They had been trying for weeks. Thor had given her an Asgardian potion (it tasted like bubble gum, orange juice, and mint) that was supposed to work. That was two months ago.
Clint sighed and put his arms around Natasha, comforting her as they watched the pregnancy test on the counter in their small bathroom in their apartment. She stared at it as if the entire world rested on its decision of whether to turn the tiny pink lines into a positive or a negative. Clint looked at Natasha more than the test, just to make sure she wasn't about to freak out.
Clint wasn't quite sure when they decided they wanted a baby, and to be completely honest he wasn't sure how long ago they started sleeping together. What he did know is that after a long - ass time, Natasha finally told Clint that she loves him. Of course, that was what felt like decades after Clint professed his love to Natasha.
Natasha flicked her eyes to Clint's watch, then back to the test. It only took 15 minutes to wait for the test, but it felt like an eternity. Especially for Natasha, who thought that she had been sterilized by the Red Room for "initiation". Thor's potion was supposed to fix that, but as of late Natasha (and Clint, though he would never admit it to Nat) were beginning to lose hope. Another flick of Natasha's eyes to Clint's watch, and 15 minutes is up. There is only one pale pink line staring up at them, mocking them. Natasha turns in Clint's arms, burying her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back.
"It's okay, Tasha. We can try again." Clint says against her hair. She just stands there, her forehead against his chest and her eyes closed tightly. "Tasha, please don't give up hope. I want a baby with you, maybe a little girl with your hair and my eyes. She would be the best fucking assassin at SHIELD. She would be kicking Tony's ass by the time she was three. She could call him Uncle Tony. God, she would have so many uncles. Bruce, Steve, Bucky, Thor - oh God. Could you imagine our little girl kicking Thor's royal ass?" Clint chuckles a bit, and he sees Natasha smile and relax a little.
"Now that would be awesome. And Tasha, you would be the perfect mother." He gently takes her face in his hands, lifting it up so that he can look at her.
"Tasha, I love you. And I'm not giving up on this yet." Clint kisses her gently, and she kisses him back.
"Ok?" He asks.
"Ok." She says.
"I'm going to go over the the Tower and work out. Do you want to come?" He asks, and she shakes her head.
"No, I'll stay here. I'll go over in a while for dinner."
"Ok. Be safe." He kisses her again. "I love you."
"I'm love you too." She says, and he releases her. He grabs his gym bag and his bag for his bow and arrows in the bedroom. He then leaves their small apartment, throwing a lopsided smile over his shoulder before he closes the door. Natasha smiles and waves, trying to hide her sorrow.
Clint walks the block to the Avengers Tower, then walks straight through the crowds of people and news teams with his hood up and sunglasses on. He is careful to avoid the cameras and not allow them to get a good shot of his face. Other Avengers loved the attention, but Clint and Natasha hated it. The less information the world knew about them, the better for them and their many covers. Some people somewhat stare at him as he walks straight inside and doesn't get kicked out by JARVIS. The scanners scanned Clint as he walked by while pushing his hood back and taking off his sunglasses.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Barton." JARVIS said over the speakers as Clint tucks his sunglasses into his pocket.
"Hey, JARVIS." Clint absent-mindedly replied.
"HEYY! The Hawk is in the HOUSE!!" A drunk Tony yelled at him.
"Its"-he glanced at his watch-"one o'clock and you're already drunk? Where's Pepper?" Clint asked, looking around the room for her while still walking toward Tony. She put her hand up from behind the couch, a beer in it.
"I'm right here." She said, slurring her words a bit and obviously drunk.
"Hey, Pep. I didn't think you drank beer." He said, taking the empty bottle away from her and putting it on the coffee table. "I don't. But Tony got me to try some, and turns out it's not that b-" She proceeded to throw up in the trash can next to her. Clint grimaced.
"Well, you two have fun. I'll be in the gym." He said, and left the room as quick as he could without running. If he stayed much longer, they would have made him start drinking with them. He got in the elevator and dropped his bags. "The gym, JARVIS."
"Of course, sir." JARVIS replied. The elevator slowly started to go up, and stopped a few floors up. Bucky stepped into the elevator, his face expressionless.
"First floor." He said gruffly.
"Right away, sir." JARVIS said, and the elevator started to move.
"Hey, Bucky. How are you?" Clint asks, and Bucky stays expressionless, not even acknowledging Clint's presence. Clint moves to put his hand on Bucky's shoulder to ask him what's wrong, but as soon as Clint's hand brushes Bucky's shoulder, Bucky whips around and uses his metal arm to pick Clint up by his neck and shove him against the elevator.
"Stop the elevator." Clint manages to say. He doesn't fight back, just let's Bucky do whatever he wants to Clint except for killing him.
"Clint are you with Bucky?" Steve's voice on the comms says in his ear.
"Yeah." Clint says.
"He's relapsed."
"Well, shit. I didn't notice, mostly because I'm too busy being choked by a super soldier with a metal arm." Clint says sarcastically, grinding his teeth together. He hears Steve swear quietly on the comm. "Dude, I'm gonna have bruises if you keep on doing this." Clint says to Bucky. He doesn't answer. "We're in the elevator, fourteenth floor." Clint says to Steve.
"Ok. I'll be there in thirty seconds." Steve says.
"Bucky, do you want to put me down? Steve will be here in a few seconds and -" he tightens his grip, and his cold metal hand still tries to crush Clint's windpipe. "It's ah, getting a little bit harder to breathe here, Buck." Clint gasps, just as Steve pries open the elevator doors and bursts in. Bucky drops Clint suddenly, making him collapse. Steve practically tackles Bucky, pinning him.
"Thanks for keeping him busy but could you-uh-leave?" Steve says and Clint stands up.
"Uh, yeah no problem." Clint picks up his bags and walks out, leaving Steve to calm Bucky down. He takes to stairs the rest of the way up to the gym, even though there are two elevators.
