This is pre-Avengers. I put it a bit back to show how she was getting use to working for S.H.I.E.L.D and working with Barton instead of going solo like she was use to. In my mind Budapest happened not to long after he saved her life and trained her. So other than that this is my first Natasha/Clint fic and I don't think I'm going to get their personalities very well so advice is always welcome so I can edit and fix problems.

Going to be working on this and Metronome back and forth, so the first chapter of that will be done maybe today maybe tomorrow and the LokiOc is on hold until I can think of what to write.

Natasha ducked as the shot from one of the Chitari's staffs shot out at her. She fired back instantly without really seeing the target but knowing it was there. She felt and heard Clint next to her taking out the ones she missed. She took out one aiming at him as he notched another arrow.

"Just like Budapest all over again." Clint shook his head.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently."

Chapter 1: Assignment

Barton sat up in the rafters of S.H.I.E.L.D's main headquarters, watching the agents and scientists move below him. He stood up straight when he saw Agent Coulson approaching and looking up at him. Coulson rarely come to him for just talking. He nodded once before making his way down to the floor level to meet with the agent.

"Up in your nest again I see." Coulson teased lightly before handing a manilla folder out for Barton. Barton rolled his eyes at the joke and took the offered orders. He opened it and read through the basics.

"Budapest's parliament building...this doesn't sound like a one agent assignment. That place is crawling with security and government official's and in such a low key location it wouldn't just be a hit and run...Even for me, this would be suicide." Barton looked up at Coulson, closing the case folder.

"That's why agent Romanoff is being sent in with you. This fits her skill set. We need two operatives, one who can get herself in without being noticed and obtain the target, another who can watch her back without being on her back."

"Just the two of us...it's still a suicide mission."

"Directer Fury doesn't believe so." Coulson stated, then started walking knowing Barton would follow.

"Have you told Natasha she would going on this mission yet or did you think she would take it better coming from me?" He asked Phil, who gave him that completely innocent Phil Coulson smile and said "Second option."

"She isn't going to take this any better coming from me, she'll see it as just as much of a suicide mission as I did. She isn't stupid Phil."

"No but you both are going to do it anyways, plus I did leave a message on her phone. I just want you to make sure she got it...plus she likes you more, you did save her life." Phil said then disappeared into the elevator. Barton sighed and shook his head.

"She's not going to like me after this."

Natasha laid down on the small bed in S.H.I.E.L.D's holding area, her arms back behind her head and her eyes shut. She was thinking about her past again, she had been doing that a lot recently. If she didn't have an assignment or training her mind wandered back to who she was before Barton made the choice to save her life and train her as an agent. She owed him so much and she was pretty sure that remembering her past was her mind's way of reminding her that she owed him a debt.

"Nat." She opened her eyes at a sound of a familiar voice by the side of her head and she turned to see Barton leaning down next to her, suited up and ready to go...but where she didn't know.

"You have an assignment?" She asked, sitting up.

"So do you. It's going to be just the two of us...I'm going to go ahead and say your phone is off again." Barton sat down on the bed next to her and waited for her to reply.

"Isn't it always."

"You need to start learning to keep in on, I won't always be your delivery boy."

"I know." Natasha sighed and reached under her bed, where she kept her phone and held down the button until it turned on then she turned to Clint. "So what's the assignment? I don't feel like listening to all my messages to find it."

"You'll have plenty of time to read the file on the way there, Fury's got a chopper waiting for us when you're ready." Natasha threw her phone down on the bed. "Give me ten." She said then made her way to the bathroom to get ready. It didn't take ten minutes, only about 6 maybe less and she was suited up and checking her equipment as they walked towards the holding deck. She finished going over everything by the time she stepped into the chopper and Barton was seated next to her, handing her a folder while he fastened her in.

"I could have done that myself."

"Read the file, that's a top priority at the moment." He replied, moving on to fasten himself in while he watched her read.

"You have got to be fucking joking...this a suicide-"

"Mission...I know but Director Fury thinks we can do it."

"He's missing a few important brain cells then...two agents is not enough, even with our skills."

"I know."

Comments are wanted and appreciated.