Alright everyone, here's the penultimate chapter of Off To The Races. I hope you like it. Enjoy!
It was about an hour later when they touched down at the base in Paris, tired and disheveled. Natasha felt like she desperately needed a shower while Clint just wanted to put some ice on his knee and conk out. But both Clint and Natasha knew that wouldn't happen based on the frantic scene that greeted them when they stepped off of the Quinjet and onto the Paris base.
The base was in a frenzy as they were most likely still trying to develop a cover story for the bombings of Pierre Moreau's hotel and casino, as well as a story for Pierre and Christophe's deaths. Several SHIELD agents were furiously typing away on laptops and desktops while others were filing paperwork. Some agents were sprinting across the base to consult other agents before hurrying back to their work stations to continue entering information into the online database.
Slowly and sluggishly, Clint and Natasha made their way across the base to the living quarters they'd been temporarily assigned for their overnight stay at the base. They followed the director of the Paris base through the frenzy until they reached a door on the other side of the vast room. The director of the SHIELD base pushed it open and led the SHIELD agents down a silent hallway.
They finally reached the end of the hall and the director of the Paris base paused outside of a door. He pulled out a key card and scanned it on the pad on the wall beside the door. The light on the keypad glowed green and the director grabbed the doorknob and pushed open the door. He stepped aside as Clint and Natasha dragged their feet into the living quarters.
Once they were through the door, Clint turned around and retrieved the key from the director before giving him a nod. The director returned the gesture and then turned on his heel to head back down the hall. Carefully, Clint slipped back into the room, letting the door swing shut behind him.
It was dimly lit in the room and Clint could see Natasha sprawled out on her stomach on the king-sized bed. Her feet were dangling over the foot of the bed while one of her arms was draped over the side. She was still dressed in her SHIELD catsuit and her boots were still firmly strapped to her feet. The sight of Natasha sprawled out on the bed put a smile on Clint's face.
With a slight limp in his step, Clint made his way across the room and flopped down on the bed next to Natasha, causing her small body to slightly bounce in the air. She landed back on the bed and flipped her curls out of her face to glare at her partner. Clint smugly grinned back at her as he locked his fingers together and rested his hands behind his head.
The two SHIELD agents laid on the bed in silence. The only sound filling the silence was the sound of their faint breathing. It had been a long day. Hell, the day had barely even started. It was only nine in the morning for crying out loud. But Clint and Natasha knew that if they fell asleep, they'd sleep through the rest of the day and throughout the whole night until they had to leave for the New York base at ten o'clock the next morning.
Clint felt his eyes start to slide shut and he let out a sigh as sleep started to overtake him. Just as he felt himself start to drift asleep, he felt the bed shift next to him as Natasha snuggled up into Clint's side. He felt a goofy smile spread across his face as he snaked an arm around her back and pulled her closer to him.
"Clint?" she said softly to get his attention. Clint grunted in response, his eyes still closed and on the verge of sleep. "Clint, I want to talk to her."
"Hmmm? Who?" Clint replied sleepily with a sigh.
"Jennifer," Natasha said bluntly. Clint's eyes snapped open and he turned his head to face his partner, furrowing his brow in confusion at her statement. "She must be so confused."
While Clint and Natasha had been battling Pierre's men in the hotel, the SHIELD rescue team was retrieving Jennifer and Oksana from Clint and Natasha's hotel suite. They had also cleared out the room of Clint and Natasha's belongings and cleaned it up to erase all traces of Clint and Natasha having been there. But the SHIELD rescue team had brought Jennifer and Oksana to the SHIELD base, along with the rest of Pierre's trafficked women and Jennifer's son. Natasha knew she had to be around here somewhere.
"She probably has so many questions, Clint," Natasha continued. "She's probably pissed off at us, too."
"So what?" Clint grumbled as his eyes drifted shut again and he shifted into a more comfortable position. "We saved her life. She and her son are safe. SHIELD will take care of her and her son from here on out."
Natasha pried herself from Clint's arms and sat upright on the bed. Clint's eyes popped open as he saw Natasha slide off the bed and head for the door.
"Wait, Nat, are you mad at me or something?" Clint asked. When Natasha didn't turn around or answer him, he figured he got his answer. "Okay, I'm sorry. Yes, she deserves to know but talking to her won't make it any better. Don't you think she'd be mad because we betrayed her?"
"That's why I have to go talk to her," Natasha said, her back still facing Clint. "She needs to hear it from me. Otherwise, she'll never forgive us."
"Tasha, we're probably never going to see her again - ."
"Yeah, and I thought I'd never see Yelena again and look how that turned out," Natasha snapped.
Clint felt like he'd been slapped in the face. Clint knew Natasha was still running from her past. He knew she'd always be running from it. But she didn't have to snap at him because he of all people never thought he'd see Yelena ever again either. Even if Jennifer had the power or the guts to execute revenge, he didn't think she would do it anyways. After all, Clint and Natasha did save her from the people who trafficked her in the first place.
But Clint could tell Natasha was afraid Jennifer would come after her. Of course Clint didn't want someone else coming after Natasha but he wanted to let her know that she didn't have anything to worry about. Natasha may have broken Jennifer's trust, but the woman was far from capable of getting revenge, especially when she had a little boy to look after.
"Tasha," Clint said softly as he pushed off of the bed and limped towards the red-headed agent frozen in front of the door. "I'm sorry, okay?" He reached his partner, whose back was still facing Clint. He carefully reached out and rested his hands on her arms from behind. "We'll go, okay? I'll go with you."
Natasha nodded silently before setting her hand on the doorknob and twisting it to open the door. She pulled the door open and slowly strode out into the hallway while Clint limped out behind her, grabbing the key car on his way out. The door swung shut behind them, leaving them in the silent white hallway of the Paris SHIELD base. With a reassuring look at one another, they silently and carefully made their way down the hall to find Jennifer Moreau.
It didn't take long to track down the room Jennifer and her son were staying in. Similar to the SHIELD agents in New York, the Paris SHIELD agents were careless as to where they set their files. Natasha was easily able to swipe the documents off of a table, skim them for Jennifer's name, and return them to their former resting place all before the SHIELD agent returned to retrieve them. By that time, Natasha was back with Clint and heading down the hall towards Jennifer's living quarters.
Jennifer's living quarters were located in a different wing of the Paris SHIELD base than the living quarters Clint and Natasha had been assigned to. It was on the other side of the base, far away from Clint and Natasha's living quarters. Not only was it a different wing on the complete opposite side of the SHIELD base, but it was also where the rest of the rescued women were being housed. In Clint and Natasha's eyes, SHIELD figured they needed some time away from the subjects of their mission. But that definitely was not the case.
Clint and Natasha finally reached the door to Jennifer's living quarters. The room was located about halfway down the eerily silent hall. All of the SHIELD bases were equipped with sound proof walls, but with the past 24 hours all of these women have had, Clint and Natasha expected to hear some sort of celebration going on. Clearly they were wrong.
There was a chance that Jennifer and her son could be sleeping, hence why Clint and Natasha hesitated outside of Jennifer's door, contemplating whether they should knock or not. After several minutes of deliberation, Clint limped forward and raised his fist to rap his knuckles on the door. He waited a couple seconds before backing up to stand next to Natasha and wait for Jennifer to answer the door.
It took a couple seconds until Clint and Natasha heard noises coming from the other side of the door. There was a childish whine, followed by the soft whispering of a woman's voice. A few seconds later, they heard sounds of faint footsteps nearing the door, then the sound of the door unlocking. The door swung open to reveal a disheveled Jennifer. Her long blonde hair was a rat's nest and there were dark circles under her eyes. Behind her, in the twisted bed sheets, was her son, Jacques. He was sleepily rubbing one of his eyes as he stared past his mother at the two SHIELD agents outside the door.
"Can I help you?" Jennifer asked wearily.
"Do you have time to talk?" Natasha asked politely.
"I suppose," Jennifer sighed as she stepped aside to invite Clint and Natasha into the room. Clint gestured forward to let Natasha go first and the red head stepped into the room hesitantly. As soon as Natasha stepped into the room, Jennifer turned away from her to head back to the bed. Natasha stepped further into the room with Clint on her heels. Natasha heard the door close with a snick behind her just as Jennifer took a seat on the bed next to Jacques, who was very close to drifting back to sleep.
Awkwardly, Clint and Natasha stood in the middle of the room, waiting for Jennifer to turn her attention back to them. They watched as she soothingly rubbed Jacques' back to lull him back to sleep. When the small child was completely back in dreamland, Jennifer turned her attention back to Clint and Natasha. Natasha had to admit that she expected her eyes to be full of anger and fury. Instead, they were tired and worrisome.
"So, you wanted to talk?" Jennifer said, being the first of the trio to break the silence.
Now Natasha didn't know what to say. She was finally standing in front of the person she had so desperately wanted to talk to and now she was drawing a blank.
"An explanation is in order," Clint chimed in. He could tell his partner was unsure of what to say now that she was standing right in front of Jennifer. It was going to take some time for Natasha to actually say something to Jennifer, but for now, Clint would get the conversation going.
"I suppose there is," Jennifer sighed.
Clint nodded in understanding. "Do you mind if we sit?" he asked as he gestured towards the love seat in the corner of the room.
"No, not at all," Jennifer said as she shook her head. Clint nodded and then limped over to the love seat. He had to admit that his knee was killing him. That was why he had asked to sit down in the first place. But if they stood the entire time, it would make it seem as if Clint and Natasha were towering over her the entire time. They didn't want to make it seem like they were superior to her. They wanted to be her equal.
Clint plopped down on the love seat, and seconds later, Natasha followed. He shot her a reassuring smile before turning back to Jennifer. The blonde had returned to soothingly rubbing her son's back, but there was a faint smile spread across her face as she stared at her son adoringly.
"You're probably wondering what is going on," Clint said.
"That's quite an understatement," Jennifer scoffed.
"I agree," Clint said. "If I were you, I'd be extremely confused right now. I'd even be angry."
"I have nothing to be angry about," the blonde said. "I'm just very confused and I want some answers."
"And you're going to get them," Clint said. "Anything you want to know. Go ahead, ask us anything."
Jennifer stared back at Clint in awe. Clint could tell she didn't quite expect someone to be so open to sharing the details of the past 24 hours with her.
"Who are you two?" Jennifer asked.
"Going straight for the jugular," Natasha muttered under her breath. It took every ounce of control in Clint's body not to snort a laugh. But once he got over that, he realized that his partner had finally piped up. Whether she was ready to actually talk to Jennifer, he wasn't sure, so Clint just continued.
"We're SHIELD agents," Clint stated. "We were assigned to a mission in Monaco to take down your husband and brother-in-law because of their association with human trafficking."
"It's about time," Jennifer muttered as she cast her gaze downward at her sleeping son.
Clint couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess SHIELD had it with their bullshit," he said. "It was time for us to take them down."
"Indeed," Jennifer agreed. "But you didn't quite answer my question." The blonde tore her eyes from the sleeping child and stared down the two SHIELD agents sitting on the love seat directly across from the bed. "Who are you two?"
Clint knew he was beating around the bush. Actually, it had been unintentional. But to be completely honest, Clint wasn't quite sure he was able to answer that question. He had been more than willing to admit who he was and what he does, but now that Jennifer was asking, he was choking.
"His name's Clint," Natasha chimed in. "Clint Barton. Your husband and brother-in-law knew him better as Hawkeye, the world's greatest marksman."
Jennifer nodded in understanding, but nothing on her face registered that she was angry, sad, or even frightened over that tidbit of information. "And you?" she asked Natasha. "What about you? Who are you?"
This was the moment Natasha was afraid of. She wasn't quite sure how Jennifer would react to the fact that Natasha was the infamous Black Widow that had given her hope after all these years. There was only one way to find out.
"My name is Natasha Romanoff," Natasha said after taking a deep breath. "I'm also a SHIELD agent, but you may know me better as the Black Widow."
Natasha saw Jennifer's eyes go wide and her jaw dropped at her admission. "No," she gasped.
"Yes," Natasha said flatly. "I'm only here because of the person sitting next to me." She stopped to glance over at Clint, who gave Natasha a reassuring smile. "He was sent to kill me years ago, but he made a different call," Natasha continued. "I haven't looked back since."
"I heard so much about you," Jennifer gasped. "Your circumstances were different than mine, but I always thought that if you could escape Russia, then I could too. Turns out I was wrong." The blonde glumly bowed her head in defeat. Her eyes were trained on her lap and her hand was no longer resting on her son's back.
"But you did," Clint said. "Look at where you are now."
"They'll send me back," Jennifer said as she shook her head. Her gaze was still trained on her lap. "I'll be right back where I started, maybe even worse off because I have Jacques now."
"You won't," Natasha snapped. "SHIELD is going to take care of you, and not just you, but all of the girls that were rescued. SHIELD is the good guys."
Jennifer nodded her head in understanding. "I know," she said solemnly. "That's what they told me, but I don't quite believe them."
"You can trust them," Natasha stated. "They'll take care of you. I'll make sure of it."
Jennifer's eyes grew wide again as she stared at Natasha. "Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked in shock.
"I could ask you the same question," Natasha shot back.
Jennifer looked shocked. She clearly hadn't been expecting Natasha to respond to that in the way that she did. "I practically tortured you," Jennifer whispered.
"I betrayed you and nearly slept with your husband - ."
"Ex- husband," Jennifer spat. "Though I suppose that's not what he is since he's dead. I guess that makes me a widow now."
"In any case, I earned your trust and then betrayed you. We should both be angry at each other but I'm not. And clearly you're not either. So why aren't you angry?" Natasha asked.
"You helped set us free," Jennifer whispered as she glanced at Jacques, who was still asleep. "Anyone could have done it and I would've been equally as grateful to them as I am to you. What I want to know is why you are being so nice to me?"
Natasha shrugged. "It's part of the job and I've been through far worse. Being tortured is just like another day at the office for us."
Natasha saw Jennifer's eyes widen again. "That's horrible!"
Natasha shrugged again. "Comes with the job."
Jennifer nodded in understanding, but both Clint and Natasha could see she was still beyond shocked at Natasha's confession. An eerie silence fell among the trio and they sat awkwardly in the room together, none of them acknowledging one another. Clint and Natasha felt like they said all that they had needed to say, but at the same time, they felt like there was so much more to say.
After a few more minutes, Clint eased himself into a standing position and stretched his arms above his head, feeling the muscles in his back loosen. When he felt refreshed and awake, he lowered his arms to his sides and then glanced behind him to look at Natasha. She glanced up at him with her bright green eyes and he reached a hand out to pull her up from the couch. She stared at his hand for a couple seconds before taking hold of it and being pulled to her feet.
Clint knew they couldn't just leave things open-ended with Jennifer. An awkward silence between them wasn't the way to go. So, he turned back to Jennifer and flashed a warm smile at her. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay, Jennifer," Clint said. "It's a lot to go through in less than 24 hours."
Jennifer shook her head. "I'll be fine," she said. "But I appreciate your concern."
"If you need someone to talk to, we'll be here until nine o'clock tomorrow morning," Natasha suggested. "Just ask one of the SHIELD agents running around and I'm sure they'll take you to our living quarters."
Jennifer nodded in understanding as the two SHIELD agents turned on their heels to head towards the door. But, the blonde woman had one more question for the SHIELD duo.
"Hang on a second," she said suddenly, causing Clint and Natasha to stop dead in their tracks and turn back to Jennifer. "Are you two really married or was that just a cover?" she asked curiously.
Clint snorted a laugh while Natasha glared at the blonde. "We're not married," Natasha snapped.
"Okay, sorry," Jennifer said defensively. "I can tell it's a sore subject."
Natasha was going to protest when Clint cut her off. "Our field of work doesn't exactly allow us to be married."
"Oh," Jennifer said dejectedly. "It's a shame. You two act like a married couple. You know each other so well too. That was the only thing about you two that had me convinced about your act in Monaco."
Clint snorted another laugh but it was cut short when Natasha elbowed him in the ribs. "Goodbye Jennifer," Natasha said as she started to turn to the door.
"Please, call me Olia," she said in response.
Clint and Natasha glanced at one another before looking back at the blonde sitting on the bed. "Of course," Clint said. "Goodbye…Olia."
The trio bid one another goodbye and the two SHIELD agents slipped out of the room. The door closed quietly behind them and they started to make their way down the hall in silence. They were almost out of the wing when Clint broke the silence.
"Oh my God, you should've seen your face when she asked if we were married," he said with a chuckle.
"Shut it, Barton, or your sleeping on the floor tonight."
And that's the last we'll see of Jennifer/Olia Moreau. We still have one more chapter and that's when I'll reveal where Clint and Natasha are headed next. Keep those guesses coming, even though someone has guessed it already ;).
Also, I think I'll post the first chapter of my new fic sometime this weekend. Just to let those of you know who were interested in it. It will most likely be called Wherever You Will Go. Keep a look out for it, but if it isn't posted by end of this weekend, then definitely next weekend.
As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Reviews are very much appreciated and they make me happy so please leave a lovely review to let me know what you think!