Chapter 6: Many Happy Returns

November 22nd dawned an unseasonably warm day with beautiful weather. Clint had secured permission from Fury to take Natasha outside the compound for the first time since she had been there, and he wanted to do something nice for her birthday.

He figured that even though Nat was far from ordinary, she was still an 18 year old girl and would probably appreciate having an actual wardrobe. So he was going to take her shopping and then out to dinner. Clint lived at the compound when he wasn't in the field, which wasn't often. He had an expense account to use on missions and really had no bills to speak of. So he had a lot of pay just sitting around that he really didn't spend on anything. He decided that spoiling Natasha a little bit would be a good use for some of it.

Clint had learned that if she had to Nat could get ready to go in minutes, but when she had the luxury of doing so she liked to take her time with it. He suspected that the act of putting on makeup was a soothing ritual for her, much like shaving was for him. Either way, it was going on a half hour now and she still hadn't come out of the bathroom. Clint was starting to get just a little impatient.

"Nat!" he called with a knock on the bathroom door, "C'mon, lets go. We got a long day and it's a 45 minute drive."

"I'll be out in a minute." she called back, "Almost done."

When she emerged Clint did a slight double take. She hadn't bothered with makeup since she'd been here and he didn't even know she had any before this morning. But she had pulled out all the stops. Her face was soft and natural looking, with subtle colors that accented her features perfectly. It was amazing how a little bit of color in the right places turned an already pretty girl into a beautiful woman. Clint's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline.

"Wow, Nat." he told her sincerely. "You look great."

"Thanks." she accepted his compliment a little self-consciously, "So what exactly is it we're doing, again?"

"Well, first off, happy birthday." Clint said with a cheeky grin, "Second, you need clothes. Can't keep raiding Hill's closet forever, y'know? So we're going shopping."

Nat's eyes widened at that statement, "But I don't have any money."

"Never asked if you did." Clint shot back, "My treat. I don't really spend my pay on anything so it just builds up. As long as you don't go too crazy I can afford pretty much anything you might want to get."

"I can't accept that from you." the redhead protested, "I'll never be able to pay you back."

"Nat, it's your birthday." he told her, "And I'm going to guess that you haven't had very many good ones. So shut up and let me spoil you a little, okay?"

"...Okay" Nat agreed a little reluctantly, "Where are we going?"

"Mazza Gallerie." Clint supplied, "It's a higher end shopping mall. We're going to start there so you can get some nice clothes, and then we'll go somewhere else to get the day to day stuff. And then we're going to dinner at Marcel's. I made the reservations yesterday."

He led Nat to the parking garage where his only valued possession other than his bows was stored. Clint opened the passenger door of his 1970 Challenger and gestured for her to get in. He had bought the car shortly after he joined SHIELD and restored it over several years. It was a legitimate 440 Six Pack R/T-SE and he had looked for one in Plum Crazy Purple for over a year before he found it. It had a black vinyl top and a 4 speed Hurst transmission with a pistol grip shifter. He didn't get the chance to drive it very often, but this seemed like the perfect occasion.

They made the 45 minute drive in about 36 minutes. Clint mayhave been a little too enthusiastic with the throttle on the highway. Judging by the look on Nat's face, she was thoroughly enjoying the drive too. Clint started thinking of future activities when he spotted the telltale signs of an adrenaline junkie. Finally, they arrived and Nat got out of the car with some reluctance. She kept glancing back at it as they walked towards the Gallerie and a thought occurred to Clint.

"Do you want to drive back?" he asked her casually.

"Are you sure?" she replied with some hesitance, "It's a really nice car. I'd feel horrible if I damaged it."

"Well, do you know how to drive a manual transmission?" Clint queried.

"Yeah. I'm more comfortable on a motorcycle though." Nat said somewhat wistfully.

"Then you can drive back." Clint decided, "It's just a car. Not a big deal."

They spent several hours there shopping, and Nat's eyes kept getting wider and wider when Clint never told her anything was too expensive. He'd been serious when he said he could afford pretty much anything she'd want. On their way out they walked past a store display and Clint noticed Nat gazing longingly at a black leather jacket in the window. It was obviously high end, but designed to be more understated and not flashy.

"If you like it, get it." he told her with a chuckle.

"Clint!" Nat exclaimed, "It's $1,800!"

"So?" Clint said with a bland shrug, "Get it."

Natasha suddenly stopped and stared at him with her eyes narrowed, "Why are you doing this? I haven't done anything to deserve you spending this much money on me."

"Because it's my friend's birthday." he explained, "And I wanted to do something nice for her."

"I'm your friend?" Nat asked with some uncertainty in her voice.

"Of course you are." Clint told her with a snort, "You didn't notice that I was still hanging out with you even though you got cleared a week ago and don't need an escort anymore? I mean, unless you don't want to be my friend. I suppose I could find something else to do with my time."

"No! I mean yes!" Nat sputtered, "I just didn't think you thought of me as your friend. I guess I thought you were just being nice to me because it was your job."

Clint just gave her a look that said 'Really?' and waited for it to sink in. He had done a lot of things for her that weren't strictly in his job description, and he had done them because he cared about her. He watched as Nat got a little embarrassed when she realized how foolish what she'd just said was.

Clint reached out and gave her shoulder a gentle shove, "Silly ass."

They spent the rest of the walk back to the car shoving and bumping each other while trying not to drop the shopping bags. Nat got the last laugh when she tripped Clint into the side of the Challenger and stood there giggling at him. Actually giggling.

Clint stood up and looked at her with a wide smile forming on his face. He had never seen her this genuinely happy and carefree before, and he was loving it. Maybe there was a chance for her to have a normal life after all.

"What?" Nat asked him with her brow furrowed in confusion, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're laughing." he pointed out softly, "I've never heard you actually laugh before. It's nice."

"Shut up, you big softie." she said back, punctuating it with a slap to his upper arm, "If you're going to make a big deal out of it anytime I do something you haven't seen yet this is going to get tedious. I'm not a baby reaching milestones, you know."

"You're right." Clint admitted, "Still though, this is surreal. If you had told me a few months ago that I was going to be sent to take out an assassin and would end up taking her shopping for her birthday 2 months later instead, I'd have asked what drugs you were on."

"Life's weird like that." Nat shrugged. She hadn't had any say in what happened in her life until recently, so things turning out unexpectedly didn't really faze her. She held her hand out expectantly, "Keys?"

Clint chuckled and tossed her the keys, which she caught easily and walked around to the driver's side to start the car. That left Clint to put the bags in the trunk before hopping in the passenger side.

"Fair warning." he said, "The clutch is a little grabby. It can catch you off guard if you aren't expecting it."

Nat just nodded to confirm that she heard him and backed the car out of the parking space. She was cautious with it until they got to the highway onramp. Once they had nothing in front of them she shot him a side-eyed glance and a devilish grin, and then mashed the accelerator to the floor. They were in 4th gear doing 90 before they made it off the onramp and were still accelerating. Clint didn't know how she had become such a good driver, and honestly didn't want to ask about it, so he just kept his mouth shut while she steered his car down the road at speeds the highway patrol would frown on.

The shopping for essentials didn't take nearly as long, and they had the car mostly filled with bags by the time they were done. Clint decided that they should head back to the compound and drop the stuff off before heading to the restaurant later that evening. He also figured Natasha could change into some of her new clothes. The place he had picked was a higher end French/Belgian restaurant, and he had chosen to do the shopping first so she'd have something to wear. Clint had noticed that during the shopping trip Natasha had not gotten any dresses at all, opting for combos of blouses with nice pants instead. He was going to ask why but the likely reason occurred to him before he got the words out; she didn't want to wear anything that made the scars on her legs visible. She was still really self-conscious about them and took pains not to let anyone see them. She wouldn't even wear shorts during training, and just dealt with being sweaty. Clint had an idea to solve that problem for her, but he decided to wait to mention it so it wouldn't put a damper on the evening.

Nat opted for stylish black slacks and a sea-green, flowy top that complimented her hair and matched her eyes almost perfectly. She topped it off with the leather jacket Clint had encouraged her to buy, and it looked good on her. Clint was just in a basic off-the-rack black suit himself. He didn't care too much for dressing up, but he knew the place had a dress code so he made the effort this time.

"You look stunning." he told Nat sincerely, "I'm going to be the envy of every man there."

Nat blushed just a little in return. Clint knew she could control that reaction, so either he had actually surprised her and it slipped out or she let it happen as a silent 'thank you' for the compliment. He couldn't tell either way and decided that he wasn't going to speculate on it.

They got to the restaurant in record time and Clint winced at the sound of the valet grinding gears all the way through the parking lot. He either couldn't drive a manual transmission and didn't want to admit it, or the grabby clutch was throwing him off. When they walked in Clint told the hostess they had reservations for Jeremy Renner and Ingrid Johannson. Nat looked askance at him when he said that and he just winked at her.

"Why did you use fake names?" she asked once they were seated, "We're not criminals. You're not, right?"

"I was pardoned when I joined SHIELD." Clint deadpanned, "The names were because I almost never use my real name for anything. If you looked it up you'd find that my car is registered to Don Heck."

"What made you pick the name for me?" she asked curiously.

"You look a little bit like an actress with the same last name, and it amused me." he answered, "I pulled Ingrid out of thin air, mostly because it sounded right with the last name. Either way, you should get used to it. I'm pretty sure Fury is eying you for undercover work. There are a lot of places a young girl can get into that someone like me couldn't."

"What about your name?" Nat inquired, "Any reason for that one?"

"Found it in the phone book." he said with a smirk. His dinner companion narrowed her eyes at him, not sure if she believed him or not.

Just then their waiter arrived and took their order. Clint ordered steak au Poivre, while Natasha opted for confit de canard with a side of onion soup. They chatted while they waited for their food to arrive and Natasha lamented not being able to order a drink. She was just turning 18, but with the number of laws she'd broken in her life Clint figured underage drinking wasn't even worth acknowledging. He decided to ask what her preferred drink was.

"Vodka." came the succinct answer with an arched brow, "You should know better than to ask a Russian their favorite drink, Clint."

"I'm a Midwestern boy." Clint told her, "I tend to go for bourbon."

"Where are you actually from?" Nat wondered suddenly, "I know you joined the crime circus and traveled all over, but you never did say where you were from originally."

"Waverly, Iowa." he answered, "It's a small town about two hours northeast of Des Moines. I actually own my old family farm out there. It got passed down to me when my parents died in a car accident a few years ago and no one could find Barney."

"And Barney is...?" Nat asked.

"My brother." Clint explained, "Three years older. We had a falling out shortly before Coulson caught up with me and he left. Haven't heard anything from him since. I heard he died a couple years ago, but I couldn't confirm it anywhere so I have no idea if he's even alive."

"Oh." she said quietly, "I knew you had a brother but you never told me his name."

Clint shrugged, trying to be casual but there was more tension in it than he would have liked, "I don't talk about him much."

"Do you miss him?" Nat wondered.

"Not really." Clint said, "I mean, sure, he's family. But we didn't get along at all towards the end and he's kind of a dick, so I don't really miss him. I do wish I knew for sure what happened to him though."

"Yeah, I get that." she responded and then was quiet for a few moments before surprising Clint again, "I had a sister once."

Clint took a few seconds to blink away the shock that accompanied that statement. To the best of his knowledge Nat couldn't remember having any family at all after she was taken from her parents at four. She didn't say anything else and Clint got exasperated that she was doing it again.

"C'mon, Nat." he complained, "You can't just drop something like that and refuse to explain it. Do you have any idea how batty that drives me?"

She just gave him an impish smile in response, "Yes."

Clint stared at her expectantly for a few moments before she gave in with a dramatic sigh.

"Fine." she said, "I was sent on an undercover mission to Ohio when I was around 10 or 11. It was actually a man named Alexei's mission, we were along to provide his cover. His identity was as a family man, so he needed a family to play the part. A woman named Milena posed as his wife, and me and another girl posed as his children. We were there for a while. I wonder what those little brats in that school would think if they knew the weird girl they didn't like had a body count that would put her on the top 20 list of American serial killers."

Clint choked on his drink at that. She had developed a tendency towards dark humor and had a habit of throwing things like that out casually, as though double digit kills at 11 wasn't something to be concerned about. Clint noticed the real purpose to it though. She didn't want to tell him her sister's name and was deflecting away from the fact that she didn't say it when she'd said everyone else's.

"You're deflecting, Nat" he told her bluntly, "You don't want to tell me her name."

"Not really, no." Nat admitted.

"It's okay." he told her, "You can just say so. Just wanted you to know I noticed."

Nat shrugged at him, "Sorry. Force of habit."

"Hey, I noticed you've been going to see Laura a lot more lately." Clint said suddenly, "You been doing okay?"

She talked to him about most of the stuff that bothered her, but she still kept a lot to herself and he wanted to be sure that she wasn't having major problems with it. Now that she had her head together Clint knew that she was intentionally more open about her feelings with him, but she could also make herself nearly unreadable. So if she was having issues there was a good chance he wouldn't notice unless she wanted him to.

"Yeah, I'm doing a lot better actually." Nat assured him, "I just like her and sometimes I go hang out with her while she's doing paperwork or something. She's really nice and a total sweetheart."

"That's great." he replied honestly, "She seems like good people."

Nat gave him a mischievous look for a moment, "I still think you should ask her out. She asks how you're doing every time I visit her."

"She does?" Clint exclaimed, honestly taken aback.

Nat stared at him like he was an idiot for a few seconds and then gave him a melodramatic, long-suffering sigh, "Yes, dingus. She likes you."

"I dunno." Clint said, "Wouldn't it be a conflict of interest to be dating my best friend's therapist?"

This time it was Nat's turn to choke on her drink. He had just casually acknowledged her as his best friend when he hadn't said anything of the kind before. Clint just shot her a look that said 'now we're even' and then shrugged.

"It's true." he confirmed, "I tend to keep most people at arm's length. Coulson and Hill are a little closer than most but I don't really have a whole lot of real friends. I've spent more time with you over the last couple months than I have with any other one person over the last few years, except maybe Coulson." Clint paused while Nat digested that information before continuing, "At first it was because I felt bad for you. You were in a shit situation and it reminded me of myself, so I wanted to help you. Then it was because I liked being around you. I haven't needed to spend all day with you for over a week now, but I still do. If I have to pick a best friend, well, I pick you."

Nat gave him a mock glare, but he couldn't help but notice that her eyes were suspiciously shiny, "Clint, stop talking right now." she warned, "I swear, if you make me cry in public you will regret it."

She said it jokingly, but there was some real feeling there she was trying to deflect from. Clint knew he was important to her, Hill had analyzed her fairly accurately. And it seemed like she was trying hard to hide her reaction to learning that she was important to him too.

Their food arrived and distracted them from the heartfelt turn the conversation had taken. They both eagerly changed topics to raving about how good the food was. They continued chatting through the meal and dessert before Clint paid the check with a generous tip and they left.

While they were waiting for the valet Clint noticed a couple guys in their early twenties blatantly checking Nat out. They looked like trust fund kids wearing overly expensive clothes and way too much jewelry. He sighed when one of them decided to muster up the courage to walk over.

"Hey, sweetie." he oozed, "Why don't you ditch the loser in the rack-wear and spend some time with a real man."

Clint raised his eyebrows and waited for Nat's response. In his experience it would either be hilarious, intimidating, or both. His mouth started to twitch when she turned to the slimeball with a vapid expression on her face. Hilarious, then.

"I would love that!" she said sweetly while batting her eyelashes at him, "If you happen to run across a real man could you pretty please come back and let me know?"

Clint couldn't help it, he busted out laughing at the shell-shocked expression on the jackass's face. He didn't feel too bad though, since the guy's buddy was laughing at him too and the kid at the valet stand blurted out a loud "Oh shit!" and cracked up.

The overly-accessorized jerk sputtered for a few seconds before he finally managed, "Whatever, bitch. You ain't that hot anyway."

That just made Clint laugh even harder, "Dude, don't be so salty!" he said between peals of laughter, "Coming in with a pickup line like that? You were asking for it."

The humiliated rich kid stomped back over to where he'd been standing after the valet kid loudly agreed that he deserved it and Nat made a shooing motion at him. The other valet pulled up with Clint's car and they got in to leave. As they pulled out of the parking lot Clint could hear the valet kid loudly relating what had just happened, "Bro, you shoulda heard the sick burn that redhead just laid on the trusty over there! It was savage!"

The drive back to the compound was a fairly quiet one. But it was one of those comfortable silences where you don't feel the need to speak. The silence continued as they made their way back to their quarters. After a long time deep in thought Nat came over to stand in front of him.

"Thank you, Clint." she started and then stood indecisively for a few moments. Finally, she took a deep breath and bounced up onto her toes to kiss his cheek, "This was a really good day. I had a lot of fun."

Clint watched her walk into her room to get ready for bed and shook his head in bemusement once again at the fiery redhead that had come into his life.

The next morning Nat came out of her room looking pensive. She came and sat on the couch next to him and spent a few minutes looking like she was working up the courage to say something. Clint waited patiently for her to speak, he knew he couldn't rush her into talking.

"Clint?" she finally said, "If I tell you something, will you promise not to repeat it to anyone?"

"What's on your mind, Nat?" he said cautiously.

She met his gaze and shook her head adamantly, "Promise me."

"Okay." he promised, "I give you my word that I'll take whatever you have to tell me to my grave."

"Have you been wondering why I keep protecting my abdomen every time I'm upset about something?"

"Yeah, actually, I have." Clint admitted, "I figured there was a good reason for it, so I didn't ask."

"I know why now." Nat continued, "I didn't understand it myself before. It just felt like something I needed to do."

"Okay..." he prompted.

"I remembered after the second deprogramming session when I was in my room, before..." she trailed off.

Clint just nodded. He wasn't going to make her say it.

"It was part of the 'graduation ceremony' when my training was finished." Nat told him bitterly, "They couldn't allow the possibility that there could ever be anything more important than the mission. Like a child."

Clint felt the blood drain from his face and his heart drop through his stomach to the floor, he had a good idea where she was going with this. Nat saw the look on his face and nodded sadly at him.

"They removed my uterus." she told him quietly, "They sterilized me. I'll never be able to have children."

"They performed a full hysterectomy on you?!" Clint exclaimed in shock. He'd thought they were evil before, but this was beyond the pale. They had stolen that choice from her before she ever had the chance to make it.

"Yes." Nat confirmed with a slight shudder, "And they did it while I was awake. They numbed the area, but it still hurt so bad, and I didn't understand what they were taking from me at the time. I was thirteen years old I think, I don't remember for sure."

Clint found himself torn between two equally strong urges. One was the urge to destroy something, the other was to hold her tight and make sure no one could ever hurt her again. He decided to go with the second option, at least as much as she'd be willing to allow.

"I'm sorry." he said softly, holding his arms open to her. She hesitated for a moment and then scooted over on the couch into his embrace. There were no tears this time, but she relaxed into him and just let him hold her for a while. He sensed that she had just told him something she kept very private, and he felt honored by it.

"I won't say anything." Clint promised again, "Does anyone else know?"

"Just Laura." Nat answered, "It was part of what we talked about in our first session."

"Why tell me?" he asked her curiously.

"Laura suggested I think about telling someone else I trust about it so it doesn't eat at me so much." she explained, "And I trust you more than I trust anyone else. I'm still not sure I should, but it feels right to trust you so I'm not going to second guess it anymore."

"For what it's worth." he replied, "I trust you too. Everything about your past tells me I shouldn't. But I do."

"You really shouldn't trust me, Clint." Nat told him seriously, "With the crap that's probably still in my head I don't even trust me."

"Still do." he shrugged, "I'll take the chance. You trusting anyone at all is a hell of a concession from you. Least I can do is return the faith you have in me. Coulson trusts you too, you know. He's better at reading people than anyone I've ever met, including you. He's basically a human lie detector. He told Hill he trusts you, that's why you got some of the restrictions relaxed and they let you share quarters with me."

"I committed to joining SHIELD last night after we got back." Nat told him.

"You're sure about it?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." she said firmly, "You've said a couple times that you want to destroy the Red Room, and Coulson is trying to find a location."

"Yeah, he's been looking since the first interrogation." Clint confirmed, "I volunteered to lead the team that goes in. Demanded actually. Coulson and Hill said they're going too. Laura even said she might be tempted to go back in the field for that one. There's a lot of people here that are really pissed at them."

"When you go in, I want to help." Nat told him in a glacier-like tone, "They stole my childhood and turned me into a murderer. They took away my free will and tried to steal myfuture, and they would have succeeded if you hadn't found me. They made me do things that will haunt me for the rest of my life. They pulled out my soul and put something monstrous in it's place. No little girl is going to have to go through that ever again. Because I am going to end them!"

A/N: Yes, Scarlett Johannson exists in this universe. Natasha strongly resembles her, but not enough to be mistaken for her. I don't know if I'm going to do anything with that. Probably not, though.

Since I posted the first 6 chapters all at once, I'll start answering any questions that come up at the beginning of chapter 7, which I'm still working on.