Love Grown Cold

Can She Be Trusted?

Natasha was immediately on her feet. "A job... at SHIELD? Are you insane?"

Clint grinned disarmingly at her and motioned for her to sit. And surprisingly, she did, waiting for him to explain himself. "Look, Fury was thrilled once he found out who you were."

She raised an eyebrow. "You didn't call Fury did you?" She asked dryly, knowing the answer already.

He chuckled. "You're quick on the draw. That's why SHIELD could use you." He gripped her hands reassuringly. "No, I didn't call Fury. But I called someone better."

"Who?" She asked.

"Me." Came a familiar voice from behind her.

"Mikel!" She said, shocked at seeing her old friend here. "What...." she gestured broadly with her arms trying to explain everything.

He smiled and sat down on the other side of her.

"Natasha, meet Special Agent Mikel Evans, genuinely nice guy."

Mikel chuckled. "You have to say that."

Natasha looked at him questioningly. "Clint is engaged to my sister Laura." Mikel explained grinning. "Which means that until the wedding, he has to be nice to me."

Clint laughed and mimed hitting him in the head. "Mean." Mikel shrugged and grinned.

"So... wait... you work for SHIELD?" Natasha asked, dumbfounded. "What about your family?"

Mikel sighed. "That much at least was the truth. My wife and kids were in France a few years back and HYDRA got their grubby little paws on them, along with a few minorly important people."

Clint snorted. "They got the American Ambassador."

"Who just happens to be my wife's brother." Mikel added, as if being his wife's brother was what gave him status. "Anywho, I went undercover to rescue them, which we did incidentally."

"Then why did you stay?" Natasha asked, confused. She wasn't upset at Mikel for lying to her. She understood why he had, but why would he stay?

"Honestly?" He shrugged. "When I saw you, Nat, I knew who you were, even if you didn't. I couldn't leave Captain America's sister in the clutches of HYDRA!" Mikel proclaimed patriotically. Natasha knew him well enough to know though that he had actually come to like her and didn't want to leave her to the wolves.

"Adopted sister," she said instead, waving that thought off. She turned to Clint. "So you called him to make sure I am who I say I am?"

Clint grinned. "Well, yeeeesss... buuuut I also called him so when we go to Fury and tell him that we are now partners in crime, he'll be there to back us up that you are, in fact, a decent person and will not stab me in the back."

"Also Laura was getting on his case to get me out of there before the wedding." Mikel added mischievously.

"Hey! Laura comes after the mission!"

"And if I tell her that?"

Clint's eyes widened. "Don't. You. Dare."

"He won't have to." A teasing voice came from behind Clint. An attractive brunette girl came out of the shadows and sat on Clint's lap. "Because I heard."

"Uuhhh listen darlin', when I said..." Laura cut him off by giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I know," she said smiling, before sticking her hand out towards Natasha. "Hi, I'm Laura Evans."

"Natasha Romanoff." Natasha replied, shaking her hand firmly.

Laura smiled even wider. "I know. That's why I'm here."

"What?" Mikel asked, confused.

"Well when I found out Clint was going to go 'kill' some girl, I did some digging, a quick face match, and figured out what took you guys almost a month to work out. Anyhow, knowing Clint, I figured it'd only be a matter of time before he recruited her for SHIELD, so I figured she'd need a place to stay." Laura shrugged. "Simple."

Mikel turned to Natasha. "Laura is one of SHIELD's top agents."

"And Clint 'recruiting me'?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, What about that? I don't recruit people." A look passed between Laura and Mikel.

"Yeah you do." They said at the same time.

"What about Rosie in accounting?" Mikel said. "You worked in that building for two days and you brought back some random girl no one even knew existed."

"She was bored!" Clint protested. "Besides, everyone knows that the boys in accounting suck and since Rosie had actually gone to school for that I figured what's the harm?"

"And Saul in cooking? You weren't even on a mission on that one!" Laura added. She turned to Natasha. "We were on a date in a really nice restaurant and when we were done, he excused himself, went into the kitchen, found the head chef, and offered him a job."

"And how much better has the food gotten since then?" Clint asked huffily. "Much better. Much, much better."

"And then..." Mikel continued, warming to the subject, but Clint cut him off.

"Ok fine! So I've recruited a few people! What of it?"

"Clint," Laura said grinning. "You've recruited more people in the past year than the boys in recruiting have since SHIELD opened."

"Have not!" Clint said.

"Clint, we did the numbers." Mikel told him wryly.

Clint shut his mouth for a moment. "But they only recruit agents! I recruit all workers! That's the only reason!" Clint crossed his arms and looked away, closing discussion.

The three exchanged amused glances. "So now I guess all that's left is to tell Fury it happened again." Laura said cheerfully, like that was all there was to it.

"Has he ever recruited someone like me?" Natasha asked quietly.

"What? Hot?" Mikel asked, the grunted as his sister reached over and whacked him. "Mean," he muttered.

"No," Natasha said, giving him a nasty look. "An assassin."

"Oh yeah," Laura said grinning.

"Really?" Natasha asked suspiciously.

"Oh yeah." Mikel said, straight faced. "A real killer.... of electronics."

"Pure death." Laura said chuckling.

"Couldn't even hold a phone without dropping it."

"What did he recruit her as?" Natasha asked chuckling.

"Survivalist." Laura replied grinning. "She takes new recruits out camping and any tech they might sneak out with them, she just touches it and destroys it." Laura chuckled and gently squeezed her shoulder. "Don't worry. Clint is a master at this. You'll be working for SHIELD in no time.

Natasha smiled and, for the first time since James was lost, she felt hopeful.