As Steve and Natasha rushed to one of Natasha's safe houses nearby, while making sure they weren't being followed, Steve insisted on calling Clint. He admitted that he still had no idea what was going on between Natasha and Clint (he emphasized the word "complicated" for good measure). Whatever it was, they needed to have a talk about what she'd been doing in the last six what Natasha might be feeling (she emphasized the word "nothing"), Clint clearly cared for her and he deserved to know what was going on.

Natasha made sure to lace the words, "worst," "idea" and "ever" with as much disapproval as she could muster. She protested that Clint would needlessly fuss over a minor wound.

Steve gave her a frown that suggested he did not want to take bullshit from her today. He thought that she had been reckless in the last six months, or "do you need to be reminded exactly why I became your de facto bodyguard in the first place?"

Natasha muttered something about how Steve didn't protect her from the bullet, but he just retorted that if it were up to her, she would have bled out on that street. He was there to make sure she didn't do that.

She calmed down and admitted, "Look, I'm just not ready to talk to him about this yet."

Steve only gave her a glare and deliberately made her watch as he painstakingly pulled out his S.H.I.E.L.D.-provided smartphone and dialed Clint's number. "Just tell him," he said, hinting to her that it was much better to get this out of the way than to drag it on for longer than it needed to. Obviously, he wasn't going to say anything either, if she ultimately chose not to say anything. It was her call. Moving on to the next matter at hand, he helped her remove the bullet, ignoring her protests that she could do it by herself.

She rolled her eyes when Clint rushed into the safe house and asked if she was okay.

"Of course I am, it's just a bullet wound!"

Clint didn't respond, and motioned for Steve to give them some privacy. He looked her over, seeing that the bullet was removed, and began to clean her wound thoroughly. He softly warned her that "it's going to hurt." Like she ever needed warning.

But Natasha knew from the quiet way Clint avoided looking at her that he had somehow discovered her intention to die. As her friend slowly bandaged her injury, she began, "Clint, I-"

He directed her head so that she was looking straight into his eyes. "You don't have to be so nervous," he told her half-jokingly. After a pause, he admitted, "I know what you've been doing, Nat."

As Clint expected, he felt Natasha tense up and erase all emotion from her face. She kept her voice cool as she asked, "What have I been doing?"

He kept his hand close to her head, preventing her from looking away.

"You've been looking for him."

"Who?"

"The Winter Soldier."