Work Text:
Holding tightly onto your shirt, you pull it away from the stinging wounds on your side that keep you from breathing too deeply. Dragging your feet across the familiar sidewalks, glancing over your shoulder every other step, you try to most faster. You stop as you reach the apartment's stairwell, knocking your head against the cold metal as your heart races inside your chest. As you glance up the steps, you wonder if it’s better to just bleed out in an alleyway then go up there and face her.
The bright glow of headlights gets you moving, ignoring any bells ringing through your brain to prepare for Черная Вдова to open that door. As you stumble forward, you rest your hand against the door in front of you. Your fingers carefully trace the number on the outside, 7. Nearly the amount of months since you’ve been gone. Since all you could leave behind were clothes and a short note stating you weren’t kidnapped but would be disconnected.
A loud click brings you back to the quiet night around you and the pain within your body. The door swings open as you stumble forward, gripping the threshold as you clench your jaw. Hovering your ankle off the ground, feeling the joint twist again as you stepped on it. Picking up your head, your gut was right, it isn’t Nat who stands in front of you with her gun. It’s the Black Widow, and that barrel is pointed straight at you.
You watch her green eyes widen nearly imperceptibly, stepping around you quickly as she clears the direction you came in, gun unwavering from her sights. As you feel the nausea growing in your body, fast steps come your way. Hands grip you tightly, a quiet yelp leaving your lips as you turn to look at her.
“What the hell are you doing? Showing up here like this?” Natasha drags you inside, dropping you onto her couch without a second glance.
You knew she'd be angry but you didn't have time to give her a call. Leaning back into the arm rest, your bloody hand grips tightly against the cushions as you try and lift your leg. You aren’t worried about the blood on the cushion, she knows a million ways to get it out of any fabric.
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
Dropping her medical kit, you can still see the hardness of the Widow inside of her eyes. Still, you reach forward and take the end of her red fishtail braid between your fingers. Her eyes rest on yours as she shakes her head,
“What did you get yourself into now?” Her hand adjusts your ankle up onto a pillow.
You grimace, feeling your breathing grow more shallow with each breath. Trying to pick up your head, it falls with a thud as you feel the tingling dizziness. Natasha’s eyes look up at you, brows clenching in controlled worry. She glances down to your hands that cover the large wound on your torso, your shirt is soaked through with blood by now.
Ripping your arms away, she slides up your shirt and takes in a sharp breath as she covers her mouth. Your arm hangs limp over the edge of the couch, the world slowly disappearing from the corners of your vision. Feeling a sharp stinging on your bullet wounds as your legs are lifted onto Natasha’s shoulders, you try to pick up your hand to comfort her. Grimacing tightly, you feel your eyelids start to droop before you feel a sharp sting on your cheek from Natasha’s hand.
“Hey, look at me! Focus on me, alright?” You can see the glow of Natasha’s phone as she presses hard into your wounds, “Stay awake! I just need to call - shit! Answer the phone!”
Finally, you lift up your lead heavy hand and gently grip her arm, “I’m sorry, love.”
“No, no. Please, just stay awake a little longer, лапушка.”
You fight against the weight of your exhaustion, but your eyelids fall.
_________________________
Your body jolts up before falling back in a heap of pain. Breathing out a heavy groan, you slowly open your eyes. They fall on green eyes that stare carefully back at you. A small grin fills your face as you see nothing but Natasha.
Her fingers carefully pull away your bloody bandage, dabbing on alcohol to keep your swollen and red wound clean. Gently, you run your fingers along the stitches but Nat picks them up and places your arm back at your side.
“We have to keep these clean,” She tears open a bandage pack, “You only get to use my medical lifeline once a year.”
Chuckling, you pull in a sharp breath as you feel the growing pain inside your torso. Nat gives you a small grin, pulling your shirt back over your bare skin and rests her hand on your thigh.
“I’m sorry.” You tell her, reaching through the throbbing to take her hand in yours.
She keeps the same grin plastered on her face but you can see her true feelings inside of those dark green eyes. The slightest mist surrounds her eyelashes as you rub her knuckles softly.
With a sigh, she raises her brows, “What did Fury find so important to take you away from me?”
You grin softly, certain that Fury got an earful when Natasha found the note you left on the kitchen counter. If she couldn’t yell at you, she’d yell at the one who made you leave. Sitting up gently, she quickly moves and adjusts the pillows behind you. As she goes to sit back down away from you, you pull her into you and hold her close. Nat sighs, feeling your arms around her once again. Breathing in as deep as your stitched side lets you, you can smell the soft smell of her melon shampoo.
“Some idiots were trafficking alien tech in Canada of all places.” You grimace as you adjust yourself, “Had to go undercover to figure out their supply lines and well. Hotwired a car and sped down here cause… I needed to come home. Screw Fury.”
Her laugh is quiet as her fingers run through your hair, “I’d be careful, лапушка. No one says no to Fury.”
Nat presses her soft lips against yours, the weight of the world leaving your shoulders as you fall back into her love.
“If he gives me another one of those undercover missions, I’m going to tell him to take that job and shove it.” You nuzzle your face into her neck as you press a soft kiss against her even soft skin, “Then I’ll have you hide me from his wrath.”
She lets out a quiet hum, “Always so brave.”
You smile as her hands gently cup your face, pressing ever so gently into the bruises. You flinch slightly but you never lose sight of those loving eyes that peer so deep into you. You never wanted to go another day without seeing those green irises or feel these protective hands that held you so close. The pain slowly vanished as you quietly promised to always stay. You were home.