The Flame (Avengers Fanfiction)

15-Ring of Fire

Steve was sitting next on a stool in Tony's lab, going over the details of Peyton's disappearance with Natasha for what must have been the millionth time when the glass lab door opened. Natasha stopped mid sentence as she looked up. Steve looked up as well and saw Clint Barton standing there. Tony stopped talking to Bruce and the air stilled. Steve swore he could hear the Kill Bill sirens as Clint and Natasha looked at each other. Steve glanced at Bruce, who looked as uncomfortable as Steve felt.

Tony had put two and two together. His sister and Legolas used to be incredibly close, but after the miscarriage, there had been no mention of him. He never visited her at the hospital but Natasha did. Steve sent her things, but Clint never did. And now, the look Natasha was giving him confirmed his suspicions. Clint Barton was the man that had hurt his baby sister and that made Tony's blood boil.

"Clint, a word." Natasha said, standing up and quickly crossed the room. Her blood was boiling too. Clint Barton had some balls to be strolling in here after all the pain he had caused Peyton. Natasha would have kicked his ass right at that moment if she hadn't thought of little Cooper Barton who needed his father. Clint swallowed and followed her out of the lab and down the hall.

Steve sat there, a little dumbfounded as he slowly put things together. Peyton and Clint were more than friends. He knew that when he had walked in on them sitting extremely close back on the Helicarrier before they had fought Loki. Her hands cupping his cheeks, his hands on her hips. Friends don't sit in each other's laps, at least they didn't sit like that during the forties. Peyton's legs were wrapped around his waist and Clint was blushing when Steve had opened the door.

They were more than friends, but was Clint the father of the baby that Peyton had lost? With how Tony and Natasha looked at the archer, Steve didn't think it was impossible.

-

Clint knew he was an idiot as soon as he walked into the lab that Peyton, Bruce, and Tony shared. He knew he was a huge fucking idiot when Natasha and Tony glared at him. He had no right to be here. He had no right to want to help find Peyton, especially after she had been missing for almost two weeks now.

And that was exactly what Natasha was telling him.

"You have no fucking right to want to save her!" Natasha snapped at him, the tiny red head jamming her finger into Clint's chest. Clint sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Leave and go back to your wife and son."

"I can do something, Nat-" He tried, but that only made Natasha angrier. She put her arm against his throat and slammed him against the clean, cold grey wall. The Russian spy cut off his breathing slightly, her green eyes glaring at him.

"She's not going to wrap herself back around your finger. You fucked up, Barton. Go back to Laura." Nat almost growls at him. Clint looked at his friend, pressing his lips together tightly. The spy drops him and he sucks in air greedily.

"Just fucking go home." She says one more time before turning on her heel and walking back towards the lab.

-

I, Peyton Annemarie Stark, might be a fucking genius. Or a fucking idiot.

My body is probably broken in some places, bruised and bloody in most places thanks to Kenna's daily beatings. My red robe is torn and stained now, but it wasn't like it was covering anything. But those beatings are, dare I say it, worth it because of what I came up with. The brilliant (or stupid) idea came to me maybe a few days ago. What's the idea, you might be asking? Well you will find out right now. I had told Kenna that I was ready to work with them, but I needed to talk to Aiden. Apparently I am a better actress than I thought, because she only left moments ago, and now all three of them are here.