Coulson called just as the two walked through the door of the apartment and gave Clint a rundown of what the next couple weeks would look like. There would be therapy for Natasha at least twice a week as well as an appointment or two for Clint. Training would be more regular and more structured. Paperwork would need to be done. Clint sighed in anticipation at the thought of it all. First he had gone against orders. Then he had gotten hurt. Then he brought one of S.H.I.E.L.D.s biggest enemies in as an asset. The paperwork would take hours.
He sighed as he hung up the phone. He was exhausted but suspected sleep would not come easily.
"Hey. Let's watch some tv." He suggested. He didn't really like TV and he suspected she didn't either but it would take their mind off things. "A little distraction will help us sleep." Natasha agreed but expressed a desire to change her clothes first.
When she stepped out of her room in Clint's old shirt, Clint had already chosen a show and was trying to zone out. Natasha sat next to him and he pulled the comforter over to cover her as well. On screen someone was complaining about their mother being unfair and an audience was laughing. Silently the two spies stared blankly sorting through their thoughts. Slowly they fell into a dreamless sleep.
It was late when Natasha woke with a start. It had been two years since she left Russia and moved in with Clint. Why these memories were cropping up in her dreams now she wasn't sure. She laid in bed for as long as she could stand (which was really only a few seconds) before she left her room.
"Couldn't sleep?" She heard from the kitchen.
"No. Dreams woke me up."
"Were you dreaming about when you first came here?" Clint asked much to Natasha's surprise.
"Yeah. How did you guess?"
"You are speaking in Russian. You only do that in missions or when you think about back then." Natasha hadn't even noticed that she was speaking another language. She and Clint knew so many that they could switch from one to another effortlessly and hardly notice. "By the way," he added, not giving Natasha time to ask why he was awake, "got you this." He handed her a small package wrapped in red and black paper. It had a little bow on top.
"What is this?" She asked, more curious and surprised than her usual wary.
"Birthday gift." Clint replied as though she should have known.
"I'm twenty one. Shouldn't you be taking me out and buying me shots for a gift?" She joked. She had picked up the small box and was turning it around in her hands to examine it. Clint sipped his tea and watched her open the gift. She carefully removed the paper without tearing it and removed the small box from inside. She smiled when she saw the bracelet: a delicate silver chain with a little ruby dangling from it. "It's so pretty," she breathed.
Clint leaned over the counter to clasp it around her wrist. She admired it for a moment before walking to Clint's side of the counter to hug him. "Thank you. You should go to bed. We have a mission briefing tomorrow."
Clint laughed. "Yes dear," he said sarcastically earning a glare from Natasha. She returned to her room to admire the bracelet more closely. It really was quite lovely. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.
"I'm guessing Africa. We haven't gone there in a while. Or maybe India. I hope it's somewhere warm. I swear if Coulson sends us to another gods damned frozen wasteland I'm quitting." Natasha laughed at Clint. They played this little game before every mission trying to guess where they would be going. The last undercover mission saw them in snowy North Dakota in January. Clint was somewhat less than pleased and felt the need to express this again as they walked to Coulson's office. "For the state holding most of our country's nukes you'd think it would be a little more interesting. If I never see another snow covered wheat field I'll be happy."
"I don't know. I think I heard Coulson saying something about a follow up mission, maybe something about snow. I think we're going back north."
"Ooh. Don't even joke about that." He said opening the door and walking in to the office.
"Good morning, agents. How are you?"
"You better not be sending us back to North Dakota, Coulson," Clint greeted.
Coulson allowed a brief smile to pass across his lips before he went into the briefing. "Before I tell you about where you're going I should ask, Natasha how is your ballet? Remember it?"
After a brief pause she responded. "Yeah? I need a little practice I guess but I still remember it."
"Good. You'll be posing as a ballet instructor." He handed her a copy of the file. Handing one to Clint he added, "You'll be posing as an art dealer. You two are married. You'll have a studio apartment in Paris and you leave in a week. Any questions?"
Both spies had at least a hundred questions but knew that most of them would be answered by the file. "Guess I better go find my slippers." Natasha muttered as she left his office.
Clint rolled his eyes for what felt like the twentieth time before giving up on studying art. He'd get it eventually but right now he couldn't care less about why this artist was different than that. He hoped Natasha might be having better luck and went to find her.
He walked to the exercise wing of the S.H.I.E.L.D building and found the dancing studio without much trouble. He peeked in and saw Natasha dancing alone wearing a pale pink leotard and tights. She could have been a ballerina if her life had gone differently, he thought. He stepped into the room loudly enough that she wouldn't be startled by his presence.
"Hey. You look pretty good out there." He spun around on his toes. Natasha rolled her eyes. "What? I can dance! It might not be ballet but I can waltz with the best of them." He strode over to her and swept her close. He led her in a simple dance humming a little song for them to dance to. "I know a little swing too!" He spun her faster, Natasha having no difficulty keeping up. They danced together for a few minutes before Clint had to go back to his studying.
"No fair. You definitely got the more exciting part of this mission," he pouted, as Natasha sent him on his way. The two hardly saw each other for the next couple days, both leaving HQ at odd hours and training separately. The night before leaving for the mission they both found themselves in Clint's apartment and awake at the same time. It was late but neither Clint nor Natasha could sleep.
"Want to watch TV?" Clint offered with a quiet smile. It was their usual standby when sleep proved too difficult. It was more sitting next to each other in a comfortable silence that helped but they always "watched tv".
Natasha nodded and flopped on the couch and started untying her ballet slippers. She hadn't sat still long enough to take them off yet. She grimaced slightly and rubbed her sore feet, wondering how she would be able to handle dancing so much for so long a mission.
Clint gestured to her to give him her feet. Hesitantly she stretched out on the couch with her feet in his lap and he began massaging them. Not even five minutes later he glanced at Natasha and she was fast asleep. He smiled and continued massaging her feet. He hoped she might get a more restful sleep than she might otherwise