Natasha tried every argument that she could to convince Clint to return to Shield with her. Unfortunately, Clint had learned it was very easy to ignore his partner when he could not hear anything she was saying, and could just ignore any notes passed his way. So finally, fed up with everything, Natasha stormed out of the room and out onto the porch of the farmhouse.
She understood Clint's pain, his hesitance towards working in the field with a handicap. And she did know that even with the best hearing aids that Shield could offer, her partner would never be able to hear the same way again. But Natasha knew that Barton belonged working in the field— In the field at Shield working with her, not in a field here growing beets or whatever. Honestly, he belonged at Shield. He belonged at Natasha's side.
No, it was stupid to think that. It wasn't like Clint was hers to own, or that he belonged next to her. Honestly she hardly cared about that. About him. She just knew that it would be a total pain in the ass to break in a new partner, a worse pain to find anyone who would be willing to work with her. At least that's what she told herself.
It was past midnight, the evening surrounding the farmhouse was completely still. Natasha grabbed one of the chairs, and sat down in it. She felt so utterly helpless right now. Before this happened, she wouldn't have thought she even cared if Clint was her partner or not. But now that he might be leaving her, giving up on the partnership they'd built, she realized how important this relationship (could she maybe even call it a friendship?)was. She had always viewed friends as weaknesses, things that could be taken from her, or worse be used against her. But now that Natasha had to think about this, she realized Clint was a friend. One she could not stand to lose.
Suddenly Natasha heard a rustling come from a bush close to the house- She pulled a knife from her pocket,and cautiously moved forward to investigate. Of course she was out in the wilderness, Tasha knew the rustling was probably just a wild animal hunting for dinner. But you could never be too careful. Never think that anywhere was really safe.
She stepped towards the overgrown bush, and cautiously peered into it- Then a small fluffy black lump pounced onto the Assassin's feet- It was the barn cat, Galina. Natasha sighed, stooped down, and picked up the cat. It didn't even struggle, instead it started purring the moment Nat began scratching behind the cats ears.
Natasha stood there in the dark for a long time, holding the cat, looking up at the stars every now and then. They were beautifully clear here, not like in the city where they were little more than blurred spots of light, straining to be seen through an overcrowded smog choked sky. The sky here was gorgeous, but could not distract the Black Widow from her problems.
She had to convince Clint to continue working at Shield, continue working with her. But how? What could she possibly do to let him know he could still be perfectly capable at his job, that he had a reason to stay?
Eventually Galina began squirming to escape from Natasha's arms, so she let the cat go, it went running back into the darkness. The Black Widow almost wished that she could follow. Maybe it would be easier to escape, to start a new life away from everything and hope she would survive, rather than start over again with Shield. Just the thought of trying to find a new partner, who she knew would never really trust her, gave Natasha a headache. Maybe she could just do solo missions, but she'd already had enough of that life.
Sighing, Nat turned and went back into the house. Up in the guest room, she was still trying to think of what to do. Barton was so crazy, unpredictable, stubborn, even idiotic sometimes. But he always worked so hard, at everything he did. He had certainly worked hard convincing Natasha to partner with him, then worked even harder these past years, trying to make Natasha his friend. Maybe she shouldn't have been so quick to always push him away these last couple of years. If she hadn't, would Clint be less ready to give up their partnership?
If Natasha knew anything about Clint after working together for so long, she knew he could be unpredictable, strange, and more than a bit crazy. Maybe it was time to take a new approach in convincing him to stay. She rummaged through the guest room, and began inently drafting a plan in the notebook she found.
_
For some reason when Clint came downstairs the next morning, he was not at all surprised to see Natasha sitting at his table. Probably because she had already brewed a pot of coffee, and the rich aroma was filling the house when Clint woke up. Anyway, she was sitting at the table with an array of papers neatly arranged in front of her. She was drinking out of Clint's favorite coffee cup, and did not look surprised to see him enter.
She held up the first piece of paper. "Good morning. You need to go shopping- the only food you have is coffee." Clint almost smiled. He filled another cup with coffee, sat down, and Natasha pushed a pile of scrap paper, and pencil towards him. He wrote- "Sorry usually I stock up at the store down the road. But they know me there. Didn't want to have to explain everything right now." Natasha accepted this, and let her partner drink his coffee for a minute, giving him a chance to wake up. Meanwhile Nat was exhausted, wondering if maybe she should have tried to catch some sleep last night in-between trying to work out the arrangement she had in mind. She neatly stacked the papers piled in front of her, and handed the next one to Barton.
"I'm not letting you quit without a fight. You brought me into Shield, you can't leave me to find some loser to become my new partner. Just let me suggest something before you quit on me." Clint lifted his pencil to write a counterargument, but had another paper placed under his nose. "Ok, I know you think you aren't fit in the field anymore. But Shield has tests in place to make sure every one of their agents are fit for the work they do. You can take hundreds of those, and I guarantee once you get the hearing aids, you will be cleared for work after every test you take. Just think about that, and let me tell you what I will do if you stay at Shield- And continue working with me."
Natasha had the next paper in hand, and watched Clint's face as he read the note, waiting to hand over the next one until he was finished. She felt like her plan was kind of stupid, but if it worked, she didn't care. Clint pushed the latest paper aside, Natasha handed him the next one.
"Come back to Shield, and as I told you a hundred times last night, they will get you the best hearing aids the world has to offer. Plus, I will learn sign language with you. So no matter what you will always have someone to talk with. I mean, seriously, this writing thing gets really old really fast. Plus we both know I will learn it way faster than you, and can help you out."
Clint raised an eyebrow at his partner as he reached the end of that note, Natasha just smirked as she handed over the next one. "So to recap, you will be able to hear again, have proof that you are fit to work in the field, and we will both know an awesome secret language, so we can talk about people behind their backs, even when we are right in front of them. Honestly I think that is a sweet enough deal, but you are such a pig headed idiot, I am going to add in a couple more things."
Clint looked across the table, waited for the next note. Natasha held it in her hands, and seemed to think for a long moment before handing it over.
"Barton- If you come back to Shield with me, I will be your friend. I mean. I guess we have been friends for a while, but I have been a very reluctant horrible bad friend, and mainly only because you will not give up on the idea of us being friends. I thought I didn't want to be friends, then when you said you were leaving, I realized we already ARE friends, when I realized I did not want to lose you. Hand me this note right now, or I will force it from your hands." Clint was genuinely smiling now, for the first time since his accident. He pretended to consider not handing the note to his partner, but seeing the dangerous gleam in her eyes, he handed it over. He would have given anything to keep the note, proof the Black Widow thought of him as a friend, but because he was her friend, he handed it over.
Natasha took the paper, walked over to the sink, and lit the note on fire over it. Clint was tempted to laugh at her over theatricality's, but knew better. Dropping the flaming paper to burn out in the sink, Natasha sat back down and handed over the next note.
"Know that if you ever tell anyone I consider you a friend, I will make sure that you regret it. Now as your friend, here is what I will do. You've been trying to get me to do all of this stuff with you since week one of our partnership, so you should be more than happy.
Three times a week I will have lunch, OR coffee, OR dinner with you. I get to choose where.
Before missions if the ride to the mission is more than an hour, I will not ignore you and read by myself. Instead I will either talk with you, or let you play music off of your phone. Know I will not discuss my past, or listen to country music.
You are always asking me to do dumb stuff with you like go mini golfing, see a movie, go to a museum, play laser tag. So, twice a week I will do one of these dumb activities with you. Just warn me about what it is first, so if you suggest doing something truly idiotic I can shoot myself in the foot first to get out of it.
Finally, I will spend ONE holiday of your choosing with you every year. You know I prefer to be alone on those days, so this is a big one. Appreciate it Barton.
In addition to these things I will continue training with you, being your partner, and fixing you up every time you almost get yourself killed on a mission. I will also come visit the farm with you any time you invite me, but only because I like your cat."
Clint was surprised as he read the note, not quite sure how to respond. Natasha knew he might need a couple minutes to think, so she refilled her coffee cup again, hoping it would help her stay awake. When she turned around, she saw Clint had written a new note and put it in front of her empty chair. Natasha sat down and read it quickly.
"Fine. I'll get the hearing aids, and make sure they give me every
damn test they can possibly give me to make sure I am still good in the field. And if I do not pass every one of them with flying colors, I'm still going to quit. I'm not putting you in danger. I'm only willing to go back because I have to admit it would be pretty awesome if we both knew sign language, and plus it's going to be pretty awesome if you finally stop being so stubborn and accept we are friends. One of my conditions- If we are friends, can we buy friendship necklaces?