That Which you Love || Clintasha One-Shots

He's Gone

"I won't do that. You deserve a chance to live, don't you? So take it. Take it with me," the man said, softer this time, and emotion in it, not the cold monotone he had spoke in earlier. 

"Why wouldn't you kill me? Your people would be satisfied and you could go home safe," she spat out venomously. 

"I haven't always had a safe home and I don't think I do anyways. But those people didn't give up on me and try to kill me and I won't now," he decided. "I don't judge people on their worst mistakes." 

Every cell her in fake and controlled body urged her to pull the trigger, but she didn't. Instead, she fought to drop the weapon as the man lowered the arrow and slung the bow over his back. He extended his hand towards her. After a brief moment of hesitation and a second of decision, she took it.

Natasha turned past a busy intersection and into one of the few peaceful places at the edge of the city. It was a pretty long walk, but she'd taken it for the past few years and she had never thought about the long walk and how tired she got. It was always about the painful slew of memories that followed her wherever she went. 

"Back again, Ms. Rushman?" asked a woman with dark brown hair in a t-shirt and jeans, tending to a small flower stand. "How long has it been- a year?" Natasha chuckled lightly, putting aside her grief for a moment. 

"You know me, Melissa," she replied as she took a few crumpled bills from her jacket pocket. She put them on the counter of the stand and looked around at the flowers. 

"The usual?" Melissa asked and Natasha nodded. A bouquet of hollyhill black widows was placed on the stand as Melissa collected the cash. The dark purple-red flowers were blooming and they were Natasha's favorite. His too. 

"You know, you never told me where you got the necklace," the woman said as she pulled out change and nodded to the arrow necklace. 

"Oh, my fiancé got it for me," Natasha replied with a small and fond smile. 

"Fiancé, huh?" Melissa replied, placing the change on the counter as Natasha picked up the flowers and placed the bills and coins in her pocket. "You certainly don't wear the ring a lot. And, tell me, how did a man somehow manage to get you to agree to commitment, Natalie?"

The Russian blushed lightly as she remembered the sweet moment when he had proposed to her. "It's a long story. And the ring isn't good for my line of work," she summed up quickly and waved goodbye to the other woman and set off. 

Natasha walked alongside him, hand in hand. She had prepared to say this for a long time, and she didn't want to do this, but she had to. For him. The sky was blue and the grassy hill they were walking up was bright. It seemed wrong for an announcement like the one she was going to make to happen, but it had to be now. Or else she would never do it. 

"I have to tell you something," she said, looking at him. His grey eyes met hers in confusion as she continued. "I-I know you want a family and a future away from S.H.I.E.LD., but there's no future with me. I'm asking you to move one and find someone who can be everything I'm not."

"Nat, what are you talking about? Of course there's a future with you," he said in surprise. He reached for her hands, but she pulled away. "Tasha, you can tell me anything."

She blinked back tears and kept going. "No there isn't. I can't have kids. I can't have a family and I've seen the way you look at families we save on missions. I know you want one and the Red Room took that away from me. Goodbye."

"Natasha, wait," he said firmly, grabbing her wrist. She turned around angrily and he was smiling and shaking his head in surprise. "This is... well, I actually was going to ask you something today." Her green eyes widened as he gently let go of her wrist and sank down to one knee, pulling out a gold ring with a bright emerald on it. "I was going to ask you if you would have a future with me."