

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