What do you do when you're sick with the flu and can't sleep? You edit the first chapter of your new story and post it.

Enjoy and tell me what you think:)

Chapter 1

When Nick Fury called her a few weeks after the battle of New York to inform her that he would recruit Steve Rogers for SHIELD and that she would be his partner, Natasha Romanoff thought that Fury was completely bonkers. Not that it was a bad idea to get Rogers to work for SHIELD, no he would be a valuable addition to the agency, but that Fury thought it was a good idea to make Captain America her partner was just insane.

She was almost tempted to laugh at her boss when he told her that Rogers already agreed to it and would be in DC the next week to start his job. Oh and he already knew that Natasha would be his partner and he was according to Nick really looking forward to work with her.

Why on earth would he partner her up with Captain America? They were total opposites. He was light, she was darkness. He was good and she was... well, she didn't consider herself to be evil but she knew that she wasn't a saint either. Let's put her in a grey zone. It was true that she and Rogers worked well together during the Chitauri invasion but that was a completely different situation. Not the kind of mission she was usually send on. She was lurking in the dark and ordered to kill targets. That was her style. She would come and go and before anyone noticed that she was even there the target was already dead. She couldn't believe that Fury would send Captain America on these kinds on missions with her.

He was soldier, he protected people.

She was an assassin, she killed people.

But since Clint was back with his family on his farm to work through the whole brainwashing thing, officially undercover in Chicago, she needed a partner. Rogers couldn't replace Clint and the trust they had but she knew that Captain America would have her back. She hoped the history books weren't lying about his good character and sense of duty.

So she begrudglingly agreed to Fury's request and promised that she would be at the Triskellion next Monday. Fury so very kindly told her that SHIELD could provide her with an apartment but Natasha refused the offer. There was no way that she wanted SHIELD to know where she lived. Besides she already had a nice apartment in DC. Not that she would tell Fury that.

And of course she was right. Fury didn't send her and Rogers on any missions that required assassinations. Well, of course some missions ended with dead bodies but they mostly weren't ordered to use lethal force right from the start.

Right now she and Rogers were sitting in an observation van in Mexico City. They had been partners for over a year now and she had to admit that after some problems in the beginning they worked like a well-oiled machine.

They were currently after a human trafficking ring that smuggled underaged girls into the States for sex work. If the intel would prove to be right, the US-ambassador was one of the string-pullers behind it. Natasha hated the mission. It just hit way too close to home. She knew how it was when adults lure you with promises of a good life into hell. She hoped that they would find the children soon and she could put a bullet into every head that was behind this. There would be some paperwork if she killed the US-ambassador but it wasn't like he didn't had it coming.

"You okay?" Rogers asked her. He was sitting next to her in the back of the van, staring at the surveillance feed. A SHIELD team was close by to help them rescue the girls. Everyone was just waiting and hoping that they were at the right location. A language school in a suburb of Mexico City.

Even though it was already night, it was still hot and Natasha could feel the sweat building up in the back of her neck. Maybe she should cut her hair again.

"Everything's peachy, Rogers." She replied not looking up from the screen. She was aware that Rogers had excess to her file, her real file, and probably knew why she was so tense. Every muscle in her body was ready to attack. She was ready to pounce in and take everyone out.

She didn't need to look at him to know that he gave her this soft and caring look. She didn't need his pity. He would probably call it compassion. She needed to spill blood.

"Focus on the mission, Cap."

He sighed but didn't say anything else.

An hour later in total silence, there was finally movement. A black sportscar showed up and Ambassador Cullen walked into the school.

"Alright, everyone in positon. " Rogers told the ops team. "Romanoff and I go in first. Rumlow and Rollins, you secure the back entrance. We have to assume they'll use the girls as human shields. Don't take any shots if it could hurt a child. Do you copy?"

Everyone copied and she followed Rogers through the darkess to the school. They needed to be quiet and hopefully everyone would be dead before they could use the girls for their protection.

"Three, two, one..." Rogers used his enhanced hearing. "Okay, go."

Natasha climbed through the window and checked if the muffler were on her Glocks. And then she shot her way through the hallway up to the attic to the girls.

Rogers followed her and knocked everyone with his shield out who wanted to attack them from behind.

The mission was a success. They found 32 scared girls between the ages of 9 until 15 who recognized Rogers and started to cry when they realized that Captain America had come to save them. The data on the computers would later give them the locations of every etablishment in the US where the girls were forced to work at. SHIELD and the FBI found over 2000 girls and brought them home.

And Natasha got to kill the Ambassador when he jumped around the corner and was about to shoot Rogers. SHIELD couldn't fault her for saving Captain America now, could they?

She was outside sitting on the hood of an SHIELD SUV when Rogers was walking towards her. He had his shield on his back and pulled his helmet of his head.

She moved a bit to the side so he could sit next to her. Together they watched how SHIELD agents escorted the girls out of the school to the bus that would bring them to a hospital.

"You've ever had authentic quesadillas, Rogers?" They sat there in silence for at least ten minutes before she asked him.

If Rogers was surprised about her question, he didn't show it. "Not that I can remember."

She looked at her watch. "Well, it's a bit late but I'm sure we can find some place that's still open."

She hopped off the hood and walked to the driver's seat and got in. Rogers looked one last time to the girls and then sat down in the passengers seat.

He gave her a warm smile and she tried her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach that tried to get her attention.

"Lead the way, Romanoff."