Hello, this is my first time ever writing a fan-fiction. Please review and tell me what you think. Enjoy

This edited as of 27 September 2020.

The Avengers had just completed a mission that had been dragging on for months.

Marco Santoni or the 'illusion' was a wannabe villain who had a remarkable amount of influence. He turned out to be a huge annoyance to the team. He was one of those guys who just wanted the attention of the public and the superhero team.

They spent months trying to find him but hence the name 'illusion' they never were able to find him. That was until today, they had him surrounded.

A new surge of men came swarming in.

The Black Widow and Captain America were in the thick of the battle, and with their backs to each other, they destroyed their enemy.

Their opponents were good fighters, but they were no match to the avengers, and the battle was over in half an hour.

Somewhere during the fight, Natasha had been separated from the rest of the group, chasing a lead through the left-wing.

The adrenaline was wearing off as she walked to her rendezvous point.

The pain in her side suddenly spiked. Confused she looked down at the blood seeping out of a gunshot wound.

Shocked, she darted into the nearest alley and dropped onto the ground.

She cursed herself for being so vulnerable, as she slipped a piece of gauze from out of a hidden pocket on her suit and pressed it onto the wound.

The Widow sat like that for a good five minutes, putting as much pressure as she dared to onto the whole in her abdomen.

Eventually, she decided she had to leave as to not raise suspicion as to her whereabouts.

The streets were quiet and cold - but that might just be the fever talking.

Around the corner, she spied a black limo parked suspiciously.

Of course Stark would pick them up in a limo!

She spotted a certain archer leaning against the side of the car.

She steadied herself before heading over, making sure not to show any signs of pain.

When the redhead got there, celebrations were already in play.

Clint closed the door behind them and immediately took a beer out of the cooler.

Everyone was drinking, eating and celebrating, even Steve who was practically always professional.

She couldn't help but be jealous that Clint was able to relax enough to drink straight after a battle. Natasha knew she would never be able to relax right after a mission.

"Three f-ing months guys, finally" Tony sighed lifting his glass of whiskey high in the air.

"No-one being rushed to the hospital. No bullet wounds or stab wounds." Bruce contemplated.

"Just good beer and okay-ish company." Stark sniggered

"Well here's to no injuries," Steve said in his captain voice and they clinked their glasses in jubilation.

"Aha, that's a first," She remarked, quietly deciding in that split second not to show that she was injured until they got back to the tower.

Halfway into the trip home, She started feeling the effects of the blood loss.

Desperately trying to keep her eyes open, she started to write the mission report.

After ticking the box saying there was no injuries or casualties, the words started dancing around the page. Cursing herself again she put the papers away, looking out the window.

Slowly she succumbed to the darkness.

A little while later the rest of the Avengers were still talking animatedly.

Steve turned around to the back to check on the occupant who had made the least amount of noise throughout the journey.

It was safe to say he was surprised to find her asleep, her head resting limply against the window.

The soldier just assumed that she was exhausted from today's assignment but little did he know she had actually passed out.

"Tony turn the music down, Nat's asleep" Steve whispered from the back.

Clint turned around immediately confused

Nat's asleep? After a mission? In front of everyone?

It's not that she didn't trust the team, but she hated showing vulnerability to anyone.

Her reputation was that she was a stone-cold assassin, and stone-cold assassins did NOT fall asleep in the back of Tony Starks limo for no reason.

Another reason Clint was a little bit worried was the fact that she had been in the right mindset for sleep. He had known her to go days and sometimes even a week without sleeping.

During and after missions she never showed her tiredness or any other type of vulnerability.

But yet here she was asleep with one knee curled up and her arm wrapped around her waist.

"Hey Cap, can you check Nat's pulse for me," Clint asked. He didn't actually believe she was dead, just that something was wrong.

Steve looked very hesitant, he looked around at the others to see if anyone else wanted to do it, but as he was closest to her he would have to do it.

He wasn't scared of her per se, it was just a rule he had learnt in the past couple of years to never wake a sleeping assassin.

He scooted next to her, careful not to touch her and then reached out to put two fingers under the crook of her neck when the assassin's hand flew up and caught Steve's wrist.

Steve gasped in surprise and jumped back. He didn't realise how fast his heart was going till that very moment

"Not dead yet," She said, not moving. Steve sighed a sigh of relief that she wasn't angry at him for waking her up, "How far out are we"

"Right around the corner, you good" Tony asked, trying to keep his voice as bored as possible. Even know everyone on the team knew Tony saw Natasha like a little sister, he liked to pretend he didn't like her.

"Just tired"

The rest of the Avengers seemed to take this as an answer and returned back to their conversations but kept the volume lower out of respect.

As the car entered Stark tower, Natasha realised she was going to have to move for the first time in 2 hours, and without anyone realising she was hurt. Putting her knee down a small gasp left her lips. Clint turned around giving her a quizzical look.

She gave him a thin smile before turning around to straighten up.

It felt like someone was pouring molten lava into the cut and then dunking it in ice. It was safe to say it was not a pleasant experience having an infected gunshot wound.

"I'm fine, Clint" sighing, taking his arm and getting out of the car. Somehow managing to hide all the pain she was in. She arrived in the living room with the rest of the avengers slightly in front.

Everyone collapsed onto the couches.

The sound of clicking heels on the smooth concrete hallway signalled Peppers arrival.

The CEO walked in greeting everyone and then settled down in Tony's arms.

She looked around to all of the team as if she was counting.

"Everyone's here?" She asked.

"Yup, that's what I call a successful mission," Tony said, squeezing Peppers shoulder.

"Drinks" Pepper offered, standing up.

"AHH Yesss"

"Beer for me"

"Same"

"The norm please"

"Beer please"

The five answers echoed around the room and somehow Pepper understood who wanted what.

She promptly went around the room, pointed to each person and recited what they wanted.

Her arm swivelled around to Natasha and she gave her a questioning look as if asking what she wanted to drink.

"Oh I'm ok, Thanks Pepper"

"Romanoff, not drinking, what's wrong with you"

"Nothings wrong," she snarled, suddenly defensive.

"Right, no need to get your knickers in a twist, Spidey" Tony sarcastically sneered. Everyone knew Tony loved to push Natasha's buttons. It was a 'Love-hate relationship'. Usually, it was just friendly banter but Natasha did not have the strength to deal with that right now.

"I'm going to my room" grunting as she got up, her arm shooting to her side. Staggering to the elevator and disappearing.

Tony, Steve and Bruce shrugged and continued to sip their drinks, thinking that her early departure for a bed made sense after the event in the car earlier.

It was Clint and Pepper who thought it was weird.

Clint was still worried about her. He told himself to give her space and he would talk to her tonight.

Pepper wasn't a spy but she was good at reading people, and the look on Natasha's face was on of pain and… a little bit of embarrassment? She decided to ignore it for now and maybe ask her about it later after she got some rest.

On the floors above Natasha entered her level.

She didn't spend much time in here, she mostly slept in Clint's and spent most of her time in the gym or the shared Avengers level.

Fuck She sighed Fuck Fuck Fuck.

How the hell did she get into this mess?

She should have been more careful.

Heading into her bathroom, she cursed at her pale and tired complexion.

Peeling her suit off and cringing at the soaking red gauze she stepped into the shower.

She considered going downstairs into the medical room to get numbing cream or even pain meds but she didn't want to take the risk of someone finding her.

Deciding to instead stitch up the wound by herself without medication. It's not like she hadn't done this before.

Moving onto her next problem, Clint. How was she going to explain to Clint why she was in pain. It was a tradition for Nat to slip into Clint's bed each night after the team went to bed so as to not raise suspicion. Realising whatever she said, Clint would see through her, she decided to just not say anything at all. Instead, she would sleep in her own room.

"Jarvis, no-one enters my level and if anyone asks I'm in the bath or asleep,"

and that's what happened when Clint decided to check on Nat after she hadn't come back downstairs or gone to his room. He wasn't surprised to find the door locked but couldn't help being a little worried when Jarvis told him she was asleep, Why was she asleep at 8 pm. He decided just to leave her alone and check on her in the morning.

But it would be much sooner. Just after midnight, the sound of a door slamming echoed through the tower. It was only loud enough to wake up one person, Clint Barton. Knowing that the noise came from Nat's room, he raced up to the floor above.

He was still a little bit hurt that she hadn't slept with him. From what he could tell they hadn't had any problems lately, so why was she being so distant?

"Nat," He said, knocking on her door. "Nat, honey, open up" He raised his voice, now bashing the door.

"Mr Barton, I should warn you that you are making a considerable amount of noise"

"Jarvis can you open the door, please?" he added. Starting to hear the all too familiar sound of Nat dry heaving.

"I'm sorry, I'm under strict instructions to not let anybody in"

Swearing at the AI, he quickly picked the safety lock on the door and ran inside. "Natasha? Nat, you all right," he said to the room trying to alert her of his presence so he didn't startle her.

He arrived at the sound of her coughing and he felt his heart melt when he saw her.

10 minutes earlier

She woke up sweaty and in pain.

It took her a moment to feel the swirling pain in her lower half.

It was a familiar feeling, one that she had felt many times before.

Shit, it hit my kidney, she realised. But before she could worry too much, she felt a surge in her stomach.

She practically ran to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet.

She didn't understand why she didn't feel better, but she quickly realised it was probably because she had a bullet in her kidney.

The sound of Clint trying to get in only heightened her panic levels.

She ignored it, remembering the strict instructions she had given Jarvis earlier.

Was it just her lightheadedness or was Clint's voice getting closer, damn Jarvis

She quickly found out it wasn't just her fever because she saw a figure in her peripheral vision.

He rushed forward till he was standing just inched away from her

"Hey, hey, hey" came his voice, attempting to calm her down from her fit of violent coughs.

"No" she croaked, barely managing to breathe. His hand softly touched her back. "Go 'm fine"

"No, Nat your not"

After a while, nausea had stopped and she was able to muster enough energy to get to the small couch in her room.

She was so utterly exhausted she just couldn't help closing her eyes just for a little bit, it had been a long day and getting shot definitely did not help in this situation

She couldn't rest for that long as a soft hand squeezed her shoulder.

"Nat", his caring voice cut through her daydream. Her eyes lifted, meeting his.

" 'old you c'int, 'm fine" she mumbled, swaying where she sat.

"Natasha, we've been through this"

"Clint, I'm not kidding, I'm tired"

"Honey," he said, deciding to take a new route, the caring approach practically always worked.

But not this time.

She was so tired and she was just a slip up away from Clint finding out she had hidden an injury from him, again. God, he was going to be so angry, she told herself, He can't find out

"Clint, I'm fine why can't you just trust me" she snapped

"Nat, I-I-was-try-trying-to-help" stuttering looking more worried

"I don't need help I'm fine, I just need to sleep"

"Nat, please, you're sick"

"Go," she said her voice cracking.

"No"

"Get out of my floor now or I will make you," She said, suddenly looking awake. Clint jumped back a little, Natasha threatened people a lot, but not him, he was her Clint.

"Tash"

"NOW," She demanded and he stood up and left, throwing worried glances back at her. She heard the familiar sound of the elevator doors shutting.

She promptly turned around, fell onto her bed, and cried.