"Some days she felt like she was swimming in lies, treading water in a sea of deception. One day, surely, she would drown in her own secrets."
*~*~*~*
Venetia Sarafian was never like other women. Rather than sitting back and thinking of how she coul...
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When Clint reached the room he paused outside the glass door for a moment and peered into the room. Lying on a bed in the back left corner of the room was Venetia Sarafian. Her back was turned towards the door, leaving her dirty and knotted locks to rest on the pillow under her head. She hadn't bothered to cover herself up with the blanket, opting to lay on top of it instead. No doubt she didn't want to feel the restraint that the blanket might cause her to feel after how long she'd been held prisoner.
He took a deep breath before he pushed the door open and stepped into the room. Only the sound of his footsteps filled the room as he made his way over to her bed. She gave no sign that she heard him-- her body remaining tense and she didn't so much as glance over her shoulder to see who was there. His tongue darted across his lips nervously as he took a seat in the chair beside her bed, running his palms over his denim-clad legs to try and ease himself. For a moment he didn't say anything and simply relished in the fact that they were in the same room again. Something so simple, though he had started to fear that it would never be possible again. After what Steve had been told...none of them had thought they'd get the chance to enjoy her company ever again.
"V..." He whispered the nickname softly, forcing himself no to reach out and touch her. The last thing he wanted to do was upset her and make things worse. He wanted to fix things, to take away all of the pain and fear she had been forced to endure at Hydra's hands for the last two years. The only problem was that he had no idea how to do that-- none of them did.
All of them wanted to be able to take away their friend's pain, but the truth was that none of them knew how to even start going about it. Throughout her long life Venetia had always been the one there for the others. She had been the one to offer others comfort to try and ease their own pain. She had been the source of Steve's comfort from the moment they were reunited. Even before they had met, Venetia's story had offered Bruce some shred of hope that his condition might not be a curse after all. She had been the one that had helped put Natasha on SHIELD's radar, knowing that the younger woman needed help. She had been there for Tony his whole life in one way or another, offering him comfort when his father was too hard on him and after Howard had died. And Clint...
Venetia Sarafian was the very reason that Clint Barton had the life that he did.
She was the reason he was alive.
"I'm sorry, V," Clint spoke softly as he stared at the back of the woman's head. He knew she was awake, able to see the way her fingers picked as the seam of the pillowcase. Though her fingers stilled slightly when he spoke. "I should have been there for you. If I had just walked you inside or... or had convinced you to come visit the kids first then things would have been different. You would have been safe... This is my fault, V, and I promise that I'm never going to stop trying to make it up to you. I mean, if it weren't for you then I wouldn't be here. You're the reason I have the life that I do. If I'd never met you... I don't even wanna think about how things would've turned out."
