Echo| Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 12

"I was distracted, I would never have needed your help if I wasn't distracted and in doing so, it got you hurt," she responded, seemingly angry at herself. "We literally just got over being mind controlled, we were both distracted," I tried to lighten the mood by assuring her that she wasn't at fault.

"I wasn't distracted by mind control, I was distracted by you," she confessed, finally glancing up back to my blue eyes. "I've been distracted by you since the moment you saved my ass back when I was kidnapped," I chuckled, wincing as I did so. She jumped forward, trying to make sure I was okay.

When she realized what she was doing, she let out a frustrated sigh and stepped back. "I can't keep doing this, Rea, I can't keep caring about you like this. I have a duty to get rid of the red on my ledger. I know that in a situation where it's kill the enemy or save you, I'd choose you and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," she placed her hand on her forehead, stress radiating from her.

"Yknow, mind control doesn't usually work unless the person has the will to do what they're being controlled to do already, and you gave me some damn good hickeys," I once again tried to lighten the mood, but she simply ignored me, walking out the door. I felt guilt settle in my throat. She was trying to confess that she didn't know what she was feeling and instead of helping her I just made a joke, like I always do.

I huffed, my head falling back onto the pillow because I knew I wouldn't have enough energy to follow her. Around 5 minutes later, the door opened and my hopes went up that Nat came back but it was simply Bruce. He came up next to me and began to hook me up to an IV. "I won't look, needles are horrible," I groaned, looking away. The man laughed after he had done it causing me to glare at him.

"What?" I quizzed, raising one eyebrow, in hopes it would intimidate him, to which it seemed like it did. "It's just, yknow you're becoming this badass superhero and you can't even stand needles," he mumbled. Deciding to ignore his comment, I changed the topic of conversation. "So you're the hulk, what's it like to turn green?" I quizzed.

"Scary," was all he could muster as he looked down at the tablet he had in his hand. When I noticed his mood was completely dampened, I glanced up at the older man, and began to observe him. "Bad day? Me too buddy, perhaps we should have a drink. We got any whiskey around here?" I questioned, looking around in a joking manner.

"Forgive me if I'm crossing a line here, but you seem to be joking a lot despite being in pain. Is it a coping mechanism?" He responded. "I've always taught myself to make light in a bad situation, if I don't then I'd actually have to deal with that when I'm not ready," I muttered in response. "I understand where you're coming from, but some may see it as immaturity instead of a coping mechanism. Perhaps you could vocalise your problems to the people you care about instead of joking about it," he advised, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Are you a therapist too? Look, I'll cope however I want to. People just leave anyway, being more serious won't change that," I grumbled. After that, the man did some more tests, confirming that nothing was broken and that I needed to rest for a couple of days before trying to get back on my feet. He then left and turned the lights off allowing me to sleep.

However, when I tried to go to sleep, nothing would let me fall into the black abyss. My head turned over several times in an attempt to get more comfortable, but my thoughts were so loud that I couldn't do what I wanted to do, and I knew why. Nat.

Around an hour passed, but nothing was happening, so I eventually gave in. "Jarvis?" I announced, waiting for the AI to respond. "Yes, Andrea?" He replied. "Can you ask Natasha to come to the medical bay, tell her I have something to say?" I asked. "Of course."

Time passed by and I quickly assumed that she wasn't coming, too mad at the fact that I couldn't take anything seriously. I jumped out of my skin, however, when the door opened and light flooded the room. Natasha walked in and closed the door, looking down at me with her arms folded and her eyebrows raised. "You look so hot right now," I mumbled causing the Black Widow to turn around ready to leave.

"Wait no! I'm sorry okay. I use joking as a coping mechanism for the fact that I've never had anyone in my life. I've never had anybody I've wanted to risk my life to save theirs for. When I met you, Tony, Steve, I realized that you guys have something more there that I don't have. When you guys try to get closer to me I joke as a way to push you away because I know if I become serious you could leave me," I confessed. As I had been talking, the redhead stopped and turned around to observe me as I was talking, almost to see if I was lying.

"I understand what you're talking about, about how caring for someone was something you and I were deprived of growing up. You and I, as bad as it sounds, don't know how to care for people. But I can feel it, I care for you and you care for me. It will take a lot of time for us to get used to it, but I want us to teach each other. I want somebody to care about, Nat, for the first time in my life," I explained.

She walked up beside the bed and sat down next to me. "I want to as well, Rea, but what if it doesn't work out? What if you and I aren't meant to care for others and it will always be set out that way? Then everything we will be doing will be pointless," she responded with her fears.

"I think that if we care this much now then we can learn to care more, and eventually we will both have paid off the red on our ledger and we will be normal in society's eyes for once. I've only been a part of society for a few months now and feeling like I'm an outsider is horrible. I want us, whether we're friends or more, to be more in society than just an assassin and a hydra agent," I responded.

She nodded and finally looked down upon me. "Can we take it slow?" She quizzed. "Yes, slow sounds good," I replied. We sat there in silence for a moment, both of us were not sure what to say, until finally I spoke up. "As much as the last few days have been a mess, I don't regret anything I did. Saving you was one of the best decisions I've made, and I feel like I would save you again without a thought," I confessed.

"Me too," she whispered. "It's kind of late, I wouldn't want the person I just saved to be walking around all alone, you never know she could get killed. So how about you stay here with me," I half joked, however I was feeling kind of lonely in this room alone.

"Yeah, I mean friends share beds sometimes," she shrugged, and I nodded, moving over in the single bed and opening up the blankets for her to move in. As we situated each other next to each other, a small smile came to my face. We both showed each other a level of vulnerability that I've never shown before and that shows progress. I'm really starting to like this Black Widow.

A/n: I hope you guys liked it! Also I just posted the first chapter of that Wanda book I've been hinting at! It's called Iron Daughter and I hope you guys love it as much as I do! The cover was created by widows-venom she's so talented and I'm so happy to call her my friend!