A:N- Ladies and Gentleman, you shall be pleased to know I have decided to expand this fic! Instead of just being a one-shot, this story will now be a series of one-shots, all set under the same universe but it does not have a direct storyline - it simply involves Clint/Natasha and our favourite Avengers.

Enjoy! And thank you to everyone so far who has favourited or reviewed this story - it means a lot!

He had been gone for a month, and she had heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. She knew of course as spies they had to be secretive – but surely he shouldn't been this secretive after all that happened between them.

When it happened, it'd been two weeks since the battle with Loki and saving the world. Stark Tower was now called the Avengers Tower, and Stark himself had insisted that the team stayed at the tower; Fury had even agreed to it. He wanted the team to become a 'family' – the word just made Natasha cringe and she at first was against it, but she had soon warmed around to the idea. Mainly because it meant she spent a lot more time with him. Her partner.

Her and Clint had been close since the battle – sneaking small kisses and holding each other as they slept, keeping the nightmares away. The others knew something was going on – Tony had even gone as far as placing a $10 bet with Steve on that they were together in some form of sense (screwing each other is what Tony's gutter of a mind thought). Natasha and Clint knew too, but they decided to play along with it anyway. Until he disappeared.

Two weeks after the battle, he left Stark Tower and hadn't returned. Natasha didn't think much of it – purely thinking SHIELD had called him in for a meeting or something but then he hadn't returned. Though she kept it to herself, she began to get more and more worried about what he had happened. So much so that after a couple of days, she made Tony fly her in his private copper to the SHIELD helicarrier; he at first had been against it, only quickly agreeing when the Black Widow was reaching for her knife and gave him a extremely stern look. At the headquarters, she demanded to see Nick Fury, who had to deal with a very annoyed and irritated Black Widow.

"You tell me where he is Fury!" She all but shouted at the director, who continued to look at her in cool demeanour. Stark, who had accompanied her into the headquarters, had chosen to keep to himself in a corner of the room, but quietly piped up.

"Y'know, I'd tell her where he is Fury. She almost had a knife at my throat earlier…"

"STARK!" She turned on him now, shouting "You're not helping!"

Tony held his hands up in mock surrender.

"I'm only trying to help!"

She scowled at him, narrowing her eyes before turning back to Fury.

"I can't tell you his whereabouts Agent Romanoff. I sent Agent Barton on a private mission and he wished to keep his whereabouts disclosed."

Natasha was speechless for a moment, digesting the information she had just received. Shaking her head of her thoughts and feelings she currently had, she looked up at the director.

"Then send me to where he is. I can help!" She demanded but Fury just shook his head.

"I cannot do that Agent Romanoff. This is a mission for Agent Barton, and him alone." And with that Fury swept out of the room, leaving for once a silent Black Widow.

That had been a month, and he still hadn't returned. Since then, she had kept to herself – mainly staying in her room and refusing at times to join the team for meals. Only occasional members of the time popping to her room with food stopped her starving. They all knew by now how Barton's absence was effecting her, it was clear to tell. She didn't admit it out loud, she wouldn't but she missed him. She missed the feel of his muscular arms wrapped around her body, the feeling she got when she laid her head on his chest, his soothing heartbeat calming her. Without him, nightmares were a constant and she would writhe around in her sleep, continuously shouting out. Eventually, she all but gave up with even sleeping, preferring to be in the training arena Stark had built for them, perfecting her moves after she ached.

It had been a whole month before he finally returned. She had been in her room, aimlessly looking at the New York skyline, before the Captain knocked hastily on her door.

"Natasha, come quick." He said, a gleam in his eye as he ran back out. She curiously followed hot on his heels, along the corridor to the living room.

It had to be him, it just had to be, She thought all the way to the living room, where she was greeted by her fellow team-mates (and Pepper) crowding around something in the middle of the room. Or maybe it was someone. She strained to look who it was, a little bit of hope building up in her and then it was confirmed by Stark shouting out.

"Looking good Legolas!" Then she knew it was him – that was his nickname for Clint. She found her feet moving slowly forward and the guys slowly parted to show him. He looked exhausted, worn out but he was there, it was really him. She noted how he looked even more handsome rugged and worn out, then his gaze rose to meet hers. He slowly smiled, holding his arms out expectantly, so she could slipped against him and feel his muscular body once more. Suddenly the smile she had slipped from her face, and her hand rose up to slap his cheek. Hard.

"What the hell Nat?"

"YOU ABSOLUTE BASTARD CLINT BARTON!" She screamed at him, staring intensely at him, her face a look of thunder. "HOW DARE YOU COME BACK HERE AND EXPECT EVERYTHING TO BE OKAY!"

"Tash…" He tried to cut in, but her hand rose up to point a finger at him.

"DON'T YOU 'TASH' ME!" She continued to scream. They failed to notice the other team-mates sneaked out of the room, sensing a big argument about it. But they only went into Steve's room, which happened to be the closest to the living room. All of them straining their ears near the door to hear what was happening.

"You left without telling me! God damn it Clint, I'm supposed to be your partner, your supposed to tell me these things! Or does it not matter anymore?"

"Nat let me explain," He said quietly, holding his hands out.

Natasha folded her arms across her chest, shooting daggers at her supposedly called partner.

"You better have a damn good reason Barton. Why did you keep this from me?"

Clint took a big breath.

"I didn't tell you because Fury asked me to go on a private mission. I wanted to tell you, trust me Tasha, I did," He paused, looking for any sign of emotion for Natasha, who just still looked mad at him.

"But this mission concerned you." Now, that changed her demeanour. Her lips parted in surprise, and her arms slowly unfolded.

"What?"

Clint took another big breath, and slowly reached a hand out for her. She didn't take it at first, so he improvised by simply placing his hand on her arm, looking at her sincerely.

"Tasha, they received word that someone was tracking you. It seemed that Loki had an agent still under his control so when Fury told me and asked me to sort it, I didn't hesitate. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

She nodded, and slowly he rubbed his hand down his arm to connect her hand.

"I didn't tell you because I wanted to protect you, I took the mission to protect you." He smiled slightly as he caught the end of a mutter from Natasha, who was still pretty pissed.

"I don't need protecting," She muttered angrily, as a chuckle escaped from Clint.

"Tash, everyone needs someone to help protect them," a small smile was teasing his lips, and Natasha found herself wilting under his gaze.

"You still could have told me. Do you have any idea how I felt? I thought you'd been killed!" She yelled the last part, breathing heavily as Clint hung his head in shame.

"I know, and I'm sorry Nat. I should have told you, but Fury was hell bent against it. You may think you don't need protecting, but I wanted to protect you."

And yet again, she understood. She eventually gave in, as she found she couldn't keep mad at him for long. Her feelings began to creep up again, the butterflies in his stomach returning as the anger she had slipping away. She soon found his arms wrapping around her, and her arms wound around his neck. She sighed as they embraced tightly, secretly loving the feel of his muscular chest against her once more, her face buried in his shoulder.

"I'm still mad at you," She muttered under the breath, and she could feel him grin against her shoulder. She smiled as he pulled away and placed a tender kiss on her forehead.

"I missed you too babe," he chuckled as she swatted her hand on his arm and rolled her eyes.

"Babe? Really Clint?" His answer was to only shrug his shoulders and laugh at her bemused expression.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team were still huddled up in Steve's room, attempting to listen to the conversation going between the two agents and then were now trying to entertain themselves. Suddenly a thought popped into Tony's head.

"Hey Pep," He said, turning to his red-headed girlfriend who was perched on the bed beside him, "Have you seen the episode of Friends were Ross & Rachel break up?"

He was greeted extremely confused looks from the rest of the team – Pepper thinking what on earth that had to do with this, Thor and Steve not having a clue what this was and Bruce just looked mildly amused.

"Yes…"

"Doesn't this situation just reminded you of it? When the rest of the gang are in Monica's room waiting for the argument to finish?" He sounded like a child on Christmas, acting extremely excited; Pepper could roll her eyes at her childish boyfriend.

About an hour or so later, the rest of the team decided it was safe to retreat out of the bedroom. Tiptoeing into the living room, they were stunned to find the two agents asleep on the sofa. They were even more stunned to find Natasha's head against Clint's chest, and his arm wrapped around her, both of them sound asleep. Tony quickly led Pepper and the rest down to the training area, making sure the door was completely shut before shouting out.

"I told you!" He grinned as a rather irritable Steve handed over a $10 bill.