I sat in my room, cross legged on my bed, with a photo of me, Coulson, Natasha and Clint. I missed him. I missed him so much and now he was gone. Tears were pouring down from eyes and I couldn't help but curl up into a ball on my side.

My body was shaking and I was struggling to breathe. I didn't even hear the knocks at the door.

"Maria?" I heard someone ask. Steve "Maria, are you alright?"

I quickly wiped the underneaths of my eyes dry and hurried to the door. I opened it and Steve was standing there with his hands in his pockets. When he saw me, his face fell in sympathy and I tried to convince him that I was fine. By saying "I'm fine."

"People don't mean that when their eyes are all red and they look like they've been crying."

I sighed, went back to the bed and held the photo in my hand, leaving the door open for him to follow. I sat down on the bed and stared straight at the opposite wall, the photo still in my hand. I heard Steve shut the main door and walk through my living room to my bedroom.

"Coulson?" he asked, which made me look down at the photo.

"I didn't think he would ever leave me like that. He was one of the closest friends I had. And now he's gone." I said and crumbled the photo in my hands. Tears started to fall down my face and I started crying into my fists. Steve put his hand on my back and started to stroke it. It made me feel a bit better, but I still didn't stop crying.

"There was nothing you could do to change what happened. And believe me, I know it's hard to let go, but...you just have to try and carry on with life." he whispered in my ear.

"I know. I just...I need some time." I whispered. He put his head against mine and wrapped his other arm around my front. I leant against him and he rested his chin on my head.

"You'll be alright. I'll look after you." he whispered back to me. I sighed and snuggled up closer to him.

"Thank you for being here for me." I whispered look up at him. Our faces were so close and I could feel his breath against my lips.

"It's okay. I'll always be here." he replied, his gaze focussing on my eyes. I looked down to his lips and then back up to his eyes again. I felt my heart rate increase and I felt like my lungs were going to collapse in on themselves. He obviously felt the same way, because I could see out of the corner of my eye his shoulders moving up and down faster than before.

I felt us get closer together and our noses touched together. My hands went up the sides of his muscular arms and around his neck. I could feel us almost touching and-

"Mr. Stark requires you in the living room. He wishes to sort through the video footage of the helicarrier." JARVIS interrupted us.

I groaned and put my head against his. "Uh. I hate Stark." I complained.

"Me too." he sighed.

I stroked the back of his head a couple of times and breathed out deeply before getting off the bed and heading towards the door with a USB stick containing the files.

When we arrived at the living room, the guys were already sitting down on the sofa, waiting for the video files.

"Where have you two been?" Stark said, wiggling his eyebrows sending Steve red in the face.

"We were...just getting the USB stick." I said, holding up the evidence. I quickly went over to the computer next to the windows and plugged it in. The windows became tinted and showed multiple files. Helicarrier footage. History. Avengers.

"History?" Steve questioned. I double-clicked on it and it came up with lots of files to do with S.H.I.E.L.D protocol.

"No, no, no. We are not going through all that." Tony commented, causing me to go back to the main page. I clicked on the Avengers file and all our names came up. Barton's and Romanoff's were together, but that's only what I expected to happen. They were like that.

"Okay, lets go through some of these." I said, clicking on the first one that was labelled Thor.

We went through all the video files of each person and some of their documents. We got to Cap's and I opened the video file. There were some photos and clips of him with Stark and then with another girl, who I recognised as Peggy Carter. I have to admit she was gorgeous. I've heard about her. Tough as a rock. There was a brief glimpse of a compass I think with Peggy's face in it. I wonder whether he still has that or not. My eyes drifted over to him and he was looking down at the floor, obviously deep in thought about his past and, most likely, her.

The elevator doors opened just as the footage was coming to an end. "Where are you guys up to?" I saw a new little scratch on his face, but I didn't question it.

"We are about to move onto the helicarrier footage, because you have already seen footage of the others in action." I replied going back through the files.

"Are you alright Natasha?" Bruce asked Nat. She did seem a bit off recently. I think she was worried about the footage, but I couldn't be sure. You never can be with Natasha.

"Fine Bruce." she replied, but she didn't sound all that great.

"Lets get this show on the road." Stark announced and I clicked on the only file there. A video file.

After a while, the clip went to one of everyone discussing Hawkeye. Well I say discussing.

"Clint Barton as in Hawkeye? The archer with the arrows? How the hell is he going to help us defeat a demi-god?" Clint looked at Stark and he just argued with "I didn't know you!" as his defence. Clint rolled his eyes and we returned our focus to the video.

"At least he is better than you Stark. You have suits to do your work for you and do you have any actual combat skills? Barton is the worlds best marksman, so don't you dare doubt his abilities to help us for one single second."

"I may have got a little angry." Natasha argued. She was definitely into Clint whether she was going to admit it or not...

"If you got anymore angry I would have been convinced you had a she-hulk in there somewhere!" Stark commented.

After a couple more clips of the helicarrier, a video of Natasha's interrogation with Loki came on. I heard it was...troubling, but apart from that nobody knew anything else. I looked over at Tasha who looked quite nervous. "I really don't think we need to include this." she said.

I felt bad, but I had orders. "Romanoff, if this is a vulnerable subject then we need to address it."

"There's not many people that can sneak up on me." What is this?

"But you'd figured I'd come" That voice.

"After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."

"I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton." I noticed Barton shift slightly in his seat.

"I'd say I've expanded his mind."

"And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?"

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?"

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." Clint's eyes were filled with tears, none actually falling done his cheeks though. Natasha explained to Loki about how she owed him the debt and then Loki's hand banged against the glass causing everyone to jump. "I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work and when he screams I'll split his skull."

"Pause." Steve commanded. I'm happy that he took responsibility to do that, because I don't think I would have lasted much longer. Natasha placed a hand on Barton's shoulder. "Barton?"

"I want to kill him for what he's done to you." he whispered to her.

"I know. I know." Natasha brought him against his chest to comfort him and after a while she said "Can we move onto something else please?"

"Sure." I replied. Then the video of the group arguing was played and then the explosion was showed. I saw Natasha stroke his back in an attempt to calm him down as he saw the hulk transform on the screen. As the footage played, I could see Clint starting to get angrier and angrier until finally he burst when the Hulk threw Natasha aside and she hit the metal container. Clint looked like he was going to kill Banner. He quickly ran towards Banner, trying to punch him in the face, shouting "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?", but Tasha anticipated his move by stepping in front of him.

"CLINT! DON'T DO THIS!" she shouted, but he didn't seem any less angry. The others were in front of Banner just in case. Steve was very close to Barton, just in case he needed to be restrained.

"Look at me," Natasha whispered and he did. "It wasn't his fault okay! It wasn't. He can't control it."

Slowly, but surely, Clint returned back to a normal breathing rate and faced Banner. "Sorry." Clint said quietly.

"It's fine Clint. I'm the one who should be apologising." Banner replied.

He shook his head and said "She's right. You can't control it. I know that you couldn't do anything to stop it." Banner smiled back at him and we all sat back down breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Right, back to the footage." I said and pressed play.

"Wait, can we skip this?" Natasha asked getting more nervous and I pressed the stop button.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Do they have to see everything?" Natasha asked, sounding a bit desperate. God, now I feel really bad.

"Yes Natasha. I'm sorry, but they do. If there is a weakness that we don't know about and it comes up in a mission situation, it could be disastrous."

"Fine." she said, not looking happy about it. I pressed play and the video showed Natasha having some kind of panic attack. I've never seen her be this vulnerable in her life. Clint put his hand on top of Natasha's. Cute.

Then it moved onto their fight, which was weird to see. They've been friends for so long. It was weird seeing him attack her. "Please. Please I really don't want this shown." she begged me.

I looked sadly at her "I'm sorry Natasha, but I am under direct orders to show everyone. They have to see everything."

"Please. I am begging you don't do this." she whispered. I've never her seen her so upset. I feel so sorry for her, but we all knew the team needed to see everything.

"Just play it already!" Stark said sounding fed up. The footage played her and Barton fighting and it looked fine. I looked over at Tasha, but she had her eyes tight shut trying to block out the images. What was wrong?

"See this is why everyone thinks you're such a good couple." Stark commented and I saw Natasha get more and more upset by the minute. She never revealed herself to anyone but Barton. She kicked away his knife and it went flying over the bridge that they were on. I saw Natasha falling to the ground as Clint grabbed her leg and I saw him flinch next to Natasha. He couldn't remember doing this to her.

I could see she was in pain and struggling to move. The bow on her back didn't exactly look the most comfortable. She tried to squirm away from him, but before she could get away, he straddled her and locked her in place below him, stopping her from moving. Her arms were held above her head with one of his hands. Oh my goodness. Was he going to do what I think he was? He had the same dark glare and smile that Loki had as he came up close to her face. Their noses were touching and he started to slowly pull down the zipper of her catsuit. I remember the words slowly and intimately repeat in my head. Loki was going to force Barton to do...that? Her eyes remained shut as she head butted him, he fell backwards and she rolled onto my feet. As soon as she zipped her catsuit up on the video, Natasha opened her eyes and I stopped the video immediately.

Clint looked like he was going to break down any second. I could imagine the guilt he was feeling right now and how did Natasha manage to keep fighting? She put a hand on his arm to comfort him, but he just shook it off and began to walk away.

"Clint. Please don't leave me."

"I was...about to..He was going to make me...do that..." he said disgusted by the words exiting his mouth. Tears were helplessly pouring down his face and he looked like he didn't want to go near her again.

"But you didn't. You didn't do it to me. You could've, but you didn't."

"How could I have done that to you? Even just that?"

"Exactly. It wasn't you and I don't ever want you to leave me like that again. Do you understand? Don't you ever leave me again! You are all that I have, Clint." she admitted. Wow. "I don't know what I would do without you." she said, walking closer to him.

After a minute of looking like he was okay with trusting himself again, she came forward and wrapped him in a hug. "It's okay. It's okay." she whispered in his ear. "We're gonna be okay."

All the Avengers were stood up next to the sofas, watching the romance unfold before our eyes. We all knew it was only a matter of time. They pulled back from each other and waited a moment. It was Natasha who moved first placing a delicate kiss on his lips.

She drew back to see his reaction and he responded by kissing her firmly on the lips. They wrapped their arms around each other and I couldn't help but look over at Cap. I really wanted to be with him like that without being drunk. The thing is when I looked over at him, he was also looking over at me. I don't know how long we were staring at each other with these thoughts in our minds, but it must have been a while, before we were interrupted by people giving Stark money. Oh yeah. The bet. We all started exchanging how much we owed people.

"Sorry." I heard Natasha apologise.

"Tony did you just film that?" Clint asked.

"Yep, and it is going on YouTube." Tony said.

Natasha and Clint groaned and kept talking for a while, but we just made sure that we weren't being ripped off by other people.

"Well, both of your moods have changed since about 5 minutes ago." Tony said flipping the camera down. They didn't respond apart from kissing each other again. "Come on guys stop! I've had enough of this from Captain Hill. Please stop kissing already." he commented, which sent me and Steve bright red. We looked at each other, caught in each other's powerful gaze, and my breath caught. I can't go on like this. I need to talk to him. This needs to stop being so awkward.