[She knows that fighting against this isn't working, there's an edge of futility to it, but Natasha has never been an easy woman. She'll fight for every breath that it gives her, every moment that it keeps the inevitable from happening. It's the link that scares her, not the sex, the idea of letting him in her head when there are nights it still keeps her awake.

Clint had given her a moral compass when so much of her life she'd been without one. It wasn't always an easy thing to live with.]

You didn't have a choice. It's not the same.

[Her voice a whisper. Part of her wants to ask him if he even realizes how much blood is on her hands, but that question is too vulnerable, goes down a road she has no interest in, and so she sticks to the point that's easier to talk about and harder all at the same time. He'd been a good person and they'd taken that away from him.

She'd just been raised to it. A little girl with a gun in her hand from the time she was strong enough to hold one. She hits the bag harder, enough to sting her knuckles red, as if she can punchhard enough to make him understand just what they're facing.

His past doesn't scare her, if she's honest. She's read his file. It's the idea of him seeing hers.]

I just thought I was on the right side. Turns out I'm not so great at knowing what that is.