Author´s notes: Hi, thank you for the reviews and support again. This chapter is Romanogers all over! I got inspired by the song Say (All I need) by One Republic. Enjoy it!

CHAPTER 9

Singapore´s hospital - 2:15 p.m.

Clint is sitting on a chair beside the bed that Natasha is sleeping. He is now freshly showered and in his normal clothes, playing on his phone. He has been there for about an hour, since he finally convinced Steve that he should go to the hotel with the others to get cleaned up and rest a little.

It is then that he hears Natasha stirring on the bed.

Clint looks away from his phone and to Natasha, her eyes are still closed, but she is restless, moving her arms and legs on the bed. "She´s having a bad dream", he thinks. So he gets up and put his hand on top of hers, calling her: "Hey, Nat?"

Natasha eyes open just a little, her head hurts like hell and her vision is blurry, but she feels a hand placed lightly on top of hers, so she asks: "Steve?"

Clint gives a bittersweet smile and answers: "No, it´s Clint."

Natasha turns her head toward Clint´s voice and blinks a few times to adjust her vision. She can now see the archer smiling at her. It´s not who she is expecting, but she is glad to see a friendly face. She smiles back saying softly: "Hey, Clint. It is good to see you."

Clint caresses her hand with his fingers and asks: "How are you feeling?"

Natasha takes a deep breath and answers: "Like I fell down two stores in an elevator shaft." She tries to sit up, but the pain in her abdomen stops her.

Clint puts his hand on her shoulder saying: "Just lay still" as she falls back to the bed.

Natasha grimaces and continues: "and got pierced by a blade." She lightly places her hands on her abdomen.

Clint grabs the control of the bed, starting to elevate the back rest for her to sit up as he says: "I´m glad to see that your memory is fine." Then he adjusts some pillows behind her back, so she is more comfortable.

Natasha smiles at him again: "Thanks. How long have I been out?"

Clint, with a serious expression on his face, replies: "For about 12 hours. You scared the hell out of us. Your heart stopped once, luckily we were in the hospital and the doctor was able to reanimate you."

Natasha bits her lower lip. She thought that she wasn´t going to make either, if Steve didn´t keep calling her, she probably would have given up fighting. And all this happened because she was too stubborn to listen to him, she took too long inside the HYDRA building because she wanted to download the file on the Winter Soldier, to help Steve, and she almost got herself killed. Steve would probably be angry at her for that. She wonders where he is, but not to show Clint that she is worried about Steve, she simply asks: "Is everybody else okay?"

Clint sits back down on the chair: "Yes. They are in a hotel nearby, we were all tired. I was there too, but I came back to convince Steve to get some rest. He didn´t want to leave your side."

Natasha´s heart skips a beat, the Captain was still trying to take care of her and that made her feel so happy that she almost smiled, but instead she gives a neutral look to Clint and says: "Well, you know Steve, as a leader he always feel responsible when one of us get hurt."

"True, but I think is more than that, Nat." Clint stares a Natasha, trying to see some sort of reaction to his comment, but Tony was right, she is hard to read.

Before Natasha could reply, the door of the room opens and Steve comes in, with his ordinary clothes, hair combed but still wet from a shower. He gazes at Natasha and gives a bright smile saying: "Hey!" as he walks to the other side of the bed, where Clint is not sitting. He leans down and kisses her forehead. Natasha closes her eyes at the feel of his warm lips on her skin. Steve pull away and stands beside her bed, smile still on his face: "I´m so glad to see you awake."

Natasha can´t help but get lost in his blue eyes and gives him a sweet smile.

Clint now saw what he was trying to see before. The Natasha he knows would never allow that kind of intimacy with anyone, unless she wants to. And she is genuinely smiling back at Steve. She is in love with the Captain. Clint is amazed with his realization, he never thought he would see Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, fall in love. But he thinks that she deserves to be happy, and if Captain America makes her happy, that´s is fine by him.

Clint smiles a little to himself, as he sees Natasha and Steve lost on each other eyes, smiling. He feels like a third wheel so he speaks: "I´m going to get a soda. Do you guys want something?"

Steve and Natasha look at Clint, Natasha just shakes her head and Steve says: "No, thanks Barton."

Clint rises from his chair and walks out of the room.

Natasha looks back at Steve, a serious expression on her face now, and says: "I´m sorry for not leaving the computer room when you told me to. I know I messed up."

Steve´s smile disappears from his face. He looks away from her. He is disappointed with Natasha for that, but he don´t want to lecture her now, so he just stays quiet for a moment, thinking about all that had happened because of that.

Natasha notices his change of mood, she hates herself for making him feel bad. She just wants him to take it all out on her, she deserves it. So she keeps going: "At least I was the one who paid for my mistake, it wasn´t one of you who got hurt."

Steve snorts and looks at her again: "Hurt? Natasha, you almost died!" his voice is getting louder as he speaks: "Do you know what it was like for me to watch you slowly slipping away, to carry your limp body in my arms?" Steve shouts the last part: "Your heart stopped, for god´s sake!"

Natasha didn´t expect him to be that affected, his eyes are angry and hurt at the same time, she never saw him lose control like that. She opens her mouth to speak, but can´t find the right words, so she closes it again. She feels dazed.

Steve curses himself for shouting at her like that, so he takes a deep breath and continues in a lower voice: "I know that in our line of work there are risks, but in order to survive we need to listen to each other, work together as a team."

Natasha is ashamed for letting him down. She looks at her feet that are covered by a white sheet and whispers: "You´re right. I´m sorry, Steve."

Steve can sense her regret, he can sense her walls coming down, she is vulnerable and this is the moment that he was waiting for. No more running from his feelings. So he holds her chin in his hand to make her look back at him, staring intensely into her green eyes: "Natasha, all that matters to me now is that my prayers were answered, and you came back to me. I lost too many people in my life and if I had lost you too I don´t think I could go on."

Steve is so straight forward with her, his eyes are so pure that Natasha feels butterflies in her stomach. How could she not fall in love with this man, he is charming, kind, brave, honest...he is perfect. And she can´t believe that he cares that much for her, but some how it feels wrong. She had committed to many sins in her life; she is not worth of being in Steve Rogers´ prayers. She is beyond saving and her dark past haunts her everyday, she doesn´t want to drag him down with her.

Natasha is torn for a moment. But like a reflex, her head speaks louder than her heart: "Steve, don´t…don´t go there." She pulls away from his hand, looking down. She thinks that maybe she has lost her heart many years ago.

Her walls are up again, and now she is avoiding him, that is what Steve was afraid of. Steve takes another deep breath, felling hurt, but not defeated. He is determined to figure out Natasha, he isn´t going let this moment pass like he did on the cemetery back in D.C.

He starts to walk, Natasha thinks that he is going to leave the room, but he goes around the bed and sits on the chair that Clint was. Natasha watches him with curiosity in her eyes.

Steve looks at his hands on his lap: "Can I ask you something?" Steve looks up at Natasha. She nods, so he continues: "Why did you keep sending me little gifts when you were away?"

Natasha didn't expect that. It is hard for anyone to catch her off guard, but he did it twice already. "Damn" she thinks as she looks at the wall in front of her and carefully thinks about what to say. Steve looks at her expectantly.

Natasha turns to meet his eyes and says: "Because you're my friend and I wanted you to know that I was okay."

Steve raises one eyebrow because he knows that she is not telling it all: "And I appreciate that. But that was it, nothing else?"

Natasha looks to the wall again and puts her hands together on her lap, playing with her fingers. She is nervous because she can´t say what he wants her to say, but Steve insists: "Did you send anything to the others?"

She keeps her eyes away and speaks slowly: "No…just for you."

Steve wants to take all the obstacles from his way: "Not even Barton?" Natasha just shakes her head in response.

Steve feels his heart beating faster because now he knows that there is a hope for him to be more than friends with Natasha, he just have to get to her, and so he continues: "Just for me then? Why am I so special to you?" Steve studies her face but can't detect anything. She is good at hiding what she is feeling, she is a spy after all.

Natasha is at a dead end, she can´t think of any excuse to try hiding the truth from Steve, so she simple says in a low voice: "I don´t know." She just keeps staring blankly at the wall, Steve is getting to her again and she is going to crack at any moment.

Steve notices that her body is tense, she is squeezing the fingers from her left hand with her right hand. That is the sign he needed, so he pulls the chair closer to the bed and reaches for her left hand, taking it away from her tight grip.

Natasha looks at his hand on the top of hers, his touch sends heat waves through her body.

Steve keeps looking at her face as he speaks softly: "I'm just trying to understand you, Tasha. I'm really glad you did that for me because the things you sent me helped me put my mind at ease, but I really missed you back then and I don´t want to miss you now." Steve replies saying so easily want she can't say.

Natasha meets his eyes and his honest gaze makes her heart goes so fast that she thinks her chest is going to explode, she can´t think straight anymore.

Steve intertwines his fingers on hers and looks at her with pleading eyes: "Tell me why Tasha, I need to know."

Natasha´s walls fail her again. She can´t hide from him anymore, because deep down she knows that it is because of him that she is still trying so hard to be a better person and he deserves to know that. So her heart speaks louder this time, as she just lets it out: "I never had trouble being underground, I was trained for that. But after what happened to S.H.I.E.L.D., with all my secrets being exposed, it made me think about what was the point of all this if I don´t even know who I am anymore. And walking around in strange places, with strange people, made me feel lost and alone." Natasha lips are dry; she presses them together and pauses. The voice in her head is screaming, telling her to stop, not to let her emotions take over.

Steve squeezes her hand and Natasha looks at him, he says softly: "It´s okay, go on."

His bright blue eyes convince her, so she takes a deep breath and continues: "Whenever I started to feel like that I caught myself thinking of you, how you made me feel trustworthy and how you remind me that there is still good left in this world and we have to fight for it, no matter what. You gave me confidence to keep going and as long as you are leading, I´ll follow you. So I sent these things to you because you mean a lot to me, Steve, because you are the light in my darkest hours."

Steve is astonished by her words: "Wow, Tasha, that is beautiful. I never thought that I had that effect on you." Steve is so happy that she feels that way about him, so he takes her hand to his mouth and lightly places a kiss on her knuckles.

Natasha´s heart melts at his gently kiss, and she can´t run from her feelings anymore, so she adds in a lower tone: "And now you helped me find something that I thought I had lost many years ago…my heart." Steve immediately looks up from her hand to meet her eyes, thinking that he didn´t hear it right, but Natasha is slightly blushing and tears are threatening to fall from her eyes. She says with a shaky voice: "You just keep saving me in so many different ways…I don´t know how to be away from you anymore, Steve."

And that was all Steve wanted to hear, he feels like the luckiest man in the world right now, he smiles and replies in a soft tone: "Then don´t…" he stands up from the chair, still holding her left hand on his right one and with his left hand wipes away a single tear that falls from her eye. Then his left hand presses against her bed for support as he leans down to kiss her. When Steve lips gently touches hers, Natasha closes her eyes a puts her right hand behind his neck. She kisses him back at full force and as Steve feels Natasha responding to him, he deepens the kiss.

Then, there is a click on the door, someone is entering the room. Steve pulls away quickly and looks back, seeing Tony walking in. Natasha blinks rapidly to get the tears away from her eyes.

Tony says: "Hey, Little Red and Capsicle. Did I interrupt again?" he notices Steve´s flushed face and Natasha stirring uncomfortably on her bed.

Natasha gets herself together and answers with her poker face on: "No Stark, come in." She wasn´t in the mood for Tony to start making jokes about her and Steve.

Tony looks suspicious at them, but continues: "Okay...Clint sent me a text saying you were awake, I decided to see for myself. You look good, I mean, for someone who almost died."

Natasha gives him a half-smile and says sarcastically: "Gee, thanks a lot Stark!"

Steve is blushing and decides he should leave before Stark say something about it, so he looks at Natasha: "Since Stark is here to make you company, I´ll go get a cup of coffee."

Tony replies as the Captain walks away: "Don´t worry old man, I´ll take care of the old lady for you!"

Natasha looks questioning at Tony: "Old lady? What is that about Stark?"

Steve stops in front of the door and mentally takes a hand on his face, he knows Natasha is going to be pissed off when she finds out what Clint told them, she is a very reserved person and likes to keep her secrets. But he decides to leave Tony to deal with her alone. Since she is still recovering from her wounds, Steve is pretty sure she won´t be able to kill him. He leaves the room.

Tony sits on the empty chair beside her bed: "Clint told us about your super-serum thing, and how you age slower than us."

Natasha expression goes from curiosity to anger, she shouts: "What! Oh someone is going to get killed as soon as I get out of this hospital!"

Steve is outside on the hallway and hears what Natasha says, not so sure any more that she won´t kill someone. Steve chuckles thinking: "Tony is going to regret bringing that up, he shouldn´t play with fire. Oh well, Tony is smart, he´ll figure something out." He makes his way to the cafeteria and even after hearing Natasha getting mad, he can´t help it but smile on his way there, like a fool in love.

Tony is still curious so he asks: "So, how old are you really? Where you there when the Nazis tried to take over the world?"

Natasha gives a murder glare at Tony and now he fears for his life, so he quickly takes his phone out of his pocket, almost dropping it as he dials: "Hey, look, Pepper was worried about you, why don´t you talk with her a little?" he hands the phone to Natasha.

She aggressively takes the phone from Tony´s hand and says: "Smooth move Stark, but if you ever call me that again, you better sleep with one eye open." then she changes her voice to a softer tone as she greets Pepper on the phone.

PS: Sorry for any stupid mistakes in my writing again. There is more to happen yet in the story! Chapter 10 coming soon! Bye!