"And you're sure? You really don't mind?"

The red haired woman placed a calming hand on her friends arm, "Ease there, it's fine Barton. I'd be round anyway, you know how much I love Annie."

Clint Barton smiled, he knew she was right. Natasha really loved loved Annie, whether Barton had asked her to keep an eye on her or not, she'd been round. He had been hesitant to introduce Annie to any of the team, but he thought to ease her in gently and introduce her to Natasha. He'd known Natasha the longest and she was probably his best friend. He'd always laugh at himself if he said or thought that, he thought it made him sound about twelve; but he never laughed when Annie said it. Annie and Natasha had gotten along like a house on fire, he'd tease them about it. Was he dating Annie or was Nat?

"I know I'm probably just being paranoid, no one from work knows about her. Just you."

"Hey, you got something good here." Nat smiled, "It's only natural for you to want to keep her safe."

Barton smiled at her.

"Keeping her a secret though, there's no reason. The team would love her."

He could understand what she was saying, the team would love her. And maybe there'd be more chance to keep her safe if the Avengers knew about her, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. There was something holding him back, but he knew he could always rely on Nat.

"I'll think about it."

Rosanna walked into the kitchen of her apartment, with Nat following closely behind her. At first, it had been endearing, it kind of reminded Rosanna of a lost puppy but now it was bothering her especially since Nat wouldn't come clean about why she stayed only a few inches away from her. Rosanna, more commonly known as Annie, had been dating Clint Barton for almost ten months now and at month four he had introduced her to Natasha Romanoff, who Annie now considered one of her best friends. Natasha allowed Annie to just talk and get everything off her chest, Nat gave the best advice and on top of that Nat felt like a normal woman with Annie. She could do normal things that normal friends did. Annie tried to push the annoyance to the back of her head, if something was truly wrong then they wouldn't still be in the flat; she made the two of them a cup of tea each.

"I know Clint asked you to look after me, but this is starting to take the piss." Annie spoke in a joking manner. "I'm making us a cuppa, and you can stay there. I'm getting the milk out of the fridge; don't worry it won't bite."

"I'm sorry, I've been a hassle huh? I just need to make sure."

"That the fridge won't bite?" Annie joked.

Nat raised an eyebrow at her, "Don't you get sassy with me, honey."

Annie smiled, that was the Natasha she loved. Rosanna had gotten used to being called Annie since she met Clint, as much as he loved calling her by her full name, he thought to have a nick name. At first he had started to call her Rosie but that caused her to shut down, the most he had managed to get out of her was something about when she had been a child in the system. A family or two she'd been with called her Rosie, and the pricks had abused her. Annie was still healing, she hadn't told Clint the worst of it but she had nightmares which he would deal with the aftermath, waking her up and calming her down. As would Nat when she stayed. The abuse was another factor that prompted Clint to ask Nat over whenever he was away with work, Annie hated to be alone.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Annie asked.

Natasha stayed quiet, simply watching Annie dump a handsome amount of honey into her tea to sweeten it up. Nat was the furthest away then she had been all day.

"This distance though, can we at least work with this?"

Nat nodded.

As much as Annie wanted to know what was bugging Nat, she didn't want to pry. Nat was very much like Annie in that way, they could just shut people out like that.

"So you red haired beauty," Annie started, taking note of Natasha's shy smile. A rare sight indeed, Annie normally wouldn't call Nat shy but the Russian wasn't accustomed to receiving such honest and meaningful compliments. Nat loved this about Annie, she was a good friend and always did her best to put others first. Annie reminded Natasha that she was human, she was a woman and she was NOT a monster. "Have you caught a certain Dr Banner in your web yet?"

Natasha resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her friends pun and even let out a huff of laughter, "I knew I'd regret telling you about that."

"About what?"

"One, my code name. Two, Bruce and I."

"Oh, so it's Bruce now is it?" Annie teased.

Nat smiled, "It's not a lot, but we've been making time for one another. Coffee here and there, dinner at the end of the day. He's been patching me up at the end of a mission or after training, ya know? Nothing special."

"I bet it was special to you." Annie smiled softly, she was glad Natasha had found someone.

"Toilet break, you're going to be okay for a few moments?"

"Yes Nat, I will be fine."

Natasha made her way to the bathroom, and Annie couldn't help but little as it came, Annie loved the girl talk with Nat. It was new to both of them, both because of their upbringing. Annie didn't pry when it came to Nat's past, just as Nat didn't pry into Annie's past. If one of them wanted to talk, the other was all ears. Natasha didn't like to talk 'agent stuff' when she was with Annie. Annie was her break from all of that; so the two would talk. They would go out to a club or shopping. Annie introduced Nat to her favorite films and music, and Natasha happily went along with it. Annie was grateful, just as she thought Bruce should be, the only person Natasha had ever really been close to had been Clint.

Two nights after, Annie was awoken to someone shaking her. Looking around, her eyes still bleary with sleep, she caught Nat looking down at her with a worried expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Night mare."

"I don't remember having one..."

"Not you," Nat looked down like a nervous child, "Me. Can I stay in here with you?"

Annie nodded and offered some of the quilt to her. Nat slipped under the quilt, and the two lay together on the bed. Annie was curled up on her side looking at Nat, who lay on her back and staring at the ceiling, through the darkness. Whatever Natasha had dreamed about, it must have scared her bad. Annie, of course, knew that Natasha had seen some horrors in her life, even committing a handful of them herself, but if Natasha had been freaked out enough to come and climb into bed with her, it was bad.

"It was awful." Nat spoke quietly, tears brewing in her eyes.

The two of them lay in silence once more, Annie didn't want to push Nat too much and risk her closing up, clearly this was really eating her up.

"I'm back...back there." Nat gave Annie a pointed look, hoping she got the hint. "And I'm called a traitor, and they hurt me. All those girls I grew up with, they hurt me. And then Madam brings Clint in, and they hurt him; but he can fight back. And then they bring in Bruce, and the big guy turns up. And then.."

Madam, Annie had learnt, was one of the people who had trained Nat in the Red Room. From what Natasha had told her, which about her past was little, every one of her trainers from the Red Room were ruthless and cruel. Any rewards for good behavior simply meant they wouldn't be beat that night. The Madam and the other people were awful, and would torment the girls, which they would call endurance. Annie knew about the team, of course she did, the Avengers were famous. And she knew the big guy was another name for the hulk, which honestly, Annie liked a bit better. She hadn't told Clint, but she had met Bruce a few times when she had been with Natasha. Of course, Bruce had joked she'd get a better conversation out of him then the big guy, he had anger issues and it was only when Nat gave him a lullaby that he would calm down. Annie wasn't quite sure what a lullaby was, but she supposed it was a code name for something because of the look Bruce and Nat shared.

"Annie," Nat rolled onto her side and looked at her friend. "They hurt you, like really bad. And I couldn't help you, I was made to watch. And you were screaming and crying, and I couldn't help you..."

Natasha broke down in tears, and Annie did the only thing she could think of. She reached over and wrapped her arms around her friend, hugging her close. She stroked Nat's hair and whispered it was okay, it was only a dream. It wasn't real, but Annie was no stranger to nightmares. She knew the really bad ones seemed so real, like you weren't dreaming but awake in some cruel reality which refused to loosen it's grip on you. Nightmares were the worst, when you're stuck inside your own head, living out your worst fears. Annie and Nat had shed tears in front of each other, but Rosanna felt at an utter loss, Natasha was sobbing into Annie's arms; and all the brunette could do was hold her friend.

Slowly, Natasha began to calm down and her sobs grew quieter. Nat began to apologize and again, all that came to Annie's mind was to tell her it was okay, she didn't need to worry. She was here to listen, she could be a shoulder to cry on if that's what was needed. Annie had done the same for Clint, she could remember the first time he had woken her up. It was Clint having the nightmare and he was tossing and turning violently, Annie had to restrain him to wake him. And when he did wake, she had to keep reassuring him that he had woken, and all he wanted to do was hold her. He said it grounded him, holding her meant he knew it was real. He could focus on her breathing and her heartbeat, and it made him feel safe. Natasha pulled away slightly, the two were still very close to each other but they were no longer holding each other. The two remained close to each other as they kept quiet, Annie didn't feel like anything else had to be said and if Nat wanted to talk she knew she could but she didn't.

It had been a week since Clint had left, and during that week Natasha had stayed with Annie the whole time. Some days they just stayed in and watched Tv, Natasha would roll her eyes at her friend's excitement to watch Disney films, but Annie knew that Natasha secretly loved Mulan. On the Wednesday, Natasha and Annie went shopping, nothing special. Just the monthly shop and Natasha had managed to persuade Bruce to allow Annie to accompany them for their coffee. Bruce thought for the time being that less people that know about the two of them then the better, but he had no problem with Annie. In fact, he enjoyed her company and the other side that he brought out in Natasha. Bruce did try to talk the girls into telling Clint about their meets, but they just didn't think it was the right time for him to know; Bruce understood that Clint would be cautious about him. The history with the big guy always made people be careful, but Banner was a good man. He had almost complete control over the big guy and had stopped transforming randomly.

The two women enjoyed their time together, and the times when Nat couldn't be around Annie the whole time, Annie knew she was close. When she went to work, she felt like she was being watched, and if she looked hard enough, she would eventually spot Nat. As much as she loved having Natasha around though, she missed Clint and just wanted him home. When he had briefed her on this mission, he told her it would be maybe three or four days not seven or eight. She always felt safe with Nat, but it was a different feeling she felt with Clint. Just as she would help ground him, Clint had an effect on her. He reminded her that this was all real, that she was living in an alright world...well a decent one at the very least. He reminded her that she wasn't a little kid in the system anymore and those people weren't going to hurt her anymore. He wouldn't let any one hurt her, so long as he was around.

Natasha and Rosanna were lounging around on the sofa watching Mean Girls, which Annie called a go-to cheer up movie. Not that either of them were particularly sad but Annie was missing Clint and the two of them were utterly bored. Natasha laughed loudly when Annie perked right up at hearing the door unlock. Thankfully it was only key lock that he been done, with it still being early in the day, Annie hadn't thought it necessary to use the chain or dead bolt. Many would think she was being ridiculous, but Nat and Clint understood that it helped Annie feel safe. Natasha heard Clint laugh and a thump which she assumed was Clint falling over as Annie launched herself onto him.

Natasha walked into the hallway and smiled at them, she felt proud. She didn't know why though, she supposed this was what a proud mama would feel but she would never know; both Clint and Annie had hinted at the idea of Nat being an auntie someday, but it was still early days for them. Nat knew though, if they ever did have children she was be one proud and doting aunt. As she watched the happy reunion, Natasha felt something pulling at her heart strings and she began to realize what this was; why she trusted Annie as much as she did. Why she loved Clint and Annie and Bruce, Natasha had finally gotten what she always wanted. Of course, it was the same with the rest of the avengers but it was such a strong feeling with the three people she loved the most. the one thing both she and Annie had craved for so long. They had a family.

A real family, and Natalia Alianovna Romanoff would do anything she had to, in order to keep it safe.