It was a whirlwind wedding, at Natalia's insistence. "Life is too short to wait," she told her fiancé. "We almost didn't find each other again."

That was true. It had been years since they had known each other, and back then their romance had been cut short, what with the trouble at the office. Maybe it wouldn't have lasted then anyway—she had been his secretary, and those things usually didn't go anywhere, did they? At any rate, after those confidential files had vanished, headquarters had come down hard on the department, leading to transfers and disappearances that no one inquired about too closely.

"I thought I had lost you forever," Michael agreed. He had thought of her often as he worked his way to the upper echelons of the organization. No woman was like Natalia, as beautiful and strong and honest.

They married and were happy. At Michael's urging, Natalia gave up her career in business and threw herself into philanthropy. She made fast friends with the wives of the men he worked with in his "front" business, joining in on their pet causes. He became used to hosting lavish galas and did not mind a bit—not when it meant seeing Natalia at her most elegant and statuesque, wearing beautiful gowns with her red hair swept up above her slender neck, and her dark eyes always on him, smoky and adoring.

His work with the organization would have appalled her, possibly would have ended their marriage if she had known what he did. But she didn't. She was in love with him. He was a hard man, but in his heart he was a good man, and he loved her.

One night, late in the first year of their marriage, they lay gasping together in bed, flushed and satisfied. She laughed. "I just thought of the funniest thing that I was meaning to ask you. We have a property in Norway, did you know?"

He kissed her shoulder. "A mansion, yes. Did I never tell you?"

"I happened on some paperwork that mentions it. It's shocking, you rich men. So many houses you can't keep track." She pressed against his side, tucking herself close, and yawned like a cat.

When he promised to take her there soon, she all but purred.

The mansion was, technically, in use. But that was the sub-basement level, a secure floor Natalia did not need to know about. When they arrived, he gave her a key ring with one key missing and a tour that ended in a way they both liked very much.

That night, she smiled tenderly at him when he turned off the lamp and they lay down to rest. He woke a few hours later, alone, feeling lonely. The halls were dark. The library too. Natalia spent most of her free time in the libraries of their other residences, sometimes reading so late that she forgot to come to bed until he went looking for her. The mansion was very large. Thinking to find her more quickly, he went to his study and logged in to the surveillance system. He would bring her tea and a blanket wherever she was reading, and he would settle at her feet, drowsy and content.

The thing was, all of the cameras showed dark rooms. He had to go back earlier and follow her from the bedroom. She appeared otherworldly in her gauzy robe and pale pajamas. Down she went from one hallway to the next, her stride confident, as though she had lived here for years and knew every corner. She went into the basement, and then to the hidden door, which she unlocked using pins in a businesslike manner. In moments, she had gone down to the sub-basement.

The hairs on the back of Michael's neck stood on end as he watched his wife sneak up on the guards, fight them, leave their bodies motionless behind her. She found and opened a door, and only then did she register shock, her mouth falling open, her balance staggering.

Michael watched himself switch to the view afforded by one of the cameras in the holding cell. It showed Natalia dropping to her knees on the plain, white tile, only to be gathered up in the arms of the SHIELD prisoner who had lived there for several years now. Michael watched them hold each other. Against his better judgment, he turned on the sound.

"—orry, so sorry, Clint."

"Nat. Why? You found me. I didn't doubt."

Natalia pushed them both to standing without moving a centimeter away from the man. Michael had not given him much thought after agreeing, a year before meeting Natalia again, that the captured agent should be kept in case the organization ever needed a special brand of leverage over the man's masters.

Michael had been a fool.

"What I did," Natalia was murmuring. The prisoner leaned down and kissed her.

"No matter how bad it was, I forgive you."

"I married the man holding you here."

The prisoner froze. "To find me?"

Natalia looked him in the eye as she had done Michael countless times, and said, "Yes."

Michael switched off the screen, unwilling to see her forgiven.

End.

Ohh, this is great. :D The lengths these two would go to, argh. ♥ And the last line is so wonderful.

Thank you! I'm really happy you liked it! I think Tasha finds she would do almost anything for Clint.

Oh! So well done. Wow.