“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” ~Psalm 56:3
Of all the nights that it had been raining in DC, this night was probably the worst. Not only was there severe thunderstorms and heavy rain, but the weather man was also saying that there was a chance for tornadoes. Now, on a normal night or a summer night in Iowa at Clint’s farm, this would be OK. Tonight however was NOT normal and they were not in Iowa. Clint, Steve, and Natasha had just gotten home from a 2-day mission in Seattle, Washington tracking some 084’s and all were injured. Clint was the worst. He had suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen and nearly died on the way back. The experience left Natasha shaken to her core.
All throughout the debriefing session with Coulson, the storm raged on. Lightning lit up the whole room, followed by a big clap of thunder. Natasha jumped in her seat almost every time. She almost couldn’t talk. Fortunately Steve jumped in and said what she couldn’t. Once the debriefing session was over, everyone retreated to bed for a well-deserved night’s sleep. Now, Anna Flannigan, the newest SHIELD agent as of last month, wasn’t on the mission herself, but she was worn out from a 5-mile run that she had earlier in the day.
The storm seemed to be getting worse and worse by the second. Natasha was shaking as she laid down on the bed.
“It’s OK, Nat,” Steve soothed. “It’s just thunder.”
Natasha could hardly speak. For as long as she could remember, she always had a fear of thunderstorms. The sound of thunder drudged up one too many memories of guns being shot, killing innocent people. The lightening also drudged up memories as well. The lightening reminded her of fire that would light up the sky after an explosion.
More thunder could be heard, and it wasn’t in the distance. It was close by. Natasha thought she almost felt the room shake. Steve was doing his best to comfort her, but it wasn’t helping
“Shh, Nat. It’s OK. It’s OK. I’m right here,” he soothed as he rubbed her back.
“When will it stop?” she asked.
“I wish I knew.”
A hard knock on the door made Natasha shudder in Steve’s arms.
“Steve! Natasha! Wake up!” a voice shouted. It was Coulson. Steve was out of the bed in an instant. Something was wrong. Coulson would never come to their door in the middle of the night.
“Steve!” Natasha cried as she tried to grab his hand. Steve quickly turned his head to look at her outstretched hand. She was desperate for him to come back and hold her.
“Just hang on, Nat It’ll be alright,” he said as calmly as he could .The fact that Coulson was still knocking urgently at his door was making him nervous.
“Sir?” he said when he opened the door.
“We need to move to safety. There’s been a tornado sighting about a mile and a half from here.” Coulson answered.
“Where to?”
“Clint and Anna are already in the detention level. It’s the only place in this entire base with no windows.” Coulson answered.
“OK. We’ll be right there.”
Coulson nodded and headed toward the staircase to the detention level, which was one floor below them. Meanwhile. Steve rushed back to the bed. Natasha was curled into a tight ball
“Nat,” he called softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened despite his light touch and threw her eyes open. “Shh, it’s OK. It’s just me,” he soothed.
“What’s happening?”
“We need to move to the detention level. There’s been a tornado sighting.”
Natasha stared at him with wide and panicked eyes. Besides the medical bay of SHIELD, the detention was the last place she wanted to be. It was probably related to something from her days in the Red Room, but she never told anyone about it. If there was ever a reason that she had to go down there, she would always go with Steve or Clint.
Before she could think, Steve was helping her out of bed and leading her to the door, but because of how scared and shook up she was, she couldn’t make her legs cooperate. She barely made it out of the room as lightening once again lit up the room. A clap of thunder quickly followed, causing Natasha to fall to the ground, nearly pulling Steve down with her. Acting quickly, Steve put her arm around his shoulders and slipped one of his under her knees.
“Easy, Nat. I got you,” he soothed as he lifted her up.
She grabbed Steve’s shirt and held tightly to it as he carried her to the staircase heading toward the detention level. She was shaking heavily in his arms.
“Easy, Nat. It’s OK. We’ll be alright. Shh. It’s Ok.” He whispered this over and over as he carried her down.
By the time they made it, Natasha was breathing heavily and sweating. Steve laid her down on the cot and stroked her forehead, which was slightly covered in sweat.
“Steve…” she whispered.
“I’m right here, Nat. It’s OK.”
Another clap of thunder echoed in the sky. It sounded louder than before. Natasha gripped Steve’s hand when it hit. Her eyes were closed.
“Cap, is she OK?” Anna asked as she walked over to where they were.
“She’s been like this since we went to bed. I don’t’ know what to do,” Steve answered.
“Let me try something,” Anna answered. She carefully placed her hand on Natasha’s shoulder.
“Nat, can you look at me?” she asked quietly. Very slowly, Natasha opened her eyes and did her best to focus on Anna, who looked very calm and relaxed.
“I’m scared,” she whimpered quietly. Anna barely head it, but she did.
“I know. I know. It’ll all be over soon,” Anna soothed. Steve moved away to allow Anna to try and comfort his frightened wife.
“I used to be scared of thunderstorms too when I was younger,” he heard Anna say.
“How is it you’re so calm now?” Natasha asked.
“When I’m scared, there’s a verse in scripture that I sorta sing to myself over and over again. I learned it when I was a little girl.”
“What is it?”
Anna took a breath and then began to sing. “When I’m afraid, I will trust in you.” Natasha was starting to relax the second Anna finished. Steve could see that Anna was getting through to her.
“Try it with me. When I’m afraid, I will trust in you.”
It took a couple of tries, but Natasha finally caught on and was singing the words. Even Steve joined in.
“Better?” Anna asked. Natasha nodded as her eyes started to close.
“Thank you,” Natasha said. All too soon she was asleep. Steve nodded thanks to Anna and laid down gently by Natasha’s side. The cot was a little small, but he managed to position himself around her sleeping form.
The storm continued to rage on through the rest of the night. Clint, who was still sleepy from the sedative that he had been given earlier, had no idea that Natasha was upset. All he heard was two voices singing, and that was enough to put him at ease.
The following morning, everyone emerged from the detention level. Thankfully, the tornado never reached the base, but there was severe damage to the surrounding areas. As soon as Clint was able, everyone would go out and help with clean up in any way they could.