The limo pulled smoothly up to the fancy building and I peeked out the window, marveling at the large glass. It was impressive, yes, but Stark tower had it beat.

Apparently Tony, who was sitting across from me, had to same thoughts. "You know," he said thoughtfully. "If they had moved the windows up a little more… then made wider arches…"

Steve cleared his throat. "Tony, we're here on a mission, not to judge the structure."

Bruce made a noise in agreement, while Nat stayed silent. I glanced at her leaning against my chest. Her curls, normally so bouncy and soft, were straightened, and for the first time I truly realized how long her hair was. I knew that she loved missions where she got to dress up and pretend she was someone else, a person who didn't have a care in the world. That was why, I thought, she had chosen the dress that she was wearing perfectly for this mission.

When she had dragged me out to go shopping with her, I had complained and groaned, saying Pepper could go with her. But as soon as we reached the shop and she was ushered into the dressing room and came out in the first dress, my mind was quickly changed. In fact, all thoughts had gone out of my mind. The theme of the dance was eighteen-hundreds for the women and black tie for the men, so Natasha had a harder time picking this one out. But she had chosen perfectly.

The dress was a floor length, cream dress with embroidery down the middle. It was partly strapless with straps wrapping around her upper arms, but they slid down slightly whenever she moved. The embroidery was a little darker than the dress itself, but matched perfectly with roses decorating it. A gold layered necklace slid down her neck, stopping just before the dress started. It wasn't an outfit Natasha would have normally chosen, but I'm glad she did. She looked, for lack of a better word, like a princess.

The limo doors opened and Natasha lifted her head from my chest. I stepped out and turned, holding out a hand for her. I could see her rolling her eyes as I did, but stayed silent- whether it was because of the mission or because she liked the attention, I will never know.

Her delicate hand grasped mine and I helped her out of the car. The moment she stepped into the sight of everyone, I noticed every single man staring, while their dates glared in jealously. I fought I urge to clench my fists as something coiled in my stomach.

Apparently Nat noticed this, and gently poked my side, so discreet I barely even knew she did it, let alone the rest of the people seeing. "Relax," she said tenderly. "It's just a ball. Just another mission."

The rest of the Avengers had now gotten out of the car, but I was the only one who caught the last not of bitterness in her voice. Before I had chance to question she was on my arm and I led her towards the door, the rest of the team slightly sulkily that they didn't have dates. Tony wouldn't put Pepper in danger, and the rest of the gang… they needed to get love lives.

I looked around as we entered the room. A sweet melody was playing, put there was no sign of our target.

The target, Heukyen Rameriez, was a Spanish drug dealer. We had been informed that a big deal was going on tonight. When I asked why the entire team of Avengers was going, not just Natasha and I, Fury said that there were bombs suspected to have been placed in case Rameriez decided to back out.

We paused for a moment to linger near the bar, before I leaned over and whispered in her ear. To the common person it would look as though I was flirting with her, which helped. "Care to dance, my lovely widow?"

She pretended to giggle to please all the people staring in the room. "Of course," she whispered back. "But if you try anything, I swear on Fury's grave…"

I held back a chuckle and led her onto the floor, finding a spot that wasn't too crowded and turning her to face me. I placed my hands on her waist and she placed hers on my shoulders.

We gently moved around for a few moments before I heard a small beep in my ear. "Looking cozy, Barton," the annoying voice of Tony came out of my ear.

I felt Natasha stiffen, but I beat her to making a sharp retort. "At least I have a date," I muttered, successfully making it look like I wasn't talking at all.

Silence. My lips curved into a grin and I saw Natasha struggling to not to laugh. When the static on my com ceased, I began small talk.

"So, Miss Claire, how is your evening going?"

I caught the glint of happiness in her eyes before they reverted back to a blank expression. "Very well, Mr. Sanderson. And yours?"

We always played this game during these parties. Fake names, teasing, the usual. They were mostly boring and the mission was our first priority, but before hell broke loose we had always tried to have a little fun. The banter had started when we had first been partnered, when I had annoyed Natasha to no end- I still did, she had just gotten used to it- and we had continued the game ever since.

"Delightful. You look beautiful tonight, do you not?"

I saw a blush come over her cheeks, but for once I couldn't tell if it was fake or not. "Thank you."

A snort came to my ears. "Enough of the romantic talk, you two. Rameriez just walked in," Steve said.

I stiffened when I caught sight of him. He was leaning against the bar, but he was staring at Natasha. I leaned forward, putting my lips near her ear. "He's staring at you," I muttered.

As I leaned back she put her lips to my cheek, then pulled away and curtsied. "It was a wonderful dance, Mr. Sanderson."

I smiled, bowing. "On my end as well, Miss Claire. Shall I see you again?"

The quirk of a smile graced her lips as she turned and walked away from me, towards the bar. My eyes followed her as she reached Rameriez and took a stool near him, ever so often sending him a glance.

Sudden laughter reached my ears and I scowled, moving myself off the dance floor. "Stop laughing Tony, you're messing up the mission."

"Face it, you're jealous."

I fought the urge to find Tony and punch him. "I'm not jealous."

"Denial. The clock is ticking, birdie. You're going to lose her to another man."

"She's not mine to give away."

I leaned against the wall, trying to look as casual as possible as I watched the target slid up to Natasha, eyeing her like a bird eyes its pray.

Okay, maybe I was jealous. Just a tiny bit.

I looked away when he wrapped an arm around her waist, but apparently Tony could see me, and he took this chance to tease me again. "I didn't know Hawks got jealous. Did you, Steve? What about you, Thor? Huh?"

"You idiots know I can here you, right?" Natasha's voice was smooth, but Icould tell she was amused. I glanced over at her, just in time to see Rameriez try and kiss her.

God.

I looked anywhere but my partner, but luckily the kiss didn't last long. Unluckily, the distraction was the exploding of the building.

It was so fast, so quick, I didn't have time to comprehend the shaking before I was blown across the room, hitting another wall and crumpling. There was screaming as everyone rushed to the exit, then men ushering their dates out the door while trying to rescue themselves.

My vision was blurry and I tried to look up, but I couldn't think. The only explanation I could gather was that I was right near where one of the bombs exploded. I didn't know how I was alive at the moment, but I had no feeling in my legs.

There was static, then the urgent voice of Tony came online. "He's getting away! Where's Romanoff?"

My eyes widened and I tried to stumble to my feet, but my foot was jutted at an odd angle and my ribs were killing me. I settled for putting my hand to my com. "Nat," I yelled over the screaming people. "Nat, are you there?"

Static. Pure, heart-breaking, empty static.


My head rested against the pillow, bringing cold plastic to my cheek. It was a small comfort yet none at all, considering how our mission had gone.

Natasha was missing.

My memory of it was fuzzy. All I remember was Steve helping me out the door just before the building collapsed. Bruce had told me I had screamed for Natasha, but eventually passed out under the strain.

I had cracked a few ribs and fractured my foot, but I couldn't feel any pain because the doctors had given me so many sedatives and pain killers. Bruce had been at my side when I woke up, but I remember asking for Natasha. The look on his face had given me my answer.

Fury had declared her missing in action, but I could tell they thought she was dead. About twenty people were killed in that explosion, and they weren't even that close to where the bombs went off. Natasha, according to the SHIELD clean-up team, had been right next to one. They weren't even sure how I survived, and I was a few feet from one of the bombs, a bit further than I had originally thought. A little closer, Bruce had said, and I would be dead.

It was a small satisfactory that Heukyen Rameriez was dead. He had been killed upon impact, promoting the theory that Natasha was dead. It made me want to punch something.

Her com had been found, lying on the ground, but there was no body. That gave me hope and I desperately wanted to believe that she was alive, but I could tell, just by the sympathetic looks that I was given by the other SHIELD agents, that they thought she was dead.

I had done the perfect expression of a spit take- they had give me a cup of water right after I woke up- when Bruce told me how long I'd been out.

Two weeks. She'd been missing for two weeks.

It was killing me that I couldn't do something, but they had assigned people to watch me so to make sure I wouldn't sneak out of the infirmary. Normally I would be able to, nor problem, but they had assigned Bruce and Thor to watch me. If sneaking past the average agent was hard, sneaking past a guy to could turn into a giant green rage monster and a demigod was nearly impossible.

It was officially decided. My team hated me.

Tony had come in a little after Bruce had left. He told me that he was trying to track her or anything remotely related to her disappearance, but nothing had come up. She was either very good at hiding, or she was dead.

His words were blunt and made me flinch, but he had told me that I needed to know the truth. I kept telling myself that she wasn't dead. If she was I would have felt it, I would have known. We were so close I would have known in my gut that she was dead. But that feeling just wasn't there.

Of course, no matter how many times I had told people, they had just nodded and gone along with what I had said. They thought I was in denial- I was, but that didn't mean I liked it- and got out of the room as quickly as possible.

I had woken up a little while ago. Judging from the sunlight it was about noon, and I had woken up around dawn a couple days ago, so she had been missing for… two weeks, two days and five hours.

I'm screwed.

According to the doctors I wasn't allowed out of here for a couple more days, so my foot could be set properly and they could make sure my ribs were healed properly. I was going so crazy, I was half-hoping that Loki would attack again and give me a reason to get out of here. Half-hoping being the key word.

I groaned and leaned my head against the pillow. My thoughts were a jumble, but one stood out from them all. Please don't be dead. Nat, I can't live without you.


I threw the cards on the table, tapping my fingers against the glass. Tony stared at me in shock, but Pepper, who was hovering nearby, just gave me a sympathetic look.

I wanted to glare and be mad at the CEO, but I found I couldn't. I hated sympathy, just like Nat, but that didn't mean I should be mean.

God, I missed Tasha.

The past few days since I'd been released from medical have been absolute hell. I had finally restored to Tony's insistence that I played cards with him, only to be annoyed when he complained that I was cheating because I always won. I was, with a few tricks Nat taught me, but I sure wasn't going to tell him that.

There was a crackle, then the loudspeaker came on. "Mr. Stark, Director Fury is at the door."

Tony grunted. "What does he want?"

There was a slight pause. "He wants to speak to Agent Barton."

Everyone in the room froze, but my heart leapt. Maybe they found Nat…

The elevator doors came open and Fury walked out, his footsteps pounding against the floor. His expression was grim, making my heart drop. Oh god, please, don't let her be dead…

"Agent Barton, may I speak to you in the hallway?"

I nodded quickly and stood up, then nearly fell over again. Luckily Tony managed to grab me before I fell and Pepper handed me my crutches. I grunted in thanks and went to the hall.

The moment we were alone I leaned against the wall, not bothering to hide my disgust. "I hate those things."

Normally Fury would have laughed, but his expression remained as blank as ever. "I have news about Agent Romanoff…" he said cautiously.

I wanted to know, yet I didn't at the same time. Is she alive? Please let her be alive… "Is she alive?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.

A brief nod brought my heart leaping in my chest, but his next words stopped me cold. "She's not expected to live through the night."