So as part of my great rewatch of all the MCU films the other day – I keep getting distracted and running back to Winter Soldier – I watched Iron Man 2 once…or maybe twice. And since I loved writing Natasha/Tony during my advent fics, I decided to do it all over again. So, I hope you like this first chapter and thanks so much for taking the time to read it. Cheers.

As always I own nothing to do with Marvel.

Natalie Rushman

"You. What's your name?"

"Rushman, Natalie Rushman."

It had almost been too easy. Show up looking presentable – modest, but attractive – she knew how to play the game and hopefully Stark would take the bait.

She had volunteered to take the papers over to Pepper Potts, knew that her colleagues would assume that she was trying to curry favour with the new CEO, but her bait was altogether different.

She had seen Tony Stark from a distance in at headquarters, heard about his illness from Fury, but he was different than she'd expected up close.

Dressed in workout gear, he was relaxed, less imposing. There was no trace of performance or artifice on his face as he watched her hand the file to Pepper to sign. There was energy though, barely contained energy that rippled throughout the room.

Stark's bodyguard, Happy, seemed content to move around it, but she could feel Pepper stiffening, her shoulders hunching.

Interesting. Clearly Potts wasn't on the same wavelength as Stark was.

"Front and centre, enter the church."

Pepper tried to protest but she reassured her with a smile and an offhand comment. She knew how to humour people… she also knew how to catch someone's attention.

Slipping her shoes off, Natasha slid between the ropes and stood in front of Stark, running her eyes impersonally over him.

Physically he appeared to be healthy, although his sweats hid a multitude of issues, his face was flushed from the exercise and he took a swig from a bottle that apparently contained a chlorophyll smoothie. If he'd been any other rich man, she would have rolled her eyes at his pretentiousness. As it was, she knew that he was only drinking it to try and prolong his life.

She met his eyes again and realised that he had been studying her as closely as she had been analysing him.

There was intelligence, real intelligence, behind those eyes. She needed to remind herself of that.

"What?"

She kept her face carefully blank but blinked when she realised that he had noticed her attention. It was the first time she had slipped up; normally her targets were too busy staring at her other attributes to notice what she was doing.

She saw the moment he recognised he wasn't going to get an answer from her and took another gulp of his drink.

"Happy, give her a lesson."

She exchanged words with Hogun about her boxing experience, answering on automatic as she struggled to hear what Stark was saying to Pepper. At one point he asked how she spelled her name and she knew he was running a search on her. They had prepared for that, although she wasn't sure her secure cover would last if he decided to dig a little deeper.

The voices behind her got lower and lower until she was straining to hear and Pepper's louder, "No, it's not," made her swing her head around to see what they were disagreeing about.

Pepper looked angry, high spots on colour on her face, while Stark seemed more contemplative.

She didn't hear the words Happy spoke, but she had been working too long under too dangerous circumstances for a punch to take her unawares.

Grabbing his fist, she twisted it around, using her momentum to swing her legs up and around his neck, throwing him off balance and pinning him to the floor. She grunted as she held him down, pushing against his flailing body. In the background she heard a high-pitched shriek and a low cheer of encouragement.

She blinked and came back to herself.

She had forgotten – not for long, just for a moment – but she had dropped her cover at the perceived 'attack'.

Scrambling to her feet, Natasha straightened her clothes and ducked out of the boxing ring, slipping her shoes back on. She kept her head lowered as she fought to get rid of the blank face she usually wore when fighting so her enemies couldn't tell what she was thinking and slip back into 'Natalie Rushman from Legal'.

Stark gleefully called a TKO and rang the bell at the side of the ring before moving around to stand in front of her, those intelligent eyes watching her carefully again.

Natasha took a deep breath and grabbed her clipboard, holding it between them almost as a defence.

"I need your impression." She had her professional face back on as she met his eyes once more.

Stark frowned at her.

"I don't know, you have a quiet reserve… Umm… you have an old soul…"

She almost smiled at his description of her. An old soul…

She interrupted him. "I meant your fingerprint."

"Right. Of course." He almost seemed disappointed that she was back to being business-like. He stamped his finger in ink and pressed it against the document before handing it back again and turning to smile at Pepper.

Natasha shot the pair of them a smile that didn't meet her eyes. "Will that be all, Mr Stark?"

"Yes! Thank you." Potts quickly answered, stopping any reply from Stark. Her own smile was even more fake than Natasha's and twice as condescending.

Stamping out her territory, Natasha thought, noting Stark's own surprise at the sharp reply. It wasn't uncommon in her line of work, but as far as intelligence said, Potts and Stark, though affectionate, weren't a couple.

Still, she smiled and nodded at the dismissal before spinning on her heel and walking calmly out of the room, eyes burning into her back as she left.

She could almost feel what he was going to say before she heard it, just as she reached the door to the gym.

"I want one."

"No," was Potts' immediate reply.

Natasha smiled as she left the building. Jealous almost-lover or not, Stark wanted her.

She was in.