"Natasha," a familiar perky voice summoned her over.

"What do you want Pepper?" she asked swinging around to meet her.

"I want to stop this," she said waving her hands in the air to add effect "we're all sick of avoiding you."

"Is this about last night because whatever Jane told you wasn't true, she was shock," she said, S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't appreciate it if she went around telling civilians she was actually an assassin.

"No," Pepper groaned "I just saw you at the party and I wanted to talk to you but I stopped myself and then I thought, why though really? You're my friend Natasha, even though you don't act like it."

She hugged Natasha tightly so she couldn't move her arms, trying to wriggle them loose she just made it worse, she didn't want to say anything to Pepper about how she was hurting her wound because she still wasn't exactly sure what it was, besides Pepper would ask to see it and it would be a big mess on her behalf.

"I'll see you in English then," she said walking back over to her locker.


She hadn't been able to concentrate all day, the wound she had gained from fighting the previous night wasn't healing at all. She hadn't told anyone about it in hope that it would just go away in time, but it wasn't, it was getting worse. She almost felt ill, if that was possible. At break she decided to hide in one of the bathroom stalls and see how bad it really was.

She gasped at the sight of it, the gash had turned black and had tendrils of what looked like poison entering her blood stream. She didn't understand, she was immune to all poisons and diseases as was Steve, she wondered what on earth it could have been. Whatever it was she could feel herself deteriorating by the second. She left the bathroom still holding her side, she had to go home before it got any worse. She had just made it to the stone steps when she felt a cold hand tap her shoulder "I can't talk Luke," she said attempting to walk down the steps.

"Are you alright Natasha?" he asked coming to her side, she winced in pain and put her hand on her side nearly falling backwards "midguardians," she heard him sigh under her breath. Her eyes widened and she kept her gaze locked on him.

"That word," she said her hand reaching for the combat knife hidden in her jacket pocket "you're one of them," she hissed. His expression changed as if he'd realised something, he came closer until they were almost touching "stay back," she warned drawing out her knife in defence.

"Who have you heard say that word before?" he asked, he looked dangerous, much more so than before. It was classified information that he was looking for and she had made a promise not to disclose it. Her legs felt weak, like they couldn't support her weight anymore, she felt herself falling backwards and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She braced herself for the impact but it didn't come. Her eyes blinked open to meet Luke's, she felt a sharp pain and reality came back to her all at once.

He looked down on her with pity evident in his deep green eyes, she coughed deeply and wasn't surprised when blood came up too. He lifted her up effortlessly, she was too weak to fight back, her body went numb until the only muscles she was able to control were her eyes which blinked closed moments later.


Piano music, that was the first thing she heard when she woke up, she was confused at first somewhat unable to recall what had happened in her sleepy daze. She looked around, she was sprawled out across a bed in a large room, she could hear the crackling from a fireplace that was situated across from her. She looked down, in place of her school uniform she was wearing a white nightgown not to mention the fact her wound was gone, every trace of it ever being there was gone. How long had she been asleep? She got up and followed the music, she found herself in a long corridor and the sound was coming from the last door on the end, she walked over there silently and peaked through the open door.

There he was sitting at a grand piano in a top and jeans with his hair still ruffled up from having just gotten up. He hadn't taken notice of her, she took a chance to admire him, his slender features, the way his long fingers trailed up and down the piano gracefully. She couldn't help but smile, it was different, a real smile, his eyes were focused intently ahead as if he had played the tune many times before. She didn't want to interrupt him but she was still suspicious and had many questions to ask. Creeping slowly in the room she drew nearer to the piano on her tiptoes.

"Not many people can sneak up on me Miss Romanoff," he stated looking towards her and smiling slightly.

"I wasn't trying to sneak up on you," she retorted "I was trying to sneak past you."

Not quite sure what to do next she came closer to where he was seated at the Piano, she wondered what it would be like to have a relationship with a normal person, the thought hadn't occurred to he because Luke wasn't exactly normal but compared to her…

If only she knew how alike they truly were, perhaps the truth would scare her. That seemed unlikely, she wasn't fazed by most things if anything. She was determined though that Luke had some part to play in the events that were about to unfold, something bad was coming, and it wasn't far away.

"Forgive me if I don't believe you," he said getting up and heading to the kitchen "Do you want breakfast love?" he asked, she rolled her eyes at the prospect of being called such a name but she had to admit, she was starving.


"You were gone 3 days and we didn't hear a word from you!" Maria shouted regarding Luke with the uppermost contemp.

"I won't apologise for what I couldn't help," she said crossing her arms.

"We nearly filed a missing person's report," she shrieked turning to Luke "did you drug her?" she asked examining Natasha for any signs of needle marks or bruises.

"No!" she shouted snatching her arm back from her grasp.

"I love it when girls argue over me," he said making Natasha smile despite herself.

"Hell no," Maria said stepping in ready to slap him but it was Natasha who stopped her.

"Just leave it Maria," she said giving a look to say I'm home now and that's what matters.

"I have lots of phone calls to make," she said, grumbling swear words under her breath as she walked back to her apartment.

She turned to Luke "I don't know what you did, but thanks anyway," she said hesitating for a moment before kissing his cheek lightly, she pulled away and walked back over to her apartment waving. When she closed the door he touched the place where her lips had been moments ago. He refused to fall subject to her charms.


"They have been targeting her?" Thor said in disbelief "how long have you known about this Loki?"

"Long enough," he replied strolling over to the window and looking outside.

"What's wrong?" Thor asked watching as Loki tensed up.

"It will snow soon," he said, his fingers brushing lightly over the window.

"How do you know," he asked, as if he hadn't already guessed.

"Don't make me say it," Loki said in return closing his eyes and bowing his head.

Thor made an attempt to change the conversation "How do you propose we stop them from reaching us without hurting her?" he asked.

"I shall entwine a cloaking spell into a piece of jewellery and give it to her," he answered "you should do the same for Jane," he added turning away from the window.

"Do you know for sure if she will accept your gift?" he asked, Loki rolled his eyes.

"Stop asking me so many questions," he snapped causing Thor to look back at him in hurt "Of course she will accept it, she is as prone to my charms as all the other midguardian whores."

"Do not call them that!" Thor shouted standing up and knocking over their coffee table.

"Trust me and your precious Jane shall remain out of harm's way," he said ignoring the books that had scattered across the room from Thor's outburst, he nodded in return not having much choice but to accept.


"Did you like the song," Pepper asked as they walked down the corridor to their history class.

"Yeah, wasn't it from a movie or something," Natasha said in return stopping at her locker to take her book out.

"The Great Gatsby," she confirmed "I love Lana Del Ray," she said smiling while Natasha took her books out and shoved them in her bag "she kind of looks like you," she added focusing on her features.

"What does she look like?" Natasha asked fixing her backpack and continuing to walk alongside her.

"Red hair, green eyes," she listed them trying to remember another thing they had in common "oh and she wears the dark red lipstick like you."

"I only wear it occasionally," she said stopping at the door to their class.

"Well you should wear it more often, it makes you look hot," she said as they walked in. There was only a few people in the classroom, they, well Natasha had decided to go to class early to escape the excitement of their friends for the Christmas dance.

"I don't want to look hot," Natasha retorted finding her seat at the back. She hadn't known Pepper well enough to sit next to her at the start of the year so she ended up next to the school's goody two shoes, i.e. Phil Coulson. She had tried conversing with him a couple of times but he insisted that talking wasn't allowed and that she should get back to her work. Pepper however was sat next to the blond girl that had approached her at Tony's party, she smiled over to Pepper earning a dirty look from blondie. Today she was wearing bright pink lipstick and her long blond hair was tied back into a high ponytail, her skirt was hitched up and the first three buttons of her shirt were undone, she hadn't even bothered to put on the blazer. It was times like these she forgot how many friends Pepper actually had, she was basically the eyes and ears of the school and though she could get annoying, she was still a good person and very intelligent.

Natasha figured that must have been why she decided to talk to her after she recited her Shakespeare speech, being the captain of the cheer squad and the president of the student body council it seemed like a strange thing for her to do, talk to the new freak in class, but she did and for that Natasha chose to trust her. It had hurt her more than she cared to admit when Pepper and the rest of her friends made the decision to ignore her, she didn't know how to stop it or what to say having had no friends before so she left it and focused on other things.

She looked away from them and focused back on her work. They had just started a new topic after their exam which she couldn't help but smile at, The Russian Revolution.


Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I'm also working on another blackfrost fic called "Of Fire and Ice" which is basically a medieval A.U based on game of thrones and BBC's Merlin. Please check that out. Thank's for reading anyway and I'll try and update again soon.

- Anna