2014-02-27 - Legal Advice

Jen's office. It's...surprisingly tidy, or perhaps not so surprisingly. Her secretary would have buzzed Natasha in - the outer office is spacious and has several chairs for people who might be waiting. The inner one? Typical law office. Law textbooks on a shelf, although no doubt, these days, she has more efficient copies on the computer on the desk. Her diplomas hang on the wall. Surprisingly typical. Except for the action figure of herself on the desk.

"Jen," Natasha says coolly as she enters the office-- dressed much better than she had been at the meeting, in more businessy attire. She rarely wears such but she does own it, though it fits a bit tighter than it should right now. "Thank you for meeting with me. I have a bit of a potential legal situation, and looking at things myself, it's somewhat complicated. I figured your expertise would be warranted."

"I'll try. If I can't handle it, I can refer you to a specialist. Please, sit down." She slips out slightly from behind the desk. This is Natasha, not some criminal she has to keep at slightly protective arm's length.

"I need a divorce." Natasha is nothing if not blunt when dealing with these sorts of things. She settles into a chair, shifting the hem of her skirt a bit to get more comfortable with a rueful look. "It is my understanding that the child will legally belong to my husband, otherwise; I would not want that. Nor would Stark. Also, I have made it clear to Tony I will not entertain more serious relations with him until it has been obtained."

That's probably news to Jen. That Nat's married. Oh, and that she and Stark might be entertaining whatever 'more serious' means to Natasha.

"I was not aware that you were married. I'm not a divorce lawyer, but if it's straightforward, I can handle it. If it is not straightforward, though, you will definitely want a specialist. So, I'm going to need to know about your ex." Jen shows little sign of surprise. A bit. A raised eyebrow. Nat married? And maybe, possibly, Nat and Tony getting hitched?

"Until a few days ago," Natasha explains, "I thought he was dead. I do not know if this complicates things. He is in Russia. His name is Alexi. Alexi Shostakov. He was a test pilot." She hmms. "He was a bit older than me when we wed... here is a picture."

She reaches into her purse and pulls out a framed picture of a much-younger (probably eighteen or nineteen) Natasha in the arms of a red-headed man in his early to mid-twenties. The picture is faded with age. Natasha lays the frame on the desk, and pulls out a folder from her purse and lays it beside. "This is all the paperwork I have from this. My country told me he had died... hmmm..." she considers. "A little more than fifty years ago. This is not problem, is it?"

"Let me guess...plane took off, plane never came back?" She reaches for the folder. "This might actually be a lot simpler than you think."

"Well, they said it exploded," Natasha replies. "It was a cover, it seems, to put him in the super soldier program. My husband is Red Guardian." She gives Jen a wry smile. "I was just made aware."

She-Hulk hrms. "Okay. Have you had any contact in him in the decades since?" She sounds quite calm about this. "It *might* still need a specialist."

"None," Natasha says confidently. "I thought he was dead. The Red Guardian and I had little reason to cross paths... when I needed to work with someone of those skills, I was generally assigned to work with... someone else." She doesn't mention who. But that's not relevant to the discussion. "If I need to have this go to someone else, I will do so. But Stark was insistent on it being handled at once, and I would like it done as well."

She-Hulk nods. "Alright. And he signed up for the program voluntarily?" It's important.

Natasha furrows her brow. "Of course. It was an honor to be chosen to defend Russia and the Soviet Union." A hint of the tone that's taken when someone who has heard and spoken propaganda for years comes out then, but it's not too terrible. "He still serves, even after the Soviet fell, and guards Russia from threats internal and external." She nods. "Yes, voluntary."

She-Hulk nods. "So, your grounds are abandonment. He intentionally left you. He had no intention of returning. He left you...so this isn't *as* complicated as you might think."

Natasha looks relieved. "So does this mean we can do this without having to go to Russia and get his signature?"

"It's a fault divorce, so yes. When it comes to abandonment, sometimes you just plain can't *find* the other person in the case." Jen smiles. "If he wanted to keep you, he wouldn't have stayed away, so..."

A momentary flash of hurt flickers in Natasha's eyes, but its quickly dismissed. Half a century had passed, after all; her irritation is more reflexive than anything else. "Good. I can tell this to Stark? He will be pleased, I think. Anything you need from me, ask, I will make sure you have it. The sooner this mess is handled, the better for everyone."

"Yeah. I'll get the paperwork together. It should be pretty quick. Fifty years isn't something a judge will argue with."