Clint Barton sat along the crossbar at the very top of the Liberty Bridge and stared down into the Danube. It was always easier to think when he was high up, as if the altitude helped clear his head. Having some down time before the job was a curse as well as a blessing. There was no way he could sleep after Natasha's announcement. Hawkeye smiled to himself, just like her to drop something like that on him in the middle of a mission. It would be madness to see the Widow now, although his immediate instinct was to find her. The last thing he would do was jeopardise the mission and potentially compromise them both, so he settled for taking a walk, and that had inevitably brought him here.

'Agent Barton?' Clint glanced downwards to see Hannah Foster in the doorway of the nearest Custom house tower. The agent eyed the narrow ledge between her and Hawkeye nervously.

'Hannah? What the hell are you doing here?' He said getting to his feet.

She took a step out onto the ledge, looked down and hastily reached for the wall to steady herself.

Gracefully Clint traversed the ledge between them until he had ushered her back inside.

'Not big on heights huh?' He asked, noticing the girl's hands shaking.

Foster shook her head. 'I... I came to check you were all right?'

'And yet I'm rescuing you.' Clint smirked. 'I'm more interested in how you found me?'

'Your file said...' She started.

'So you figured the circus monkey would prefer to be off the ground and this is the highest structure near to Barta's?' He finished. 'Perhaps we'll make a spy of you yet.'

Pleased with the praise, Hannah smiled.

'What's the problem?' Clint asked.

'No problem. I just wanted to check you were all right after...your coms are off? She stammered.

Clint looked slightly abashed in memory of the expletive he'd muttered over the coms after Natasha's admission. To be fair it had been an involuntary reaction 'But you really shouldn't be here.' He said, diverting the subject. 'What if someone had followed you? It could compromise us both.'

'I...?'

'That wasn't very smart.' Clint didn't mean it unkindly, but lack of sleep and his concern for the mission outweighed personal niceties.

'You're right... it was stupid... really stupid.' Hannah said in frustration. The Black Widow would never have made such a mistake, she thought angrily.

'Hopefully no harm done.' Barton said. 'I take it Coulson doesn't know you're here?'

'He thinks I've gone out for coffee.' She said.

'Then I suggest you pick up a couple of takeouts and get back to him as soon as possible.' Clint turned the young agent around and pushed her gently towards the door.

Hannah fought back the tears as she reached the pavement. It had seemed a good idea, to check that her Agent was O.K. She'd expected a better reaction, especially after the miserable night he'd had and the Black Widow upsetting him so much with her coded messages. But she'd made another mistake. The Widow was cold and uncaring, she would never have searched him out, and yet that was apparently something he admired. If that was what he wanted, then Hannah vowed that from now on she would be the coldest, most clinical, and best Agent that Hawkeye had ever seen. She would study The Black Widow, and make herself just as efficient.

So absorbed was she in her plan that she never noticed the black Mercedes as it pulled up behind her, or the two Mafiosi who stepped from the back seat. It was only as the chloroform pad was pressed over her face that she had a second to struggle before finally blacking out.

The fire fight showed no signs of abating. 'So much for an easy in and out job' The Black Widow muttered into her coms as she dodged the onslaught.

'They knew we were coming.' Coulson replied.

'You think?' She added reloading her pistols.

The handover should have been an easy mark had it not been for the virtual army of mercenaries who suddenly arrived in their droves. One mob had ascended the building where Hawkeye sat waiting to take the shot. The other had swarmed into the hotel complex where Natasha was preparing to distract Picotta until Barta had been eliminated. She would then finish the Italian herself. The sheer number of men seemed slight overkill for two assassins; however, their reputations obviously preceded them. Ascending the stairs of the hotel building two at a time, she finally reached the top. Nowhere else to run.

With a crash Natasha heard the incendiary device break the window of the floor below. It began to beep in a way that suggested her place on the skyscraper's roof was going to become very uncomfortable very soon. She looked around. The architects for this building had obviously considered space a good thing, given the distance to the nearest building there was no way she could reach safety short of growing wings and learning to fly. She cursed in Russian.

'Everything ok Natasha?' Barton said suddenly in her ear piece.

'Things have been better.' She responded.

The tempo from below increased as the bomb approached detonation point. Just as the spy began to believe all was lost, an arrow whizzed past her ear embedding itself in the brick work. It was shortly followed by her S.H.I.E.L.D partner, Hawkeye.

'Need a lift?' He asked amiably as he skidded to a halt. The dirt streaked across his face and body suggested Barton had been on something of an adventure of his own, Natasha imagined she didn't look much better but she'd never been quite so pleased to see the archer.

Firing the arrow across the void he caught the attached cable and tied it off. Hawkeye placed his bow across the line and motioned to Black Widow.

'Hold on to me!'

Once she had her arms and legs wrapped securely around him, he grasped either side of the bow and stepped from the ledge. The two slid at breakneck speed down the makeshift zip wire. Seconds later Barton's feet were landing on the opposing roof.

He felt his partner relax her grip as they slowed to a gradual stop.

"Thanks." She said lightly, and brushed her lips against his cheek before hopping to the ground.

Hawkeye glanced briefly in her direction, a mischievous glint in his eye as he pressed the button on his bow to release the line.

"What?" Natasha asked playfully. 'It's affectionate.'

Crossing the distance between them, Clint placed an arm around the small of her back and pulled her sharply towards him. Their lips met just as the rooftop they had just left exploded in a mass of flame and heat. It was not a gentle kiss. Adrenalin coursed through their veins, they were dirty and sweating and on a rooftop in the middle of a fire fight when two years of equally pent up desire finally came to the surface. It couldn't have been more perfect.

Breaking apart, Clint searched her face for a reaction. To his surprise there was almost shyness as she finally met his gaze, a genuine smile on her swollen lips. The smile was immediately matched by his own.

The door to the roof exploded open as an enemy soldier charged towards them screaming. Without even looking Natasha raised her pistol and fired. As the soldier collapsed to the ground she finally dragged her eyes away from Barton's.

"We were having a moment!" She snapped at the now prone body.

Hawkeye's grin widened as he gently turned her chin back towards him and pressed his lips against hers in a more tender gesture. With a final nod at the Widow he took an arrow from his quiver and turned to face the coming onslaught side by side with his partner. Natasha's answering smile faded as they prepared to deal with the squad of mercenaries now coming up the stairs.