A/N so a shorter chapter this time, but hey it was a short scene. Thank you so much to everyone who's taken the time to review/favourite/follow, your support means the world to me

Clint groaned as he came to, doing a quick check of aches and pains that typically accompanied his trips into unconsciousness. Finishing his mental inventory, he concluded that the only out of the ordinary sensation was the tingling in his side. He sniffed the air, trying to work out where he was before he opened his eyes. Wherever he was, Nat was there.

Eyes blinking lazily, he mumbled "It tickles." Turning his head to the side, Nat swam into focus.

"I can make it hurt if you'd prefer" She replied, her face a picture of nonchalance as she used a small screwdriver to adjust one of her Widow's bites. Only the hint of warning in her voice made him realise just how serious the injury had been, just how badly he had scared her. They were each the other's weakness, the chink in the armour, the compromise. The last thing he remembered was an explosion of energy a few feet from where he was lying with Natasha pressing gauze into his wound.

"You should have got to cover." He murmured.

"That wasn't an option." She replied quietly, leaving it unsaid that she wouldn't have left him even if it meant her life.

"Natasha." He said, his voice stern.

"Clinton." She countered, just as stern.

Yes, there was no doubt that they were compromised.

She hopped off the ledge and examined the machine at work on him when Doctor Cho returned to the room. "Are you sure he's going to be okay?" She asked, allowing a caring note to enter her tone. "Pretending to need him really brings the team together." Her mocking smile might as well have been a grin as her eyes dared him to retaliate. Said retaliation would usually be a teasing punch to her arm but she was just out of reach and they both knew it. He pursed his lips and let her comment slide.

Doctor Cho spurted some biotechnical details that went straight over his head just as Banner entered. On seeing the regeneration machine do its work, his face broke into a boyish grin. "She's creating tissue."

"If you brought him to my lab, the regeneration cradle could do this in twenty minutes." The doctor's enthusiasm for her work was infectious, at least to other scientists, it would seem.

"Oh he's flatlining. Call it." Tony exclaimed as he walked in, feigning a brief search for a clock. "Time?"

"No, no, no I'm gonna live forever!" Whatever drugs the medics had him on, they were making him sound less than sober… "I'm gonna be made of plastic!" He took the plastic cup of green liquid from Stark dubiously, goodness only knew what was in it, but he was parched.

"You'll be made of you, Mr Barton." Doctor Cho assured him, as he took a sip. It tasted foul. He grimaced in distaste. Nat raised her eyebrow in an 'it's-not-that-bad-don't-be-a-wusse' kind of way. "Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference." Cho continued.

"I don't have a girlfriend." He said quickly, probably too quickly. Anyone but Nat would miss the cheeky grin he shot her as he did so. Then he looked at her properly. The corner of her mouth was pinched upwards ever so slightly; she was weighing up whether to punish him for that later, even if he hadn't exactly lied. She took a sip from her own cup of nasty green liquid. He smirked at the flicker of a grimace that broke through her carefully schooled features. Her eyes narrowed and her Widow's bite crackled with electricity.

Oh yeah, he was definitely gonna pay for that later. Though judging by the dangerous mischief glinting in those enigmatic green irises, whilst the punishment would likely hurt at first, it would develop into something they'd both very much enjoy.

The heart rate monitor beeped loudly, betraying his anticipation at their activities for the evening.

Nat rolled her eyes. Amateur. She didn't have to say it, to say it.

A/N okay so chances are I'll move back to the farm in the next chapter, I think it's time BlackHawk had that heart to heart, but aside from that, what other scenes from the film would you like to see? Let me know what you think, hope you enjoyed this chapter :D