Taking care of another person was a concept that Tony found remarkably difficult, especially when that person was a deadly assassin who could not stand seeming weak. He could not say that he knew Natasha very well, but he was very aware of how negatively she reacted any time he made the insinuation that she needed to be helped. She barely ate any of the food he gave her, even though her body must have been starved and she desperately needed to regain her strength. He wanted to suggest she go to a hospital, but he knew she would never agree and if he pushed the matter she would leave, taking it upon herself to administer her own care.

Then she would probably disappear and Tony would have no idea if she was bleeding out in an alley, or burning up from infection. It was hard for him to bite his tongue as he watched her eat, wanting to know more about the mission and the danger she was in, but he was hesitant about bringing up the topic of the rogue agents. A man that she had come to know and probably even trusted a little, had completely turned on her. Every time her face darkened and her jaw set itself in a hard line, Tony figured she was thinking about plans for revenge, most of them involving more pain than any one person could possibly handle.

She only made it halfway through the sandwich and gave Tony a stern look when he tried to suggest she eat all of it. He lifted his hands in surrender and said nothing further, not even making a joke about how bad the food must have tasted if she couldn't finish it. As he watched her run a finger along the edge of the plate, somehow making it seem as though the dish could actually be used as a weapon, Tony was reminded of her guns.

"One thing I don't understand," He spoke up, leaning across the bar to look at her with a serious face. She glanced up and allowed him to continue, her face unreadable. "The tracking chips in your guns clearly say that you are still in France-"

"There are no tracers in any of my weapons." She interrupted him, seeming indignant, as though his very suggestion was ridiculous. "I scan for bugs every time I go anywhere, weapons are the first things I check."

Tony smirked with a little of his well known pride. "Actually, there is a tracking chip in each of your guns and there is no bug sweeper that has been invented which could pick up on my technology." He was surprised by the look on her face, he had been expecting anger and yet is was close to realization.

"That's why." She whispered, standing up from her seat and planting both hands on the bar. "That is why I couldn't lose the tails until I ditched my weapons! I thought I was losing it! That my mind was imploding! But I was being tracked!" The anger came then, her whole face contorting with rage and making Tony feel uneasy. Normally she lacked emotions of any sort, but Tony had seen her anger before and as reckless as he was, he had no will to be on the receiving end of it.

"Whoa, hang on a minute, just calm down." He moved around the side of the bar and was uncomfortable about the way her eyes followed him, as though she expected him to grab a weapon and attack her. He kept his hands splayed in front of him so she had no reason to be overly suspicious. "Those trackers are linked directly to my systems here at the tower, not at the base. No one has access to them apart from me." She listened to his words but he could tell she did not believe them.

"They managed to ambush me at every turn, every time I thought I was finally safe there was someone waiting for me. I'm not an idiot Stark, I know how to lose a tail within minutes and these guys kept on me until the moment I had to leave my guns, which was just at the airfield. They followed me there and then must have figured out exactly where I was going after that because there is no way in hell that anybody should have been waiting for me when I arrived back here." She had gone from raging, to calm but it was eerie and Tony knew she was completely on edge.

"Come on, think about what you are insinuating." He dropped onto the stool that she had just vacated. "If, if your tails had found you through my trackers, then it would mean they had gone through my systems. There is just no way." He gave her a smile to try and put her more at ease but she clearly wasn't buying it. He let the smile drop as he realized the significance of what she was suggesting. Even though it seemed ludicrous to him, she evidently believed that he was the cause of the danger she had been put through after escaping, including the bullets she had taken. He sincerely hoped that none of that was his fault in any way.

"Humour me for a moment." She said quietly, locking her eyes with his and he didn't dare turn away. "How would you know if somebody actually managed to get into your system?"

Tony decided to humour her and rubbed his chin as he thought about it. "Well, it's impossible. But, if that was the case then there would be some kind of trace. I can get into any system without leaving any sign but there is just no way that anyone could get into mine unnoticed."

He didn't like the way Natasha's eyes narrowed at him, her mind ticking so fast it was nearly audible. "So something would happen? Something like…. A power outage that JARVIS wasn't even aware of?"

Tony opened his mouth and then found there was no words available for a reply. Natasha seemed to have a habit of leaving him speechless, a rarity in itself. He let his mind work out the scenario, each second that passed was ensuring it to be more and more likely, until he finally slammed his hand down on the bar and stood up again, nearly as angry as she had been.

"Shit." He scratched at his chin and whirled to face her, unable to believe he had been so incredibly stupid. "You're right. You are absolutely right. I should have seen that power cut as a sign of intrusion, but I was so confident about my programs that I didn't even consider the possibility." He groaned and ran a hand through his hair, trying to resist the urge to tear it out.

"People make mistakes." He looked back up at her as she spoke, her tone wasn't reassuring in any kind of way and her eyes had taken on that deadly look. Tony was reminded of a snake about to strike.

He knew he should apologize, that his actions had very nearly gotten her killed but apologies were not something that came easily to Tony, even when he was sincere in his regret. The idea of somebody out smarting him was insulting and he was hit with a feeling of inadequacy that didn't come around very often. He watched Natasha as she moved away from him and tried to take a step, her leg buckling and pain flaring across her face as she made a grab for the bar in an effort to keep herself upright.

"Whoa, easy." Tony was beside her in an instant, looping his arm around her waist. "Where are you trying to go Speed Racer?" She reluctantly had to accept his help and he hid his smile at how much she would be hating the way she was forced to lean on him.

"The window." She panted, slowly putting her uninjured arm around his shoulders. It was a subtle battle between the two of them, he was trying to take as much of her weight as possible and she was trying to give him the least amount that she could. He carefully guided her to the huge bay windows and waited for her reasoning for wanting to be taken there.

"I didn't even know it could be this sunny at this point in the year." She said quietly, causing Tony to glance at her in confusion. Her eyes were rapidly scanning the view of the city, able to see for miles due to the height of the tower and clearness of the weather. "Not that the cold bothers me."

"What are you-"

"I ran a mission in Hawaii not too long ago. I really don't think heat is something I enjoy. Cold is in my blood I suppose." She was so calm and casual that Tony could have sworn he had stepped into some wild alternate Universe. Her voice and face were relaxed but those eyes seemed as though they were taking in every detail they possibly could.

"Seriously, you're starting to freak me out- ah!" Tony groaned her nails dug into his neck, nearly breaking through the skin. He stared at her pointedly but she didn't even look at him.

"I'm assuming you would have been to Hawaii, billionaires seem to love it as a holiday destination." She showed no indication that she was even aware of nearly stabbing her nails through his neck.

"I've never been. Though I would like to go." At least that was an honest answer in the middle of a confusing situation. "Maybe you and I could go some time? They have naked beaches, that could be fun."

"Sounds good."

It was then that he knew with absolute certainty that it was an act of some sort. There was no sarcastic response to a question that was meant in a suggestive way, he knew she would never agree to go with him. He lapsed into silence and let her finish whatever she was doing, but after another minute he had figured it all out and when she asked him to move her back to the bar, he took her right into his bedroom, completely out of sight. His curtains were still shut, when Natasha had been unconscious he had moved her to his bedroom and tried to keep her in a dark environment, knowing it would help when she awoke.

"So how much trouble are we in?" He asked casually as she eased herself onto the bed, one hand placed over her injured shoulder. Her face was strained but she seemed to be breathing through the pain.

"I saw four from that window alone. There must be more." She peeled the edge of the bandage away from her shoulder, gritting her teeth to complete the action. He expected her to take it right off but she just inspected the wound and then pressed the bandage back to her skin.

"Can all snipers read lips?" Tony asked, dropping into the chair that he had placed beside the bed.

"Yes. It comes into use more often than you would think." She paused and then gave him a very serious look. "I'm not going to Hawaii with you."

"Oh, that was all for show?" He narrowed his eyes in mocking accusation and she just continued to stare at him, seemingly not pleased by his efforts to make light of the situation. "Alright, you're the spy, how do we take them out in a subtle way?" She seemed more interested as he hinted towards action instead of comedy.

"I need a gun." She said almost instantly. "Something with an accurate scope." She looked rather earnest and Tony couldn't help but give a slightly sarcastic answer.

"Sorry, fresh out of sniper rifles, try again next week." He was grinning at her and was not at all surprised that she didn't smile back.

"Stark-" She sighed but Tony lifted his hand, making the difficult decision to try and be a little more serious. She did not need the added stress of his attempts to lighten everything up. He stood up and extended a hand to pull her off the bed.

"Come on, I'll take you into the lab, it's quite literally the safest place in this tower."

"Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly, allowing him to pull her off the bed and resume his hold around her waist.

"It sure as hell better be, that's where the suits are." He led her out through the bedroom and back into the room where she had managed to scope out the snipers with what he anticipated was her exceptional instincts and years of training. He wasn't concerned about anyone taking a shot as they passed, the glass was bullet proof of course, they would need something more powerful than a rifle to break through it.

He heard a strange noise as he helped her through the room and paused just as they reached the bar, both of them turning towards the bay windows, which were moving. Each huge panel of glass was turning to the side by electronic control and let in a gentle breeze that carried a serious feeling of foreboding.

"Stark…" Natasha whispered, "Move, now."

He wasn't fast enough and in a sudden moment that he would later have to thank her for, she tackled him to the side, just as he became aware of bullets slamming into the room around them. He heard Natasha's cry of pain over the sound of the area being torn apart, she rolled off him the moment they had sprawled across the floor, clutching her shoulder with a hand that was rapidly being covered in fresh blood.

Tony finally launched into action and hooked his arm around her stomach, unceremoniously dragging her body with him as he crawled around the side of the bar, using it for shelter as the bullets continued to fire in. The huge mirror on the wall above them shattered into cascading pieces and Tony threw himself over Natasha, curling around her body in an effort to protect her from the shards.

When they were safe from the glass he shook his head and wasn't surprised by the small pieces that rained from his hair, falling to the floor to join the rest of the mirror. He glanced at Natasha who had her eyes shut tightly and was shockingly pale, instinctively trying to keep pressure on the wound in her shoulder which had obviously reopened. During a tackle that had no doubt saved Tony's life, he would have to owe her big time for that one. Her eyes snapped open as though she sensed his gaze and despite everything, Tony grinned down at her, keeping his hands on either side of her head.

"Well, I knew I'd have you under me eventually-"

"Are you kidding me!" She yelled, her face changing from rage to pain and then back to wild anger. "What the hell is wrong with you?" The bullets had died down but suddenly started back up with more frequency, slamming into the other side of the bar and all along the wall. He pulled her under him even more, keeping them both against the bar and out of the way of the debris that rained from the walls.

"Stay here!" He yelled in her ear and then threw himself to the side, making a miracle dive across the room with the only defence against the bullets being sheer hope and an arrogant sense of self preservation.

I don't normally update stories so quick because of how many I have to do and other factors, e.g real life, but this one has had such a warm response that I can't help it. The more reviews I get and the more encouraging they are, the more I want to update as fast as possible.