Hello There! Hope you enjoy.

(Thank you Harm Marie, Guest, and Haytar96!)

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Chapter Three: Natasha

"Ms. Potts, Ms. Romanoff is in her room." Jarvis reports. Next to Pepper, Tony groans and rolls over and Tony is startled awake by a combination of the lack of warmth and a loud thump from Tony who is now on the floor. With all of the blankets.

"Jarvis," Tony moans "Why the hell would you wake us up at such an ungodly hour?"

"Ms. Potts asked me to notify her once Ms. Romanoff has returned home," Jarvis reports.

"What is she doing right now?" Pepper asks moving to the edge of the bed to offer her hand and a smile down at a pouting Tony who accepts her hand so he can pull himself to a sitting position.

"I believe she is on the phone with Mr. Barton," Pepper's eyes widen in surprise and Tony lands back on the ground with another thump. He complains from the pile of grey blankets that surround him but Pepper's already out the door.

"Jarvis, I know they're best friends," he whines to his best electronic friend "but I think Pepper loves Natasha more than me."

"Of course, Sir." The AI says sarcastically.

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Natasha is exhausted. Not that anyone would know, because she's the Black Widow and SHEILD is willing to make sure she recovers and set free without too many questions (not that a little threatening doesn't help expedite the process). She is curled on the edge of her king-sized bed in a man's T-shirt (his shirt, her mind points out) and yoga shorts when her phone rings.

"Barton." She says when she picks up the phone.

"Romanoff." He replies, and she can almost hear him pouting "I thought we were past last-name basis now."

"Clint," she sighs his name into the phone impatiently and she can hear him mutter a breathless curse. Natasha's lips flick into a half-hearted smile despite herself.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Clint explains sheepishly "Fury called and asked me to keep an eye on you. Said you broke a rib and stuff. But Steve and I are kind of out as Banner's bodyguard so I thought I should call." A cold mask slides into place.

"Well I'm alive." She replies in a controlled voice while making a mental note to talk to Fury later.

"Yeah…" Clint's voice trails off and they are submerged into an uncomfortable silence "Look, Tasha-"

"It's fine if you want to take it back." Natasha says cutting him off. She looks down to see her hand clenching her grey comforter. Faintly she hears glass shattering and Steve shouting orders.

"Never." Clint says fiercely and Natasha bites her bottom lip "I meant it. I mean it" She hears feet pounding, guns firing and more shouting "And I hope I didn't ruin things between us." His bow lets out a twang. "And if you want to we can pretend it didn't happen." He's panting slightly into the phone now. "And I wish I chose a better moment to say it." The Hulk roars. "Look, Nat, I really have to go, we can talk about it later, but-" Steve angrily shouts Barton's name "-I love you, okay? Bye." The dial tone is pulses in her ear for a good twenty seconds before she hangs up in a daze. The sound of feet softly padding down the hall and a knock on the door (which indicates Pepper, because none of the boys knock) snaps her to attention.

"Come in Pepper," She calls, voice weaker than normal. Pepper takes a few seconds to get the door opened and steps over a trip-wire and under a laser while keeping her grip on two cartons of ice-cream, spoons and a pillow. Pepper dumps her loot on the bed and Natasha's lips lift at the corners as she takes note of the Iron Man shirt that Pepper's wearing.

"Thought you'd like some company," Pepper says sitting down on the bed. Natasha turns so they are facing each other. "Got some vanilla ice-cream; your favorite." Natasha nods in agreement and Pepper grins triumphantly handing her a spoon and the carton while grabbing the carton of mint chocolate chip for herself. "How was the mission?" she asks while Natasha is prying her ice cream open.

"Classified" The assassin replies, the two stare at each other for a moment before they laugh, because they've had this conversation before and they've decided classified doesn't matter if one has a boyfriend that can and will hack anything. "It took a lot longer than I thought it would."

"Will you tell me about it? Clint told me it was a suicide mission." Pepper asks, lips thin with worry. Natasha shoots her an unhappy look.

"I've gone on many suicide missions before." She states. Pepper watches warily as Natasha proceeds to eat her ice cream, eyes cold.

"What made this one so different?" Pepper asks cautiously.

"The mission was to wipe out an assassin training facility," Natasha's eyes flash "that we already lost good agents to before. It was a highly protected building. Kill first, ask later. In a place that is very hard to survive in." She stabs her spoon viciously into her ice cream and Pepper winces "Almost died going in, was dying on the way out. Shield is very good at extractions."

"How did you get in?" Pepper's concern is written all over her face as she grabs Natasha's hand.

"I was distracted and they caught me." Red lips twist into a grimace "Can't say who was lucky, but I'm the only one alive." She holds her ice cream between her legs and twists her spoon deeper into the carton before ripping it out and repeating the process. Pepper releases her hand and puts an arm around the assassin.

"What got you distracted?" The question is met with a soft snort.

"He told me he loved me, Pepper." Natasha gives her a wry look that hides pain and anger "but you probably knew that." Pepper gives a murmur of assent "I can't love him back Pepper." The strawberry blonde holds the red-head at arm length, a hand on each shoulder, looking her dead in the eyes.

"But you do, Tasha." Pepper says gently "So what's stopping you? Don't tell me about the red on your ledger, because I know about it and Clint knows about it and we both know that he accepts it." She goes firmly "And even if you think love is for children, we all deserve a shot at happiness. You and Clint deserve happiness."

Natasha tears away from Pepper and is across the room in an instant, her snack spills across the bed and onto the floor. When she comes to a stop, her hands are covering her face and her breathing is labored.

"Pepper," she mumbles when she's composed herself, hands still covering her face "I can't make him happy." Pepper makes her way around the melted dessert and bent spoon heading towards her friend.

"Why not?" Pepper asks, genuinely confused. Natasha's blood shot eyes peer at her through her fingers and Pepper's taken aback, because even when Natasha told her about Red Room training and late night nightmares from real life, she never came close to crying.

"He wants a family." Natasha says hollowly "I'm sterile." The assassin hears Pepper gasp and takes a breath before continuing. "In the Red Room, they ordered another operative and I to get married. So we did. I was fourteen." Their eyes connect and Natasha's eyes are dull "I was young- stupid, and I fell in love with him. It was a test of course and year later, they told me he died. Then they found out I was pregnant." The seductive yet deadly laugh of the Black Widow reverberates around the room "They sent him to terminate the pregnancy. I only remember him with a knife and pain." Natasha sobs "They called it punishment."

Pepper reads the fear and insecurity in her friend's eyes wraps Natasha in her arms and lets Natasha cry into her shoulder. Natasha cries as she listens to her friend telling about how her partner spoke about her during their late-night dinner; how he spoke about her like she hung the moon and was the only person that has every caught his eye. When she shudders with an overwhelming feeling of unworthiness and fear, Pepper reminds her in a whisper of who she was before Clint had found her and how he accepted her then. As Pepper continues on in a hushed voice, the spy slowly drifts between wakefulness and slumber.

The next thing she hears is Tony entering her room and having a conversation in a low voice with his red-head about a guest room that is open. She's too exhausted to listen to the whole thing.

Tony's carrying her the next time she is mildly alert and she can hear Pepper walking far ahead of them. When she shifts her head to look blearily at him, his arms tighten around her.

"You're safe here." Tony says, voice rumbling deep in his chest. "We take care of our own."

Natasha is tucked into a bed as opposed to Tony's chest the next time she comes to. She notices a light on the ceiling and upon further examination, the source of light is Tony. He is sprawled on a futon to her left with his mouth wide open, snoring softly. The corners of her lips twitch and she turns to find Pepper slowly waking up on the right side of the bed.

"Hmm." Pepper's mumbles is almost drown out by snoring from Tony "S'early, go back to sleep." Pepper pats Natasha's hand.

"Okay," the tired spy says burrowing into the CEO's side "Thanks Mom."

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Hey there! You've reached the end of Chapter THREE! Thank you for reading~

[INSERT A REQUEST FOR REVIEWS HERE]

Anyone have feedback on how Natasha was written? I'm not sure it's too believable… (how can I fix that?)

And it may be a while before I can update/finish this. College starts in a week and a day so, I will try my hardest- but no promises.