“Good morning Tasha.” He whispered into her ear around the mess of curls.
She rolled over and faced him, keeping her eyes closed, pulled him into a long slow kiss.
“Good morning Clint.” She whispered back, running her fingers through his hair.
“Happy Christmas eve.” He pushed a few curls out of her face and couldn’t pull himself away from her green eyes.
“Well, it might as well be our Christmas.” She couldn’t resist him.
“Lay with me a little longer.” He said, pulling her in closer.
“There’s nowhere else I would rather be. But after, breakfast.” She whispered, burying her head into his chest.
He breathed in her scent, not letting himself miss a moment of this, it was their day off. It was their time. There was nowhere else that he wanted to be. She was his home, wherever she was he wanted to be. It had been like that since they were on a rooftop in Italy. Well it was long before that, but the moment that he knew, that was in Italy.
“Tasha, do you remember when we were in Italy?” He whispered through a mouthful of curls.
She smiled and looked back up to see him. “Which time in Italy?”
“The time when it was snowing. We were staying in the villa. We were under orders from Fury to stay in that night. Something about our cover being blown.”
“The night we snuck out anyway and had a great time without almost dying.” She finished for him with a smile spreading.
“Yeah. That time.”
“Why do you ask?” She asked, playing with his hair.
“I think that was the day that I knew I was in love with you.” He whispered with a kiss on her forehead.
“Why that day?”
He rubbed his thumb across her cheek. “You wanted to go skating because you hadn’t danced in months. You hurt your ankle, well more like tore every tendon off the bones. You couldn’t walk for two weeks, as soon as you were back on your feet you wanted another op.”
“Hey! I only tore those tendons because I jumped off a building to save your dumbass.”
“I was fine!” He rejected, sitting up in their bed.
She continued to lay there but propped her head up in her hand. “Really? You were half dead hanging out of a 20 story window. I pulled you out while barely hanging onto the rope that was keeping both of us from dying.”
“Can I finish my story now?” He asked, rolling his eyes.
“I was there.”
“You were a mess! You had been walking around in heels all day for no reason. You were miserable when you got back and weren’t thinking straight.”
“I wasn’t that bad.” Natasha protested, rolling out of bed and running her fingers through her hair.
“Except for the fact that you were. I was trailing after you like a worried mom trying to get you back into the house.” He countered sitting up in bed.
“Yeah, but then you decided to go live a little.”
“I still think it was because of the vodka.”
“Oh it probably was.” She laughed, turning back to face him.
“You had your skates thrown over your shoulder. Your hair was tied up. I made you put on my coat halfway down the block when it started snowing again.”
“How do you remember all of this?”
“It was the day I knew I would marry you.” He said, glancing at the ring on her nightstand and the picture from their wedding night.
“You always knew before I did.”
“It wasn’t that hard. It only took me ten years to get you to believe in love.” He whispered, taking her hand.
“Remember the first time you proposed to me?”
“Which time was that?”
“You don’t remember? She asked him, laying back down and continuing to hold his hand.
“Of course I remember. I just want you to say it. That was such a great trip.” He said, grabbing his ring and putting it on.
“We almost died.”
“Well, we also almost died the time that you told me yes.” He spun her ring in his fingers.
“Was that time three or four?” She asked, pulling her hand away, with the ring on it, and putting it on his cheek.
“Counting the time that we were being tortured?”
“Well if you also want to count the time that I asked you.” She smirked, remembering that night spent in the hospital.
“Can I finish my story now that you’re back in bed?” He asked, bringing his forehead to hers.
“Of course.” She whispered and kissed him.
“You had your hair pulled back, but you braided the front of it, it looked like a crown. It was snowing and you had snowflakes all in your hair. You pushed me down an alleyway when there were some goons wandering around. There was nobody else around for miles though. We were standing there pressed up against the cobblestone building.”
“Your hair was longer back then.” She whispered.
“I wrapped my scarf around you. I never wanted to let you go. I wanted that moment to stay like that forever. Your hands in mine, the snow around us. God if I had any sense in me then I would have proposed to you right then and there. It was perfect. It was like the world had stopped spinning and for the first time I could see everything.”
“You kissed me. You wanted to go back to the villa, but I still wanted to go out and skate.”
“I didn’t blame you one bit for that, Tasha. It was so late the rink was empty, it was dark, but some of the old streetlights were on. It felt like something out of a movie. When we got there, I saw you let go of everything, and just be. You were so graceful, I was mesmerized. I sat there all night watching you, until you were exhausted. I got an earful from Fury afterwards, but there was nowhere else I would have wanted to be. You looked so happy and so free. That was the first time I had ever seen you skate.” He brought one of her hands up to his lips, and held it there for a moment.
“Had you seen me dance before then?”
“No, no I hadn’t. That was probably almost 20 years ago now.”
“When we got back to the states, Fury sent me to the ballet company. There was the big performance, you made sure everyone came. Fury, Maria, Coulson, you somehow even got May to come.”
“I wanted them to get a glimpse of how I got to see you that day. How happy and free you were.”
“Didn’t you learn how to skate after that?” She asked him with nothing but a smile in her eyes.
“I did. I also learned how to lift you when you danced. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.”
“You never dropped me though.”
“And I never will Tasha.” He whispered with a kiss.
Natasha pulled away slowly and sat up, “I’m going to go shower.”
“I’ll go start breakfast then.” He sighed, rolling out of bed.
“No Barton, you’re coming with me.” She smirked as she opened the door to the bathroom.
“Coming!” he yelled, running towards her and slipping on the hardwood floors in his socks.
“Tash, can you hand me the bread?” He asked, stepping around her to grab something else.
She didn’t respond, her mind was somewhere else. Her eyes were fixated on the pan of eggs in front of her. Everything was on autopilot as she stood there, letting her mind wander, and for the first time in a long time, more of the memories were good than bad.
“Tash, you’re going to burn the eggs.” He laughed, moving her out of the way.
“Let's go skating, today.”
“What? Nat, I thought.”
“I know Clint, but we should go. It won’t be that busy right now, it’s barely eight. Come on, let’s go.”
“Tasha! We’re making breakfast.” He called, barely turning off the stove before he ran after her.
He followed her back into the bedroom and held the chair she was standing on to reach the top shelf of the closet. “Barton, I’ve done more dangerous things in the past ten minutes, than stand on a chair.”
“Natasha. Natasha. Look at me.” He whispered, “What’s going on?”
She smiled down at him, handing him the boxes of skates.
“Natasha. Seriously. Talk to me. What’s going on, this isn’t like you. Did you hit your head or something before you got back yesterday? What’s wrong.” He held onto the boxes and her wrist as she stepped down.
“Clint. There’s nothing wrong. That’s the point. There’s nothing wrong, the world isn’t ending, there isn’t somebody who needs saving. The both of us are okay. Let’s go skating, let’s just be today. We can do whatever we want.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Natasha?” He asked, semi-jokingly, but stepping away from her nonetheless.
“Clint!”
“What did you say to me the day that we got married?” He grabbed her hand and held her in place.
“That I wanted nothing more than to live the rest of my life with you. No matter how messy or tangled or how far away we are. That I wanted to be with you. I said, you make life worth living, you make me worthy of something.” She whispered stepping closer to him.
“Then what in the world has gotten into you today Tasha?”
“When I said that I wanted to live the rest of my life with you, meant every part of that. I meant the ups and the downs, and I don’t just mean the missions. I mean going ice skating on Christmas eve, looking at holiday lights with you. Ordering pizza and watching movies with you. I meant that I want to live, that we should live and live every moment that we have with each other.” She held his face in her hand, not letting him escape her gaze.
“I love you Clint Barton. And that will never change. Let’s go ice skating, let’s go live.”
He let go of her wrist and took her face in both of his hands. “Let’s go ice skating.”
“I’ll get our coats. You take the skates. We’ll get breakfast on the way.” He whispered before pulling her in for a kiss.
“I love you.”
“I love you more. Now, let’s go live our life.” He let go of her and watched her walk into the other room, not being able to shake the smile from his face.
“I’ve got the keys! Are you ready?” She called to him from the living room.
“Of course babe! I’m coming now.” He shouted with the boxes in his hands and her hat on top of the boxes.
Natasha took the boxes and put them in a duffle bag she grabbed. Letting him put on his coat. Her hair was still down and she glanced at him sideways, waiting for him to put his gloves on that she had left in the coat pockets.
“So, are we taking the train today?” He asked as they stepped out of the elevator and onto the street.
“It’s only a couple blocks. We can walk it, and we can stop at that deli you love.” She said, taking his hand and heading down the street.
“Let me carry the bag.” He said, taking the duffle bag with their skates in it.
“I think you’re just surprised that I remembered to grab something to carry them in.” She said, passing over the bag.
“Well it did take you all of five minutes to leave the house.”
“Oh come on, it was two minutes.” She laughed and ruffled her hair.
“Well, you’re probably right. God. This was a good idea Tasha, I missed you. I missed this.”
“I told you it was a good idea, Barton.”
They walked through a crowd of people, separating just barely, but keeping their eyes on each other the entire time. His eyes never left her mess of curls, and hers checking the mirrors to watch him. There was no force in the world that could separate the two of them, no matter what. They would still be watching in mirrors, or looking for curls. They were the world. They would stop the world for each other.
“Well, that was chaotic.” Natasha said, grabbing his arm as they walked into the deli.
“We live in New York Tash, it’s always chaotic.”
“Clint! Natasha! The usual?” The shop owner shouted as soon as he saw them.
“Yes Dimitri!” Clint shouted back, sitting on a table, the shop was nearly empty. It was Christmas Eve.
“I love this place Dimitri! Never close!”
“As long as you two keep coming I won’t! You two are my favorite customers. Natasha! When are you going to bring by that niece you’re always talking about.”
“Do you mean Morgan?” Natasha asked, pulling out waters from the cooler.
“Yes! That's the one! Bring her by some time!” he yelled, passing over the sandwiches as Clint handed over the money.
“We will Dimitri!” He shouted back, as they walked out of the shop.
“I still think he’s in the mob Tash.” Clint said, unwrapping his sandwich as they walked.
“You’ve been saying that for years Clint. Even S.H.I.E.L.D thought he was, but he came back clean. Don’t know how that happened but it did.”
“Maybe he was in witness protection.” He pondered with a mouthful of food.
“I could see that. We should look into that one day.”
“Or, we could just let it be and enjoy his delicious sandwiches.” Clint said, as they turned a corner and the rink was in sight.
“I told you the rink would be empty.” Natasha pointed.
“Yeah, it probably has something to do with the fact that it’s four degrees outside and snowing.” He laughed, pointing to the snow around them, and pushing some out of her hair.
“Well, you’re the one who married a Russian.” She grabbed his hand and crossed the street.
“Well, I mean. You’re not wrong, but I am still freezing. Tash, please eat some of your sandwich before we hit the ice.” He whispered as they walked to a bench by the outdoor rink.
“Fine.” She agreed, unwrapping her sandwich as he pulled out the boxes of skates.
“You know, it’ll be nice getting back out on the ice. Even if it is freezing.” He said, pulling on his skates and lacing them.
“You know, you’re the one who wanted to go look at the holiday lights last night. It was colder then.” She said, wrapping back up the other half of her sandwich.
“I would agree with you, but then that would mean I’m being a baby.” He said, kissing her cheek.
“You’re always a baby about the cold.” She said, pulling on her skates and returning the kiss.
“You are absolutely right, now, are you ready?” He stood up and offered her his hand. Leaving their duffle bag by the side of the rink.
“Of course I’m ready.” She took his hand and stepped onto the ice with her hand in his.
She pushed herself around on the ice, getting warmed up. He was ever so slightly behind her, trying to get his muscles to remember what he was doing. Natasha skated around with grace, letting go of his hand occasionally so she could skate backwards. The ice, the snow, the cold, this was her element, and she was having fun. Her smile was small, but it reached her eyes, the fire that he loved had been reignited in her.
“So you’re not even going to let me warm up before you start getting all fancy.” He laughed as she spun backwards to look at him.
“Can’t keep up?” She teased, spinning back around and turning into the center of the rink.
He turned in with her, holding his hands behind his back. He skated a wide circle around her as she spun herself tightly. Her hair was everywhere, but she could see everything, she opened her stance to slow down and he skated by her, grabbing her arm like always.
She smiled at him as he held her hand. “Well, are you warmed up Barton.”
“I’m as ready as I’ll get.” He said as she let the distance between them increase while still holding his hand.
She lifted one of her legs behind her and he grabbed her by the waist, lifting her up as he spun.
He set her back down and skated backwards to look at her. “I missed you Tash.”
“I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere Clint.” She whispered as he pulled her in and spun them around.
“How much longer do you want to stay?” He asked, skating off to the side to grab their waters.
“Not much longer, it’s getting busy.”
“What if I told you Morgan was coming?” He asked, looking at the family of three coming towards them.
“You didn’t!” Natasha yelled seeing them and Morgan waving at her.
“I may have sent a text when we were at the deli telling them what we had planned for the day.” He said and was ignored as Natasha picked up Morgan and set her on the edge of the rink.
“How is my little Morgan!” Natasha asked her, still holding onto her.
“Dad let me open one of my presents this morning!” She yelled as Natasha put on Morgan’s skates.
“Oh did he!” Natasha said, looking up at Tony.
“In my defense, she made a compelling argument.” he said, looking over at her.
“Did you use the puppy dog eyes like I told you?” Natasha whispered.
“I did! Dad was going to let me open another present, but then mommy came in the room so he couldn’t.”
“Wait! You’re the one who taught her that trick?” Tony asked as Natasha picked up Morgan to put her on the ice.
“I told you, I’m her favorite aunt for a reason. Are you ready Morgan?” She asked, setting her gently down on the ice, but still holding onto both of her hands.
“I’m ready Auntie Nat!” She said, letting go of one of Natasha’s hands and starting to skate.
Natasha kept holding onto her hand, until she let go. She let Morgan lead the way as Clint eventually caught up to them.
“Uncle Clint! Uncle Clint! Watch me watch me. Auntie Nat can I do it?”
“Go ahead, show him!” She said, as Morgan turned around and did a little spin.
“Well well well. It looks like our niece is an ice skating prodigy!” He laughed, skating over to pick her up.
“I’m not a prodigy! I just want to be like Auntie Nat.” She proclaimed proudly as Clint held her in one arm and held Natasha’s hand in the other.
“Do you want to go do the spins with me Morgan?” Natasha asked, taking her out of Clint’s arms.
She looked up at Natasha and nodded. Natasha peeled away from the walls and went back into the center. She readjusted Morgan so she looked like a koala bear on Natasha, holding her head close to her Chest, Natasha kicked off into the spin.
When Natasha set her down she was smiling ear to ear. Natasha leaned over to brush some of the snow off of her coat as she heard Pepper calling to them.
“Morgan! Time to go sweetheart. We’ve got to go see Grandma and Grandpa!” She yelled.
Natasha held her hand as they skated back over to their group with Clint in tow.
“Did you have fun with your Auntie Nat?” Tony asked her as he picked her up off the ice.
“Can we stay just a little while longer?” She asked, showcasing her puppy dog eyes.
“We have to go Morgan, we’ll see Auntie Natasha and Uncle Clint soon. Now give Tasha and Clint kisses.” He said, leaning over so Morgan could blow them kisses.
Clint wrapped his arm around Natasha as they waved goodbye.
“Thank you guys!” She called as they walked away.
“I want one.” Clint said, pulling her off the ice.
“One what?”
“Morgan.”
“No.” She said with finality, pulling off her skates and putting on her regular heels again.
“Please?” He teased, putting her skates back in the bag.
“No.” She said, grabbing his hand as they walked down the street.
“Can we stop and get pizza on the way back to the apartment.” He asked with a smile, changing the subject.
“We just ate.” She looked up at him inquisitively.
“Can I have the other half of your sandwich then?” He asked knowing it would make her feel better.
She passed over the wrapped up sandwich and watched the people passing by. Never looking for anyone in particular, but always on the watch for everything.
“You know, when we retire, we should move back to Europe, or maybe move up to Maine or Boston. Get a nice change of scenery.” He said, looking around at all the familiar sites.
“You do realize it gets even colder up there right?”
“Well, then maybe we could move to Budapest. We still have the house out there.” he said, as Natasha pulled out her keys and they took a shortcut to their building.
“We do love Budapest.” She smirked at him.
“I know you love Budapest.” He whispered, leaning down to kiss her neck.
Natasha unlocked their building door, trying to ignore him. “We could also move to France.” She said, waiting for his reaction.
“You know I hate France.” He pulled away from her and stepped through the doorway.
“Yes, but our place in France has an amazing view, and it’s right by the ballet studio. I could teach a class or two.” She said, pressing the button for the elevator.
“I thought the point of retiring was to just travel and do nothing. Teaching ballet is not doing nothing.”
“Oh, like you’ll be able to just sit and do nothing. Remember the last time you retired. You were back at work within two weeks.”
“We could travel then.”
“Name one place we haven’t gone.” Natasha told him as they stepped into the empty elevator.
“Antarctica.”
“You haven’t been to Antarctica. I have.” She corrected him as the elevator rose.
“When the hell did you go to Antarctica? Who were you working for? I have so many questions now.” He laughed, getting her to face him.
“I went before I met you, I was working for Russia, however, I don’t remember what I was doing. They were still doing the mind wipes on me back then.” She responded with a smile, not letting herself be weighed down by the memories.
“Huh.” He said as the elevator doors opened back up on their floor.
“Is there anywhere you don’t think you’ve been?” He asked as she put the key into the lock.
“Zambia. And New Zealand. I’ve never been to either of those places for sure. And there’s probably a couple other places I haven’t been, but other than that. I’ve pretty much covered them all.”
“You haven’t been to New Zealand? Even I have been to New Zealand.”
“Guess I never got around to it.” She said, opening the door and setting down the duffle bag.
“Well, when we retire maybe we should.” He walked into the kitchen to start cleaning up.
“What is with you and wanting to retire today?” She asked, taking off her shoes to help.
“I don’t know Tash, it’s just been on my mind lately. I mean, Tony retired and he’s doing great. He has a kid, a wife, the whole bit.”
“We’re not having a kid. But we’re married. Legally for ten years, unofficially for you can do that math. Things get fuzzy for me if I try and go back farther than Belarus.” She said, filling the sink with soapy water.
“You’re the one who told me that you wanted to go and live.” He teased, bringing over the dishes and kissing her on the cheek.
“Wait. You really want to retire?” She asked, grabbing his wrist lightly.
“Not right now, but soon. I think soon would be good.” He held her hand and looked down at her.
“Okay. We’re going to talk about it more right?”
“Of course Tasha. I just thought now might be a good time to bring it up. You still don’t like to be surprised by things.”
“It’s an old habit. Hard to break.”
“You’ve broken worse habits.” He said, looking down at the thin circle of scars around her wrists from when she used to chain herself to her bed.
“You’ve helped me break worse habits.” She corrected, looking up at him again.
“No Tash, you did that. All I did was show you it could be done.” He turned back to the sink as Natasha continued to watch him.
“Clint, what’s going on?” She asked him quietly.
“I think I want more days like this. I want more days where we can do whatever, go wherever. Spend time with Morgan, maybe track down Peter at some point. Visit Wanda. I want more days like this.”
“Then let’s have more days like this.” She agreed, turning away from him and back to the dishes.
“Is that all? You agree?” He asked, trying to get her to turn back towards him.
“Yeah. I agree with you Clint. We need more days like this. I want more days like this. I want more days with you.”
“Well, good. There’s one more thing.”
“Clint?” She asked, as he walked away from the sink.
“Barton? What in the hell do you think you’re doing.” Natasha called, looking where he went.
He came back with a piece of paper in his hand and a jewelry box.
“Barton. What the hell did you do?” Natasha asked, drying her hands on a dish towel and taking the paper from his hands.
“I bought us a house. Upstate, right by the Avengers facility, close enough to Morgan. And there’s enough space for Wanda, Peter, Morgan. Everyone. And there’s a huge yard, we could get a dog. Maybe even two dogs. And we could get a cat. You’ve been wanting one for a while.”
Natasha finally looked back up at his smiling face. “You bought us a house?”
“I have no idea if you’re excited or going to kill me.” He stated with his voice dripping in apprehension.
“You bought us the perfect house. Not a safe house. A house where we can put down roots. You bought us a home. You bought us a place to call home. I am so happy.”
He picked her up and spun her around. “We have a place to call home. Our home.” He repeated.
Natasha cupped his face in her hands. She pressed her lips onto his, “No more running.” She whispered in between kisses.
“No more running.”
He fell onto the couch with her on top of him, “Lay with me for a while?”, he asked, pushing her hair out of her face.
“For as long as you want.” She responded, kissing him again.
“This is all I ever wanted.” He whispered.
“You’re all I ever wanted.”
“Tasha?” He called for her, looking around after just waking up on the couch.
“Tash!” He called again, not getting a response. He sprinted into the bedroom to find her sitting on the balcony with a cup of something in her hands.
She turned away from the city and looked at him. It was snowing outside and she wasn’t wearing a coat or shoes. He grabbed a blanket off their bed and another jacket for himself.
“Tash! What are you doing? You’re going to get sick.” He whispered, throwing the blanket around her shoulders and putting on his jacket.
“Clint, I can’t get sick.”
“I don’t care if you can’t get sick. Do you remember Brazil?”
“Brazil was a one off. It’s not my fault I never got the vaccine for Malaria.” She defended, passing over her mug.
“Wait, you had Malaria in Brazil?” He asked, taking a sip from her cup.
“Yeah, minor case, I was fine. And before you ask, yes that is spiked.”
“Trust me babe. I’ve been around you long enough to know that your eggnog is always spiked with something.”
She laughed, “You know, when you were telling me about Italy, you left out the part where we spent the night on the rooftop, dancing, laughing. Drinking, a lot of drinking.”
“I knew you remembered that part. But, that night was so perfect. There were people singing and we put on the little radio we found in the villa, I still don’t understand Italian, but I knew that that night was perfect.” He recalled, passing back her mug and taking her other hand.
She looked down at their intertwined hands, glancing at one of the long, thin scars on his hand. “I know when I fell in love with you.” she whispered.
“It was the day after I had been captured by Russia. I had been gone for months. I woke up back at the S.H.I.E.L.D base. You were holding my hand just like this. You had a bandage on your hand, but you wouldn’t let me see it. It left that scar right there.” She whispered, setting her mug down and tracing the scar with her finger.
“You were asleep when I woke up. I was terrified. I had no idea where I was, but then I realized that you were sitting right next to my bed. You felt me move, you made sure I didn’t panic. You put your hand on the side of my head. They had to shave part of my head. I was so scared.”
“Tasha, you don’t have to.” He whispered looking at the tears in her eyes.
“I do though. Because you’re the only person that I have ever loved. You’re the only person who has ever understood me. You were the one who saved me, and there is nothing I will ever be able to do to thank you enough for that. You gave me a life. You gave me a real life. You gave me a home. Clint Barton you are my home.”
“Tash.”
“When, the doctor came in to check on me. I wouldn’t let him touch me. You were the one who stopped them from restraining me again. All I had to do was look at you and you knew exactly what was going on. You didn’t let anyone touch me without my permission. You, you did more than just save me from Russia. You saved me after. You made sure I felt safe. And you never left my side.”
“Did anyone ever tell you exactly how I got this scar?” He asked quietly as her hand continued to run over it.
She shook her head and wiped the tear that had fallen.
“I broke away from the rest of the recovery team before you were moved. I was terrified of missing you by seconds again. I hopped the barbed wire fence and didn’t pay attention to where I put my hand and sliced it open. I didn’t even notice it until someone told me that the two of us were safe and on the way back to the States.”
“I never knew that.”
“I know. I begged Fury not to tell you. Because if he did, I would never hear the end of it.”
“Why didn’t you run. You had every chance to run. But you stayed. You always stayed. No matter what had happened you always stayed. And after Russia that’s when I knew, you wouldn’t leave me. So there was no point in me fighting the love I felt for you anymore. That was when I knew I could love you.”
“Tasha. Look at me.” He whispered, pulling her chin to see him. “I never once thought about leaving you. And I promise you. I won’t ever leave you.”
“You promise?” She asked him quietly, even though she knew the answer.
“I promise you, Natasha Romanoff.”
“I promise you, that I’m going to stop running, Clint Barton.”
He smiled and pulled her in for a kiss. “Now, let’s go back inside. We should decorate the tree we got.”
Natasha nodded, keeping her eyes locked on him. He stood first, still holding onto her hand and never wanting to let it go.
“Do you want to get the decorations that are in the coat closet or should I?” He asked, closing the sliding door behind the two of them.
“I can get them. You should make more eggnog.” She said, passing over her mug.
“Two very boozy eggnogs coming right up.” He smiled at her, stealing another kiss before she turned away.
Natasha opened the closet finding sparse decorations, but enough to make the tree look less empty. She pulled down the strand of lights and the few ornaments they had, including the star Clint had bought a few weeks ago.
“Here’s your drink Tash. So, where do we start?” He asked her, fully expecting an answer.
“You do realize this is our first actual Christmas in the States where we have to decorate. I have no idea what we are doing.” She laughed.
“Well. I didn’t really do this as a kid.”
“You think I did?” She asked him giving him a look.
“Alright. Well. Lights right? I think we should start with lights.” He guessed, plugging them into an outlet and draping them haphazardly on the branches.
“Are you sure it’s supposed to look like that?” Natasha asked, standing back to look at the horribly decorated tree.
“Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Help me put the ornaments.” He said, still slightly confused about what they were supposed to do.
“So. We just set the ornaments on the branches?” Natasha asked, setting a few red ones on the tree.
“I think so.” He said, taking the silver ones.
The tree was split directly down the middle with half the tree being decorated with red ornaments the other half being silver. Clint turned to the stack of freshly printed pictures that were on the kitchen counter and handed them to Natasha.
“Should we put these on the tree?” He asked, going through the pictures of the two of them from the previous year.
“Well. What about we just put this one in the center?” He asked, finding a spot so the picture would be propped up between branches.
Natasha took the picture from his hands. It was a group shot of the two of them and the rest of the Avengers, including Peter, Wanda, and Morgan. She let her thumb rub against the side of the photo for only a moment before looking back at him.
“Yeah. It’s perfect.” She said, handing it over to him again.
He put the picture in the exact middle of the tree, where the red and the silver met.
“We have a family.” Natasha whispered, grabbing his hand.
“We are a family Tasha, and they are our family.” He whispered.
Natasha smiled, “Should we put the star on the tree?”
“I would love to.” He said, handing it to her and grabbing her waist to lift her up.
Natasha braced for him to lift her, it was something they had done a thousand times before, but never for something as boring as decorating a Christmas tree. They were finally safe. They were together. There was nothing that was ever going to tear them apart again.
Natasha placed the star on the top of the tree and Clint lowered her down slowly. She was facing him on the ground and he couldn’t look away from her eyes.
“I love you, Clint Barton.”
“I love you, Natasha Romanoff.”