There's Worse Ways To Go

Thirteen

That night, Nat and I hatch a plan.

Woven together under the blankets, we whisper into each other's mouths, stealing kisses when the other is in the middle of a sentence, not able to get enough of one another.

"We should talk with Tony and Steve," Natasha says, and I kiss her quickly.

"We should," I agree, pressing my lips to hers.

"Are you sure you want to leave this behind? We don't have to. I'll stay."

"I've had my time to be the hero when I was in the military. I'm ready for a quiet life. No gunshots, no bullets. Just you."

"I never thought you were weak," she says, kissing me twice.

"I know you didn't. You just have a shitty way of expressing your true feelings."

She smiles and I seal our lips together.

"I was trying to protect you, that's just always been who I am."

"I know, darling," I whisper, kissing her jaw, down her neck. "Where are we going to go?"

She arches into me and I pull her in by the waist, my nose just under her ear.

"I want you to meet Yelena. We'll visit her and see how she's doing with freeing the widows. If she doesn't want our help or we want to put away the guns, we'll buy a house that's not near anything. Grass and hills and mountains as far as the eye can see."

She kisses my nose, the corner of my mouth, my jaw.

"We'll have a few dogs, and chickens. And we'll have a garden. Live off the land."

"Who knows, maybe we take in a few kiddos too," I whisper.

Natasha brings her hand up to my face and grabs my chin, directing me to her lips. She kisses me fiercely, and when she pulls away she smiles.

"I want that future with you," I say, squeezing her. "I want to give you the ending you deserve, Natalia."

She smiles at me, lips gently pressing to mine. "Whatever it takes."

The next morning we call Tony and Steve into the conference room. Each of them sits down across from us nervously, glancing between us.

"Thank you boys for coming. We wanted to discuss our future here at the Avengers compound," I start.

"Or lack thereof," Natasha says.

Tony tilts his head but I catch Steve's smirk as he looks down into his lap.

"I'm sorry, what exactly is going on here?" Tony asks, pointing at us.

"We're leaving the Avengers," I tell him, and Tony stares at me blankly.

"Look, if this is about the whole Cuda thing, I'm sorry you were captured but that's kinda what you're signing up for," Tony says, and at Nat's death glare he backtracks. "I probably should've put that information on the brochure before I recruited you, but I can promise you we'll stop them."

"And I believe you will. We just won't be a part of it."

He furrows his brows. "I don't get it. They killed your mother and tortured you, but you're just going to let this slide?"

"What am I to do, Tony? Wait around for them to pop up on our radar again? My mother is already dead, I'm already back and safe. I hate them, but I trust you will put an end to them and that's good enough for me. They've already taken so much from me, I don't need them taking my future too."

He looks to Natasha. "And you're letting this happen? I know you two are what historians would say are friends, but they tortured her, Nat. She almost died. And this team, we're your family. You're just going to leave us?"