Clint entered the room quietly and closed the door behind him. Natasha was still awake just as he'd expected. It was why he didn't go with her when she left the penthouse first. At some point she always required some solitude and Clint would never deny her that. She was sitting, cross-legged in the window. Her head was turned toward the city below. Both of them liked being so high above the city, and so far they liked staying in the tower. It felt safe there, safer than on the carrier, or on any base or safe house. They were hidden up high, together.

For a moment, as Clint removed his watch and set it down, he took in the simple sight of her short red hair silhouetted against the dim night.

"So Bruce thinks you hate him." he said casually.

"I don't." She responded simply. Her eyes shifted from the city to the gold band around her finger. She twisted it a few times, something she only did when her mind was preoccupied. Natasha did not wear her ring all the time, and returned it to her finger only when she and Clint were alone. Clint kept his on a chain which always remained hidden under his shirt and close to his heart. Even after everything, neither of them felt that the "team" needed to know about their bond yet. Maybe sometime, but they still only trusted each other. Fury didn't even know, though he knew they were close, inseparable even. Coulson was the only person who ever knew of their marriage, and he was dead.

At that moment, though, Natasha Romanoff had other secrets she wished to keep hidden. She did not like being out in the open. Her fear wasn't a secret to Banner. Things were not as they should be. Bruce Banner, a man she could do away with in seconds, held a power over her. And he didn't even want that power. Natasha knew he couldn't understand what that meant for her, but he could see that she was unnerved. That was what she considered unacceptable. But there was no hand to play, no contingency, no extraction. She was there. Bruce was there.

The only thing that felt normal was hiding out with her husband, trying to mend wounds in secret. The wounds, however, were far from the norm. Clint still reeled from doing time as a marionette and she was reeling from from facing true powerlessness for the first time, and somebody else knowing it bothered her.

Clint sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off his boots. "It's ok if you're still afraid." He said.

"I'm not afraid." She responded, looking at him sharply. The lights in the room were still off and the faint light from outside glinted in her eyes. "I was afraid."

He nodded knowingly, then rose quietly and came over to her. Without a word she made room for him beside her. Before he sat down, Clint pulled the chain out from under the collar of his shirt. He held up his ring for her to see. She looked at it, then back at his eyes.

"Be straight with me, Tasha... Please." He said.

Then he pulled himself onto the sill where he sat facing her. A few seconds later she leaned toward him. He leaned in too. Pressing their foreheads together she whispered "He wasn't there. How can I know he tried to kill me, the one time I had no angle, and he wasn't even there?"

"I'm here."

"Not helpful." She said dryly as she sat straight again. Her eyes fell back upon the city.

Clint's shoulder shook slightly with a little laughter. "Maybe it's a good thing... It's taken your whole life to run into something you couldn't get around. Life's been good to you so far?"

"Yeah. That's it." Her words dripped with sarcasm. "Barton, that is the worst interpretation of a situation I've ever heard."

"Well, I'm here aren't I."

The corners of her mouth turned up. It was true. Life had given her Clint.

"I don't hate Banner." She said, getting serious again. "He just wasn't there."

"I know." Clint said, and he did understand. For a moment they both got quiet again until he said "But you're alive, and Bruce never wanted to hurt you."

She looked over at Clint. His eyes were staring absently at his hands, his mind elsewhere.

Natasha reached out her hand to his and broke his reverie. Clint's deep eyes met hers.

"Are we talking about Bruce?" She asked.

Clint looked away from her. Then he shook his head.

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Ok. It's official. This runs in the same universe as "Cold". Obviously this story begins after that. Clint and Nat are married (sorry if you were hoping for Bruce/Natasha), and, unlike in "Total", I'm holding to canon(?)/my headcanon that Natasha's can't have children. Thanks Red Room. *goes and cries forever*

(Because otherwise, they'd totally have some kids by now. I love families. What can I say?

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I would love to know if you dig it. :D