Payphone
The mission was supposed to be just routine, in and out, Fury knew she was bored sitting around in the S.H.I.E.L.D base so had sent her on this low priority mission since no else wanted it.
She was walking bare foot across the sandy floor that was the outskirts of Las Vegas. She had no phone or anything so her forms of contact only came from the payphone that she had seen a few feet in front of her. When she had finally had reached the phone she looked in her purse to find a small amount of change that had been there for weeks.
When she had finally picked up the phone there was two numbers that she could have dialled and one of them would have been perfect to help her to get back to base and the other, well she was always going to go for that one.
She put the change in the phone and her hand had hesitated over the numbers until she took a deep breath and pushed the numbers and waiting for him to answer. There phone had rung a couple of times until he picked up.
"Hello?" He asked, with a stifled yawn.
"Clint?" she asked with a crocked tone.
She hadn't had a drink since the night before and being in the desert with the heat pounding down, she was exhausted and dehydrated.
"Tasha, where are you? You never call when you're on mission," he asked now sounding concerned.
"Nevada, well the outskirts of Las Vegas." She said leaning against the phone booth.
She would never admit it if anyone would ask but every time she was in a rough spot, all she needed was to hear his voice, whether or not they were on good terms. There was something about him that always made her feel like she was at home, at a place where she belonged.
"I told you not to go on that mission!" he shouted down the phone.
She was taken aback with his tone. He never raised his voice to her and she never raised her voice to him. They were at an equal standing with each other which was great since they were partners.
"I know, listen I need your help," she started to say.
"I know you would! I told you to wait and now where are you?"
"I'm at a payphone just outside Las Vegas. Look I don't have that much change and I need you to come and get me."
"That's a big favour Tasha; I'm still in New York. You knew this, why didn't you call Coulson?" He asked, anger coming back in his voice.
"Please." She whispered into the phone.
He was right; this was a big favour, and an unrealistic one. She should have just called S.H.I.E.L.D, they would have had her back on one of their jets by now with a nurse looking over all of her vitals to see if she was ready for round tow but she didn't want them, not all of the agents that would be there to make sure if she was alright, she wanted him, agent Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye but he never was the same since Loki had taken over his mind momentarily.
Nowadays he was more distant than ever; refusing missions with her but would always take them with lower level agents. She had left the avengers for him, to make sure that he was on the road to recovery but he just pushed her away.
Their idea of paradise would be a tough mission that required some fighting, some hard work and the pair of them working hand in hand and then when the mission was over, sit back in whatever hotel room with room service and have a nice quiet drink together. Yes, sometimes it did end her in his bed, with him wrapping his arms around her as they slept the remainder of the night away, but now, he did not want that. She thought to herself; well maybe the sun does set in paradise.
"I'm at a payphone Clint," she said trying not to croak, "I'm just trying to get home."
"Who is that honey," she heard in the background.
"Who was that Clint?" She said trying to hide her hurt.
"No one, Tasha," he said finally sounding like the old Clint.
"Clint, who was that." She demanded.
"Her name is Bobbi, she works at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Call S.H.I.E.L.D for me." She said as she slammed the phone down.
She sunk to the floor, wondering why he was seeking company in agents that were not nearly as valuable as herself. She had assumed his distance was due Loki and his plans on using Clint to kill her but she would never have thought that he would just abandon her. She had faced the Hulk, tricked the trickster and left a very important mission to get him back home, to bring him back to herself.
Clearly her version of 'happily ever after' with Clint no longer existed, all those ideas that she had were just full of shit. Her plans that she had made for them two were not worth anything if he would not come to her when she needed him.
The S.H.I.E.L.D jet had landed and Coulson had stepped of the jet with a bottle of water and helped her up to her feet. On the jet, she had seen that the typical people were there, nurses, a few agents and Coulson. She looked for Clint but he wasn't on board. She took her seat and gulped down the bottle of water in a matter of seconds, only to be given another bottle. Coulson then gave her a thick pair of woollen socks and a pair of matching slippers.
"Your feet must be killing you," he said as he handed them to her.
She took them and slipped them onto her feet and then got her phone from Coulson again. She checked her messages and there was only one.
You okay Nat? Text me as soon as you get this – Clint.
She smiled to herself but then the smile quickly faded. This was the extent of their relationship, a few text messages and the odd conversation if they bumped into each other at the S.H.I.E.L.D base. She hated everything about that but what she hated most of all was the fact that she had allowed herself to fall in love, even though she had said that love was for children.