Finally, I'm updating. I probably won't get to update until the weekend with me going back to school. Sorry guys, my senior year school work is insane. But I will probably update Friday. :) So just hold in until then.

Musical Inspiration (also inspired the title of the chapter): Save you by Simple Plan

This covers the events of the movie. I know, not much new there, but it had to be covered at some point. :) But just think, now we can get into the vast unexplored territory that is Clintasha's future. So excited, so read and review and let me know what you think.

Chapter Seven: Save You

Natasha Romanoff

Barton's been compromised, the three words I'd thought I'd never hear in a million years, the three words that scared me the most. And when Phil Coulson said them to me over the phone that night, I physically felt my heart stop and my breath catch in my throat. How could Barton be compromised? How could Barton be compromised while I was here in Russia in a warehouse tied to a chair interrogating this load of idiots? A million similar thoughts rolled through my head in that millisecond before I knew I had to get out of there and get to Coulson. I needed to find him. "Let me put you on hold," I told Coulson, trying to keep a strong front.

As I fought my way out of the warehouse, I couldn't get his face out of my mind. By that point in time, we'd been partners for a while. And sure, while things got off to a rough start because neither of us had really worked with partners previously, we'd found our stride, and now we were an unstoppable team. We hardly ever did solo missions. We just weren't as good apart from one another, not to say that we were incapable of running solo missions, because we weren't. We just preferred working with each other. And it panicked me that I wasn't around to save him when it happened.

I sighed realizing that all the guys were down. "Do we know where Barton is now?" I asked after grabbing my black heels and walking towards the door. I needed Coulson to tell me what to do, where Clint was so that I could save him. I would do anything to get him back. And, as it turned out, Coulson was going to keep me to my word with his assignment for me.

At first I thought he was talking about Tony Stark. And as much as I detested the self-proclaimed "genius billionaire playboy philanthropist," I'd stomach a visit with him if it meant help in bringing Clint back to S.H.I.E.L.D.; however, I couldn't help but feel doubt in the plan. After what went down between me and Stark in the recent past, I knew Stark wouldn't trust me as far he could throw me, and I told Coulson so. And that's when I found out what he really meant for me to do and I froze.

I wasn't scared. The Black Widow was scared of few things. Not even death made me flinch, but Clint's did, so as much as I was nervous about going to retrieve the monster the world seemed to have forgotten, it was a needed risk, one that I was definitely going to take if it meant being that much closer to getting Clint back. So I hopped on a plane headed towards Calcutta.

Doctor, we need you to come in…I'll persuade you. It had been easier than I'd expected to get Dr. Banner to New York, of which I was glad. I'd been prepared to do things the hard way, but there'd been guarantees that I would've survived. The things I'd read about Banner doing…well let's just say they weren't for the faint-hearted. I kept on pins and needles as the S.H.I.E.L.D. backup team headed towards the airport with Banner and I in tow. While Banner had agreed to join me in New York, there was still that small chance he could change his mind. And that was something S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't afford, something I couldn't afford, something Clint couldn't afford. Banner looked at me curiously in the car. "Nervous?" I looked up at him and put the mask over my emotions. I became unreadable in an instant.

I allowed a polite smile to cross my face and raised an eyebrow. "I could ask you the same question."

"Oh Miss Romanoff, I have a reason to always be nervous. The question is what makes the infamous Black Widow famous?" He played a smile of his own. "Me?" I looked away. "It's ok," he said, "People that know about me usually are."

"That's not quite the reason Doctor." I didn't know why I was being so honest with Dr. Banner. I had no reason to trust him, and he had no reason to trust me. We didn't know each other. I usually kept unnaturally quiet in such situations, preferring to ignore all questions asked of me. But I felt compelled to tell him why I was nervous.

"But it has something to do with me." He recognized.

"I need you to come with me to New York." Banner looked at me and nodded, a confused glint taking over his eyes.

"And I agreed to, so why are you nervous?" I looked up at him beneath my red curls and dark lashes.

"I need you to not change your mind. No matter what happens, I need you to find that Tesseract. It's of grave importance."

"That's my understanding too. The world is in danger, but somehow I think it runs deeper for you. What kind of leverage do they have on you?"

I knew better than to tell him why I needed him to not change his mind. Whenever you give someone else unneeded information, it becomes a tool for them to use against you, but I looked into his eyes and I knew he wouldn't use it against me. Dr. Banner was a gentle soul, no matter what his other half was, and he wouldn't hurt anything or anyone. He was a doctor for a reason: he loved to help people. "They have one of our own."

"Someone close?" He furthered looking at me gravely. I looked back, my unfeeling face plastered for him to see. I was stalling, thinking about how I should answer that question. I needed a wording that didn't give away too much. My relationship with Clint had become complicated. On the surface, we were partners, friends even, but there was always something hiding below, threatening to expose itself. Clint and I had always had a connection. That much was obvious, but nowadays I'd found a deeper twinge of feeling for him. He'd gotten under my skin in Barcelona and I'd never gotten him out, not that Clint knew that. I couldn't tell him. It would make things harder for us, dangerous. I'd compromised him once, that first meeting in Barcelona. I refused to do it again.

"My partner," I said with a stone cold face. Banner nodded and took the hint not to investigate that partnership.

"Well, Miss Romanoff, let me assure you, you don't have anything to worry about. I'll help find the Tesseract. I'm not going to change my mind." I reached out and touched his hand, catching him by surprise. He met my eyes.

"Thank you," I said. "And Dr. Banner, I don't think you're a monster."

He'd grown weary. "That's because you've never met the other guy."

X.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.X

Is this love Agent Romanoff? Now that was an interesting question, one I couldn't exactly explore at the time Loki asked me. I didn't even bat an eyelash. It was the one time I'd been glad I'd grown up in the Red Room. It had been drilled into me not to show any emotion during an interrogation. "Love is for children. I owe him a debt." I dodged the question effectively while staring down the man, or demi-god that had taken Clint and put him under his control. He backed away from the glass he was trapped behind and beckoned me to tell him everything.

I wasn't stupid. I knew who Loki was, and I knew that to deal with the god of lies, I had to deal in truths to get what I wanted. But that didn't mean I had to tell him everything. I glossed over mine and Agent Barton's history in a mere couple of sentences. He flashed me an eerie smile. "Your world in the balance and you bargain for one man." While I might have been here to interrogate Loki for information on his plan, I was genuinely interested in what he had in store for Clint. And while Loki may not have realized how deep his statement ran with truth, he was right nonetheless. It didn't matter what was going on with the world. I would always bargain for the one man who bargained for me all those years ago in Barcelona. Regimes fell every day, but Clint, he was the one constant in my life, the one person who had my back no matter what. And that's what made Loki's next comments all the more painful.

I'd been compromised. But that part I could live with, although I had to admit, he'd taken me by surprise with the information he knew. I could've kept a straight face, but I could feel the climax of the interview approaching, so I let my eyes widen with visible shock and even a little fear. I needed Loki to believe me, so I let the smallest bit of genuine feelings slip in from their locked cage in the back on my mind. Clint had compromised me, but like I said before, I could live with that part. What Loki said next was the real showstopper. "I won't touch Barton, not until I make him kill you, slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work. And when he screams, I'll split his skull. This is my bargain you mewling quim."

"You're a monster…." My words had been part of the plan. I needed Loki to keep talking. That didn't make them any less true. I know that I had to be hurt and upset for the sake of my manipulation, but his words actually bothered me. They found their way into my core and rested there, bringing with them a heaviness that made it hard to breathe, a heaviness that began to suffocate me from the inside out. And the scariest thing of all was that he actually had the power to do it….

Loki had Clint, and we had Loki, so it shouldn't have been surprising when he showed up with Loki's other brainwashed minions. As I sat there, terrified, shaken up beyond belief from my run in with the Hulk, I couldn't think of anything other than how I could've easily died. Pain throbbed through my entire body from where I hit the metal structure I was now cowering behind. I surprisingly didn't think I'd broken anything, but there were definitely going to be scratches and bruises and things that were strained or pulled. I was trembling when I heard Fury's voice over my comm link. "It's Barton! He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?" I stopped breathing. I was met by silence on the other end of the comm link. I slowly gathered my senses and brought my trembling hand to my headset. "This is Agent Romanoff, I copy." I took slow deep breaths and hesitated. Clint. I had to find him, but he was still under Loki's control. That meant he wasn't my Clint. My Clint, I stopped breathing again when I realized what I'd said. My thoughts sputtered with defensive comebacks. Clint wasn't mine. That's not what I meant. Oh God, I thought, pull it together Romanoff. I took one more breath before pushing myself off the ground, heading towards where I knew Clint was.

I tried to prepare myself as I stealthily made my way through the helicarrier hallways. Clint wasn't himself, and he wouldn't hesitate to attack me, which meant I couldn't hesitate to attack him back. My breathing was coming in spurts that I desperately tried to quiet the closer I got to Clint's location. It was one thing to fight a villain, and even another to fight someone who you knew wasn't in control, but it was an entire thing altogether when that person was your partner, when that person was someone you cared about. And that's when I saw him up ahead. My heart immediately went out to him. But I knew what I had to do: I had to stop him in order to bring him home. I nodded with resolve and quickened my notoriously silent steps until I was right behind him.

The thing about being partners – or really the thing about me and Clint – was that we knew each other's presence so well. So he knew when I was right behind him and he pulled an arrow and whirled around prepared to shoot me. But the other thing about me and Clint was that we knew each other so well, and I saw it coming. I dodged the arrow and grabbed his bow, twisting it down. He kicked me backwards, but I didn't fall. I was always great on my feet. Clint often teased I should call myself the Black Cat as opposed to the Widow since cats landed on their feet almost as much as I did. God I had to stop thinking of Clint during this fight. If I kept letting the memories creep in, I'd never be able to take him down.

He swung his bow at me. I dodged it and swiftly kicked him back. I didn't want to hurt him; I just wanted to detain him until we could figure out how to get Loki out of his head. I grabbed onto the railings and swung down and around to the other side, pulling myself back up and catching Barton by surprise. I kicked him backwards, but he just stumbled a few steps back, all the while preparing to shoot another arrow at me. Shit, I was good at hand-to-hand combat, better than Clint, but when he had his bow and arrows, the outcome didn't always end in my favor. I grabbed another rail and swung myself over to the adjacent platform, but Clint easily followed me. He swung the bow at me multiple times, and while I easily dodged them, I wondered why he hadn't shot me close range with an arrow. All he'd have to do is send me sputtering backwards for a few seconds, just long enough to pull the arrow out and string it, and let's face it, when you're the World's Greatest Marksman, you can do that in a fraction of a second or two.

We'd gotten closer to each other and I grabbed one end of his bow: the string I found out as he pulled his end backwards, effectively jerking me forward until I hit my head against it. I was gonna feel that later. I didn't let go of the bow though, even though I probably should have. Clint effectively pushed me against the railing. I felt the rail press hard into my back as I battled to get Clint off of me. I kicked at me before successfully landing a hit, pushing him away. Now I had his bow. I whirled around in a defensive stance. Maybe, I could do this.

My heart sank as I watched him draw his knife. The stakes just got a hell of a lot higher. He came at me but I blocked him and kicked him back. He wasn't deterred and came at me with the knife again. This time I grabbed his arm and twisted it to the side. He cried out in agony, which sent a ripple of chills down my spine. I was effectively keeping him from using the knife until he tossed it into the air, easily catching it with his other hand. Shit. He came at me and I barely had enough time to duck below his swing. I tried to grab him to force the knife from his hand, but he held tightly and pushed me against one of the railing poles. I pushed us a few steps back where I wasn't against a solid structure. I was struggling to keep the knife away when I felt his hand in my hair. He pulled it back tightly, exposing my neck. I let out a groan as I saw the flash of silver near my head. Shit! Shit! Shit! The blade was inching closer to my skin as I struggled against his grip and failed. I slowly reached my head up enough to bite his arm. He grunted in pain as the knife finally fell from his hand. He tried to flip me but I land on my feet as always. In one swift moment, I pushed a lowered Clint into the railing, wincing slightly as I head his head collide roughly with the metal.

He slumped down the railings, moaning in pain. He tried to pull himself up on the railing but failed miserably, falling further to the floor. He looked down at the floor as I stepped closer to him, eyeing him cautiously and intensely. Finally he pushed himself to a crouched position and looked up at me. I met his eyes, searching for signs of Loki. He didn't look completely like the man I called my partner. Something was still off. "Tasha…." He finally managed to whisper. I immediately felt a shiver run down my spine at his voice. He always had a way of making me come undone when he said my name. I took a couple of deep breaths before hitting him as hard as I could, focusing all of my energy into my fist. It fell backwards, out cold. I sighed as I looked down on an unconscious Clint. He'd known me. He'd said my name. Even if he wasn't totally back to normal, he'd started to come back. I just hopped that second hit was enough to severe Loki's mind control altogether.

I sighed and turned away, taking a moment to rub my face in exhaustion. I was feeling shaky again. I needed to get it together. I took another breath before turning to look at Clint again. I switched my comm link on. "I'm gonna need some help on the detention level." I figure it'd be a while before I got a reply. Just because I had things settled down here didn't mean havoc wasn't being wreaked elsewhere on the helicarrier. But shockingly enough, Fury's voice boomed through the comm link.

"Romanoff, status," he demanded. I gave a small, grave smile as I realized he was checking to see if I was hurt.

"Agent Barton is down. I incapacitated him sir: he's out cold." I heard a sigh of what I thought was relief from the other end.

"Very good Agent Romanoff. I'll send the medic team. Stay there, do you copy?"

"Yes sir." With that, I leaned against the rail and prepared to wait.

Then the guys arrive to take Clint away, and that's when I got the news that left me reeling in silence.

"Agent Coulson is down..." And they'd called it. I held my breath. Clint was going to take this the hardest. Clint. I needed to get to him. Whenever I woke up after being injured from the mission, Clint was always by my side, waiting for my eyes to flicker open. And I'd always done the same, no use changing things now.

X.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.X

It had taken some time, but eventually Clint's eyes flickered open. He shook his head wildly. He was struggling, I could tell. "Clint," I said softly, "you're gonna be alright."

He squinted tightly. "You know that?" He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes again, trying to will Loki away. He let out a doubtful laugh. "Is that what you know?" I got up and walked behind him. "I got…I gotta go in though. I gotta flush him out." I calmly poured a cup of coffee, hoping I appeared collected on the outside, because on the inside I was a mess. I was a mess because Clint was a mess. I needed him to be okay.

"You gotta level out. It's gonna take time." I told him quickly. I needed to do something that made me feel useful so I wouldn't think about how much of a mess I'd been reduced too.

"You don't understand," he sputtered. He was breathing really heavy. "Have you ever had someone take out your brain and play? Take you out and stuff something else in? You know what it's like to be unmade?" I'd listened patiently to everything he'd said, but that last part got me. I turned and looked at him quickly.

"You know that I do." I didn't like to talk about my past with the Red Room. Nobody should have to endure what I went through there, but coincidence it put me in the unique position to know exactly what Clint was talking about.

He leaned forward and looked down, taking deep breaths to help himself process everything. "Why am I back? How'd you get him out?"

I left the cup of coffee on the table where I'd poured it and moved to sit down beside Clint. "Cognitive recalibration – I hit you really hard in the head."

"Thanks." He said looking at me. I couldn't help but smile at him when I looked at him. I was just so relieved, so happy that he was back. I moved to undo his restraints. "Natasha how many agents did I –"

"Don't," I said, cutting him off, "Don't do that to yourself Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for."

"Loki," Clint sneered, "he get away?"

"Yeah, don't suppose you know where?" I waited patiently. He shook his head.

"Didn't need to know. Didn't ask. He's gonna make his play soon though. Today."

I'd walk to the door in as he talked, and when I heard the last part, I whirled around. "We gotta stop him."

Clint took a drink from the coffee I poured. "Yeah? Who's 'we'?"

I shook my head at him. "I don't know: whoever's left." I shrugged at him. He looked away from me.

"Well, I... if I put an arrow through Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better, I suppose." He chuckled a bit and looked at the ground as I walked over to him. I sat down next to him, closer than I probably should've, but what could I say? Clint had his own gravity, pulling me towards him anytime we were around each other. I smiled and looked at him, looking at him from under my eyelashes.

"Now you sound like you." He smiled and looked at me. He was so amazing when he smiled.

His eyes grew serious. "But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?" My own face grew serious as I had a million thoughts fumble through my mind. What did I say to him?

"He didn't, I just…." What did Loki do to me? He took you. That's what I really wanted to say, but I knew I couldn't say that. Saying that would compromise me and Clint instantly.

"Natasha…." I was a controlled, reserved person. I never let my emotions get in the way. But if there was ever I time I was legitimately tempted to, it was now, hearing Clint whisper my name. I wanted to tell him everything in that one instant.

"I've been compromised." It was true in both ways. Clint had compromised me to Loki, but I'd also become compromised by my feelings for Clint. I would do anything to keep him safe, to keep him here with me. "I got red in my ledger; I'd like to wipe it out." I could tell by the look on his face that he didn't buy my excuse for one minute. But I wasn't giving him anything else, and we really didn't have time to discuss it right now. We had a demi-god to stop. And this time it was personal.

But I knew this conversation wasn't over, not by a long shot. Clint Barton wasn't one to forget….

X.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.X

- Clint Barton

After everything was over, after Loki had been caught, and taken back to his home planet, I was left wracked with guilt. Everything I did, everyone I hurt…all my memories were blurred. I couldn't get an exact read on anything I'd done under Loki's mind control, but it didn't take much imagination. I knew how lethal I could be, especially with my bow. The worst part was Natasha. I vaguely remembered fighting her, but I couldn't remember much about the fight. I mean, I know that she won in the end, a victory that was the effective force to driving Loki out of my head, but there was one thing I did remember about the fight: the instinct to kill her. I was going to kill her. She was in my way of accomplishing what Loki had wanted, and I wouldn't have hesitated to take her out in any way I could. And that scared the shit out of me. Nat, who'd been my partner for years, Nat who'd refused to kill me in Barcelona even though she'd had at least six times to do it, Nat, with her warm smile and green eyes and pale skin, soft to the touch, and fiery red hair that matched her inner fire, Nat, who I'd grown to care out over the years…probably more than I should've. The line between what I should do and what I wanted to do had always been blurred when it came to Natasha Romanoff, and now was no exception.

I wanted to apologize to her, but I didn't know how. I needed her to know everything, but I didn't even know where to start. How do you tell someone you love them when you weren't even sure when it happened yourself? I tried to think back over the years, tried to pinpoint the exact moment I knew I was in love with Natasha, but I couldn't find the exact moment. All I could find was a spectrum of missions, of moments, of feelings that I'd had for as long as I could remember when it came to me and Natasha. Even in Barcelona, I'd had some feelings for her, okay a lot of feelings – God, more feelings than I should've had. I tried to think of what to say to her as the entire team of 'Avengers' sat around the table eating shawarma, but I couldn't begin to find the right wording of anything.

So I just stared at her, and she stared back.