Grabbing my bag from the airport conveyer belt, I suddenly started to feel nervous. I'd managed to sleep on the nearly four hour-long flight to Alabama, so the nerves didn't really start to kick in until after I'd landed.

I started to worry that Clint would reject me, that I had pushed him too far. I needed to apologise to him. All he'd done was be there for me, and I had completely left him alone to deal with the situation all by himself. He'd somehow managed to put me first and take care of me even though he was hurting himself. I needed to show him how much that meant to me and that I was there for him, whatever he needed.

As these thoughts swam through my head, I left the airport and proceeded to make my way to the car that I'd asked Tony to arrange for me. No driver was required, as where I was going was somewhere that needed to stay hidden, from as many people as possible.

I climbed into the drivers seat, placing my bag onto the passenger side, before speeding out of the airport and towards my destination, praying that I hadn't got it wrong and that he decided that this was the place that he needed to be.

…

Pulling onto the driveway leading to the farmhouse, I told myself to keep calm and concentrated on my breathing. The familiar setting did manage to keep me from getting too worked up, and the slight excitement that I always felt when about to see Clint crept into my stomach. After all of the years that we'd been together that still hadn't gone away.

The farmhouse came into view as I rounded the final corner of the driveway; the beauty of the scenery still took my breath away. The large white farmhouse hidden from the world was exactly the same as it had been the last time I'd been there. Parking the car outside, I grabbed my bag and slowly made my way up onto the porch.

I knocked on the door hesitantly, knowing that he would already have heard the car, undoubtedly knowing that it was me coming to find him. I was one of only a handful of people who knew about this place anyway, so the list of potential visitors was small. Suddenly, the door opened, and I was face to face with Laura, and she did not look pleased to see me.

"Nat" she said icily, "I know why you're here but he doesn't really want to see anyone right now, especially you."

That comment cut me deep, but I did my best not to flinch at her harsh words, she was Clint's family and we had a connection, I just had to show her that I was there because Clint meant everything to me.

"Laura, I know, I know I've hurt him so badly these last few weeks, but I just didn't know how to cope. It felt like I was disgusting for him to be around, but now I know that that isn't true. I just let my own grief distract me from caring for Clint, but I'm not going to do that anymore. I love him. More than anything and I can't lose him because I was selfish." I blurted out to her, not giving her time to interject before I said, "will you please tell me where he is?"

In the process of my speech, Laura's eyes had softened, and a ghost of a smile had appeared on her face when I'd told her outright about my love for her brother-in-law. She held so much love of her own for Clint, and would protect him from anything that she felt may harm him, even me.

As I was waiting hopefully for Laura to tell me where he was, I heard the faint, but growing louder, patter of two sets of small feet.

"Auntie Nat!" screeched Lila when she saw me "We didn't know you were coming to visit" She ran straight past her mother, who was still stood in the door way, and flung her arms around my waist. I was pleasantly surprised when the impact didn't make my stomach hurt, and that made me smile slightly as I hugged the little girl back.

"Hi Aunt Nat" Cooper said coolly as he slowly made his way past his mother to greet me with a shy hug of his own. He was at that awkward age where he wanted to be a man, but was just still a kid. I'd started to notice that change in his behaviour a few months after Barney died, without his dad and with Clint barely there due to the whole Avengers thing, Cooper had tried to grow up and be the man of the house.

Barney's death had been sudden and had devastated the whole family. He'd been contracted by S.H.I.E.L.D as he was a good fighter and marksman, but they had only ever given him minor missions, as Fury knew about the family that Barney had hidden. Fury even helped Clint and Barney sort out this farm so that Laura and the children would be safe. Unfortunately, on a mission that Fury had thought was just tailing some goons who were working for a bigger player, it turned out that a whole terrorist cell had been formed in the area, with surveillance everywhere. Barney had been made almost immediately and even though S.H.I.E.L.D and Clint had tried to save him, he was killed in an explosion set by one of the cell members before they could get him out.

Laura had never truly recovered from the loss of her husband, especially as she was 6 months pregnant at the time. Little Nathaniel had been born without a father, but Clint had tried his best to keep the family together and to take care of them as best he could. Nathaniel was 14 months old now and he was thriving. He seemed to have given Laura a new lease on life, another reason to keep on fighting, and his brother and sister adored him.

Suddenly I realized that not only was Clint grieving for the loss of our baby, but he was still mourning the death of his big brother and trying so desperately to hold all of the pieces of his life together when everyone around him was trying to pull them apart. I needed to see him and tell him that I loved him and that I wasn't going anywhere.

"Laura please…" I pleaded with her, still with one arm around both Lila and Cooper.

The pleading in my voice and the obvious turmoil that I was in over what had transcribed between Clint and I finally weakened her resolve.

"He's in the barn, tinkering with that old tractor" she said quietly before turning to the kids, "come on guys, I'm going to need some help with Nathaniel and dinner".

Cooper was quick to release me and walk back inside with Laura; Lila gave me one last tight hug before running inside.

I dropped my bag in the entranceway before making my way over to the barn. My head spinning with what I might find.

As I slowly opened the small side door and walked inside, I immediately had my head on a swivel, trying to see any small movement that would indicate to me where Clint was. Years of training had drilled that into me, whether I was on a mission or not.

There was a slight movement over to my left-hand-side and as I turned, there was Clint. I was momentarily stunned by how gorgeous he looked in that moment; he was wearing a white vest top and faded old ripped up jeans, wiping grease from his forearms with an old rag. I felt the familiar flutter in my abdomen but I forced myself to ignore it. Chastising myself for not being able to control my body's reaction when now was definitely not the time I slowly made my way towards him.

He didn't look up at me, didn't acknowledge my presence at all, but I was not naïve enough to think that he didn't know I was there even though my movements were silent.

As I got within arms reach of him, I stopped. I didn't want to crowd him knowing that he was upset with me.

"Clint, I'm…so sorry" I said quietly, hesitating incase he had something he wanted to say; I think I was half expecting him just to walk out and leave. But he didn't, he just turned to face me, his expression blank and his whole body completely still.

"I let myself get so caught up in how I felt about losing the baby and how something that I never even thought I could have was ripped away that I forgot about you. I didn't think about how much it must of hurt you, the pain that you must have been feeling, especially when dealing with Barney's death on top…" I took a deep breath before continuing, studying his face for any changes, his jaw twitched ever so slightly at the mention of Barney and he couldn't hide the pain from his eyes, but other than that he was stoic.

"I thought that when you wouldn't sleep in our bed that it was because you were angry at me, disgusted that I had let the Red Room do that to me, that you blamed me for the death of our baby. So I withdrew even more, I didn't want to deal with losing you too so I just shut everything out and tried not to feel. But you leaving made me realize that I was wrong!" I revealed to him, braving a step closer and feeling relieved when he didn't distance himself from me.

"I never should have shut you out, I know you didn't stay up at night because you were disgusted by me, it was because you needed time to deal with the grief in your own way. But you'd spent so much time trying to make it better for me that then was your only opportunity. I'm so sorry that I ever doubted you Clint, I love you and that is the most important thing. And I'm even sorrier that it took Tony fucking Stark to make me realize what a bitch I was being, and that I was pushing you away when all I should have been doing was pulling you closer."

With the last word, I hesitantly reached out to Clint and laid my hand gently on his cheek. Then, suddenly, the expressionless mask disintegrated and my strong, powerful, wonderful husband started to cry. At first it was just tears slowly dripping from his eyes, but then it escalated into sobs, his head hanging forward to try and stop me from seeing his pain. And even though it was horrendous to see him cry and it hurt to think that I had done this to him, I realized that he needed to let go, he needed to let out all the emotion that he had been keeping inside for so long.

So I wrapped my arms around him as he buried his face in my neck and sobbed, his arms wrapping gently around my waist as I felt his tears begin to run down my collarbone.

I didn't say anything; I knew that words weren't necessary; I'd already said everything he needed to hear. I just stood there with him in my arms and let him cry, stroking the hair at the back of his neck in a soothing manner. It was his turn to let it out, and I would be there for him. It was my turn to be the strong one.

…

After we were stood there for a while, Clint's sobs started to subside. He slowly tilted his head up so that he was looked into my eyes, they were raw and red but he was still beautiful.

I leant up and wiped the last of his tears away before slowly leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on his lips. Moving slowly, giving him time to pull away if that's what he wanted, all the while praying that he let me show him how much I still loved him, even though I'd been terrible at showing it recently.

When our lips finally touched he sighed very slightly into my mouth, a happy, contented sort of sigh, and we held the kiss for a few moments before breaking apart.

He rested his forehead gently against mine, looking into my eyes.

"I love you Tasha" he said quietly, "thank you for coming back to me" he added with a small smile before leaning forward and capturing my lips in a more powerful kiss.

The arms wrapped around my waist tightened as the kiss grew more passionate, my hands subconsciously made their way into his hair, gently grasping at it to draw his face in closer to mine. I felt his tongue run along my lower lip, so I happily granted him entrance into my mouth, and as our tongues rubbed slowly against one another I knew that I loved and wanted this man more than anything, and I was so angry at myself for ever pushing him away.

Clint's head suddenly started to walk me backwards until my back bumped into the front of the busted up, old, red tractor, and when I was there his hands began to explore my body even more frantically.

Just as he wrapped his hand around my upper thighs to lift me up, we were abruptly pulled from our sensual haze.

"Uncle Clint! Auntie Nat! Dinner is ready!" Came the singsong voice of Lila from just outside the door of the barn.

We quickly pulled ourselves away from each other, straightening our clothes and flattening our hair. As I finished righting my shirt, I looked up to see that Clint's hand was held out for me, and he was smiling in a way that he hadn't in weeks. And as I reached forward and interlaced my fingers with his, I knew that everything was going to be alright.

We were going to be alright.

Authors Note: Here it is finally! A NEW CHAPTER. Now that it is summer and my uni exams are done I should be able to update much more frequently :) Smut will be there in the next chapter I promise ;)

*POTENTIAL SPOILER FOR AVENGERS 2*

I had to mess with the timeline of the Nathaniel's birth in order to have him as a minor part of the story. I know that he wasn't born until after the second Avenger's film, but as I have had to change the relationship between the family to fit my story it seemed like the best way to include them all.

I hope everyone liked it! Please read and review…

Much Love x