2000- 6 month mark

Weeks passed as the Widow went through medical exams, psychological tests, physicals and many more before Clint had a chance to speak to her one on one again without guards, doctors or whoever else had been around lately. They were in the training room for the first time, the higher ups decided that it was time to start slowly testing to see how loyal the woman would be if she were to be given actual quarters and be allowed out more than she had been so far.

Once a few months passed without incident and the Widow seemed to have settled into a routine, going though all her psych exams, physicals and interrogations/meetings with Fury all the way up to the men and women on the council. Clint hadn't heard anything bad so far but that might be them just trying to cover anything important up but whenever he saw Fury after one of their meetings he always seemed more and more pleased. Probably because he was getting more information and was now able to fill in the gaps to the never ending pile of files that were kept in the large warehouse beneath the building. He himself was pleased, since he was eventually going to be the Widows partner he was allowed access to all her tests and interrogation transcripts from what he could tell she was cooperating and by what the notes all the doctors have written out (and there were many) she seemed to be doing better. The only thing that he was personally worried about was the fact that they still didn't know her name, everyone either called her The Widow, Black Widow or in the case of many of the agents "the enemy" and no one not even her had tried to do something about it. There were still plenty of people at SHIELD who though allowing her to live was a mistake but nothing so far had made him think that way.

On his way down to her cell about 6 months into her being at SHIELD he decided that it had been long enough that he could take her out to somewhere that wasn't a meeting room or small sterile room that she could be tested or questioned about her past. He had talked to Fury and Coulson about his idea and after a little debate and some "are you serious" looks he had been granted the ability to take her off base for a few hours.

When he arrived at her door he shifted the bag that he had dangling from his arm so he could punch in his access code like he had done many times previous, knocked on the door and entered. She was sitting on her bed as she always is when he comes to get her but this time was different, she was reading a book and when he got closer he could see that it was in some other language that he assumed was Russian by the way the characters were laid out on the pages.

"I've got a surprise for you. Get ready, I brought you some normal clothes for, and hopefully they fit." He said tossing the bag at her feet. She looked up from her book when they landed and looked at him. She didn't move, she only continued to look at him with questioning eyes.

"Why would I need clothes?" she asked finally setting her book aside and pulled the bag towards her pulling out a pair of dark jeans, red tank top and a brown leather jacket.

"Because we are going out, only for a few hours that's all I could get us but it's still better than what you've gotten in the past 6 months." He said turning his back, "hurry up and get changed I don't want Fury to change his mind before we even step out of the building."

Deciding not to argue with him she quickly undressed and put on the new clothes, to her surprise they were a perfect fit. She should have been surprised but given the stories she's heard about his eye sight she just assumed that he had been able to guess her measurements.

"Okay you can turn around now." She smirked and then frowned, she wasn't used to men being so gentlemanly, she was used to them gawking at her and trying to make move but in the months she had been at SHIELD no one had even tried. Some she knew were probably just too scared but Barton, the man she now knew as Agent Coulson and Fury, the only men who were never afraid of her hadn't even tried. Not even as payment for everything she had given them or as punishment like her old 'bosses' in the Red Room used to do.

Once he had turned around he looked her up and down, not in a predatory way but to make sure he had been correct in what he had acquired for her. "I take it they are to your liking?" he asked and he moved towards the door. She decided it was best to just follow and see what happened, she had learned it was pointless to get answers out of the man in front of her if he didn't want to no matter how hard she tried. As they made their way to the surface and out the front doors, they were lucky not to pass too many people on their way out. Seeing that it was the weekend and all those personnel that were either not on assignment and those who worked the typical 5 day week were at home with their families they didn't have to deal with too many stares.

When they reached the garage where everyone parked their cars, Clint moved over towards a sleek black Jaguar. They got in and Clint started it up and drove out of the large almost warehouse sized parking garage and headed to the highway. They drove for half an hour before he took an exit leading towards the centre of Manhattan. 15 minutes later he pulled into a parking spot, got out and paid and went around to the other side of the car to see his companion already getting out herself. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, he shrugged innocently and jerked his head to the left and they began to walk down the street. Another 10 minutes later and they were walking through the gate to Central Park, Clint seemed to have a destination in mind so she just followed him without saying a word.

"Here we are," he said as they neared a bench near the water. There was nothing special about it that she could tell. Looking around she noticed that Clint had already gone and perched himself on top of the bench, turning to look at her and waving her over. She paused but eventually made her way over to the bench.

"Widow." He paused to gauge her reaction, which was that she simply looked at him waiting for him to continue "is a horrible name to be called all the time, don't you think?" she continued to see what his point was going to be. "One of the reasons why I brought you here nowhere near SHIELD is because I think you need to come up with a name without having everyone breathing down your neck." He finished and looked out over the water.

She was stunned, she had never thought about creating a name for herself here. All she had ever known were aliases and code names. She had never known what her real name was but when she was in the Red Room they had called her Natalie Romanova but she doubt that was even her really name, but it was the only one she knew.

"All I've ever known was Natalie Romanova. I doubt that it's even my real name but it's the only one I've ever known." She said turning towards him with a small frown gracing her face.

"Well we can't use that one because you still have enemies and even though you're smart they'll still be checking under anything you've used in the past in the hopes that you might slip up."

"I never make a mistake." She snapped, glaring at him. She was the Black Widow, she never made mistakes, and she was perfect in every aspect of her job.

"I know that" he rushed holding up his hand in a surrender gesture, "but it's something that they'll probably do anyways, but what we can do is create a name based off of your old one. How about Naomi Reynolds? Same initials and the first name sounds similar." She shook her head looking disgusted "I knew a Naomi once when I was little, I don't want anything to remind me of my childhood."

"Okay, deal, nothing from your past. I know how difficult it can be when your pasts sucks. Before I screw up anymore today, did you have something in mind?" he asked trying to show her that she had a say in her life now, she didn't have to take orders when it came to personal things.

"Natasha," all of a sudden she knew it was something close to her past but at the same time knew no one would ever look for her under that name, "Natasha Romanoff."

"Isn't that too close to your other name?" he asked, confused as to why she would choose something so similar.

"I know what you're thinking but in Russia Natasha is what you Americans call a nickname for Natalia. No one would even think to check that name especially because something as personal that only close friends and family would ever use would never cross their minds as to something I would ever do. And Romanoff is the Americanized version. It'll work, trust me." She said off handedly because she knew that no one truly trusted her at SHIELD.

"I do," he replied "and you make a good point. So Natasha, what do you want to do for the next 2 hours of freedom?"

Taken aback by him giving her the ability to choose what they were doing she asked "could we just stay here? It's been a long time since I could just enjoy doing nothing and in a place so peaceful."

So the two just sat side by side on the park bench and watched people playing, biking and just enjoying the Saturday afternoon before they had to make their way back to SHIELD.

"You said you had a surprise for me, was it this whole name thing?" she asked suddenly remembering what he had said when he came to get her earlier.

"Oh right, no, god no, what kind of surprise would that be No the really surprise will be waiting for you back at H.Q. I managed to convince not only Fury but the Council as well to allow you to have your own set of quarters. It'll be better than the cell you've been living and it's next to mine so I can keep an eye on you, don't look at me like that, councils orders but since we'll be partners once you get done jumping through all the bureaucratic hoops that is. So what do ya say, partners?" holding out his hand.

She'd never had a partner before, she was used to going on missions with other operatives in the KGB and Red Room but none that survived or worked out after a mission or two. But something was different, she couldn't put a finger on it but with Clint it felt different from anything she was used to. So she took his hand.

"Deal"