Hey! Sorry for the long wait, I had a couple of things to take care of. Here's an extra long chapter for you!

In which: there's a lot of clintasha and Peter finally formally meets Natalia.

Without further ado...


Natalia woke up a couple of hours later with a fresh bandage wrapped around her chest, and some flowers in a vase next to her bed- Natasha's bed. She was in her room.

She smiled softly when she noticed Clint's sleeping form, sprawled on the comfortable looking couch in the corner of the room. She was relieved to see that he wasn't sitting in an uncomfortable chair or anything. She was also shocked to realize that she cared. She liked Clint. A lot. He spoke Russian with her, and he was soft and gentle and really funny.

Her heart clenched at the thought of being ripped away from him. Surely, this will not last. The Room will find her again. They will find her, and they will kill everyone she's come to like, saving Clint for last. Then, they will force her to gut him herself.

She can already feel the blood gushing out of the archer's neck, tainting her already bloody hands. Drenched her already dripping ledger.

She rolled over, so she was lying on her back instead of on her side, and stared up at the decorated ceiling, willing the disturbing thoughts to disappear. She would not think about that right now. She could enjoy it while it lasts. Because nothing lasts for her. She doesn't deserve lasting.

She squinted at the paint strokes that littered her ceiling and wondered if it was Natasha who drew them, or if it was a just common decoration in this 'future' she found herself suddenly in. She didn't understand this era's art, sure, but she could appreciate it. The paint swirls were very pretty.

She sighed when she remembered her Natasha theory. Should she ask? They would think she's insane if she did ask and it turns out to be just that- a stupid theory. What if they sent her back? She didn't want them to know her. She didn't want them to know how deep the insanity ran in her exactly, how many people she's killed, tortured, made them scream her name. And she's only seven.

Adult Natasha had much, much more to hide.

A different thought suddenly occurred. Worse than them discovering how truly disturbed she really was- What if they were all actually Red Room?

She winced at the thought. No, a Red Room agent would definitely not be watching over her with such… care, while she slept.

… Or maybe they would, as a cover.

She closed her eyes tiredly, and decided to just play along whatever happens, and always stay vigilant. She couldn't think of anything else to do. And she was just so tired and so sore. She missed Russia. She missed the girls in her program. They were like sisters to her. She missed training with them and dancing with them. And, as twisted as it sounded, not being tortured and brainwashed for the past couple of days left her with a hollow feeling of eeriness. Like something wasn't exactly right.

She wasn't used to all that affection that everyone was demonstrating, especially Clint and the nice redheaded lady called Pepper for some reason. Who would name their daughter after a spice?

'Crazy Americans…'

She heard Clint shift on the sofa and kept her eyes closed. She focused on his movement and heard him sit up, rub his hand tiredly over his face, and groan softly. She was decidedly getting better at this, she smirked internally. Her trainer would be proud of her.

Deception and seduction were things she was already very good at, for a 7-year-old girl, but she definitely wasn't a master. She had a long way to go before she could measure up the master assassin Natasha Romanoff was.

She didn't know that she would come to loathe it almost as much as she loathed herself. If there was anything Natasha Romanoff hated more than her Black Widow persona, it was herself. Her real self. Clint managed to mend some of that over time, but nothing can completely heal the kind of psychological hell she had to go through.

Of course, tiny Natalia didn't know that. Tiny Natalia only wanted to do her trainers and country proud.

"I know you're awake, Talia," Clint whispered softly. She could hear a smile in his voice.

"How?" She turned her head to stare at him, and found him closer than what she anticipated. Damn, she didn't even hear him cross the room.

'Sloppy, stupid. Concentrate, Natalia. You're better than this.'

She shivered as Madam B's steady voice resonated in her head, and she had to make use of all her willpower not to put her hands against her ears. Clint would think that she was crazy. It wasn't too far from the truth, but still.

"Your breathing pattern," he instructed, kneeling at the side of her bed, "it's too quick to be natural."

She nodded, classifying the information in her head. She also noted that if he knew that, he must be in the same line of work as her. She looked him up and down and noticed his callused hands, and raw fingers. His lean arms were muscled, but not as much as they could've been.

It could only mean one thing.

"You're an archer," she pointed out, and she saw surprise cross his face. He wasn't hiding his emotions from her. Idiot. She knew how to use every sentiment he felt against him. She could use every emotion he's felt up until now against him. She could kill him in the way he fears most. She could do all of that with a smile on her face. She didn't want to, though.

"That I am," he nodded with a smile. "You're very clever, Talia."

She felt a warm feeling bloom in her chest at the compliment but didn't let anything show on her face.

She didn't know that Clint could read Natasha better than anyone. He knew that he practically made her day when he said that.

"Do you feel okay enough for people to visit you?" He asked her, taking her hand in his and rubbing it gently.

Her eyebrows rose to her hairline. People wanted to see her?

"Me?" She pointed to her chest, the expression of shock still on her face.

Clint chuckled and ruffled her hair affectionately. "Yeah, Talia. I told you, we love you here."

"Who?" She asked disbelievingly, and despite herself, she grew excited at the prospect. People loved her. Her. That's never happened to her before.

She willed the smile to disappear from her face. All this… was a lie. It had to be. She unlovable. How can someone love an emotionless killing machine? It was going to disappear from within her grasp one day and that would absolutely break her if she got attached. She needed to distance herself. She needed to get her emotions in check.

But, as a child who wasn't given nearly enough attention for the past few years, Natalia couldn't help herself but latch onto the warmth provided by Clint and the others. She was bathing in their affection and taking it all in- yep, she definitely liked the feeling of being loved. It was so new and refreshing. Too bad, it won't last.

"Tony and Pepper. Said they wanted to talk to you, and maybe buy some clothes for you and everything."

She ignored every alarm bell ringing in her head, because 'why don't you already have clothes for me? You made it seem like I've been here a while and like I know you all. You made it seem like I'm simply amnesiac. So why don't you already have clothes for me?' and continued to smile at Clint.

It was her real smile, too. She was being lied to and she was still smiling like an ignorant… girl.

'Damn it, Natalia, have we taught you nothing?' She heard Madame B's voice again.

'Yes, you did. I am trying to forget what you taught me. I want to be here. I want to live here. I want to be loved.'

'Oh poor Natalia… If only there was someone out there who actually cared for you…' The memory of Petrovich took over so violently she gasped and covered her mouth in terror. She looked up at Clint with tears filling her eyes.

"You've always had such vivid memories," Clint whispered, a shadow crossing his face, like he's already had to snap her out of her own prison of a mind a number of times before in the past, and pushed some of her hair from her forehead. "Don't worry, Nat. You're not there anymore. You're here. With me. They'll have to go through me before they can ever dream of touching you."

She did a double take when she discerned the sincere love in his voice. He loved her. There was no way that many raw emotions were lies.

She stared into his eyes for a few seconds, and all she could see was sincerity and determination. What the hell was going on?

A part of her reciprocated those feelings fully. She loved Clint. He was warm, genuine, funny and protective. He was real. She didn't know how or why, but she felt like Clint was the only thing she had left. And she's known him for literally a few hours.

"Okay," she whispered, the haunted look in her eyes diminishing considerably. So much, that Clint felt his heart lighten a bit.

There was a knock on the door, and Clint stood up, shooting a grin at her. "Here they are. I'll leave you guys alone."

"You'll come back, right?" She asked, and hated how her voice trembled at the thought of never seeing him again.

His smile faltered for a millisecond. "Of course, Nat. I'll always come back. We're partners okay? Forever and always."

"Forever and always," she repeated with a nod, and Clint had to get out of the room before he burst into sobs in front of Natalia.

His Tasha… was gone. He was going to have to accept the possibility of her never coming back. He knew there was a gigantic chance of Stark not being able to reverse whatever the fuck he did to her. So why did it hurt so bad, when he already knew all of those things?

Pepper and Tony made their way into Natalia's room, Pepper with a wrapped gift in her arms.

They saw her sitting up on the bed, a small, uncertain smile playing on her lips like she didn't know if she was allowed to exhibit that specific emotion. Like she didn't even know how to truly smile anymore.

Pepper approached first, a warm look on her face. She made sure to appear as open as possible. She didn't want Natalia to perceive her as a threat. God knows she doesn't want to die so young.

"Hello, Natalia," she sat on the bed, and cupped her cheek, lightly passing her thumb over her pale skin.

Natalia's smile brightened a fraction, and Pepper patted herself on the back.

She withdrew her hand and handed her the gift. "Tony and I thought you might appreciate this. Do you like to read, Natalia?"

At her eager nod, Pepper laughed.

"Open it," she urged, and Natalia took it as her cue to tear open the wrapping, and the box, to reveal a Stark-issue tablet inside.

Natalia took it out and examined it, turning it in her hands with a confused expression on her face.

"I don't know what that is," she deadpanned, looking at Pepper helplessly.

The strawberry blonde laughed. "You can get whatever book you want to read on this. You can play games, and solve puzzles, and watch movies. Here, I'll show you."

Pepper then proceeded to explain how to turn on the thing, and how to purchase books (Stark made sure to tinker with the tablet so the whole process could be easier for a child) under the watchful, and affectionate gaze of a genius billionaire.

In a matter of minutes, she had already downloaded two books.

"Good girl!" Pepper praised, and Natalia beamed. That was definitely new. She liked praise. No one's ever praised her before.

"We were also thinking," Stark supplied from where he was standing, "that we could take you shopping when you get better? Bruce said that'd be in a couple of days."

Natalia stared for a while. "You… I can go out?"

The couple looked at each other in confusion. "Yeah, you can. Why? Was it different back in… Russia?" Pepper asked, for lack of better words.

"Yes. We were supposed to stay inside," Natalia pouted, "but I always managed to sneak out to play in the snow. I like snow."

Little did she know, she would get caught when she was thirteen, and as a result, she would stay in brainwashing for three days as a punishment.

"You're lucky! We're in New York, so it snows a lot here. Look," Pepper mentioned the glass door leading to the balcony, and Natalia's eyes positively glowed at the sight.

"IT'S SNOWING!" She screeched and tried to jump out of the bed.

Pepper's cautious hand on her arm stopped her from moving. Literally. The girl froze when she felt the woman's hand on her.

"Natalia, be careful, you'll hurt yourself," she chided in a way that she hoped wasn't too rough. She didn't want to be the cause of a mental breakdown or something of the sort. Natalia regressing, or going into a PTSD attack wasn't what anyone needed at the moment, especially since she had a gaping hole in her chest that was barely held together by Banner's stitches.

Natalia hung her head in shame and tensed in a way that told both adults that she was expecting a beating.

Tony decided to laugh it off. "When you get better, I promise to take you to Central Park, and you'll play till your butt freezes, deal?"

Natalia relaxed and nodded her head with a smile.

"Bruce told us not to crowd you, so we're gonna leave you alone to rest a bit, okay?" Pepper smiled at her, even taking the liberty of ruffling her hair. She was surprised when Natalia leaned into her touch, with a beam that made Pepper's heart jump. Oh, fuck. She was adorable. "Don't read too much, you really need to rest."

Tony approached her too after Pepper went out of the room, knelt beside her bed, and winked at her. "Don't listen to Pepper. You do whatever you want," he whispered conspiratorially, knowing very well that giving Natasha liberties was going to help her bloom and develop under their care.

He also knew that if adult Natasha remembered anything from her time as a kid, he wanted to be her favorite. You know, to avoid dying.

He booped her nose with his index finger with a smile and followed his fiancée out of the room.

A couple of hours passed, and Natasha was well past the middle of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. She already had a soft spot for Ron Weasley, Potter's funny sidekick, mainly because he reminded her of Clint, and Hermione, because she was smart and strong.

A knock on her door made her head snap up in curiosity. She found the teen, who sprinted out of the living room the day before, poking his head in with a terrified look on his face.

She titled her head, at him and Peter sighed in embarrassment.

"Can I- uh, can I come in? Please?" He squeaked the last part and cursed his puberty and creaky voice.

Natalia set her tablet aside and straightened up in her bed, nodding at him. She was absolutely expressionless like she didn't really know wat to make of Peter.

She reminded him of when he first met the adult her. She had kicked Tony's butt for getting a child into this, and had assured him in the coldest voice he had ever heard, while he was trembling in the corner, formerly hiding behind Mr. Stark and almost pissing his pants, that he didn't want to get in this world so young. Now he understood why.

Looking at the small, cute assassin in front of him, he realized that she was speaking from experience. His spider mom has always wanted what was best for him, after all.

He went into the room slowly, his spider senses screaming at him to back the fuck off.

He ignored them and went to sit on the bed next to her.

"I… I'm sorry for bolting yesterday. I wasn't feeling good," he apologized, scratching the back of his neck. "It wasn't because of you! It's just that, uh, I just lost my… mom, recently."

Something resembling understanding crossed Natalia's face, and he felt his heart squeeze in his chest painfully. A child so young shouldn't be able to look at him with so much pain, understanding, and experience.

"It's okay. I'm sorry about your mom. I… I don't remember mine," she whispered the last bit, staring off into the distance, her eyes unfocused.

Okay. He needed a distraction. And fast. His eyes flashed to her tablet, and he managed a small smile when he saw that she was reading.

"Harry Potter? Is that the first book?" He asked her, pointing at the tablet. He's wanted to introduce his spider mom to the series for a long time now, but he's never had the chance. Maybe he could do it now?

"Yeah," Natalia answered, her eyes losing that haunted look, and a hint of a smile starting to appear on her face. She took ahold of her tablet excitedly and turned it towards him. "There's a troll in the dungeons."

He grinned at the laugh in her eyes and allowed himself to relax back on the bed. Yeah, that wasn't so hard. He could do this. He could ignore the tugs at his heart when he passes in front of the ballet room. He could ignore the pictures that riddled his room and his phone gallery. He could do that if it meant getting a smile from Natalia.

He really wanted to brighten a small part of her childhood. Maybe that way she wouldn't look so distraught when he mentions Disney movies, or maybe she wouldn't pull out a gun at the slightest loud noise.

He needed to be there for her like she's always been there for her. He's the older one now.

"When you finish this book, we can watch the movie together if you want?" He asked with a smile, and her eyes lit up instantly.

"There are movies?!"

"Yeah!" He answered with almost as much enthusiasm. "I have so many things to teach you."

At Natalia's confused look, he grinned mischievously. He pulled out his phone and looked up 'vine compilations' on YouTube. This was going to be a lot of fun.


Yep, that's it!

Next up: Pepper and Tony take Natasha shopping and Nick Fury visits. Natalia takes a liking to Thor.

Please review if you liked it :3 Tell me what you wanna see next!