Oneshot
Disclaimer: MARVEL characters do not belong to me, I'm only taking them out for some fun.
Fear bloomed in his chest when he saw his best friend holding on to a piece of dark blue kevlar. The tears in her eyes didn't help either. He tried to push his fears away until they found a body, there was hope.
"Nat, we have to keep looking."
The redhead looked up at him and the despair in her eyes was enough to make him kneel next to her.
"Nat," he said gently holding the spy's trembling body, "come on, we'll find them."
"What if we don't? Or what if it's too late by then? Steve and Wanda could be..."
"But they're not," Clint interrupted her firmly. "You'd know it if he was."
"Clint..."
"No, Nat! They'll be ok."
She nodded trying to make herself believe what Clint was telling her, but logically she knew that it was unlikely that Steve and Wanda would be ok.
The mission had started out as any other and they'd responded as they always did, but there had been more hostiles than initially reported. Usually they'd have handled it with no problem, but today was different. Tony was still out with a serious injury he'd received the week before, Thor was dealing with Asgard, and Bruce wasn't returning their calls. Still a city needed saving and the Avengers had gone out to confront the hostiles. The fight had escalated quickly and the the last time Natasha had seen Steve he'd been fighting, sans shield, to protect an unconscious Wanda.
Natasha would have been pissed at him for it if she hadn't known that he'd saved Clint by throwing the shield to intercept a hail of bullets meant for the archer. That had left him without the advantage of the vibranium, but the stubborn ass wouldn't move from his position-not that she would've left Wanda alone and unconscious either. The next thing any of them knew a bomb had gone off next to their position and all she found of Steve had been that piece of blue kevlar. It was like a scene right out of her nightmares.
"Anyone have a location on Rogers and Maximoff?" Sam's voice came over comms.
"Negative, we're still looking," Clint responded.
Natasha shook her head to clear it, and joined Clint in his search through the rubble.
"Avengers... respond," Maria's voice broke through the static, whatever jammers they'd had apparently no longer working.
"We read you, Hill and we have to say that's a relief," War Machine answered.
"We couldn't get through until now, we're sending in the Bus Team."
"Don't, the situation here has been neutralized. We've got some of the hostiles, but Wanda and Steve are MIA," Sam informed her.
"Understood, Falcon. I'll have a MedEvac there in 10 for when you find them."
Natasha smiled at the confidence in the other woman's voice even though she didn't share it. They kept looking, Sam from the skies using RedWing to scan for life signs underneath the rubble. War Machine and the Vision were working with the police to help civilians, since quite a few had refused to be evacuated.
"Widow," Sam's voice came urgently over comms, "I've got life signs over here, one's fainter than the other."
Natasha and Clint sprinted over to where they could see Falcon and RedWing hovering and the three started digging. Finally after what seemed like hours, Natasha glimpsed a familiar round disk. It was Steve's shield and underneath it an unconscious Captain America and Scarlett Witch. They were bloody and bruised, as if Steve had only managed to cover them with the shield at the last second, but the were breathing. Natasha fell to her knees next to them one hand on Steve's shoulder, the other on Wanda's. Dimly she heard Clint call the MedTeam to their location, but she was honestly in a daze. Relief was flooding her system at the sight of the two of them alive. She knew that now that they'd found them, the two would be okay, because the alternative was unthinkable.
The spy reluctantly moved aside once the medical personnel made it to their location and Clint wrapped her in his arms. It was only then that she realized how exhausted she was, her eyes closing of their own accord now that the adrenaline had left her system.
Clint smiled softly when he felt the redheaded spy go limp in his arms, he knew she'd been exhausted from the three back-to-back missions she'd been sent on before this one. He'd also known there was no way she would have given in to her body's demands until Steve and Wanda had been found. The archer was happier still when the MedTeam declared that both the Captain and Wanda would be fine after some stitches, oxygen, and blood were administered.
The Avengers moved toward the QuinJet, Clint carrying the sleeping Natasha and sitting down with her on his lap.
"Steve?" the sleepy spy asked when she stirred while they were flying over the Atlantic.
"He's going to be fine as is Wanda," he told her, running his hand gently through her blood red curls.
"I'm tired," she complained.
"To be expected considering your condition, little spider," he said quietly.
Natasha hummed, but didn't say anything.
"Sleep, Nat," he said gently, but unnecessarily. "You know kid," he whispered, speaking ruefully with a hand resting softly on Natasha's still flat stomach, "your parents are going to love you even more than they love each other."
Clint smiled to himself, relieved with the knowledge that his unborn niece or nephew still had both parents. He started humming gently, feeling his sister-because that's what Natasha is-relax even further in his arms, all was well with their lives at that moment.
AN: Sorry I'm taking so long with updates, but my university was on strike. Now we're back and working to make-up all the time we missed. I hope you guys like this one, even if it's a little different to the others. Let me know if I should keep this up. Thanks to all those who have favorited/reviewed.
