Till we meet again

It was a spring day. I remember waking up to a beautiful day. As I was making breakfast, Clint came up with the idea to use the grill in our backyard for lunch. I suggested hot dogs since we already had burgers that week. So I bought some buns whilst Clint cleaned the grill. He prepared Lila for training so they can train whilst I cooked and prepare lunch. When I fired up the grill, the boys came out and Cooper started to teach Nate football so they passed the ball back and forth. I loved how both Cooper and Lila had left their phones inside without me or Clint asking them to abandon their phones for a bit. I remembered preparing the plates, and soon, the sausages were done. I started laying them in the bun accompanied by the sauces every one of them had chosen. As soon as I layed a hot dog in the plate then it happened.

....

5 years pass

All I remember was blinking, catching my breath. In a second everything looked weird. Familiar, yet different from moments before. The kids suddenly looked at me confused as if to ask me for answers but I didn't have any, I was just as confused as them. I know I felt a weird sensation a few seconds before. Then I'm back here, in the backyard, at the table, with the hotdogs... The hotdogs weren't there anymore. No plates on the table, no glasses filled with water, and the grass, the grass looks different. I couldn't pick my finger onto what was going on but as I looked back up, I saw Clint running from the inside. The kids ran to hug him and he told them to go inside. As they hurried inside, he came up to me. He gave me a soft smile before we engaged in a kiss. We went in and he explained briefly what happened. He spared certain details so the kids wouldn't be too worried and more overwhelmed than they already were but as soon as we were alone, he refined the details.

He looked at me with a sad look, his eyes tearing up. He told me about Natasha and Tony but there was something that he wanted to wait after the funerals to discuss with me. I couldn't help shed tears for both of them. Natasha was like a sister to me and Tony was also a close friend. Natasha helped raise the kids and Tony always made sure our kids were comfortable. They were the amazing aunt and the caring, loaded uncle. I asked him about the funerals. He said that everything had just happened moments before so neither of them were buried yet. Pepper and Happy Hogan were taking care of Tony's funeral but unlike Tony, Natasha wouldn't want a big funeral with everyone invited. We made arrangements between our family and we did a small ceremony. I know she would've wanted Yelena there too but she is hard to track down. We went ahead with everything, just in case we never did. Took us a few weeks to track her down but as soon as we did, I spoke to her and took her to the burial site we chose. After recent events, I realized that she wasn't aware that I'm Clint's wife. She didn't put the two pieces together but to be fair, I might've forgotten to mention my surname. Frankly, all she needed to know is that we cared about Natasha and we made sure she was given the burial she deserved. If she knew, she wouldn't have trusted me. She would've fought me, maybe even try to use me as leverage for Clint. She wouldn't have understood that Clint tried his best. He wanted it to be him instead. He already lost his world. He wanted it to end but Natasha is stubborn and she loved him too much for it. She loved me too much for it. She knew things would've been hard for me and the kids. She knew that without him, I would be hopeless, not only as a single mom of three but as a widow. That was the type of person she was.

Soon enough, it was time for us to discuss the last piece of the puzzle. Ronin. After laying Natasha to rest, Clint and I had a lengthy discussion about him. At first, I bit his head off but i bit my fist so he can explain and say everything he had to say. It helped him sink into all of the details of this gruesome persona. As he got further into details, I understood it all. Frankly, I don't wanna know the person I would've become if I was the only one left of our family during the blip instead of Clint. In a weird way, I'm glad that Clint became Ronin, especially the fact that he told me everything, including his lowest point in his life.

Ronin was an opportunity to test our relationship, our marriage. I'm very happy with the outcome. He proved that he trusts me and although I couldn't be with him during that time, I let him explain and understood the conditions at the time. I can never judge him for Ronin but God forbid that he has to go through losing me and the kids again or that I have to go through it. For the potential victims' sake.

I'm gonna conclude this story by offering a toast. To the playboy genius who helped us financially even when Clint was on Cap's side. And to моя сестра. I will always love you and cherish not only the good times but cherish the fact that you treated my kids as if they were yours.

Till we meet again