First off I want to apologise for being so slack. But with my classes just ending I have some time for writing :)
This chapter is sort of a fill in chapter, but I wanted a little character development. I'll explain more at the end.
Enjoy!
Natasha woke up to the smell of coffee brewing. She turned her head and a pain shot all over the side of her face.
"Ow!" she shouted, and hesitantly reached her hand up to touch her cheek.
"Don't touch it," Barton ordered, walking into the lounge. His hair was wet, and he had no shirt on. Natasha found herself staring and blinked a few times.
"Um… why not?" she asked. She drew her eyes away from his torso to look at his face, and he gave her a sympathetic smile.
"It's not as bad as it was last night, but it's still a little swollen. Try not to touch it because it'll hurt." Barton turned to leave but stopped.
"You should take a dip in the pool; it might soothe your face. It's great this morning." He left for the kitchen.
Natasha was thinking about a shirtless Barton when someone else walked into the room.
"Good morning, Miss Romanoff," Valentina said cheerily as she walked in with a tray.
"I brought you some-" Valentina looked up to smile at Natasha and froze, almost dropping the tray. A look of pure shock crossed her face.
"Agent!" Valentina screamed, her voice ringing through the house.
"Agent, come immediately!" A few seconds later, Barton came rushing into the lounge. He had a gun in his hand, ready for a threat.
"What's wrong?" he demanded, and Valentina pointed to Natasha.
"What happened to her? Her face! What did you do?" she questioned accusingly.
Barton looked at her in disbelief. "You think I did that do her?!"
"Well, who else could have touched her? You are the only one who has contact with her." Valentina turned to face Natasha. She had a look of worry on her face.
"Did he do this to you, Miss Romanoff? Do you want me to call-?"
Natasha interrupted her. "Barton didn't do this, Valentina. I… I snuck out last night and well, the men after my father found me."
Valentina looked like she was about to faint, but Natasha continued. "Barton came after them and found me. If it wasn't for him… I would be much worse. He saved me."
Valentina slowly shook her head. "Why would you put yourself in danger?" she asked quietly.
Natasha was about to say she behaved like an idiot but Barton answered before she could.
"It was my fault. She thought I was keeping something from her, and followed me. If I had just told her what I was up to she never would have been taken in the first place." Valentina opened her mouth to speak but Barton beat her to it. "I was contacting my team to get an update on the mission. I thought we weren't followed but I was wrong."
He turned so he was fully facing Valentina, sat his gun on the coffee table and put his hands together.
"I know you care about Natasha and her father, and I'm sorry I put both of them in danger. I hope you can forgive me, Valentina."
Valentina was silent for a moment, and Natasha thought she would blow up at Barton. But one look at the man and Natasha could see he was safe. She had to hand it to him: he did the puppy dog eyes perfectly. Valentina sighed and shook her head again.
"You two will be the death of me. Please, do not put yourselves in danger again."
Valentina left the room muttering about them being as worrisome as children, and Barton and Natasha were left staring at each other.
Natasha spoke first. "Thanks for taking the heat. She might have grounded me or something."
Barton laughed. "The funny thing is she'd probably try."
Natasha shrugged. "She cares about us. Still, you really got her with the puppy dog eyes."
Barton feigned innocence. "Puppy dog eyes? I did no such thing. I'm just incredibly sincere and charming."
She laughed and then they went back to staring at each other in silence. Barton didn't seem to mind, but it was making her uncomfortable to watch him so intently. She cleared her throat.
"So… um, I have a favour to ask you."
Barton narrowed his eyes at her for a second and then shook his head. "No way."
"You don't even know what I was going to say!" she exclaimed, and he laughed humourlessly.
"You want me to brush you up on your training. And the answer is no."
"But-"
"No."
Natasha yelled in frustration. "Why not?"
Barton was silent and she became confused. Why outright say no if he didn't even have a good reason?
"Do you think I'm not good enough?" she asked quietly.
"Absolutely not," he replied immediately. "That's not it at all."
"Then why?"
She was almost whining now, but she didn't care. She did not want a repeat of what happened last night and she wanted to be able to prevent it from happening again. And Barton could help her do it. Thinking about it, besides her dad, he was the best guy for the job - literally. He was at the top of his field, so who better to teach her? She wanted to learn what he knew.
"Give me a good reason why you can't teach me and I'll drop the subject. I'll never bother you about it again."
She watched his face as he thought it over. He didn't say anything, but she could see he was conflicted over something. She had no idea why he was so hesitant to teach her. She wasn't that bad company was she?
He sighed and she watched his face drop. "Fine," he said begrudgingly.
Natasha smiled brightly. "Thank you so much, Barton. You are not going to regret this, I promise you. I'm going to be the best student you ever had."
Barton put up her hand to stop her. "I'll teach you, but only after your bruises have gone away, alright?"
Natasha looked at him in confusion. "Why?"
He sighed again. "Because I want you at full health before you start adding more injuries to your body. I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Romanoff."
She nodded and he clapped his hands together. "Okay, until I start training you I want you doing laps in the pool for sixty minutes every morning – starting today. Go get your swimsuit."
Natasha stood up and saluted her new trainer before running upstairs.
Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit.
Why did he just agree to train her?
Clint took a seat on the couch and pressed his thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose. His patience was wearing thin, but not with her. How much longer was he going to torture himself?
In his defence, it was her who wanted him to train her. And really, there wasn't a solid reason for saying no. Saying he couldn't touch her because he was incredibly attracted to her just wasn't valid - it would probably just creep her out actually. But he had time to reign in his self-control; he wouldn't be starting their training for at least another week which allowed him to get his shit together. John had taught him how to manage his emotions when in the field, and that's exactly how he would think of this - as another mission in the field. But… was that what he really wanted?
Yes. Yes, it was. There was no way he could have anything with this woman. He absolutely could not-
His thoughts were interrupted as Natasha came downstairs. She was wearing a black bikini, modest by all accounts, but she still managed to make it look sexy as hell. He sighed in irritation for noticing and she stopped walking.
"What?" she asked.
"What?" he asked back and she gave him a look of exasperation.
"You sighed as I walked past. Did I do something wrong already?" she asked with a frown.
He gave her a small smile. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just… going through the training I have planned for you. We're going to need to go over what you know. But we'll do it later. Now get in the pool, and remember: sixty minutes."
Natasha smiled. "Yes sir."
She walked outside and Clint watched her dive into the pool. As he expected, her strokes were graceful and deliberate.
"Is there anything she can't do?" he muttered to himself, and jumped when he heard a response.
"She refuses to show vulnerability," Valentina said quietly, watching him. "Something she inherited from her father actually. Of course, you already know that about her father. You've spent quite a lot of time with him, haven't you?"
Clint looked at her. "I don't know what-" Valentina laughed and he stopped talking.
"He mentioned you, you know," she said. "Not by name of course, but I knew it was you after I met you. I wasn't completely certain at first, but I am now."
Clint simply stared at her for a few moments before responding. "How did you know-"
"John mentioned a young man he'd taken under his wing," Valentina said before he finished. "I remember him saying you were quite the protégé. When Natasha told me of your titles and skills, I just assumed you were who he'd talked about all those years. He thinks of you as a son - he's very proud of you."
Clint listened with wonder. He'd always thought of him as the father he'd never had, and he knew John had some affection toward him, but he'd never really put it into words. Like Valentina said, John just wasn't the type. But hearing how he talked of him… well, he never felt closer to the older man…
This just made his conflicting feelings even harder to ignore. John thought of Clint as a son and he a father figure. Being attracted to his daughter? He obviously had a death wish. The hesitation stopped now. That was it. He would train his mentor's daughter as if she was any other recruit and that was the end of it. No hope, no agenda. She was just another recruit.
Something was nagging at him from his conversation with Valentina and as he looked at her, he found her lost in her own thoughts. John had mentioned him to her? Why would he do that, unless…
Huh.
It was a toss in the dark but he had to know.
"How long were you sleeping with John for?" he asked casually, and Valentina jumped.
"Wh-what? I never said-"
"You didn't have to," he responded before she could finish. "John wouldn't have mentioned me unless you two were seriously involved. Were you?"
Valentina looked away, and Clint didn't think she would answer. He looked out at the pool.
"When he helped me, we connected," she said quietly. Clint looked back over at her but said nothing. She continued.
"I do not know how strongly he felt about me; I don't think he ever completely got over Miss Romanoff's mother. But… I was in love with him. We spent a lot of time together the year we met, but then he had a mission and left. I saw him a few times over the years, but we never… got involved again. I don't think he ever loved me like I loved him."
She looked up at Clint and he saw heartbreak in her eyes. "That is all I will say on the matter. I will ask you not to mention this to Miss Romanoff. I care about her; I do not wish to create tension by the fact I… I was in love with her father."
Clint nodded. "I'll keep your secret if you keep mine." Valentina nodded, but had a look of confusion on her face.
"Why do you not just tell Miss Romanoff you know her father? You could tell her so many things she wanted to know."
"The same reason you don't want her to know about you and John," he answered. "If she knew her father was my mentor – that he's like a father to me – she wouldn't see me the same. I don't think she'd understand my reasons for keeping this a secret now."
Valentina nodded, but she didn't seem convinced. "I hope you realise that the longer you wait to tell her, the bigger the damage will be."
Clint sighed. "Hopefully I'll protect her until John returns and get back to work, and she'll never find out."
Valentina gave him a sympathetic smile before she went about her cleaning, and Clint was left alone to his thoughts.
He thought about how Natasha would react if she found out he was keeping this from her. They'd made such good progress in their relationship; if she found out she would never trust him again. He'd broken their trust before and she'd forgiven him but he doubt that she would a second time if she learned what he'd kept to himself. But this was a woman who had lived without her father for years. All the time she'd missed with him? He'd had it all. He probably knew the man better than she did, and she was John's blood. Telling her was pretty much rubbing it in her face.
It would be cruel to let her know now. She would be heartbroken, and he didn't want to hurt her. With any luck, he'd never see her again after this whole mission was over and his little secret would remain just that.
I wanted to build a little bit of a relationship between Barton and Valentina. We know that she cares for Natasha, but now we know she has a sort of affection for Barton. Not a strong one, but it's there.
We've also learned that Valentina and John used to be together. I wanted more of a back story to Valentina, a little more connection to Natasha and her father.
Also, Barton keeping the fact he's pretty much a son to Natasha's father is a big secret to keep. He might not have thought it was a big deal, but sooner or later it's going to blow up on him.
Sorry about the slow chapter, but it's sort of necessary. Next one will be better, I promise! x
