this chapter is a little short, so sorry about that, i'll see if i can make the next a bit longer to compensate :)

but i hope you like it anyways! :3

read, and tell me what you think :3

~Chapter 9

After Fury hangs up, Becky takes a deep breath and snaps her phone shut.

When she walks back out to the living room, the boys all look up at her expectantly.

"Stark, in the morning you're going for a pysch eval."

"What?" Tony squeaks. "What about the others? They're supposed to come too!"

Becky looks toward Clint, who stares up at her expectantly. "They're exempt." She says simply.

Tony groans. "That is so not fair!"

Clint's expression had flickered for half a second then reverted back to indifference. He would have to thank her later. He isn't surprised that's she's acting like nothing had happened earlier, but things were still a bit awkward on his end.

"Clint, go ask Natasha if she wants to come up, okay?" Becky says. "I don't want her feeling left out."

Hawkeye sighs and stumbles to his feet like a slug, not wanting to get up.

"I'll be right back." He mutters.

When he arrives at Tasha's door, he knocks and waits for her to answer him.

"What?" She says coldly on the opposite side of the door.

"Can I come in?" He asks.

"No."

"Tasha…" He groans. "I said I was sorry! You can't seriously be mad at me."

Natasha laughs to herself, and Clint perks up at the sound he rarely hears. "I didn't say I was locking you out because I'm angry. I just got out of the shower."

"Ooh, I should definitely come in then." He growls suggestively.

"If you're fine with being killed slowly, go ahead and pick the lock on the door." Natasha threatens. "I dare you."

Clint quickly remembers his reason for coming down. "Beckett wanted to know if you'd like to come upstairs and listen to her play."

The door swings open wide and Natasha stands there, wrapped in a fluffy red robe. Her hair was still wet and she smelled lightly of lavender.

Clint had never seen a more gorgeous sight.

He flings those thoughts away and asks stupidly, "So, are you coming up?"

Tasha grabs him by his collar and drags him back into her room, kicking the door shut behind them.

"Natasha!" He yelps, his voice higher than normal due to surprise. Then he grins lopsidedly as she sits like a rock on the bed and pats the spot beside her for him to join her.

He sits next to her, and she starts what seems like a rant she had thought about before deciding to give it.

"I don't like that Beckett girl. She hit you." She says seriously.

Clint rolls his eyes. "Tasha, we both know what I said was a pretty douchebag thing to say. You can't say I didn't deserve that."

"I don't care. If she's our new handler, she shouldn't go around hitting you, that's all." That's my job. She adds silently

"It seems like that's not all of it," Clint says skeptically. Was this jealousy he sensed here?

"It's not." Natasha continues. "You know her already, through Couslon I'm guessing. But you never mentioned her?"

Hawkeye pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. "Natasha. You can't expect me to tell you every detail about every person I meet."

"Why not?" She asks. "We're partners."

His eyes narrow. "Then what were you doing in Russia?"

Natasha instantly clams up, her eyes widening. She stands and returns to the bathroom to comb out her dripping hair. "I won't be coming up." She says, prior to slamming the bathroom door shut in his face.

*(*)*

"She still mad?" Becky asks when she sees Clint collapse back on the couch, muttering obscenities under his breath.

"She wasn't. But then I made her mad again." He grumbles in reply. "Idiot." He hisses at himself.

"No wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend." Tony says thoughtfully. "Or maybe he is actually dating the Black Widow, and they decided to keep it a secret." Tony winks at Clint. "Don't worry. You'll probably have make-up sex, and then we'll know for sure in nine months when we have little spider hawks flying around making web-nests!"

Clint throws the closest thing he could reach- which happens to be a large hard back book and manages to hit Stark in the side of the head. Tony makes a funny sound and plops down to the ground, holding his head in hands in pain.

"Bruce, be a good doctor and tell him not to throw things because he'll hurt himself." Tony says to Banner, who sits next to Becky, being the only one listening to her practice.

"He used his right hand. So he's fine." Bruce replies, not really all that interested in the petty fight between the two.

"Ha. Now shut up and listen to her play."

*(*)*

Natasha can't deny that this Rebecca has some skill, at least in the music department.

She finds herself immersed in the deep rich tones of the cello as she hides in the shadow where no one watches. Not even Clint notices she's there.

She listens for maybe ten minutes before slinking away silently, almost sad to be leaving before the suite ended.

Natasha had wanted to make sure Clint was okay one last time before she headed back out to Russia.

She had also wanted to make sure Bruce had held up his end of the deal.

Natasha definitely owed him one for the magnificent use of some sort of sleeping drug mixed with a compatible antibiotic that would knock Clint out within twenty minutes and keep him sleeping for a full day.

That means she'll get a full days start on the Hawk before he would come after her.

And come after her Hawkeye would—

She was depending on it.

guess the drink i always have while typing this fic before 2:00 tomorrow (august 11th), and i'll give you a snippet of the next chapter :3 (hint: it's not a cold drink :3)

reviews are love :)