Chapter 4: Separation
Clint woke up with a gasp, sitting up. Natasha's screams filled his head. "Clint?" Natasha called out quietly as she sat up, her arms moving around him. "Talk to me," she whispered. Clint let out a deep breath.
"I killed you," he answered.
Natasha stroked his cheek lightly. "I was…strangling you. I had your arms and legs tied…" he told her. Natasha hushed him softly, stroking his cheek.
"I'm right here," she assured him softly.
Clint pressed a kiss to her neck, holding her close. "I'm right here," she whispered. She pressed a kiss to his shoulder, moving her hand over his back. She pressed a kiss to his lips as she pushed him back onto the bed.
Two weeks later, Natasha was in the bathroom getting ready to go. "Fury doesn't want you back in the field," she told her husband.
"I know, I don't want to be back in right now," he replied.
Natasha rested her hands on his chest. "You going to be okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'll be a soccer dad for a while," he answered.
Natasha kissed his chest, moving her hands over his sides. She stood up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against his throat. Clint pressed a kiss to her shoulder as he held her close. "I love you," she whispered in his ear.
"I love you more," He answered.
He kissed the top of her head, rubbing her back with a sigh. "Take care of our babies,' she whispered.
"Always," he answered.
He kissed her once more before she left.
(Two Years Later)
Natasha was lying awake in her quarters, a cold rag resting over her eyes. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. She had a huge migraine and of course this would be when her husband would decide to be semi-retired. Her cell phone started to ring, signaling to her that it was her facetime app. She sat up, grabbing her phone. She smiled when she saw her husband's face. "You finally learned how to use it," she quipped.
"Ah ha, you're hilarious babe," he answered, making her smile.
Natasha gave him a soft smile as she leaned against the wall. "You okay?" he asked, "You look pale."
"Just one of my migraines I get once in a while," she replied.
Clint nodded his head slowly. Once in a while she would get a massive migraine from her years in the Red Room, because of the medical testing and abuse she had endured. "I wish you were here," she murmured.
"I think I left some of your migraine medicine in the medicine cabinet," he answered.
Natasha gave him a soft smile. "How are the babies?" she asked.
"Asking for their momma," he answered.
"Is that mommy?" Gabrielle asked.
Clint crouched down and the five-year-old gasped. "Mommy!" she said excitedly. Natasha smiled.
"Hey, Ladybug," she answered.
"Momma, daddy took me on a four-wheeler ride," Gabrielle said excitedly.
"He did?" Natasha asked.
"Yeah, and look!" Gabrielle told her.
She held up a pinecone. "For our Christmas tree!" Gabrielle said excitedly. Natasha couldn't help but feel grateful that Clint is able to keep the children occupied while they were apart. Pinecones was a tradition they started when Nikolai was born. They would find pinecones in the woods and they would take them back where Natasha would clean them off so not to get sap everywhere then the kids would decorate them. "And look, momma," Gabrielle told her. She held up four more already decorated pinecones. The first two had a blue one and a pink one to represent Gabrielle and Nikolai's first Christmas. The other two had little arrows glued to the ends and the black widow symbol on the other.
"You found them," Natasha said smiling.
"Ah huh! Nik did," Gabrielle said excitedly.
Gabrielle then frowned a little. "Momma, will you be home to decorate the pinecones this year?" she asked. Natasha looked at her daughter.
"I'm going to try so hard, sweetheart," she answered.
She saw Gabrielle's face fall slightly and it broke her heart. "I love you so much," she told her daughter.
"I love you, momma," Gabrielle answered, "I'm going to go play now."
Clint looked at his wife as he held the phone back up. "My daughter hates me," she told her husband.
"Impossible," he answered.
He let out a sigh. "They just miss you," he answered.
"Makes you rethink the whole job," she murmured.
Clint nodded his head slowly. "I have to go, I have to go meet with Fury," she told him.
"Okay," he answered.
"I love you," she murmured.
"I love you more."
They hung up and Natasha went to talk to Fury.
Later on, she drove up to the park to see Steve standing by a tree talking to someone. "Hey, fellas," she called out. She smirked. "Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil," she called out. Steve walked over to the car.
"That's hilarious," Steve told her as he got in.
The guy stood by the car. "Hey," he said smiling.
"Hi," Natasha answered.
After Steve's quick banter with the man, she sped off down the road while telling Steve their mission.
(Indian Ocean)
Natasha stared at the screen as Rumlow was explaining the mission. Afterwards, Steve walked over to the back of the jet while Natasha was grabbing her parachute. "Secure channel 7," Steve told Natasha.
"7 secure," she answered, pushing her hair from her eyes.
She started to unstrap the parachute. "You doing anything fun Saturday night?" she asked.
"Well all the guys from my barber shop quartet are dead, so no, not really," he replied.
Natasha gave him a smirk. "You know, if you ask Kristen out from statistics she'll probably say 'yes'," she commented.
"That's why I don't ask," he answered as the door opened.
"Too shy or too scared?" she asked.
"Too busy!" he answered before jumping.
Natasha smiled, shaking her head slowly. She made sure no one was watching before she held her wedding ring up to her lips, kissing it before stuffing it back into her shirt. "Romanoff, let's go," Rumlow called out.
"Coming," she answered.
She strapped her parachute on before they jumped out of the back of the jet.
When she landed on the ship, she immediately removed her parachute as she walked beside Steve. "What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you? She seems kinda nice," she commented.
"Secure the engine room THEN find me a date," Steve told her.
"I'm multitasking," she answered before she jumped over the rail.
Natasha jumped down into the engine room quietly, going over to one of the guards. "Natasha, what's your status?" Steve asked. She tried to ignore him so she could take out the guard. "Natasha?" he called out.
"Hang on!" she snapped into her walkie before she jumped one guard, using her widow bites to shock him into unconsciousness.
After fighting several guards, she held her wrist back up. "Engine room secure," she told Steve before she grabbed a metal pipe and hit a still conscious guard in the head with it before walking away.
Finding the control room, she immediately started hacking into the system. She could hear Steve calling to her, but was ignoring him. She had her own mission to do. Steve and Batroc came crashing through the control room. "Well this is awkward," she commented. She looked over at Steve with a smirk before she continued with her work.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked.
"Backing up the hard drive it's a good habit to get into," she replied.
"Rumlow needed your help, what the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.
Steve looked at the screen. "You're saving SHIELD intel…" he muttered.
"Whatever I can get my hands on," she answered.
"Our mission was to rescue hostages," Steve snapped.
"No that was your mission," she answered, removing the disk from the computer, "And you've done it beautifully."
She went to walk away when Steve grabbed her arm. "You just jeopardized this whole operation," he snapped.
"That's overstating things," she answered.
Suddenly, Batroc got up and threw something at them. Steve blocked it with his shield and it was a grenade. Steve grabbed Natasha by the waist as he jumped from one desk to another while she shot out one of the windows. They just made it through when the grenade went off. Natasha leaned against the wall, letting out a deep breath. "Okay…that was on me," she told him.
"You're damn right," Steve snapped before he went to catch up with Batroc.
(Barton Home: Two Days Later)
Clint was getting the kids ready for school. "Daddy, can I take my bunny to school?" Gabrielle asked.
"No, because last time you took it to school you came home crying because a boy ripped one of the ears off," he replied, "Nik! Let's go!"
Nikolai ran down the stairs. "Let's go, let's go," Clint told the kids as he rushed them out of the door.
Driving up the school, he got Nikolai out first, hugging the boy. "Dad," the eleven-year-old groaned, making his dad smile.
"I'll pick you up from basketball practice," he told his son.
Nikolai nodded before he grabbed his lunch bag from his dad. "See you later, buddy!" Clint called out as the boy ran inside. He got Gabrielle out of the car to get her into her kindergarten classroom when his phone rang. "Hello?" he answered, not checking the caller ID.
"Agent Barton?" a familiar voice asked.
Clint frowned as he crouched down beside his daughter. "I'll see you later, Ladybug," he told his daughter.
"Bye, bye daddy," Gabrielle answered, hugging him tightly.
Clint kissed her cheek before she went to join her friends. "It's not Agent anymore, I retired two years ago, what do you want, Hill?" he asked as he got into his car.
"Something's happened, Barton," Maria answered.
"What's going on?" Clint asked.
Maria was silent on her end for a minute. "Fury's…Fury's dead," she answered. Clint slammed on the brakes, pulling off to the side of the road.
"What?" he asked.
"Someone's killed him, and now SHIELD is hunting Steve. They told us he's associated to the murder somehow," Maria answered.
"I don't believe that and I don't think you're calling me just to tell me that. How about you stop fucking lying to me?" Clint demanded.
Maria let out a deep breath. "Natasha's been linked to it as well, SHIELD has her on their kill list," she answered. Clint frowned as his blood ran ice cold in his veins.
"Where is she?" he asked.
"I don't know, she and Steve disappeared off the grid," Maria replied.
"Dammit!" Clint hissed.
"Sitwell wants you to come in, Clint, he wants you to track them," she answered.
Clint frowned. "He wants me to track my own wife?" he asked.
"Only a few people know about that and one of them is dead," Maria replied.
The former agent sat back in his seat, looking at his wedding ring. "I think you should come in, try to find them. At least warn them, because if SHIELD gets a hold of them…" she started to say.
"They're as good as dead," he answered.
He let out a deep breath as he threw his car into drive, speeding back down the road. "Give me an hour," he told her before hanging up.
(SHIELD Headquarters: Two Hours Later)
Clint walked in, dressed in his SHIELD gear. "Sorry to pull you out of retirement," Sitwell told him.
"What's going on?" Clint asked, wanting to get to the point.
"The last time they were spotted was at this mall here," he answered, "We need you to look for where they would go next."
Clint looked at the security footage of the mall. "Why would you think Natasha and Steve art part of this?" he asked.
"Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff are hiding something, they know something," Sitwell answered, "I know you and Agent Romanoff were partners for years, but she is possibly a traitor. We need you to track her."
"Why do you think I would do that?" Clint asked, "I know, Natasha, she wouldn't betray SHIELD."
"If you don't do it, then you will be seen as associated with their plans," Sitwell answered.
Clint looked over at him. "Are you blackmailing me, Sitwell?" he asked.
"Call it a warning," Sitwell answered before walking away.
Clint cursed under his breath before leaving to find his wife and friend.