The Spy & The Spellcaster

Chapter 1

In the dead of night in the Avengers Tower, Natasha laid asleep in her bed. She thrashed in her sleep, having a nightmare. The nightmare was about something she hadn't thought about in years...it was about the Newcastle Massacre. She could hear the screams of frightened people like she was there again, could see the splatters of blood and the shredded corpses of the demon's victims. Then echoing in her mind was the cries of help from Astra as she was dragged through a portal into the fiery pits of h*ll.

"Astra, no!" Natasha gasped waking up.

She sits up in bed and wipes the sweat...and maybe a few tears...from her face.

"Miss Romanoff, are you alright?" JARVIS asked.

"I'll be fine, JARVIS, no need to make a big deal out of a stupid nightmare." Natasha grumbled, her head in her hands.

Natasha runs her fingers through her hair, sighing deeply. It was clear she wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon, so Natasha throws the covers off herself. She was only in a sports bra and underwear, so she walks over to her dresser and takes out some clothes. After throwing on a pair of pajama shorts and a blue and white baseball tee with the Avengers logo, Natasha leaves her room and heads to the kitchen for a late night snack. While walking through the halls of the tower, she puts her hair into a messy bun.

"Let's see what we got here." Natasha said to herself, opening the fridge.

Grabbing the bag of baby carrots, Natasha closes the fridge then grabs the jar of peanut butter from the pantry. Next, she sits on a stool at the bar and digs in, dipping the carrots straight into the jar.

"Woah, eating straight from the jar? I'd expect this from Thor, Hulk, and Clint, but you, Nat? I'm surprised." Tony said coming into the kitchen.

"F**k off, Stark." Natasha mumbled, biting into a peanut butter covered baby carrot.

"Yeesh, so snippy. Having trouble sleeping?" Tony asked grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Seriously, Tony, I'm not in the mood." Natasha snapped.

Tony holds his hands up in surrender and takes a step back from Natasha.

"Well...I've been up most of the night tinkering in the lab, so I'm gonna head to bed. Goodnight, Nat." Tony said before leaving.

Once again, Natasha is alone in the kitchen...alone with her thoughts. She couldn't understand why she was dreaming about Newcastle, she hadn't thought about it since becoming an Avenger. Natasha was tired, but she didn't dare go back to sleep, she didn't want to go back to that horrific place in her mind. So, she decides to keep herself awake by punching something. It was sunrise by the time Natasha was done with punching a punching-bag.

"Morning, Tasha." Clint said...a bit too cheerfully in Natasha's opinion.

"GOOD MORNING, LADY ROMANOFF!" Thor greeted in his boisterous, booming loud voice.

Natasha just grunts in reply, pouring herself some coffee and grabbing a banana.

"Hey, Natasha, don't you want a pancake or two, I'm making some for everyone." Sam offered.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm good with this banana." Natasha replied heading to the lounge room.

She sits on the couch with her legs crisscrossed and turns on the TV. Back in the kitchen her male teammates are confused by her odd behavior. Sure, the Black Widow was never a morning person, but she was never this tired-looking and grumpy in the morning.

"Is...she okay?" Scott asked.

"Well, I saw her up at one in the morning eating carrots and peanut butter....straight from the jar." Tony told them.

"What!? She got onto me last week for doing that! What a hypocrite." Clint whined.

"Something's probably bothering her." Steve said finishing off his pancakes.

He sets his dishes in the sink then joins Natasha in the lounge room. She had finished eating her banana and threw the peel across the room into the trashcan.

"Nice shot." Steve said sitting next to her.

"Don't ask me what's bothering me, I don't want to talk about it." Natasha told him.

"Come on, Nat, you know you can talk to me." Steve replied.

Steve was right, he was one of the people she would open up to. The two had a special relationship, Steve was like a big brother to Natasha. Sighing, she hugs her knees to her chest and rests her head on Steve's shoulder.

"Look, all I'm gonna say is that last night I had a nightmare about something I haven't thought about in years. And that's all you're getting out of me." Natasha said.

"Have you gotten any sleep since Tony saw you in the kitchen at one in the morning?" Steve asked, wrapping an arm around Natasha's shoulders.

"No, I was in the gym until sunrise." Natasha answered.

"Maybe you should take a nap, it'll help you feel better." Steve suggested.

Nodding and yawning, Natasha lays across the couch with her head in Steve's lap. Almost immediately, she falls asleep...showing just how tired she was. The rest of the Avengers walk in, laughing and joking, causing Steve to quickly put a finger to his lips and swipe his hand across his neck. Instantly, they all shut their traps, cause everyone knew that you would have to have a death wish to wake the Black Widow up from a much needed nap.

"I think we'll just go off and train." Clint whispered, Thor and Hulk nodding in agreement.

"And, Sam, how about you give me a hand in the lab." Tony whispered, patting Sam's shoulder.

"And I'm gonna go pick up my daughter. It's my week with her." Scott whispered before slowly backing out of the room.

When everyone left, Steve shuts off the TV. Then he carefully leans forward, making sure not to disturb his sleeping teammate who's using his thighs as a pillow, and grabs his book off of the coffee table. As Natasha slept in Steve's lap, Captain America quietly reads a book, laying a hand protectively on the woman's back.