It was strange, being back at Stark Industries. This time, the secrets between her and her boss were negligible, and since this cover had been constructed with him as the mark, it was unnerving, to say the least. Also, Clint hadn't stopped gaping at her since she had glided into the kitchen in dress pants and a blouse with heels adorning her feet for coffee. In fact, he was in the air ducts right now, still staring.

"Natalie, I've missed you so much around here," the secretary that was a couple of levels down from Tony gushed at her. Barb, or something, maybe? It didn't really matter. "Stark's had terrible assistants since you, and Ms. Potts only has so much time."

Natasha nodded along with the conversation before Tony came out of the boardroom, and she darted to catch up with him. "Mr. Stark, I need your signature on this," she ordered presenting the clipboard to him with a pen.

"Natalie, you know very well that I don't sign forms before one."

"You'll sign it, or I'll show you firsthand how I do that thing with my thighs."

Oops. That was probably too much 'Natasha' and not enough 'Natalie'. Though, Natalie had taken Happy Hogan down in two moves before, so she wasn't exactly a pushover. And, also, it was probably being misinterpreted by the members of the board that were filing out behind him.

She blamed her lack of ability to keep a cover on the relaxation. This wasn't an op. There was no information to get, not mark to keep an eye on, no one to take out. Natalie was falling off of her in bits and pieces. And Tony didn't seem to care. She also blamed Clint, who had just made a stupid face at her through the air ducts.

"Sign the form, Mr. Stark, or Ms. Potts will have to fly in from Malibu to deal with you. And if you don't mind, I'm going to speak with security about your air ducts—I keep hearing sounds coming from them, like maybe you have rats in there, or something."

"Oh, that's just the hawk that nests in the building," Tony said, smirking. Natasha barely held back a snort.

"Tash," her supposedly off earpiece whined at her. "Be nice."

Tony signed the papers and handed them back to her, sliding his arm around her shoulder to offer the air vent a very rude hand gesture that was obscured from the board members. "Holland, this is my new-old assistant, Natalie Rushman."

"New-old?" the old codger asked skeptically.

"Family emergency," Natasha lied smoothly. "I needed to hand in my resignation on a temporary basis and fly home to Moscow. For my grandfather, you see."

"Of course," the man agreed, eyeing her suspiciously. She hadn't met this particular board member the last time that she had been Natalie Rushman.

"Natalie, when's my next appointment?" Tony wanted to know.

"Nine-thirty," Natasha answered (lied) promptly.

"I'll be there at eleven."

"Ten-thirty," Natasha bargained.

"Done." Tony walked out, and Barb stared at her.

"Did you just get Tony Stark to agree to come to an appointment on time?"

"He thinks that it's at nine-thirty," Natasha said cheerfully.

"Do you do that all the time?"

"What?"

"Lie to your boss?"

Natasha snorted and gathered up a file. "Sweetie, you have no idea. And Mr. Stark knows more about me than anyone in this building. Besides, it was in the employment contract, that I'm allowed to lie about things like appointments if it'll get him there on time."

"Mr. Stark put that in the employment contract?"

"I believe that Ms. Potts put that in the employment contract, actually. But Mr. Stark knew that it was there."

Natasha glided out of the room on her heels and turned down the hall to head for security. Best to do something about this air ducts. And possibly make it slightly more difficult for Clint to bug her when she was working.

I know that this is short. It's meant to act as an example of how Natasha is capable of handling Tony, a reminder of the fact that Natalie Rushman actually was quite the competent personal assistant when she wanted to be. Snippets, if you will, of the way that they interact.