Scarlet Widow • Secret Love

Chapter 3

Clint Bartons PoV:

After Natasha hit me, she stormed out of the hotel room and I slumped to the floor. There were no serious injuries. Just two grazes, one on my arm and one on my thigh. I knew Natasha hadn't really been thinking at that moment and had deliberately not fatally shot me. She was just trying to make me understand that I should stay out of it. But I couldn't. Not now. She wasn't going to make it on her own. I knew her well enough to know that she doesn't really want to kill people. She's just looking for a way out, a distraction. The first thing I would need to do was return to the Avengers.

I got up and went to the bathroom. There I disinfected the wounds and gave them a makeshift bandage. Then I left the room and packed my own things. I quickly left Paris and flew back to the Avengers compound.

Carol was sitting in the office when I entered.

"Hi," she greeted, looking at me expectantly.

"Hey," I sighed.

"Oh. Did it go badly? What happened?" she asked, motioning me to sit in the chair across from her.

"She did it," I said, looking at Carol with some exasperation.

"Oh, so you were right. Were you able to talk to her?"

"I don't know if you can call it talking." I took off my jacket and Carol's gaze fell on my arm.

"Oh, God. Was Natasha doing that?" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes...she shot me and-"

Carol interrupted me. "She what?!"

"She did shoot. But she didn't fatally wound me on purpose," I defended her, looking down my arm.

"Clint! This is stupid. I'm going to take care of this myself. I'll fly to her camper tomorrow and wait for her there," she said angrily, standing up.

"Carol-there's no need for that. Everything is going to be fine. You don't have to do this." I tried to convince her not to fly to Natasha's home and ambush her, but she just shook her head.

"No. There's a difference between moving away with Wanda and shooting down friends with guns. That's going too far," she explained.

"Little tip: don't talk about Wanda. It's best not to mention her at all. It wasn't until I mouthed the name Wanda that she pulled a gun," I said quietly.

"Do you think her family is completely gone?" asked Carol.

"I don't. I hope not. She's suffered so much already... It would be terrible if she lost that too..." I shrugged my shoulders, hoping that nothing had happened to her family and she just had a fight with Wanda or something.

"I'm going to go pack my stuff now, see you tomorrow Clint." Carol gave me another nod before she left the room.

I went to my room and took out my cell phone. I dialed a number and waited.

"Hey," a woman's voice said and I smiled.

"Hey Laura. How are you? And how are the kids?", I asked.

"I'm doing fine. So are the kids. There's news...maybe you can come by in a week..." she suggested.

"Yeah sure. I'll be happy to come by. I have one more thing to take care of here, but after that I can come by. I'm looking forward to coming home." I laughed and looked to the picture of my family next to the bed.

"The kids just outnumber the kids here.... I'm looking forward to you coming home. Cooper is having a difficult time right now. He's just playing on his computer too much." She sighed. "But Lila and the little one will be happy."