I need you.

That's all it needs to have Clint on the edge. A short text from Natasha, only saying "I need you" and a couple of coordinates, and Clint's a bundle of nerves. Tensely, he asks Coulson for leave, and gets it, and then he boards the first plane to Russia.

I need you. Three simple words, and Clint is shaken through the bones. Natasha doesn't ever admit that maybe she needs someone.

He stares at his phone during the whole flight, not sure what to make out of this, worried and confused and afraid of what must have happened for her to write those words. It takes him 21 hours from receiving the message to reach the house that is on the coordinates she sent him, and that are 21 hours to long.

When he finally knocks at her door, he doesn't know what to expect. What he certainly didn't expect is to find her with tears in her arms, physically unharmed as far as he sees, but with anger and sadness and betrayal in her eyes, and he definitively does not expect her to throw herself into his arms and start crying on his shoulder.

Helplessly, he puts his arms around her and ushers her inside, closing the door behind him. Then he just stand there, holding her and not knowing what to say.

He doesn't know how long she cries, time seems to stretch and he doesn't care, to be true. He just wants to find this son of a bitch who made her cry like this, who made his Tasha cry like this, and put an arrow through his heart.

Finally, she calms down a bit and starts speaking.

"It's all a lie. Everything. It's all a lie, nothing of it is true." She starts sobbing again.

"What is a lie?" He asks carefully.

"Everything. Everything I ever believed in. What they told me about my parents... Everything I ever believed in is a lie, Clint." She wipes away a few tears.

"I... I was searching a file for an op, when I found my own file. The real one. The fire, Clint, the fire that killed my parents... they started it. They killed my parents, they lit up my home and destroyed everything. They didn't took me in because of mercy, they killed my parents because they wanted me! They killed my parents, my older sister... they killed them all!"

Clint just holds her tighter. There is nothing he can do or say. He kind of always knew that the Red Room weren't exactly the good guys, nobody who takes little girls and teaches them how to be an assassin is, but that he didn't expect.

"And you know what? When they lied so horribly about this, how can I believe that anything they told me is true? How many innocents have I killed, Clint? How many of the people who I murdered weren't the bad guys? How many?"

"I don't know, Natasha. But there is two things I know: First of all, this isn't your fault. You were the weapon, they pulled the trigger. And second, considering how often we met on jobs, I kind of think that the most guys you took out were ones the world really doesn't misses."

Natasha closes her eyes and curls up deeper in his arms.

Later, they sit on a small couch. On the desk before them lies the file. It's a thick file, filled with many pages that describe Natasha's operations, her experiences, psychological examinations and much more.

Natasha has seen it all, has read every single page while waiting for Clint to show up. She knows who lit up her home, knows the names of every single one of them, she knows about the treatments they gave her, knows that changed something with her body to make her heal faster, to make her feel less pain.

She knows all of that, but she still finds it hard to believe. On the other hand, many things that bothered her make sense now. Why she never really needed to go to a hospital, for example. Why they never allowed her to return to her home town.

Tears run down her cheeks again, but she wipes them away quickly and instead focuses on Clint. Clint sits on the couch, reading the file silently and with real concentration. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to. Natasha is just incredibly thankful that he is here, that she doesn't have to be alone right now.

Clint's head spins from all the things he's read. Physical Enhancements, her first kill, a detailed report about the night when Natasha's parents and sister were murdered. It's … just so much. There are things about her that bring tears into his eyes, and other things that makes him want to grab his bow and just kill those guys who did that to her.

At the same time he realizes just how much she has to trust him to let him read her file. There is so much information about her in there, so many things he could use against her. Not that he would ever do that, but it still gives him a little warm feeling that she is okay with him reading it.

He sees the name on each paper. Natalia Romanova. Again, he is surprised – positively – by the level of trust she obviously has for him. After what seems like an eternity he looks up to meet her. He sees so much in there, sadness, insecurity, anger. There is so much in there, and Clint can't say anything to that. He just holds his arms open and takes her into a tight hug.

Later, when they drink a wodka together (Natasha insisted), he asks her what she is going to do now.

"I am going to hunt them down, then I am going to kill the trainers and destroy the whole organization. They shall know that there is no way they get away with that. I will destroy them."

Clint takes a sip of his drink and asks.:

"Need help?"

Natasha smiles, but shakes her head.

"Thanks for the offer, but no. I have to do this on my own. Also, you have a job. Don't just destroy your life because of me."

"You do know that you are more important to me than that job, do you? I'd have no problems to quit."

"Still, no. But I appreciate the offer." She smiles.

"You know how to reach me."

AN: I'm back!

*hides behind chair*

Okay, I'm really sorry this took me so long. I hope to be quicker next time =)