METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY, 15th JUNE 2014

Natasha was nervous. She had face Hydra, assassins, aliens, but this? This was nothing compared to that. She could kill a man with her thighs, she could kill a man with a paperclip, she could do anything... except this.

"Are you starting to lose your nerve?" Clint asked from his spot on the couch in the dressing room. She was watching him in the reflection of the mirror, as he lounged on the white couch throwing grapes into his mouth.

Scoffing, she replied, "Of course not, don't be ridiculous."

"Why are your hands shaking, then?"

Natasha looked down at her hands in shock, having not released that her body was betraying her and showing her clear anxiety. Resting her elbows on the dressing table, she dropped her head into her hands, "What if it's not what I was expecting? What if something goes wrong? What is I'm not good enough? Oh, god! Clint, this was a mistake!"

Clint sat up, looking at his friend, "Listen, Nat. I don't know how this is going to go, but I do know that you want this and I do know that you'll be amazing, and even if you're not, I won't even know or care because I just want you to have a good time." Clint paused, running his hand through his hair, "You've had a hectic past couple of months, you need this, and I won't let anything ruin this for you; including you," Clint stood and walked over to Natasha, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're gonna do a great job, Tasha."

Natasha acknowledged the hand on her shoulder be giving it a squeeze with her own hand, she whispered a quiet "Thank you," as she let her hands drop and she sat up right again, locking eyes with her reflection.

"I'm gonna go and find my seat; I'll see you after the show." Clint spoke as he began to leave the small room, "Break an arm!"

Smirking at Clint's words, Natasha took a deep breath and readied herself for the show.


Tony had managed to arrange for Natasha to perform with the American Ballet Theatre for a one-off rendition of Swan Lake. It was a gift, or an apology (depending who you asked), for her involvement in taking down Hydra and all the hassle that they had faced in the beginning of the year with the Winter Soldier. The theatre was an invite only occasion with close friends, family, trusted associated, some industry specialist being invited. He had managed to organise all their schedules to allow them all to come together for the one night to celebrate Natasha without having to worry about the legal fall out with the stuff with SHIELD.

"How's she doing?" Tony asked Clint as he sat down.

"She's doing better than I was expecting," Clint laughed, "She hasn't maimed anyone yet, she's just a little nervous, but she'll get past that."

Tony nodded in response, falling silent as the music starts and the curtains rise.


Natasha stands in the wings of the stage, watching as Act One commences on stage. She feels the nerves beginning to rise in her stomach once again, but also excitement, here she stands about to perform as the lead role in a world renounced Russian ballet, this is all she has ever wanted, so why did the feeling of dread begin to form?

Turning from her spot, she walks until she finds a dark corner to compose herself. She has never had to deal with anxiety before, it was a weakness that would have gotten her killed in the Red Room, a liability in the field. She knows that her teammates will stop anything from disrupting the performance, she's confident enough in her abilities to know that she will not fall or make a mistake, and she knows that Tony would only allow the best of the best to dance with her on stage, so she does not know where this negative feeling is coming from, maybe-

"Excuse me," Natasha looks up to find a trembling stagehand before her, he's holding a boutique of various flowers, some of which Natasha can recognise including lily's, orchards, and roses. The boy states, "Err, these were sent for you, I, um, I know that I'm meant to place these in the dressing room, but, err, she told me to give them directly to you, sorry." The boy manages to stammer out, her hands Natasha the flowers and hands her a card.

Unsure of what else to do, Natasha thanks him and allows him to scamper off. Holding the flowers, Natasha begins to feel a bit more at ease, she holds the card up and reads to front, Natalia is written across in hand writing that Natasha would recognise from anywhere.

Her heart skips a beat as she comes to the realisation that she was here, or at least she had been here. Just as she begins to open the letter another stage hand approaches her.

"You're up in thirty; you need to get into position."

Natasha nods, "Can you get these to my dressing room, please?" Handing them to the stage hand as she heads back to stage.

She manages to get into position as Act One comes to a close, she manages to get a glimpse of the crowd, and more specifically the Avengers as she waits. She's glad to see that they all seem to be paying attention, even if she notices Sam, presumably, explaining the plot to Steve. She does a quick scan of the crowd as the dancers begin to move around her, and right as she begins to step on stage she notices her.

The hold eye contact as the female gives Natasha a soft smile and a nod of the head.

The music begins.


"Holy shit, Nat! The was amazing!" Clint exclaims as he bursts into dressing room, the rest of the Avengers trailing in behind him.

"That was pretty good," Tony speaks as he moves to lean on her dressing table, smirking as he picks at her chocolates.

"Well done, Natasha, I thought it was fantastic," Steve adds as he and Sam take seat in the couch.

Natasha receives a nod and smile full of praise from Bruce as he places himself in the corner of the room.

"Thank you," Natasha says, before turning to Tony, "Thank you for doing this."

Tony's cheeks a light shade of pink as a genuine smile forms on his face and he pulls his sunglasses down to his eyes, "No problem, Nat." Tony eats another chocolate before clapping his hands together, "So where does everyone want to eat?"

"Pizza!"

"I don't really mind."

"Err, Italian?"

"Don't mind."

The room falls silent before Bruce speaks up, "How about I make dinner at home?"

The room collectively agrees as they begin to file out again.

"I'm going to stay a little longer and pack up, but I'll meet you at home." Natasha tells the men before they all leave.

"I'm going to stay and help Nat," Clint adds, placing himself back on the couch.

"Well, okay, we'll see you guys soon," Tony tells them as he shuts the door behind the group.

Once the room fall silent, Natasha lets out a large sigh before beginning to look through her flowers and gifts from various people. She hands most of the edible gifts to Clint, saving her favourites by placing them in her bag. After a while she gets to sorting through the flowers when she remembers the note from her.

Attempting to not alert Clint of the note, she discreetly opens the letter;

Natalia,

uthando lwam

You looking breath-taking tonight and I want you to know that I am so proud of you.

I know that I have promised to stay away but I cannot miss this moment and I will deal with the consequences but it will be worth it.

I will love you forever and always,

yours,

Izabelle.

Closing the note, Natasha takes a moment to compose herself, having not spoken to the girl for a while she found that she had missed her dearly, but she also knew what would happen if they were to meet face to face once again.

"Nat?" Clint asks, "You ready to go?"

Tucking the letter in her bag, she grabs the boutique from Izabelle and her bag, "Yeah, let's go home."


Translations:

1. Uthando lwam - "my love"


Authors Note.

Hello,

My timeline for the movies are going to be a little weird, and I may not follow the timeline past TWS, so I may ignore AOU, or at least change it a bit.

Sorry, if the characters seem a little out of characters, and sorry that the pace is a bit slow, but it should pick up soon enough.

Anyway, thanks for reading.