AN: Little drabble I wrote about Natasha's place in SHIELD. I own nothing.


The Black Widow, still considered a rookie in the eyes of SHIELD sat in front of her new handler, Phil Coulson

"From now on, you won't be training with Barton," Coulson said as he looked down at his papers, making occasional notes.

A delicate eyebrow arched, "Why would you have inferior people train me?"

She read his tells and tics as he continued writing. "Orders from on high. You need to be able to work with a variety of SHIELD agents and modalities."

"No," Natasha said simply.

Phil finally looked up, "We need the rest of SHIELD comfortable working with you too. Barton won't always be available for your missions."

"I am well aware of that. We have different, though overlapping, skill-sets. But I will continue to work with Agent Barton." Her tone was nonplussed, firm in its assertion. She continued after a beat. "You need me to work with other agents, I will. If they won't work with me, being forced to train me won't make matters better.

"But let's be honest. You don't want to separate us for that reason. You want us separated because you are afraid that he will have more control over me than you will, and he's not the most controllable agent himself. You are concerned that when he leaves or dies, I will have no reason to continue working for SHIELD and you will lose a valuable asset."

Sitting back more in her chair, she continued. "I can reassure you on all points: yes. I will listen to him more readily than I will you. And yes, if he leaves this agency in whatever manner, I will not continue here. Trying to keep us from working together will not change either of those facts."

Coulson blinked mawkishly as she gave her speech. Finally he regained his composure. "Alright then. I will pass that along."

"Glad we had this talk." She stood gracefully and walked out of the office.