Time to go

The final goodbye

Clint pulled his hood up around his face tighter and shivered lightly.

But his shivers weren't because of the weather, no it was twenty degrees celsius out here. He was shivering because of the huge tower that loomed above him. Avenger's Tower.

It's just another building, Clint thought trying to suppress his thoughts about sparring in the gym with Natasha or stalking people in the vents.

Natasha. He craned his neck up and tried to count up to her floor, with some false hope that he could see her looking out the window at him.

But it was useless, even with his above average eye sight he could hardly see the window. Much less anything inside.

So he went around the back of the tower, keenly avoiding Tony's visible cameras used to scare away the public and the almost invisible ones used for the real threats. At last he made it to the spot he wanted, four feet below an ugly air duct cover. It would be literally child's play for him to shimmy himself up into the vent and find his way up into the higher floors.

It would be so easy to see Natasha once more. The tiny voice urged at him, just for a minute?

Clint tried to block out the voice that was peeking into the depts of his mind digging up his deepest wants, breaking down the walls Clint had built around them to keep himself from hurting other people.

Clint resisted the urge to hit his head against the wall and quickly turned away from the tower, walking speedily away. If he stayed any longer he wouldn't be able to stop himself from climbing into the vents in full daylight.

Later, he heard the voice whisper almost sweetly. We'll come back when it's darker and everyone is asleep.

Clint ignored the voice but knew it was true, he would be back later like he was a burglar staking out a house. Except he wasn't going to steal things, he was only going to look. One look and then he would be off like a dirty shirt.

Until it got dark he had somewhere else he wanted to go.

Hailing a taxi and jumping in he smiled.

"Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn please."

He wanted to see Kate almost as badly as he wanted to see Natasha, but just like Natasha all he could do without getting caught would be look.

As the cab twisted through traffic Clint stared out at the streets. I got into a fight there, He thought aimlessly as they passed a dark alley. And there, there, I fell of a roof there, I was thrown in a dumpster there. Clint suppressed a rather childish laugh. Good to be home.

When the cabby stopped Clint handed him some money and climbed out, not really caring how much he tipped the cabbie, he was more enthralled in the brick apartment building in front of him.

As the cab pulled away Clint walked around the back of the building, he couldn't go through the front door. No, if someone that even vaguely knew him he would never be able to come back to Brooklyn, ever.

So he did what he did something he hadn't down in months, he crouched down and jumped, grabbing onto the fire escape.

Once Clint was a little better balanced on the creaky stairs he began counting windows to his apartment. Well Kate's apartment, but it used to be his.

When he reached the living room window he almost laughed in relief, Kate was sprawled out on the couch with Pizza dog reading a cheap gossip magazine and laughing like a little kid. There was some sorta pop music playing that Clint would have crinkled his nose at any other day, arrows were scattered on the floor and the heavy smell of coffee all around the room. It was as if he never left.