Ship: Clint Barton x Natasha Romanova
Setting: Some time after the Avengers movie; these two are living together and Natasha is pregnant with their daughter (because they have to name their kid Natalie Barton because COME ON. It's cute.)
She was as scared as he'd ever seen her. Probably no one else could tell, but the way she was sitting on their bed when he came home – well, his trained eye could see the tension in her shoulders and the blankness in her gaze.
"I can't do this," she said tonelessly.
"Tasha, don't worry! The doctor said your pregnancy is perfectly normal-"
"I'm not worried about being pregnant." She rubbed one hand idly along the swell of her stomach. He waited for her to continue, knowing better than to ask her to speak when she didn't want to.
"I'm… I'm worried about her, Clint!" She finally looked at him, and he was stunned to see that there were tears in her eyes. "What if she has to live like- like us? What if she has to go through that?"
"Natasha, sweetheart," he murmured, sliding an arm behind her shoulder, "she won't have to. We'll protect her from that."
"But what if we can't? What if someone takes her away from us and does things to her, just because we're her parents?" Her voice cracked and she fell in to a whisper. "Because I'm her mother?"
"No. Natasha, you're talking all in what-if's. I promise you, she will be safe."
"How can you promise that?" she cried hoarsely. "Can you tell me that you have no enemy who would take the chance to get back at you through your kid? Because I know I have plenty."
He sighed. She relented and leaned against him, burying her face in his neck.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, breath hot and wet against his skin. "But I don't know if I can do this."
He took her hand in his, gently massaging her balled fists into normality. "You don't have to do it alone, you know."
She sank against his side.
"I know."
Author's Note: I tried to explore Natasha's softer side, because no one can be alert and guarded all the time, and I believe that she does want to settle down eventually. Please no one come yelling at me about how I'm making her a "weak female;" being pregnant and wanting to start a family does not automatically make a woman weak, nor do I think it's inherently out-of-character for any one of these superheroes to want to settle down eventually. It's a tough life, physically and emotionally, for these people, and even heroes have to retire.