Note: I wasn't going to expand on the last chapter, but Haven14 suggested a morning after and this popped into my head, so….
Sentiment
"You stayed," he observed when he groggily opened his eyes to find her once again watching him.
"I did. We're all off today, remember?"
"Right. Well, I hope you're not going to kick me out, cause I don't plan on getting out of bed anytime soon," He said with a grin.
She laughed. "That's fine."
He yawned and propped himself up onto an elbow. "How are you doing?"
She considered his question for a moment before answering, "I'm okay."
His eyes searched hers and she playfully pulled the covers away from him to lighten the mood, only then realizing that he'd removed his shirt for bed. "Hey…. " She lightly touched the scar on his chest where Loki's staff had made contact. "I didn't know you had this."
"Oh yeah… another one to add to the collection," he muttered.
She regarded him thoughtfully. "Sentiment… you must have felt something pretty hard for him to register that. What mission were you assigned to?"
He shook his head. "I wasn't. It was you."
"Me?" She grinned. "What did I do?"
He frowned. "They said you'd gotten yourself captured. I should have known better than to believe it, but I wasn't sure…."
The smile froze on her face and she looked away. "We shouldn't be dwelling on this. It's over, and you're back, and…"
He placed a hand under her chin and turned her face back to him. "What about you? You said you were compromised. Not like you. What's that all about?"
She bit her lip and shook her head.
"What? Tasha, what is it?"
"I tried to get you back."
"Yeah, I know that part. Before I killed anyone else. That doesn't explain how you made yourself vulnerable to him."
Her voice was barely above a whisper . "I couldn't… I wasn't thinking clearly. You were gone and I just… I needed you back."
He reached out to touch her hand. "Oh." His eyes searched her face for any telltale sign that she was admitting to him what he'd always wanted and though he knew that she'd never say it, he thought that on some level he'd always known.
In that moment, he couldn't stop himself from reaching for her, from drawing her face closer to his, closing his eyes as he felt her breath touch his skin…
"No," she uttered, her voice soft but firm.
He opened his eyes. "Why not? Tasha, I…"
"Stop." She clapped a steady hand over his mouth. "Don't say it. Don't say anything. We can't do this right now, Clint."
He nodded.
She jolted upright. "We should….go… "
He grabbed her wrist. "Not until you promise me that we'll be okay."
She smiled wryly. "We're always okay, Agent Barton. Since when do I need to promise you anything?"