So, our lovebirds have tempers, who knew? Now, we have Clint's side. Thanks for reading!
Upstairs, Natasha had barged into Clint's room. "Barton!"
"Romanoff," he growled through gritted teeth. "Not safe for you to be here."
"Don't care. Here is where I am." She slowly approached him. "Clint, what's wrong?"
"I can't let Barney win this time, Tasha, I can't."
"You won't be facing him alone, Clint. You've got an entire team on your side. We know who we're looking for, and he doesn't know we know, which gives us the advantage. Clint, look at me."
"No."
"Clint, look at me," she demanded.
"I've lost her."
"Mikayla? No, you haven't."
"I've lost her because of my damn stubbornness. When am I ever going to learn, Tasha?"
"Barton, shut up and listen to me! Mikayla's still here. Steve's taking care of her. As far as your stubbornness, we all know about that. It's what makes you great at your job, which makes all of us effective. It isn't always as helpful in personal relationships, however. Look," Natasha grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. "You've got two things going for you: first, for some reason the woman loves you," a slight grin appeared on her face, "and secondly, she's as stubborn as you are. I think you two have Tony and Pepper beat on the stubbornness scale, and that's saying a lot. Now, sit," she shoved him down into a chair. "You're going to have to tell her, Clint; otherwise you might utterly lose her. You can't have this hanging over your heads." He slowly nodded. "We good?"
"We're good," he whispered.
She ran her hand across his back then returned downstairs. The others looked up as Natasha calmly walked into the room, then went to the kitchen to grab a bottled water. "Where's Mikayla?" She asked, not seeing her.
"Thor's room for now. If he comes back soon, we can move her to another area."
"Won't be necessary." The group turned around to see Mikayla emerging from the hallway. "I'm an adult, not a whiny schoolgirl. I'll go talk to him." She shuffled to the fridge, grabbed some water for her and a beer for Clint, then disappeared back into the tower.
"Should we have Bruce on standby for medical purposes?" Steve asked.
Natasha shook her head and grinned. "They'll be fine. I think they got their anger out of their system." She plopped down in a chair and propped her feet up on an ottoman.
Clint was still sitting in the chair looking down at the ground, wondering where it had all gone wrong. He could try and blame Barney, but deep down he knew it was him. When he first suspected it was his brother, he should have told her the story. He knew by then he could trust Mikayla. "God, I'm an idiot. I'm chasing her away. I'll go find her and make it right. If I get nothing else right in my life, I've got to fix this." He stood up and turned around. As he did, he heard a knock, so he went to the door and opened it.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Can I come in?" He nodded and moved aside. Mikayla came in and sat down at the table. "We need to talk."
"Yep." Clint sat down on the bed behind her so he wouldn't have to see her face.
"Me first. Clint, I love you. That's the most important thing I want to say. If you don't hear anything else, hear that. This whole thing with Barney has got me shook up, not gonna lie. My life is in upheaval. My belongings are, I don't know what state they're in, I'm living off the kindness of friends, and I'm trying not to be a burden. The one constant in all of this has been you, Clint. I know one time I said you saved me, but this time, you truly did. If you hadn't responded…" Her voice trailed off, not wanting to feel like she would speak anything into existence. "I never saw myself as the shrinking violet, looking for a man who'd save me from everything. I was raised to be self-reliant and independent. It was drilled into my head. I loved my uncle and am grateful for everything he taught me, but I think he failed in that respect. Either he failed or he taught me, and I never got the message, the message that it's not a weakness to ask for or accept help from others. I know we've talked about that before, too, appears I haven't learned that lesson yet. I got angry because, for the first time, I'd come to rely on someone, and it seemed like you got so focused on dealing with Barney by yourself, you'd forgotten about everyone else." She took several sips from the bottled water and pushed the beer bottle toward Clint, still not able to face him.
Clint took some time to go over what she'd just told him. He got up, grabbed the beer from the table, and took a swig. He walked around trying to decide where to start. He decided to start where she did. "Mikayla, I love you. I love you more than anyone I've ever met. You and I are a lot alike, we're used to being by ourselves and handling things alone. I've adapted by working with Nat, but the whole team environment is still new to me. As for a shrinking violet, I have never once thought of you that way. I've never seen you as someone who needed saving. For God's sake, you stitched me up the first time we met without even thinking about it! That would not have happened if you were some damsel in distress. After I grew up, I made it a point to treat women the opposite of the other males in my family. My dad beat the crap out of my mom at every opportunity, and she never left him because she felt some type of duty to him, I guess. My deadbeat brother regularly abused anyone he got close to, with me being his favorite punching bag. He would beat the crap out of me for any reason, or no reason at all. He was treating people the way our father did. I knew if I wanted to make anything of myself, I was going to have to be the opposite of that and vowed I would never be anyone's punching bag again. So, Mikayla Fitzgerald, you may not need saving, but I seem to always need to be saved, usually from myself. So, please, help me save myself and help me hunt down my brother. Between the two of us and the team, he doesn't stand a chance." He sat down in the chair across from her and took her hand. "Forgive me?" He asked, using his puppy dog eyes and pout to full effect.
She smiled. "Natasha's right; that is a deadly combination. You're killing me, RH. Of course, I forgive you." She took one of her hands and started tracing the veins in his hand with her nails. "Forgive me?" She asked flirtatiously.
Clint held out for as long as he could, then he moaned, "God, Mikayla, you are evil. You have no idea what that does to me." He pulled her up and eagerly kissed her. "You're forgiven," he whispered. "We just need to accept that both of us can be passionate people and we're going to argue."
"True," she draped her arms over his shoulders and linked her fingers together, "but think of the fun we'll have making up."
"I like your way of thinking, Sharky." He pulled her close to his chest and kissed her again. "We should probably get back downstairs and let everyone know we're fine."
She stepped back and interlaced her fingers with his. "Guess this means Thor can have his room back."
"Yep. Ready to rejoin the team?"
"Hold on a sec, let me call Misty so she doesn't panic in case the bombing made the news." She walked over to the window and called her best friend. As she was on the phone, he began formulating a plan. She finished the call and came back over to Clint, taking his hand. "All good. Let's go, Archer Man."
He lifted her hand and kissed it. "Lead on, Sharky." The couple made their way back to their teammates in the common area.