If I Could Say I Love You

Twentieth Chapter

*few weeks later*

"Ugh! I just don't get it," Natasha said placing her head in her hands before looking back up at the hologram that was glowing at the desk she was working at in Tony's lab. She looked back over her notes before letting out another groan.

"What's wrong with you, Red?" Tony said raising an eyebrow as he looked over the small project he held in his hands, looking at Natasha who was across the desk from him. Tony didn't even know why Natasha wanted to work in his lab, so maybe this was a way to get her to talk.

"Okay, so, after we found Harley with his heartbroken, I tried to find Peter to... teach him a lesson," Natasha said ignoring the look she got from Tony. "But this spider teen is no where to be found. The moment he left the tower, is the moment that one Peter Parker stopped existing. I've checked every surveillance camera and have talked to every single witness. Peter just doesn't exist anymore, and that's more than frustrating. It's a mystery."

"And why do you care about that... boy who broke Harley's heart? He probably doesn't care about any of us," Tony said, venting in his own right. He really wanted to like Peter, but then he went and did that to Harley, and Tony can't like him.

"Peter broke up with Harley, but I looked over the footage, and Peter said some out of place things. And after that, he just disappears? I don't think he broke up with Harley because they weren't in love. I think he did it because he knew he was going to be kidnapped or something, and he didn't want any of us to care enough to look into it. Peter wanted to make sure no one got caught in the cross fire of whatever is happening to him," Natasha said, looking at her notes one last time. "And it would have worked if I wasn't so bent on getting my revenge."

"That's an interesting theory, Red, but that's all it is. A theory. For all we know, Peter did expect us to get revenge and that's why he ditched the map," Tony said, pointing the screwdriver he was doing at Natasha.

"Look, you people should know by now that when I say I'm right, I am right," Natasha said glaring at Tony who just put his hands up in his defense. "I'll gather more proof, and if I find something, we are going to send a search party."

"Why do you care about him so much? I thought you were the assassin with no heart," Tony said quietly, confusion in his eyes as he stared at Natasha, clearly seeing emotions in her own eyes.

"Seeing Harley like that, all heartbroken, made me realize how much I love him. And seeing now how much Peter could be hurting makes me realize that he grew on me. And I had nothing back then, but now I have this... this family. I can't just let the slip through my fingers like dust," Natasha said quietly, her eyes back on her notes. "And besides, if the merchant of death can bring a life into this world, I can have a heart."

"I haven't heard that nickname in years. Not since Stark Industries sold weapons," Tony said just as quietly, getting back to work on his project. "But, hey, promise me you won't tell Harley your theory just yet. I don't want him to get his hopes up, and then them come crashing down on his heart."

"I normally don't make promises, Stark, but I'll make this one," Natasha smiled, realizing just how far her relationship with Tony had come from that first mission many, many years ago.