The avengers were all woken up by thunder. Thor though he had caused it for a second but soon nodded back to sleep. Tony fell off his bed and promptly fell back asleep on the floor. Bruce did his best to ignore it, putting a pillow over his face to try and block out the sounds. Steve and Natasha snuggled further into each other, only the latter staying awake. Clint however was not awakened by the thunder, he had never gone to sleep. His mind kept wondering to that day a few years back, at the bar with Natasha
She helped him into the house, the large amounts of alcohol obviously not affecting her as much as they affected him. There had been a hollow, painful look in her eyes for the past few months. Not many people could recognize it, but Clint could. Her knew Natasha better than he knew himself. It terrified him to think that someday he could wake up and Natasha would be gone. Not just away from S.H.I.E.L.D, gone from the world. He has seen that look in her eyes before but it never lasted long. The thunder had brought him out of his thoughts enough to take a hot shower and try to shake the bad feeling he had. It was pouring outside. Natasha was already tucked into bed, seemingly asleep. He laid down next to her, enjoying the warmth coming from her body. It was 4 hours later, 2 in the morning when he woke up to see that he was alone in bed. He was fully awake in no time. It could be possible that she had simply gotten up for a glass of water, but theres was something in the back of his head telling him that wasn't the case this time. Getting out of bed, he followed the sound of the rain. The door leading outside was open, he was quick to make his way to the backyard. It was hard to see anything however a quick flash of lighting allowed him to see Natasha on her knees with a gun in his hands. He immediately tensed, thinking that there was someone else here. It didn't take long to realize that the only danger was Natasha. She brought the gun up to her temple, shaking with sobs. He was frozen in place, Clint had never been trained for this. He stood there for what seemed like hours but was probably only several seconds until the gun was slowly lowered to the ground. He ran to her and pulled her into his arms, not letting go. He got phnemonia that night but it didn't matter because Natasha was with him, helping him get better and not letting go.
Clint was brought out of his thoughts by another loud crash of thunder. They seemed to be getting closer. His thoughts went back to Natasha, this time his mind went to the time he thought he was going to be a father.
They were laying on his bed I the hellicarrier. It was one of those rare moments of peace. Clint was lying shirtless on his bed, Natasha was laying with her head on Clint's chest in one of his shirt, his fingers were weaving through her hair. Another agent knocked on the door, when Clint answered he was given the results to their medicals. He opened it for the both of them, knowing Natasha didnt like reading that she was the same as she had been after the last medical. However she wasn't the same, the medical form clearly said pregnant. She was telling him to come back to bed and when he didn't move she walked over to figure out what was going on. The words on the paper clearly caught her by surprise, so did the grin that suddenly appeared on Clint's face. It was the happiest her had ever felt, he was going to be a father. There was no way to describe how Clint was feeling at the moment, he barely realized Natasha had left the room. He followed her out of the room. She clearly didn't care that she was only wearing his shirt. He followed her to the hospital wing and heard her order further examinations. He was confused but stayed with her. He was still in a state of euphoria. It didn't last long though, in the matter of two hours the doctor crushed him when he told him that Natasha was not pregnant. When he heard the doctor say that she would never be able to have children, that was when everything fell apart. His hold on Natasha's hand became loose. She looked up at him to see the pain in his eyes, the disappointment. She would never be able to give him a family, she was the reason he was in pain. That's what she believed, that she would always bring pain. So she got up and walked away, letting his hand fall. He didn't reach for her like he always did.
He thought he was going to be a father but that was taken away from him. The thunder continued to strike and the rain came down heavy on his window. The clock read 9 am but it was still dark outside. Natasha and Bruce were downstairs brewing tea, Steve was showering, Thor was sleeping and Tony was in his room. Natasha went upstairs to bring Clint some tea. She opened his door to find him sitting on the edge of the bed, the sadness was evident on his face. She instantly knew what he was thinking about. Natasha placed the cup of tea on a table and stepped forward. Clint instinctively grabbed onto her, drawing her in. He rested his face on her stomach and stayed there. She felt the material on her shirt begin to soak through. Clint was grieving, she allowed him to continue holding her as she stood there with little emotion in her eyes. Neither of the seemed to notice Tony walking by and stopping at the door, if they did notice which they probably did they didn't show it. It didn't take long for Tony to realize why what he had said the other night had affected the two assasins the way it had. Natasha would never have the chance to be a mother, they had realized that together. The final crash of thunder seemed to shock everyone, it was the loudest and it sounded close. Tony went downstairs, straight to the games cabinet. The rest of the avengers made their way downstairs, Clint managed to look like he hadn't been crying just minutes before. They all noticed the twister mat laying on the floor but only Tony noticed the grateful look Natasha sent his way. He was trying to make them laugh and a game of twister was sure to do that. 30 minutes later Tony and Bruce were out. Thor was shaking and he went down, taking Clint down with him. Only Steve and Natasha remained on the mat in a compromising position. All it took was a comment from Tony to get Steve to fall flat on his back. The look of pain was wiped off Clint's face replaced by a genuine smile. Natasha walked over to Tony and placed her hand on his.
"You're a good man Tony."
He squeezed her hand and winked before kissing her temple. He then got up and complained to Bruce and Steve about their shortage of coffee
