Special Touch Part: Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

"You didn't come home last night."

Chasing your own demons, literal or not, is exhausting and it takes a toll on not only yourself, but everyone around you. It's nearly impossible to hide the dark side and even if you could, you'd have guilt eating away at you for the rest of your life. There's nothing worse than slowly losing the ones you love, especially if you're forced to watch it with your hands tied behind your back and a gag in your mouth.

Time and time again you'll make mistakes, you'll trust the wrong people, you'll fall for their con, and it'll hurt every single time. People in your life that are family might hurt or betray you to the point of no return and in this line of work, that can be fatal.

"'m not going to apologize."

But when you finally find your own makeshift family – whether that be a parent, a sibling, a spouse, a kid, a pet, a friend or a mix of these, you do whatever needs to be done to protect them and they would do the same for you. This might call for sacrifice or hard decisions, but it's always worth keeping your loved ones safe and happy, no matter the cost.

And it can cost a lot.

"Where's Cory?"

"Safe."

"Didn't know you were coming by." They strolled over to the bookcase casually as they spoke.

"Don't." You warned, ghosting your hand over the pistol you kept on the table, and their eyes landed on it before they flicked back up to your face, their expression becoming cold as they realized you already search the apartment.

"I don't want an apology," She leaned across the island on her elbows, and you did the same from the other side, meeting her in the middle with a small laugh when she smiled, "I would like an explanation though."

"I was shacking it up with eye patch." You deadpanned and she laughed loudly, swiping the tip of her finger down your nose affectionately afterwards.

"The most adorable liar I know." She smirked and you reluctantly nodded, a teasing smile crossing your lips.

"You've got the advantage with your powers."

"Is there a reason I'd need my powers?"

"Well, you're here to kill me and I'm not going to go down without a fight."

"So, did you make Jimmy believe it was all his idea? I mean, after you guys came back from Hydra."

"Nat, I'm really..." You trailed off, laughing lightly at yourself as you felt tears welling up in your eyes, and she stayed quiet, her face falling, but then you looked right into her eyes when you added, "It's over, but I'm not...you might not want to be around me at least for a while and I wouldn't blame you if you took Cory and left."

"What?" She whispered harshly, not believing your words.

"I had to do something awful," You told her, your voice still low because you knew a few of them were sleeping just upstairs, "More awful than Paige, mom, Amanda, Andrew Logan, or those guys who came into the house when I was pregnant...the worst thing I had to do, I did it last night."

She pursed her lips and studied you for a moment, not considering leaving your side, but trying to figure out a way to help you through whatever happened.

"...What was it?"

"You're really doing this?" They shook their head in disbelief, nodding towards the pistol after you raised it, "It's me, Y/n, it's me."

"Not to sound cliché," You aimed it better, "But you're not giving me much of a choice."

"I was trying to help you! You don't even know what you're doing anymore, you've gone so far off the deep end and you don't even realize that you've only just tapped into your powers – hardly the tip of the iceberg."