Cold as Ice - WinterWidow One-Shots

keeping 'em on their toes

Summary: The five times Natasha called her husband in front of her teammates, plus the one time when they finally get to meet him

one

She knows she shouldn't take the call, not when Rogers is fresh off of a jet and looking as helpless as James had warned her he would look, but she's been on edge ever since hearing that Clint had been compromised. In theory, she knows that she would be the first one told if James was compromised as well, but she can't quite stop the anxiety from rising in her chest until she hears his voice.

"Sorry to interrupt," he says through the receiver, "but Fury's benched me in Nepal and I might actually kill someone if I don't figure out our Netflix password."

She snorts, covering her mouth when she gets a curious look from Rogers.

"I'm working, James," she says in Russian. Rogers is right next to her and even though they've agreed to tell him about James's whole 'being alive' thing, now isn't the best time for him to find out. He's about to face a lot of surprises and she doesn't want to be the one that throws him off his game.

"I know." There's a muffled thump in the background and she frowns.

"Were you serious about the killing someone part?" she asks. "Fury might bench you even longer if so."

"Relax," he teases. There's some shuffling followed by, "Just getting comfortable on the bed. Now, password?"

Beside her, Rogers doesn't ask who she's talking to, but she can see him vibrating with curiosity. He's too polite to ask, though, and she's selfish enough not to offer up an answer.

"It's―"

She breaks off into a stream of Russian, clarifying which letters are capitalized, which have been substituted with a number or symbol, as well as the actual spelling of the words. He repeats it back to her because, despite his fluency in the language, spelling Russian words with the Latin alphabet is always a bit tedious. Especially when they each have their own way of doing so.

Satisfied with his spelling, she nods and echoes back, "Yes, that's it."

There's a short pause and then a thrilled "Yes!" that comes through the receiver. She can't help but laugh.

"I love you, milii moya," he says. Her smile only grows. "As soon as you sort out whatever's happening in New York, I'll come home and prove it."

"You don't need to prove it," she says softly, hanging back as Rogers follows Coulson. "I already know."

"I know. I'm still going to prove it."

From inside, Coulson waves for her to follow and she says a hasty goodbye, promising to stay safe. Pocketing her phone, she slips into the empty space on Rogers' other side and he gives her a curious smile.

"Husband?" he guesses. She turns to him with an almost-impressed smirk.

"How'd you know?" she asks.

He shrugs sheepishly and scratches at his neck. "You just sounded really happy."

She smiles, but before she can promise to introduce him after this whole thing, Fury interrupts the moment and directs them over to a table where Stark, Banner, and an actual alien god are waiting for them.

* * * * *

two

She knows he's in Nepal and the time difference has to be killer, but she still calls him. After all, she had promised and Natasha works hard to keep her promises, so the first thing she does after Loki is restrained and the tesseract has been handed off is call James.