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"Sir, if I can explain…" Natasha said slowly getting up.
"Oh please do, Agent Romaoff, please do. I was just thinking that if this field hospital had a psych ward I should just go ahead and check myself into it. It's the strangest thing I thought I saw two of my best agents in bed together. Stranger still since one of them should not even be here!" Nick Fury said as he stood at the foot of Clint's hospital bed.
He was mad and he didn't even know the half of it…
"Sir I completely stand by my decision to come here for Agent Barton. As I advised you before I believed waiting for further intel which may still have been flawed was a mistake and I knew it would likely cost him his life. Barton's my partner and I knew he would have done the same for me. I would say that I'm sorry for disobeying your orders but you'd know that was a lie. However, I am sorry for disrespecting you." Natasha said as she looked Fury dead in the eye.
Clint watched her, loving her even more than he already did for the way she stood up for herself. He tried to sit up a little bit to see Fury better.
"Sir, I should take some share of this blame, if I hadn't have let Geiger's men get the drop on me Romanoff would never have had to make that decision." Clint said weakly.
Fury paced up and down with his hands behind his back. They both knew what that meant and slightly shrank from him, waiting for the storm.
"Quite apart from the fact that you disobeyed a direct order, Agent Romanoff you also enlisted the initiative to come with you. That is exactly why everyone is so afraid of them! They can't just pick and choose missions, going half way around the world blowing whatever shit up they want to!" Fury said gesturing wildly with his hands.
"I apologise for bringing them into this Sir, it was completely my fault." Natasha said trying to spare her friends any fall out from this.
"Well that's not what they told me!" Fury said as Natasha and Clint looked at each other.
"They said that you gave them every chance to say no and they all came of their own free will. So now what have you got to say?" Fury said triumphantly.
"That's very kind of them…." Natasha began.
"And what the hell is going on between the two of you? Like I have to ask, it's pretty god damn obvious that you're partners in more ways than one." Well, since he's going to hit us with that, nothing could make matters any worse, Clint thought.
"That's right Sir, in fact - I'm pregnant." Natasha blurted out and Clint nearly passed out.
Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, looked like he was going to explode.
"YOU ARE WHAT?" Bruce, Steve, Thor and Tony all jumped from their huddled positions outside the door of Clint's hospital room in shock at Fury's sudden outburst.
"Oh no she didn't…" Tony said leaning in to hear more.
Fury sat down in the chair in the corner of the room and looked at the floor. Clint began to speak but Fury held his hand up.
"I'm just going to sit here for a minute so don't say a god damn thing either one of you!"
Natasha thought he was going to send them both to opposite ends of the universe for what she'd just said. She gave up and sat down on the bed beside Clint. He touched her back lightly trying to reassure her that it didn't matter what he said next.
For at least 5 minutes the silence hung over Clint and Natasha like a dark cloud of doom until Fury lifted his head and spoke.
"So, you want out Romanoff?"
Natasha nodded silently, preferring to wait for him to elaborate on his train of thought. "What about you Barton?"
"Me too Sir, I want to be a good father and being an Agent of SHIELD will not guarantee that." Clint spoke with conviction as Natasha let a small smile escape her lips.
Furry nodded slowly. "What about the Initiative?" He asked them both.
"That's different Sir, we still want to be involved. I know it will be hard at times but I think we've earned our place there." Natasha said confidently.
"Oh do you Agent Romanoff? Do you think that I can let you both go from SHIELD and still convince the Council that you should be part of the Initiative?" Fury said despairingly.
Natasha started to feel her heart sink. SHIELD could kiss her ass but the Avengers were different, they were more than just colleagues, they were a family. For the first time in her life she felt part of a valuable team and to lose that would be terrible.
Fury turned away folding his arms and sighing. Looking up at the ceiling he said,
"Perhaps the fact that your colleagues in the Initiative have flatly refused to participate in any further missions should you both be withdrawn from the project might sway the Council into seeing things my way."
Clint smiled to himself, those bastards may have just saved our bacon here.
Fury turned to look at them both, "We'll just have to see. From here on out you are both on medical leave until further notice. I'll be in touch." He opened the door to find the others scattering quickly pretending they weren't eavesdropping. Shaking his head muttering something about children he strode away.
Tony stuck his head around the door, "I think the old coot likes you guys, I damn near cried he was being so sweet!"
Barton smiled and took Natasha's hand, "Can we get the hell out of here now please?"
48 hours later they were back in the tower where Clint could still be monitored by Bruce and his team to make sure his recovery was progressing well. Cue much fussing around him by Natasha and Pepper as he kept to his bed mostly with his room becoming the Initiative's common room, where everyone gathered most days and nights to eat and relax.
Over the next two weeks that's the way things went with him getting a little stronger and a little better everyday much to Natasha's relief. She worked very hard on pushing the image of him on that table, unconscious the way she'd found him in Germany out of her mind.
Finally they were both summoned to SHIELD to meet Fury and find out their fates. As they sat at the table waiting for Fury, Clint went over lists in his head. He had decided straight away that if this meeting didn't go the way it was supposed to he would take Natasha and run. Now obviously that wasn't the smartest plan with a baby on the way but he wasn't about to let that one eyed bastard come between them and the fresh start, the clean slate they had longed for.
Fury walked into the room and sat down opposite them clasping his hands together as he began. "Well as usual my powers of persuasion fell on deaf ears. The Council agreed to release you from SHIELD but they told me that you may no longer participate in the Avengers Initiative." Nick Fury said plainly.
Natasha showed no emotion as Clint puffed out a breath. They looked at each other and rose from their seats to leave with silent acceptance.
"However…." Fury added as they froze to the spot. "After the intervention of Stark, Banner, Rodgers and Thor - the council were persuaded otherwise. So sit down."
Like obedient children they sat down, in somewhat of a daze as to what just happened.
"Now, obviously this is a unique situation with your, um, condition Romanoff. You will have access to SHIELD resources without being part of SHIELD therefore I'm sorry to say you will become a little like Stark." Fury said with the faintest of smiles.
"I guess we'll have to play a lot of this by ear but for now, that's it." Fury got up to leave and Natasha flew out of her chair on impulse and stopped him as he reached the door.
"Sir, I guess if I was still an Agent of SHIELD you could hang me out to dry for what I'm about to do but since I'm not…" Fury looked confused as Natasha reached up on her tiptoes and planted a small kiss on his cheek.
She took a step back from him and smiled at him, "Thank you Sir."
Clint chuckled to himself at the look on Fury's face as the Director of SHIELD left the room in a flustered mess.
Natasha sighed and threw her hands up exclaiming, "We're free! Let's get out of here!"
As they walked down the street Clint draped his arm casually around Natasha's shoulders and she leaned into him. She couldn't adequately put into words how amazing she felt. Here she was unemployed for the first time in her life, pregnant and the most amazing thing of all time, she was engaged to be married to her best friend in the whole world.
She stopped walking suddenly as Clint turned to look at her questioningly.
"What would you have done if that meeting had gone South?" she asked him out of the blue.
He sighed and took her hand, "I was going to bundle you into a car and drive til we ran out of gas. No way was I letting the Council decide the rest of our lives for us."
She chuckled at his statement and he felt his chest tighten at the sight of her whole face lighting up. It so rarely did and he loved to see it. It had been a painfully slow process but he had dragged this side of her personality kicking and screaming to the surface from where it had been locked away for so many years.
He was proud of that, proud of her - she could call him a girl all she liked but she was starting to act like one and he loved her for it.
"You were making plans to run away - I was making plans to get married." She said surprising him. He looked puzzled as she continued.
"This morning I was talking to Pepper and she asked me what I just asked you - what would I do if it all went to Hell?" Natasha stepped towards Clint and wrapped her arms around his neck, his arms came around her waist as their surroundings fell away.
"I told her I wanted to be Mrs Barton as soon as possible. I mean I know you already asked me and I already said yes but now I want to ask you something. Would you marry me today?" He smiled at her before capturing her lips with his own savouring her sweet taste before pulling away from her slightly.
"It would be my honour." He said firmly looking deep into her eyes. She squealed and jumped up into his arms as he lifted her off the ground and spun her round. Now people were looking at them but neither of them cared….they were getting married.
"Let's go back to the tower and get changed. I might not be ready for some big foofy dress but I refuse to get married in jeans." She said winking at him as she pulled him on with her.
As Clint slipped on his dress jacket he felt a little nervous as he looked in the mirror. He was wearing a simple black suit with a crisp white shirt and no tie. He checked his pockets nervously as he checked his reflection again.
"Mr Barton?" Jarvis's voice rang around the room and he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Yeah Jarvis." He said taking a few deep breaths.
"Miss Romanoff asked that you meet her in the lobby in half an hour and she said that you need to find two witnesses."
"Witnesses?" He said before realising why. "Jarvis who else is here right now?"
"Mr Stark and Miss Potts left for Washington DC an hour ago but Dr Banner and Captain Rodgers are in the living area watching television."
"Thanks Jarvis." called Clint as he walked the short distance to the living area to find his two friends sprawled on the couch staring at the television. He sighed and walked over to the set, switching it off.
"Hey! Don't make me get the Other Guy." Bruce said frowning.
"You guys have exactly twenty minutes for a shit, shower and shave, get going." Clint said rubbing his hands together and looking at their bemused faces.
He rolled his eyes. "Natasha and I need you to come to City Hall with us and witness our marriage…now let's go, hustle!"
The men's expressions went from bemused to shocked in the space of a few seconds but never the less they were up and moving.
The three men waited for Natasha and Clint began to get nervous, his mouth was dry and he was sweating just a little at the thought of what was about to happen. Not that he was scared of being with Natasha, he wasn't, but he was about to take on responsibilities he'd never dreamed of and he hoped he was up to the challenge.
"Ahh, our witnesses." Natasha said as she stepped out of the elevator. "Hi guys, thanks for doing this."
Clint's fears melted away in her presence. She was wearing a pretty purple chiffon dress which stopped just below her knees and swayed with her hips when she walked. To his surprise she'd gathered her hair up in some way that he'd have to ask her what it was officially called but little tendrils of red curls framed her face as she smiled at him.
The group began to move towards the door when Steve stopped them. "Oh hey wait, do you have something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?"
Natasha stared at him trying not to laugh at the serious look on his face.
"Hey it's not just tradition it's a good luck charm." He said defending his outburst.
"Well, I haven't worn this dress before so that's new….um.." She said trying to think.
Bruce stepped forward and took off his watch handing it to Natasha. "Here you can wear this for something old and borrowed. I'm afraid I can't help you with the blue, I only deal in green." He said jokingly. Natasha smiled as she put the watch on her wrist.
"Okay so something blue then?" Clint said impatiently.
"Oh I've got it, wait here for two seconds." Steve said sprinting outside.
Clint rolled his eyes, "Oh Jeez, we're gonna be late…" He said beginning to pace. Natasha laughed softly and took his hand squeezing it in hers.
"Let him go, he's being nice." She reminded Clint as he realised she was right and relaxed a little.
Steve came back inside with a small blue flower in his hand and gave it to Natasha. "There's a woman selling these across the street, will it go with your outfit?" He said quietly.
She took it from him and placed it in the clip holding her hair up. "How about that?" She said, "Thank you Steve."
"Okay let's go, let's go!" Clint rushed them all out of the door as Bruce laughed at his nervousness.
Less than an hour later they were man and wife and having dinner with their witnesses in a small café. Natasha touched her new wedding ring and smiled to herself as the men talked about the food and how Thor would have liked it.
"Well guys we're going to leave you to it." Steve said getting up. Natasha and Clint looked confused when he handed them an envelope from his jacket pocket.
"That's from Pepper and Tony for you. See you later." Steve said with Bruce adding his congratulations as they left the café.
Clint opened the envelope and read aloud.
"Dear Clint and Natasha, we're so pleased for you both and wish we were there to celebrate with you. We'll have a party when we get back but for now you should head to your honeymoon suite, in the Plaza. It's all booked under the name of Mr and Mrs Shield (a little joke from Tony). We've arranged for some things of yours to be sent over. We'll see you tomorrow. Love Pepper…and Tony of course."
Natasha's eyes widened at the mention of the Plaza, she had always wanted to stay there. Clint folded the letter up and put it in his pocket.
"Awesome Mrs Barton, let's go take a walk before we turn in." Clint said throwing some money down on the table as he got up.
As the city got dark Clint and Natasha walked through the park hand in hand. Natasha was now wearing Clint's jacket around her shoulders as he thought it was getting a little cold for her. She accepted it, thinking that she shouldn't fight with her new husband just yet.
They came across a carousel that had been closed up for the night and Clint seemed to get an idea. With a devious look on his face he checked around quickly to see if there was anyone nearby and pulled her with him to the side door.
"What are you doing you idiot? Do you want to get arrested and spend our wedding night in the slammer?" Natasha said watching him break the padlock on the door.
"Ahhh where's your sense of adventure?" He said giving her a shove inside as he shut the door behind them again. He broke open the control panel and the carousel suddenly roared into life, it's tinny music making Natasha laugh. She sighed and took her shoes off as she hopped up onto a horse.
He leaned against the wall and watched her go around a few times before jumping on beside her. She held on as she leaned back closing her eyes, enjoying the slight breeze on her face.
"You know I've never been on one of these before." She said still with her eyes shut. Clint moved closer to her and caressed her shoulder lightly.
"What never? That's criminal!" He said as her eyes flew open. She hugged the pole she was holding onto bringing her closer to him. He wrapped an arm around her as her trusty steed moved up and down.
"You know…you do a lot of things like this for me and I don't really do anything in return for you. Aren't you sick of me by now?" She said quietly looking at the ground.
"No! " he said shaking his head at her, he brought her chin up to his level gently with his hand and kissed her cheek.
"You see I've figured out that this is what a relationship is, wanting to do things for someone just to see the happiness it gives them. I love doing stuff like this for you because no one's ever done it for you before. I mean here you are on a carousel for the first time in your whole life!"
She laughed and looked at him lovingly. "I love you." She said simply as he smiled at her.
"I know, I love you too. I want to show you what the world can be like, that there's a lot of good in it to go with all the bad you've seen and experienced your whole life." He said sincerely as she soaked up all the love coming from his eyes for her.
"You say you haven't given me anything but you've given me the two most important things in the world. You gave me your heart and now you're giving me a family." he said as he caressed the slight bump she had reverently with both hands as she sighed at his touch.
I think the next chapter will be the last as we meet the tiniest Avenger of all!
