The New York Assignment

Four

A few hours later, Natasha was staring into the abyss some call a refrigerator. Her eyes shifted to the clock on the wall. 6:17. Time to get rid of Clint. "Clint, I forgot to pick up garlic at the store. Do you mind-"

"Nope," Clint said brightly. Natasha hid a smirk. She'd told him earlier that she had gotten some time off to spend with him. The half-truth had done wonders for his attitude. He stood up from the kitchen table and walked over to her. He planted a kiss on her cheek. "Anything else you need?"

"Um, yes. Get some flowers or something."

"Okay. What kind?"

Natasha gave him a look. "Do you really think I know what kind of flowers look good on a dining room table? If you wanted Martha Stewart, you should have fallen for a lesser woman."

Clint chuckled. "Ouch. I get your drift. I'll pick whatever the grocery store has. Anything else?"

Natasha thought for a moment. She looked at the recipe she'd printed off the internet. "Yes. Shallots. And fresh parsley."

Clint pulled out his phone and typed everything up on the notes app. "That it?"

Natasha glanced at the clock. "Yeah. If I think of anything else, I'll text it to you."

Clint nodded. "Okay." He kissed her cheek again. "I'll see you soon." He walked to the door. Natasha listened for the sound of the door closing.

The familiar thud signaled the departure of her partner. She sighed in relief and walked to her bedroom. She pulled out the middle drawer of her dresser and set it on her bed. Her fingers moved the pieces of fabric aside. The file Nick Fury had given her to look over lay at the bottom of the drawer. She opened it and started to flip through the pages.

There was a knock at the door. Natasha stood up and walked to open the door. She opened it to see none other than Captain America himself.

Smiling, she greeted him. "Hey, Steve." She opened the door and let him in. "Thanks for coming."

Steve walked in the door. "Thank you for inviting me." He held out his hand. Natasha shook it. "What is this about? On the phone you sounded worried."

Natasha showed him over to the couch. "First tell me how you are. I heard you joined SHIELD officially."

Steve sat down. "Yes, ma'am. I figured that's where I'm most needed."

"Let me take your coat."

Steve shrugged off his brown leather jacket. "Thank you."

Natasha nodded and hung it up on the coat rack by the door. "Agent Coulson was thrilled."

Steve watched her closely. He could tell she was just being polite with the formalities. "How is Phil?"

"He's okay." Natasha walked back over and sat down next to him. "He's back on the job, but still recovering. Have you seen Stark since the incident?"

"Once, yes. Miss Potts invited me for lunch. I think it was more to hear my side of the story, though. Tony didn't seem very excited about reliving what happened. Have you heard from Thor?"

Ah, the two questions everyone wanted an answer to. 'Was the Tesseract locked up' and 'How severely was Loki being punished'. "No, no one has."

Steve sighed. "That's what I figured."

"You know that if I'd heard something, I'd tell you."

Steve looked at her. "Alright, Agent Romanoff-"

"Natasha," she insisted.

Steve gave a nod of consent. "Natasha. What's going on?"

Natasha looked at him for a moment, trying to decide if she could trust him or not. Finally thinking that he was known for being one of the most upright people on the planet, she said, "It's about Clint."