Lost in translation

A/N: You probably didn't see this coming. But if you did you'll probably still like it. ;) Considering my tendency to drag things out (cough Precious93 cough) this is my response to you missy :P

Chapter 7

Clint took a deep breath as he plastered himself to the alley wall and listened to Natasha's angry breathing from around the corner. She was letting him hear her on purpose. Oh boy she really wanted him dead. He gritted his teeth in frustration.

She was always doing this. She was always using her anger to push him away. To keep him at a distance. They've been partners for years and there wasn't a thing about her he didn't know anymore. He also wasn't a young naïve archer anymore. She wasn't quite as heartless as she really used to be. He wouldn't deny it – he used to think Natasha Romanoff was cold as ice and that nothing could thaw her – but then again his greatest weapon really was kindness.

No one gives someone like Natasha Romanoff a second chance – but he did. And he didn't regret it for one second of his entire life. Not taking the shot when he had the chance to take out the greatest assassin in the world was the best decision he ever made. Even though it only set him up for 10 years of lonely heartache. He heard he grow closer and steeled his resolve.

Well then - there was really only one thing left to do. The second he felt her round the corner with her blazing eyes he shot forward and knocked them both to the ground. He felt her hit the floor with a thump and he promptly dropped his weight on top of her to pin her in place and watched the air get knocked out of her lungs as he quickly ran his hands down her body and felt all the knives she had strapped to her person. He chuckled darkly. Even during off time she still had a minimum of 5.

She growled as she struggled against him but he quickly grabbed her wrists in one hand and swiftly removed the weapons from her body. He stared at her dead in the eyes as he flung them in some dark corner of the alley forever to remain forgotten.

But he never forgot. He never forgot the slightly softened looks she gives him when she thinks he's not looking. He never forgot the way she touches his face when she thinks he is sleeping – he's never sleeping when she's that close. Her scent alone keeps him awake for hours. He never forgot the way her eyes search him out in a crowd – like she was going to tear the whole world apart until she found him. She's already done it once during the Loki incident. The only reason he was even here today was because of her.

He stared down at the fuming redhead beneath him and felt his eyes harden. She wasn't going to run away today. He wouldn't let her. She wasn't going to keep saving him and then walk away. Clint Barton doesn't work like that. He doesn't let random people save his ass without repaying them. And Natasha Romanoff was so much more than just a stranger passing through his life. She was his life.

"You're deadly with or without your knives Tasha - but for once in your life you are going to have a conversation with me without any weapons to hide behind," he said firmly as he snaked his arm over her stomach and slid it down her back. He felt her tense and give in involuntary shiver. He would have smirked if he wasn't too busy trying to disarm her. He swiftly gripped the gun stuffed in her back pocket and pulled it out before he threw it over his shoulder to join the knives wherever they were – he didn't care.

Today it was just going to Clint and Natasha. The Black Widow was not allowed to interfere today. The Black Widow already got too much of Natasha Romanoff. He wasn't going to let it have all of her.

She glared up at him with fierce eyes as she watched him completely disarm her. He made her so angry! He was always pushing her to the edge of insanity and doing dangerous things. She didn't care about dangerous actions – it was his words that were wasn't a weapon in the entire world she couldn't figure out how to disable or use against her opponent. But she couldn't fight words – and right now she didn't have any of her own. And that was downright terrifying because that meant she couldn't stop him from what he was about to do. She could feel it – right in to damn chest. He was going to be stupid. He was about to be reckless. He was about to change everything they worked to keep balanced. And she couldn't even do a single damn thing about it and they both knew it.

He stared back at her burning look with an intense one of his own. She was breathing harshly as she viciously tugged at her trapped wrists and for some reason he couldn't catch his breath either as he held her hands tighter over her head. There were no more threats, no more lies, no more secrets – it was finally time for her to hear the truth and who better to give it then her own partner?

"No more fighting Tasha. I'm tired of fighting you. Because Tasha. Tasha it's been years. You and me. Partners forever. Don't you ever wonder what it would be like? Don't you ever dream about what we could be like?" he whispered as he breathed softly against her cheek. He felt her go rigid beneath him as he started to tell her every dark forbidden thought he ever had about them. He didn't care anymore. He really didn't. Nobody's opinion about their relationship mattered to him anymore - no one's except her own.

She steeled her eyes – holy shit she knew it. He was going to be stupid! She doubled her attempts to get away from him but he knew her too well and just held on tighter as he locked her legs in place – the Black Widow had met her match. And she was going to listen to him damn it. She angrily gritted her teeth – she didn't want to listen.

"I dream about us Tasha. Every night when I close my eyes I see you. You're terrifying and deadly and stubborn and god I never thought I was a masochist but I wanted you anyway. Don't you ever feel it Tasha? Doesn't it hurt to look to at the one person you want every day of your god damn life and know you can't have her?" he said painfully. He watched her angrily look away from his agonizingly honest eyes and determinedly shake her head.

How could he be doing this now? How dare he bring stuff like this up now when she couldn't even say a word? He stared at her denial in disbelief. Even now she was lying!

"What do you mean no? Why are you shaking then? If you never felt it too why is your pulse racing then? Why are you always lying to yourself Natasha Romanoff? I'm so sick and tired of watching you walk away from me Tasha. I'm exhausted by your denial - I really am," he said as he continued to stare at her with his intense blue eyes. He locked his elbows on either side of her head and forced her to keep looking at him and listen to him for once in her god damn life.

She growled up at him as he held her face directly in front of his. She wanted to hit him! She wanted to grab his shirt and shake him for saying the things he was saying. She wanted to shut him up but she couldn't. This conversation was years overdue. He watched the intense anger flash across her eyes and shook his head in disbelief.

Even now she was still fighting him.

"I know you Tasha. I've known you for so damn long it's like we've lived a lifetime together but at a distance Tasha. Always at a distance. You try and pretend you don't have a heart Tasha but I know you do. Because mine can't be calling a void. I refuse to believe there's not something calling me back," he whispered with sad eyes.

She froze under his body and he knew she was going to cut him up into pieces if he even let her go for a second. He laughed humorlessly. He had to fall in love with the only girl in the world that wouldn't crack no matter what you did to her. But he knew how – he learned how she ticked and knew that with every word he was saying he was tearing down one more wall between them. There were only so many walls she could keep putting up until there was nothing left between the two partners.

He felt her silently growl something against his cheek and laughed brokenly. Oh Tasha. It was the same thing after all these years. Always the same damn thing.

"Compromised? What compromised? Tasha we've been compromised since the day we met. Our partnership was born from a compromising decision," he said with a humorless laugh. She tensed but he just kept going. He's never found the opportunity to just tell her everything because she would always shut him down with a few curt words. Now it's only Clint who can fill the silence and he is going to use this chance to fill her ears with things she's been denying for too damn long.

He shook his head at her sadly as she continued to shoot daggers at him. He's been collecting daggers since forever. She tried to shove him off of her because she was so scared of what he was going to say next. She didn't want to hear it but he was firm and unmoving in his storm of words that were never meant to be spoken.

"But it doesn't matter Tasha. Frat regulations are there to keep us alive in the field. But we're the best there is. If something as stupid as feelings was going to get us killed it should have already happened Tasha. But it didn't," he whispered softly begging her with his eyes to just let go. He could feel the intense tension vibrating in her body and wished she would just let go of everything that was keeping her back. Every lie she ever told herself to keep her solid in her iron determination to never be compromised – but they were the definition of compromised.

He wanted her to finally let go and she wanted him to stop talking. They did neither of those things and he finally decided he was going to scare the shit out of Natasha Romanoff today and possibly give her a heart attack.

"Tasha we're both still alive. After everything that has happened to us. After all the things we've been through. After all the countless times we've both nearly died. After all the missions we lived through – with our sanity intacted or not. You can't talk right now but you're alive Tasha and I promise we're going to get your voice back. I promise because you need to tell me that you love me too," he said steeling his eyes. He watched her slam her eyes shut as she frantically tried to ignore the words ringing in her ears. But there was no way she didn't hear him. There is no way she could explain his words away.

Because he said it. The one thing he wasn't allowed to say. Never been allowed to say. He watched her try to stop hearing him but she never lost her hearing. He finally let go of her wrist and felt them fall to the ground as he wrapped his arms around her shaken form.

"I love you Tasha and guess what?" he whispered in her ear. He felt her tremble beneath him and he knew he was scaring her. He was scaring her to death. Natasha Romanoff has never been scared of anything in her entire life.

But she was scared of the truth.

"The world's not ending Tasha," he whispered with a breathy laugh as he watched her terrified green eyes open and stare back at his calm warm blue ones. He flashed her one of his signature boyish grins.

Stubborn until the end – there was a reason he waited for so long. She was someone worth waiting for.

A/N: Intense archer. That was the first time in all my stories when he finally told her the 3 words. (At least the very first time – memories doesn't count). Epic moment. Natasha didn't even crack until the last second. Haha off to write 'I dare you' and now you can imagine just how long it took them to get HERE. This is 10 years later. LOL