A Different Call

Third Time's the Charm

A.N. I know that I have readers from around the world for this book and I just wanted to let you all know that Queen_of_marvel is working on a Spanish translation of this story and has the first chapter currently published.

Natasha's P.O.V.

I woke up in the middle of the night only to see that the space next to me on the bed that had been previously occupied was now empty, though the sheets were still semi-warm. I sat up and saw that my companion was now sitting on a large windowsill, moonbeams lighting his face as well as the armful of tattoos that was wrapped around his legs.

I got up and wrapped the blanket that had been on top of our bed around me, it felt as if all the heat from the compound had vanished in the few hours that we had been sleeping. There was an ominous feeling to the cold, as though it was warning of us of danger that was going to happen in the morning.

"Hey," I said softly, taking a seat next to Clint. I shifted the blanket so it was wrapped around both of us and rested my head against his shoulder. "You thinking about the mission tomorrow?"

Clint shrugged, "A little I guess." There was a detachment in his voice that scared and hurt me more than any form of torture that I had endured before.

I sit up and put my hand against Clint's face, forcing him to look me in the eyes, "Tell me what's wrong. Please."

Clint sighed, "I'm thinking about the past few years."

My heart sank, "That's in the past Clint. I know that you're not really like that."

"I started seeing images of you a few months in. Then the images tried talking to me." A sharp short laugh came out. "I thought I was going crazy." Clint shrugged, "Maybe I was. But it was that vision that was trying to talk me out of everything I was doing. Telling me that there was so much more to me than just the anger that I was feeling. You were right because you were always right, but I still kept doing it. I'm not even sure it was still revenge towards the end. I think it was just me being reckless, hoping that I would get hurt and that that would let me feel something."

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, reassuring him that he was safe to keep telling his story.

"It's funny that you no matter wherever I am that you're always there trying to make sure that I don't make stupid decisions. Maybe if I listened once in a while, I wouldn't have been a frequent flier in the med bay." I let out a soft grateful for the shift in tone. "You know what Laura said when I first brought you to the farm? She said, that girl is like a fire, she'll either keep you warm or she'll burn you till there's nothing left. I think that she was right on both counts." I noticed that Clint was playing with something in his right hand, but I took my eyes off of that when he tangled his left hand into my right hand. "I just never notice the burns until you leave and I really there's nothing left in me."

"Coulson also didn't think that we'd be good together," Clint paused for a minute as if pondering some philosophical theory. "Looking back on it a lot of people warned me about getting too tied up with you." Clint looked down at me with love in his eyes. "I'm glad I didn't listen. But anyway, I went to Coulson's office the day before you went on that mission that resulted in you meeting Steve's Soviet boyfriend, and I told Coulson that I felt something for you that was more than just a partner connection. He said that with our combined issues that we would either fill in each other's cracks or we'd go up in flames...I'm not sure what was with all the fire metaphors, I blame your hair," Clint joked, though I could tell the joke was also working as a diversion.

"When I was still a recruit and Coulson had to work double duty as my tutor. He told me this story that he had once heard about how the red thread of fate. It's a myth from China about how the gods tie an invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another. They say that the string may stretch or tangle, but it won't ever break no matter what. And I being head over heels told Coulson that you were the other end of my string. Coulson laughed it off a little but told me to talk to Garner and that if I still felt the way I did when you guys returned from the mission then he'd give me his blessing."

"And then I got shot," I supplied.

Clint nodded looking down at his right hand, "And then you got shot. I raced to the hospital as soon as I heard. I even got to look in on the operation, though I'm pretty sure it was because Coulson thought I'd have an aneurysm otherwise. It was the scariest thing I had seen, there was so much blood and they even lost you a couple of times. I had never felt so scared. That's when I decided to ignore the piece of advice Coulson had given me about how if I wanted to be a relationship with you, I would have to take things slow. I knew after seeing you literally die a couple of times though that I would never be able to take things slow, so I went to the nearest jewelry store I could find."

"Is that where you got the necklace?" I asked, touching the object in question.

Clint shook his head, "No I still haven't given it to you. I offered a couple of times, but you always turned it down, saying it wasn't the right time."

I furrowed my brows. I can't remember a single time that I had turned down Clint offering me a gift. I knew how happy gift-giving made him, how he loved to see the reactions in the other person's face.

"I'm not sure if now is the right time or not, but I'm tired of carrying the cloud of uncertainty that I hadn't realized I had bought at the same time."

I was getting very confused, "Clint are you drunk?" I hadn't smelt any alcohol on his breath, but I knew he had become good at hiding the symptoms of drunkenness after what had happened with Coulson.

"No 'Tasha. I can promise you I am one hundred percent stone-cold sober. But I do have a question for you." Clint took off the blanket and moved to the floor getting down on one knee. "We're about to pull a back to the future tomorrow to try and reverse what a knock off Grimace and his stone collection did and while I'm scared beyond all belief I know I can get through anything when you're by my side. So, Natasha Romanoff, will you marry me?"

It was at the moment that I realized that what Clint had been messing with was a ring box.

A smile overwhelmed my face, "Yes, God yes," I said, moving from the windowsill to Clint's arms.

I knew that tomorrow would be okay as long as I had Clint by my side.