It's Wednesday! Fanfic day! yeah! Would to thank AlisonAPD, Moriarty-assbutt, and TheEmoVanity for their wonderful reviews and all the people who've followed and favourited. By the way I may or may not be able to update next week, since I have all day rehearsals for my school show, so I don't know if I'll have time. Sorry about that. Anyway, here's chapter eight!

Chapter 8

"Tony, you can't let him go!" Steve yelled, practically shaking his fist. Tony looked at him with apathy.

"I don't see why not, he has as much a right to go as Thor." He said as he shrugged on his dinner jacket. Steve's jaw fell slack as he looked at Tony with baffled hatred. He pressed his hand on his forehead for a moment, before turning to Natasha.

"Please, please, talk some sense into him." He pleaded before he stalked out of the room muttering things like "Idiot", "Pansy" and "Exactly like his father". Natasha smiled to herself before turning back to Tony.

"Steve's right you know. You can't let Loki go."

Tony looked at her sharply. "And why not, Ms Widow? Was it not you who asked me to make it a masked ball so that Rock of Ages could go?"

"I wasn't thinking. He can't go, it's disrespectful."

"To who?"

"The dead."

Tony's smile flattened into a straight line. "Look, the guy needs some fun, a change of scenery…"

"Stark, it's a Charity Ball for who?"

"The orphans of the Battle of New York." He answered with annoyed.

"And you killed their parents?" Natasha asked slowly, mechanically, making sure each word hit him with the same weight.

"The chitauri." Stark said catering his tie.

"No. Loki did." Natasha sighed, exasperated., but quickly noticed something snap in Tony's expression. It was a look she'd only seen once or twice.

"And how many parents have you killed, Romanoff?" He said coolly, staring her in the eye.

"Screw that, how many children have you killed Natty, hmm?" Natasha flinched turning away from him quickly.

"It's by goddamn party, and I'll invite who I want. Loki's going." He said finally after some moments of silence.

"Dinner starts at seven. See you there." He muttered before picking up his overcoat and heading out the door.

"Don't pretend you don't want him to go." He said, half to himself, but loud enough for Natasha to catch it.

She glanced at her reflection nervously, turning this way and that way, making sure the gown looked perfect from every conceivable angle. It was a beautiful dress, a strapless white bodice covered in snowflake like sparked that slowly faded into nothing on the full black skirt that gathered in the back into a small train. Her hair was pulled to the side in messy curls and held in place with a diamond hairpiece that Clint had got her one Christmas. The black domino mask was a recent addition, but was a pretty one, with white crystal edging and black lace covering one side. She started packing her small clutch with the necessary weapons, when she heard a timid knock at her door.

"Um… Lady Natasha? I seem to be unable to tie this… ribbon thing without strangling myself." Loki said in an annoyed tone, holding up the untied bowtie for her to see. She couldn't help but laugh at his expression of unhidden fury.

She invited him leaving the door open, but turned around when she didn't hear him follow.

"You okay?" she said gently, staring cautiously at his shocked face.

"Yes… I'm fine, it's just that…" He sighed, staring at his feet for a moment.

"It's just that you look beautiful." He said with a bashful expression. He walked over and started tracing the pattern of her dress with his fingertips.

"It's snow falling on a winter's night." He said quietly with a small smile.

"Always the poet." Natasha muttered with a smirk, desperately trying to halt the steady blush that was rising to her cheeks. She took the bow tie from his hand and began to fasten it around his neck.

"Do you have a mask?" She said trying to fill the heavy silence in the room.

"Indeed I do. I went into my room after lunch and everything was laid out for me. I think Mr Stark, always intended for me to go." He finished quietly. "He's a better man than I gave him credit for."

"We've all experienced that realization."

He simply nodded, noticing that she was finished fastening the neck tie, and that she was going to move away any second. He gently let his hands linger on her waist, hoping with every fibre of hiss being that she wouldn't move away.

She let herself blush this time, she was to focused on other things to stop it. She rested her head on his shoulder inhaling his scent, listening to his breathing. She felt his hand creep up to cup the back of her neck, a shudder running through her spine, and then they both leapt out of their skin when they heard a small cough from the open doorway. Loki swore under his breath quickly taking a few paces away as if her were simply in her room to look out of her window, while Natasha walked to the door.

"Clint, it's not what you think, Loki just needed help with his bow tie, I promise…"

He made a small noise between a sigh and a laugh, before shooting her a look of bitterness and Loki a look of pure hatred, and half marching half running down the hall.

Natasha stared after him with guilt and regret coursing through her veins. Loki crept up behind her intertwining her hand with his.

"Natasha, you don't need to feel guilty…" He started, but stopped when she yanked herself away.

"Of course I need to feel guilty! God knows what he's going through, he needs me, he's always been there for me Loki, and the one time he needs me he finds me with you, and… and…" She sighed turning away from him.

"You should get going."

"Natasha you say, 'with me' as if it were a bad thing."

"Isn't it?" She said emotionlessly with a shrug of her shoulders.

Silence of a different kind filled the small apartment again and when Natasha turned around, Loki was gone.

"Colonel Matthews, Ms Rushman, and a pleasure to meet you at last." The stout man said with a low bow that seemed to cost him quite a bit of energy.

"Likewise." She said with an easy smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Are you here alone? " He said loudly calling a nearby waiter to fill up his glass.

"She shook her head. "I'm here with Dr. Banner. If you'll excuse me."

She stood up quickly leaving her napkin on the chair behind her, shaking the smell and aura of the drunk man away from her. She moved into the nearest ladies room, trying to rearrange the careful mask that was starting to slip from her face- and she wasn't thinking about the black lace one. Her disguise as Natalie Rushman was starting to fall away, and the worried and scared face of Natalia Romanova was showing through. She shook away the thought, massaging some cold water into her temples and neck. She gave her reflection a hard stare then let the pleasing grin spread out across her features again.

She walked into the main ballroom, where a waltz was playing. She moved silently through the crowd , turning and ducking her head whenever anybody stared to long. Everybody wanted to meet the single female Avenger but if anybody made the connection between her and the infamous Black Widow…

Finally she spotted Bruce through the crowds. He was standing awkwardly by one of the huge windows, alone.

"Hey." She called moving beside him. They both watched Tony spin a frantic looking Pepper across the room, then she moved head over to his slightly.

"Any news on Selvig?"

He gave the smallest shake of his head and Natasha groaned inwardly. All the same no news was good news right?

"Shall we dance?" He said quietly, offering her his hand.

"Why Dr Banner, I would be delighted."

"Protect your feet at all costs." He said with a grin.

"A mission impossible if I ever heard one."

They both laughed but the conversation stopped as Bruce started counting one, two, three in his head, his mouth occasionally forming the words.

She had counted a total of seven foot-stepping incidents when she felt someone tapping her shoulder.

"May I?" A silky voice purred and Bruce stopped looking surprised.

"Sure thing Laufyson, have at it."

Loki gave him a small grin then took his place as Natasha's partner.

"I finished all the books you gave me."

She nodded, glad he wasn't talking about their conversation from earlier.

"any particular favourites?"

"I actually rather enjoyed Pride and Prejudice. Out of all of them it seemed the most realistic… at least for this world."

"What caught your attention?"

He shrugged. "All the characters were so very quick to judge Darcy, and they never even considered for a moment that there might be a different tale to be told."

Natasha smiled to herself. "So you sympathised with it?"

"I would just like to think that if I ever met an Elizabeth, she would give me the chance to tell my own version of events, before she deemed me a completely evil being." He looked at her from the corner of her eye, and she knew what he was trying to say.

"Actions speak louder than words." She said coolly, her eyes travelling to the large screen that had a "Help the Orphans" on it in colourful lettering. Loki frowned.

"How can I…" But Natasha held up a finger and some one tapped into her earpiece.

"Natasha we need your help." Steve said his voice urgent. Natasha sighed.

"Can't you ask Clint?"

"That's just the thing… we can't find him."