At Long Last (OC x Natasha Romanoff)

Chapter 21

Nat's POV

Clint and I were softly talking to each other as we made our way to his home. Alex had fallen asleep about an hour ago, every now and then I would glance down at her, to check on her. I still couldn't understand these feelings towards her. I noticed that her ear kept twitching in her sleep every now and then. I just took it as if she was dreaming or something, since she seemed to settle right back down. I couldn't be more wrong though. A few minutes later her ear twitching turned into soft whines. I looked back down at her and noticed her whole body was twitching, while her whining got louder and higher pitched. I attempted to wake her up by shaking her, but as soon as I touched her, you would have thought I stabbed her by how her body reacted.

"Alex! Alex, come on! I need you to wake up. It's just a dream." Little did I know this was more than just a dream. "Clint, I don't know what to do, she's not waking up."

C: "Try throwing a little water on her." I looked at him like he was an idiot. "I'm serious. It might shock her awake. Laura did it to me when she was in labor, and I didn't wake up the first time she tried to get me up."

N: "And you wonder why she likes me better." I suddenly felt a burning feeling in my leg. I looked down to see that Alex's paws were moving as if she was running, but she was still asleep. Just as I was about to get up to try the water thing she stood up. Paws still moving she ran straight into the side of the jet and collapsed. "Shit, Clint!"

C: "We need to get her back in the cage, we will be there soon anyway. At this point it will be safer for her to be in there then out here."

N: "I can't move her on my own. Put autopilot on and come help me."

After ten minutes of trying to drag Alex's unconscious body across the jet and into the cage we finally did it.

C: "I feel like I just went 10 rounds with Cap. Probably would have been easier to move the cage to her first." I looked at him like he had 5 heads then glared. "What?" I said nothing but slapped him in the back of the head. I should have thought about that though. "Hey! What was that for?"

N: "You could have thought about that 10 minutes ago?"

C: "Oh"

N: "I'm going to stay here with her, so she doesn't freak out in case she wakes up."

C: "That's fine. We should be there in 15 minutes anyway. Hopefully she stays asleep for a while."

I kept the cage door open, so she didn't feel confined. Hopefully she will stay asleep, but just in case, maybe seeing me right away will keep her calm. I reached into the cage and started to pet behind her ears again. I loved the one with the white tip. As soon as I touched her ear, she gave it a little flick then released a deep breath. I smiled as her body fully relaxed.

C: "Get ready to land and for mass chaos."

N: "I don't think it will be as bad as you think it will be. After all, you and Alex were buddy-buddy when I came down to the cells before we left."

C: "I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, look we're home."

N: "Let's get her settled in the barn right away, then you can bring Laura out. I'll stay with Alex." I didn't get an answer, but I assumed he agreed with that plan.

Clint landed the jet in the field about 100 feet from the barn. We started to wheel the cage down the ramp when Laura came out of the house. She looked nervous once she saw how big the cage was. Once we made sure the cage was on a flat surface, Clint went and hugged his wife.

C: "Hi Honey, we can all talk in a little bit. Nat I'm going to see the kids quick and tell them to stay inside and grab the tractor keys, so we don't have to push her into the barn. I will be faster and easier with the tractor."  Once Clint left, I went up to Laura and hugged her.

N: "I can't thank you enough for this. I know you're not completely for it."

L: "You're sure this is a good idea? It won't try to hurt us?"

N: "Laura, I promise on my life, I won't let her hurt you or the kids. We will stay in the barn, and I won't let the kids around her unless you're ok with it." She let out a deep breath.

L: "Ok. I trust you Nat. Can I see her?" I smiled at Laura and walked her over to the cage door. I had closed it after we landed and started to wheel her down the ramp. I also didn't want Alex to wake up and have a repeat of the flight over. "She's beautiful. I love her coloring."

N: "So do I. The white on her ear is my favorite. I would like to slowly introduce you and the kids to her. After all this is your home and just in case the kids sneak up to her, I don't want an accident to happen. I don't think we will have one based on this morning with Clint though. He doesn't know it, but he was my test run with her and kids." Laura laughed at that.

L: "I know what you mean. When he's home it feels like I have three kids instead of two most days. I'm ok with meeting her, but I want to make sure she is comfortable with me before meeting the kids. Knowing them, they will try to ride her like a horse right away, especially Cooper."

Clint came running out of the house and up to us.

C: "Kids are inside occupied; Nat I need you to help me guide the cage in and try to keep Alex calm. The tractor will probably wake her up. Laura, can you open one of the pens? We are going to keep her in there and reinforce it tomorrow."

L: "Sounds like you two have a good plan going. Let me go check which one looks like it will hold her the best for now. I don't want to leave her in the cage forever. That's just not right."

I stayed with Alex, who was still asleep in her cage while Laura and Clint went into the barn. I could hear the tractor start up hard. Sounds like Clint will have more than one project to work on while we are here. Laura stayed by the barn doors and opened them wide. Those too let out a loud creaking noise. I chuckled to myself as Clint approached with the tractor. The noise started to make Alex stir.

N: "Sounds like you're a little behind on your projects!" I yelled to him over the loud tractor that kept backfiring every few minutes.

C: "You would be too if you got pulled away for a mission every time you started one."

N: "Sounds like you just can't finish" I said through laughing. I was laughing so hard, I had tears coming out of my eyes. Clint was less than amused. Mumbling about the thanks he gets as he hooked the cage up to the tow rope.

Once we started pulling the cage towards the barn, Alex started to whine and pace around the cage. I just kept telling her its ok and that we are almost done. The sound of my voice helped relax her a little, but she was still clearly anxious.

L: "The back corner stable should be good." Clint nodded in acknowledgment. As we approached the stable, I saw that the walls looked sturdy enough for now, but there was nothing for bedding.

N: "Do you have any more hay that we can put down for bedding so she's not just on concrete?"

C: "No, but let's get her in for now, then we can think of something."

Once we pulled the cage close enough to the stable, we angled it so Alex could only go into the pen. I went into the pen too, to try to ease her into it and to help her anxiety. I opened her door; she was hesitant to come out at first but with a little coaxing she came out and started to smell the area she would be staying in. When she turned, she saw Laura by the door. She came over to me and stood in front of me with her ears back and crouched down. She started to softly growl, almost like she didn't feel threatened, but did not want to take any chances either. I put my hand on Alex's back and started to slowly pet her. I made eye contact with Laura and sighed. This may be harder than I anticipated.