And guys I am so sorry for pining you with one million emails but I've seriously tried to post this five times now.

A/N: Sequel to Never far from home but can be a stand-alone too.

Okay, let's watch me fail at NANOWRIMO. The last time I tried was blackpepper. and like let's not talk about that because that went awful. I still want to finish blackpepper. but like... doesn't seem to go that well now does it?

And no, this is not TAHIT don't worry!

Anyway, until next time, make it a great week and we'll see when next time is.

Holy shit I'm stressed about this one

Red/S-B (yes this is still me sendrick-bechloe if you didn't know I changed my name already.)

Laura's heart was racing in her chest. She didn't know why but she felt like something was really wrong. Her guts were telling her something was off, and she didn't know what it was.

Laura almost screamed when the phone went off in the room. Even the kids reacted when their mom jumped reacting to the sound. Maybe it was her post-pregnant brain that was going crazy. She did have a lot of hormones in her system. That was just a fact.

Nate had been born October the 6th and like every other parent, they thought he was perfect. The big kids were great, helping if they needed it. Cooper was almost 11 now. And he could do most things around the house. He was also a great extra pair of eyes if they needed some on Lila.

The family didn't feel that much different after the new addition, which was very nice. So why was she feeling like her heart was bleeding?

Laura watched Clint look down on his phone with a small frown before disappearing out of the room. She was now stranded in a room with three kids where one was only a baby who was trying to nap. Of course, he started to cry the second the phone rang. And obviously getting him to calm down now was close to impossible.

Bouncing him wasn't helping and he didn't need a new diaper, so feeding him was the one thing left to try. Like the two others, he was a good eater and latched on more or less immediately. But even while he was feeding all Laura could think about was Clint who seemed to be away for a ridiculously long time.

When he did come back, he was upset. She could tell. The way he was holding around his phone, and his eyebrows who formed a frown.

"Kids go upstairs and pack. Kent invited you two to sleepover at theirs, I said yes. Now go." Clint said, waving at them. His voice seemed sharp and annoyed, and Laura stopped looking at him confused as she tried to transfer Nate into his crib.

"Excuse me?"

"Decided it just now. I said I thought it was a good idea. Perfect timing. Now go, hurry they will be here any minute." Clint said as he pushed them out of the room. The second they left Clint almost forcefully shut the sliding door to the living room. They never ever used that door ever. What was going on?

"Steve and Maria called," Clint said, turning to Laura with a serious and stressed look, dropping his phone on a chair.

"As in Steve Rogers?" Laura asked, already having a very bad feeling about where this was going.

"It was an accident at HQ. Natasha. They are bringing her here now." Laura could feel her whole body freeze. She wasn't ready. Not again. She couldn't bear it.

She was already in tears even before the quinjet landed, and she almost fell to the ground when Steve carried an unconscious body into the house. Natasha was lying in his arms with her eyes closed. She had a big abrasion covering the left side of the forehead and temple and her arm in a sling as if it was doing anything in that position. She was only dressed in a small crop top and loose pants showing the huge pat covering most of her abdomen right side.

Maria was trailing behind Steve with a small bag of Laura that was just assuming it was first aid equipment. The woman gave her a small look before she followed Steve into the living room forcing Laura to drag herself after them.

By the time she made it inside Natasha had been placed on the couch, still with her eyes closed.

"What happened?" Laura's voice cracked as she looked at the small woman.

"An accident. Should never have happened. She told me multiple times to not go through with it, but I did. It was my fault." Steve's voice was low, and he was clearly very down himself. Maria smiled at him carefully before turning to him fully, saying with a low voice.

"Maybe we should just show them." She was looking at him with a soft smile as if she wasn't blaming him but trying to help him heal instead. Steve straightened up before looking Laura in the eyes nodding.

Maria messed around in her bag before she picked out a tablet. She spent a few minutes going through something and in the meantime, Laura looked at Natasha who was still out cold.

"We gave her something to help her sleep," Maria said before she asked. Laura only nodded knowing what she was implying without her having to say.

"This. Is what happened." Maria handed Clint the tablet and Laura jumped closer to him and Steve to see what was on it. It was a paused video. Natasha was mid-jump between what she was guessing was supposed to be building models in a training arena. Right in front of her was Wanda keeping her eyes locked at something just outside camera angle.

Clint touched the screen after an affirmative nod from Maria and the security footage started playing. They watched Natasha jump a few more of the jumps as if they were dodging some kind of blast. Wanda was always two seconds in front of Natasha as the redhead kept yelling instructions and Wanda following them.

After the fourth jump, the video switched angle to a wide corner shot, and it was first now they could see them jumping away from War machine's blasts. They seemed dangerously real, denting a few of the corners of the buildings they were jumping between.

Natasha kept going between looking at the girl in front of her and Rhodey, but as the shots got more frequent, she could tell the girl got more and more unsure of herself. It was no time to second guess the jumps here. And while Laura was sure alone Natasha wouldn't have any problems with the exercise, she had another one to watch out for now forcing her to slow down a few times, making the jumps harder on her as well.

She had just directed the young member to what seemed like an easy jump before she screamed out in panic.

"WAIT NO!" Laura could hear Natasha scream through the screen just as Steve turned around to hide from what was on screen. Only a millisecond later Laura watched the blast make contact and she got hit in the side taking the blow from what should have hit Wanda in the head.

In shock, Laura grabs Clint's arm, in horror of watching Natasha's limp body fall to the floor hitting with a force that made her slide multiple feet across the stone floor. Only just out of reach she can see Wanda reach out after her as she encased herself in a red mist only just softening the blow, making sure the doesn't hit the air supply out of herself, landing with a loud thud and groan.

She can see the girl struggle as she tries to force herself up from the floor. Just on the bottom of the screen Laura can see Steve and Sam run up to them and Rhodey landing but her attention is still on Wanda. The girl is more or less crawling to Natasha and not before she reaches after her again a red flash blinds them and they hear a loud scream.

She doesn't need to ask who it belongs to. She is so familiar with the voice, but god she wished the cry belonged to somebody else.

"What happened?!" Laura turned around to Maria with a horrified look in her eyes.

"Natasha!" Laura immediately tuned her head back not waiting for an answer as she watched Steve sprint over to the unconscious body.

Natasha was lying on her right side with her hair over her face and you could only barely see an outline of a face. Her body wasn't moving, and Laura could barely see her back rise and fall with the small weak gasps for air.

"Oh my god" Laura retched as the Steve on the screen turned the body around. Laura pushed the screen violently away from her and into Clint's chest, stumbling up on her feet.

The picture of Natasha's bloody face and destroyed right side was burning in her vision as she tumbled over to the kitchen falling over the sink as she felt her whole stomach twist.

She was breathing heavily feeling her head spin around. Natasha's scream was ringing in her ears as she felt everything she ate four hours ago, get forced out of her.

She felt dizzy and nothing was making sense anymore. Natasha, she had looked so… no it wasn't real. It couldn't be real.

Even with the distance of the camera, you could see her whole right side had been covered in blood as something had almost exploded on her while her left side was scraped apart like somebody had gaited her skin with a grater.

Laura moaned loudly holding around herself when she felt another wave of her body completely shutting down. She could feel her body shake and sweat on her forehead was starting to form.

Her vision was blurry, and she couldn't see anything in front of her. Only the silhouette of Natasha's body and the painted line of blood on the floor she had left behind when she slid across the hard concrete.

Two strong arms made her look up. She was sure it was Clint, standing behind her supporting her, but to her surprise it was Maria holding her up, looking at her carefully.

"It's okay Laura." The woman looked down on her with a soft understanding look in her eyes and Laura only gave her a defeated nod feeling her whole body go limp and it all turned black.

Natasha was sitting at the kitchen table looking at her with a concerned look in her eyes. Her red, shoulder long, hair was framing a beautiful young face, and Laura couldn't remember the last time she had met somebody so young with such a mature way of life.

She was barely 20 and somehow this woman seemed to have enough knowledge to last you a lifetime.

Laura could talk about anything in the world and somehow it seemed like this young girl knew everything about everything. She knew more languages that Laura could list up in 10 seconds. And she could probably beat Laura in any game or sport with her eyes closed. And still, it was something about the way she was carrying herself. As if she wasn't worth a penny.

Laura knew Natasha was bearing a lot of bad memories everywhere she went. Her past was nothing Laura had ever tried to snoop into or drag out of her. All she really knew was that it had been hard on the young woman. But even when that was the case, you couldn't tell.

Natasha looked like a normal human for the most part. Not counting her always on edge look, she seemed pretty normal. Of course, Laura would argue that Natasha was maybe slightly above average when it came to natural beauty. And this woman, with her green eyes and toned body, you couldn't help yourself when you enviably threw a second glance at her direction when you first laid your eyes on her.

Knowing Natasha believed her self-worth was so low, pained Laura. This woman had always kept an eye on her family from day one, but she never seemed to take care of herself and her own needs. Or at least not the same way she always cared for them.

Laura's thoughts got interrupted by a soft small voice.

"How did you know?" Laura turned around and looked at the other woman who was still looking at her with a thoughtful distant look.

"Know what?" Laura answered softly, putting down the plate she was drying before hanging up the towel on a knob after drying herself off.

"How did you know Clint loved you? And how did you know you loved him?" Laura stopped and looked at the woman who had now lost herself completely, staring out into nothing as if the room was empty.

She thought about it for a second because she had never thought about it like that before. She had known Clint for a long time and they never had like the official anniversary and like "the first date" everyone else seemed to have. She didn't even remember how it all went and how they started to date in the first place.

"Oh, Talia I don't know. It just felt right." Laura said after a short amount of time. She looked at Natasha while she took a seat on the opposing side of the table, smiling at her softly as she watched the woman come back to earth.

"But how?" Natasha said blinking to meet her eyes. Her eyes seemed confused as if she had no idea what she was talking about. At the same time, her body language seemed low and insecure. As if she felt guilty for feeling the way she did. Guilty of her feelings.

Laura had seen this before. It wasn't uncommon that Natasha would back up into her shell, but it always stung watching the woman show such uncomfortable feelings.

"I… I don't know. I just felt safe around him, and I know I love it when he is happy. And I knew I always wanted him to be safe." Natasha tilted her head moving her eyebrows into a frown.

"I just felt right. I just felt at home."

Laura wasn't sure if her head was exploding or if this was the world's worst hangover. She honestly could not tell; it really could be both.

"Hi" A small voice caught her attention. She didn't recognize it at first. She turned to the right with a frown, not sure what she was expecting to see. To her surprise, it was Maria again who sat beside her bed with a magazine in her hand.

"He is downstairs with Natasha if you want me to get him?" Maria's voice was soft as she handed her a glass of water. She smiled at her with a small smile as she dragged her chair closer to Laura's bed. She had her hair up in a loose ponytail and a blanket over her legs. Nothing about her screamed "a superspy".

Ignoring the question she asked, Laura only said.

"How is she?" Laura let out a small groan as pushed herself up in the bed, feeling her head slightly spin around. It was dark outside now. Maria and Steve had arrived around 5 pm, now it was just past dusk, meaning she had been out for a while.

"Alive," Maria said with a heavy sight before continuing. "Of course, your reaction is very understandable." She paused for a moment, and Laura watched as the other woman closed her eyes, thinking about what words to use.

Maria opened her eyes again before saying. "Pepper's wasn't much better." Maria looked at her with something that seemed like guilt.

Pepper. Laura hadn't even thought about her, but surely, she was destroyed too. She had known Natasha for 5 years and they had basically been dating the whole time. She was probably horrified. At least Laura had Natasha with her, Pepper was left behind. Of course, Maria would update her, but still. She wasn't here to watch over Natasha. To make sure she was getting better and was getting everything she needed.

Laura felt a small feeling of guilt build up. She couldn't do anything about it now, but Pepper really only on the sideline on this one. Having to lay all her trust in somebody she didn't know.

She should probably check up on her later. They weren't close by any means. They had talked to each other a few times, but only because of Natasha. She wasn't even sure if she actually knew Laura was Clint's wife. After the team had stumbled into her door the secret was long gone, but she wasn't sure if Natasha or anyone else had really told Pepper what had happened in that period.

She could feel her head starting to drift. Pepper hadn't been there when the accident happened, but what about the team that had.

Steve was very clearly affected by the whole thing. But what about Rhodey who had shot her? And Wanda, the one Natasha had taken so naturally under her wing?

"What about Wanda?" Laura said turning to the woman fully as she placed the glass carefully on the nightstand.

Wanda had been right there when Natasha fell. Heck, she had been in the accident herself only 10 feet away or so when they crashed to the floor. She had seen her try to reach out after her, but not been able to.

As if Maria knew exactly what she was looking for she let out a small sigh before saying.

"She, like the rest of the team, didn't take it well. We know Natasha wouldn't want us to make a big fuss over things, but something… happened." Laura looked at her confused, she knew she didn't need to ask, Maria would get to it. Still, she was more than just confused at this point.

"Wanda said something after she woke up, but we didn't understand what she meant, and now she is self-isolating herself. Natasha was the only person she really connected with, but after what happened she hasn't been able to look anyone in the eyes. We thought maybe bringing Natasha here would give everyone the time to process everything as well as keeping her with somebody she trusts while she recovers."

"How long? How long are we expecting the recovering time to be?"

"We don't know, but I want her to stay for a while," Maria said and Laura nodded slowly. This wasn't the first time Maria had sent Natasha in house arrest. She just had to make the best out of it. Maria trusted them to help Natasha back on her feet and she was going to do so. Of course, she was.

Steve had left right after Laura had passed out. Apparently, he too didn't want to witness Natasha's struggles. Laura knew the pair was very close. The two of them fighting HYDRA a year back, and then now leading the new Avengers. Laura knew Natasha trusted him with her life if she had to.

Having to feel like he was the one in charge when something like this happens to a dear friend. It had to be a living nightmare. His life had been turned upside down after he came out of the ice, but Natasha had been there, helping him, guiding him, from day one. She had been through it herself, learning how to shift and adapt to a new modern life.

Even in this household, Natasha had been constantly changing their life. And most importantly trying to help to piece it back together when all things failed.

After Laura met Clint, her whole life changed. Laura was married to a man who formerly worked for extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency. Her best friend was the Black Widow, the deadliest woman alive.

Nothing about their life was normal, but that was just how it was now.

Over the years she had dealt with a lot of hard and slightly weird scenarios, but this, this was something she still couldn't wrap her head around. Obviously, situations, where one of them ended up wounded, was something she would never be prepared for. And while similar situations had occurred before it hurt so damn much every time.

Natasha had been a part of her life for a decade, and Laura loved her more than words could ever describe. She was the aunt for their kids, and her husband's best friend and partner. She had been there from the start and Laura looked at her as part of their family even if she wasn't by blood. She trusted Natasha with her life.

Laura was shaking as she walked into the room Natasha was staying in five hours later. It was past midnight and she should probably sleep, but she couldn't go to bed without seeing her. She knew Maria was taking great care of her, so she was probably fine. She was just a bit worried. She still hadn't quite understood what had happened, and she did not want to see that video footage ever again.

Natasha looked so small and out of place in the guestroom. They had decided to keep her downstairs for multiple reasons. One of them was simply not wanting to put her body under more stress moving her up the staircase. But the guestrooms as also more secluded than her actual bedroom in the house. Her room was just on top of the staircase and got passed countless times throughout the day. The guestroom on the other hand was tucked in the back corner of the house. And it was really no reason to go that direction other than actually walking to that specific room. It would keep her away from the kids and any suspicion from their end. As well as away from any sounds and loud noises that came with a family of 5.

Even when Laura knew having her here was for the best it felt wrong. As if it wasn't real.

With her face scraped and bandaged around most of her body, it almost looked like a scene from a horror movie rather than real life. She didn't belong here.

She should have been in her room upstairs, not in their dumb tiny guestroom downstairs.

She should have been there sitting in her own bed, leaning against the headboard with a small smirk on her face as Laura walked into the room. She would say something like "shouldn't you be in bed, sleeping" and Laura would have laughed at her and told her that if anyone should, it should have been Natasha because she never seemed to do so.

Natasha never laid in the middle of the bed like this. And she never slept on her back either. She was either curled up in a ball or leaning on her side. The cover of the bed was also never as neat as it was now. Natasha always tossed around in the bed, and a lot of the time she kicked the duvet completely off if she wasn't already laying on top of it which was mostly the case.

None of this was right, it felt wrong. All of it.

"Oh Natasha, how could this happen?" Laura whispered with tears in her eyes. It was like her insides were screaming as she walked over to the woman. It felt so unfair. Natasha didn't deserve any of this, and somehow it always seemed like the universe wanted to play with her.

She could see dried blood under the bandage, and while the cuts on her face were healing it wasn't like her normally beautiful face. Not the same fire in her eyes, and not the same soft but slightly smirky smile either.

"Please get better Nat, please don't leave me." Laura's voice completely broke as tears flowed down her face.

This wasn't the first time Natasha had gotten wounded, but for some reason, for the first time ever, it finally sunk in that one day she might lose her.

Laura sniffed softly, trying to wipe her tears from her face without any success. The tears were already streaming down and all she could do was accept it as she curled up on the bed with her head resting just beside Natasha's careful not to wake her.

Laura woke up by a small groan. She couldn't remember what happened before she heard another small whimper. She could recognize Natasha's voice anywhere at this point.

"Natasha?" Laura whispered, lifting her head slowly. Natasha was already sitting in the bed with her eyes staring down on her hands as they were shaking uncontrollably.

"Nat?" Laura repeated, jumping closer to her, grabbing her hands in her own, forcing her to look at her. Natasha's eyes were filled with pain as she turned to her, and Laura could tell, something was very, very wrong.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here, look at me." Laura said softly, hoping Clint or Maria heard her so they would come and help her.

Natasha looked at her with big eyes nodding slightly before her head fell on Laura's chest a bit faster and more forcefully than she was prepared for.

Natasha was shaking and was now leaning forwards in very visible pain from the tear caused by the shot. She was groaning loudly making Laura's heart skip a beat.

"Shh, it's okay Natasha." She could hear some movement in the staircase, like a fast run, but not before she heard a loud cry. Shit. Nate.

Immediately she felt Natasha turn stiff reacting to the piercing cry of the child. Of course, they couldn't send their infant away, and somehow Nate, the last of the bunch decided to be the lighter sleeper of all of the kids. The one kid that got that trait from Laura and not Clint.

"It's only Nate, it's okay Natasha. Stay with me okay." Laura continued trying to keep herself cool as she heard Nathaniel scream from the other side of the house. This was not good.

They had had this dilemma before but that was back then they only had two. Now they had three, where one of them was an infant.

Natasha was only leaning on her giving her a forced nod before she let out a cry.

"Ahh," Natasha whined loudly leaning more into her almost screaming in pain. She was shaking so much Laura was feeling her own body starting to copy the movements. It scared her how Natasha was struggling so much knowing she had the craziest pain threshold.

It was a twisted forced cry and Laura felt so helpless and she watched the woman twist in her arms. And while it was an awful thought, she almost wished Natasha would pass out rather than having to deal with this.

Laura slowly tried to move Natasha away from her, either to lay her down or move her into a more comfortable position. She tried to get some words out of her throat to try to give her some comforting words, but her throat was blocked, and she could only try to help in silence.

It felt like half a year of listening to children's cry before Laura heard some moments downstairs, but locked in her position Laura only kept hugging around the woman who was gasping for air.

"Maria?" Laura whipped her head around when she saw the brunette in the corner of her eyes, looking at her rushing into the room almost running into the door on her way.

"What is wrong? What happened?" Maria jogged over to them, slipping onto the bed beside Laura who was still wrapped around Natasha who let out a loud groan.

"I… I don't know. She just woke up already in pain." Laura stuttered trying to push Natasha off her to let Maria look at her. Both Maria and Laura stopped when Natasha met their eyes. Her eyes were wild and screaming in pain as she grabbed Laura's hand digging her nails into her skin. Laura didn't need to look at her hand to know Natasha had drawn blood from her already.

"Shit. She is bleeding." Maria pushed Natasha backward before turning her so she was pushed up against Laura. It was a fast and hard move, not giving Natasha any room to fight her when she pushed her forcefully to get a better look at her. Laura hadn't even noticed the gash was now pouring blood and the whole bandage was already soaking.

"Hold her still, I need to get my kit." Maria jumped off the bed hurrying out of the room. Laura looked down on Natasha who was already curling up in her arms trying to apply pressure on her wound, still shaking so much she was more or less painting blood on them and the sheets.

Laura could still clearly hear Nathaniel crying upstairs, and she knew that he probably wanted to nurse, and while a bottle could work that was not a guarantee. But she couldn't leave Natasha now.

"Okay." Maria was jogging into the room again with a big bag with her. She almost jumped the bed before forcefully pushing Natasha on her back again, sitting on her legs to prevent her from moving them.

Laura watched Maria open the big bag. It was a big first aid kit. A kit that was way more complex than the three they owned. With fancy equipment, she didn't even recognize.

And yes Laura did have three kits socked around in her house. Three quite big and very much full first aid kits that she always seemed to have to restock for some reason.

Maria had a hard grip around the redhead while she was scanning the contents in her bag. Natasha groaned loudly when Maria shifted, fighting the other agent so she could pressure the wound herself, screaming in agony as Maria pushed her away again.

"Nat. I know you are in a lot of pain right now, but you need to trust me, okay?" Maria's voice was firm as talked to her while she was carefully starting to remove the bandage. She didn't get a reply from the redhead. Natasha was only moving her head, shaking and panting loudly.

Trying to do this in an organized and neat way was no point. Natasha was already in so much pain, so trying to unwrap her systematically wouldn't work. It took too long, only dragging out the time and pain. If it was up to Natasha, she would probably have dealt with it in a much more brutal way.

"I would turn around or close your eyes if you didn't like what you saw on the video," Maria mumbled as she picked up a pair of scissors to cut the bandage open. Maria was covered in blood already when Natasha arched and yelped as Maria started to fiddle with her wound.

Laura only nodded before turning her eyes down at Natasha who was at this point just whimpering. She had sweat on her whole face as her body continued to fight the pain, very visibly doing everything in her power not to kick Maria in the face and off her.

"Okay Nat, soon done," Maria mumbled before she stopped moving. Laura had a feeling she was looking at her. She had still not looked up from her spot, not wanting to look at what she just assumed was a serious injury. Laura had seen a lot of injuries in her life. Clint and Natasha were always hurting themselves, but she knew she couldn't handle this one.

"Natasha, I need you to take a very deep breath. This will hurt, but we didn't want to inject you with it if we didn't know it was necessary. So just take a deep breath." Maria's voice was soft while she worked, but Laura could tell she was nervous.

Natasha's scream was heartbreaking. She screamed before arching her back as Maria injected her with whatever she put in her. Her body was shaking as she closed her eyes, and all Laura could do was hug her tighter helping her through it.

It lasted maybe 30 seconds before she let out a loud sigh and Laura could feel her body relax in her arms. She could see the feature in her face soften and finally, she could tell the girl was able to relax.

"You can look up now" Maria's voice was soft, and even if she said it was okay now, Lauren kept her eyes down for a few more seconds just to be on the safe side. When she opened them, Maria was trying to wipe off the blood from her hands, but the wound was covered up under a new bandage and the woman was finally resting.

Natasha had already passed out in her arms and her chest was rising and falling in an even and slow rhythm.

"Hopefully this will help. It is a newly developed painkiller which helps you heal, but as I said, it is new." Laura nodded slowly looking down at Natasha who was long gone.

"Thank you, Maria," Laura said hugging around Natasha with a protective smile. She was so lucky to have Maria. She had no idea what she would do without her.

"It's okay, Laura. If you want, I can stay with her and you go and check up on Nate?" Maria said as she slowly started to pack all of the first aid equipment. Laura nodded slowly. She probably should check up on Nathaniel and Clint even if she wanted to stay with Natasha.

Laura slipped out from underneath Natasha before making her way to the door. Immediately she could see Maria drop the kit, turning her attention to Natasha making sure she was laying comfortably, moving the pillow under her head, and tucking her in. She smiled at Laura before waving her out the door.

She didn't know why, but she felt some kind of guilt when she walked into the bedroom finding Clint with Nate. Nathaniel was sleeping in Clint's arms, and while he was sleeping, he looked pretty happy.

Clint was the complete opposite. It wasn't a discreet look telling her that he was annoyed with her. And it felt a bit unfair because surely, he didn't blame her?

"How is she?" Clint mumbled as he carefully transferred the boy over and into the crib. He didn't look at her, only down on the child. The tone was cold and almost annoyed as he spoke. It was unfamiliar and painful to hear.

"Fine… Asleep." Laura answered slowly, looking at him with a careful eye. She was planning on telling him what had happened, but she wasn't sure if she wanted anymore. Not when he acted like that. He gave her no attention and he didn't sound like he wanted to know at all.

"Thank you for taking care of that, I mean her," Clint said with a small sigh. Immediately she felt a pang of guilt. And for some reason, she felt the need to try to defend herself and her actions.

"Yeah, I mean of course. I'll do anything for Nat, like she always does, you know, always doing whatever she can for us?" It sounded like a question the way she phrased it. It wasn't. But the look he gave her, the disapproving, almost overbearing look made her feel so small and unsure of herself, which was ridiculous because she had done nothing wrong. He had spoken about Natasha as if she had been a chore and not a friend. Laura had always had the instinct to protect Natasha but she never thought she had to do so from her husband.

"I just hope her recovery will be fast. Maria said she didn't know what we should expect. Hopefully, she will be back on her feet soon." Laura added with a small weak voice. Again, it felt so dumb having to defend it all. Clint shouldn't be looking at her like that. If anything, he should have been down with Natasha right now. But ever since the video he had barely shown any sign of wanting to interact with his partner. She didn't know why, and it felt like he was punishing her as if Natasha chose to be lying there helplessly in pain.

"Yeah, you and me both." He only answered coldly before walking out of the nursery leaving an even more devastated now than before Laura behind.