He kept glancing over at the red head sitting in the passenger seat next to him. She hadn't said a thing the entire car ride. Honestly, he didn't expect her to say anything. Ever since he brought her to S.H.I.E.L.D. she didn't say much. Actually, she did say things. He was the first person she said a thing to. The day he was given the mission to take her out was the first time she spoke to him. Then again it was before he knocked her out. After that she just cursed him out for a good five minutes mixed with death glares. And even after that when he brought her the headquarters she only said a few things to him and only him. It took forever to get her to open up to anyone else. Months actually. During those long months of training she didn't say a lot the first couple to him. A few grunts here and there. The occasional one word. But it was the second half of training when she started talking to him more. She didn't open up completely, but she opened up enough to let herself trust him. He was glad.
However, she was back to staying silent and brooding to herself. The entire ride she kept her gaze outside the window, watching the scenery fly past them.
He was grateful that Fury allowed this vacation. Actually he was beyond relieved. He had been going on mission after mission after mission for months now! He was bruised, beaten, and basically about to fall apart. And the thought of his empty farm house and the bed that was waiting for him was a dream come true to him. It was also a vacation for her as well. The idea of vacation was to also celebrate the woman's one year of staying with S.H.I.E.L.D. She had come a long way since she first started and she was making great progress.
He looked at the ginger next to him once more, pursing his lips. The silence was kind of making the ride boring. Then again it didn't actually make a difference. He was always driving to the farm by himself, no one else but the radio to keep him company.
Speaking of the radio…
Reaching over he switched the radio on and immediately the car was filled with the sound of Bohemian Rhapsody.
A smile grew on his face and his began to bob to the beat. A few seconds later he was joining in the song, singing along to it.
The woman shifted her eyes over, eyeing the man next to her. He was singing some song that was on the radio. The way he smiled and sang along to it was odd. No not odd, silly. It brought a small smile to her face.
Having been a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. for nearly a year was…life changing. That was it. She was honestly grateful to Clint for bringing her in. Meeting him, she was honestly slightly scared of how the fight would end. She knew he was there to get her, to take her down. But at the same time she was determined to live, even if it meant taking him out. It's what she knew. It's what she was trained to do. Live and kill. Now here she was with a different life. A more pleasant life. Even if most of the agents at S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't trust her, she knew she had a couple people who trusted her (to some extent). She owed Fury for allowing her to join the organization. She owed Maria and Phil for helping her get adjusted and train her. Not to mention Sharon and Melinda. All were welcoming. Even though she didn't trust them right away and they didn't trust her completely, they eventually became acquaintances with mutual understanding and trust. She didn't know if she would call them friends. But there was one person she trusted completely. She didn't know why, but she did.
Clint looked over at her and gave her a smile. It grew to a grin when he saw her quickly look away. It was amusing watching the infamous Black Widow being shy around people.
ooOOoo
She stared down at the dog at her feet. Staring at the golden retriever she noticed it only had one eye. She made a note to ask Clint about that later. A large smile was on the dog's face as he stared up at her, his tail wagging like mad. The dog let out a bark before jumping up at her.
"Lucky!" Clint called out. "Down!" He quickly went over to the red head and grabbed the dog. He wasn't sure how she would feel about a dog jumping at her, let alone how she'd react. He wasn't entirely sure if she'd relapse back to her old ways or not. "Sorry about that. He loves new people."
"Its fine," the ginger woman simply replied, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. "His name's Lucky?"
"Yeah, I found him during a mission, helped me out and I took him in after he got beat up," Clint explained, rubbing the top of Lucky's head. The dog barked happily and licked his owner's face happily. "Yeah, bud. I missed you too."
"He stays here by himself?" she asked, her brow furrowing. How the hell did this animal live while Clint was away? How did he eat?
"Yeah, but sometimes Maria or Sharon stay here if they are on vacation," Clint answered, standing up and picking his bag up. "That or an acquaintance from the town down the road stops by a couple times a day." He hooked the straps on his arm and nodded. "I'll show you your room."
"Okay."
ooOOoo
A week had already gone by in the two agents' vacation. The red haired woman had slowly grew adjusted to life without missions and training and anything else to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. It was weird to say the least. She wasn't used to it. She was used to working, training, fighting, and killing. Well now she was more used to training, missions, fighting, and occasionally killing. Now she only killed when the mission called for it. She felt a little more human that way. Not having to kill all the time made the weight on her and the guilt she had inside of her disappear bit by bit.
She stared across the field from where she sat on the front porch. She watched as Clint ran around the yard with Lucky in tow. The sight of the man and dog playing together was different compared to what she was used to seeing Clint like during missions and such. It was nice seeing him like this. It made him more human than just some sort of agent. She liked it.
"Hey, Natalia!" Clint called out, smiling up at her as Lucky jumped up and down around him. "Want to play fetch with Lucky?"
The red haired woman stiffened. Natalia… Every time she heard that name it always reminded her of who she used to be. A killer. A black widow from the Red Room. She didn't like it. She didn't like remembering what she did in the past and what she went through.
"Hey." Clint's voice broke her out of her thoughts and she stared wide eyed up at the man. Somehow while she was lost in her mind the archer had made his way to where she sat on the porch. He stared down at the woman, a brow raised. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," was all she said, turning her head to the side.
"Yeah sure," Clint said, taking a seat in the chair next to hers. "What's up?" She didn't say anything. "Natalia, you can talk to me you know."
"Don't call me that. Please…"
Clint blinked, not expecting that at all. "Don't call you what? Natalia? That's your name though."
"I don't like it…"
The agent pursed his lips, staring at the woman. She had a sorrowful expression on her face mixed with the distant gaze she had going on. He noted a couple months back that that was the look she had whenever she was lost in thought. Lost in thought over things from her past. She had only told him a little about what she had gone through, not everything, but a basic idea. He just hoped that eventually she'd tell him more.
"Why don't you like it?" he pressed on, hoping he'd get the red haired woman to talk a bit more.
"It…" She paused, taking a deep breath. "It reminds me too much of who I was. What I did. Everything that I did back in the Red Room…"
It was silent for a couple seconds, then Clint spoke up again. "Alright, that's fine. Do you know what you'd like to be called?"
The red haired agent stared at him for a moment before averting her gaze to her lap. She thought it over. He was giving her an option to choose a different name. To start a new life. But what name could she give herself?
She slowly looked up at Clint, pursing her lips. "I want to be called Natasha."
"Natasha?" Clint nodded his head and gave the woman a reassuring smile. "Why Natasha though?"
"There was a girl back in the Black Widow program…" she began, her face turning sour at the memory. "Her name was Natasha. She and I got along. It started because our names were similar. We were young so we found it amusing. We became friends. We both didn't like the training and we didn't want to be there. But there was nothing we could do. We were stuck there with no way out." She paused, her hands balling into fists. "She was killed during a training session by another girl. Those of us who weren't able to pass different tests were killed by the stronger ones. She was my best friend during the program…"
She looked up abruptly when Clint placed a hand over one of her fists. There was a smile on the archer's face. "I like Natasha. It's a beautiful name."
Natasha stared up at him, her mouth hanging open slightly. She pursed her lips and gave him a smile. "Thank you, Clint. For everything."
"Hey, I'll always be here for you, Natasha," he said, the smile remaining. "I promise."
ooOOoo
Ringing interrupted the silent night. The archer groaned and rolled over onto his side. His eyes set into a glare as he stared at the ringing and glowing phone on his night stand. He grabbed it and held it to his ear as he laid on his back once more.
"What?" he grunted into the phone.
"Hey, Clint," came the voice of Barry one of the agents he's worked with a couple of times. "Sorry to bother you while you're on vacation, but Maria won't stop pestering me about your report on your last mission. Where did you put it?"
Clint ran a hand down his face. He swore he had placed it on the female agent's desk. Whatever. "Try my desk. It's most likely there."
"Alright, thanks."
He groaned again as he dropped his phone to the ground before turning back to the woman lying next to him. He smiled at her as she laid there. He pulled her closer, holding her to him as he ran his fingers up and down her bare back.
"What was that about?" she asked, staring up at him.
"Paperwork," he replied. "Boring stuff," he added with a chuckle before placing a kiss on her lips.
Natasha smiled at him before returning the kiss. "Thank you again, Clint."
"I'll always be here, Tasha," he said, as he placed a kiss to her neck. "Remember that."
Thank you to AtLoLevad (fanfiction)/thewintersoldierdisaster (tumblr) for the prompt! This is probably one of my favorite oneshots I've written so far!
Also if anyone has guessed I made up the reason why she chose Natasha for her name. I tried googling why her name goes from Natalia to Natasha and came up with nothing so I made up a reason and a bit of a backstory with her time in the Red Room.
If anyone is reading my Winter is Ending series obviously this is set WAY before any of my other stuff. My friend asked me to write a oneshot where Clint brings Natasha to his farm for the first time and I figured it's way before any Avengers stuff and the two are getting to know each other if Clint trusts her enough to show her his farm. I hope you guys liked it.
You can follow me on my tumblr at winter-is-ending if you want to ask the Avengers any questions or send prompts for my oneshot series Life at the Tower (AU or non-AU) or just a separate oneshot. You can send them here, in a review, or in a messge on my tumblr. Feel free to stop by even if it's just to say hi :D
I hope you guys liked it and let me know what you think. Leave a review, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I'm not sure if I got their personalities down or not so please let me know if I need to fix anything up. I love helpful tips to improve my writing. Thanks a lot you guys!