Oh my gosh I was not expecting that kind of response. You guys are awesome.

Big thanks to Qweb, GremlinX, 'my baby' (I know who you are dearie. Thanks xx) IaMcHrIsSi (cool name dude), dragonborn360 and guest. It's really encouraging :) I don't own anything. All characters are owned by Marvel, I am making no profit from this, it's 1 am and I'm really hungry.

On to chapter two. Eep.

Natasha Romanoff turned left on the avenue and paused for a second, taking in the new coat of sickly orange paint that covered the building in front of her. Four- no wait, six. Or was it seven and a half? - months ago, it had been a pale, dirty yellow. She shrugged slightly as she pushed open the main doors, stepping into the lobby and taking the rickety old stairs two at a time. It didn't matter.

At the moment, Natasha was more than a little irritated. Or at least, that was what she was telling herself. The proper terms for Natasha's current emotional state would be grief, sadness and uncertainty. Phil was dead. That thought still made the breath catch in Natasha's throat. Clint, her partner in more ways than just work, was nowhere near even beginning to recover from what Loki had done to him. He was a pale shadow of his former self and it terrified her. They were expected to join the Avengers, and that was ridiculous because they were assassins and if their identities and pictures were leaked to the press, the Chitauri invasion would look like peanuts compared to the wrath that would descend on them.

But Natasha wasn't about to admit that she was scared. So, she settled for irritation. And irritated she was, seeing as they had been sent home like misbehaving children. For the last two days, walking into New York's SHIELD base after a full day of working clean-up had made Clint tense almost imperceptibility, despite the exhaustion they both felt, which meant it had taken all of his self-control not to run right back out screaming. So, she had suggested they head back to their respective apartments, seeing as neither agent had been there for months. They walked two blocks before realizing they were being tailed.

Today was so not Natasha's day.

She reached the landing on the eighth floor, headed towards the fourth apartment and started unlocking the five locks on it. They had been all picked and locked again and Natasha held back a huff of irritation at that. She entered the dimly apartment, cautiously shutting the door behind her. Sunlight seeped through the curtains over the windows, catching on disturbed dust particles that swirled through the air, another sign that she wasn't alone.

Maybe there was an advantage to never being home after all.

But then again, Natasha reflected, as she dropped her duffel bag on the floor and launched herself in a somersault towards the five men that had sprung out from behind the couch, this wasn't home.

Home was in their private training room back in the Helicarrier, wiping the floor with Clint's ass while Phil laughed on the sidelines.

She wrapped her legs around the neck of one man and spun him to the floor. In the same instant her fist snapped out and collided with the temple of another, shoving him against a third man.

Home was listening to the playful banter between Clint and Phil, while she occasionally threw in a remark, usually to back their handler up against her partner and then smirking at the look of mock hurt Clint would throw her way.

She sprung into the air, kicking the elbow of the man who had just pulled out a gun. The bones gave way and he let out a yell of pain as she yanked the gun from his grip and spun, slamming an elbow into his sternum and firing the gun in her other hand.

Home was any place in the world that they happened to be in, as long as she woke up with Clint pressed up against her.

The bullet slammed into the shoulder of the fifth man who had just been about to fire his gun. She kicked, knocking the gun from his grip and he slumped to the floor. There was a clatter of footsteps behind her and she spun to face more intruders.

Only to realize they weren't there anymore. Clint gave her an amused look as he punched the last one in the temple, knocking him out.

'You should oil your windows more often. It was a bitch trying to get them open.' He stated, gesturing to the bathroom, where he had undoubtedly climbed in through the window.

When the assassins had realized they were being tailed, Natasha had continued walking while Clint had slipped away and then travelled via rooftop to her apartment to provide surprise back-up. Not that she needed it.

She huffed irritably. 'They do open. It's not my fault you're too big to get through.'

'Well-' He paused in the middle of his retort, eyes abruptly shuttering before turning away from her.

'Better contact SHIELD about this.' He muttered over his shoulder as he marched through the rooms under the guise of checking for more intruders.

Natasha bit back a sigh and tried to ignore the sudden feeling of loss. Clint had been doing this for the past three days, after he had woken up from a twelve-hour nap after shawarma. Closed himself off, pulled away from her and threw himself into the relief efforts.

'This is Agent Romanoff, reporting an A-56, threat has been-' She had just started to speak into her comm. link after unmuting it when Clint barreled out of the bedroom.

'Thermite charge, move!'

The red-head cursed angrily then bent and seized the collars of two men who were feebly stirring on the ground. Clint yanked the door open and threw her duffle bag out before helping her pull the two out by unceremoniously kicking them out. She had a clear view of the five men still lying on the apartment floor before the door slammed shut. There was barely time for a pang of regret before the door was blown off of its hinges by an explosion that shook the entire building.

Both assassins winced at the ringing in their ears, blinking away the spots in their vision and Natasha sighed at the smoldering wreck that had once been her apartment. There hadn't been anything valuable there, but still.

'What on earth happened?' A voice screeched and Natasha turned to scowl at her neighbor, a wizened elderly lady whom, when Natasha had run a background check on her, turned out to be running a credit card scam and made it a regular point to Google the names of everyone in the building.

'Natalie!' The woman paused in surprise. 'You're back! With… friends.' She finished weakly, taking in the sight of two unconscious men and the archer glaring at her.

'There was a gas leak.' Natasha said shortly. 'It's lucky we got out in time.'

'But-'

'Gas leak,' Natasha stated flatly, looking coolly at her.

Another explosion sounded out, this time across the street and Clint scowled as he glanced through Natasha's apartment, where from the shattered window he had a clear view of his own, now equally wrecked, apartment. The woman let out a startled squeak and cast them suspicious glances before darting back into her home and slamming the door.

The sounds of sirens could be heard and Clint headed down the stairs to speak with the landlord, giving Natasha enough time to roughly seize the man who had come to and was pretending to be unconscious. He winced, glancing around in panic as she slammed him against the wall.

'Who sent you?' she asked quietly.

She could see her gaze, cold and impersonal, reflected in his wide eyes. The man gasped nervously before pressing his lips tightly together. Then he shrieked as the hand that wasn't pinning his neck to the wall slammed into his broken elbow.

'Who?' She asked again.

'The army,' he whimpered. 'General Ross promised us promotions…'

The name made her eyes narrow and he cringed in fear. Natasha rolled her eyes before knocking him out with a punch to the forehead. She let the man slide to the floor as she pressed a hand to her comm. link again.

'This is Agent Romanoff. Secure the line and get me Fury.'

'Line secure,' the agent on the other end stated and then the director's voice sounded in her ear.

'Romanoff.'

'Director. Agent Barton and I have been attacked but it's been dealt with. General Ross is responsible.'

There was a gusty sigh on the other end.

'Report back to base ASAP. We'll have agents at the scene to do clean-up.'

'Yes sir.' She muttered and muted her comm. link just as Clint bounded back up the stairs.

'Back to base?'

'Yep.' She sighed, hoisting her duffel bag. 'Got everything you need?'

He hoisted his own bag in response and Natasha nodded. They both lived out of bags, packaging their lives so that moving on was easier. Her favorite sidearms and knives, gifts from Clint and Phil, were always on her. The bag contained three books and spare set of clothes.

'Come on,' she turned and was about to head down the stairs when she noticed the slight hesitation in the way Clint's shoulders tensed and his eyes showed the slightest hint of vulnerability for a second before they shuttered again.

He didn't want to go back to base where agents would glare and mutter and she couldn't blame him. She could only glare back at the offending agents until they realized their mistake and backed away. The red-headed assassin walked back to her partner, placing a hand on his arm. He stiffened slightly, refusing to meet her gaze, but he didn't pull away either. It wasn't much, but she supposed it was better than nothing. They walked out together, Natasha never letting go.

The door to the conference room opened, revealing the two assassins and Nick Fury let out a quiet sigh of relief he didn't know he had been holding. Five more minutes of having to listen to Stark's deliberately out of tune humming would have resulted in the director shooting either Stark, or himself. Most likely Stark.

'Well we're on time, aren't we?' Tony smirked from where he was sitting with his feet propped up on the table.

He took in the sight of Natasha's slightly ruffled hair and Clint's bruised knuckles and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Natasha glared but Clint just sat at the table, carefully studying the wooden grain and avoiding eye contact with anyone.

'What happened?' Steve asked.

'Ross.' Natasha replied. 'He sent men who tried to tail and ambush us.'

'They were more of a diversion.' Clint added, still staring at the table, 'The thermite charges were meant to take us out, along with the men. Nearly worked.'

Steve's eyebrows rose slightly but he didn't comment.

'A thermite charge?' Tony frowned 'that's a bit of overkill.'

'We met the general once, in Vietnam. It... Was messy. He isn't very fond of us.'

Bruce glanced up in surprise. Two years ago he had been in Vietnam. Coincidence? He didn't think so.

'Avengers.' Fury snapped, trying to get their attention.

Steve frowned, Bruce ducked his head and stared at the table, something dark flashed in Natasha's gaze for an instant before it was gone and Clint's eyes closed briefly, as though he was in pain.

'When I agreed to join this super-secret boy band of yours I thought it would have a cooler name.' Tony grumbled.

Fury ignored him and the other four's reactions to the unofficial group name.

'General Ross is after all of you. He's out for blood.' The director paced carefully along the breadth of the room.

'Thank you for telling us that, Captain Obvious. Is there anything else we need to know? Like how the sky is blue, maybe?'

Steve exhaled sharply. 'Stark, could you please take this more seriously?'

'I am taking it seriously Spangles, it's not my fault no one in this room has a single nano-gram of humour.' Tony cast an unreadable gaze about the table. 'So serious, in fact, that I'm offering free lodging in Stark Tower to all of you. Except Nicky, that is. Sorry, but I don't really like pirates.'

There was a beat of tension-loaded silence where everyone swivelled to stare at the genius. Fury stopped pacing.

Bruce thunked his head onto the table with a low groan, breaking the moment. 'Of all the bad ideas…'

'Wha- no. No way.' Steve spluttered, shaking his head.

Fury was surveying the scene with a satisfied look in his eye. 'Well that was actually what I was going to suggest but since Mr Stark has already offered…'

'It was kind of split-second decision.' Tony said, shrugging. 'So, how about it? Natashalie? Any better ideas?'

He didn't, get a response, because Natasha and Clint were frowning intently at each other. She raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head slightly and she sighed.

'… Guess not. That's a bit creepy.' The inventor mumbled, swivelling his chair away from the assassins' silent conversation.

'It's not happening.' Steve said firmly, keeping his gaze fixed on the conference table.

'C'mon, Stars and Stripes, surely you don't hate me that much.'

'It's not that!' Steve snapped, still not looking up.

'As of right now, it's the best solution.' The director's voice cut Tony off before he could reply. 'Ross will be less likely to attack if all of you are together, especially when Thor returns.'

'Or he could just wipe us all out at once,' Bruce quietly added, 'Director, it's me he wants. All of this would be unnecessary if I left. He'll follow.'

'No.' Five voices snapped back at him and Bruce blinked in surprise.

'Is moving in with Stark an order?' Natasha asked, momentarily breaking eye contact with Clint.

The director looked coolly at his agent. 'Not yet.'

She glanced back at Clint and he looked back, stormy grey eyes unreadable. It was up to her then. There was a slight pause where the red-headed mentally weighed all the factors before sighing in defeat.

'Fine. We'll go.'

No one commented on how she had just referred to Clint and herself as a single unit.

'Two down, two to go.' Tony rubbed his hands together, looking like a collector trying to make sure he got the full set. He looked at Bruce, 'How can you resist the thought of the R&D department? I'm insulted.'

'You would willingly put everyone in the tower in danger?' Bruce arched an eyebrow at him, 'It's not a good idea.'

'Well right now it's the only idea that doesn't involve you basically giving yourself up to Ross.' Fury said.

'C'mon Doc,' Tony cajoled, 'I like the big guy!'

'All the more reason…' Bruce sighed, pulling off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. 'Well it's not like I really have a choice, right?'

'Yep, you don't.' Tony grinned smugly, putting his hands behind his head. 'That leaves you, Spangles!'

The blond-haired soldier shifted in his seat. 'There's nothing wrong with my apartment.'

'Except that it's dull and depressing, I've seen the pictures of it in the files I hacked. Might wanna upgrade your security, Nicky.'

Tony completed ignored the glowers he received.

'Captain, surely you recognize that you're more vulnerable on your own.'

'I can look after myself.'

'The rest of us will be there Captain. It makes sense for you to be there too.' Natasha pointed out quietly.

Steve clenched his jaw, arms folded tightly in front of him, his gaze again fixed firmly on the table.

'Fine.'

The tension faded slightly and Fury allowed himself a small, satisfied smile from where he stood at the front of the table.

'Good. I advise you pack your things, transport will be here in a couple of hours. Stark, SHIELD has some spare furniture, but you'll need to get your own people to transport them, all agents are working clean-up or security duties.'

'Spare furniture?' Tony snorted, as the rest filed out of the conference room. Steve was headed to his apartment, Bruce to the lab and Clint and Natasha to the armory. 'I've seen your sad excuses for beds and no one's going to be camping in the living room in sleeping bags. The tower will be ready by the time they're here, don't worry.'

Fury nodded curtly and marched out. A slight grimace crossed Tony's face as he pulled out his phone and stared at it. He hadn't been kidding when he said inviting the team to move in had been a split-second decision. Of course, that had been Fury's intent all along, but it was a little different when he was the one who initiated it. He wondered if that would be enough to save him from the wrath he was about to face.

She answered on the first ring. 'Tony? What's wrong?'

'Why does something have to be wrong for me to call you?' he grumbled back. 'Don't answer that,' he quickly added, hearing Pepper's intake of breath, indications of a rant that probably involved all the times Tony had called her because of an emergency.

'Anyway.' He winced in anticipation. 'Uhm, remember how you always said that the tower was too big for just the two of us?'

Love it/hate it/stab the author to death with pitchforks? Review and let me know! Oh and Merry Christmas/Happy boxing day depending on which timezone you're in.