Sometimes memories are the worst form of torture

He could see her in front of him and in the back of his mind all at once. A memory tugging on his brain forcing him to remember. Just snippets, glances of what they once had. It was terrible and beautiful all at the same time because he didn’t know if he was going to get out of this. But if she was the last thing, he every saw he would be okay with that.

Every time the door opened, he knew what was coming. He tried to physic himself up, remind himself that it wouldn’t be that bad. They came, and he didn’t try to fight back. He wasn’t sure what was worse the physical torture or seeing her in his mind taunting him.

But he knew that Natasha was coming for him. It made the memories barrable. The torture barrable. Gave himself something to hold onto. Something to hope for. Something to keep him sane.

Every time he closed his eyes he saw her, and it hurt but at the same time it saved him.

“Sorry I have a clingy and feverish assassin on my lap I’ll call you back when I’ve convinced him he’s not dying.”

“Not now Phil.” She was curt with him but she didn’t’ care. She had more important things to do.

“I won’t take long Natasha.” Phil said as he did every time he called to check up on them.

“Time I don’t have.” Clint was already tugging at her arm. She acknowledged him with a finger. She promised that she would focus on him in a second. On second thought maybe Phil should be here. “Actually, why don’t you come over and talk to me.”

Phil had the audacity to laugh at her. “Not a chance Nat.”

“Naaaaaaaaaaaat.”

She rolled her eyes. “Clint just a minute.”

“I’m dyinggggggg nat.”

She sighed. “No you’re not Clint.”

“Am too”

“You just think you are.” God he was whining. Why did she get stuck with him. Normally Coulson was around and he got to deal with this. She was trying to think of ways out of this situation that ended with Clint alive. Seriously he could get shot and it wouldn’t phase him, but a paper cut was a big deal. Being sick, while now he was dying. She never understood his reactions to things.

“You know what Natasha I can hear you’re busy.” Phil’s voice was coilingly sweet.

“Phil.” It was a warning to what she knew was coming.

“So why don’t you-“

“Don’t you dare.”

“Call me back when you don’t have a clingy and feverish assassin on your lap. Call me back when you’ve convinced him he’s not dying.” She heard the dial tone before she could get out any threats. Sometimes she despised phil. She took a deep breath and turned her attention back to the task at hand. “Come on Clint let’s go to bed.”

“With you?”

“Yes Clint with me. But I swear Barton if you get me sick I will kill you.”

“Already dying Nat.”

She picked him up and carried him to bed. “I made you some tea. Can I go get it?

“Yeah.”

She came back and offered him the cup of tea. He drank it and thirty minutes later he was sleeping. Sometimes you had to do what was best for you. And she meant what she said if she got sick he was really going to be dead. She lied down beside him. A short nap in the quite wouldn’t hurt..

The librarians

Why did she get stuck with a moron with a hero complex. He didn’t think just threw himself into the unknown. She was certain that his goal in life was to make sure that she had a heart attack at a young age. Maybe that was the best option. Just put her out of her misery now. She had a duty to defend him. She was his librarian and she was his guardian. Somehow Clint took that to mean that he could go off and be an idiot. Although she wasn’t entirely convinced that he wouldn’t do that regardless. It was just in his personality.

“I mean what could possibly go wrong.” He interrupted her thoughts with a cocky grin.

“Really Barton you need to ask that question.”

“You’ll fix things. You always do Nat.” He handed her the book in his hands. “Look at where the clipping book wants to send us today,”

She laughed despite herself. Not a happy laugh more like a sharp bark of bitter amusement. “The Louvre. Sounds like something right up your alley.” Maybe this was going to be more fun than she had given it credit for. As long as there were no dragons involved. God she hated dragons, such nosey creatures. Always meddling.

White Collar

“But is it a good idea?”

“Who cares.” Nat said restraining herself from rolling her eyes. “We need him it’s as simple as that.”

Coulson did sigh. “His head is going to get bigger.”

“He doesn’t need to know that part. Besides he’s practically in love with it.” Nat said looking out the widow and this time rolling her eyes as Clint played with a nerf gun from his desk in the bullpen. She collected the files on the suspects and left the conference room. As she made her way across the bullpen towards Clint. “Come on.” She didn’t have to say it, as he was already getting ready to go grabbing that stupid hat. But she said it out of habit.

“So did they go for it?” He asked as innocently as he could manage. Nat didn’t buy it for a moment.

“By go for it you mean leave you alone with the real thing then no they didn’t go for it. However, they will let you have supervised visits to conduct a forgery.”

“YES!”

“Only you would be excited by that Barton.”

“Do not spoil my party. This is almost as good as getting out of the ankle bracelet.” He grinned at her. “Come on let’s go. This is going to be east and fun. Mostly fun.

Budapest - “Remember your deaf and I don’t speak English.”

The two of them were crammed into some little car that they managed to find and hotwire - borrow. The entire thing was almost comical. What they had come for, and nearly died for, was in the back seat. There weren’t completely out of trouble yet.

“Remember the plan Clint, if we get caught your deaf and I don’t speak English or Hungarian.”

Clint laughed not being able to help himself. “That sounds like the beginning of a terrible movie.”

“Terrible?” Nat questioned sounding hurt. “It’s practically our lives Clint.”

“It is our lives Nat. Not practically our lives, but straight up our lives.”

“Not the point.”

“Got it. I think I can manage.” He nudged Nat so that she would glance over and see that he was taking out his hearing aids. Might as well play the part right. He tucked them away and waited. There was a chance they’d still get out of this.

They were stopped not too long after by the police. Budapest was really starting to suck. And not in a good way.

Clint saw Nat converse with the police office out of the corner of his eye but couldn’t make out what they were saying. He’d have to turn his head and that was something he couldn’t do right now. He was sure Nat was getting her point across. She didn’t speak English or Hungarian. He saw a police officer come over to his side of the car which was the only reason he turned his head.

Clint didn’t look at the guy’s lips, made this part so much easier. He began making motions with his hands. Not the same ones he was normally accustomed to. If they were going to really sell this, he wasn’t taking any chances. Russian sign language wasn’t the most fluent for him, but he knew enough to get by. Besides you never know when it would come in handy. He could see Nat gesturing with her hands, trying to get her point across. They had no idea what these people were saying. He glanced up at the guy’s face for a moment. They were buying the story. Relief swept through his body. They were almost out of this situation. Two and a half hours left until they reached Vienna Austria. It was doable.

He but his hearing aids back in and was greeted with the sound of laughter coming from Nat. “Maybe more like the end to a comedy film.”