Holy cow, you guys, another update! I know, you're all heartbroken lol.

Clint sat up, his muscles protesting. "What?"

Natasha held her hand above Loki's mouth, but felt nothing. "He's not breathing!" she sounded panicked now.

He cursed and ran a hand through his hair.

"What do I do?" she looked to him, frantic.

"I don't know, Tasha! The seer didn't say anything about this," He gestured to the still body between them.

Natasha tried to think, trying to remember every fairy tale and myth she had heard whispered in the dark in Russia. A thought popped into her head and she leaned forward to kiss him without hesitating.

His skin was cold, and he did not reply. Clint cleared his throat and she glared at him. "Well it was worth trying!" she shouted, close to tears once more.

Wisely, Clint said nothing.

She stared down at Loki, getting more frustrated by the minute. "Wake up!" she shouted, and slapped him across the face. His head tilted to the side, but it was only from the force of her strike.

"Tasha..." Clint said softly, and his voice, the resignation in it, pushed her over the edge.

"No!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "Don't do this to me Loki!" She balled up her fists and beat them against his chest. "Don't you dare!"

"Shh, Tasha," He got up and came to kneel behind her. "Don't do that, come on," he tried to pull her back from Loki's body.

"No! No, no, no, no, NO!" She slammed her fists down on his chest with all her strength.

Suddenly, Loki gasped for air and then choked, his eyes flying open. Clint let go of Natasha in his surprise, and she threw herself at the prone god. One of his arms wrapped around her instinctively, while the other covered his mouth as he continued to cough.

"Don't you EVER do that to me again!" Natasha shouted through her tears.

Loki's coughs dissolved into laughter. "Alright. I can assure you I will do my best to avoid dying in the future," he managed to say, brushing a few curls out of her tear-stained face.

Clint, at a loss for words, stood. Loki glanced up at him, and removed his arm from around Natasha. She sat up, scrubbing her face with the heels of her hands, suddenly ashamed of her tears.

"I've made camp not far away," Clint said awkwardly "We should go."

Loki nodded, and Natasha and Clint helped him off the ground. Together, they trudged towards Clint's camp, although who was leaning on who was unsure, they were all so exhausted. They collapsed next to a bundle of twigs and logs, ready to be made into a fire, and for a few minutes just lay there breathing.

Natasha turned her head so she could look at Loki. He was staring up at the stars, eyes wide, a transcendent look on his face. She reached out to touch his hand, and he glanced at her, laughing.

"It's amazing. I haven't seen the night sky for an era, but it is still precisely as I remember it," he said, voice full of wonder.

She smiled a little, tired but happy. "Some things never change?" she guessed.

Clint, the first to recover, got up and started making the fire. Loki recovered once he had a tidy blaze going, sitting up and staring around him at the moonlit pasture. Spring had come to the land, and while it was still chilly the air was moist and full of life. He felt amazing. He turned to look at Natasha, still laying on the ground, half-dozing. He noticed that her palms were bleeding, angry red lines crossing them where the ropes had bit into them. Summoning the crystal bottle of healing oil, he moved to sit next to her and poured a little into each hand, massaging the wounds gently.

She murmured a sleepy thanks, and he smiled a little. "Sleep," he whispered. He waved a hand, and a bedroll and blanket appeared around her, as well as a second behind him.

Loki turned to find Clint watching them from across the fire. He was frowning, but what exactly he thought was hard to say. "Would you like one as well?" Loki gestured to his bedroll before sitting on it.

"Got my own, thanks," Clint said gruffly.

"Suit yourself," Loki said politely, and then laid down to get some much-needed rest.

Clint watched the fire, banking it so it would burn steadily through what was left of the night. He glanced at Natasha. In her sleep, she had reached out a hand, towards Loki, whose head was close to hers.

The sooner he goes, the better, Clint thought.

In the morning, Loki and Natasha awoke to find that Clint had been busy. He had shot a couple of rabbits, skinned them, cut them up, and had them roasting on a couple sticks stuck into the ground next to the fire.

Natasha sat up, feeling sore but well-rested. It was not an unfamiliar sensation, she thought with a wry smile. Clint, who seemed to think she was smiling at him, smiled back, and pulled one of the sticks out of the ground.

"Hungry?" he held it out to her.

She took it. "Thanks." She blew on the meat, waiting for it to cool, and pulled a chunk off carefully with her teeth. It was chewy, and not really done in the middle, but she was too hungry to care at the moment.

Loki sat up slowly, looking entirely too well put-together for first thing in the morning. When Clint made to hand him a stick of rabbit meat, he politely waved it away. Clint looked a little offended, and Natasha laughed.

"He doesn't eat," she explained, smiling.

He raised an eyebrow, looking at how thin Loki was. "Ever?" he guessed.

She laughed again. "Well, not often."

They sat in a somewhat comfortable silence as Natasha and Clint ate breakfast, and Loki drank in the scenery and the incredible sense of being free. When she had finished the rabbit, Natasha was still a little hungry, and she smiled when Loki handed her an apple when Clint wasn't looking.

"So where will you go, now that you're free?" Clint asked Loki conversationally.

Loki smiled and shrugged. "South. France, maybe. I hear it's beautiful this time of year." He gave Natasha a knowing look, which she returned. "What about you?"

Clint poked the embers of the fire with a stick. "I bought a farm, a ways south of here. It's a nice quiet place, where nobody knows us. I think we'll be very happy there."

Natasha stopped eating her apple and stared at Clint. "You... you bought a farm?" she managed to say.

He nodded. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said to me, about how I left you in Kuhmo and then just expected you to be there when I got back. I think it's time for me to settle down, find a better life. For both of us." He smiled at her sweetly.

Natasha continued to blink at him, and glanced at Loki, who sat staring down at his lap. She opened her mouth to relieve Clint of the delusion that she was going with him, when suddenly Loki sprang forward and snapped his fingers. She frowned at him, and then looked back at Clint, only to see that he was holding very, very still. Not even blinking.

"What did you do to him?" she asked, confused.

"What I did was prevent you from saying something you would regret," Loki explained. "He cannot see or hear us, and he will be unaware that anything has happened when I break the spell."

"Well then break it. I don't know why he thinks I'm going to go live on his farm, but I'm not, and he needs to know it," she said, still reeling from Clint's revelation.

Loki stared at her a long moment. "You really don't remember, do you?" he asked.

She frowned. "Remember what?"

"When he came to rescue you, the first time, you told him you would go with him," he explained.

"What?" Natasha tried hard to remember what they had said, but she was pretty sure she hadn't made any promises.

"You said, 'if you could find a way for both of us to leave, then I would go with you, I promise.' Those were the exact words you used," Loki said sadly.

Natasha sputtered. "But - I - I didn't mean go with him, I meant leave the pit!"

He scowled at her. "Well you should have chosen your words better, because that is how he interpreted it," he gestured to the still-frozen figure of Clint.

"Well that's not my fault!" she was shocked that Loki was taking this so seriously.

"Natasha, you made him a deal. You said if he could do this thing, he could have you. He went out and spent two months of his life and most of his money to find a way to make that work. It wasn't easy for him, I know, I made sure of it! But he did!" Loki was nearly shouting now.

She just stared at him, and then shook her head. "No. I won't do it. I don't care what he did, I won't leave you," she began to realize that Loki meant for her to follow through on this perceived promise.

"He did what was required, despite all the obstacles. He deserves his reward," Loki said bitterly.

"I am not a... a thing that can be won or bartered!" she spat.

He just got angrier. "Of course not! But he's a good man, Natasha, you have a shot at a good life with him!"

"I don't want a good man, Loki, I want you!" she yelled, and her voice broke with emotion on the last word.

This seemed to stop Loki in his tracks. He laughed breathlessly, and shook his head. He moved to sit next to her, and she fell into his arms. He held her there for a moment, stroking her hair. Then he spoke, in a low soft voice that held a world of heartbreak.

"Natasha, I am not a free man. Now that I have escaped my prison, I am a fugitive. Those who will seek to imprison me again are far more powerful than you can imagine. Even with all my magic I will not be able to stay long in any one place. You don't want to live like that, not again. I won't have it."

She tried to interrupt him, but he silenced her by pressing his fingertips softly against her lips. "He will give you a good life. You can be happy with him. I want that for you." He looked deep into her eyes, begging her to understand.

"But, Loki... I don't love him. And..." her voice caught in her throat.

"Shh. Don't say it," he closed his eyes tightly.

"You don't know what I'm going to say," she said stubbornly.

"Yes, I do." He leaned his forehead against hers. "I can feel it, in every particle of you. And I..." he let out a shuddering breath. "I never thought I could feel that way about someone." He leaned down and kissed her, the sweetest, softest kiss they had ever shared. And yet, there was more passion and longing behind it than any other.

After it ended, they held each other for a long moment. From Loki's arms, Natasha watched the wind blow Clint's hair around. He sat like a statue, the warm sweet smile he had smiled at her frozen on his expression. Maybe he did love her, she thought. Would she ever be happy without Loki? Could she possibly learn to love Clint and forget about the last two months? It seemed impossible.

At last, Loki began to pull away from her. "Don't go," she begged.

He sighed heavily, and took her hand, kissed it. "I must. If the spell is left too long he may notice the change in the angle of the sun."

Natasha sniffed, and nodded. He moved to find the exact place he had been sitting, and she took a moment to compose herself. I can do this, she told herself. I can make any man believe I love him.

"Ready?" Loki asked.

She nodded, afraid to speak. She blinked, and then so did Clint. He looked confused for a moment, but then smiled again.

"You'll love it. There's a house built already, and a big tree next to it. There are wild plum trees near the edge of the forest, and we can pick them in the fall," he said cheerfully.

"It sounds wonderful," Natasha forced herself to say. Her voice sounded hollow to her, but Clint seemed not to notice.

There was a long, awkward pause where no one spoke, Clint seemingly oblivious to the unspoken emotion that hovered in the air. Loki stood, brushing off his cloak.

"I should be going," he said. "My escape may have alerted my jailers, and I must put some distance behind me."

Clint nodded. "Safe travels," he said.

"Thank you," Loki said graciously. "And thank you for your... assistance."

Natasha stood as well. "Are you sure? There's nothing we could do for you?" she tripped a little over the word 'we' but it went without notice.

Loki looked at her carefully. "Any debt you may have owed me you more than paid with your labor to bring me up last night." From the look on his face, Natasha knew that he meant these words to sting, to make the parting easier for her. It didn't work.

"Will I... will you ever come back here?" she asked.

"Gods, no," Loki laughed harshly. But she could see he knew what she meant. "Here," he reached into his cloak and pulled out a small, ornate hand mirror. It looked like a tiny companion to the one that had hung in their room. "If you wonder where I am, or how I fare, this will show you."

She took the mirror. "Thank you. And..." she glanced at the ground, trying to think of a way to phrase what she wanted to say without alerting Clint. "And I hope you find some happiness, too."

He smiled his devil-may-care smile. "Everything has a price, Natasha Romanoff. Even happiness." And with that, he disappeared.

Clint let out a bark of surprised laughter. "Showy bastard," he said appreciatively.

Natasha sat on the ground, every ounce of her being focused on hiding her broken heart. She plastered what she hoped was a convincing smile. "Yes, that's Loki all right."

He began to tell her his plans for their journey to his farm, and she let her mind wander. She glanced up at the sun, squinting at the unfamiliar brightness. A day ago, she was happy. She hadn't known it, but she was. Now, she wasn't sure what happiness lay ahead for her, at any price.

A/N: Sooo... originally this is where I was going to end the story. But then I decided that was a post-modernist, douchebag move. So there's more, I promise. But I am crazy busy at the moment with the end of the school year, trying to find a new job, and my sister's wedding (which is next weekend). So it might be a while before I post again. Or maybe not, I don't know. We'll see. Stay tuned!

I looooove all of your reviews, btw. They give me a happy.