A/N: Written because I was challenged to by Legion 22. I have to apologize to her because it doesn't really embody the song I was using, You Belong With Me, as much as I would have liked it to. I blame it on Kujo.

Natasha was used to being alone. To fighting for her survival and protecting herself. She was accustomed to never having someone behind her, watching her back and making sure that she was safe. Before S.H.I.E.L.D. and even once she joined with the organization, she was always on her own. And that was fine because she was used to it.

She was not, however, used to having a partner. Especially not one like Clint, who liked to joke around and laugh and still seemed so...Innocent? Alive? Happy? Natasha was never able to pin just one word to him. His attitude was constantly changing, from happy to serious and back again, and it made dealing with him just that much harder.

Not only did she have a partner, but she had a partner that she didn't think she could rely on.

So Natasha kept her distance from the archer. Someone like him, that was still new to the business of being a Government pawn, wouldn't be a help to her. He wouldn't last long enough to be a help to her.

That was what she thought when they first started going on missions together. That was what she thought about Clint for a very long time, actually. Even when he started to prove himself; because he could fight and he could shoot and he could hold his own in battle. But could she trust him with her own well-being? Could she give this man something that had seldom been handed out in the past?

Trust was not something that the Russian gave out easily and it was not something that she thought Clint would ever get.

But then, one day, they were sent out to apprehend a man named Gione. And they weren't told that he had been messing around with genetics nor had they been informed that his rottwieler had been turned into a behemoth of a monster. Natasha had messed up that day in a way that she swore she would never do again; in a way that had almost cost her her life.

Both she and Clint had been battling the rott-monster and niether were gaining much ground. When Natasha saw Gione trying to slip away through a back door, she went after him. She caught him too. But her sharp movements had drawn the dog's attention away from Clint and onto her. It lashed out with one massive paw, aiming right at her.

There was no way she would be able to move quick enough.

There was no way that, if it hit her, it wouldn't break her back or worse.

Before she even knew what was happening, she was flying through the air. Gione hit the ground first, Natasha crashing on top of him. Crimson filled her vision and pain shot up the arm not pinned between her prisoner and her own body.

But she didn't hurt anywhere else and it took several moments to realize that. It took several moments longer, and the rottwieler lumbering towards her, to realize that there was a body ontop of her as well as below her. So she'd pushed and she'd rolled and she'd struggled until she was on her feet and staring down at the blood-smeared body of Clint. The top of his uniform was torn, revealing a jagged slice on the left side of his body. It ran down from his shoulder to his elbow and then jumped onto his ribs.

In some spots, Natasha could see white peeking out from under the red.

It was the first time in her career at S.H.I.E.L.D. that she didn't bring down both the crook and the 'accomplice'. The dog was left to be dealt with by someone else, Gione was tossed into a cell, and then she found that she didn't quite think of Clint the same. He'd gained her trust, if only just a small portion of it.

Over the years, Natasha found herself growing more and more attached to the young archer. She found herself smriking at his sarcastic comments. Found herself watching his back just as much as she watched her own. Found herself annoyed at Fury when he looked at Clint's age and not his ability. Found herself relying on the other agent more than she should have.

And when she had to betray him, had to throw him to the wolves so that she could go after Hydra, it hurt more than it should have.

Once more, she found herself alone. It should have been easy to go back to fighting for herself and only for herself. That was how she had spent so many years, Natasha had thought that it would be second-nature again. But it wasn't. It was hard to only watch her own back, to not have a snarky comment thrown her way when things got stressful, to know that Clint was having a rough time because of her.

And while she worked her way through the ranks of Hydra, someone else was working their way into Clint's life.

Bobby was young and attractive and manipulative in a way that even Natasha had never been. She had Clint wrapped around her finger, ready to do whatever she wanted whenever she asked, and he didn't even realize that it was all a lie.

That she didn't love him.

That she didn't need him.

That there was nothing about him she liked but his position.

And Clint didn't see it. He knew that something was off, from the way Bobby's moods twisted and changed with just a snap of the fingers, but it hadn't hit him yet exactly what was the matter. He was still enamored with her good looks and her 'wits' and 'charm'. Still caught up in the 'new' and not focusing on the 'old'.

If that wasn't enough to set Natasha's blood boiling, the fact that she had come to rely on Clint did. That she needed the archer and wanted the archer and loved the archer more than she had loved anyone in a very long time. She didn't want to be a solo-act again. She didn't want to keep looking in front and behind and to both sides at all times anymore.

Natasha wanted Clint; as a friend and a partner in battle and so much more. They fit together. They fought well together. They could tell when one was joking and when one wasn't.

But, until Clint woke up and realized who was right for him, that was something she could never have.