A Different Call

Mending

Natasha's P.O.V.

I strolled into Coulson's office and sat down on his couch, it had to be at least one in the morning, but I figured he'd still be awake. I splayed myself across the couch – Clint always said I was more like a cat than a spider due to the way that I moved, I always told him that black cat would never sound right. Ten minutes passed before Coulson looked up from whatever file he was studying, though I had no doubt that he had known I was in the room since the minute that I entered.

"Couldn't sleep or didn't want to?" He asked, making his way over to the couch, where he nudged me to sit up, which I did, before leaning back against him.

"Both?" I smirked.

"Am I correct in assuming that it's not water in there?" Coulson nudged the plastic bottle that was resting in front of the couch.

I nodded in response, "Thought it might help since my mind couldn't stop thinking about where Barton was and my dreams, if you could call them that, couldn't stop supplying different possibilities." At some point during that sentence, I let my mask fall and curled up to Coulson.

I also felt Coulson tense up during my confession. "You haven't taken any of your pain medication tonight, right?"

"No sir," I promised. Coulson was always apprehensive about Barton and I mixing drinks and medication, especially given our slightly unstable mental history. It had all stemmed from a situation from back when Barton was in training. Apparently when he first started the other male recruits enjoyed hazing him due to his age and lack of formal training, as well as the demons that Clint already had traveling with him, led to Coulson finding him in a room on the top level of the Hub with a fifth of whiskey and bottle of pain pills next to him. Since than Coulson had always kept a watchful eye on Barton whenever he seemed off and that watch extended to me when I joined their little family.

"I just want to let you know that I've put out feelers for Clint's whereabouts, including to an informant that I have set out."

"You mean Morse." I supplied. Coulson looked down at me with a look of surprise. "She's the one that told me the location of this place, and don't work I won't tell Hunter that his she-devil of an ex-wife is also working for you."

Coulson sighed, "Probably should I realized that you would have figured that out, especially since-"

"You were the one to give her the address to L's house?"

Coulson smirked, "And that's the reason why Clint and I never threw you a surprise party." A cracked a smile and let out a chortle. "So, what do you think of our team?"

"May is still the legend she's always been, Mack and Tripp are good agents, Fitz seems a little off,"

"He was deprived of oxygen after Ward sent him to the bottom of the ocean during the whole Hydra revival."

"And because that Simmons girl isn't here. I only ran into them once, but I could tell that they were like Clint and me, a nerdier version but still. Back on topic though, I think Hunter can do what you need him to do – we talked his small stint as a double agent, he said he didn't understand how I did it all the time. The only person I really couldn't get a read on was that Skye girl."

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing that you'll be helping train her while you're here. I assume your stay is temporary."

I nodded, "Rogers said he'd called me when I was needed also if you need some more funds, I know that Stark would be more than willing to help, even if he doesn't know he's doing it."

"I might have to take you up on that."

I hummed in response, "Now about this whole me training Skye issue, you do know that I don't work well with newbies, and besides that, I really don't want to be keeping an eye on a green hand while in the field."

"Well, you won't have to worry about that since you won't be in the field."

I shot up, "You have to be kidding me, Phil. Not in the field? I was made to be in the field."

"Well right now, we need to lay low with what we actually are and given that you've been one of the poster children for SHIELD on every major news network of the past few months -"

"I'm a liability?" I yawned out, shifting so that my head was in Coulson's lap.

"Correct as always, now go to sleep. I'll be here the whole time, don't worry."

I nodded and Coulson pulled a blanket down over me, while I closed my eyes and made my descent into the hell that is my mind.

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Coulson's P.O.V.

I was glad that Romanoff had come to me. I knew that everything that happened had knocked her off-kilter and Clint's MIA status was only escalating her anxiety. It was part of the reason that I didn't want here in the field right now, in addition to her headline status. I knew Natasha wouldn't act rashly in the field, in fact, she would do the opposite, bury all of her feelings deep inside until she there was nowhere else for them to go.

Natasha began to toss a so I began to run my fingers through her hair and whisper calming words. Nat always worried me more than Clint, due to her being able to hide her feelings so while; in sleep though, there was nothing you could hide.

I was thinking about whether or not there was any chance that I could make my over to my desk to grab the file that I had been examining, hoping it would give my team the foot up we so desperately needed when Skye entered my office.

"Hey AC, I know it's late but the light was on and I found some information on the Romanoff woman that I thought you outta-" Skye's voice trailed off as she looked up from her tablet at saw the scene that was in front of her.

"Go on Skye, what did you find?"

"Well," Skye turned her attention back to the tablet in her hand, "I know she was an Avenger and all that, but I was looking back further and did you know that she killed an agent?"

"Yes, I did. In fact, May and I were in charge of watching her while she was under investigation."

"And?"

"She did shoot an agent, but he was trying to poison the other member of their mission. I know that with everything that happened it can be hard to trust newcomers, but I would trust Natasha with my life, and besides that, she's the kind of agent that we need right now. She can speak more languages than you can imagine, and her skill set is rather impressive."

"She's also now the third most recognizable Avenger."

"Which is exactly why she'll be training you while May is helping me figure out what our next moves will be."

"You're kidding me, right?" I could see that Skye really didn't like the idea of working Nat, although it was only slightly more than the dislike Nat had when I told her the plan.

"Not at all, you could learn a lot for Agent Romanoff, that may help you, and besides the actual training value, I want to know that if I needed to send my whole team into the field there wouldn't be strained tensions. Last time I was involved with a team like that I took a Chitari scepter to the chest and I really don't want a repeat of that."

Skye sighed, "I assume we start tomorrow?"

I nodded, "You might want to go to sleep soon too, I assume that Romanoff will be ready for you around six."

That was met with a groan, "You've got to be kidding me, even May's started to wait until eight to start training."

"New style means more time needed to adjust." Skye just groaned again and began to leave the room. "Can you turn the lights off on your way out." She nodded and hit the switch as she left.

I figured that I wouldn't be able to get any work done given the position I was in and it was about time I followed the advice that I gave my agents.

I shifted a little to try a get more comfortable before closing my eyes and preparing for another day where I had to act as though I had everything together while trying to piece together what the world had come to.