A/N: Hellooooo people! I'm back! I received some really sweet and nice reviews form the last chapter, thank you so much for all your support :')

Anyway, enjoy this chapter first and we'll talk later ;)


Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living

–Dr. Seuss


Last time:

'I still think we should end this holiday earlier. Maybe go to Stark's, visit the two science geniuses and see how the tower's renovating project is going on.' Natasha snorted at his words. She hated that annoying and cocky bastard. Tony Stark just irritates her too much for her to even want to see that man without wanting to slap down his ego and kick his arrogant ass. Talking about ass kicking, she still owes the person beside her one. Natasha smirked as her thoughts wandered there.

Clint suddenly felt a shift of air around Natasha and glanced at her. She was smirking. That dark, deadly, proud smirk. Oh shit. What did he do again?

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'Natasha…' he said highly cautious and uncomfortable as he mentally went through everything that he did the last few days.

'Yes?' She parked the car and turned off the engine, then turned to look at him under her batting eyelashes with a fake innocent expression.

'Natasha,' he repeated.

'What? Can we please just go in and check out the sad little deserted sports stadium of yours? My body is aching for exercise.'

'You better tell me what I did, Romanoff,' he groaned and got out of the car. He went to the back and took out his favourite bow and a handful of arrows then strode towards the block of grey with peeling wallpapers.

The inside of the sports stadium turned out to be rather decent, or at least better than they expected. They had both practised in worse places. It had one huge hall, presumably once an indoor basketball or volleyball court; then there were a few other rooms, one with 5 torn but still usable target boards, perfect for Clint, and another huge hall which was once a gymnasium with a bouncy floor and all the equipment still present, including gym mats, rings and bars. The assassins were impressed with this place they found.

Natasha quickly whipped out two guns from the inside of her leather jacket and shot at a target board. The gun sounds echoed through the whole stadium which made Natasha grin.

'I like this place,' she said with a raised eyebrow as she continued shooting, her chin up, her eyes entirely focused on the target board. Clint ignored her and started practising his short-distance shooting. He has always been better with long-distance, but it didn't mean that he would miss any shots when he had no choice but to shoot in a shorter range. This pair of assassins expected perfection in their practises because they know when they go on a mission, it's a war zone. And in a war, no mistakes can be made; they aren't allowed; they aren't affordable. You do something wrong, you'll be dead by the next second. These two had fought long enough to stay alive.

They spent 2 hours shooting continuously, without stopping for neither water nor food, without speaking or looking at each other at all. Then they went to the former gymnasium to spar. Natasha started taking off her heels and jacket, leaving on her black tank top and tights, while Clint did the same, taking off all his unwanted garments and his shoes.

'Ready?' Natasha asked as she tied her fiery red hair up into a ponytail so that it's all out of her face.

'As ready as I can ever be.'

Then they started their sparring match. It's been weeks since they last sparred together yet they still haven't forgot all the moves. They sparred for an hour with no one being knocked down, when suddenly as her leg was about to aim for his waist, he grabbed her and pulled her towards him in the most awkward position, with his arm wrapped around one of her legs and the other supporting her neck, preventing her from falling.

He grinned and Natasha's breath caught in her throat as she saw the mixed emotions starting to cloud over his eyes. She closed her eyes for a while then as she opened them again, she sprang into action and in a split second, Clint was pinned to the bouncy floor of the gym with her delicate but strong hands holding onto his wrists and her thigh squeezing his legs.

'You lose,' she smiled scornfully looking down at him. But he didn't care and just stared into those beautiful green eyes of hers. Her ponytail was quite loose at that point, and there were a few strands covering her face and beads of sweat visible on her forehead.

'How do you even get distracted so easily?' she asked, disgusted as she stared back into his blue ones.

'No idea,' he shrugged carelessly, 'it wasn't exactly my choice to be given such a gorgeous, drop dead sexy, attractive, witty and clever partner, you know?'

'Ugh,' she is so going to kill him one day, she thought as she hung her head, closed her eyes, shook her head and loosened her grip on his wrists. A few more strands of her hair fell out and he carefully and gently tucked them back behind her ears. She instantly tensed a bit at that caressing gesture but was too tired to care already, as all the adrenaline that kept her going drained out of her. She just sighed and literally collapsed onto his chest while they both breathed heavily from the intense match they just had. He landed a hand on the small of her back with the other playing with her beautiful red hair, twisting strands around his fingers then releasing them. They stayed like that on the floor for half an hour, till Natasha finally got up and suggested to grab some food and look for a place to stay for the night.

That night, they stayed in a tiny bed and breakfast, far away from any town or city centres, owned by an old lady. It was cheap but they both agreed that the commodity provided was good enough for a night's stay.

When they woke up the next day, they found themselves wrapped up in each other, their limbs, once again, tangled together in a mess. They sat up feeling contented and refreshed from the exercise yesterday, and then went down for a simple breakfast served by a young girl of thirteen, the old lady's granddaughter, maybe. They felt almost serene and at peace as they sat in the backyard of the little house, looking out at the beautiful view with birds chirping and red and yellow leaves falling from branches while enjoying their breakfast. Natasha let out a small sigh of pleasure as her imaginations wandered off to an unfamiliar but delightful life she might have had in another universe, at another time. It is as if every bad thing in the world could just suddenly disappear and melt away, that her life, for once, could be perfect. Just then, she saw a spark of blue in the clouds and she choked on her tea.

'What is it?' Clint immediately asked, alarmed.

'Nothing,' she said her voice a bit rough, still coughing and recovering her breath. Was she dreaming? Why would there be a sudden spark of blue among the fluffy white clouds?

'Natasha, tell me, what is it?'

'I thought I saw something, but never mind, it's nothing, I'm fine,' she replied as she sipped her tea and tried to forget what she thought she saw. That spark of blue reminded her so much of New York. Thor, Loki, the tesseract, those aliens, monsters, they all landed here on earth because of the spark of blue that opened into a humongous dark hole which acted as a tunnel for those creatures to descend onto the earth.

'Tasha…' he said pleadingly.

'I said I'm fine,' she snapped she didn't want to bring up this conversation; New York reminds them of too much unwanted things and feelings. He just ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.

'Where are we going next?' she asked after a few minutes of silence.

'Up to you,' he answered with a shrug then left the table, leaving Natasha sitting there alone wondering what she should do next. Natasha has never felt so frustrated and confused before, if not never, at least it's been a long time since she last felt so helpless, of both her life and of Clint. Before she joined S.H.I.E.L.D, she always had perfect control of her life, of what is going to happen next and she always knew how to deal with situations, no matter how extreme or dangerous they were. Now, she is just living one day after another, with no plans, none at all. It gives her freedom. It gives her choices. But sometimes, especially in times like this, it makes her desperate, desperate to be in control again.

Natasha finished her tea and went running along the moor, the huge piece of grassland that seemed to have no end.

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A/N: It's half term break for me! Yay! Any of you too? I'll try to post more the coming week. But I still have loads of study to do so please do bear with me.

How did you like this chapter? Review and tell me! And guess what, I was listening to Atlas by Dave DeRose (not the one by Coldplay, though yes, I love that one too) the whole time while writing this. The song is so deep, so emotional, so dynamical.

Hope to see you soon!