A/N: I've said it before and I'll say it again, my life is picking up and changing. I am not going to be updating as frequently, but I will be finishing this story! Reviews are really encouraging and generally do get me to upload more quickly.

"I think there's something I need to tell you," he said cautiously, as though he expected her to slip out of his grasp. Her small shoulders were trembling beneath his large knuckles, silent tears that did not escape her eyes. Every few moments she would try to steel herself against the emotions, but she felt the water well up at the edge of her eyes regardless and she could not respond to him. She looked up to meet his eyes, begging him to understand that she couldn't respond, but wanted to hear more.

"When you were taking your nap at SHIELD, Fury… He told us something." He looked her up and down very closely, making contact with her eyes briefly to gauge her panic attack's course. She seemed to have nearly snapped out of it, but a new look of fear had replaced the sadness that had been in her eyes only moments ago.

"I knew it, I knew he…" She said quickly, her voice raspy from the unshed tears. "He was asking all those questions and he.. What does he know? Is he kicking me out? What's happening? I told you all it would come to this, I knew he would have me out of SHIELD eventually. I… Listen, can I just borrow a few grand? Just enough to make a few month's rent and bills. I… I will figure it out from there." Her mind was whizzing in a million different ways, more streams of consciousness than tabs open on Bruce's computer. Of course, she had thought of this before, but now that it was actually happening… She had so much to do, so many people to call.

"Red," Tony briefly grabbed her attention. "Nat, snap out of it. It's nothing like that."

"Start talking," she said dangerously.

"There was… another Widow at SHIELD." Immediately, every thought in her mind came to a screeching halt and the phrase repeated over and over again until the words sounded funny and she wasn't sure the spelling she saw in her mind was correct. Had she messed up the order of the letters in the acronym? Strategic Homeland… No, focus. Another Widow. At SHIELD. There was. Was. Was?

"What do you mean there was? Did Fury kick her out too?"

"No one was kicked out, Nat. She had some brain damage, among other issues."

"Other issues? You mean like me. Who was this girl? How old was she?" Could she have been from her class? A class she knew in the program? Who else had escaped and where was she now?

"I don't know much. She was from your class, survived a gunshot to the head, and was, officially, dead. At least according to the Red Room. But she made it out and I think…"

"My class?" She interrupted. "Someone from my class survived a gunshot to the head… Survived… Gunshot to the head…"

"Bruce said it would have had to have been in a room with very little airflow. Fast speed bullet. Narrow bullet. Someone who was a good actor…"

"You don't think?"

"That's exactly what I think."

"There's no way. She didn't survive. I saw.. I saw her. She wasn't breathing, her body was slumped on the floor and they had the doctor check her out. They never made mistakes."

"I think they made one. The Widow that SHIELD had… She left you a note, and she was your age. Would anyone else from your class have left you a note?"

"I want to go in."

"What do you- No. I don't think I'm even supposed to tell you any of this, you cannot go in."

"JARVIS, get me to SHIELD immediately."

"Natasha," he whined behind her.

"I'm going in. You can come or not."

"Why is there so much yelling?" Clint says, walking down the stairs in his shorts. Natasha turns away at the sight, blushing slightly.

"We're going to SHIELD, regarding the other Widow. Are you coming?" Tony replies shortly.

"Tony! She cannot handle this right now, why the hell would you tell her?"

"I think I know what I can handle."

"Clearly, you don't," he says, gesturing to her bandages, which she then hides, suddenly insecure.

"Clint, we're going. Are you coming or not?" Tony rolls his eyes at their exchange as he asks.

"At least she asking to go to SHIELD and face it rather than cutting herself to shreds," he says quietly. "I'll be down in a minute."

"Clint!" Tony scolds him as he walks upstairs to put on a shirt. Tony mutters under his breath as they wait. "Why the hell would he even mention that?"

"I want to cut before we go."

"No, Red."

"You said all I have to do is talk to you guys and let you watch or whatever. I've been talking all afternoon and I want to cut."

"Well, you're nothing if not predictable. Go ahead, Tony, just let her do it since that's what you all think is best."

"Never mind," she mutters under her breath.

"No, by all means, go ahead," he says, lifting his arms up to show his apathy to the situation. She wants to react. She wants to punch him in the face, truthfully. Who was he to judge the way she chose to cope in this situation, one he had never even come close to experiencing? But instead, she decided on an alternate route to get her revenger. If he didn't think she was getting better and didn't want to support the progress she had made, she would just stop. Stop cutting, stop eating, stop avoiding exercise, stop sleeping, stop drinking water. She would be dead in days and then he could be happy again, not worrying about her.

"Let's go," she said calmly. "I don't need it."