Clint was meant to be coming back today. I didn't know when, but I was very excited.

Maria and Steve seemed to be at a point in their relationship where they would apologise for every little thing and they were very awkward around each other.

For example, after a movie we watched on Tuesday, they woke up spooning together and Maria was so surprised that she rolled off the sofa and onto the floor, face planting the table in the process from being so quick about it.

She still has a bruise.

Whenever she is walking down the corridor, he will go ahead, open it for her and then she would apologise and hurry off quickly. No idea why. Maybe something has happened between them?

I bet Tony has surveillance everywhere trying to figure out what their problem is.

Anyway, for the past 3 days I had busied myself with training and reading the news to pass the time of missing Clint.

Training is so much better when I am sparring with Clint though and I am finding it very hard not to think about him.

Finally...he was coming home. I literally do not know what I would do without him over the next couple of days.

I was sitting on the sofa in the Avengers Tower.

Maria and Steve were in the kitchen and Tony, Pepper and Bruce were in the living room with me sitting on separate sofas and chairs.

Suddenly, there was a sliding of doors and the lift opened to show a blood stained Clint with scratches all over his face.

Where the hell had he been? What had happened on his mission?

One arm sleeve of his uniform was no longer there and there was a huge rip in his uniform around the side of his stomach. Blood was smudged into the black leather of his suit and his hair was sticking up in all directions.

I ran over to him and he said "Tasha, don't freak out."

"What the hell happened? Why the hell didn't you call me and tell me it was this bad? Are the people who did this still alive? If they are then they are about to meet me, because I will-"

He silenced me with a forceful kiss.

After that I completely lost my train of thought.

Who am I? I don't really care. I am with the one name that does matter. Clint.

I closed my eyes and put my arms around his neck and he put his arms around my waist.

He pulled away from me and said "I told you not to freak out."

"I wasn't" I defended.

He kissed me again, smiled and said "You so were."

He passed me and walked over to the others.

I followed him and he said "So how's everybody been then?" as if everything was normal.

They all just stared at him open mouthed, because they couldn't believe that his body was this beaten up and he didn't want to collapse in a heap on the floor.

I looked at him. He was favouring the side that had the stomach injury on.

"Right," I said pulling his arm. "We are getting you cleaned up right now."

He waved a small hand at them, signalling that he was okay to be dragged out of the living room by me, and we made our way through the door leading to the corridor of rooms.

I knew that he was in pain, so once we were out of ear shot from the others, and walking down the corridor, I said "Barton, you can stop pretending to be okay now."

He looked over at me with crossed eyebrows and said "Tasha, what are you talking about?"

At that moment, he fell against the wall, holding his stomach.

I looked at him as if to say 'Really?'

He rolled his eyes and I came over to him, putting an arm around his waist and helping him down the corridor.

"So, what happened then?"

"There may or may not have been some alien chitauri gate crashers with really sharp blades. Got stabbed."

"Wait, I thought this was supposed to be gathering information on a drug lord, not another invasion."

"It wasn't. It seems that there were some chitauri that really didn't want to leave yet! We got rid of them all though. There were only 5 survivors. They managed to shield themselves before Stark chucked the missile into their power source. They were very weak when we fought them."

"They were weak and you still got stabbed...bad luck Barton."

"They came out of nowhere. I wasn't fully prepared for an alien attack when I was, at the same time, looking at a drug lord." he defended.

He began to cough and I got anxious. Had something happened to his lungs?

"Clint, are you alright?" I asked, quite nervously.

He held his free hand up and said "I'm fine Natasha. Stop panicking."

I hit him playfully on his chest as we came up to our room.

I opened the door and we went inside.

Shutting the door, I asked "Are you alright to walk to the bathroom while I get supplies?"

"I have a minor injury Tash. I'm sure i'll be fine." he said turning around to walk to the bathroom.

I went over to the medical supplies and gathered the equipment that I needed.

I came into the bathroom and saw Clint lying on the floor.

I raised my eyebrows and said "A minor injury huh?"

"Going to sit down on the side of the bath was harder than I had anticipated."

I laughed and pulled him off the floor making him wince slightly.

I sat him down on the side and said "Thank you for the voicemail. Unfortunately, it made me miss you even more, but it was good to know that you were alright."

He smiled and said "Yeah. I just needed to tell you that I loved you again. Even if it wasn't in person."

I smiled back at him. "You're so good to me. How am I ever going to repay you?"

His face went serious and he glared at me.

I meant it as a joke, but I don't think Clint took it that way.

"Natasha, you don't owe me anything. Please forget this debt that you have. It's silly. If you still believe that you do have one, then know that you have repaid it by keeping alive. Living everyday with me." He came close to my face and said "Staying with me."

I moved my head forward so that it touched his and I closed my eyes.

"I love you so much Clint."

"I love you too Natasha."

"Now...take off your shirt."

He pulled back and said "What?"

I rolled my eyes, smiling, and said "I need to clean your wounds.

He complied and removed his shirt, revealing his blood stained chest.

"This is a clear example of why mean shouldn't multitask." I said gesturing to the massive amount of blood.

I got a wet cloth and pushed it against his chest. I could feel his body tighten against the cold water and the pain of the cloth touching his wounds, but it needed to be done.

"So," he said, gritting his teeth in pain slightly. "anything interesting happen whilst I was gone?"

"Well, Maria is no longer working for Fury. He gave his 'chances' speech to her."

"I'm guessing this is about Cap?"

"Yeah. They were quite...close the other night."

He raised an eyebrow and said "Oh really?"

I swatted his arm with the cloth and said "Look. Everybody knows that they would be great together apart from them. Well I think that they know it, but they just don't want to accept it."

I went back to fixing his stomach wound. I was nearly finished.

"She doesn't belong to S.H.I.E.L.D anymore right?"

I nodded and said "Yep. No more orders."

"So," he said breaking into a grin. "that means that there is no more protocol set in place for her. She doesn't have to abide by the fraternisation rule."

I smiled too. "Oh my goodness. Your right. This is brilliant. Stark can't know about this of course. Then again, I bet he already knows and is planning another couples party for them to attend."

"No, I can't go through that again."

10 minutes later

"Mr. Barton, Miss Romanoff. Your presence is required in the living room by Mr. Stark." JARVIS said.

Clint pulled away from me and moaned "Why?".

We had just been in the middle of an intense making out session on the sofa. But Tony has to go and ruin everything.

"Mr. Stark says it is a surprise, Mr. Barton"

He kissed me once more before getting off me and deadpanning "Oh yay."

I punched his arm lightly and then we went down the corridor to the living room.

"All patched up Birdbrain?" Stark asked.

"Yep. Now what do you want?" Clint replied, wanting to get to the point.

"Well, I have a brilliant idea that involves everyone. A holiday!" he said throwing his hand up in the air.

Well...that sounds like trouble.

Quite short, but I hope that you liked it. Can't wait to write another party again and I promise you it will be different to last time :) I hope that you enjoy it and please review!