Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

A Terrible Mistake Indeed

Hey guys! I'm sorry for taking so long on this chapter, especially for its length. I haven't had the inspiration to work on it, not to mention that my school year already started. Hope the characters aren't too OOC! I don't own any of the characters, but am merely writing about them for personal (cough, cough) purposes. *No one is a perfect writer, so if you have any constructive criticism, comments, ideas, or suggestions, please let me know.* Happy reading! :o)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Natasha had been at home for just an hour before she heard indistinct noises coming from the hall. Craning her ear toward her bedroom door, she could just make out the husky voice of her partner and Bobbi’s saccharine one.

            She groaned. “Is it so hard for me to have just one day— one day!—to myself without annoyances and interruptions?” She waited until the voices faded and then crept outside. If Clint and Bobbi were in Clint’s bedroom she sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around and find out what they were doing. Besides, just because she and Clint weren't talking, she wasn’t going to stop functioning; she had her own life to live. She decided to skip the elevator, a factor of her slowly growing laziness. Natasha walked swiftly down the stairs, noticing a small, but evident fluctuation in her fitness level. After not training with Clint for days, her sparring was probably a little rusty as well. Just her luck. Of course, a normal person would have been able to easily shrug this off, but she was known for being an agile and skilled assassin. Without that, she’d be nothing.

            She paused, thinking back to her and Clint’s talk upon the Helicarrier. This is nothing we were ever trained for. Somehow, her own words comforted her. Why had she chosen to fight as a soldier for mankind when she was clearly a spy? Helping close the portal wasn’t just any achievement; maybe she was more important than she thought after all. She found it strange how those particular words stuck in her memory so effortlessly. But now that she thought about it, she had no idea why she remembered certain things and not others. Why was it she remembered Clint’s favorite mission— and not certain parts of her own childhood?

            She shook those thoughts away, why dwell on them when they would be of no use to her? After continuing down several more flights of stairs, she could hear faint yelling coming from the living room. She quickened her pace to see what was happening, but discovered to her relief that it was simply Thor talking.

            “What is everyone doing here?” she inquired Steve. She hadn’t expected the picnic to end that early, especially since it’d been thrown by Tony Stark.

            “Some crazies bombarded our picnic so Clint and Barbara left, but then Tony didn’t want to stay if a third of the Avengers was gone, so we came to the conclusion that we might as well just go home.” Steve explained wearily. He could spend hours fighting hoards of Chituari, but when it came to Tony’s annoying antics, there was only so much a person could take.

            Tony pointed both index fingers to Natasha. “I’m bringing the party to you. We’re having a movie night!”

            The assassin’s eyes widened as she stepped back. “Oh, what? I’m not going to stay and watch ‘Finding Nemo’ with you guys. It’s worse enough living with just Tony.”

            “I would be greatly pleased if you were to stay and commence in our festivities,” offered Thor, to which Steve perked up.

            “It won’t be the same without you, Natasha.” he added.

            “Yeah, and this is my pad. I can do what I want, whenever I want.” declared the cocky billionaire.