Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I've had a crazy couple of days, so I'm sorry if I haven't replied to them like normal. To everyone who has been asking about Clint, don't worry he will be appearing soon. I hope you like this chapter-please let me know what you think!

Many thanks ~ Cherry :)

Natasha Romanoff uncharacteristically winced has her left fist collided with the punch bag in front of her. After the eventful breakfast in the kitchen, she had tried to concentrate on analysing the Russian spoken in the message the captor's had sent as well as decoding Agent Bobbie Morse's cryptic number sequence. The Russian was spoken perfectly, absolutely flawless, not halting and hesitant; leading Natasha to deduce that the sender was either a native speaker or had grown up speaking the language. However it was the accent which puzzled her. Russia was such a massive country with many different accents. The accent Natasha was hearing was not one found in Moscow, the capital, so Natasha was now going through her brain of all the different regional accents, in the hope that it would give S.H.I.E.L.D a clue as to where they were keeping Agents Barton and Morse captive. S.H.I.E.L.D so far had had no luck with voice recognition software.

However Natasha had been so frustrated with how everything had played out that morning, she had left her work to cool off in the Stark gym. When she had dreamed of her reunion with Saskia (and Clint), she had imagined it to be something like what happens in the soppy American movies Clint had forced her to watch when he was trying to introduce her to American culture. She had imagined Saskia recognising her and running straight into her arms, whilst Clint would greet her with a warm smile. Hugs and kisses would be exchanged and she would be forgiven.

Well; that was never going to happen, Natasha thought to herself, straightening up and beginning to unwind the protective wraps from around her hands. Her husband was currently being held captive by the people she swore would never get near her family and Saskia had run off after overhearing Tony Stark's revelation. Natasha knew that she was still in the tower and that JARVIS would be keeping an eye on her. Besides, if her daughter was anything like her father, Natasha knew she would probably want to be left alone.

Natasha reached up to touch her injured shoulder and her fingers came away with blood. If her night time exploratory climb of the tower had slightly pulled at the stitches the S.H.I.E.L.D doctor had put in when she had first come in to the Helicarrier from her adventure in Uzbekistan, then her angry work out and one sided spar with the punch bag and definitely torn them.

If the injury had been in any other place, she could have patched herself up with her standard field medical kit. When she and Clint had been partners they would take it in turns to patch each other up after missions, but now she did it herself. However since this wound was in the most awkward place on her left shoulder blade, she knew she would have to get someone else to re do the stitches. That meant going to see Doctor Banner.

'Ah, Agent Romanoff, what can I do for you today?' Dr Bruce Banner asked, peering over his glasses to look at the former Russian assassin who had just entered his lab.

'Hey Doctor Banner' Natasha said, somewhat nervously, not knowing how the scientist would receive her. Out of all the Avengers he was the quietest, preferring to keep to himself and was the only one (barring Tor who was on Asgard) who had not been present at the now infamous breakfast. Natasha showed Bruce her bloody hands. 'Don't worry I haven't killed Stark' she added, trying to lighten the mood, which was extremely tense as the Doctor looked at her warily. 'I was wondering if you could take a look at my shoulder.'

'Why don't you take a seat' he said, gesturing to a nearby chair, whilst standing up to collect the necessary equipment, before settling down behind her. 'It looks nasty' he commented, after removing the now blood soaked dressing, to reveal the gunshot wound underneath.

'Trust me, it looked so much worse two weeks ago' Natasha stated wincing slightly as he began to clean the wound.

'May I ask what happened' Bruce enquired, curious to know what the woman in front of him had been up to, since Tony's hack of the S.H.I.E.L.D database had been fruitless. It wasn't just the different coloured hair which made the Agent sitting in front of him seem so different to the one her had known ten years ago. That Natasha had been strong, confident and seemed completely in control. This Natasha, though undoubtedly still strong in her own way, seemed less confident and extremely world weary. There was a haunted look in her eyes. He had actually been annoyed at his friend for revealing Natasha's secret to Sasha. While they had not agreed with it, he felt that Tony should have respected Natasha's wishes.

'I was almost out of the compound with most of the girls' Natasha whispered, feeling she owed it to Bruce to know why he was patching her up 'when I turned back to see the one remaining guard had taken one of the last girl's hostage. He was holding his gun to her temple, she was terrified, and was demanding that I surrender and return the girls or he would blow her brains out. Of course I was not going to let that happen, I did not need any more red on my ledger. So I pretended to surrender and lower my gun and as he started gloating that he had managed to capture the elusive Black Widow, I shot him in the chest. I then grabbed the girl and started to run to safety. However as I was running away, in his last moments he shot me. I'm counting my lucky stars it only glanced off my shoulder and didn't hit it directly otherwise who knows what would have happened'

'You had no back up?'

'No, I was following my own lines of enquiry' Natasha replied evasively, before wincing again as Bruce started to redo the stitches.

'Am I hurting you, should I give you some local anaesthetic?' Bruce asked

'No it's fine' Natasha stated 'I've had much worse'

'You know what really puzzles me it the fact that you have had this wound for two weeks now, when it should have normally, with you, healed over night' Bruce remarked, knowing Natasha's unusual medical history.

'That's why I had to call Fury for help' Natasha admitted quietly. 'It didn't heal up and leave a scar overnight like usual, it felt like it was on fire. I struggled on for a couple of days, made arrangement for the girls but by then I had to admit defeat and call for back up. When I got back to S.H.I.E.L.D to doctors cleaned to wound, stitched it up and put some healing cream on it in the hope it would heal quickly'

'But how?' Bruce asked 'your super healing system shouldn't have just suddenly failed like that. Unless, was there something on the bullets'

'I think so' Natasha replied 'I think they were designed for me'

'Why?'

'Let's just say I know these people very well and unfortunately they know all about me'

'The Red Room' Bruce stated, remembering some of Natasha's history. They had been the people who had trained her to a killer. 'The compound you raided was a Red Room compound' he stated, putting all the pieces together.

'Something like that' Natasha replied

'And are they the ones who have captured Clint and agent Morse?' Bruce asked

'I think so, since they were stupidly given my mission' Natasha stated. 'I know you know that the mission was meant for me and not Clint and Bobbie'

Bruce looked at Natasha curiously, wondering how she knew that.

'I put a little bug in the S.H.I.E.L.D database which alerts me to when and who breaks in and looks at my file' she stated.

'So all this time you've been tracking down the Red Room?' Bruce asked

'When I held Saskia in my arms for the first time all those years ago, I swore nothing would take my family away from my again and I would do everything and anything to protect Saskia, the most precious, pure thing in my life. You know she was my little miracle baby?'

Bruce silently nodded, letting Natasha get it all out and explain why she had been gone for over ten years.

'I never thought I would be a mother, but there she was the white dot on my dripping red ledger. I thought being with her and Clint would keep her safe and then-' Natasha choked, her icy facade finally crumbling.

'They almost kidnapped her' Bruce finish, placing his last stitch and cutting the tread.

'I know we stopped it, but Fury told me of all the threats facing her, especially one they had picked up from the Red Room. I had to make a decision, to live in constant fear that Saskia would always be in danger or to go after them and finish it for good. I couldn't tell Clint, he would want to go with me and that would have left Saskia parentless and besides it was not his fight.'

'So you left'

'I left but I did not think it would be for this long.'

'So what are you going to do now you're back?' Bruce asked, now redressing the wound

'I have no idea, I want to be a mother to Saskia, but my job is not yet done, Clint's been captured and they are still out there besides Saskia probably hates me'

'Not really, she's probably just a little bit overwhelmed, her father missing and her mother reappearing in her life. I'm sure if you explained everything to her like you just did to me, she would understand. She's a very kind hearted girl.'

'Tell me about her?' Natasha asked, eager to hear more about her daughter.

'Well she's very bright, she loves animals, especially birds, chocolate and the colour purple' Bruce listed

'She gets that from her father' Natasha muttered with a smile, remembering Clint's purple obsession.

'She also loves to music and to dance, which I believe she gets from you' Bruce added

'Has she ever been seriously ill or injured?' Natasha asked, knowing that the doctor would have probably had to deal with Saskia if that was the case.

'Only minor playground cuts and bruises which faded extremely quickly and she hasn't even had a minor cold' Bruce replied 'I think she has your genetics to thank for. Right all done' he stated, sticking down the last dressing, before standing up.

'You understand why I did, don't you?' Natasha asked quietly

'Natasha, you know I know why you did it and what you went though better than most people' Dr Banner replied kindly, referencing his decision to leave behind his love Betty in order to protect her from the Hulk. She was now happily married with two children.

'Thank you Dr Banner, for patching me up and listening' Natasha said, standing up and heading towards the door.

'Natasha, you can call me Bruce' Bruce stated kindly 'after all we are friends and on the same team'

'Thank you Bruce' Natasha stated, before exiting the lab, her heart feeling slightly lighter, knowing that there was at least one person in the tower in her corner and that there was a slight chance Saskia might understand and forgive her. Natasha headed through the tower corridors quickly, she had a lot of work to do, but first she had to go and find her daughter.