I'm sorry! I know it's been so long. This chapter is majorly delayed. There are so many reasons. Life, health problems. I really lost steam and had a little bit of writer's block but I'm getting back into the game.

Here is the conclusion for the story. Yes, its a happy ending. After everything I put Clint and Natasha through, they deserve a happy ending. It's very sappy. Lots of feelings. Lots of love. OOC, maybe? Whatever, its my story. There are a few parts I'm not 100% happy with but it works.

I hope you like it and thanks for sticking with me and favoriting the story!

Loki was kept on SHIELD property this time, Thor stayed by his side and verified that he, indeed, did not have any powers.

Natasha and Clint watched from the two way glass mirror in the next room as Loki was interrogated by various SHIELD personnel. After a few hours Clint nudged Natasha's shoulder.

"Let's go home."

Home.

The word sounded so foreign to him, even as he said it. Where was home? The New York apartment? SHIELD headquarters? The Oregon cabin? Any of the various places they owned around the world?

Natasha fixed her gaze on him and nodded and as he stared into her eyes he realized he know exactly where home was.

Home was with her.

They got married a month later, at a beach on the LA cliffs right outside of Tony Stark's house. A total of 7 guests attended, the people who were the most important to them in the world. The setting was beautiful, picture perfect skies and blue surf but Clint only had eyes for one thing, Natasha, dressed in a tea length white dress with a red sash carrying a bouquet of red roses. Her hair was done up elaborate up do but a few tendrils escaped in the wind and Clint almost felt his breath stop when she walked down the aisle.

She was perfect, and she was his.

Their friends toasted to their well-being at the dinner of steak and lobster, courtesy of Tony Stark and the reception continued well into the night, no one wanting to end the reverie and go back to the real world the following day.

Neither Clint nor Natasha went back to doing missions. They skirted around desk duty for a while until Fury cornered them and said they were valuable members of SHIELD but they had to do something to stay on the payroll.

The gleam in his eye was met with a grimace as he proclaimed, "I have the perfect job for the two of you."

Settling into the new job was easy, the couple could even continue to live in their apartment in New York as they shuttled to the headquarters for their new job:

Training new recruits.

Clint almost bolted for the door the second he heard Fury give their assignment but after a while he realized he actually kind of liked it. Training the new generation of SHIELD felt like a great honor sometimes, he had devoted his life to the organization, lost people he loved, seen and been a part of unspeakable acts of violence during his tenure and it was nice to impart some of that wisdom for good.

Natasha was a little harder to convince but eventually even she got past her initial hesitation and settled into her job well.

A job that meant they could spend every day together. No missions on opposite sides of the world, no wondering if the other was coming back alive. They grew closer as the months turned into a year and they were both finally able to relax fully into the realization that Loki was not longer a threat, devoid of any powers and locked away in a maximum security SHIELD prison.

Although the baby they lost would be forever in their memory, both discussed a future with children, a future together, sharing every moment. Everything was out in the open again, neither kept any secret from each other, their hearts open and ready for any emotional challenge that awaited them.

And the month Natasha's period didn't come as scheduled she sent Clint a text message as she rushed off to the drug store.

The text she sent contained only two words: COME HOME, and an image attachment of a box containing a pregnancy test.

She waited at the window until she saw him run into the lobby and when he threw open the front door she was waiting for him with a smile, the test in her hand, the pink plus sign clearly visible.

His grey eyes locked on hers and they both knew that the sins of their past had been atoned and their future, once bleak and lonely enough to keep someone awake, would now be filled with each other, parts of themselves that would carry on.

The assassins turned lovers were finally able to forgive their pasts and move on to create a new life, together.

Fin