A/N Don't you just love it when two characters hint at a great love affair and then don't tell you any more? (Thank you Joss Whedon - you're an evil evil man) So, as I have absolutely no patience and couldn't wait for the release of Avengers 2, my muse decided to poke me with a very sharp stick until I redressed the balance.

I own nothing, I just like to play with the characters a bit.

Enjoy. x

Hawkeye looked at her blankly as the Black Widow trailed a finger nail across the scar running down his bicep. Even he wasn't sure any more which mission had caused which injuries, but right now his full attention was on the beautiful half dressed woman in front on him. Her other hand was placed to draw him to her mouth, a finger slipped slightly between ruby red lips, while doe eyes tried to convey innocence.

Clint Barton swallowed slowly.

Ever since the first moment he'd laid eyes on Natasha Romanoff she had been something of an enigma. She was a stunningly beautiful chameleon of a woman who could make grown men crawl over broken glass for her. It was not a metaphor; he had actually seen it happen. During his surveillance for S.H.I.E.L.D. the Hawk had found himself a nest and familiarised himself with her methods. Know thy prey, and that was what she was. The Black Widow had unknowingly become hunted the moment S.H.I.E.L.D and Director Nick Fury wanted this particular female assassin dead.

It wasn't anything to do with her beauty that stopped him taking the kill shot that day. There was a coldness about it. When she wasn't playing the concubine, she seemed almost empty, like a china doll, devoid of all emotion. Clint Barton had watched her manipulate and play with her marks like a cat with mice. Each encounter ended the same way. The method may be varied, a garrotte, a knife, a bullet, but every gullible man ended up a corpse. Immediately it was over the mask would slip back into place and she would simply walk away without a backwards glance.

Her skills as a killer were to be admired as one professional to another. Still, once his arrow had been released, master assassin or not, she would never see it coming. Another threat off the streets.

Watching from his vantage point, Clint clicked out his bow and tested the string. Securing an arrow, he turned and carefully took aim. The Black Widow stood in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. There were no bystanders to consider, no wind resistance to speak of, and he was far enough aloft to make himself virtually invisible, it was an easy shot. Just as he was about to release the arrow, she stopped suddenly and crouched down. Barton wondered for a moment if she had somehow detected his presence, but, her attention had been diverted elsewhere. When she stood again she held in her hands a battered ballerina doll. Turning it over in her hands, the dirty toy seemed to have transfixed her. Hawkeye watched in fascination as she brushed the hair back from its frozen face, her head turned to one side in concentration as she smoothed down the doll's ragged pink tutu. For one moment, the redhead held the tiny toy to her chest and sighed out loud, her face turned upwards, eyes closed. Clint's sharp eyesight caught a tear trickle down her cheek.

The Black Widow was human after all. Suddenly, Barton couldn't do it.

He shifted his weight, a movement barely perceivable to the average human, but it was enough for Natasha Romanoff's eyes to snap open. She searched the rafters for the source of the sound.

'Damn' Clint muttered under his breath. He noticed her eyes widen slightly as she finally located him. Within a split second she was off and running, the ballerina now abandoned once more on the warehouse floor.

'Agent Romanoff... what are you doing?' Clint's voice was controlled as the Russian trailed her fingers down his bare chest, across his stomach and was now playing with the waistband of his sweats. She smiled coyly.

She had turned up in his room unannounced and wearing the skimpiest of night clothes and Clint Barton had immediately been on his guard. He may have brokered a deal with Fury on her behalf not three days ago, but it wasn't only the Director who didn't trust the new comer. The Black Widow might prove to be a huge asset to the agency or just as easily she could become a massive liability, either way, it had been made abundantly clear the latter would be most definitely on him. Hawkeye had recruited her. Now they were ensconced in S.H.I.E.L.D H.Q. while she was assimilated and he was debriefed. However, she seemed to be trying to get a little insurance in a debriefing of her own. It would be a foolish man who forgot how deadly she could be.

'Are you saying you don't like it?" She whispered, taking a half step closer. He could smell her perfume, sweet and heady.

Gripping her wrist gently but firmly, Hawkeye stopped her downward ministrations.

'You don't have to do this.' He said.

There was a slight confusion behind the eyes that anyone less observant would have missed. In a millisecond she was back in character.

'I only want to say thank you.' She purred. 'You could have killed me at any moment, yet you spared me... gave me this chance. I should be able to show my appreciation?'

She nibbled her bottom lip seductively, glancing upwards in that shy way that had made many a man melt.

Manipulation is her stock in trade, Hawkeye reminded himself. Had he not already seen what she could do with his own eyes, he still would have been wary. His grip tightened.

'You may not want to thank me when you find out what's involved.' He said seriously.

'Yet I should still thank you for my being alive?' Natasha leant in, the satin of her chemise brushing his bare chest. Her scent was intoxicating.

Clint inhaled deeply, allowing himself the moment before returning to business.

'Your thanks have been accepted.' He said brusquely as he removed her hand from where it rested on his abdomen and stepped back.

A flash of annoyance crossed the Widow's face. 'You're turning me down?' She asked incredulously as she folded her arms.

'Not turning you down...' Clint placated softly, not wanting to turn his back on a fellow assassin. He suspected she would not take rejection well.

'How else would you describe it?' Natasha arched an eyebrow as she tried to work out what he was up to.

Barton sat on his bed, still facing her. 'More of a rain check for an indefinite period.' He refused to squirm under her steely gaze. Even he couldn't believe what he was doing.

'Rain... check?' She said slowly.

Clint shrugged.

'Rain check?' The words rolled around her mouth.

Getting to his feet, Barton gave an open gesture. 'Think of it this way. There may or may not come a time when you want to consider this...' He indicated the two of them with a back and forth motion of his hand. '...not because it is something you have to do or because you want to gain control or even because you feel you need to repay a debt. There should be no reason other than you want to.'

Natasha's brow furrowed. 'What makes you think I don't want to?' She asked.

'You're trying to tell me I'm that irresistible?' Clint countered cheekily, his head to one side in question.

Despite herself the Russian gave a small smile.

"Didn't think so." He said as he flopped back on to the bed. Propped up on his elbows he surveyed the Black Widow. 'All I am saying is if we're going to work together successfully there needs to be a bit of respect... and that goes both ways.'

Natasha considered the statement. It was something of a new concept to find a man who could resist her charms so easily and she did have to admit the respect idea had some intriguing appeal. 'Very well.' She said eventually. Turning to leave she reached the door. Her hand lingered on the handle before a thought seemed to occur. 'Although you believe there will come a time when I will find you irresistible?' She asked thoughtfully, her gaze now trained on the other assassin.

'Of course.' He responded with a completely straight face, 'I'm adorable.'