A/N: Thanks for reviewing! (NerdGirl1, you are completely right about Tony and I agree on the teams!)

Well, I'm not seventeen, but I've cuts on my knees

Natasha took her time getting the drinks, chatting with the staff to keep herself occupied. After she'd delayed as long as she reasonably could, she returned to the table with Nick and Clint. It was strange to be together again – it had been a long time. Well, there was that time at the Barton's, but that all seemed like a dream. She felt a pang of homesickness at the thought of working for SHIELD. It had been the one thing she thought she'd done well.

"All settled?" she asked lightly as she sat down.

"Yeah," Clint replied in a way that made her think he was less than thrilled with what he had to do. Maybe he would share it with her later, if she asked the right way.

"Can't stay long," Nick muttered pointedly as he took a swig of his drink.

Natasha smiled. "I am very curious about how you've spent your time being dead," she told him teasingly.

"I'm sure it's similar to what you've been doing lately. You find a job, you finish it, you find another," he said dismissively.

Clint snorted and Natasha laughed. Nick looked slightly affronted. "I'm sure you're not doing little mercenary jobs like I do," Natasha told him.

"Yeah? What do you think I do, then?" Nick wanted to know, sounding amused despite himself.

The two spies exchanged glances before Natasha answered. "You are probably gathering assets and saving them for a rainy day, while doing what good you can – protecting people when you can – along the way."

"I'm retired," Nick deflected with a brief grin.

"I thought you were dead," Clint replied, sounding convincingly confused.

"That too," the former director of SHIELD stated with a shrug, then held up his glass. "To who we used to be," he said solemnly.

The gravity of the toast was not lost on them, and introspective silence followed it. Natasha thought about how she'd give anything to go back to that, to working for SHIELD. Maybe before the Avengers Initiative. She'd liked her job better before becoming well-known, though she might have been wiping more red from her ledger once she became a "hero."

Nick cleared his throat and Clint and Natasha looked up at him. "Trouble always comes around. They'll need us again. They'll need you again before too long. And then this will just seem like a bad dream."

Nodding slowly, Natasha returned her gaze to the table in front of her, vaguely aware of Clint and Nick exchanging looks.

"Nat is thinking that maybe she doesn't want to be needed again," Clint stated. He always did have a good read on her.

"Now, why is that?" Nick asked gently, concerned.

She considered her words carefully before answering. "Maybe I'm not cut out for it. It wasn't what I was raised to be. I'm a spy and an assassin, Nick. I know I've done some good using those skills, but they don't fit that well with a team of superheroes."

"Hey, I'm in the same boat," Clint offered.

Smiling grimly, she shook her head. "No, you're not. You… you chose to become a spy. They made me into one."

Natasha was relieved that neither of them attempted to correct her, though both looked unhappy with her self-assessment.

"You've broken through that programming long ago. Our best people looked into it. So you don't need to be worried about regressing." Nick paused, watching her. "But you're free to do whatever you want now."

"Thank you," she murmured. Then she cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter. "Sorry, it's been a little rough lately. What do you need from me, Nick?"

Nick Fury pulled a burner phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. "It doesn't dial out. Make sure you answer it when it rings."

"Yes, sir." Her smile was genuine – this was just like old times.

He waved off the epitaph. "No one calls me sir anymore. The hierarchy is gone."

"You're still the top of it," Clint pointed out.

"For now," Nick replied amicably, getting to his feet. "Take care of yourselves. No one has extraction plans anymore."

"Never needed 'em," was Clint's clarification as Fury headed out the door. Then he turned to Natasha. "You alright?"

She stood up as well, still smiling. "Yeah. It's nice to get back to work."

He made a noise that wasn't quite agreeing, and they made their way back to the safe house.


Whatever Clint and Nick had talked about kept Clint busy for a while. Natasha checked on what she could, but was mostly content to wait for a phone call. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. For now, it was a relief to have someone else calling the shots. More importantly, she trusted Nick completely. So waiting on him was no hardship.

"I'll keep in touch," Clint stated suddenly as he picked up his bag.

Natasha was surprised, but walked him to the door. She hadn't thought he'd be leaving today, and fought the disappointed feeling in her chest. "Be careful."

He smiled. "You too. Make sure Fury's got your back."

"Who's got yours?" she wanted to know.

"Hopefully Fury. Who knows, maybe if I'm in over my head, your first job will be saving my ass."

Smirking, she leaned against the doorframe. "Someone's always got to, seems like."

It would be normal for them to part after teasing each other, but Clint stopped and looked at her. "When this all blows over… I'm going home. Laura deserves that."

"I understand."

He sighed. "You're welcome to come with me. Always. But they were wrong, you know. The folks in the Red Room."

"Were they?"

"Yes. You have a place in the world, Nat. You'll find it again." With that, he kissed her forehead and turned away. She watched him disappear down the hallway, fighting to maintain her composure. Then she went inside.


It was 18 hours until she got the call. The time dragged by and she struggled to sleep. Nightmares about losing what few freedoms and friends she had left were rampant, and she spent a great deal of the time sitting on the porch, staring out across the city. If she had the choice, where would she go?

That was a problem shared by most of the team, she thought. They were all out of place and they'd made a home together. However briefly it had lasted. Tony was most at home in his lab, but he was struggling to address all the worries in his head, so she didn't think he found peace anymore. Maybe when Pepper could help. Steve was displaced by time and might eventually make his life here. The passing of Peggy Carter had been tough for him, but could be the catalyst he needed to move on. Maybe Sharon could help with that.

Bruce and Thor were gone, perhaps because they felt like outsiders even in their little group of misfits. The new recruits – Wanda, Sam – were more prepared for what they were getting into. Natasha had joined the Avengers almost unwittingly. They were all in danger, and she had done her part to help. Though she had been sent to vet Tony for the initiative, and to fetch Bruce to be involved, it hadn't occurred to her that she herself would be asked to join.

After things died down, it had been pleasant to return to her job and occasionally help or receive support from the others. Working with Steve became almost as easy as working with Clint, and she had enjoyed that time. But SHIELD was gone now. And so were the Avengers. So what could she do?


She was still considering this when the burner phone finally rang.

"Romanoff."

"How's your Korean?" Nick asked without preamble.

"Rusty but passable."

"Go to the airport. Pick up a ticket for Go Eun Choi. Further instructions to follow."

"Thank you, sir."

The call ended and Natasha took a deep breath, then smiled. Time to get to work.