A Different Call

Morning After

A.N. We're really starting to move into Clintahsa territory.  As always, feel free to comment on how you think the story is going, or just the story overall, you have no idea how happy your comments make me.

Natasha's P.O.V.

I woke up to the sunlight hitting my eyes and as I began to sit up I noticed that I was curled up to Clint. I quickly got out of the bed, making sure not wake Clint. What the hell Natasha. He's a friend, that's it.

I made my way to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. As I waited for the brew to finish, I saw the clock on the microwave read ten minutes past seven. Crap, I needed to be in Coulson's office by eight. I quickly ran back to my room to shower quickly before I had to go to work. How could I have slept in this late, I usually get up at woken up by my nightmares a lot earlier than this? That's when I realized I didn't have any nightmares last night.

"Just relax Romanoff," I muttered to myself. "You just happen to go out with your partner, who was just recently divorced. That same partner beat up a creep for you, so you invited him to sleep – no, share a bed – with you. Then today you slept in and woke up curled up with said partner. And it all just happened to correlate with the one night in forever that you didn't have a nightmare." Don't forget that you also have a tiny crush said partner, my brain so helpfully supplied. "I'm fucked," I declared, leaning my head against the shower tiles. Yep, pretty much. I finished my shower and then dried my hair and got dressed, I didn't have time to straighten it, so looks like wild curls were the style for today.

When I stepped out of the show I saw that Clint was still asleep, so I left a note for him informing him where I was, that there was coffee in the kitchen, and to lock the door when he did leave.

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I arrived in the conference room Coulson had texted me only a few minutes before we were supposed to me.

"Please tell that you are late cause there was traffic and not because you were hiding Barton's body, because that would require a lot more paperwork than I'd like to do right now," Coulson said as he began to lay down folders in front of the chairs that encircled the glass table.

"Something like that, but don't worry, Barton is one piece and so is your car," I said taking a seat. "So, what's with the room, I assume this isn't like my normal missions."

"You would be correct Ms. Romanoff," Coulson said, "A nuclear engineer in Iran that SHIELD has been watching has been getting some recent threats. We are planning an extraction, but we want a few vehicles to work as decoys, just in case. And-"

"And you wanted me to know beforehand so that I wouldn't threaten anyone."

"Bingo, lucky for you I helped put the op together so most of the agents are people you play well with, Hartley, May, Palamas."

"Why do I feel like there is a but coming."

"Grant Ward is also on the list." That statement was met with a groan by me. "I know you dislike him, but I had to include him. The good news is that he will be on a route that is completely different to yours."

After another fifteen minutes, the rest of the agents that would be on the operation entered the room and took their seats. Coulson began outlining the specs of our op, which consisted of us escorting the engineer to Warsaw. I was charged with driving the vehicle that would carry the engineer while May ran point and surprisingly, Coulson followed behind me as we came via Russia, meanwhile Ward, Hartley, and Palamas would head to Warsaw via Turkey. The hope was that we would decrease the risk of both agents and the engineer getting hurt.

I'm sure that Clint wouldn't be happy with you having to go through Russia.

Well, it doesn't matter what Barton says, it's a mission and he's not what I should be thinking about right now anyway.

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Clint's P.O.V.

I was resting in Coulson's office waiting for him to come back, I know he told me the other day that he had a mission lined up that required him to go into the field, but I really, really needed to talk to him.

"Did you have a check in this morning?" Coulson asked as he walked into his office, manila-colored mission folder in one hand and a cup of coffee in another.

"No, but I need to talk to you about something sir?" Coulson cocked an eyebrow, he knew it wasn't like me to use any type of professionality when it was just the two of us.

"Are you ok? Do I need to call doctor Garner again?"

I saw the concern that covered Coulson's face, so I made sure to interject quickly, "No, no, it's about Nat." Coulson sat down his stuff and then turned toward me and leaned back against his desk, gesturing for me to go on. "I think I might like her in a more than a partner way."

"Clint," Coulson said, exasperation clear in his voice.

"I swear it's not like Bobbi, in fact, I think Nat's the reason that she called it off. Bob said I was distracted by someone else, I think I found the someone."

Coulson sighed and pinched his nose, "You know I can't encourage this."

"Yeah, yeah I know agents who are on a field team aren't supposed to fraternize but—"

"That's not the reason that I won't encourage a relationship between you and Romanoff. It's because she's not the type of woman that you have a relationship with." Coulson holds up his hand, cutting me off before I even tried to speak again. "I've seen her psych file, hell, I had to edit it just to get her cleared for field activity. She has trust issues five miles long, and not there is anything wrong with that, especially after what she went through. She is not one to trust and she's certainly not one to date. I love you, Clint, I really do, but you aren't necessarily the kind to stick around for the long haul. Yet again, not blaming you, you have your reasons. I just feel like either you two's issues would fill in the cracks for the other, or it will go up in a blaze of fire and that's not really something that I want to happen. You two are working on a good friendship and I want it to stay that way."

"This is different though Coulson, I promise. It's like that red string story you told me that one time, that everyone is connected to the person they should be with. I just feel different around her, and I know she does the same."

"And why do you think that?"

"Because she lets me see the real her, or at least she did last night, it was even different from how she acts when it's just the three of us, plus she let me stay the night in her bed, and when I woke up this morning, she was curled up to me. I pretended to act asleep though because I didn't want to scare her."

Coulson sighed again, I'm pretty sure I was going to be the death of him, "I want you to talk to Andrew about this, and when we come back in about a week from this mission if you are still sure that you two are soulmates then you're free to do what you want. Although I beg you not to push it too far, you and I both know that Natasha has a rough exterior, but on the inside can be holding on by just a string sometimes."

"Yes, sir," I said my voice solemn, "I promise that I won't push Nat, but I know that this is different."

Coulson shook his head, "Please just go before I regret what I said."

I nodded and headed out of the office, a smile on my face and a new feeling inside my chest.