"You didn't tell me?" Clint breathed from beside me.
"You didn't need to know."
The smell of seafood rose to my nose, and it suddenly made me feel rather ill. I pushed it away, and noticed everyone staring at Clint, who was now rising from his seat and storming out of the enormous room.
"You've got some explaining to do." Tony said rather harshly, looking at me with cold eyes. I simply nodded.
"Are you going to go after him?" Steve placed a hand on my shoulder. His eyes were soft and sad.
"I have to."
Clint was leaning against the outside wall, arms crossed over his chest and eyes staring blankly ahead. I almost felt afraid to approach him, but I had no choice.
"Clint, listen…"
"No." he cut me off. "We're a team, Agent-" I was stunned with what he just called me. "-And partners are supposed to tell each other everything, wether it be good or bad. "
"I didn't think you would need to know."
He scoffed at me, standing upright. He looked like he was about to hit me, and I would let him if he tried.
"You didn't think I needed to know that my partner lost a fucking child while I was off on a mission? And it was my child too?!"
I tucked a curl behind my ear, feeling speechless all over again.
"I didn't want to hurt you."
He stared at me for a moment, eyes mingling with sadness and anger and I knew he would never forgive me.
"Yeah, well how do you think I feel now?"
He pushed past me, walking back into the restaurant as I stand in the night with the cold wind whipping at my body and the weight of the world on my shoulders.
Clint didn't speak to me for days. He made himself a pathetic little bed on the floor so he wouldn't have to sleep with me, and he left in the early hours of the morning to wander around Paris and would return late at night when I would be laying in bed but not asleep, always waiting for his return.
By the time the month was over and we were to return to Stark Tower that was now being renamed the Avengers Tower or some crap like that, he hadn't said a single word to me.
The others could feel the tension between us, and we wall took the same jet home, which made things even worse. Clint sat on the totally opposite side of the jet from me, next to Steve, who was looking back and forth between us with a frustrated look on his face.
I was sitting next to Thor, who was bouncing with excitement at the flying machine we were in.
Soon Tony and Pepper came over and tapped me on the shoulder.
"Can we have a word with you?" Pepper asked kindly, smiling down at me.
I raised an eyebrow but got up anyway, following them behind the curtain that leads to the toilet.
"What's going on between the two of you?" Tony said almost as soon as the curtain fell shut.
"He's still mad at me." I shrugged.
"Good, I would be too."
Pepper slapped him on the arm and he winced slightly. I glared at him and felt like slapping him myself.
"I can understand where you were coming from with the whole not-wanting-to-tell-Clint thing, but it's only expected that he would be mad at you for keeping it a secret. He's very loyal and devoted to you, Natasha. He obviously wanted to be there for you when it all happened… I guess he feels betrayed that you didn't think he was strong enough to know or-"
"It would have broken him, Pepper!" I sighed, rubbing my forehead as I felt a headache coming on.
"But that's the thing, it broke you too, didn't it? You's could have grieved together, and healed together. But now the two of you have to grieve at totally different times, and that's not a healthy way to be in a relationship."
"We're not in a relationship."
"Oh, cut it out already!" Tony snapped suddenly. "I'm sick of the two of you acting like there's nothing going on between you, considering you've lose his child and the only thing you care about in life is him!"
I punched tony just below his eye. He staggered back and looked at me in surprised shock, holding his face. Pepper screamed, and Steve, Clint and Thor came rushing into the room, basically ripping the curtain in their haste to get here.
I stood there, breathing heavily and feeling my fist tingle with joy at finally being able to knock Tony off his feet. I glared at him and he did the same.
"What's going on here?" Steve said from behind me. Bruce and Betty slowly made their way in, staring wide-eyed at the bruise already forming on Tony's face.
"Someone needs to learn to keep their mouth shut." I hissed.
"You know Tony loves his own voice, that's never going to happen." Clint said coldly, glaring at me.
Tony grabbed Pepper's waist and rubbed the bruise below his eye as tears leaked from it.
"Someone needs to learn to accept the truth and not get violent when she does!" Tony snapped back.
"Everyone calm down!" Steve sighed, and Thor chuckled lightly behind him. I threw him a glance, and he winked as I smiled at him lightly.
"Steve's right. So much violence and anger in such a small flying object wont lead to anything good." Bruce twiddled his thumbs slightly, and Betty glanced at him in concern.
"Whatever." Tony grumbled, and everyone eventually filed out, leaving Clint and I behind.
I huffed and pushed past him, but he caught my wrist and yanked me back to where I was standing.
"What the fuck was that?!"
"I don't know!" I shot back, yanking my wrist out of his grasp. "Maybe I'm just a bit angry and stressed because my partners been ignoring me for the past week and Tony only bought it upon himself."
"Don't make this my fault, Agent, you had plenty of time to tell me about the miscarriage before-"
"Don't call me agent!" I basically screamed, and heard concerned mumbles from behind the ruined curtain.
He stared at me coldly for a minute.
"What's happening to us?" he said mostly to himself, and he turned away and walked out, leaving me alone.
I leaned against the wall and sank to the ground, bringing my knees to my chest and resting my head on my arms. I let out a frustrated growl as tears began to leak from my eyes.
Everything was ruined. I should never have told him. I should have kept it between Phil and I.
Now the whole team thinks I'm some hormonal bitch who hits anyone if they say something against me and keeps secrets from those I love.
Everything was ruined.
I hadn't realised I'd fallen asleep until Steve was shaking my shoulder and I suddenly lashed out at him as my instincts told me to, and eventually I was straddling him from behind and pinning his arms to his back.
"Natasha!" he choked out, "It's me!"
I glanced down at him, my eyes widening as I scrambled off his body and pushed myself back against the wall.
"Cap, I'm so sorry!" I gasped as he tried to stand up.
"That's alright. Next time I'll remember not to wake you up like that." He groaned, rubbing his arm softly.
"I keep hurting everyone." I mumbled, crossing my legs. Steve sat down beside me, resting his head against the wall.
"Don't worry about it. Everything will be normal soon." He mumbled, and I glanced at him once more.
"You think so?"
He looked at me, and smiled softly.
"I know so."
We sat in silence for a minute, and I could hear hushed voices from the other side of the curtain. Had they heard what I just did to Steve?
"Anyway, I was just waking you to let you know that we're landing in ten minutes, in case you wanted to freshen up or anything."
He stood up, and held out a hand to me. I grabbed it and he helped pull me up. I bent and stretched and cracked all the kinks in my body, making a note to not fall asleep in a ball against the wall in a jet again. Steve winced every time a kink cracked or popped back into place, and I threw him a sly smile, stretching my arm until my elbow let out a loud crack.
"Has he said anything?"
Steve looked uncomfortable for a moment before he shook his head. "Silent as the grave."
"Of course." I nodded, pulling the curtain aside.
Everyone turned to look at the two of us walk in. Except Clint.
"Did she beat you up too?" Tony asked, his face slightly swollen where the massive bruise was.
Steve merely chuckled and nodded, and I ignored Tony's snide comment as I took my seat next to Thor once more.
"You remind me of a friend of mine back in Asgard. Her name is Lady Sif, and she is a beautiful young woman who was forged into a warrior. She is brave and lets not man doubt her. Just like you." Thor said beside me, looking down as I stared at my thumbs.
"I'm sure she's ten times the woman I am." I mumbled.
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