Are you ready for some football? I know I am! If I make football confusing for you guys in this chapter, I'm sorry in advance. I barely understand it myself, but it's such a fun sport.

Also, if you'd like some interesting music to listen to while you're reading the intense football game, I suggest "Both of Us" by B.o.B featuring Taylor Swift, "Make Me Wanna Die" by The Pretty Reckless, and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. I listened to them while I wrote this and they're perfect.

Now, without further ado, here is chapter 18!

Along with the after school practices the junior Powderpuff football team had, Natasha practiced in Clint's backyard with him to learn everything she needed to know about football. When she signed up for Powderpuff football, she managed to recruit Peggy and Jane to do it as well. They weren't very keen on the idea at first but Natasha had managed to pitch the sport to them perfectly then they were immediately on board.

Natasha had managed to be placed on both the offensive line and the defensive line. They placed her at wide receiver on the offensive line and outside linebacker on the defensive line. Clint acted as Natasha's own personal spy for the senior team and told Natasha that Bobbi was playing fullback on the offensive line. It was perfect so Natasha could easily target Bobbi.

The night before the Powderpuff game, Natasha was in Clint's backyard practicing every single play her team had devised for the game. They had been practicing for at least four hours; Natasha had insisted they start at four o'clock, right after they had finished their homework. Both Clint and Natasha were exhausted, but Natasha didn't want to stop. If she made one minor mistake during the game, it could cost her team the game and she didn't want to give Bobbi the satisfaction of winning.

"Nat," Clint said resting his hands on his knees and took a deep breath. "We have to stop. I'm tired, and you look like you're about to keel over and die."

Natasha shook her head. "No, one more play."

Clint stood up straight and walked over to Natasha. He stood right in front of her and looked her straight in the eye before grabbing her by the waist and hoisting her over his shoulder.

"Clint!" she squealed as she squirmed in his grasp. "Let go of me!"

"No Nat," he said as he started walking towards his house. "We're done. You're done. You need rest the night before a game."

"Fine," she huffed. "Could you at least put me down?"

Clint grabbed her by the waist again and set her down firmly on the ground. She really did look exhausted, so Clint had to draw the line somewhere.

"One more play," she whispered.

"No," Clint said bluntly.

"Please," she pouted, sticking out her lower lip.

"No," Clint said. "I don't know why you're working yourself so hard. You're going to do fine."

"You know this isn't about winning, Clint," Natasha said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"As much as I hate Bobbi, you have to play fair during the game," Clint said. "Not to mention that I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not going to get hurt," Natasha said shaking her head.

"You don't know that."

Natasha shrugged. Over the years, she watched Clint take many hits in football. Yes, she worried but she knew he was always protected with his gear on. Even though Natasha would be playing Powderpuff football – basically flag football for girls – the girls got rough and there would be nothing to protect them if and when they got tackled by someone from the opposing team.

Okay, so Natasha was hell bent on wreaking vengeance upon Bobbi and that made her slightly reckless. Natasha didn't blame Clint for worrying that she'd get hurt but that's why they'd been practicing for the past four hours. It wasn't just so she wouldn't make a mistake that would cost her team the game; it was so she wouldn't get hurt. One minor misstep and she could end up with a twisted ankle or a sprained wrist.

"Nat," Clint said as he wrapped his arms around her waist again and pulled her close to him. "Just…Just be careful."

"I promise," she said as she leaned in and kissed him with all of the energy she had left.

Natasha couldn't keep her leg from bouncing up and down as she sat in the car with her father on the way to the football field for the Powderpuff football game. Normally, her father would not have been home in time for such an event but with his new job at OSCORP being extremely flexible, he was able to leave early enough to be home in time to take Natasha to the game and attend it.

Following the divorce, Mr. Romanoff had managed to acquire many of the possessions he and Mrs. Romanoff had bought during their marriage, including Mrs. Romanoff's car and the house. However, Mr. Romanoff was not going to be able to handle walking into Von Doom Industries everyday knowing that his ex-wife was a couple floors up canoodling with her new fiancé. Therefore, Mr. Romanoff took a stand and quit Von Doom Industries.

Natasha had to admit that she was scared as to what their financial situation would be like when her father quit his job at Von Doom Industries. At the time, Natasha was the only one with a job, not to mention it was only part-time. However, within a week, Mr. Romanoff got a call from Norman Osborn, the owner and CEO of OSCORP. Mr. Osborn liked Mr. Romanoff's charisma and his intelligence, and offered him a job as the head of the financial department of OSCORP.

It worked out for the best. Not only was Mr. Romanoff getting paid twice as much as he was than when he was at Von Doom Industries, but Mr. Osborn was extremely lenient with Mr. Romanoff when it came to Natasha. Mr. Osborn could sympathize because he had a son of his own that he was raising by himself.

"Natasha," her father said from the driver's seat. "You be careful out there tonight."

"Dad," Natasha whined.

"I want you to have fun, but be careful."

"First Clint, and now you. You guys act like I'm reckless," Natasha whined.

"Well, Clint's smart to tell you to be careful."

Clint was still slightly terrified of Mr. Romanoff, but none of their recent encounters have been as tense as their first meeting. Every so often, Clint came over to Natasha's house for dinner so Mr. Romanoff could get to know him better. The dinners were a little more laid back and Clint felt that he could talk freely about anything, but he still had to bite his tongue when it came to talking about his and Natasha's relationship.

They arrived at the stadium and Mr. Romanoff parked the car. They walked in silence to the stadium entrance and before they parted, Mr. Romanoff gave her a hug and wished her luck. She crossed the field to the away side where the juniors would be. Peggy and Jane had already arrived and were stretching. Natasha joined them and wrapped the belt of flags around her.

Natasha could make out Bobbi from across the field stretching her arms and legs. Peggy and Jane were also on board for targeting Bobbi, and planned on playing rough.

The teams were called to center field by Assistant Coach Coulson and Coach Ross, and the two teams hustled to reach the coaches.

"Now, we want a clean and fair game from you girls," Coulson said. "You can tackle but make sure it's fair. If it isn't, we will call you out on it. Do we have an understanding?"

The girls chanted that they agreed and Coach Ross prepared for the coin toss. The seniors chose heads, and sure enough, it landed on heads. The teams took their places at their respective end zones and the juniors prepared for kick off.

The clock on the scoreboard was set – it would be going non-stop throughout the game – and Natasha watched as Jane ran up to the ball and kicked it. She started to run as it flew through the air, and Natasha saw Bobbi catch it and take off running. The rest of the junior team knew that Natasha had a personal vendetta against Bobbi, so they pulled back and let Natasha go after her.

Bobbi looked stricken with fear as Natasha drew closer to her, and Natasha didn't hold back as she slammed her shoulder into Bobbi and watched her tumble to the ground, fumbling the ball. Natasha walked over to Bobbi, still lying on the ground, and smirked at her.

"You better be ready Morse," Natasha said, "Because there's more where that came from."

By the end of the first quarter, Natasha had managed to tackle Bobby six times, and grab her flags three times. The seniors had scored one touchdown while the juniors had yet to score, but that didn't mean they weren't trying.

Natasha was by far the hardest worker on the team. Playing on both offense and defense, and taking down several of the senior girls, she was pretty much carrying the weight of the team on her shoulders.

Peggy and Jane were working just as hard. They provided back up for Natasha if a senior girl managed to slip past her. Both Peggy and Jane seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and had also managed to take down a couple senior girls in the process.

Natasha was pulled out of the game in the beginning of the second quarter so she could take a break. Playing on both offense and defense was exhausting, but after a minute or two, she was itching to get back into the game. Her teammates were doing just fine without her and Peggy and Jane were still managing to target Bobbi, but she needed to get back into the game to feel that adrenaline rush.

With eight minutes left on the clock for the second quarter, Natasha was thrown back into the game. The juniors were in possession of the ball and they had 70 yards to go, with one down. The team decided they would pass the ball to Natasha and she would run on the outer edge down the home side. Hopefully that would give her a clear path to the end zone. Natasha was quick so hopefully she would be able to make it 70 yards.

Natasha watched as one of her teammates snapped the ball back to Peggy, the quarterback, and Natasha took off running so Peggy could get a clear path to pass the ball to her. When Natasha finally got open, Peggy sent the ball spiraling in Natasha's direction, and thankfully, Natasha caught it.

She sprinted down the outer edge of the field with the ball tucked close to her chest. As she passed by the seniors, she heard Clint cheering her on. She watched as the end zone started to close in on her. Thirty yards, twenty yards, ten yards, and finally, touchdown! Peggy and Jane joined her in the end zone and slammed into her to celebrate the touchdown.

As they made their way to the sideline so their teammates could kick a field goal, Natasha could see Bobbi arguing with Coulson, one of the referees for the game. She clearly wasn't happy that Natasha had scored a touchdown and was obviously trying to get them to overrule it. When Bobbi shot a look over at Natasha, Natasha retaliated by flipping her off.

The juniors got the field goal, which meant they were tied with the seniors. For the remainder of the second quarter, neither of the teams scored. The juniors had begun to up their game and started to play dirty. Natasha didn't hold back on taking out Bobbi any time she had the ball, and neither did Peggy or Jane. By the end of the second quarter the teams were still tied.

Halftime for the Powderpuff game just acted as break time for the players and the audience. Fifteen minutes were put on the scoreboard to countdown until the next quarter, and Peggy, Jane, and Natasha made their way to the bleachers to relax. They weren't alone long until Bobbi and her entourage stomped their way up the bleachers to Natasha.

"Cut the shit Romanoff!" Bobbi spat. "The only reason you got that touchdown is because you're dating a football player."

"Oh my God," Natasha whined. "Have you ever even played football? I got that touchdown fair and square."

"You probably stepped out of bounds," Bobbi sneered. "You were so close to the edge but of course you ran right by Clint on the sidelines so of course he'd vouch for you."

"Why can't you just admit that I'm actually good at this and you're not?"

Bobbi lunged for Natasha but her friends held her back and told her to save it for the game.

"You better watch your back Romanoff," Bobbi called over her shoulder as her and her friends descended the steps.

Peggy and Jane started laughing at Bobbi's immaturity and before they knew if, halftime was over. The juniors gathered down on the sidelines and quickly strategized for the second half. They would be in possession of the ball, so the seniors would be kicking off. The juniors and seniors took their places at their respective end zones and the seniors kicked off.

Natasha watched as the ball flew through the air and headed straight for her. She called out to her teammates that she was going to catch, and catch it she did as she took off towards the opposite end zone. Natasha dodged several senior players and thought she was in the clear, but she wasn't expecting the blow from her left side that she received from Bobbi. Bobbi tackled her to the ground and kept her pinned. Bobbi's knee was jammed into Natasha's stomach and Bobbi had Natasha's arms pinned above her head.

"I told you to watch your back," Bobbi snarled.

Natasha mustered up all the strength she had to knock Bobbi off of her and flip her over to pin her to the ground. Natasha grabbed Bobbi's arms and pinned them above her head, but jammed her knee into Bobbi's throat.

"Do not fuck with me Morse," Natasha snarled, and then released Bobbi.

No one seemed to notice Bobbi and Natasha's exchange, so Natasha rushed to huddle with her teammates and decide on their next play. The juniors were going to try to confuse the seniors by having Peggy pass the ball off to Natasha, and then Natasha would discreetly pass the ball off to Jane. Natasha could feel her body taking a beating, and there was no doubt that she would be bruised all over in the morning, but the adrenaline continued to pulse through her body.

The juniors took their places and Natasha watched as the ball was snapped back to Peggy and Natasha ran over to get the ball. Jane was coming towards her and Natasha passed off the ball to Jane as secretly as she could, and continued to run to make it seem like she had the ball. She knew it would be coming, so Natasha wasn't surprised when Bobbi slammed into her side once again. Bobbi was genuinely convinced Natasha had the ball and threw a bit of a hissy fit when she realized Natasha didn't have it.

The most recent hit Natasha received from Bobbi sent a stab of pain through her hip bone. She moved a bit to make sure that nothing ws broken. There was no intense pain but Natasha was pretty sure she was going to have quite an interesting bruise there in the morning.

That's how the remainder of the third quarter played out. Bobbi targeted Natasha, even if she didn't have the ball. Bobbi constantly made up some lame excuse that she saw that Natasha had the ball in her possession or that she must have tossed it to someone else. The latter proved that Bobbi didn't know the first thing about football. Bobbi's constantly tackling of Natasha earned her several personal fouls, and even cost her team as well.

By the end of the third quarter, the seniors and juniors were still tied 7-7. Either one of the teams had to score a touchdown in the fourth quarter in order to avoid the game going into overtime. The juniors were starting to take a beating, especially Natasha. She ached everywhere and her elbow was scraped up. As exhausted as she was, she wanted to go back in to the game.

The junior football player coaches told Natasha to sit out for the first couple minutes and then they would throw her back in for the remainder of the game. Natasha watched as her teammates tried to run the ball but failed. When the ball was in the seniors' possession, the juniors couldn't manage to tackle so they had to settle for grabbing the flags. At one point, Jane had grabbed Bobbi's flags but they didn't come off; Bobbi had tied her flags onto her clothing, which resulted in another penalty.

The junior football player coaches sent Natasha back into the game around the eight minute mark again. The juniors were on defense and the seniors were in possession of the ball. Natasha was going to take Bobbi down with all of the energy she could manage. Natasha saw the girl in the center snap the ball back to the quarterback and pass it to Bobbi. Natasha ran towards Bobbi and slammed into her, and she hit the ground with a thud.

It continued like that until the ball was in the juniors' possession. They had about six minutes left on the clock with five yards to go, and the juniors' plan was to give the ball to Natasha. The seniors were clearly on their high horses all night, thinking they were going to win just because they were seniors, so they weren't on their A-game.

It was quick. The play was over before it even started. The ball was snapped back and Peggy tossed it off to Natasha. As soon as she got the ball, Bobbi slammed into her, tackling her to the ground. Everything was fine until she felt the sharp stab of pain shoot up and down her leg from her knee.

Natasha had a high tolerance for pain but that usually meant she had to let out a string of curses, and so she did as she clutched her leg.

"Oh stop whining you big baby," Bobbi sneered as she walked off. Coach Coulson, Coach Ross, Peggy, Jane, and several other teammates were huddled around her as Coach Coulson tried to get her to bend her leg. No doubt, it hurt and she let out a whimper as the pain shot up her leg once again.

Next thing she knew, Clint was kneeling next to her with a panicked look on his face.

"I'm fine Clint," she muttered, but let out another whimper as Coach Coulson bent her knee again. "I have a high tolerance for pain."

Clint brushed a piece of hair out of her face and asked Coach Coulson if she was going to be okay.

"I don't think anything is broken Barton," Coulson said. "But she may have damaged either her ACL or her meniscus."

Clint pushed off from the ground and stomped over to the seniors' sideline and found Bobbi. He grabbed her by the shirt and pushed her up against the fence.

"That was out of line Morse," Clint growled.

"You want to get rough Clint?" Bobbi teased.

Clint grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her up against the fence again.

"Natasha has been playing fair all night. All of her tackles have been clean and fair, whereas you have been nothing but a cold hearted bitch and have been personally throwing the game."

"I have not!" Bobbi screamed. Clint shoved her one more time and turned around to see Natasha being hoisted up from the ground by Peggy and Jane. He ran back out onto the field to see how she was doing, but she wasn't making her way to the sidelines. She was actually heading towards the team huddle.

"Nat, what are you doing?" Clint asked.

She turned her head to face him. "Finishing the game. They forgot to stop the clock so we only have two minutes left."

"You've got to be kidding me, Tasha. You're injured," Clint said.

"Like I said, I have a high tolerance for pain," she said as Peggy and Jane helped her limp off towards the team huddle.

Natasha had to admit that her knee hurt like hell, but not as badly as it did at first so there must not be major damage. Besides, she wasn't going to stand for sitting out of the game for something so minor. They had two minutes left to score a touchdown, and Natasha was not going to stand for going into overtime.

Natasha wasn't going to be able to run very far so the juniors were going to pass her the ball and clear a path through the line of scrimmage so she could score. It was going to be a difficult feat but the juniors had worked hard all night and they believed it was possible.

Natasha stood bearing more weight on her left leg than her right so that when it came time for her to run, it would seem easier. The ball was tossed back to Peggy who tossed it to Natasha. Natasha watched as the juniors fought a good fight against the seniors but made good on their promise to clear a path for Natasha to the end zone. She took off for the end zone, feeling the pain from her knee dissipate as the adrenaline kicked in.

There were six seconds left on the clock when Natasha entered the end zone. She turned around to watch the time run out on the clock and the buzzer echoed throughout the stadium. Cheers erupted from the juniors and the audience in the stands. Her teammates gathered around her and hugged her. The juniors had beaten the seniors 13-7.

Before Natasha knew it, Clint was standing in front of her. Before the final play, he looked pissed as she walked off to finish out the game. Now, he looked proud of her. He didn't say anything. He just leaned in and kissed her. Natasha's knees gave way and Clint supported her.

"Okay stubborn," he said when broke away from her. "Will you please go get some medical attention?"

It was hard for Natasha to ignore the throbbing in her right knee now that all of the adrenaline had left her system. She simply nodded and Clint scooped her up, bridal-style like he usually does, and carried her off of the field. The school had an ambulance on stand-by just in case any players got hurt during the game, and Clint carried her to one of the paramedics. He placed her on the bed in the ambulance as the paramedics began to ice her knee. Natasha's father made an appearance a couple minutes later, and the paramedics began to inform him that they wouldn't know the damage for sure unless they did some X-rays. With that said, they shut the doors to the ambulance, and Natasha's father yelled that he would be right behind them.

Natasha didn't like hospitals. Then again, no one really did. Ever since Clint's accident back in the summer, she never wanted to be back in one of them. Unfortunately, she was, and it was because of a stupid injury that Bobbi Morse had caused.

She couldn't help but bite her nails out of nervousness as she laid on a cot in the emergency room. The only thing separating her and another patient was a sheer blue curtain. She could only imagine what the patients on either sides of her were like and that made Natasha bite her nails even harder.

Ironically, Dr. Connors was her doctor, and he immediately remembered her from when Clint had his accident. When she had arrived, they took her in to the room for X-rays, and now she was just waiting for the results.

Her father had arrived several minutes after her, but Clint was still missing in action. This made her worry even more. Clint hadn't said that he would be right behind her but she assumed he would come. The fact that he hadn't arrived yet scared the living hell out of her.

A couple more minutes went by and the sheer blue curtain was pulled back to reveal Clint smiling back at her. She was relieved that he was here and she could stop worrying.

"What did I say to you last night?" Clint asked.

"Be careful," she replied innocently.

Clint chuckled and leaned down, bracing his arms on both sides of her, and kissed her.

"Where have you been?" she asked as he took a seat in the empty chair beside the bed.

Clint leaned down and rummaged around in the bag he had been carrying and pulled out a football. It was the football from the game, only there were signatures scribbled all across it.

"Crowning you the MVP of the very first Powderpuff game," Clint said, handing her the souvenir. "All of your teammates signed it. You really deserved it, considering that stupid stunt you pulled within the last couple minutes."

Natasha giggled as she took the football from Clint and looked at all the names. She could easily make out Peggy's and Jane's signatures from the cluster of names.

Dr. Connors approached Natasha and immediately saw Clint. The two shook hands and Dr. Connors made a snarky yet funny comment abut the tables being turned. Fortunately for Natasha, there wasn't major damage to her knee. She had only managed to stretch the fibers of her ACL. She would be sore and in a little pain for only a couple weeks as long as she rested, but other than that, she was going to be fine and there would be no permanent damage.

Dr. Connors handed her the discharge papers and bid her goodnight. Natasha was ready to go home. She had had enough of hospitals for her liking. When she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, Clint slid his hand under her knees and rested his other arm behind her back.

"You like carrying me don't you?" she asked with a giggle.

"I find it extremely romantic," he said. "And it puts you at my mercy."

Natasha scowled but it was quickly replaced with a slight smile. Mr. Romanoff reappeared and Natasha told him she was going to be fine and was ready to go home. As Clint carried her out of the hospital – a feat Natasha didn't think would be possible since hospitals were strict about discharged patients just waltzing out – she rested her head on his shoulder and let the steady rhythm of his footsteps put her to sleep.

Okay, two things. I have no idea how ACL tears work so please don't judge me on that. They never address that sort of stuff on Grey's Anatomy haha. Second, Coach Ross has no relation to the Marvel character Betty Ross (Bruce Banner/The Hulk's love interest). Coach Ross is not Betty Ross' father. Coach Ross was the football coach at my high school for over 40 years, and he retired two years ago. Like I said, I add in teachers I had in high school and Coach Ross also taught Ecology and I had him in his final year of teaching. And then retired from coaching football the following year. I just wanted to clear it up so that all of you Marvel fanatics weren't thinking this was Betty Ross' father or something.

As always, thanks for signing up for alerts, adding this your favorites, and reviewing. With that said, review away! I want to know what you guys think about Natasha and Bobbi kicking the shit out of each other during Powderpuff football.