Ch 2: Not Just another Mission

"Agent Romanoff, Barton," Director Fury nodded to the agents as they seated themselves across from him. They had received word early that morning that he had an assignment for one of them. Which didn't explain why they were both here. Natasha planned to find out why, this whole thing was weird.

Director Fury got right to the point, "Agent Romanoff, there is a target that requires your . . . particular skills. The head of StunCo,-"

"That company that makes electrical weapons, like tasers and stuff? Headed by, um, Marcus Lawrence?" Clint interrupted.

"Yes. They also make other lesser known weapons, not dissimilar to Natasha's Bites. Our intelligence tells us Mr. Lawrence is giving free weapons to any terrorist group who will help him locate certain disconnected items. We think he is building something."

"Is he giving them to only terrorist groups, or anybody who can help him get what he needs?" Clint once again interjected.

"We don't know. We aren't even sure he's the one doing it, the only lead we have is that it's StunCo weapons that are being sold. And Lawrence is the only one with the level of clearance required to build anything with the items. That we know of anyway. That's why we need Agent Romanoff. We want her in as a shadow. She'll be his new secretary. You leave today, as soon as you pack."

Natasha had been strangely silent during through the briefing, but now she spoke up, "Why is Clint here? This is a solo mission that doesn't involve him." Clint was a little hurt by this remark but Nat didn't appear to notice.

"I figured he'd want to know what his . . . partner was doing," Fury replied after a pause. Natasha nodded, as if this was exactly what she expected to hear. Fury dismissed them and they stood to leave. When Nat was halfway out the door, Fury called, "And, Agent Romanoff? Make him fall for you. Wrap him around your finger," Fury glanced at Clint, "You're good at that.

Natasha headed down the hall to the room where her undercover wardrobe was kept, with Clint trailing behind. "What the hell was that, Nat?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe and watched Natasha bustle around the room.

"He knows. Fury, I mean." She was grabbing garments and throwing then down, looking for something.

"What?"

"Fury knows about us. That's why he's sending me away. And he took them all!" She added, frustrated.

"Took what? And are you saying he's shipping you off to break us up?"

"Why else would he specifically ask me to seduce this guy? He didn't even specifically tell me to seduce Stark! I could just as easily go in, beat the guy up, and take the info," She started throwing clothes again, this time about half of them landed into the suitcase. "I'll have to make do, be creative," she muttered.

"Make do with what? What's missing?"

"The . . . Nevermind."

"Tasha."

"He took all the clothes I wanted to take," she said quietly, still packing.

Clint walked over to her suitcase, letting the door swing shut behind him, and picked up a white shirt. He let out a whistle, "I don't know . . . I think this shirt will get the job done. Not that you have a problem attracting men." He pawed through the suitcase, "Any of this stuff seems like it'll be fine . . ."

Natasha let out a frustrated shriek and grabbed the offending shirt and threw it into the reject corner.

"Natasha? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she snapped and gritted her teeth.

This was weird. Usually if something was bothering her, Nat fessed up when he asked about it. "Okay. How do you know he knows?" Clint asked, trying to subtly calm her down and get information out of her.

"You couldn't tell? He knows. He called you in for briefing when you weren't needed and-" she stopped. "Did I upset you, asking why you were there?"

"A bit"

"I had to know if he knows. And he knows I know."

"How do you know he knows you know?"

"How could he not know? I practically told him I know he knows."

"How . . ?" Clint decided to stop trying to understand. "Okay. I missed that. I feel like I'm missing a lot," he gestured to the clothes scattered around, "And you were obviously missing something earlier, and it upset you, and you won't tell me what's wrong."

"He wants to cause problems, Clint."

"With the mission?"

"With us!" She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned onto his chest.

"What?" he asked softly, kissing her hair.

"God, you are so dense. Don't you have a problem with this?"

"With . . . what?"

"With me going after Marcus Lawrence."

"No . . ." he said slowly, wondering if he'd made some kind of boyfriend error he didn't know existed, "Should I?"

Natasha sighed, "I guess not." She grabbed her bag and started zipping it up.

"Nat?" when she didn't answer, Clint thought over everything that had happened. And then he felt really, really stupid. "Do you think – does Fury think– that I'll be upset about something you'll have to do with this Lawrence guy?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Glad you're finally with us. But won't you be upset?

"No. I've seen you do it before," she squinted at him and he said quickly, "Should I care?"

"Most people would, yeah. Why don't you?" Natasha was making that face, the face that meant she was trying to figure him out.

"I know it's fake. I know you don't mean any of it," he shrugged, "I've heard you complain about it."

"So it doesn't bother you at all?"

"I don't particularly like being in the same room and watching. . ."

"Well, it bothers me."

"It bothers you that it doesn't bother me?"

"No, seducing this guy bothers me."

"It's never bothered you before."

"Before was different. I don't feel right doing that to you."

"But you're not doing anything to me. I don't have the right to keep you from doing your job. And don't pretend that the job isn't important to you."

"Maybe priorities are changing. Clint, I'll get the job done, but I promise I won't let him touch me. In any way. I'd rather compromise the mission." Nat tucked a strand of her fiery hair behind her ear.

She was serious. She was completely serious. "Natasha, you heard Fury's orders. We can keep him from breaking us up without ruining important missions." Clint was very touched, and a tad relieved, at Nat's promise, but he wasn't about to let her get in trouble over this. He knew that she felt like she had to stay with SHEILD to make up for everything she'd done, and he felt the same way, but he wasn't sure she was doing this because she wanted to, or because she thought he wanted her to. Not that he liked what she'd been required to do in the past. Quite the opposite. And this guy was basically a pre-Afghanistan Tony Stark. But how could he argue? He smiled wryly, when Nick Fury planned to make them argue, he probably thought the viewpoints would be a little different.

But she wouldn't budge. Clint finally gave up. She knew how he felt, and she knew how she felt, and that was that.

She slung the bag over her shoulder and kissed him quickly. "See you when I get back."

"Right." She left him in the wardrobe room, with discarded outfits scattered in piles around him, wondering if she would do anything risky. He knew that, with Tasha, the answer was probably yes.

A/N So, Natasha is off to her suspicious mission, trying to stay true to Clint. I'm not sure I got the conversation quite right, so please review and tell me what you think! Also, do you think Fury should get more involved in their relationship, like try to break them up and stuff?