Natasha finished pulling her hair back as Steve walked back from taking her bags down.

"You look beautiful darling, is it necessary for your dress to be that tight?"

"it's not too tight Steve, its modern."

She walked over to the bed where he was sitting and perched on his lap.

"I'll miss you baby. I'll be back in no time and we can finally start to plan a small wedding."

Steve rested his chin on Natasha's head, taking in her warmth.

"You better be back in one piece. I wouldn't be able to live an eternity without you."

Tony interrupted their moment.

"Come on little red, Happy's waiting outside. You know I'm nothing if not punctual."

Natasha let out a very unlady like snort and got off Steve's lap, kissing him deeply and wrapping a diamond bracelet around her wrist as she walked out.

"Im sure Happy will be delighted to see me."

Before making it to the door Natasha saw Clint walking out with his bag.

"I'll be seeing you soon Barton."

"Bet your ass you will Tash, I should be back by the time you get here."

"be careful, I wont be there to save your ass."

Clint squeezed her hand, it was their own kind of promise, reassuring the other that they would be fine. She pulled her hand away and kissed his cheek. She walked away and followed Tony out, sending a loving glance towards Clint. As soon as Natasha slid into the car Happy's jaw dropped.

"miss me Happy?"

He couldn't even form any sentences he just drove away, his jaw ajar.

"It's gonna be a fun week don't you think little red?"

Natasha chuckled and promptly fell asleep cuddled next to Tony.

"Stark, this has been the most boring week of my life."

"You know you didn't use to complain half this much when you were Natalie Rushman the first time."

"Yeah because that was when I had to make you keep me around. Now I know you love me too much to get rid of me. Can't someone attempt to kill you or something, I'm dying of boredom"

"Well don't worry Tash, today is the last day, we have the conference in Brussels and then we leave. We have to be in the conference call in 10 minutes, so we should be out of here in an hour, 2 hours top."

Natasha slipped on her heels and put her hair up, walking outside of their room as Pepper was walking in.

"Hey Natasha, is Tony ready?"

"nearly, you know Stark."

"Yeah, I swear I'm gonna go gray and its going to be his fault."

"hey Pepper, since he's not wearing his suit, can you make sure he wears the bullet proof vest. I swear the man thinks he's invincible."

"You know I'm starting to think you really do care, but it's true. Tony needs to realize he's probably the easiest to kill out of the avengers."

Natasha nodded and suppressed a smirk as she walked towards the conference center and took a seat on the stage, causing some men to drool. Tony joined them on stage and gave one of the most interesting conferences Natasha had ever seen. From the lack of bulkiness of Tonys shirt Natasha could tell he had skipped the vest. She could also tell that there were several men were lurking oddly in the corners, she had already sent security out of them but she was waiting at the edge of her seat. When the first shot rang out she didn't think twice about stepping in front of Tony and pushing him towards happy. The adrenaline rush was so high that she didn't even feel the first bullet enter her lower back. People were panicking, Natasha had Pepper covered and was trying to usher her towards Happy who had brought the car around and was pushing Tony inside. Tony hopped right back out and dragged Pepper into the car, Natasha closed the door behind Pepper and ran back into the crowd of people, taking out 3 of the 5 men in no time. The fourth took more time to find in the crowd but once he was located he was out in no time.

Natasha may not have felt the first bullet pierce into her but she certainly felt the second, and the third, and the fourth. The fifth bullet hit her chest and the last thing she saw was red and gold before everything went dark.

Avengers Mansion.

Steve was sitting in Bruce's lab, sketching anything that came to mind. The sounds of the t.v could be heard coming from the living room, Thor had been glued to the t.v since morning.

"Are you alright Steve, you look troubled."

"I just got a really bad feeling, like something has gone terribly wrong."

"I'm sure everythings alright."

"Tasha and Tony come back today right?"

"Yeah, they should be home tonight. Don't stress over it."

Steve nodded but didn't even bother going back to sketching, he had a strong feeling that something just wasn't right.

"I'm going to go for a run. I'll be back in a few."

"hours?"

"probably.

Bruce sent Steve one of his kind smiles and allowed him to leave. It wasn't half an hour after Steve left that Bruce got a call from Maria Hill.

"Doctor Banner?"

"Yes?"

"This is Agent Hill. We have been unable to reach captain Rogers, there has been an incident. Agent Romanoff is in critical condition. She is being rushed back to New York as we speak and should be arriving to the S.H.I.E.L.D medical base in less than 2 hours."

"I'll get Steve, we'll be there."

They hung up the phone and Bruce ran out of his lab, grabbing onto Thor and dragging him along with him.

"What is the matter Bruce? Is danger afoot?"

"Natasha's hurt, it's bad. We have to find Steve and get him to the S.H.I.E.L.D medical base."

Mjolnir flew through the wall and landed in Thor's hand, he ran out into the iron man landing area and flew away, most likely searching for Steve. Bruce ran down to parking garage and drove straight to the medical center to await Natasha's arrival. Steve and Thor burst through the doors of the medical center only a few minutes later, dripping in sweat, panic and sheer terror painted on his face.