A HUGE thank you to my lovely friend Divabucky from tumblr! She does not have a fan fiction account yet, but I am trying to convince her to make one because her stories are AMAZING! She helped me out with this idea, AND gave me an idea for not one but two other chapters! Fun!

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Natasha Romanoff was in a taxi, headed back to Avengers tower after a simple week long job in Moscow. It had been pretty uneventful. Get in, extract information, take down the mark, get out, get home. Just like a thousand other missions she had done in the past. Only on most missions, she wasn't coming home with a souvenir that wasn't a bullet wound or interesting new scar- On most missions she certainly didn't come home with a souvenir that was alive.

The tiny puppy stirred in her lap, paws twitching in sleep, eyelids fluttering as if it was about to wake up. Natasha hoped the dog would stay asleep- It was extremely active, and once it woke up she wasn't sure she'd be able to control it without making a scene that would result in the grumpy taxi driver upping the price of this cab ride even more. As it was he had already had the nerve to charge her twenty dollars extra to transport the dog- She normally would have argued this, maybe scared him out of cheating her, but honestly Natasha was exhausted and just wanted to get home. She had paid the price without complaint.

Now she was almost back to the Tower, and had no idea what to do with the tiny dog in her lap.

She had found it in an alleyway in Moscow, honestly she'd though it was a rat at first. Natasha had just completed the last phase of her mission, had executed a clean getaway, and was on route back to her pickup point. Then something had darted out from a garbage pile, and started yipping furiously at her. It was tiny, and drenched from the rain, she seriously would have thought it was a rat, only rats didn't bark. Natasha had leapt back just a bit, not wanting to add a dog bite to the list of minor injuries she had already collected that night, then she realized how comically small the dog was. Nothing she couldn't handle.

But she didn't want to just handle it….. She wanted to help it. A closer look at the barking trembling animal revealed it couldn't be very old, it was almost definitely a puppy, a baby. Where was it's owner? Or at least it's mother? Natasha cautiously stepped around the dog, and then investigated the box it had come from. As soon as she saw the dead dog inside she quickly stepped away, not anxious to look any closer. The dog was obviously dead, and was almost definitely the mother of the tiny puppy who was trying to halfheartedly bite her high heels.

She shouldn't have stopped walking. She shouldn't have let herself care about a single stray dog in a city that had thousands, if not more. She should have just focused on getting to the pick up point, and hope the puppy would be able to survive the city on it's own.

But honestly, there was no way that was going to happen. Natasha must have known something like this would happen from the second she realized the dog barking at her was nothing more than a scared little baby.

Grateful she was still wearing the black leather gloves that had been part of tonights outfit, Natasha had swiftly picked up the tiny dog, and after pausing for a second, wondering what to do next, had wrapped it up in the wide scarf she wore around her neck. The puppy had struggled a bit at first, but as Natasha spoke soothing words to it in Russian and carefully stroked the top of it's head, the pup gradually calmed down.

Natasha had absolutely no idea what to do with the dog. So, she had brought it onto the Shield plane with her. She could just ignore the problem for now, and figure out what to do when she got back home.

When she boarded the plane, only a handful of newbie agents were on it, thrilled to have been given a mission that had anything to do with THE Black Widow. Then they had seen the dog, and had nervously told her that animals weren't allowed on the plane. Coulson's rules. Natasha had just lifted an eyebrow at the agent who told her this, and asked if he would like to leave this plane with all his bones unbroken.

It wasn't exactly a threat, but combined with her reputation was more than enough to ensure the anxious newbies were all more than willing to help her out with the dog. For good measure Natasha also handed out some of the money Shield had given her for this job, just to make sure none of them told Coulson she had brought a dog onto his plane. A little bribery never hurt anyone.

The puppy was terrified for most of the plane ride. Refusing to sleep, barking at anyone who was not Natasha, scarfing down bits of the beef jerky that someone had found in a supply kit, and basically being annoying. Natasha just wanted to sleep, get some rest after the mission. Instead she had to spend the entire plane ride babysitting the dog.

Of course now that she was almost home the stupid thing decided to sleep. Dumb girl. Oh, yeah, the dog was a girl. Natasha had checked on the plane, this fact had only been confirmed when the puppy decided to have a little accident when the aircraft was somewhere over the pacific ocean. THAT had been fun to clean up- At least she had noticed and taken care of the problem before one of the other agents noticed and started complaining- or worse decided to tell Coulson.

The taxi pulled up in front of Avengers tower, Natasha thanked the driver, payed him, and was soon standing in front of the building with her small bag from the mission in one hand, the smaller dog in the other. Now what?

Jarvis wouldn't tell on her- Not after she'd had a talk with him, and explained in detail how she could reprogram him if he spied on her or Clint for Stark. But what if one of the Avengers saw she had brought ANOTHER pet home? After the last "incident" Tony had been quite clear that animals were not allowed in his tower. Geez, you bring home 8 baby tigers one time and then you're not allowed to have any pets again….

Natasha carefully tucked the tiny dog into her coat, and entered the tower. it wasn't the best disguise, but it would have to do for now. It wasn't like she was hiding anything from the team, or from Clint. She honestly intended to take the dog to a nice animal shelter tomorrow, it would be like this never happened. If she told Clint she had brought home a dog, he would never let her hear the end of it. Better to hide it for one night. It was just easier if he didn't find out.

The elevator rose swiftly past the floors, and the tiny dog started to stir under the coat. Natasha murmured to it in Russian- She had no idea why she did that. Yes, it was probably the language the dog had a better chance of recognizing, but it wasn't like it understood much of anything humans said. She knew it was dumb, but she couldn't help but talk to the puppy. "Just be quiet for a few more minutes….. If Stark realizes you're here, he is not going to be happy. Just wait until we get to my room before you get all loud and obnoxious again." Amazingly enough the dog stopped moving at these words, and snuggled deeper into the coat.

Natasha exited the elevator out onto her floor, and dropped her bag before collapsing onto the couch. As soon as she sat down the puppy burst from her jacket, and began investigating her new surroundings.

Natasha sighed, and closed her eyes for a minute as she leaned back into the cushions of the couch. "I swear if you make a mess in my apartment I'm sending you back to Russia" She muttered, even though no one was around to hear her and surely the dog didn't understand a word she was saying. After a minute or so of struggling to stay awake, Natasha forced herself to sit upright. The dog was sniffing furiously at a pillow on the couch, Natasha spoke up. "Jarvis? Are you there?" He replied instantly, "For you, always Agent Romanoff. How may I be of help?"

Natasha glanced at the puppy who now seemed to be considering if she was capable of jumping off the couch or not. "Could you tell me what kind of dog you think she is? I have an idea, but I'd like to have a second opinion." The AI was silent for a few seconds. "Am I to guess this dog is to be off the records Agent Romanoff? Or would you like for me to ask Mr. Stark to order some supplies for puppy care?" She sighed and closed her eyes again. "No, Jarvis, the dog is gong to a shelter as soon as possible. I just need to know what breed she is, so I know what to tell whatever shelter I take her to." Well, that wasn't a total lie. Tasha did plan on taking the dog to a shelter, eventually, but honestly right now she was mostly curious about that kind of puppy she had saved.

Jarvis spoke up. "Very well then Agent Romanoff, I shall file this under confidential information to not let Mr. Stark find out about. A file that seems to grow larger with every day that you and your partner live at this tower." Natasha chuckled at this, before Jarvis resumed speaking. "Based on the size of the dog, her black and tan coloring, and the way she refuses to sit still for more than five seconds, I would say she is part of the toy dog community. I would guess she is a chihuhua, but based on where you have just returned from, and the lengthy fur growing around her ears, my best guess is that you have found a Russian Toy Terrier. They are very loyal, playful, and also rather protective. Would you like for me to begin looking up suitable dog names?"

Natasha shook her head, and stopped the puppy before she jumped to the floor. "No, that's fine. She's probably going to go to a kennel tomorrow. Thank you Jarvis." "Not a problem Agent Romanoff. Would you like for me to alert Agent Barton that you have returned from your mission?"

Natasha glanced at the dog, and thought about this. She really wasn't up for Clint complaining about how she had to rescue an animal on every single mission, and insisting she take it somewhere else as soon as possible. Besides, she'd be able to see him tomorrow morning, right now she just wanted to sleep. "No, that's fine Jarvis. I'll let him know that I'm back in the morning. Thank you though."

Then Natasha picked up the dog, and walked out to the rather nice balcony area Stark had built on her floor. It had a small kind of flower garden, room to practice sparring if the weather was nice, and even a patch of grass in one section- She placed the dog down here, waited exhaustedly for it to do it's business, then carried it back inside.

It really seemed to have grown attached to her. From the short walk from the balcony to her room, the puppy almost fell asleep in Natasha's hands. She carefully set it down on a pillow near the top of the bed, and laid down next to it.

Before she knew it Natasha was asleep, with one hand draped protectively over the tiny puppy sharing a pillow with her. As she drifted off to sleep she thought about how she would take the puppy to a shelter tomorrow. The next day at the latest. MAYBE after the weekend, if she couldn't find a decent shelter for it before then.

Earlier that night-

Clint knocked urgently on Bruce's door, forgetting for a second that maybe rapid pounding on a door might not be very calming for a guy who had to keep a giant rage monster in control 24/7. But when Bruce opened the door he looked more annoyed than angry, so, whatever, no harm no foul.

"Clint- What's wrong, what did you do now?" Clint rolled his eyes at this, "Come on Doc, stop thinking all the stupid stuff that happens to me is my fault. I just- I need your advice on something." Bruce furrowed his brow at this. "What? Like, advice on- what exactly?" Clint's eyes darted around the hallway, before he hissed "Medical advice." Banner rolled his eyes at this, and made a move as if to close the door. "Clint, if this is about that rash again I do NOT want to hear about it. If you're that worried about it maybe go to a doctor who was trained to look at stuff like that, I would really much rather not….. Now if you'll excuse me….."

Clint was blushing red when he stopped the door from closing. "What? No! It's not like that! The rash went away a while ago- I mean, most of it did. I think. It's complicated. But this isn't about that, I need your advice because-" Again his eyes darted around the area as if he was worried someone might be listening. Then he looked at Bruce. "See, I found this dog."

Not ten minutes later Bruce was in Clint's room, staring down at something that MIGHT have looked like a dog at some point in it's life. Now it looked like a bag of bones, covered in dirt and was that matted blood? With a gruesomely sad gaping hole where one of it's eyes had once wound was obviously fresh, Bruce didn't really want to think about how that had happened. Still, the animal was wagging it's tail hopefully at the two men- Bruce just had to take a closer look at it, see if he could help. He knelt down next to the animal, and carefully began to examine him.

"Where did you even find him?" Bruce asked Clint, who had crouched down next to the animal and was gently petting it. The archer sighed. I was on a walk, a few blocks from here? I wanted to go to that bakery Tony was raving about, the one with the new muffins or whatever the heck he liked so much he wouldn't shut up about them? Suddenly I see this dog, this stupid dog, run out of nowhere and go right into traffic. This car hit him, didn't even try and stop, the asshole just kept driving. Didn't even look back." Clint's voice was tight with anger as he spoke, meanwhile Bruce had to take a second to calm his own heart rate before the archer continued talking.

"It was like no one even cared about him. A few people acted upset, then they were just like eh what are you gonna do, and kept walking. I went out into the street and grabbed him, I mean, he's practically skin and bones, it wasn't hard to pick him up. Maybe I should have brought him to a vet, but I don't know where one of those would be. I thought, maybe since you're a Dr. you could help?" Clint's voice lifted up hopefully as he said this last part, Bruce continued to carefully examine the dog, wincing when he found what had to be at the least fractured ribs, noted the blood still flowing slowly from the gaping eye socket, and noticed the deep cuts, among other things on the animal.

"Clint, I'm a Dr. not a vet….." Clint's shoulders slumped at this, he started wondering how hard it would be to find a decent vet and transport a dog within the next hour, before it was too late. And the dog was looking up at Bruce, wagging his tail, like he knew he was going to help him…. Bruce had to at least try. He sighed heavily, and stood up. "Ok, let me get my med bag. I'm not promising anything, I should be able to help make him comfortable, and stabilize him when Jarvis finds a REAL vet to come check him out."

A few hours later a vet had been brought in, had done her job, been paid a hefty sum of money to ensure she would not tell Stark, or really anyone about this, and Clint was alone with his new pet. But was it his pet? He couldn't keep a dog. Honestly, that was something stupid Natasha would do (not that SHE was stupid of course, she just had a huge weak spot for animals…..). But Clint was smart enough to know you couldn't keep every animal that you saved. But who else would want this poor guy?

The golden lab had a thick bandage where one of his eyes had been, gauze wrapped firmly around cracked ribs, when he walked again it would surely be with a large limp, one of his paws had almost been crushed to the point of becoming a pulp. No one was going to want this dog. If Clint sent him to a shelter, it would almost definitely be a death sentence.

But, really, he couldn't keep a dog. it was impossible. Tony didn't allow pets in his building. Clint went on too many stupidly long missions to keep a dog. It was probably against Shield protocol or something to own one. If he went soft, and couldn't give up a dog, Nat would NEVER let him live it down. She could never find out about this, no one could. Banner would keep his mouth shut, Clint felt confident he could keep the dog a secret until he healed enough to be adopted by a person with a normal life. So, that's what he would do. He could hide the dog for, what, a couple weeks? By then it would be healthy enough to be adopted by someone. Clint would just ask Coulson to not send him on any long term missions for a while, make sure Natasha didn't find out about this, yeah! Everything would be fine. This could work.

Maybe.

…. Wow this got long fast…. So, I guess it will be a mini multi chapter story within this story? You guys ok with that? Let me know what you think and please review!