Season 4 Episode 34

140 3 0
                                    

Abigail was sitting on the balcony with the bedspread over her shoulders when Clint stepped into Natasha's room. Without announcing himself, he stepped next to her. He knew she was already aware of his presence. "When I met her, my mission was to take her out. And when the time came, when it was time, I couldn't do it. I had a feeling she wanted out. Turns out I was right." He didn't owe anyone this story, but he felt he had to get rid of it even if it was just to give her the respect she deserved. "She was the best of them all," Clint repeated his words that he had said almost exactly the same to Steve. Abigail turned her head toward him and offered him the chair beside her. "I'm sorry," she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes again. "It's not your fault. But you should have let me go with her."

"It wouldn't have changed anything. She wouldn't have let you jump any more than she wouldn't have let me jump." Clint knew she was right, yet he would have liked to just try. He would have done anything to have her here now. "It's okay. She was your best friend." Clint, who had already sat down next to her, pulled her to him and took her in his arms. He didn't care that they both didn't have much time with each other, all that mattered now was giving comfort to the other person. "Yes she was."  When they broke away from each other, they rested their foreheads against each other, as Clint had done in Abigail's version. "We talked a lot about you, you know?" he began tenderly as they pulled away from each other again. "All she wanted was for you to be safe. She wanted to adopt you, but the time never seemed right and then the world literally fell apart. But she would want you to have her last name if that's what you want." Touched, she looked her mother's best friend in the eye and smiled faintly. "I loved her so much."

"I loved her too."

The lake behind the Avengers' headquarters was especially calm that day as Bruce, Tony, Steve, Clint, Abigail and Thor stood on the dock the next day. Not a breeze stirred. "Did she have family?" asked Tony, not really expecting an answer. Steve sat down. "Yes," he replied without looking up. "Us." Thor looked restless, almost as if he didn't know where to put his energy. "What?" he asked impatiently, eyeing his depressed comrades. "Hey." Tony looked at Thor. He was grieving like everyone else and didn't know how to imagine a world without Natasha. "What ... What are you doing?" demanded Thor. He seemed to be getting more and more upset. "I was just asking him a question," Tony explained, pointing at Steve. "Yeah, only you're acting like she's dead," Thor accused him more and more upset.

The closest thing to a daughterWhere stories live. Discover now