A Tense Encounter

"The devil?" Natasha snorted with amusement.

"Terrorists?" Harry guessed.

"How would this be the fault of terrorists or the devil?"

"I don't know, blame America, spend enough time here and your scapegoats quickly become terrorists and the devil." Harry shrugged.

"Yes, well personally I think it was your fault for going off track."

"Naturally." Harry said in a dry voice.

"Rozzers." Natasha said in a song voice.

"Can I continue?" Harry asked impatiently.

"Sorry," Natasha apologized. "go on." She gestured for him to continue.

"Thank you, so as I was saying, the…"

"Rozzers?" Natasha interrupted. "Sorry, that was the last time, I swear." She added quickly, though the apology was ruined by the smirk on her face.

"As… I… was saying," Harry paused to casually flick some food at Natasha who simply caught it in her mouth and grinned at him. "one of the policemen grabbed Jane and this red blast shot out of her, Thor took me and her to Asgard to try to work out what was wrong with her."

"You went to Asgard?" Natasha blinked. "What was it like?" She asked in an interested voice.

"Magical," Harry answered. "beautiful as well. The palace alone looked like it was made entirely of gold, the rest of it looked like a perfect blend between man and nature, the people there were nice as well, most of them anyway."

"Most of them?" Natasha repeated, raising a perfect eyebrow.

"I'm getting to that, so we go to an Asgardian healer but she can't work out what's wrong with Jane." Harry continued. "Then we meet Odin, Thor's father. Me and him didn't really get along."

"Oh god, how bad?"

"He was acting like he was immortal and that Jane's life was worth nothing because her lifespan was smaller and that pissed me off, so I kind of threatened to prove just how mortal he was."

"You threatened to kill not just the King of Asgard, but also Thor's dad?" Natasha looked at him with disbelief.

"He was a dick," Harry said defensively. "anyway then Odin eventually took a look at Jane after she threw some of his guards around the room, it turned out she had some old relic inside her called the Aether. It was basically like a shape shifting dark red cloud, it was in Jane and would have killed her unless we got it. Not that Odin seemed to care.

After we discovered what it was I left Jane and Thor to have some time together and I spent some time on Asgard, meeting different people and looking around. I met Thor's mother, Frigga, she was a nice woman."

"High praise, coming from you." Natasha commented.

"Indeed, I once again got to meet two of the Warrior's three and Lady Sif. Then there was this attack by the dark elves."

"These 'dark elves' aren't like the elves you told me about, right?"

"Definitely not," Harry shook his head. "if they were then I'd throw some socks at them and call it a day. No, they were much different. Anyway, let me tell you what happened." Harry continued, he spent the next few minutes explaining all about his time on Asgard and how they went to the home of the dark elves only to end up back on Earth and then how they ended up saving the world from Malekith. "So then I handed Thor the Aether, he went off to take it to the others. Then um… Sif walked up to me." Harry coughed.

"Why do I have a bad feeling?" She asked in a slow voice.

"Hold on to that," Harry sighed. "me and Sif talked and then she… kind of… kissed me." Harry admitted.

"She kissed you?" Natasha asked slowly, her face blank and her voice was devoid of emotions.

"Yeah," Harry admitted. "she did."

"What sort of kiss?"

"Small one," Harry answered. "I was surprised when she did it and it lasted about three seconds before she walked off, I didn't kiss her back, I swear. She and the others should be back in Asgard by now. I wanted to tell you because I am no expert in relationships but I feel like this is the sort of thing I'm not supposed to hide."

"You've got that right." Natasha mumbled before taking a sip of her drink. "And is there anything else I should know?"

"Not that I can think of," Harry shook his head. "so… what do you want to do now?"

"Well…" Natasha paused, she was frowning and looking thoughtful. "… since it was a small kiss and you didn't kiss her back, I think that you…" Whatever Natasha was about to say was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Oh for fuck sakes," Harry said under his breath before he stood up. "give me a sec, I will deal with that." Harry said before he went over to the door, he opened it and began talking. "Listen, I am really busy and…" Harry stopped when he saw who was standing there. "… Sif?!" Harry blurted out.

"Hello Harry." Sif said with a small and nervous smile before she grabbed him and kissed him hard.

"Sif," Harry broke off the kiss immediately, immortal he might be, but guns hurt and he did not want to give Natasha a reason to use one, on either of them. "I thought you were back on Asgard, what are you doing here?"

"Thor was allowed to come back to see Jane," Sif said as she entered the apartment, she kept her attention on Harry and so did not notice Natasha who was looking at her with narrowed eyes. "I was allowed to come to Midgard, I was hoping to see you."

"Sif, I…"