A Different Call

A New Phase

Natasha's P.O.V.

"I thought that you and Lila were just having like a little dance lesson. Did something go horribly wrong or?" Clint asked as he walked into the bedroom and gestured to the bucket of ice water that I currently had my feet soaking in.

I looked up from the laptop that I had resting on my legs, "No, the lesson went fine, but I then decided to show Lila my pointe work and I forgot how long it's been since I've done pointe and so my feet are currently retaliating that decision,"

Clint climbed onto the bed behind me and started to rub my shoulders. We sat in comfortable silence before Clint spoke up from where he was resting his chin on my shoulder, "I thought that we agreed that this was going to be two weeks without doing any work."

I turned my head so I could look at him, "I got an email directly form Fury, I couldn't just ignore it."

Clint maneuvered so he was sitting next to me, moving the laptop so that it was resting equally on his and my legs. "So, what did Mr. Principle have to say?"

I stifled a laugh, remembering the occasion that spawned the nickname. "My reassignment, I'm sure you have one that's similar." Clint gave me a look that asked for me to continue. "I'm getting put back into the fold with the regular STRIKE members, but I also got Rogers assigned as my new partner. Fury said that he wanted Rogers to work with someone that they both trusted. All that he said about you was that you were going to be an almost floater agent."

Clint furrowed his brows and rested my hand against his cheek. "Hey, this will be okay. Besides it's not like we don't share an apartment," I said, my tone soft and careful.

"I know," Clint said, getting up and beginning to pace. "I'm just frustrated, like why doesn't Fury trust me to go back to STRIKE work."

"Fury trusts you, but he also knows that you don't get along with most of the STRIKE agents."

"Neither do you," Clint rebutted.

"True, but I also do a better job at hiding when I don't like people. I mean you've seen me around Stark."

Clint rolled his eyes, "You like Stark, don't lie. If there's anyone you disagree with on the team, it's Rogers."

I sigh, "It wouldn't be so bad if he realized that sometimes you have to compromise somethings in order to get the world that you want, at least Stark understands that."

"Besides, floater agent usually means helping younger agents."

"Which is something that you are great at Clint, besides you know that Fury hasn't been the biggest fan of STRIKE recently, so this could also mean that he doesn't want to tie-up his two best agents into a team that he's losing faith in."

Barton sighed, "I just hate that everything is changing, but at least I'll have Morse to help me out." I raised an eyebrow at his statement. "I meant that I've heard that some agents still don't necessarily believe the whole I've been mind-controlled thing."

"And let me guess," I say, grabbing the towel that was resting next to me and beginning to dry my feet off, which had started to feel better. "One of those people is Rumlow?" Barton's lack of response gave me all the answer that I needed. "Which is another reason why Fury didn't want you to be paired with STRIKE."

Clint wrapped his arms around my waist once I was finished hanging the used towel up, pulling me closer to him, "You know, now I remember why I never try to argue with you."

"Because I'm always right?" I asked, straddling his lap while smirking.

"No," Clint responded as I began to card my fingers through his hair, "Because you're too stubborn to let me believe that I'm right."

I laughed before kissing him, "If that's what you want to believe."

Clint scoffed before moving to that he had me pinned down, "Do I need to prove it to you."

"If you think you can," I said before pecking him on the lips and slipping out of his grasp.

The crooked smile I saw on his face made my heart warm. I was happy that we took this break because each day I saw more and more of the man that I loved return. Even though the nights were filled with nightmares from both of us, moments like this made it all worth it. I knew that even though we were approaching a new phase of our lives, both in terms of our relationship and work with SHIELD, we would be with each other every step of the way.

Later that night, as I was resting my head on Clint's chest while he ran his fingers through my hair, he shifted a little and I looked up at him.

"I have something for you 'Tasha," Clint explained, handing me a long skinny black box.

I opened it and saw a tiny necklace with an arrow in the center, it was subtle enough that it would go with about any outfit and small enough it could fit into the inner pocket of my catsuit.

"I figured you could have it for when we're separated."

I smiled and kissed Clint. Yeah, we were ready for this new phase.