Author notes:

A mandatory reminder: If you recognize a character, it belongs to either Marvel or J.K. Rowling! I do not own any of them, nor do I use them for any financial benefit. I own the plot idea and hope all of you enjoy reading it.
English is not my first language, so if you find any grammatical mistakes, let me know!

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Natalia Romanova, currently residing in London under a fake persona of a ballet teacher, was experiencing a strange day. The famous assassin had recently completed her fifth freelance mission following her defection from the red room almost three years ago. It had gone smoothly but since she couldn't access the Red Room resources anymore, she was a wanted criminal in many countries. She had detected someone following her in France almost three months ago, prompting her to flee to London and to hide in plain sight. She knew whoever had trailed her was keeping tabs on her and would expect her to follow the red room protocol. The red room had a lot of resources, and they would always give agents a completely new identity with changed physical attributes. So instead of dying her hair and getting new contacts, she decided to go for a complete personality overhaul. After all, no one would mistake a shy and reserved ballet teacher in London for the Black Widow. She knew ballet was a risky choice, but she required money. She had exhausted her resources in fabricating a trail going back till last three years. Also, creating a fake missing complaint about her non-existent husband and a well-crafted psychiatrist recommendation to move somewhere else, hadn't come at a low price. But it was worth the money. Everyone had bought it with the hook, line, and sinker.

Anyone hardly bothered the pretty ballet teacher with a tragic back-story and all unwanted attempts were discouraged by her friendly neighbors. The famous spy wouldn't have second guessed her cover if a handsome blond man had not asked her out for a date. Yes, that's where her day had turned strange. Her mind, trained to think about every possible aspect of the situation, had jumped to the worst possible conclusion. The red room had found her and she needed to escape. It was not going to be easy this time. She had depleted her resources and she knew next to nothing about the man who was sent to capture her. If she fled in hurry, she would risk going into an unknown territory. Thus, she decided to play along and in turn get the information from him.

Right now, she was on her way home from her date with 'Francis Clinton'. So far she could find out only two things about him.

a) it was not his real name and b) he was good at the job. In their date, he had not revealed anything that she wouldn't find out from digging through public (mostly forged) records. He had insisted on dropping her home but she had politely declined, allowing him to accompany her to train station and then getting into a random train. That's why she was in Surrey, hoping to get home and hatch out a new escape plan.

But her day took a turn towards the weird when a toddler hugged her legs and cried out ' mama'. To say, the unflappable spy was surprised, will be an understatement. However, the toddler didn't seem to notice her discomfort as he clung to her legs and continued brawling random words like 'mama, up, home'. She ruffled his hair, nodded to the sour-faced woman behind him and continued her journey home. If she had turned around, she would have witnessed the longing in the toddler's eyes as he massaged his arm where his guardian had pinched him and a tabby cat next to him growling at a roof.

Author Notes:

Questions, suggestions, and plot ideas are always welcome!