Natasha had made a few bad calls in her life and those moments were always replayed at a later point to torment her mind. She relived her mistakes constantly, even though she was well aware that nothing could change the past. But sleeping with Tony, giving in, letting him see past her shielding walls, she wasn't yet sure if it was a mistake or not. As he held her, she could feel the tension release from his body. They became opposites as if his tension was flowing into her. As he calmed, she became more alert, as he finally fell asleep with his arm draped over her, her eyes could not have been any wider, her body could not have been any more rigid.

What the hell was she doing? Why was she letting this happen? It didn't make any sense, her mind was awash with confusing feelings and imagined scenarios. Come on Romanoff. She thought with furrowed brows. You are better than this. She was, she was better than some cheap fuck with a man who didn't even have a habit of learning the names of the women he slept with. She tried not to point out to herself, that the men she slept with usually didn't even know her real name anyway.

With fluid grace she eased herself out from under his arm and slowly stood up, trying not to move the bed. She looked back to Tony who was stretched out on his stomach, one arm resting under his face and the other at the angle it had been when wrapped around Natasha. From this view, she could not see the arc reactor in his chest, he looked like an entirely normal man. He wasn't Iron Man like this, he wasn't even the genius billionaire, he was just Tony. She smiled softly at the thought of how being naked physically could make you naked in every other aspect.

She liked him like this, when she could forget his place and his role in the world. Just like at the same time she could forget about the blood on her hands, the anarchy of her life and what promised to be a painful death that came sooner rather than later. She took a second, to just enjoy the normality of the situation. Until she remembered what a fool she was and was propelled to her feet. How could she let herself do that? How could she let the emotions fight to the surface? She was so much stronger than that and yet she had folded to his will so easily.

She picked up her clothes, wincing at the slight pain in her leg as she moved but she had to admit that she was healing well. The pain felt clean, there was no infection and she could tell this without having to check, she'd had that many wounds over her life that she just knew. She slowly moved to the bathroom door at the side of the room, careful not to over exert herself, knowing that a time may come when she needed to run on her leg and while that was not an issue, she was going to take it slow.

The shower was large enough for three people and the water pressure was beyond glorious. She turned the temperature up as high as possible, sticking her head straight under and praying her skin wasn't going to peel off with the heat. She sighed gently, rinsing her long curls under the heavy spray and trying to bring back the images of what could possibly be the best sex she'd ever had. She refused to let that thought cross her mind, it was pushing, trying to tell her how much she had enjoyed herself but she couldn't let it. She knew of Tony's reputation, she knew of the messes he made in his efforts to get what he wanted.

She was now just another number, another notch to add to his belt and she couldn't think any differently. Her eyes shut tightly as she washed herself, there was no soap or shampoo but the pressure of the water was powerful enough to make her feel like she was getting a thorough wash anyway. She tried to keep her mind focused on logical things, planning and scheming to help their situation, but she kept drifting back to the intense feeling that Tony had brought out in her. She could feel her body relaxing as she remembered the sex and no doubt her face would have been flushed if the water hadn't been making her cheeks pink anyway.

She couldn't let herself go down that path, she refused to let herself feel. She knew men like Tony, she knew plenty of them and she was well aware that they could say and do anything to make women fall at their feet. Her eyes snapped open as she heard a soft noise, something like a door shutting and then quiet footsteps shuffling straight after. Two options entered her mind, enemies with automatic rifles or Clint returning. She was not sure which would be the worst.

She shut the water off and stepped out, grabbing a towel from the rail, drying herself as quickly as possible. It wasn't quick enough. There was no gunfire and no bullets that started to tear the place apart, but she did hear Clint start to yell accusingly and a few seconds later heard Tony reply with just as much swearing in his words. Few things could scare Natasha or make her want to run from the scene, but Clint's jealousy was definitely one of them. It wasn't as though she was actually afraid of him, she knew he would never hurt her and she wasn't exactly defenceless, it was just the emotional side of everything that made her want to cringe.

She dressed as fast as her injuries could let her, trying to hear what they were saying which was surprisingly difficult considering how loudly they had started to yell. She yanked her pants on, gritting her teeth to completely ignore the lasting pain in her leg and quickly manoeuvred into her bra, nearly ripping her tank top in her haste to dress fast. She limped to the door and threw it open, ready to yell at the arguing men. Her voice died in her throat as she saw Clint had Tony up against the wall, his elbow to his throat even as he continued to throw insults at him. To Tony's credit, he did not look intimidated in the slightest, even though he was half naked with only a sheet clutched around his waist.

Clint was slightly shorter, but his body language screamed rage and yet Tony was glaring back with as much malice. Clint had the upper hand, it was plainly obvious considering his skills in hand to hand and Tony's complete lack of them. But the billionaire did not seem as if he cared about that, Natasha could see he was not going to back down. Anger was fuelling them both and no doubt they were going to destroy each other.

"Let him go." Natasha said loudly, but calmer than any of them. "Now."

Clint looked to her, though Tony's eyes stayed on the man who was almost strangling him. Other than turning his head, Clint did not move.

"I said, let him go." Natasha repeated, her fists balling in her effort to retain her own anger.

Clint looked furious and she had seen him like this before, she knew how dangerous he could be. She could see the betrayal in his eyes and guilt slammed into her, but she refused to show it. They had bigger enemies at that moment and they could not afford to be fighting with each other.

"How could you be so stupid." Clint all but snarled, surprising Natasha. He turned toward her and gave her his full focus, removing his elbow from Tony's throat. He took a few steps toward her but she stood her ground, bullets could not intimidate her and she was not about to let her partner do it either.

"Stupid?" Natasha repeated, she was offended and it showed in her tone.

"STUPID!" He confirmed, yelling at her even though she could hear him fine and he knew it. She could see him shaking and had to rethink her previous thought, it seemed she had never seen him this angry. It concerned her, he was unpredictable and she wasn't sure which way the whole situation was going to go.

"Hey!" Tony yelled, "Lay off her!"

Natasha was not a damsel in distress and she did not need Tony to defend her, not to mention it would only make everything worse. As Clint scowled and turned back to Tony, Natasha grabbed his arm to keep his attention on her. An assassin was an assassin, she knew he wouldn't hurt her, but she could believe that Tony was not in the same boat. He stiffened as she touched him and paused for a second before shaking her off so violently that she actually lost her footing and would have fallen backwards if the wall was not right behind her.

She saw the flash of regret in his eyes as he watched her fall against the wall, taking a moment to regain her balance. But it was replaced by his anger and his scowl remained. He reached into his pocket and Natasha froze, her first thought was that he was going for a weapon. She knew he had seen her reaction and for a moment he almost looked hurt. But he just pulled his hand out and brought an envelope with him. He tossed it on the floor and her eyes flicked down to see it had a four digit number on the front.

Clint turned and started to walk away without another word and she instantly moved after him, by reflex she grabbed his shoulder to stop him from leaving. Without even turning toward her, he pushed her roughly at an angle that caused her to fall and this time there was no wall to catch her. She went down hard, her injured leg unable to snatch back her balance and she let out a breath as her back slammed into the ground, winding her. It was a shameful moment for her, even while wounded she should have been able to roll or fall strategically to stop any sort of pain on impact, but the whole situation was messing with her head and her body seemed to be responding slower than usual.

It was Tony's face that appeared above her, his dark eyes full of concern as his free hand slid under her back to pull her into a sitting position. Natasha knew that Clint was no longer in the room and she cringed when she heard the back door slam shut. Her breathing came in short gasps, it had been a long time since she was careless enough to let herself get winded and her fists balled as she desperately tried to steady her breathing. She was aware of Tony rubbing gentle circles on her back, which helped with calming her down and also evening her breathing. Neither of them spoke for a long while even after she could breathe properly again, there was nothing to say.

Natasha moved away from Tony and picked up the envelope, recognizing the numbers as if they were her own name, which in a way, they were.

"What does that mean?" Tony asked quietly, moving to kneel beside her. He didn't touch her again and Natasha was glad, she could not have promised that she wouldn't have broken his hand if he tried.

"Essentially, it says Romanoff." Natasha explained, peeling open the sealed backing to pull out a sheet of paper with hastily scrawled columns of numbers.

"More damn codes. Right?" Tony muttered and Natasha simply nodded. "Well, what does all this say?"

"Give me a minute." Natasha murmured, her eyes darting over the digits, her mind trying to make sense of what appeared to be randomly placed numbers. Clint's harsh words and angry expression were all she could think about, even as much as she tried to focus. She did not realize she was shaking until Tony closed a gentle hand over her fingers and took the letter from her, placing it on the ground.

"Just take a breather." He instructed, but she shook her head.

"I'm fine." She insisted. The last thing she needed was to break the dam of emotions that threatened to well up inside her. She needed to be strong, she needed to focus. She could not afford to be weak. Tony stood up and left the room, saying nothing of his purpose but she understood when he returned with a pen and a blank sheet of paper.

"Here." He said, handing both to her. "Break the code Superstar." Natasha could have smiled, in times when she was feeling overwhelmed, she used certain tasks to ease her mind and whether Tony knew this or not, it was focus that she needed. She pushed Clint from her mind and started to write down the words that the numbers corresponded to, only then realizing how long it had been since she had to do this. It took her almost fifteen minutes, but when she was finished she knew that her skills were as sharp as ever.

Tony was reading over her shoulder, but she knew that even though it had all been deciphered, he wouldn't be able to make much sense of it. "Translation please." He said, confirming her theory.

"Do you want the good news, or the bad news?" She asked, and was not surprised when he opted for the good news first. "There has been a complete restructure of SHIELD, with maybe a dozen moles being flushed out." She looked over at Tony, realizing she had forgotten that he was dressed only in a loose bed sheet that was held around his waist with one hand. He nodded and his eyes lifted from the paper to meet hers.

"And the bad news?"

Natasha took a deep breath and let out a gentle sigh. "The person who wrote this message, doesn't think that all the moles were discovered. But they want us to come back. If there are lasting double agents then we need to make them think they won't be caught and that we are letting our guard down."

She waited for Tony to digest this information and was almost pleased when he asked the question she was expecting. "How do you know that it wasn't a double agent who wrote this message, in an attempt to bring you out of hiding." She could have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. For all Tony's comments about spies, he would have made a good one, he certainly thought like one.

"The person who wrote this is one of the few people in the agency that I trust." Natasha explained, "In the event that I lose contact, they monitor the situation and leave an instructional message in a location that is known to only them, Clint and I. This is not the first time I have needed to go into hiding. Clint would have checked for this information when he made the food run." She dropped her gaze when she mentioned her partner and how he had risked his life breaking hiding, only to come back and find she had betrayed him.

"Hey." Tony brought her eyes back up and she saw how serious he looked. "He does not own you. He has no say in what you do. Just because he saved your life at one point, doesn't mean he gets to control you from then on." Natasha could see the logic in his words but frankly did not want to get into a discussion about her inner feelings with someone like Tony. She stood fluidly and looked at Tony as he did as well.

"This is not up for discussion." She said, letting him know that she was not willing to talk about it. "If it had happened one time, I would say it was a one off. But it will not be happening any more times. Understand?" Tony opened his mouth to argue but she glared at him. To her surprise, he did not conform to her glare.

"Natasha, don't be like this." He said, taking a step forward. She held up her hand to keep him at a certain distance but gently took her wrist and pulled it to the side, his other hand placed at her waist to pull her against him. She had to admit, it was a smooth move, he made it so that the sheet was being held up by their closeness, if she stepped away, it would fall to the floor. "What do you think this all was?"

"I think it was a weak moment." She said curtly and saw his face change, almost seeming sad. She expected him to pull himself together and to adorn a stronger expression, but it stayed vulnerable. The look in his eyes softened her body posture and she stopped trying to move away, but he did not relax his grip on her.

"You don't think that." He said calmly, keeping her close to him. "You enjoyed it."

"It was just sex Tony." She reasoned.

"No, it was more and you know it."

She had to wonder if he went into this much effort with all the women he bedded. There must have been a hundred different strategies in his mind, a hundred different games to play, each specific for a different type of personality. She hated that the game he was playing was working, that she was letting herself feel relaxed in his presence and the sex wasn't exactly leaving her mind. Just a game. She knew it was just a game, nothing more. But that thought didn't stop her responding when he suddenly kissed her, his hand moving from her wrist to the back of neck. Knowing it was a game did not change the way her hands moved to clutch at his bare shoulders, running over the smooth muscles of his arms.

It was just a game, she had to think that way because as much as she believed there was no alternative, she was afraid there would be. Tony Stark did not fall for women, they fell for him. She refused to fall, she could not let herself and she would fight against the warmth that spread through her body whenever he kissed her, because she knew it was just a game, that he was just playing her.

Just a game. It was just a game…. Or was it?