'Agent Sitwell said you wanted to see me sir' Agent Romanoff stated as she strode casually into Director Fury's office.

'Yes, take a seat Agent' the eye patch wearing director replied 'I have a mission for you'

'But Sir, I thought was off missions until Medical cleared me?' Natasha asked as she settled herself in the uncomfortable leather seat opposite the director. However she wasn't complaining, since she hated the fact she was stuck on desk duty at S.H.I.E.L.D's headquarters in New York. She had thought that being water boarded was the worst type of torture, but being forced to do hour after hour, page after page of translation and linguistics analysis she was now reconsidering.

'You shouldn't find this mission too strenuous' Fury replied 'Agent Barton and Agent Morse went missing late last night and we have reason to believe that the organisation they were investigating is interested in Agent Barton's daughter, Saskia' he explained handing over the details of the Barton-Morse mission for Natasha to flick through.

'They should never have been sent on this mission' Natasha hissed, glaring at the director, 'it should have been given to me. Agent Barton has no reason to go near these people'

'I would have sent you Agent Romanoff, if you weren't being held in medical, recovering from a shoulder wound' Fury stated. 'May I remind you, who went off grid, ended up getting shot at in Uzbekistan and then ended up calling me to save their ass?'

'I didn't need you to save me' Natasha muttered 'I just needed a lift'

'You owe me Agent Romanoff' Fury said

'So you want me to go after Agent Morse and Agent Barton?' Natasha asked, not looking forward to coming face to face with her ex-partner, whom she hadn't seen in over ten years.

'No, I don't want you to do something less strenuous, I need to protect Agent Barton's daughter until one of my teams locate and rescue him and Agent Morse'

'No, I can't do this' Natasha protested

'You will be staying in Stark Tower, I cleared it with Mrs Stark earlier' the Director continued, ignoring the redhead's protests 'and Agent Lewis should be bringing Saskia Barton in shortly'

'Why me? Any baby agent could do this?' Natasha asked. She was not one normally to question the missions she was given, but faced with the prospect of practically babysitting the daughter she left behind all those years ago and living with the probably very hostile team she had abandoned without an explanation, made her worried. 'Why aren't the Avengers sufficient protection for an eleven year old girl?' she asked

'I though you would be thanking me Agent Romanoff' Fury replied with a slight smile

Natasha's angry retort failed to leave her mouth at the sound of knocking on the door.

'Come in' Fury called out.

Saskia Barton walked quickly along behind Agent Darcy Lewis, though the corridors of S.H.I.E.L.D's land headquarters in New York towards Director Fury's office. She had only met the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D a couple of times before and those times, her Dad had been next to her, holding her hand, so she wasn't so scared of the formidable eye patch wearing man.

Darcy had collected her from her neighbour's house, where she normally stayed whilst her father was away on missions. He didn't go away often and was normally back home in a couple of days. This was the first time he had not been back when he said he would be and she was anxious as to what Director Fury wanted to talk to her about.

She tried to push the dark depressing thoughts out of her head, as she followed Darcy, trying to ignore the curious stares of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents coming in the opposite direction, who were wondering what a little eleven year old girl was going in the headquarters of a top secret government organisation.

'We're here' Darcy announced before reaching up to knock on the wooden door. 'Don't worry, he's not that scary' she whispered reassuringly, upon seeing her young charge's worried face 'and I'm sure your father's fine, he's the amazing Hawkeye after all!'

Saskia gave a nervous half giggle at the way the older agent had thrown her arms in the air and had pulled a pose with jazz hands, as she said her dad's stage name, which he had used in the circus many years ago. 'I hope you're right' she whispered as they got the order to go into the office.

As they walked in, Saskia noticed that the Director was not alone in the room, but there was a woman in there with him. She stood up as they entered and made her way to the door, leaving the seat in front of the Director's desk free. As she sat down in the chair, she noticed how, the nearly always smiling Darcy was glaring at this other woman, who looking back at Darcy with a bored expression on her face. The woman was below average height, with sandy brown coloured hair coming to just below her shoulders. She wasn't wearing the standard female navy S.H.I.E.L.D uniform she had seen Darcy and other agents wearing, but dark skinny jeans, leather boots, a navy top and a burnt orange coloured, old leather jacket. Saskia wondered who she was and what she was doing there.

Natasha's breath caught in her throat as her daughter came into the room followed by another familiar face, Darcy Lewis. She could remember when she had first met Darcy, when the brunette had tagged along with Jane Foster when they first came to Stark tower and had ended up staying as the unofficial scientist handler. S.H.I.E.L.D must have noticed Darcy's ability to make sure a group of insanely clever but ridiculously helpless scientist fed and watered, Natasha mused as the brunette in question glared at her. The natural red head, though her hair was still dyed a sandy brown after her last mission, just rolled her eyes, no one could match the Black Widow when it came to giving evil death glares.

Natasha returned her attention to her daughter, who was now sitting in front of the Director. She looked small for her age, with dark, chocolate coloured hair tied up in a loose ponytail and she had father's blue-grey eyes, which were looking around the room nervously. Natasha was also silently happy to see that her daughter's baby curls, had not disappeared with age. That made up for the unexpected twist her heart had felt when her daughter had looked at her curiously and had shown no signs of recognition. She watched as her daughter, who had previously been sitting upright, slumped as Fury told her about her father's disappearance.

'Is he dead?' Saskia asked in a small voice, looking up at the formidable looking director.

'No Miss Barton, as far as we know your father and his partner, Agent Morse are still alive'

'You just don't know where they are'

'Yes, but I have my best teams working on it, so you don't have to worry'

'What's going to happen with me?' She then asked, knowing that there was a reason why Fury had called her to Headquarters and not just sent and Agent out to her neighbour's house to find her.

'Well Saskia, you know what your father does right?'

The brown haired girl nodded, wondering where Fury was going

'Well, the organisation he was sent to deal with made it known that they were interested in coming after you'

'Why me?' She asked, wondering what was so special about her

'So you're going to be staying with in Stark tower with one of my best agents for protection' Fury continued, ignoring the eleven year old's question.

Darcy gave a disbelieving scoff and looked back over at Natasha who was still standing in the corner – was the director absolutely mad? What was he thinking, sending a woman who had heartlessly put her job first before her own family, to protect Sasha?

'Is something the matter Agent Lewis?' Fury asked glaring at the agent with his one good eye

'No sir, something just got caught in my throat' Darcy replied, embarrassed.

'Well, since Miss Barton is here now, why don't you go and do something more useful, I'm sure I overheard Agent Hill saying that you still had a lot of paperwork still outstanding'

'Yes Director Fury, Sir' Darcy said quickly 'you'll be fine kid, I promise' she added to Saskia, before making a hasty retreat out of the room.

'Miss Barton, I'd like you to meet Agent Romanoff, she's going to be the one who will be protecting you' Fury said, beckoning Natasha closer

Natasha waited for any signs of recognition at her name, but none came.

'Hi I'm Sasha' the eleven year old said, standing up and offering the agent her hand to shake as she politely introducing herself.

'Sasha?' Natasha questioned, wondering about the change in name

'Only my Dad and Director Fury call me Saskia' Sasha replied. 'When I was younger I couldn't pronounce my name properly' she explained 'so I ended up calling myself Sasha and the name just stuck. So what should I call you?' she asked looking up at the older woman, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression on her face.

'I'm Natasha' the Agent replied with a small smile taking the young girl's out stretched hand and shaking it firmly.

'I can assure you Saskia, Agent Romanoff is the best in what she does and she will keep you safe' Fury added

'How much danger am I in?' Sasha asked

'I don't know yet' the Director admitted 'but I made a promise, a long time ago now, that I would do everything in my power to keep you safe, so here we are. Now why don't you and I come up with a list of things you would like from home, whilst Agent Romanoff goes and sorts out her things' he suggested.

'I'll meet you by the back entrance in half an hour' she stated before leaving the room and heading back towards her quarters.

Upon reaching her room at the edge of the base, Natasha quickly swiped her security card through the lock to gain entrance, before entering and collapsing on her small bed in the corner. When, in a fit of uncharacteristic desperation, she had called Fury to come and rescue her from the backstreets of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, she had not imagined that a month later, this was how she was going to repay him. It was a very cruel game the Director was playing. She had left behind her family, at his suggestion that they would not be safe, especially her innocent baby daughter, until all the red in her ledger had been wiped clean and her past eliminated. Now here she was, having to protect her daughter, without her daughter actually knowing who she was.

Thinking about her beautiful daughter, Natasha's fingers subconsciously reached under her shirt, past the wedding ring, which she wore on a chain around her neck, to the old silver locket. She clicked it open to reveal a picture of her, Clint and a small baby Saskia smiling at the camera. It had been a shock to hear Saskia call herself Sasha, especially since Clint had been so adamant that their daughter's name was going to be Saskia. Sasha, had been the name Natasha had wanted to use, but it had been shot down for sounding so similar to Tasha.

After closing the locket and putting it away, Natasha stood up and began to pack all the things she would require for this mission, before getting changed into something more suitable for making an impression on the inhabitants of Stark tower. Finally she was ready and with one last glance behind her to make sure she had everything with her, she switched off the light and walked out of the room towards the back entrance to meet up with Sasha and Fury. She could not predict how the next couple of hours would go and how well the members of the Avengers would receive her after ten years.

AN: Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited the last chapter. Also an extra special thanks to the people who reviewed, it means a lot to me. I have been away from writing for so long, that I had forgotten what a thrill it is to see an email telling me someone has followed, favourited or reviewed one of your stories.

To any one who reads my other Avengers stories, I'm really really sorry I haven't updated Natashen'ka in months. I promise I have not abandoned it, just hit a small writers block. So I'll be concentrating on this story at the moment whilst I work out where the other one is going.

I hope you liked this chapter!

Cherry :)