Worth Fighting For| B. Barnes

~Safe Place~

Friday
July 22, 2016
12:55 PM
~~~~~

"I'm sorry about that Clint...I told you, she doesn't respond very well to strangers...she just needs time." Nat says, escorting Clint out of the safe house.

"It's okay, I understand." Clint replies.

"Thank you again for letting us lay low here." Natasha says looking at her friend.

"Anything for my family." Clint says. There was a decent moment or two of silence before the pair continued their conversation.

"Gosh...she's really messed up isn't she?" Clint sighs.

"Oh yeah...more than you know...Some days it's so bad that she refuses to get out of her bed...she hasn't actually stepped foot outside since we first came here with her." Natasha replies, her and Clint briefly evacuating the house to give Ivory a moment to calm down.

"I can't even believe that...she's just a baby, kids are supposed to love being outside!" Clint sighs.

"Well thanks to German special forces and a bunch of J soc guys, she's scared to even set foot outside because she thinks someone is going to come take her away every time." Natasha said shrugging her shoulders.

"You said she's two right?"

"Yeah. She just turned two right before everything happened."

"That poor baby...What did those German jerks do to her?"

"I don't know...That's definitely a story I wish I could tell, but one thing is for sure, they definitely screwed her up pretty bad..." Natasha says. "If I would have stayed with her...and fought for her my way, instead of playing all these cards, I think things would be different for her."

"Nat...you cannot blame yourself for what they did to her..." Clint says sighing.

"It's true. If I would have stayed with her those two days and handled her my way, she would be a different kid...if I could turn back time and fix the way I chose to intervene...I would." Nat says.

"Nat...She was lucky to have you during a frightening time in her life...even though you weren't as present as you would have liked to be, that's not going to erase the abuse trauma they left her with...you did all you could do, in those couple days..."

"I could have done more..."

"But that's the past...Focus on where you are, and how you're impacting her Now...as a father, I can honestly say you're doing her the greatest service by bringing her out here, and making this home for her. This place is going to feel like a safe place to her because of you Nat...never forget that."

"Thank you...I needed to hear that."

"I've been doing it since Budapest...and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon." Clint says making the woman smile.

"You know, Even though I've never see them together, I could just tell by the way Bucky talked about her that he loved her...being a father myself, I could just tell Ivory was his whole world."

"Oh yeah, he loves that little girl more than life itself...Those people tried to blame Barnes for her trauma, but any smart person would call bullshit on that accusation."