"No! No! No! NOOO!" screamed Natasha as she thrashed wildly in her bed. Clint, as usual, heard the screams from his room across the hall and ran to her bedside.

"Nat. Nat! Natasha wake up! Wake up Nat!" said Clint as he shook her. Natasha then sat bolt upright in her bed, her eyes flying open. She quickly surveyed her surroundings, making sure she was still in her bedroom at the ground base for S.H.E.I.L.D., rather then wherever her nightmare had taken place. Once she was sure of where she was, she hunched over and sobbed. Clint into her bed and wrapped his arms around her and murrmeurred comforting things.

"Sssh, sssh. It's okay Nat. It's okay Tasha."

"It was t-t-t-terrible Clint." She said through her tears.

"I know Nat. I know. Ssssh, believe me, I know."

Natasha buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed for a little bit longer. Clint continued to murmur reassuring things and he began to rub circles in her back. Eventually Natasha's sobbing slowed down and stopped. She sank back into her pillows, taking Clint with her. After a few minutes she fell asleep, cuddling into Clint's side. He smiled he felt her body relax and her breathing slow and eventually he fell asleep as well.

#

When they woke up in the morning Natasha's nightmare wasn't mentioned, it never was. She just got out of bed and kicked him out so she could shower. Clint would leave and shower and get ready in his own room. He would make her coffee and bring it to her room after she showered at got dressed. They just carried on as normal (well, as normal as the could be) and the nightmares weren't talked about or hinted at until the next night when it would happen again. Clint never asked her what her nightmares were about, but he did ask her why she would never talk about it, not even with him.

"I'm a woman in a mans world Clint." She told him. "I can't show any compromising emotion. They'll tear me to shreds."

FIN