"You were awfully quiet during Steve's meeting this morning," Clint said casually.

Natasha waved to Sam and Vision as they exited the training room, leaving her with Clint and Wanda, who was politely pretending not to listen as she went to grab her gym bag.

She shrugged. "I wasn't exactly present for the aftermath of the nanobot attack. I guess I really don't have much to say on the matter."

He was still watching her intently. "So, how was your date with Romeo?"

Wanda looked up.

Natasha groaned, knowing there was no way out of talking about it when the younger girl pulled a newspaper out of her bag and handed it to her. "I didn't want to mention…." Wanda said.

She groaned louder as she unfolded the center to reveal a close up photo of the two entering the restaurant the night before. A sub headline identified her as the Black Widow, with her name printed in bold and a giant blurb mentioning something about a potential super hero romance.

Clint chuckled. "That bad, huh?"

"Ugh, it was a disaster!"

"I'm sorry. And I'd hate to say I told you so…."

Natasha glared at him.

"Look on the bright side," Clint said, crumbling up the newspaper. "At least now you don't think you actually have feelings for him anymore, right?"

"Right," she said, lowering her eyes.

"Come on. Why don't the three of us go out to lunch and you can tell us all about it?"

"As lovely as that sounds, I think I'll pass."

He laughed again, put an arm around Wanda's shoulders and started to move towards the door.

"Wait."

The two stopped and turned back to her.

"Why did you send me there?" She asked, looking directly at Wanda.

"What?" The girl looked back at her with wide eyes.

"Out of all of us, why would you send me to some strange world? And why on earth would you pick the one reality out of endless possibilities, where I have to be married to him?"

"I- I didn't-" Wanda stammered.

"What were you thinking, sending me there, Wanda?"

"Come on, Nat," Clint said, a slight nervousness to his tone. "It's not like she purposely chose to single you out. It was just an accident. But it's over now. We're going home in a couple of days and everything will go back to normal. This will all blow over. You'll see."

"It wasn't an accident," Wanda said. "And I didn't send you anywhere. You're the one that chose it."

"Excuse me?" Natasha said with a doubtful expression on her face.

Clint looked uneasily between the two women.

"All I did was send an aura of protection over everyone. And I was thinking," Wanda said, putting emphasis on the word," that I needed you all to be safe."

Natasha's eyes narrowed questioningly, but Wanda held up her hand to silence her before she could speak.

"My powers don't work that way. I can't send you anywhere. So instead of asking me what I was thinking, maybe you should be asking yourself why you feel the safest place for you is in Stark's arms."

XXXXX

"We're still friends, right?"

Natasha looked up from where she was sitting at the counter in the kitchen, going over a report Steve had written for Hill. "Of course we're still friends."

Tony moved from his perch in the doorway, walking over to the counter and leaning against it right in front of her. "Then why did you give me the cold shoulder at the meeting yesterday?"

"I wasn't giving you the cold shoulder," she said defensively.

"You barely looked at me."

"Wow." She set the papers down, looking up at him. "You're really unbelievable. You do understand that not everything is about you, right Stark?"

He laughed, flashing her a charming smile and her expression softened when she realized he'd been kidding with her.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, pulling off his glasses and setting them down on the counter.

She looked up at him, her eyes trained silently on his.

"I was a little nervous about us going out, and I had just had another argument with Steve, and I thought you were more interested in this version of me that doesn't exist, and…. none of this is an excuse for being a jerk."

"You were nervous?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you know how many times I've gone out with someone I actually care about? One. And look how well that turned out."

"Tony…" She leaned closer across the counter, swallowed thickly as she gazed into the honest expression in his wide eyes. "I guess I was kind of putting pressure on you by telling you about that other reality."

She offered him a half smile. "Still friends?"

He nodded, his grin widening. "Still friends."

"Okay." She turned back to Steve's report, expecting him to retreat from the counter and move on to his next task for the day, but he stood firm in his spot, his eyes watching her.

She kept her eyes on the file, waiting for him to say something else.

"So, I've been thinking," he said finally. "Consider this. You and me. Do over."

She looked up at him silently.

"Let's have dinner. No pressure. Just two people spending time together. For real this time. And if you still don't have a good a time, well…. you're heading back to New York with Barton and Hill anyway, right?"

"Yeah," she said softly. "Yeah, okay."

"Great." He smiled, a soft, genuine smile. "Meet me at Stark Industries after work today? I know this great place close by. Really quiet and private."

"Sure."

He reached across the counter, squeezing her hand. "Then it's a date."