A/N: Thank you so much for making it this far and thank you so much for the following people who reviewed this story: shaneequa, It'sMeHereReally, LittleeOne, peanutbutterjamjellyyy, Ealasaid Una, Niom Lamboise, SweetSouthernCharm, Marvel-comic-girl, , wolftattoo, fidi and all the Guests who also reviewed thank you so much it really means a lot to me. Special thanks to LittleeOne for the very kind messages and ranting sessions about Age of Ultron :)

Please R&R! I really tried my best to update as soon as I could because I got so many lovely responses and messages for me to finish it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to continue the story on from here as I don't exactly know where it will go but if you have any ideas, please message me because that would be great :) If I did decide to continue on with it, I would probably make a seperate sequel so it could be viewed as an alternate ending.

The song to listen to whilst reading this is Spiegel im Spiegel- Arvo Part ( watch?v=Saxe2WllAuk) it's so sad and I thought it would really suit this last installment.

Please R&R!

Her small apartment in NYC had pretty much remained the same for the past couple of years and although she didn't like to think about it, it hadn't changed since Clint used to live with her. She couldn't bear to change anything, every time she tried to arrange a piece of furniture, like Clint's 'chair', she would always picture him telling her off, saying if she moved it to the right, he wouldn't have the tactical advantage of being the furthest from the window and the door at the same time. She would then smile sadly and continue her moping around her small space.

It was on one of her moping days that she heard a knock on the door and she tilted her head in confusion. It was Clint's knock, but they'd finished up their mission yesterday and Fury had given them a week off in which Clint and his family were vacationing on the coast, going to the beach and such.

She walked slowly to the door, unbolting all the different locks and swung the door open, her emotionless mask already in place, but she was really not prepared to see what stood before her.

Clint stood there, the huge bags under his eyes evident that he hadn't been sleeping and he looked exhausted. His hair was unruffled and he looked as if he hadn't shaved or showered in days. Someone tugged at the back of her mind though when she saw the way he was staring at her.

Like he was seeing her for who she really was.

'Tash.'

She felt herself choke up. Her mask dropped. Clint hadn't called her Tash since before the accident and suddenly all her emotions were catching up with her and she felt like there wasn't enough air around her, and recognised herself having a panic attack.

Clint looked so distraught and pained as he choked out, 'Tash, I remember.'

She was frozen, so much was happening all at once and she didn't know how to deal. All these supressed emotions were coming to the surface, all these emotions that she'd held down for so long and she could feel herself breaking and she wanted to run and hide.

He was her Hawk, just liked she'd dreamed about all these years, coming back to her with memories of them, but now it was so much more complicated and she knew it would never be that easy. She couldn't let herself get hurt again.

She stumbled back upon herself, something she'd rarely done but in this moment of weakness she felt like she couldn't control her body. Her throat was clogged up with emotion as she started to back away from him, 'No.'

He looked like he was about to cry and she was backing away quicker, her back hitting a wall, 'No, no.'

He took a step towards her and she quickly moved to the bathroom door.

'Tash!'

'NO!'

She ran inside and slammed the door shut, locking it behind her, tripping on her own feet and she shuffled backwards away from the door until she was in the very corner of the small bathroom, repeating that word over and over.

'Tash! Please!' She could hear the choking in his voice as he started to cry softly. She didn't even realise she herself was crying until she felt it drop onto her leg. She hastily wiped her cheeks, 'No, no, no, no.' Her voice croaked out weakly and she could feel her whole body shaking.

She knew he could kick down the door if he tried but instead she heard his back slide down the bathroom door and could hear him sobbing, echoing throughout her small apartment.

'Tash,' He sounded so broken, almost to the point of how she felt, 'Why didn't you tell me? About us?'

She sobbed before answering in a weak voice that she'd never really known could come from her before, 'You were so happy.'

'I could've been happy with you-'

'You had the life you'd always wanted! A normal wife, a family, kids that you could actually have that were actually yours! She was what you deserved! She made you happy' She let her head drop forward to rest on her knees, not even trying to hold back her sobs as she clutched her necklace with both her hands.

'You made that decision for me Tash! I could've been happy with you! You deserve happiness!'

'But you deserve it more than me! I love-loved you so much that I had to give you up so you would be happy-'

He slammed his hand against the floor beside him and she jumped a little, 'THAT WAS NOT YOUR DECISION TO MAKE!' There was a brief moment of silence in which she could hear his choked breathing, 'How could you do that to yourself? How could you let me do that to you? All these years.'

She tilted her head back, trying to blink the tears out of her eyes, 'I got through it because,' She thought of how happy he'd been over the past couple of years and knew she would still stand by her decision, even if it meant the cost of her own happiness, 'because you were finally living the life you deserved to live and by me stepping out of it, it made my decision easier. It broke me, but it definitely made it easier.' They were both sobbing by this point and she barely registered him breaking the lock and gasped when she saw his dishevelled form open the door.

They were both finding it hard to breath as they were both crying and he hesitantly approached her, knowing one wrong move and she could possibly be out of his life forever. He stepped toward her slowly before falling onto the floor in front of her, reaching up to try and wipe some of the tears from her face and she instinctively leaned into his touch, which brought on more tears. He acted quickly and scooped up her small body to pull her onto his lap, resting his forehead on the top of her head as they both cried, crying for a life together that could never be.

She was in so much pain and didn't know how to make it stop at this point, and didn't know if it ever could. For what seemed like hours, they sat there on their-her cold bathroom floor in a tight embrace, reminiscing in the memories their bodies had between them.

Clint was silent for a moment before he softly croaked out, 'How did you do it? How did you get through it?'

She took a long shaky breath before quietly responding in a broken voice, 'In an alternate universe, you and I end tragically, parting ways. In another, we're simply strangers on a busy street, brushing by close enough to send each other reeling off balance but not stopping. Another we are enemies who never get to know one another. But in one, one universe has us right, of all the millions stacked on millions. '

She lets a silent tear roll down her face before continuing, 'So it's not this one. I can live with that. I can live on the fact that you're leading your own life and family somewhere else, living the life you'd dreamed of without me. Maybe we'll cross each other's paths in years to come and catch up as old friends. But, maybe, when the stars align right, we'll fight for us and cross breaches between universes and worlds and finally be happy together. I'll build my life on that maybe. I'll live the rest of my life on that maybe.'

He was silently sobbing for a moment before he placed a shaky kiss on the crown of her head and she relished in this moment, it'd been so long.

'Tash, you made me happy. I was going to ask you to marry me.'

She burst into another wave of tears and collapsed further into his body, not knowing what she should do at this moment. On one hand, she knew this was so wrong, Clint has a family and he needed to forget about her, about them, and she needed closure. But on the other hand, she'd been denied this for so long and the way he embraced her was so familiar and warm, even after all these years. He was her hawk, and she was his spider.

She suddenly tensed up, this was wrong, he had a wife, he should be hugging her instead. She broke from their embrace, going against herself and moved away from him and wiping her eyes.

'This has to stop.' He was looking at her with mixed emotions: longing, hurt, pain, hopefulness, guiltiness, confusion, they all swirled over him. Neither of them knew what to do, they simultaneously wanted each other but knew too much had changed and they couldn't go back.

'But-'

'No Clint,' Her voice broke, 'We can't do this. You have a family waiting for you, depending on you. And right now, this is breaking my heart and I spend years getting over you…..and I still haven't succeeded. It's just me here and I'll-' she trailed off before whispering, 'I'll be fine.'

A heartbreaking silence filled the air and he tried to find something comforting to say to her, but he knew that nothing would make this better. He unwillingly pried his body from hers and drew himself into a standing position, his body slouched over in defeat, 'So what's done is done.'

His slow steps echoed eerily through the small apartment and she shook as she stood to lean on the bathroom counter, watching his crushed, retreating figure and knew that this moment would never come again, and she needed to get something off her chest. She quickly reached to her beloved arrow necklace and unlatched it, pulling her engagement ring from him off the chain and fiddling with it between her thumb and forefinger.

'I would've said yes.'

He froze, his hand on the door frame, and he slowly turned to face her, his face filled with anguish, 'What?'

She smiled sadly at him, 'I would've said yes, I would've married you.'

He tilted his head back, closing his eyes tightly as he tried to stop the tears from once again falling. He wiped a rough hand over his face, hesitating slightly as he looked back at her as if contemplating what to do next before he stormed back towards her and quickly captured her lips with his own, putting in all his pent-up passion that she hadn't felt from him in so long, relishing in the familiarity of their star-crossed love.

They were both crying at this stage and Natasha reluctantly broke their kiss to rest her forehead against his own, trying to catch her breath as he had literally taken her breath away.

His shaking hands gently took the ring from her own before sliding it onto her left hand ring finger. She bowed her head as she cried quietly, closing her eyes. It was so much to take in and she didn't know how much she could take and felt his soft lips pressing tightly against her forehead.

She reached her hands up to gently caress his cheeks, taking in this precious, final moment to remember forever.

'I'll always love you.' He whispered, his voice breaking as he too drew her close for the very last time.

'I'll love you forever, my hawk.' She croaked out, reaching up for one last gentle kiss before gently pushing him away from her and cradling herself with her cold arms, already hating his lack of warmth.

They gazed at each other for a long time before she whispered, 'Enough.' She slowly and painfully made her way to the door and held it open for him to exit through. He took a shaky breath before moving painstakingly through the frame, stopping to caress her cheek one last time before he walked through the frame, knowing that he'd never be able to come back here, it was time to move on.

She held his eye contact as she closed the door, looking up at his anguish-filled eyes until the last second and then the door locked shut. There was silence for a moment as each of them tried to gather themselves. He was the first to move and she pressed her forehead on the back of the door, taking deep breaths as she heard him slowly walk away from her apartment, from her.

From them.

Enough was enough.

She turned away from the door slowly and gently reached up to wipe the tears from her face, slowly pushing off the door and making her way silently into the bathroom once more.

She glanced up at her reflection in the mirror; her hair in a disarrayed halo around her face, her eyes red from crying, her lips swollen from their passionate kiss. She took a shaky breath and gently picked up the arrow necklace from where it was laid, lifting her arms to wrap it once again around her neck. This necklace was her lifeline to him and although it was never meant to be in this life, she would always hold on hope that maybe, somewhere out there, they were together, living out the life she'd always wanted.

To him, she was just one of the many important people in his life and she knew now that although he loved her, he had to put his family first, even if he secretly wished to be with her. She was his past, Laura was his present and his kids were his future. She would always come last.

But to her, he is-was her life; her one, her only. Previously before Clint, she'd always thought love was for children and that the notion of soulmates was simply preposterous, but now, now she could understand. It was someone who meant to world to you, who was the world to you.

He was her world.

But she was no longer his.

She fiddled with the arrow between her fingers, watching it's reflection glint in the mirror before lifting it to her lips to press a kiss against it.

'Always and forever, my hawk.'

A/N: I'm sorry to leave it on a sad note but it's what I felt the story needed.

Please R&R what you think!

C xx