Love Grown Cold

Fury's Furies

"No, no, no, no, no, and that's final!" Natasha heard Fury scream from inside his office. She and Laura exchanged a glance and they both smirked.

"Hey, I never said he appreciated Clint's recruiting."

Currently, Mikel and Clint were in Fury's office trying, and failing, to convince him that Natasha would be -quote unquote- "the bestest partner ever!"

"But Fury..." they heard Clint whine in his most obnoxious voice.

"But Fury nothing!" Fury roared. "SHIELD is a HIGHLY RESPECTABLE organization and I won't ruin that by hiring JUST ANYONE FROM THE STREET!!!"

That got the girls laughing, especially when Clint said, "But she's not from the street! I met her in an abandoned warehouse, and she's a soldier!"

"NO SHES NOT! NATASHA ROMANOFF DIED ALMOST SIXTY YEARS AGO! SO JUST DROP IT!"

Natasha smirked and turned to Laura. "Sounds like Furry Fury has a few fury problems."

Laura laughed. "Just wait. Clint always gets his way."

"Does he?" A new voice asked. "I thought that was Agent Hill." Natasha turned and saw a kind blonde man standing there. "Hi," he said, smiling. "I'm Phil Coulson,"

"Natasha Romanoff," Natasha replied, shaking his hand.

"So did you really know Captain America?" He asked excitedly.

"Phil is our resident Captain America nut," Laura explained.

"I've got all the vintage trading cards," Phil said shyly.

"Cool," Natasha said, genuinely thrilled that even after all this time, Steve was regarded as the hero he was. "And yes, I did know Steve. We grew up together, him, Buck, and me."

Phil nodded excitedly. "What was he like?"

Some people would've been offended that he wasn't asking them about themselves, but Natasha was always happy to talk about Steve. "Just as amazing as they say, and more." For a long time, she, Phil, and Laura talked about Steve, the Commandos, and everything else under the sun.

"Wow," Phil commented a few hours later. "It's already dark outside." Natasha glanced outside and, sure enough, they only light came from the buildings and street lamps.

Natasha chuckled. "Well I could honestly talk for even longer about Steve."

"Really?" Phil asked, hopeful.

Natasha smiled and was about to tell him all about the fact that Steve couldn't stand hair conditioner, when the door to Fury's office opened, and one tired director and two smug agents walked out.

Fury pointed ominously at Natasha. "You've got one shot at this. If you even screw up once, I will have you in front of a firing squad so fast you won't even have time to scream." And with that, he turned on his heel and walked away.

"Adorable, isn't he?" Natasha asked once he was out of hearing range. Clint and Mikel started laughing and both Laura and Phil smiled.

"So are you going to be staying with me?" Laura asked Natasha.

Natasha glanced at Clint and he nodded. "Fury said you could stay anywhere you wanted. Said it wouldn't make a difference where you were when you decided to murder us all in our beds." Clint grinned and Natasha grinned back.

"I'm surprised you actually convinced him to let me work with you." Natasha commented as she, Laura, and Clint walked to Laura's place, after saying her goodbyes to Phil and Mikel.

Clint chuckled. "It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would. I was prepared for at least until noon tomorrow. Fury must've had a date or something."

"A date with destiny," Laura teased. "He had a council meeting tonight, and they're going to be ticked off enough that he's this late."

"Good!" Clint said, winking at Natasha. "He deserves it! He was very rude to me, even swore a few times!" Clint pretended to be shocked.

Laura rolled her eyes. "Clint, you undoubtedly deserved everything you got in there."

"Whaaaaaat?" Clint placed a hand over his heart. "Darling, how can you say that? Are we all right?" He knelt to the ground in front of her. "Tell me there's not someone else!"

Natasha laughed as she watched the antics between the two of them. It was sweet, how much they cared about each other. It reminded her of.... No, she told herself sharply. Don't think of him.

They eventually made it to Laura's apartment after a few more dramatic moments courtesy of Clint.

"And now, lady and fiancée, I shall bid you good night and go the unbearably long distance of just across the hall." He chivalrously bowed and kissed Natasha's hand, before taking Laura in his arms and giving her a quick kiss. "See you two tomorrow!"

After he left, Natasha turned to Laura. "Is he always this..."

"Dramatic? Annoying? Obnoxious? Yep, that's my everyday."

"And yet you still want to marry him."

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Laura gave Natasha a look like she was crazy. "It's probably best to head to bed. Tomorrow I'm sure is going to be long." She pointed down a hallway. "First door on your right is the bathroom and the next room down is the guest bedroom. I'll try to find you some pajamas as well."

Natasha smiled. "Thanks, Laura."

"No problem," Laura replied, returning the smile.
*
Later that night, Natasha lay in bed staring at the ceiling and thinking about all that had happened in the last few days. Even yesterday, she had been ready to die, too depressed to think about living without James.

But now, she finally felt like she would be able to start again, to move on from everything that had happened and start making friends, and working for SHIELD was a good start.

"Goodnight James," Natasha whispered into the darkness. "I wish you were here."

And somewhere, on the other side of the world, a young man with dark brown hair and blue eyes, was saying the same thing to her.
*
Ok guys, quick announcement. I just saw infinity war this weekend and WOW. Did NOT see all of that coming. Since some of you haven't seen it yet, I won't say anymore. However, I'm not going to incorporate IW into my story, since I didn't know what would happen in it when I was planning my story. So the farthest this story is going to go is maybe through Black Panther. I'm going to try to start updating a little more too.

Thanks for reading guys and a special thanks to everyone who has been voting and commenting! I love reading your comments so don't feel shy about posting them!

Have a great day!