Chapter Text
Year One
Phil was younger than Natasha would have guessed, but still a father figure, all competence and quiet authority. He was the planner, the protector, the one that held the balloon string and kept the rest of them from floating away. Clint looked to the man with almost slavish devotion, everything Phil did was right in his eyes, and he would hear absolutely nothing to the contrary.
Silverfish was actually Douglas Gaines, a man so tall and broad that Natasha had actually gasped when she first saw him. It was unbelievable to her that such a man could be a spy, how he could ever sneak in anywhere was beyond her understanding, but Silver had been in Shield longer than even Phil and had hundreds of successful missions under his belt. For the first few weeks he had watched Natasha with suspicious eyes, but finally came to accept her. He teased mercilessly, endlessly. Clint was his favorite target, but the younger man was so easygoing that they made a good pair.
The next year flew by. Much if it was hard as she adjusted to a new country, new people, new expectations. But so much of it was good.
******
Clint and Laura's wedding--the first wedding she had ever been to. It was very small, with Phil, Silverfish, Natasha and Nick Fury there, as well as a few of Laura's girlfriends. Laura wore a white sundress. After they kissed Cooper had yelled out "Daddy, Daddy!" and ran to Clint, who took him in his arms, swung the little boy high, laughing.
******
Phil teaching her to drive, quizzing her over the handbook. Not saying anything when she ran over the curb. She never did it again.
*****
Many--too many--nicknames from Silverfish, who showed his love through unrelenting taunting and (mostly) good natured insults.
"Just roll with it," Clint had advised. "Or he'll make it worse. A lot worse." And after a while she had come to learn he was right, that no amount of glaring and angry silence would ever stop someone as tenacious as Silver.
So she had grown used to being called "Girlie" and "Girlie Q" and "Dollface". Then came "Natty Bumppo", the nickname that delighted him most and perplexed her. Finally Clint had told her that before she had arrived he had been "Natty Bumppo".
"That doesn't make any sense at all."
"Sure it does," he explained, while Silverfish's grin grew wider and wider. "It's the name of the main character in 'Last of the Mohicans', and can you guess what that character's nickname is?"
She shook her head.
"Hawkeye!" Silverfish crowed, unable to contain himself. "Natty Bumppo's nickname is Hawkeye! Oh man! It's all so perfect it's like God ordained it. Hallelujah!" He was so gleeful that even Natasha laughed a little.
"As nicknames go, there are worse," Clint sighed. "I mean, I find it hard to feel too sorry for you when I've been referred to as 'Assface' conversationally for the last eleven years."
He and Natasha exchanged shrugs, and Silverfish laughed and clapped Clint on the back.
*****
Their first Christmas all together they had at Phil's house. Silverfish had a big family and was with them; Natasha missed him a bit but mostly enjoyed the break.
Cooper squealed with childish delight over every present and his excitement was foreign to her but fun to watch. Laura gave Natasha a scarf and hugged her. Phil rolled his eyes with good humor when he opened his gift from Clint, another tie.
"Every damned year, Barton," he grumbled. He wore it the next day.
Natasha gave Clint a Scooby Doo Pez dispenser and he had laughed so hard tears rolled down his cheeks.
*****
Sometimes they talked about Jim Campion, who had been their handler before Phil. "A good guy", they would say, every time, and that's how Natasha would always think of him. Jim Campion: A Good Guy.
In the Quinjet, on their way to Mexico City, Clint rifled through a bunch of CDs. He held up one to Silverfish and smiled. "Remember this?" he asked. "You know who it makes me think of?"
"Ol' Slim Jim," Silverfish said with a grin. He took the CD and put it in the player.
Wait for it, Natasha thought. Wait for it...
"He was a good guy," Clint said with a sigh, and Natasha inwardly did a fist pump.
"Did he die?" she asked. He must have, he was always spoken of in past tense. "Did he die in the field?"
It was Phil who answered. "No, he had a heart attack, in his office."
They were all quiet. The music was low.
"He was a good guy," Clint said again, softly.
*****
At the range, all four of them shooting pistols, Clint and Silver showing off, Phil and Natasha all grim accuracy.
"Look at the kick on this baby. Hey! Look at it!" Silver shouted at Clint, his face only inches away to make sure the other man heard through his headphones. Clint made a face at him, then lightning quick, reached up and tweaked Silver's nose before the bigger man could move away. "You pisser!" Silver swiped back but Clint easily ducked out of the way. Barton was quick.
Phil looked over, frowned. He hated roughhousing on the range and held up a hand. Natasha stopped firing and took off her headphones. Clint and Silverfish, looking slightly chagrined, pulled theirs off as well.
"Problem, boys?" Phil asked, his quiet displeasure obvious.
"No problem here, Phil," Clint said virtuously, pointing to his perfect target. Silver coughed and muttered "Brown noser" under his breath.
"Of course not, Clint never misses," Natasha said loyally. She had not missed either.
Silverfish rolled his eyes, and Phil snorted. "I've seen him miss."
Clint gave him a startled look of betrayal. "You have not!"
"You missed that time South Africa. Missed by a mile, as I recall." Phil calmly emptied his pistol.
"What the hell, that doesn't count!" Clint was scandalized. "I was on fire at the time! On fire!"
Phil shrugged. "A miss is a miss," he said mildly.
Clint sputtered some more, then stomped angrily out. Silverfish, who couldn't stand for Clint to be picked on by anyone but him, frowned at Phil and scolded "Not cool, Candyman," and quickly followed.
Natasha raised her eyebrows at Phil, who smiled at her and winked.
*****
Silverfish, in one of his rare serious moments, thanking her.
"You brought him back," he said, looking over at Clint, who sat working on reports with Phil. "He was slipping away and I didn't know how to pull him back to us. Then, in Russia, he disappeared, and I thought he had...well, you can guess what I thought. And then he brought you in, and he was happy again, and I was so relieved. I don't get it, what it is you guys have together. But whatever it is, whatever it is the two of you feel for each other, it brought him back." He put his hand on hers. "That's enough for me."
"He saved me, too," she said.