Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Avengers, certain parts of AoU would have been very different.
Possible Trigger Warning: Warning for the discussion of human trafficking. If you're sensitive to this topic, please read with care. Thank you.
A/N: (There are small spoilers for AoU mentioned in this author's note, so please skip it if you haven't seen the movie yet and want to remain unspoiled.) As I mentioned in the summary, I'm ignoring all of AoU. I'm sticking with my own personal canon instead, and so Clint is single and perfectly unattached, aside from his partnership with Natasha. Please feel free to consider this AU. :)
As always, I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for his incredible mercy and grace and his many blessings. I would be utterly lost without him.
I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think!
Solace
The mission had lasted six months.
Natasha had been sent to Russia, tasked with infiltrating a mail-order bride agency. S.H.I.E.L.D. had suspected that the agency wasn't what they appeared to be, but they weren't authorized to arrest any members of the group without some proof of wrongdoing.
Obtaining that proof had not been easy.
The organization was incredibly wary of outsiders, they left neither a paper or electronic trail, and those they employed were expected to do their job, no questions asked. Only the employees who proved themselves were promoted.
It had taken months for Natasha to be offered the chance to work as a "recruiter," but eventually, she had been, and she'd quickly begun her search for prospective brides.
The women she interviewed were told that if they signed a contract with the bridal agency, they would be matched with an American man, one who saw more wealth in a day than they did in a month, one who would be happy to send money to their struggling families after the marriage took place.
Natasha had not been particularly bothered by the lies she was telling.
She'd had to maintain her cover, to prove both her loyalty and her worth, and that meant finding new brides.
But as she had learned later, the mail-order bride agency was only a front. The women did not become brides at all. They became slaves.
Natasha had given S.H.I.E.L.D. more than enough evidence to begin dismantling the organization, but they were still searching for the numerous women the agency had sold overseas…including those Natasha had recruited personally. She knew that she'd had no choice, that in the end, her actions would save other women from suffering the same fate, but it didn't change the fact that she was responsible for whatever those women were enduring.
Those women had trusted her. She'd seen to that. And she'd betrayed them. She had stolen their lives…just like once, long ago, someone had stolen hers.
Now, her part in the mission complete, Natasha had returned to her quarters aboard the Helicarrier. She entered her access code automatically. The door opened and she stepped inside, dropping her duffle bag on the floor and sitting down hard on her bed.
She needed to shower and change, needed to begin finalizing her report because Fury would want to debrief her soon, but she couldn't seem to will herself to move.
Long minutes passed before door of her quarters slid open a second time, and she knew without looking that it was Clint.
"Nat?" he asked.
She finally turned to face him and Clint must have read something in her eyes because he walked over to the bed without a word, sat down, and put his arms around her.
His touch was light, undemanding.
She could have pulled away at any moment and he would have let her go.
She almost did just that…almost pushed his arms away and stood, ready to remind him that she was not a child that needed to be coddled and consoled. But his warmth was slowly seeping through the fabric of her shirt, and she felt herself beginning to relax, the tension gradually easing from her muscles as the moments passed.
Another man might have taken that as a sign to pull her closer, but this was Clint and he knew her in a way no one else did.
He waited, leaving the decision up to her.
After a long moment, Natasha drew a deep breath and finally turned fully into his embrace, taking in the familiar scent of his aftershave as her head found the crook of his neck. Only then did he tighten his hold on her, one hand slowly moving up and down her back in a soothing motion.
She couldn't remember the last time she had allowed herself to be held this way, when there was no pretense, no mask to wear, no mission to accomplish.
Her own right hand had somehow found its way to Clint's chest, and it rose and fell with his every breath, the steady rhythm somehow quieting the storm raging in her mind.
Beneath that, there was another rhythm, one just as steady and strong…one that she felt as well as heard.
His heartbeat.
Natasha closed her eyes and simply listened.
Fin
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this, and please let me know what you think!
Take care and God bless!
Ani-maniac494 :)