Clints's POV

Due to all the chaos in Manhattan, it was impossible for us to drive through it. Luckily, Tony lent me and Natasha one of his private jets to get to our new home. As the plane flew itself on auto-pilot, I stared out the window. Besides the remains of skyscrapers, large amounts of rubble and ash could be distinctively seen from the plane. Broken cars and telephone poles occupied the streets, or at least what was left of them. I sighed softly at the chaos that Loki and his followers had caused. Then I remembered I was one of them. Seeing all this destruction reminded me of the monster that Loki unleashed. This city was proof of that. I started to regret agreeing to live here and bringing Nat with me. As I took one more peak out the window of the chaos, I sighed again and stared at my hands that rested on my lap.

"Are you okay?" Nat asked as she rubbed my hands in comfort.

"All this . . . it's my fault."

"Don't . . . please. Just don't." She gently took my chin and forced me to make eye-contact with her. "Don't do this to yourself. Not again."

"Nat,"

"Don't 'Nat' me. You weren't you. Like you said, Loki manipulated you. He changed you into a completely different person." She interrupted. "You can't and aren't being held accountable. You tried your best." She tried to convince me. She knew it wasn't working. "Hey, in the end, you are the one that helped stop all of this. You saved the world and that . . . that makes you a hero."

I tried to object, but she wrapped her arms around by bicep and leaned against my neck to state that she didn't want to hear me argue with her. We remained in the same position until we reached our new home.

When we finally arrived on the roof of the Tower, Nat and I waited in silence for a few minutes. When I realized that she didn't want to be rushed of the jet, I remained in my seat due to her still leaning on my body. I stared at the ceiling while she stared at the ground and I came to the conclusion that she didn't want to be here.

"Agent Romanov, Agent Barton, I don't mean to rush you, but I believe the rest of the team is awaiting your arrival." Jarvis told us as I remembered that Tony had programmed him inside almost every house and plane that he owned.

"Give us a sec, Jarvis." I told him, because rushing the Black Widow usually ended with having a bruised jaw.

As I tried to comfort Nat by rubbing her hand, she immediately stood up, grabbed her bags and flashed out of the jet. As I watched her leave the aircraft, I stood there all alone still trying to figure out what happened. As soon as I realized that understanding the Black Widow was already a failed attempt, I gave up. After a few minutes of me staring dumbfounded at the floor, I stood up and exited the aircraft casually with my two bags.

As soon as I got inside, I was amazed at what I saw. Even though the Tower was destroyed during the battle against Loki, Stark had managed to rebuild the whole building in a matter of days. The place was elegant and fancy which wasn't my style, yet it impressed me. I guess I was just grateful to be rooming with Nat and my other teammates.

I didn't realize how much I was admiring the interior because I had totally dazed out from reality. I didn't even realize that Tony was handing me a glass of champagne. It took me a couple of seconds to react, but I took the glass from Tony and dropped my bags right on the floor. I didn't realize how dumb I must've looked. I didn't even acknowledge the fact that Tony had thrown a little party to celebrate me and Natasha's move-in. I smiled at the banner that was hung on the walls that said 'welcome home . . . finally"

After I quickly greeted Bruce, Steve, Tony, and Pepper, I scanned the room for Natasha. I finally found her sitting on the couch trying to avoid contact from everyone in the room. It seemed to work because no one noticed that she looked unhappy.

When I sat next to her, she rolled her eyes at me. "What's wrong?" As always, I receive silence from her. "C'mon Nat. Enjoy the party." She rolled her eyes again. "Pepper's here. Now you don't have to be surrounded by so much testosterone. You can finally have a girlfriend to talk about stuff." I said childishly while she gave me the evil eye. "C'mon, Nat. Say something."

"I'm gonna go." She said as she started to stand up. She looked back at me and saw that I was disappointed. "I have a lot of things to unpack . . . and I want to get settled in before dinner." Those were the last words I heard as she walked past everyone, grabbed her things, and headed to the hallway.

While Nat walked to her new room, Pepper and the other Avengers watched her leave the event. As soon as Nat was out of sight, they all looked at me.

"What happened to you two?" asked Pepper.

"Yeah, what did you do to her, Barton." asked Bruce.

"Please, Barton's probably the victim." Tony finally said. "Romanov clearly just broke his heart." mocked Tony while the others laughed at his comment.

"First of all, she didn't break my heart." I said as I stood up trying to have more authority. "She just needs some time to readjust and adapt to her new home." The others must've taken me seriously because they left me alone from there.

After a few small conversations with Pepper and Steve, Tony decided the party was getting pretty boring so, he decided to send everyone back to their rooms at once. I didn't argue with him, so I took my bags and headed to the hallway that Natasha had disappeared to. In the hallway, I noticed that there were only six doors that were widely spread out from each other. I found that each door had a name on it. Of course, Tony put these names on himself because the names on the doors said things like 'Miss America (Cap), Mr. Anger Management (Bruce), and the Girl Avenger(Nat)'. I finally found 'Bird Boy' on one of the doors and figured it was mind. I was thankful to Tony because he made my room at the end of the hallway which was directly across from Nat's. I tried to open the door, but it was locked then I realized that a pupil scanner had been placed on the side of the door. I put my eyeball in front of the lens and immediately the door opened. I dropped my bags carelessly on the floor and headed for the room across.

"Nat" I said not too loudly as I knocked on the door.

"It's open." She faintly answered.

When I opened the door, I saw that she was sitting on her bed facing the window that was on the opposite side of the room from the door.

I sat on beside her, but she didn't face me. She continued to stare out the window.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked, but assumed she wouldn't answer.

"Everything here reminds me of him." She said in disgust which surprised me because I thought she would remain quiet. She continued to speak. "This building reminds me of him and his stupid plan. This city reminds me of him and his damn army." She shouted as she finally looked at me. I took her hand, but she just sighed. "I feel like he just keeps coming back into my life." I could tell she was frustrated and angry yet sad and helpless at the same time. "I can't shake this feeling that he's going to come back here and . . . torture me with a pain worse than death." I could tell that she was about to say something about him taking over my mind again.

"Listen, Nat." I said in the most comforting voice I could manage. "He's not coming back. I swear on my life that he won't come back."

To Be Continued