She had gotten Clint back. Finally back. A day ago, Natasha wouldn't have thought it could be done but it had happened, by the skin of her teeth but it had happened. After everything thing, after the monsters, gods, and magic that had been thrown at them and with the many they had lost in only a matter of days, Natasha Romanoff at least could claim this one personal victory.

But it was a grim one. Banner and Thor were gone, Coulson and who knows how many other agents were dead, and Loki was still out there, his Machiavellian plan unhindered. What remained of the helicarrier's crew had managed to round up the remaining hostiles with the help of Stark and Rogers. Those who Loki had brainwashed, including Clint, were sedated and strapped to gurneys for observation. No one knew what else to do. How does one reverse magically induced brainwashing?

Natasha's heart raced when Clint finally started to stir from his drugged sleep. She may have recovered him physically but mentally may be another story. His eyes fluttered open showing their natural color, the piercing crystal blue of the tesseract gone. She let out a silent breath. It looked like Loki's control over Clint had mercifully been broken but was this man still the old partner she knew?

Becoming aware, Hawkeye immediately started straining against his cuffs, struggling and shaking his head, looking liking like he was trying to shake off some invisible demon. His face contorted in concentration, trying to stay focused when the world around him was likely spinning from the sedative he was fighting.

Tasha wondered how much he remembered. She stayed cautiously behind him and out of range. His mind may be his own once again but Clint Barton was still a dangerous man, even restrained.

"Clint, you're going to be alright." Her voice was steady, trying to ease him back to reality.

It appeared to work. He stopped pulling at his restraints and tried to look for the source of her voice, his eyes still retaining their dazed look from the sedative. Natasha could tell he was fighting the effects with all his might to try and find her. He knew it was Tasha even without seeing her.

"Am I? Is that what you know?" He let out a mirthless chuckle finally going limp on the gurney. "How do I know?" he said closing his eyes. The uncertainty she heard in his voice hurt Natasha more than any physical blow could.

Clint looked like hell. Judging from the few days worth of stubble and the dark shadows under his eyes, he likely hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep or real rest since he'd been taken at the Dark Energy SHEILD facility. Even a trained assassin like Hawkeye could only go so long without sleep, he was still human after all. If she hadn't gotten to him in time, Clint probably would have been worked until he dropped, like some kind of brainwashed death march. That is, if he was lucky. Loki's words from the holding cell echoed in her head and Natasha shivered. She pushed those thoughts away and focused on the present with the partner who needed her.

Careful to not show emotion while Clint muttered some more to himself, she crossed the small compartment to pour him some water from the pitcher next to the gurney.

"You got to level out, it's going to take time," she said as she lifted the jug.

Maybe he doesn't remember. Maybe it was like going to sleep and waking up with a massive hangover, he's done that plenty of times. Maybe he can shake this off just as easily.

"You don't understand." His voice was clearer now but strained. He opened his eyes, looking on with a haunted stare. "Have you ever had someone take your brain and... play? Pull you out and stuff something else in." He was staring into space, his mind likely replaying every detail of that last few days. He was shaken to his core, she could see that now.

Damn. He remembered everything. This is what she'd been afraid of from the beginning, ever since she first learned why he'd gone missing. Those eyes of despair and vulnerability didn't look like the Hawkeye she knew.

"Do you know what it's like," he whispered, "to be unmade?"

It all sounded hauntingly familiar. She stared at him, "You know that I do."

Clint stared back at her. He finally seemed come back to himself somewhat, realizing exactly who he was talking to.

He swallowed and looked away, "Why am I back?" He asked needing a moment to compose himself. This kind of show of vulnerability between types like them was rare and it was usually look down on as weakness. Widow didn't see his struggle that way but Clint might.

"How did you get him out?" he continued.

Natasha went along with the change in topic, though she hadn't known he'd been cured until a few minutes ago. "Cognitive recalibration," she replied sitting on the gurney next to him. "I hit you in the head real hard." It was either that or the sedatives; it didn't really matter.

"Thanks," Clint said still a little hazy from the drugs. Tasha almost smiled hearing some of her old friend in that slightly slurred word.

She started to unbuckle Clint's wrist restraints, satisfied he was back.

Hawkeye then turned serious. "Tasha." His eyes suddenly pleading like he didn't want to ask but had to, "How many agents-"

"Don't," Natasha said, cutting him off before he could finish. "Don't do that to yourself, Clint." This was something she was going to make damn sure Clint Barton got through his skull. She may not have excuses for her past sins but he sure as hell does when it came to the last few days. She was not going to allow him to torture himself over something he was powerless to stop. "This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for."

"Loki," hearing the demigod's name triggered something in Clint. His voice was steely, "Did he get away?"

Good, thought Tasha, better to focus on revenge than beat yourself up over something that wasn't your fault, Clint.

"Yeah, don't suppose to you know where?" She asked casually and with a shrug, like she had been trained to do as a spy. Try to get the information without seeming to pry. But the meaning wasn't lost on someone like Barton.

He looked sick again remembering. "Didn't need to know, didn't ask." He got up from the gurney, reaching for the water Tasha had left for him on the table. Natasha got up as well to giving Barton more room in that claustrophobic compartment on the helicarrier. She leaned against the wall staring out the window at the clouds lazily drifting by. Her thoughts set in motion.

Long ago, her and Clint had been on opposite sides -or more like, he had a side and she worked for whatever side paid her handlers most. He'd been assigned by SHEILD to kill her when many still thought she was a ghost. It had taken a year and half worth of intelligence gathering but he did find her.

He'd had her cornered and at that point he'd known more about her than her own handlers but the ice cold assassin had found he had a heart, sparing her that day.

In his research and observation, he had seen what others had failed to: that Natasha had been just as trapped as any prisoner. Instead of ending her life, he put himself in the line of fire to became the first human to reach out to her. For some reason, what he saw that night was not the infamous Black Widow but a woman who craved for redemption. He offered her a way out and a means to atone for the sins that he knew were like lead weights she carried with her. She has owed him since that day.

Going over it again in her head, Widow knew that Clint's call to recruit her instead of terminate was one she never would have considered or been capable of if she had been in his place. It was the stuff of feel-good books and afterschool movies, only a idealist would think murdering scum like her was capable of being saved, let alone trusted. But that was Clint all over. He might maintain a hardened, loner exterior of a sniper but underneath beat the heart of an idealist. She just hoped that the events of the last few days hasn't changed that about him.

"He's going to make his play soon though," came Barton's voice from behind her, breaking her reverie. She turned to look at him as he put aside the glass. "It's going to be today."

Right, Loki. Thinking about him started to make her blood boil. "We've got to stop him."

"Yeah?" asked Clint giving her an incredulous look. "Who's 'we'?" They both knew the helicarrier was dead in the water with only a handful of jets left and that half of the specialized Avenger team were missing.

"I don't know," she said struggling to think of a plan. "Who's ever left?" Her, Stark and Rogers had to at least try.

"Well," said Clint sitting down once again and rubbing his face, a soft chuckle escaping him. His exhaustion was evident. "If I put an arrow through Loki's eye socket I'd sleep better, I suppose."

This time Natasha did crack a grin. Of course Barton would want to join the fight after being brainwashed and forced to work for the enemy without sleep for days on end.

"Now you sound like you," she remarked, sitting back next to him.

He turned back to her, giving an inquisitive look. "But you don't." For a moment, she was taken aback when this suddenly became about her. It shouldn't have surprised her though, Clint always seemed to know when something was up with her, whether she knew it herself or not.

"You're a spy, not a soldier," he said with a pointed look. "Now you want to wade into a war -why?"

She swallowed, flashing back to Clint with those chilling dead crystal eyes fighting her with all his might to slit her throat. Once again, Loki's threats came back, how he was going to make sure Clint destroyed everything he held dear then have his mind released long enough for the realization to sink in. Natasha couldn't imagine a worse fate for her friend.

"What did Loki do to you?" Clint asked, for once seemingly clueless about what was going through her head.

She stumbled for an answer to give him, "He didn't... just..." It was obvious to Widow now. She would never admit it, but Hawkeye was her weak spot, and by hurting him this way, Loki had made this deeply personal for her.

To hide this answer, she got up and turned her back to Clint, looking out the window as in thought.

Hawkeye was going to be okay. It might take awhile to recover but she would help him through it.

Arms crossed, she turned back to him, falling back on her old reasons. "I've got red on my ledger, I'd like to whip it out."

FIN

A/N: This was one of my favorite scenes in the movie. I couldn't stop thinking about it and what a none answer Widow gave Hawkeye at the end. After discussions about it on some boards, a scenario close to something like this was concluded and so I decided to write it. The ended is what I started out with but most of the rest came when I started typing.

Black Widow was a really strong female in the movie and I wanted to keep that. I figured whatever went down between Clint and Natasha when Clint was assigned to kill her was something like the German movie "The Lives of Others". While hunting her, Clint had found out so much about Natasha and what had happened to her when she was a child, he grew to know her well enough to believe she wanted redemption and he felt inclined to give her mercy.

As far as I saw it, Tasha was heavily bonded to Clint though I don't think it was romantic love. But I do think the two were drinking buddies, if you caught those couple of hints in this story.