Sooooo, how ya'll doin after that cliffhanger? Are you ready for the aftermath of the big revelation? Cause things are about to get real! I've been picturing how I want this chapter to go for a while now and this is what I decided on. I've been having so much fun writing this story! And your reviews mean the world to me! You all are so supportive and are full of kind and helpful criticism that inspires me to keep writing! This one's for you guys (especially those of you who kept pestering me to update *cough*GhostGlowLight*cough*) ! Here it is: Chapter 9!

Chapter 9: Everything Changes

**Natasha**

Natasha stared at Clint in horror. She'd forgotten to change the wallpaper on her phone. How could she be so stupid? This was exactly what she had been trying to prevent, but now it was too late. Clint knew that he was the father. That much was obvious judging by the look on his face. He was staring at her and Natasha was staring back. Neither of them said anything. She was waiting for him to say something, to blow up in her face, but he didn't. He just stared at her; a million different emotions crossing his face. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Clint started to move. He tightened his grip on her phone and then forcefully slammed it onto the bed in anger as he began to pace back and forth.

"Clint…" Natasha said in a small, shaky voice. He stopped pacing and turned to glare at her.

"Care to explain this?" He asked, furiously gesturing to the phone.

"What do you want me to say?" She replied quietly. Frustrated tears had begun to burn at the back of her eyes.

"I want you to tell me the truth." Clint said in a slightly more controlled voice. "Am I her father?"

"You already know the answer to that." Natasha told him.

"I want to hear you say it. Am I her father?" He asked again. Her chin began to wobble as tears spilled over the brims of her eyes.

"Yes." She breathed, lowering her head. Clint began pacing again.

"Oh my God. Oh my God." He muttered over and over again.

"You're acting as though you didn't even suspect this." Natasha accused him.

"That's because I didn't!" He fired back.

"Why?" She asked.

"Well, one, we only slept together once, so I figured what are the odds? Two, I had no idea how many guys you'd been with since I last saw you but I was guessing there'd been at least one, so I assumed that she was most likely someone else's. And three, I had hoped that, on the off chance I was the father, you would have the decency to tell me straight up. Obviously I was wrong." Clint was fuming. Natasha opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"I'm sorry." Was all she could manage after a few moments of standing there with her mouth open.

"You're sorry?" He stopped moving to stare at her in disbelief. "You're sorry." He said with a sarcastic laugh. Natasha just stared at him, unsure of what to say next. "You should have told me." Clint said without waiting for her response. "And I don't mean when you came to talk to me at the station, I mean when you first found out you were pregnant. Then maybe none of this would have happened."

"What, are you saying you could have prevented this?" She asked as anger began to creep its way into her voice.

"Yeah, I probably could have!" He yelled before turning and storming out of the room. "Probably could have raised her a hell of a lot better, too." Clint mumbled under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Natasha said furiously before following him out of the room and down the hall. "You honestly think that she would have been better off with you?" He stopped when he got to the living area and turned to face her.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Tony called from the couch, but they ignored him.

"Yes, I do, because so far she's spent her entire life with you and now she's been kidnapped! Hell, she'd probably be better off with anyone but you." That was all Natasha could take. With one swift movement she swung her arm towards him and slapped him across his face. Clint stumbled backward, caught off guard by the sudden impact on his left cheek. Steve had walked up behind him and caught him before he fell to the ground. Natasha felt someone grab her shoulders as Tony stepped between the ex-assassins.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked, obviously confused. Clint ignored him and shook Steve's hand off his shoulder before walking towards the door to the balcony. "Clint!" Tony called after him.

"Fuck off, Stark." Clint replied without even turning around. He walked outside onto the balcony, slamming the door behind him. Everyone stared after him before fixing their gazes on Natasha. She ignored them and continued glaring at the door Clint had just gone through.

"Natasha?" Bruce said as he gently squeezed her shoulders. She shook him off and took a deep, shaky breath while tears poured from her eyes.

"I'm fine." She said forcefully before glancing at Tony who had an Xbox controller in his hand. "What the hell are you doing?" He turned to look at her once he realized who she was talking to. Tony followed her gaze until his eyes reached the controller, which he then quickly hid behind his back. "Are you playing Xbox? Right now?" Great. Walls were practically coming down around her and they were playing Xbox.

"Well, you were off playing dress up so we decided to pass the time until you were ready to tell us the plan." Tony said innocently. Natasha glared at him.

"Well, Tony, I can't exactly make a plan until you look up that address like you said you would." She said pointedly. "So how about instead of sitting on your ass playing video games, you go check it out. I'm going to need to know if this place will give Varkov any advantages. I'm also going to need a floor plan so we'll know how many exits there are and the most probably place he'd be holding my daughter. I'm not leaving that party without her." Tony just stood there trying to remember everything she was saying. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go!" She yelled, frustrated. The billionaire jumped slightly and ran off to the elevator. Steve, Bruce, and Thor remained where they were. "You three go help him. Come see me when you're done. Then we can get started." The remaining Avengers nodded and joined Tony by the elevator. Natasha wiped her damp eyes and rushed off to her room to change out of her dress.

As soon as she closed the door behind her, her knees gave out and she collapsed onto the floor. Quiet, pathetic sobs escaped her lips as fresh tears began streaming down her face. Everything was going wrong. Clint hated her; the rest of the team was still completely oblivious to what was going on; they were leaving for Paris tomorrow and they still didn't have a plan. What if things kept going the way they were? What if they got to the party and Varkov caught them off guard because he already knew what they were up to? Natasha knew what he would do. He would kill Mara, Clint, maybe even one of the other Avengers. But most of all, he would kill her. That was something she was sure of. Natasha sighed and thought that of all the most dangerous missions she had ever gone on, this was the first one in which failure and death was the most probable outcome.

**Steve**

"You two," Tony said as he turned to look at Thor and Steve who were looking around completely clueless. "Don't. Touch. Anything." Steve put his hands up and backed into a corner, far away from the expensive equipment that he would surely break if he tried to use it. Thor followed suit, and soon Tony and Bruce were using one of the many high-tech computers to track down the address of the party. As they worked, they talked back and forth in a weird science language that neither Steve nor Thor understood.

"What are they speaking of?" The thunder god whispered to Steve.

"Hell if I knew." He replied with a shrug. Tony glanced in their direction.

"You two have any idea what's going on with Clint and Natasha?" He asked them. Thor and Steve shook their heads.

"No idea. Whatever it is, it must be pretty bad. I've never seen them so pissed, especially at each other." Steve said as he remembered how livid the assassins had been.

"Something must have gone wrong between them. They used to be quite close." Thor pondered.

"Well, whatever it was, I'd guess it happened a while ago. If you looked closely enough you could see the tension between them. They obviously weren't as comfortable with each other as they used to be." Steve said. Tony stared at him as his eyes went wide with sudden realization. "What?"

"Bruce!" Tony turned to look at the doctor who was obviously uncomfortable with the topic of the conversation. "You know something!" Thor and Steve looked at Bruce in disbelief. If he knew something, why hadn't he said so?

"Tony, leave it alone. I don't even know the whole story, and even if I did, there is no way in Hell I'd tell you." Bruce said in a stern tone. Tony placed a hand over his arc reactor pretending to be offended.

"Well that's hurtful." The billionaire gave a fake sniffle. "I thought you trusted me!" Bruce rolled his eyes and turned back to his monitor.

"Drama queen." He mumbled.

"Bruce, why can't you just tell us?" Steve asked.

"It's not for me to tell. Plus, I'm not even sure if Clint and Natasha were even arguing about that." The doctor replied reasonably.

"Well, if you're not going to say anything, then how the hell are we going to find out what's going on?" Tony asked seriously.

"Perhaps someone should go speak to one of them?" Thor suggested. All eyes immediately flew to Steve. Shit.

"Don't look at me!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "There's no way I'm having a heart-to-heart with and angry assassin!"

"Well, if either of them are going to talk to anyone, it'd most likely be you." Tony said pointedly.

"Yeah? Why's that?" Steve questioned, crossing his arms.

"Because Thor is clueless when it comes to talking to people, Bruce isn't exactly a people person, and, let's face it, both of them would sooner kill me than have a heartfelt conversation with me." Tony shot back. Steve gave an irritated sigh. He was right.

"Okay, fine. I'll go." Tony gave a small fist pump as Steve headed for the door.

"Oh, and might I recommend talking to Clint? He's slightly more tolerant!" Tony called after him. He was probably right about that too.

"Why do I always get stuck doing team therapy?" Steve wondered aloud as he stepped onto the elevator. He rode up to Natasha's floor thinking about what he was going to say. Clint hadn't always been the easiest person to talk to and Steve wasn't exactly Dr. Phil. He had always been the voice of reason, but this wasn't exactly a reasoning situation. This was personal.

The ding of the elevator caused Steve to jump. The doors opened and he stepped out into the now empty living area. He walked quietly towards the window and peeked outside to see Clint leaning against the rail of the balcony. Taking a deep breath, Steve headed for the door and opened it, stepping out into the chilled evening. Clint glanced over his shoulder when he heard the noise of the door closing.

"Clint." Steve called over the sound of the wind.

"Leave me alone." He replied without turning around.

"Aren't you cold? It's freezing out here." Steve said as he leaned against the rail next to Clint.

"I don't want to talk right now." The archer said coldly. Steve nodded.

"Alright, I respect that." He said. "I'll just hang here till you're ready." Clint gave an irritated sigh and turned to look the captain in the eye.

"What do you want?" He huffed.

"I wanna know what you and Natasha were arguing about." Steve said. Clint laughed dryly.

"Yep, that's what I figured."

"What do you mean?" Steve searched his face for answers but found nothing.

"She didn't tell you?" Clint said in false surprise.

"Tell us what?" The archer lowered his head.

"Mara." He said. Steve raised an eyebrow.

"What about her?" He asked.

"Do you know who her father is?" Clint asked. Steve shook his head.

"No. She never said anything to me." He said slowly.

"Yeah, well she never said anything to me either." Clint shoved off the rail and began walking towards the other end of the balcony and Steve followed him.

"Well, that isn't exactly our business. So, what's the big deal?" He called after him. Clint turned to face him.

"The big deal is that it is my business and I'm just now finding out about it!" He said angrily. Steve froze as he began putting the pieces together.

"What are you saying?" He asked.

"I'm saying…" Clint's voice broke and he ran his hand through his hair. "I'm saying that Mara is my daughter." He kicked one of the chairs that had been placed in the corner of the balcony in frustration. Steve wasn't exactly sure how to respond to what Clint had just told him, so he just stood there processing it.

"Wow." Was all he could manage once he was able to speak again.

"Are you satisfied? Will you leave me alone now?" Clint yelled. Steve had obviously pushed his buttons so he backed away towards the door, preparing to leave. Clint returned to the rail, leaning up against it again. Before he reentered the tower, Steve looked back over his shoulder at the distraught archer.

"You should talk to her. Clear things up before we leave tomorrow." He told him. When Clint didn't respond Steve sighed and opened the door, walking back inside and out of the cold. He was pretty sure Clint wouldn't take his advice, so there was no use pushing him.

When he returned to the lab, Tony, Bruce, and Thor were all looking over what looked like a floor plan. They looked up when they heard Steve enter.

"Steve! You have returned." Thor boomed. Tony was jumped up and practically ran over to him.

"What'd he say? What'd he say?" He asked excitedly. Steve sighed and took a seat on one of the stools at the table they were all surrounding. He looked around at his fellow Avengers. They were all staring at him in anticipation. Might as well just cut to the chase.

"Clint is Mara's father." He said simply, still not believing the words that had just come out of his mouth. Tony's smile vanished. Silence fell over the group and soon all they could hear was the beeping of the various machines that filled the room. No one, not even Tony, knew what to say. That was definitely a first.

**Natasha**

Natasha opened her eyes to find herself in complete darkness. The only light she had was the bluish glow emanating from her alarm clock. She must have accidentally fallen asleep. When she checked the time she gasped. It was 3:00 AM. It had only been 8:00 when she'd changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt and settled into her bed to wait for the information the guys were supposed to bring her. Natasha quickly climbed out of bed and grabbed her jacket. She slid into it and zipped it halfway before leaving her room and walking out into the living area.

The room was dark except for the faint glow of a dim light shining inside from the balcony. That's when Natasha noticed someone standing outside with their back facing the window. Clint. Had he been standing out there ever since their argument? She walked over to the door and was greeted by a freezing gust of air when she opened it. Chills ran up her spine as she stepped outside.

"Clint, what are you doing out here? It's 3:00 AM." Natasha called over the wind. He didn't even acknowledge her presence. "It's freezing out here! You're going to get yourself sick!" She said as she took in his short-sleeved T-shirt and goose-bumps. "Please come inside."

"I'm fine out here." He finally responded. Natasha sighed and joined him by the rail.

"Look," She said after a few minutes of silence. "I know you're upset…" She was cut off by Clint's bitter, sarcastic laugh.

"Upset? I'm far past upset, Natasha." He said angrily. Her eyes narrowed.

"Okay, I know you're furious," She corrected herself, "but we need to talk this through. Like adults." Clint laughed again. "What?" She huffed.

"Oh, nothing. It's just, you said we should be acting like adults here, except you've been doing the exact opposite the entire time I've been here." He laughed once more and Natasha's hand twitched, yearning to slap him again.

"What are you talking about?" She asked irritably.

"Well, last time I checked, adults don't run around keeping huge secrets like who the father of their child is." He said matter-of-factly. She sighed.

"I'm not here to fight with you. I just thought maybe you'd want to talk things through."

"Okay. Let's talk." Clint said with a nod and turned to face her. "Tell me, Natasha, why did you never tell me I have a kid?" She looked down at her hands.

"I tried."

"Really?" He scoffed. "When?"

"About two months after I left." Natasha replied quietly. Clint narrowed his eyes.

"That's funny. I don't seem to remember this. Would you mind refreshing my memory?" He asked. She sighed again and looked up to stare out over the city.

"I'd found out I was pregnant a month before. At first I'd tried to get an abortion, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it." Natasha said shakily. Clint looked at her with curiosity.

"Why not? You always said you never wanted kids. What changed your mind?" He asked.

"I don't know." She said with a shrug. "I guess it was because it was ours. It was our baby. Something about it just felt right." Clint fell silent as Natasha continued to talk. "Anyways, after I decided to keep it, I went looking for you. I called your cell, your apartment… I even went to see you. But, I was too late. You'd already moved, changed your numbers. After two weeks of searching, I just gave up." She looked down again. "And then, a few weeks later, I saw you. You were sitting outside a little café a few blocks from Times Square. I couldn't believe my luck. I'd started crossing the street when I saw a woman come and sit with you." Natasha paused.

"So?" He asked.

"So, you were moving on, Clint. You were trying to get on with your life after what happened with us, and telling you I was going to have your baby would have just held you back. There was no way I could do that to you. That's when I decided that it'd be better if you never found out." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye waiting for his reaction.

"That wasn't your call." Clint said in a calm, yet angry, voice.

"I know that now, and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Natasha's voice cracked and she quickly wiped away the tears that had formed in her eyes. She took a deep, calming breath before she spoke again. "I know this isn't going to be easy, but I need to ask you to put all your personal feelings about this aside until we get back from Paris with Mara." She told him. "Tomorrow, Tony and Bruce should have all the information I need, so all I'll have to do is make my plan and…"

"Whoa, wait. You're plan?" Clint asked, cutting her off. She nodded.

"Yeah, we're going to need a plan if we want to get through this without anyone dying." Natasha said sarcastically.

"Oh, I know. It's just that you're going to need to include me in whatever decisions you make about this plan." He told her. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Think about it like this: It's no longer just your plan, just like Mara is no longer just your daughter. You may have raised her since she was born, but that doesn't mean you get the final say in how we get her back. You're going to include me in the planning process. We both have to agree on everything or else we come up with an entirely new plan. Understood?" Clint stared at Natasha intently.

"Yeah, sure." She said sarcastically. "This is gonna go great." He nodded and shoved off the rail, heading for the door. "Clint." Natasha called before he went inside. "Just don't forget that she's still my daughter too." Without responding Clint opened the door and went inside. She put her head in her hands and just sat there for a few minutes, dreading the events that were sure to come in the morning.

So, how'd you guys like it? It's the best I could come up with at 2:00 in the morning. I drank an entire cup of coffee before bed (not the brightest idea), so I started typing and before I knew it I'd finished the chapter! Tell me what you thought of Clint's reaction as well as how the rest of the team found out! I LIVE FOR REVIEWS! You guys are always so nice to me! This is my first successful story ever and I really appreciate your feedback! Favorites and follows are appreciated as well! Next chapter we'll get into the location of the party, the plan, and the departure for Paris! Then the action begins… Well, I probably need to get some sleep now since I need to wake up in four hours, so until next time, BYE! PS. I 3 you all!