Natalia sat in her cell, bored. It was a nice cell, better than the ones she usually got thrown in, but this time her mind was not racing with escape plans, and so, she was bored.

She had spent a couple of hours watching the 'seconds' hand on the wall clock moving, her undivided attention on that clock hand. Her legs hung over the side of the bed, feet planted on the floor, one of her legs bouncing up and down with nervous energy, she was not used to feeling out of control in these situations, and it was making her very antsy.

As soon as it reached 9 pm she had decided that enough was enough and she would just sleep the boredom away.

But of course, she would not be able to sleep right away, now that she was not focusing on that damn clock, her mind was throwing all sorts of thoughts in her head. Overthinking everything that had happened today. Barton had praised her though, so that had to be a good sign right? She just wanted the case to be over, so she could determine if she was going to be able to do a bit of good, or if she was going to be killed.

Raising one arm up towards the headboard, she eventually drifted into a slumber, after a few hours of her brain tormenting her.

---

Groaning, Eleanor shoved a pillow into her face, trying to block out the noise her alarm clock was making. 5:30 am was far too early to be awake, but, now that she was working on a case that needed to be completed with extreme speed, she needed to begin work earlier.

Slowly crawling out of bed and to the bathroom, she had a quick shower, before cleaning her teeth, getting into her uniform and throwing her hair up into a high ponytail. She then started trudging over to the cafeteria to grab a slice of toast and a coffee.

She sat trying to comprehend being awake, before heading to one of the meeting rooms. Pulling out her phone, it read 6:23 am, she could have cried there and then. But, she did not want the Russian to be held in cells for too long, so she shook her head, trying to shake the tiredness away before waltzing into the meeting room, giving those already there a small salute. Clint just rolled his eyes at her antics, he could not deal with her this early in the morning.

In the room already was Hill, Fury, Barton, Coulson, and of course Eleanor. They were waiting on two others before they could start, and so Eleanor took a seat next to Maria.

After about a minute, Agents Rollins and Jordan walked in, Rollins taking a seat beside Eleanor and Jordan sitting beside Coulson. She hadn't met them yet but trusted they would be of help, not that she really had any choice.

"So...", Fury began. "We are here to clean up Barton's, and now Hughes' mess".

"Hey!", the two said at once, feeling slightly attacked. This only confirmed her thoughts that she would be dragged down with the sinking ship if this were to go wrong.

Maria elbowed Eleanor in the ribs, her not so subtle way of telling her to shut up. Rollins, Jordan, and Coulson just looked a bit confused as they hadn't been properly debriefed on the situation yet.

Whilst Fury was explaining the situation to the 3 agents, Eleanor was thinking about how to ask Fury if she could have clearance to go and see Natalia later. At first, she thought that she could just sneak down there without Fury knowing, but she quickly realised how terrible of an idea that was as he had eyes everywhere, and would have to grant her clearance so that she could enter that specific cell with her ID card.

Her next idea was to make him think that it was his idea to send her down there, but she also realised that was terrible as she had no idea how she would be able to manipulate Fury, the literal Director of an intelligence agency. So, she just decided that she would be blunt and ask the question, no beating around the bush, and hope for the best. It was the only option really.

Luckily, her lack of focus was not noticed by Fury, as she quickly paid attention again, hearing her name being said. "Due to Agent Hughes having personal complications, the necessary interrogations will be undertaken by Agent Barton. If she complies and we know we can trust her, once hired Barton will also be assigned the task of training her. Is this okay with you Barton?".

Knowing he didn't really have a choice, he just responded with a simple "Yes sir".

Feeling optimistic at the fact that Fury was talking about her potentially working at SHIELD, Eleanor didn't zone out for the rest of the workday which was a big achievement for her in all honesty. She gave herself a pat on the back at the end of the day.

They spent the next 10 hours analysing all of the information they had on the assassin, ensuring that they would be able to grant her immunity for everything that she has done. There was a lot to go over. This seemed to put off the two agents Eleanor had never met before, but the others only seemed to gain more sympathy for the woman. Halfway through the workday, Barton collected the documents that they had already gone over and went to go and speak to Natalia to get her view on these and to try and get some statements to price that she was forced and was indeed remorseful. These were going to be a rough few days for the ex-assassin.

The other Agents carried on going over the information, ready for Barton to use this half in tomorrow's interrogation. They had to work with a lot of speed, and so after about 30 coffees each, they were finally done at 5:17 pm. Eleanor was extremely relieved that the workday was over and that they were being dismissed, but this was quickly overtaken by dread when she remembered that she now needed to ask her question.

Fury thanked the Agents for their hard work today, and everyone left, aside from Eleanor. She sat working up the courage to ask Fury if she could visit the woman being detained. "Hughes, why are you still here?".

"Sorry Sir". She quickly stood and made her way over to stand near Fury, putting on the best confident front that she could muster, "I was just wondering if I could go and visit her this evening".

Immediately knowing who she was speaking about, he just furrowed his brows. This was frustrating to the young Agent, as it wasn't really a response, she stood anyway waiting for a proper reply.

"Why?".

"Well I've been told that maybe facing her will aid in me not feeling so uncomfortable with this situation as I have been, plus she seems kinda nice I guess". The confidence she was feeling was slowly ebbing away under Fury's stare. Fury seemed to not know what to do, he was slowly warming up to the Russian and believed that she would not try to attack anyone or something like that, but he didn't really want to send Eleanor in. Seeing the hopeful look on her face though, and hearing in her voice how much this meant to her, he hesitantly accepted.

Eleanor ran out of the room yelling "Thank you!", she hadn't expected it to be that easy, but hey, she wasn't complaining. Her first destination was her room. She knew that going in empty-handed might get awkward after a few minutes, so she grabbed her UNO deck, can't go wrong with a good card game. Her second destination was the coffee machine, it wasn't the best coffee but it would have to do, besides she didn't think the person in a literal cell would mind cheap coffee. Priorities, right?

With 2 coffees in hand, the UNO deck being squeezed into her body by holding it under her armpit, she walked into the detaining area. It was a place she hadn't visited often, so she had to follow a few signs to reach the correct cell.

She was incredibly nervous but knew Natalia probably felt worse because as well as facing her past, she was being held in a cell, being given barely any information about what is going on, and being faced with many new faces. It was enough to make anyone snap.

5:36 pm. A decent time, she thought. Out of politeness, she lightly tapped on the cell door with her foot, seeing as her hands were full. After waiting a few seconds she tapped the scanner with the ID hanging from her hip, then opened the door with her elbow, trying not to spill the hot coffee everywhere. That would not be a great third impression.

She was met with a confused looking Natalia sitting cross-legged on her bed. The last thing she was expecting was Eleanor walking in with a smile on her face and beverages. She honestly thought she was never going to see the Agent again, but here she was with peace offerings.

Sensing the extreme confusion, Eleanor interrupted the silence, "Do you like coffee?". She really hoped she liked coffee, she didn't trust people who didn't.

Natalia just slowly nodded. Phew, crisis averted.

This gesture was enough for Eleanor, who walked over and handed her the coffee. The coffees were in paper takeaway cups due to safety concerns. It would be harder to kill Eleanor with a paper cup, but she still didn't doubt that the Russian would manage.

She then made her way over to the small chair a little ways away from the bed. Sitting she said, "You don't mind if I hang around for a bit do you?". She placed the card deck on her thigh.

This was just met with a head tilt.

Being the annoying little shit she is, Eleanor wanted to break the tension.

"Okay, stay silent if you don't mind me staying".

Of course, there was silence.

This made the young Agent give a cheeky grin and go "Good!".

Natalia did an amused eye roll, making Eleanor chuckle.

The two sipped their coffees in silence, after 6 minutes Eleanor felt like her head would explode if this silence carried on.

"Do you know how to play UNO?".

Natalia looked up and made eye contact, "No".

Eleanor gasped loudly, pretending to be offended, placing her hand on her heart. "Well well well Natalia, that's going to change", she said smirking. She was actually looking forward to playing some games tonight, it would be a nice way to wind down.

Seeing the effort being made Natalia, gave a small but genuine smile. She wasn't visibly showing it but she was grateful for the company.

Eleanor stood and walked to the bottom end of the bed, Natalia sat at the top end.

"Do you mind if I sit?".

"Go ahead".

She climbed onto the bed, also sitting cross-legged, the two women facing each other, with a gap in the middle for cards to sit.

Eleanor showed Natalia the different cards within the deck whilst explaining the rules, Natalia clinging to every word being said. She was very competitive and wanted to make sure she knew the game and didn't have a disadvantage. Once she made sure that Natalia had a good enough grasp on the rules, she began shuffling the deck, trying to do it without screwing up and dropping any cards, that would be embarrassing.

During the games they both got very competitive, Natalia looking like she was going to flip a desk whenever Eleanor said "UNO!", and Eleanor giving disgruntled groans whenever Natalia won, which happened more often than not. But seeing the genuine, beaming smile Natalia got over winning, made her smile too. She was glad that this was turning out to be a success, and the two were enjoying themselves.

After a couple of hours of UNO, they felt more settled in each other's company. Natalia still didn't do as much talking, especially as she didn't really have childhood stories to tell like Eleanor did, but Eleanor knew that Natalia was listening and engaged in the conversation. She even managed to make her laugh a few times, mission accomplished.

When realising it was going to be lights out soon for this part of the building, Eleanor stood up, grabbing the empty cups and card deck, "I'll come visit again tomorrow!".

"That would be nice", accompanying this sentence with a small smile.

"Sleep well Natalia", Eleanor replied whilst going to open the door.

"Call me Nat".

"Okay... Nat", once again giving a smile, before leaving.