Pepper landed Tony's private jet in the snow next to Boris plane, which Steve and Tony had just successfully landed. From the cockpit she could see a green blob on the horizon, which she assumed must he Dr Banner in his Hulk form, in amongst black dots, which she assumed must be the KGB planes. The Hulk was meant to be distracting them, so Clint, Natasha and the girls they had rescued, had enough time to get out of the compound before they finished destroying it, but it seemed that the KGB planes were getting closer.

BANG

Pepper jumped as the first bomb landed and she silently prayed that they were alright

BANG

BANG

More bombs landed.

'Widow, Hawk is everything alright, are you both ok?' she asked, through her communicator 'Widow, Hawk, come in, Widow, Hawk are you receiving me?'

There was nothing but static as the two agents failed to respond. The strawberry blonde quickly grabbed her warm coat, told JARVIS to watch over everything, including Boris Yusupov who was still unconscious as she ran out, across the snow towards the compound, quickly followed by the rest of the Avengers.

'Tash...Tasha...Natasha...NATALIA!'

Natasha blearily opened her eyes to find that she was lying on her front on the cold snow. 'Clint' she mumbled rolling over to face her partner, who was standing over her with an anxious look on his face.

'God, I thought you were gone for a second there Tash' Clint replied.

'Is everyone else ok?' she asked as he helped up to slowly stand up. 'Are you hurt?'

'Nothing that a nice bath and a long sleep can't solve' Clint replied, reaching down to help his partner up.

Natasha allowed Clint to wrap an arm around her waist and help her walk through the snow; she could see her fellow Avengers helping up the girls who had, like her, been thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion.

Elena?

Where was Elena?

She looked around but could see no sign of her small red haired daughter. Then she spotted Bruce, who had obviously changed back (Tony had been able to create trousers which were not destroyed by the Hulk) , bending over a small figure lying in the snow. Natasha detached herself from Clint and ran towards the body, throwing herself down on her knees next to Lena. She quickly pulled her daughter's cold, pale, unconscious body onto her lap and wrapping her arms around Elena, trying to protect her from the cold winter wind. Elena wasn't dead; she could see her small chest jut rising and falling and she had a pulse, though it was quite weak.

'Bruce, why isn't she waking up?' she asked half hysterically 'why won't she open her eyes?'

Bruce looked at his teammate who had not seen for several days and sighed, not knowing what to tell her. The normal poker faced Agent Romanoff he could deal with, but this hysterical mother Natasha, he could not. 'Natasha she's going to be alright' he stated as calmly as he could, hoping that Clint would come back soon. He knew that the archer was the only one who could truely deal with the Russian spy when she was in this state.

'What happened?' Natasha asked, the other girls seemed fine, so why was her Lena not ok.

'I'm sorry Ms Romanova' came a voice in Russian from behind Bruce.

Natasha looked up to see a pale faced Irina, so pale that with her white blonde hair she almost blended into the Siberian landscape, approaching her.

'I was running with Elena but with the force of that explosion, I let go of Elena's hand and because she's so little she went soaring through the air and...' Irina choked back a sob.

'Spasibo' Natasha stated reaching over to squeeze the young girl's hand 'thank you for getting her out' and she returned to stroking Elena's fiery red curls which were so like her own.

'Irina, why don't you head over to that plane' Bruce suggested in English 'I think some of my team might need some help sorting out the girls, do you think you could do that?'

Irina nodded understanding what he was saying and stood up slowly before walking towards the group which was surrounding the plane. How could she have missed the likeness between Elena and Ms Romanova?

'Clint, you've been more than enough help here' Pepper stated as she draped a blanket over the two sleeping twin girls before handing a steaming cup of hot chocolate to the blonde haired teenage girl who had just arrived. 'Go back to Natasha, she needs you' she said, pushing him out of the door and turning her attention back to the girls on the plane.

'Do you know if she's going to be alright Pep?' Tony asked, still in his Iron Man suit, glancing out across the snow, his eyes following Clint's path as he ran towards his partner.

Clint ran as fast as he could across the snow, but it was one of the worst terrains to run on and even in his extra grip S.H.I.E.L.D adapted boots, he was still sliding everywhere. 'We need to get her into the warm before we all get frostbite' he stated when he finally reached Elena, Natasha and Bruce and he handed over a blanket.

Natasha carefully wrapped her daughter up in light blue blanket Clint had provided, before lifting her up so she was cradling her in her arms, just like she used to do when she was a baby.

'Let me take her Tash' Clint whispered, gesturing for her to hand over the cocooned child she was holding.

'No' Natasha replied stubbornly, holding Elena closer.

'Come on guys', we need to get back to the plane' Bruce said and the group walked slowly back towards Tony's private jet, which was ready to take them back. Clint walked along supporting Natasha, who was carrying her child in her arms and although Elena was small her age, she still was a lot heavier than she was the last time Natasha held her. Now completely lacking the feeling in their hands and feet, they finally arrived at the plane.

'Come on open your eyes lyubimaya' Natasha whispered to her daughter, pressing a tender kiss to the top of her head as they settled her across a couple of the chairs in the warmth. 'Ya vas lyublyu malyutka, moya Lenochka '

'Mumiya?'

Natasha looked down at her daughter on her lap. 'Yes I'm your Mother' she replied in Russian, pressing another kiss to her daughter's head, then to both her cheeks, button nose and any other part of her body that was not swaddled in blanket. Happy tears escaped from Natasha's eyes. She could not believe her daughter was awake; she was going to be ok!

'Mumiya' Elena repeated sleepily, reaching up to touch Natasha's red curls which were so like her own, before snuggling back into the warmth of the blanket wrapped around her.

'Natasha I don't want to disturb you but what would you like us to do with Boris?' Steve asked, poking his head into the cabin of the plane. 'It's just we've got him tied up outside and he's awake. Do you want to take him back with us and you can deal when you are ready?'

'No, I can deal with him now' Natasha replied, shifting her daughter's sleeping body off her lap and standing up. 'Why should we take unwanted baggage back with us?'

Steve just stared at the red haired woman in front of him in amazement. Just minutes ago she was crying with happiness as her long lost daughter and now she was standing up holding her gun, with fierce determination in her eyes. 'Ok' was all he said as he led Natasha back outside to where the rest of the Avengers, apart from Bruce who was looking after the girls, were standing guard around the prisoner.

As the cold air hit the wet tear tracks on her face, Natasha furiously wiped her eyes. She was the Black Widow and she would not show any signs of weakness, especially not in front of the enemy.

'We saved him for you' Tony stated 'make the bastard pay'

'Don't worry, I will' Natasha replied, a ruthless smile appearing on her face as she fingered her gun, thinking of all the ways she could kill Boris. 'Hello Boris' she stated sweetly 'surprised to see me still alive?'

The gagged man just glared at her

'Well you know I'm a survivor, now what to do with you?' she muttered to herself. 'Oh how I have envisaged doing this to you over the years' she stated before kicking him hard in the groin, causing Boris to squeal and hiss in pain. She was sure that if he was not gagged he'd be shouting out some very colourful Russian curses at her. Natasha completely immersed herself in the Black Widow's persona; she was a cold hearted killer and man in front of her needed to suffer for all he had done both to her and the girls. 'I could just shoot you in the head' she stated pacing back and forth, twirling her gun round one of her fingers 'but then that would give you an easy way out' and she suddenly shot him in the leg, taking Boris completely by surprise.

Natasha laughed as he former mentor/tormentor howled with pain. 'That was for Tatiana' she whispered 'who you heartlessly killed just so you could get your hands on my daughter. Then she shot him in the right hand side of his chest 'that's for girls, both the ones I've rescued, but also for the ones who did not make it'. As blood seeped out of his wounds she shot him right in the middle of the heart 'and that is for Elena' she whispered. Then she turned her back on the now dead Boris to face the Avengers, who had been standing behind her, silently supporting her throughout the confrontation. 'It's done' she state quietly before collapsing, into Clint's open arms from sheer exhaustion, the adrenaline she had been running on finally running out.

Clint carefully picked up his partner and carried her onto the plane. When he had gentle positioned her in the seat next to him, with her head resting on his lap, he placed a gentle kiss to the top of Natasha's head, before closing his own eyes. It had been a long day, an even longer week but he was glad that the ordeal was finally over. However, as Tony's private jet took off and he drifted off, he knew that there were several more challenges to come.

A/N: and that's the first half of this story over! But don't worry, there is more to come! I have more Natasha and Elena interaction planned andnot to mention much more Clintasha/blackhawk, whatever you want to call it, moments.

I am so happy I was able to get this chapter out today and hopefully the next one will be up soon, however I'm now back at school, so the updates might not be as quick as they have been!

Thank you all so much for all your lovely reviews, I can't believe I am now nearing 40 reviews! Please review this chapter and let me know what you thought of it!

Thanks to everyone who is reading this story!

:)

Translations:

Spasibo - thank you

lyubimaya - beloved/darling/sweet one

Ya vas lyublyu malyutka, moya Lenochka - I love you little one, my little Lena

Mumiya - Mummy

(all translations are from google, I'm sorry if there are any mistakes!)