It was supposed to be a simple mission.

One small mishap caused Natasha to get distracted for a split second and it seemed in that second everything crumbled under her. She remembered the sound of gunshots and Clint's body drop. The sight of his blood seeping out of him flooded her vision and everything turned red.

She went on a violent rampage. Killing every opponent on the field and cried for help as she applied pressure on Clint's wound. Surrounding her were limp bodies of her victims. The sound of the helicopter's propellers fade out the sirens but the moment she was reluctantly pulled away from Clint's body, everything just faded out for her. She dared not show it because she was an agent first. But her heart plummeted to the ground and her world seemed to have shattered. The colors of the red and blue lights is all she saw when they pulled Clint's body into the white van and rebellious tears accumulated in the corner of her eye merging the red and blue to become purple.

"Let it go Romanov." Fury whispered in her ear as he locked her body in place, dragging her out.

Beep.

Her hands delved into her crimson red hair as her breathing became shallow. The beeping sound of the machines that kept Clint alive echoed through her ears, taunting her mind. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was Clint's body jumping in front of her then bang his body dropped like a rag doll. Her heart almost stopped at the memory. Glancing up, she saw his limp body connected to multiple wires supporting his seemingly fragile life.

He was protecting her.

Like he hadn't already saved her life, he had to jump in front of her and take the bullet for her. The mere thought plagued her mind and she absolutely despised it. The thought of her being weak. The thought of her being distracted. The thought of him dying because of her. She started to contemplate if her heart could take the guilt.

"You've been here for 5 days Romanov. I bet you haven't slept yet." Fury interjected.

"I don't care." She muttered.

"He's going to be fine." He offered.

"How can you be sure about that?" Natasha asked.

"Because it's Barton and besides you he is the toughest person in S.H.I.E.L.D. That's how." He heard her let out a heavy sigh, "You shouldn't blame yourself." Her head shot up staring at him incredulously with a mixture of rage and misery whirling around her icy empty blue eyes.

"How can I not? Look at him! He's on a hospital bed connected to numerous of wires futilely attempting to keep him alive all because he tried to save me! He's been out for five days Fury, five days!" Her voice reverberated off the walls and her breathing became erratic.

"It is part of the job agent. When you signed up with us you simultaneously signed your death wish. He may be one of the best but he is still human. And so are you." Fury explained. She averted her attention to Clint. "They say people can hear when they're in comas."

"And?" She asked baffled by his statement.

"Well sometimes people convey their emotions when they cannot usually. For example when they want to admit their love for someone."

"I'm not—"

"I said for example agent Romanov. I'll leave you be. I have to speak to agent Hill." Fury intervened walking away.

She contemplated Fury's words, replaying in her mind like a broken record. She stared vacantly at Clint, blinking away those traitorous tears. Unexpectedly, she took in Clint's hand and intertwined it with hers. She slowly grazed her finger over his bruised knuckles.

Looking up at Clint's unconscious state, her heart rapidly dropped and she didn't understand why. Was it guilt? No. Guilt made her stomach clench, made her heart race with worry. She knew guilt inside out. Was it worry? Yes it was. An emotion she rarely felt so the main question that haunted her was why was she worried? She owed a debt to him. That's the way she always thought of it because love is for children. Could she though? For once have the freedom for a child?

"Clint," She breathed out, "I think I've been compromised…" When the words rolled out of her tongue it seemed like her vocabulary vaporized within mere seconds. Words deemed impossible to form in her mind and it all just went blank for her.

"I'm worried. That you won't come back. That I won't ever see your irritating smirk. Or your cynical humor. Most importantly, I feel like if you were gone…I'd be alone. I'm scared. I'm scared that you're going to die, so scared. I'm scared how easily you know me without my assistance. And most of all, I'm scared that I may be compromised with you. If you die, the one person that would be broken beyond repair, would be me*." She glanced down shaking her head letting out a scoff at how silly she may look.

"This is ridiculous." She muttered under her breath.

"Clear!"

The sound of rampaging doctors and the ear piercing beeping woke Natasha up as she jolted up from the couch. She witnessed a frantic doctors and nurses surrounded around Clint trying to revive him as the monitor presented the mortifying flat line. She jumped up and was ready to run towards him but Fury grabbed her by the waist holding her back.

"Let go of me Fury." Natasha demanded through her teeth.

"You are not thinking clearly. You are just going to be a distraction to them." Fury said to her.

The elongated beeping sound echoed the dead silent room. The doctors froze in place and the nurses dropped everything. A horrifying silence engulfed them and Natasha watched as Clint's drop effortless to the side. No.

"NO! WAKE UP CLINT!" Natasha yelled and everyone's attention averted to the distraught woman, "Don't you dare give up! Wake up dammit! WAKE UP! I NEED you to wake up! PLEASE! Please! Just wake up!"

The room remained silent as they slowly saw the woman break down in front of them and to see Natasha Romanov showing any form of genuine emotions is rarer than experiencing an eclipse. They stared at Clint hoping and praying that he would awake…but it deemed futile, he remained lifeless.

"DAMMIT CLINT!" Natasha shouted angrily, stopping her foot down to the ground and it seemed like that drained her energy out. Her knees gave in and she dropped but Fury had a hold on her so she wouldn't fall.

Beep.

Her head shot up.

Beep.

She saw it. She swore she saw it. The neon blue light peak. She saw his heart beat.

Beep. Beep.

A sensation of relief flowed through her body and the doctors looked at the situation as if a miracle just occurred. Never had Natasha thought the day would come when she would have tears of joy. Because in all honesty she never was truly happy until Clint.

"He wants to see you." Fury said walking out of the room.

For some odd reason, Natasha was nervous – she was never nervous. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if he actually did hear her talking to him while he was out cold. It just made her even more nervous. She cautiously opened the door with a small knock. Clint's head shot up and gave her a small shadow of a smile gesturing for her to sit next to him.

"Hi." She said softly.

"Hi." He replied. Abruptly, she slapped him on the chest and he winced immediately at the pain.

"Nat!" He cried out in pain.

"I hate you." And he looked at her incredulously, "Why did you do that?" She started yelling at him by this point, "You could've died!"

"It's part of my job Natash. I could've died any day." Her head is casted down and her vibrant red hair covered her face away from Clint because she refused to let him see her so vulnerable. She inwardly cursed at herself for this sudden reign of vulnerability.

"But you could've died because of me. Because of a silly mistake I made." Her body froze at the sudden contact with Clint's hand on her cheek. He lifted her face up to stare deep into those hollow blue eyes of hers.

"But it was worth it." He said sincerely and her heart skipped a beat. He pulled her in placing a chaste kiss one her lips. Her breath hitched and her body tensed. But the feeling of his lip on hers oddly seemed…natural. Her body relaxed and her hand crawled up to his cheek before reciprocated his kiss.

He prematurely pulled apart but their foreheads still connected and slight rosy hue appeared on her cheeks, he merely smiled at the sight, "What was that for?" She whispered.

"I almost died Natash. Thought I shouldn't count my chances anymore. Also, I've been compromised…with you." Clint replied

She immediately pulled away and looked at him incredulously, "You…" He just sat there grinning at her like a child who had won the game.

"I still hate you." She declared.

AN: *Line inspired from the quote in Catching fire, "I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.". Anyways, here's a short story about Clint and Natasha. I hope y'all liked it and enjoyed it, it's my first shot on this couple. Thank you all for reading!