Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is recognizable but I do unfortunately take credit for any grammatical or spelling mistakes that may be present in this story.

The idea of soulmate and soulmarks have always interested me and recently with the wonderful stories that have been going around using this idea (in particular CeliaEquus's, ozhawk's, and gth694e's wonderful stories that if you haven't read I would most definitely encourage you to read them), I decided to try my own hand at one and this story was created. I hope you enjoy it! :)

I know I can't ask you for anything, especially not after this, but if you'd do just one more thing for me, or if not for me then for your children and to honor her memory, live. Live Clint. You have so much to live for and she would never want to see you like this. Not when they still need their father. She isn't gone for good, you know. You can see her shining so clearly from Cooper's smile, the way Lila's eyes sparkle and in Nathaniel's laughter. She's never truly gone as long as you hold them dear to you and love them. So please, love them.

I am sorry to leave like this but I have to go and you and I both know that this is the least painful way, for all of us. You have your life and I have mine. Your children need you. They need their father and my team and the world needs me. Thank you for everything. Thank you for the memories, the good time and the bad times, and most importantly, thank you for your love. You changed my life that day and I am forever grateful, but now, now I've paid my debt and I have to go. Like I told you that day in the barn, everything will be all right Clint, you'll see.

Goodbye,

Natasha.

She looked down, tears in her eyes, her hands trembling ever so slightly, at the letter she held in her hands. She didn't want to do this – more than anything she wanted to throw the blasted letter into the fire and watch it burn – but she couldn't. This was something she needed to do.

Careful not to make too much noise yet working quickly, she gingerly folded the lined paper and placed it in an envelope. She needed to be gone before anyone woke up and realized that she had left. Sealing the envelope, she gently brushed her lips against it and placed it under the letter she had written for the children. She wasn't sure if they would ever understand but she hoped they would one day realize that this was what was best for them. She knew she should leave now while she still could, but she couldn't. Not before she said goodbye, even if they would never know or remember.

She quietly made her way up the stairs and opened Cooper's door ever so gently attempting to prevent the hinges from squeaking. For a few minutes she simply stood there, seeing the young man as the child he had been when she first met him rather than the teenager he was now. That first day Clint had brought her to his farm Cooper had walked over towing a gigantic book behind him and asked her to read to him. From that moment on that had been their "thing" whenever she came to visit and often times she would bring a new book he had never read before as a surprise. A small smile crossed her face as she made her way from the doorframe to his bedside. She gently lifted his blanket over his shoulders and brushed a kiss against his forehead whispering, "Stay strong Cooper. I love you." Then she fled the room knowing if she stayed too long her resolve would vanish and she would be tempted stay. She knew she couldn't stay at the farm. She couldn't stay and pretend everything was all right when it wasn't.

She stopped by Lila's room next and watched the little girl curled up around her stuffed bunny sleep, looking so happy and peaceful. Lila had only been a baby when Natasha had first met her and now, now she was on the brink of becoming a tween. Sometimes Natasha wondered where all the time had gone and just when Lila had grown up, but that didn't matter now. She couldn't let it matter now. So just as she had done for Cooper she lovingly fixed Lila's comforter and brushed a kiss across her forehead. "Stay happy Lila. I love you." She told the little girl smoothing back her hair as she always did when she had tucked her into bed in the past. "May you always have happy dreams," She wished as the little girl began to stir and wake up. Seeing that, Natasha disappeared as quietly as she had appeared in the room, leaving no trace or hint that she had ever been there.

Finally her last stop was Nathaniel's nursery. As she entered, she sensed him beginning to wake up and so she quickly crossed the room and allowed herself to pick up her namesake one last time. Gently cuddling him close to her, she began to sway back and forth as she murmured to him trying to lull him back to sleep. "Nathaniel, oh Nathaniel. I love you so, so much. You, your sister, your brother, and your dad. But you see, that's why I have to go away. I can't stay here Nathaniel. As much as I want too, I can't. Your dad needs to be your dad again and with me here, he can't be. So I have to go. I don't know if I'll ever be able to come back, but please know that I love you and your family with all my heart and I always will. But sometimes things just don't work out and you have to make the best of what you have. Sometimes you love someone so much that as much as it hurts you, you'd do anything for them and their happiness. You'll see when you get older Nathaniel, but I hope you'll always be happy little one."

Sensing that the toddler had once again drifted off to dream land she placed him back into his crib, relishing her last chance to smooth his hair and tuck him back into bed knowing full well that by the time he woke up again his blanket would have been completely kicked off. "Sleep tight and sweet dreams." She whispered as she snuck out closing the door behind her as she heard him sleepily mumble a word that froze her where she stood – Mama.

She leaned back against the now closed door and slid to the ground. Bringing her knees up to her chest, she buried her hands into her hair, one hand accidently brushing against the worlds that were scrawled in pink along her hairline. Words she had kept secret for so long. "I'm not Nathaniel. I'm not your Mama." She muttered in a low voice, "Maybe in another life or another world but not here, not in this one. I'm not, I can't be your mama."

She sat there for a few minutes wondering how everything had gone so wrong. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She had never asked for this and she would have never wished for something like this to happen no matter what fate dictated or had planned. This was not what she had wanted. Finally recomposing herself, she found herself gingerly making her way to Clint's room yet once she was there she couldn't find the strength to open it. In another time and place he would have sensed her presence the second she had appeared in front of his door, but not now, not any more. She didn't allow herself to linger there for very long, but simply placed her hand on the wooden door and walked on.

Natasha quickly gathered her bags from her room and hurried down the stairs, still careful to make no noise and to avoid the squeaky step. She had asked Steve to pick her up and she only had a few more minutes before he would be outside waiting for her. Once she had made sure she had grabbed everything, she looked around the house that had been her home for the past year. In her mind's eye she could image what it would be like if she simply stayed. They could maybe be happy, but she knew it could never be. She had once read that loving someone meant letting them go and she loved them all too much to stay, so she had to go, no matter what anything meant. This was how she loved them. Maybe in another world they could have been happy. Maybe in another world this was the life they could have had. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But life wasn't about maybes, she knew that far better than anyone else. Life was about choices you made and what you did. It was about more than what people told or asked you to do or even what you were fated to do. Love made life what it was and this, this was her choice.

"Goodbye." She breathed and then she left. Racing down the steps to where Steve was waiting for her with open arms; not allowing herself the privilege of looking back at what could have been.

"You sure about this Nat?" Steve asked as he helped her pack her bags back into the car; Natasha pulling her hair into a bun, long talked about and wished for pink words glittering just so in the moonlight.

She hopped into the car with more energy and certainty than they both knew she possessed and keeping her eyes fixed on Steve, she answered, "More than anything Steve. Let's go."

It was a lie and they both knew it, but deep down both also knew that this is what had to be done – no matter how much it would hurt.

Legend says that pink words are the rarest of them all and that if you were blessed by fate to have words written in pink you'd be happy forever. However this is where the fairytales and fables diverge from reality. Pink are perhaps the rarest, and while often times those who have had pink were extremely happy, pink doesn't symbolize love forever or guarantee a life full of happiness and joy. Rather pink symbolizes and tells of unconditional, sacrificial love.

A/N: Please don't hate me! I promise this won't be the last time Laura appears (or is mentioned). :)

Thank you so much for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you had/have a wonderful rest of the day! :)