They continued to "speak" to each other. When it was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep they would use the paper to talk to one another. She learned that his name was Clint and that he joined the army because he didn't know what else to do with his life. She told him her name was Natasha and that she became a nurse because she wanted to do something good in her life. Their conversations became her favorite part of the day. They would talk for hours about anything. Well, anything but the war. For a little while they could forget that they were in a hospital tent, they were just two normal people having a conversation. But then the sun would come up and they had to get back to reality.

This went on for days until one night Natasha walked over to his bed and found it empty. She walked around confused, trying to figure out if he had been moved to a different bed. She decided to go see if Betty knew anything.

"Betty do you know what happened to the deaf man who was in that bed?" Natasha asked pointing to Clint's bed.

"They were moving a few patients to a different hospital. Somewhere in England, I think? Why are you asking?"

"No reason," Natasha said a little too quickly. Betty looked a little suspicious but there was no time to think about that now. Not when there was a war going on.

A loud crash woke Natasha up from her dream. She ran downstairs to see what had happened and saw that everyone in the lobby was very calm. Like they had no reaction to what had just happened.

"Mr. Coulson," said Natasha as she walked over to him. "What happened? What was that noise?"

"Oh that was just Mr. Stark with one of his new inventions."

"Who?"

"I'm surprised you haven't seen him yet. Or heard him." Mr. Coulson replied looking a little annoyed. "He owns a weapons shop nearby. Lots of people like to hunt out here. But he also likes to make his own stuff. Most of us just are used to the explosions by now."

Natasha decided that she needed to meet this man herself so she headed over to the shop and heard to voices bickering from behind the building. She was shocked to find Clint of all people holding a bow yelling at a man with dark hair and a goatee.

"You're lucky Pepper wasn't here to see this! I think she might actually kill you when she finds out."

"Oh calm down Clint. So I used a little bit too much gun powder. No one got hurt and nothing got destroyed. Honestly I would consider this…hey who are you?" the other man asked when he saw that Natasha was right by them.

Clint turned around quickly and a smile appeared on his face when he saw her. "Tasha! It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, Clint. I heard the noise and came to see what was going on."

"Tony wanted me to try these new arrows he made. Turns out they're a little more dangerous than he thought."

Tony continued to stare at her like he knew her from somewhere. Then all of a sudden his expression changed like the realization hit him. "Oh my God you're the nurse!" he shouted.

Natasha was a little confused by his statement. "Yes, I work with Dr. Banner."

"No, that's not what I mean." Tony replied. "You were the nurse who took care of him during the war. My God! He wouldn't shut up about you."

Natasha looked at Clint and saw that his cheeks was bright red. "Well," Clint responded. "I was moved to a different hospital in England and…uh…I only knew your name so – I asked a few people there if they knew you."

"A few? He practically asked the entire staff trying to find you," said Tony.

"Were you in that hospital too?" Natasha asked.

"Yes I was," Tony said. "He got a grenade to the head and I got one to the chest." He pulled his shirt up to reveal a circular shaped scar in the middle of his chest. "After the war ended I decided I needed to move away from the city so I came here."

"Tony!" a new voice had appeared. All three of them turned around and saw a red-headed woman staring crossly at them. "What on earth did you do this time? And why are you dragging other people into this?"

"Well, looks like I have to go." Tony replied. "I'll see you later. Make sure you don't lose her again, Clint." He walked off back into his building.

"He was exaggerating" Clint said, his face still a little red. "He likes to think that he's actually funny."

"Right," Natasha said. "I'm sorry but I have to ask, where did you learn to fire a bow?"

"I learned when I was younger. I was in the circus for a few years and that was my act."

"You were in the circus?"

"Yes ma'am I was." Clint replied.

"Huh. I keep forgetting that I barely know anything about you."

"Well why don't you come have dinner at my place tonight around seven? I could answer any questions you have."

Now it was Natasha who was blushing. She smiled at him and said, "Alright. I'll see you tonight."


Natasha arrived at Clint's house later that night and brought her book with her. She thought that maybe she could show it to him and maybe he would want to learn sign language with her. Dinner was wonderful and Clint kept telling her stories about him and his brother and all the trouble they got into at the circus. She told him about the adventures she had at nursing school. They weren't nearly as interesting as his stories, but he seemed interested in them so that was enough. She saw how happy these memories made him and how much he loved his brother.

"So where does your brother live?" she asked later that night when they were sitting on his couch.

His smile suddenly faltered and she realized that that was the wrong thing to ask. "I…I'm not sure. Haven't seen him in years. I don't even know if he's alive."

She had ruined it. They were having a lovely time and she just went and completely ruined it. She was desperately trying to think of something to say and she grabbed the book to show him. "I found this in the library." She said quickly. "It's a book on sign language. I know that you are still struggling with your hearing so I thought that this might be another way for us to communicate."

He didn't say anything. He just stared at her and it was like they were back in the tent again. Natasha cursed at herself for making the whole situation worse than before. She was thinking about all of things she did wrong, and then suddenly he was kissing her and she wasn't really thinking about anything anymore. The book tumbled out of her hands so she could pull him closer to her. She didn't know how long it had been before he pulled himself away. "I'm sorry." He said, breathing heavily. "That wasn't very appropriate. I just…I've wanted to do that for so long."

Natasha didn't know how to respond to that so she just kissed him again. He wrapped his arms around her and it felt so good, she never wanted him to stop. But he pulled away again and asked with a smile, "So when should we start with the book?"

"Tomorrow." She responded. They were going to be a little too busy to get to it tonight.