The Other Barton | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter Eight

As the sound of my ears ringing faded, I could hear Steve groaning, debris shifting and the sounds of every hard breath I took. It was pitch black and silent, which was never a good sign. As reality all started to click, so did the pounding pain in my head. I moved my hand up to see why it felt like liquid was pouring down my face. Once I brought my hand down, the thick red residue told me exactly what it was.

"Shit, Steve, Nat?" I hissed, putting my hand over where I assumed the cut was. Steve hummed back a response, but Natasha did not. My eyes tried to veer around looking for her but I was met with darkness and shadows from all the fallen stone.

Steve started moving the debris out of the way, "She's out, but I think she's fine." He tried to reassure me. Adding in 'think' didn't really. Steve kneeled in front of me, "You need to jump out of here, then I'm going to hand Nat off to you. Okay?"

"Yeah, Yeah, I can do that." I assured him. I then got up, stumbling out of the hole waiting for him to bring her over. Without being able to cover the wound it was slowly seeping down to my eyes making it harder to see. "Hurry up!" I hissed at him.

He finally brought her over, sitting her body on the edge while I used any strength left in me to stand her up and lean onto me. Steve then came up from the hole, taking her instead. She'd yet to wake up but we were losing time. A shield rescue team was bound to come looking for confirmation on three dead bodies. We scaled over the debris, trying to find a sense of direction.

Adrenaline started to kick in when the sound of Quinjets approaching echoed. Steve looked at me, waiting for some sort of response to the noise. "We've got a minute tops to get deep enough into the woods they don't find us." I confirmed to him, which he nodded back to.

Steve stopped adjusting his position to a bridal hold on Nat, so we could start running. We both started running, Steve was slightly quicker even with Natasha due to being a super soldier but I was able to stay in distance with him. If Quinjets weren't surrounding the place I would have ran for the truck but that was a death trap. It was at the entrance, right where they'd look.

We'd run far enough where the thick branches would cover any hovering helicopters or Quinjets. And we presumed to be far enough from the camp. Steve found a tree with a big trunk and sat Natasha against it. I immediately crouched in front of her looking for any signs of blood, bones, or anything abnormal. Other than a scratch or two nothing came up.

I sat up, walking back and forth in a straight line similar to what I did in the gallery room. "She just needs time to wake up, all we can do is wait." Steve told me. Even knowing he was right, I felt guilty. And pacing around was the only thing I could do to calm myself down. Sitting down, wouldn't do anything to help me. In reality I'd end up falling asleep, with a head injury still bleeding out. Not smart.

"I never got it, Natasha always talked about this Brunette that slipped past her fingers. And I think I get it now." Steve said, letting out a chuckle as he did.

"What?" I asked stopping in front of him.

"She gets mad at you, no problem. She tells you she's picking out her outfit, no protest. You see her in even slight danger, you go to the danger. Even right now, you've got a head injury and your concern is on Natasha."

"Because I love her. Simple as that. All I've ever wanted for her is to be happy. If me getting yelled at or having to switch my outfit does that then so be it. And being here, with her has made me realize how much i've fucked up in the past four years." I admitted to the man I barely even knew.

"It's not my place to say but I don't think she's actually mad at you. Ever since the Avengers formed, this Brunette nobody other than Clint knew was her main attention. She'd tell these amazing stories of what she did before shield or a mission they had gone on. Where she got the chance you were her main attention." He foretold.

"Did she tell you about the time I almost burnt down my kitchen?"

"Yeah, she did." He snickered.

We both enjoyed the silence after that. It did somewhat help my nerves, but it didn't replace the fact we weren't done with whatever was going on with shield. The silence broke when Natasha stirred away, bringing attention by a cough. I ran over kneeling in front of her. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Natasha!" I uttered to her as she groaned and opened her eyes.

"What happened?" She rasped out, her eyes focusing on the gash on my forehead. I let out a nervous chuckle, "A uh, building fell on-top of us. And we had to flee to the woods while shield assessed the wreckage."

"What are we going to do after they leave?" She questioned, looking at me for hopes of a plan.

"Go to the truck? We haven't gotten past that."

"So what have you guys been doing this whole time? She asked, stretching out her arms and popping her knuckles. "Nothing." I responded back quickly. "Uhm, okay?"

"I told her about your mysterious brunette that seems to her." Steve slyly answered. I turned my head over my shoulder, "really sly, that was supposed to be between us!" I whisper-yelled back. I stood up, leaning against the tree, Nat was sitting under. And she then got up as well.

"Are you blushing?" Nat teased at me, watching me bury my head into the tree.

"No. Just uhm, crying?" I responded back, but it came out more like a question.

"You suck at lying." She laughed out, pinching my side which made me jump from my position.

"We should probably go. They're probably gone." Steve spoke up. "Go where?" Natasha asked. We had nowhere to go. Shield was the only place we could really call a home. It was our joke, outside of illegal careers. The options weren't coming to mind. "I know a place," He assured, picking up his shield. "Let's just hope he is a friend."

Natasha seemed to know who he was talking about, "The guy from this morning? Can we really trust him?"

"I don't see any other options," He countered.