The Spy & The Spellcaster

Chapter 2

Natasha wakes up, rolls onto her back, and rubs the sleep from her eyes. When she fully opens her eyes, she sees Steve with his nose in a book. He briefly glances down and sees that Natasha was awake.

"Hey, sleepyhead, how was your nap?" Steve asked, closing his book.

"Refreshing. How long was I asleep?" Natasha replied stretching her arms above her head.

"About three hours." Steve answered.

"What? Why'd you let me sleep that long?" Natasha asked sitting up.

"Because I enjoy being alive, that's why." Steve chuckled.

Laughing lightly, Natasha stands up and stretches more.

"Wanna spar?" Natasha asked Steve.

"Sure, sitting on this couch for three hours straight has made my butt numb." Steve said standing up.

He places his book back on the coffee table and walks with Natasha to the training room. When they got there...the place is a total mess. It's a mess because Clint, Thor, Hulk, Scott, and his daughter, Cassie were having a water balloon fight...but the balloons were filled with whipped cream instead of water. Suddenly, a whipped cream filled balloon hits Natasha in the face, covering it in whipped cream. Everyone in the room froze where they stood, and Clint, the one who threw that balloon, quakes in his boots.

"Who. Threw. That." Natasha growled, wiping some whipped cream off of her eyes.

Everyone immediately points at Hawkeye, who lets out a frightened squeak at being ratted out. Angry, Natasha begins to stomp towards Clint.

"Ahh! Hulk, save me!" Clint squealed, jumping onto Hulk's shoulders.

"Nope, sorry, you're on your own." Hulk said pushing Clint off of him.

As Natasha came closer, Clint curls up into the fetal position. Though, before she could reach him, Cassie runs up to her beaming from ear to ear.

"Wow, you're Black Widow! You're my favorite Avenger!" Cassie said excitedly.

"But...I thought I was your favorite Avenger." Scott pouted, his shoulders slumped and his bottom lip quivering.

"You're my daddy, you're in a category of your own." Cassie assured her father.

The anger on Natasha's face melts away, replacing it with a smile. She crouches in front of the child and wipes some whipped cream off of her nose.

"Hey, sweetie, whose idea was all this?" Natasha asked her.

"Thor's." Cassie replied.

"Sorry about the mess." she apologized.

"It's alright, as long as you clean up your mess, no harm done." Natasha said

"But first, you guys should go clean yourselves off. Before your get all sticky." Steve said.

Everyone agreed and went off to their private rooms to shower off.

"Bye, Black Widow, see you later!" Cassie said waving on her way out the training room holding her father's hand.

Smiling, Natasha waves back.

"Aww, what a cute kid. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go shower this crap off." Natasha said, patting Steve on the shoulder before leaving.

In the shower, Natasha hums a song she hadn't heard in a long time.

"I don't believe I've ever heard that song before, Miss Romanoff." JARVIS said as Natasha stepped out of the shower.

"JARVIS, were you listening in on my shower? How perverted." Natasha teased, wrapping herself in a towel.

"That was not my intention, Miss Romanoff! It's just that I can hear everything that goes on in this tower." JARVIS said, sounding almost panicked.

"Haha, I know, JARVIS, I was just teasing you." Natasha chuckled.

"So, what was that song?" JARVIS asked.

"Nothing much, it's just a song by a British punk-metal band that no longer exists." Natasha told the AI, drying her hair.

After drying off, Natasha comes out of her private bathroom and walks over to her dresser. She had just put on her bra and underwear when someone knocked on her door.

"Coming in just a sec." Natasha called out grabbing her silk robe and putting it on.

"Oh, hi, Tony." she said answering the door.

"Hey, Nat, sorry to bother you. But, you need to suit up, Fury wants us for a mission." Tony replied.

"Got it, I'll be ready in a minute." Natasha told him.

She closes the door then gets into her Black Widow suit. The Avengers arrive at the S.H.I.E.LD. headquarters where they are being assigned a mission to Newcastle, England...well, except for Natasha, who is being assigned a mission to New Orleans.

"Why is Nat being assigned on a different mission than us?" Clint asked.

"Because when she joined S.H.I.E.L.D., she explicitly told us that she would rather die than ever set foot in Newcastle ever again." Fury replied.

"What's the deal with Newcastle, Nat?" Steve asked her.

"None of your god d*mn business!" Natasha snapped, grabbing the files for her mission and leaving the room.

The others looked at each other confused and concerned by their teammates behavior. While the other Avengers were being briefed for their mission, Natasha looked through the info for hers. It said that Red Skull was meeting with someone in secret, so she takes a quin-jet and heads straight for New Orleans. She was kinda glad this solo mission came up, she really needed a distraction and this was the perfect one. 

"Hopefully this will help me forget about that d*mn dream and things will go back to normal." Natasha mumbled to herself.

As she flew the quin-jet, other thoughts and memories sneaked their way into her head. But these memories were more pleasant, they were memories of a handsome blonde British man who smelled slightly of cigarette smoke and brandy. She smiled fondly at the memory of his soft blue eyes and his gentle hands touching, with rough callouses on his fingertips from playing guitar, her body in ways that made her heart flutter. Before she could get too lost in her head, Natasha shakes her head and focuses on her mission. There was no time to daydream about past lovers, she had a job to do, a duty as an Avenger. But little did she know that her duties as an Avenger will lead her to reunite with this past lover of hers.