Here we go: a new series and my first stab at writing the Avengers. It is AU (The movieverse timeline has been destroyed, Fury's the main villain in these first couple of stories, and, well... children. Eventually eight of them.) but hopefully it's written well. Read on to decide for yourselves; thanks!

Natasha felt absolutely horrible as she stood there waiting for the few minutes to be over – for the test results to show up – and if she was right about why, Clint Barton was going to die. Sure, there were sparks there between them and they were great partners as agents for S.H.I.E.L.D., but any part of their relationship that might be labeled as romantic was only physically so. They slept together frequently enough, but their jobs left little room for emotional attachments, let alone a freaking child! And the fact that he had put her in this position was exactly why, if she was right, Clint Barton was going to die.

Right after she destroyed the test upon which two little pink lines had just popped up.

She curled her hand around the test and practically ran to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s shooting range. She tied the little test onto the bull's-eye of the target and took precise aim. Her first round was shot perfectly, but then she began to think about what the test result meant and the rest of her shots fired were done with shaking hands at best.

She was pregnant with Clint Barton's baby. She was pregnant with Clint Barton's baby!

Natasha also knew full well that there was no way that he would take that news well – that anyone was going to take that news well, actually. Fury was probably going to fire her or Clint, more than likely both of them.

That's when the thought came that Fury couldn't fire Clint if he didn't know the other agent was involved. Sure, Fury would suspect it, but Natasha and Clint were both very good at covering up their tracks. She already knew that Fury would believe her, at least after a while, if she told him that she didn't know who the father of the child was, and she also knew that there was no evidence linking her to being involved with Clint. The two of them were very good at keeping themselves protected from those kind of slipups, if not apparently the kind that involved having kids.

The idea of an abortion slipped inevitably into Natasha's mind in the next moment – after all, wouldn't that be the easiest solution? – but she shoved it out again just as quickly. With as many lives as she had taken from the world, it was high time that she brought one back into it; atoned a little bit for the blood on her hands, if you will.

She couldn't raise the child herself – she wasn't stupid enough to believe that her job would allow for that – but there were plenty of families out there looking for a baby to adopt, right? And unless a better opportunity somehow presented itself out there, that's what she was going to do. Give her child up to be raised by someone else.

But that still meant that she there was eventually soon going to be a little Hawkeye Jr. running around in the world somewhere.

She would tell Fury first, then, she decided, refusing to acknowledge that she was chickening out on facing up to Clint just yet.

She holstered her gun and thought some more about it as she took down the now unrecognizable pregnancy test and threw it away before starting towards Fury's office. Maybe she could send the baby back to her mother country, let him or her grow up in Russia somewhere…

Or maybe not…

Fury was being way too calm about what she had just told him. He was leaned back in his chair at his desk and staring right through her, deep in thought. He had just come up with some sort of an idea – a profitable one by the look on his face – and they both knew it.

"Agent Romanoff," he said calmly, looking at her with one sharp eye. "Let me get back to you on this; I think I may have an idea that will benefit us both. Until I do, don't get rid of the baby or tell anyone else about it, understood?"

"I don't have that much more time, director," Natasha said, raising her concern.

"Then I'll be quick about it. Right now, your job is still to follow my orders, are we clear?"

"Yes, sir."

He nodded and gestured towards the door. "Good. If that's all you wanted to discuss with me, then you're dismissed.

"Thank you, sir," Natasha replied, turning towards the exit and shoving away the disquiet that wound its way through her.

"Reassignment?" Natasha repeated dumbly as she stared at her boss a week later.

"It's only a temporary reassignment, Agent," Fury reminded her patiently. "Only until the child is born. For the sake of your own privacy; after all, we both know that it isn't plausible for you to raise this child yourself. Also, we're both well aware of the fact that you and Agent Barton comprise S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best partnership, and I'm sure that you don't want this pregnancy affecting your working relationship any more than I do. Am I right in all of my thinking here?"

"Yes sir," Natasha said stiffly.

"Then I will be accompanying you to Oman later this evening."

Natasha felt a flash of shock hit her as she clarified, "Oman, as in Asia?"

"Nizwa, Oman, to be exact," Fury replied in his normal monotone. "You and Agent Barton do work for S.H.I.E.L.D. world-wide, and I don't want to run the risk of you two coming into contact with one another until this child situation is taken care of."

Natasha took a calming breath, knowing that what Fury was saying made perfect sense. "Of course, sir. What time should I be where?"

"Meet me at the airstrip at ten p.m. tonight."

Natasha nodded obediently, and Fury dismissed her. She walked away, relief and that same inexplicable unease warring within her as she left.

When she climbed aboard Fury's private jet later that night that same feeling was back, only it was becoming harder to get rid of. But Natasha wouldn't have been able to stand herself being the brilliant assassin that she was if she didn't know how to compartmentalize as easily as she knew how to shoot a weapon, and that was what she did then as she settled in her seat across from her boss.

Once the plane was in the air, Fury and Natasha both unbuckled and Fury reached for a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses, saying companionably, "About that idea that I mentioned getting when you brought your little problem to my attention… I have a proposition for you."

Reviews are my new best friend, if you feel inclined to drop me one, especially since I'm not sure how I'm doing with writing the characters in character. Thanks!:)