"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't want you here? Are you so conceited to think that I can't do this without you? You walked away, Barton, so do us all a favor and just keep walking."

Clint looked as if he had been punched in the gut; his face paled and his mouth hung open in shock. This wasn't what he expected. You had wanted him to stay, so he expected you to welcome him back with open arms. To his own detriment, he had never once considered this. "Is that what you really want?" he asked quietly, in sharp contrast to his attitude only moments ago. "Do you really want me to go?"

You wanted to scream at him; you wanted to push him away, and make him feel the pain that he had caused you, but you knew that he had been feeling it too. Your emotions were mixing together, heightened by the fatigue that ravaged your body. You looked at him and saw the pain in his eyes, and the longing, and it caught your breath in your chest. He really did love you and you hadn't truly believed it until this moment.

"No," you whispered, lowering your gaze to the floor.

Clint took a deep breath and let out a shaky laugh that stung his throat with a surge of emotion at your acceptance of him. Rational thought was all but gone. He reached out and pulled you up, pressing his lips to yours.

~~~

Natasha ran from room to room to find Steve, relieved when she finally saw him leaving the conference room and turning to rejoin you in the gym. "Hey, Cap," she called out in a soft tone, jogging up to meet him.

"Romanoff."

"Where you headed?"

He gave her a skeptical look and replied slowly, "to the gym...to finish (Y/N)'s session...why?"

"No reason," she smiled, taking a hold of his arm to make him pause, "how's that going?"

"As well as could be expected," he sighed. "Are you going somewhere with this?"

Natasha shifted her feet slightly, conveying to him a nervousness that was so far out of character for her that he immediately knew what was happening. His spine straightened and his jaw set; she knew right away that she had failed her mission. "Steve...maybe don't go just yet..."

"I don't believe this," he growled, taking long strides towards the gym. He was moving so quickly that she struggled to keep up.

"FRIDAY," she called out as she ran, "summon backup to the gym!"

~~~

You didn't pull yourself from him right away, frozen in place by your confusion and shock at what was happening. His kiss wasn't forceful or desperate as you first thought it might be, but rather as if he had found home after being lost for too long. His hands held you tightly but not so much that you couldn't break free if you had wanted, and you didn't. Why hadn't you? Why didn't this feel wrong?

You heard your therapist gasp and whisper your name, finally thrusting you back to reality, pulling yourself away from him. When your eyes opened, Clint was looking at you with as much shock as you were feeling; shock that turned into cold fear at the sight of the man standing in the doorway behind him.

"Clint, run."

"Wha-" he began but was immediately pulled away from you by the back of his shirt, Steve throwing him into the wall with a loud thud and the sounds of crashing equipment as Clint slid to the ground. He lay still for a few seconds, then sat up and shook his head as if to straighten his mind after what had just happened.

"Steve, don't do this," you begged, "he didn't mean to."

"What, he tripped and his lips just landed on yours? He thought he was kissing someone else's fiancé?" he yelled, his face red with rage, his voice booming throughout the room in a volume that made you wince from it's strength. "Please, (Y/N), explain to me how he didn't mean to!"

Steve turned back to Clint just in time to receive his strike, thrusting his shoulder into the Captain's abdomen and knocking him to the ground. He was able to get three punches in before Steve caught his fist and forced him onto his back, now taking the upper position and pressing his hand into Clint's throat. "You promised me," he growled, "that you were gonna stay back. That you could work through this on your own. You promised me that and now I'll never trust you again."

"Steve, let him go," Natasha gasped, grabbing Steve's arm to try to free Clint, seeing his face turn a little blue. "Steve, you're going to kill him!"

"Then he won't be a problem anymore..."

Your adrenaline began to surge out of the fear that Steve could actually follow through; that he would kill his friend and not even realize it in his rage. You watched Natasha struggling to gain control, but Steve was just too strong for her. Pushing yourself up onto your knees, you closed your eyes and gathered every ounce of strength you had rose to your feet. You had to move quickly before your legs could give out, rushing forward next to the pair and dropping to your knees next to them. You pulled your arm back and thrust your elbow into Steve's throat, knocking him back slightly and shocking him enough to release his grip. "Steve, please, that's enough!"

Clint rolled onto his stomach and pulled himself up with Natasha's aid, coughing harshly and trying to catch his breath. She led him to a bench on the far side of the room to keep as much distance between the men as she could. Steve dropped back to sit on the floor next to you, looking at his hands in shock of what they had just done.

"If you hadn't stopped me..."

"I know."

"Oh my god," he said in a whisper that was almost too quiet to hear, "is he okay?"

You glanced across the room to see Clint talking to Nat, rubbing his throat and shaking his head as he spoke to her. You could hear a few strained coughs, but overall he looked like he wasn't too worse for wear. "He's not dead, at least. Steve, this wasn't what you think it was. It wasn't like that at all."

"What else am I supposed to think, (Y/N)?" he asked, pulling his knees up to rest his arms against them. "He tells me that he loves you, and that he has to leave to keep himself in check. He's then back in the building for ten minutes and I see this. You didn't look like you were fighting it, either."

"He kinda took me by surprise, Steve. But no, I admit that I didn't push him away as fast as I should have."

You both sat quietly, avoiding eye contact and you trying your best to say anything that might set him off again. Clint had fully recovered and sat quietly with his eyes closed, his posture that of a rejected man, hearing you defend yourself to Steve and explaining the kiss away as nothing. Natasha was looking at you with a solemn expression and a shake of her head, she needed to get him out of there before he heard any more. A pain in your knee broke your concentration, making you wince slightly as you slowly straightened your leg.

"Hey, are you okay?" Steve asked, his concern and focus shifting fully onto you. "Wait..." he paused, spinning around to look behind him and the distance between the therapy equipment and where you were now sitting. You could see his mind calculating the distance as he pointed back and forth from there to you. "How did you...(Y/N)...how did you get over here so quickly?"

"I walked."

"Alone?"

"Well, it was more of a...'running stumble before I fell over' sort of walk. But yeah, on my own. I had to stop you."

Steve's face shifted from elation that you had walked on your own, to a soft smile at your determination to stop him, and finally to a sad expression at the realization of what had just happened, all in a matter of seconds. "So it's true then. You need him. From the first day, I knew that, but I don't think I ever really realized it. He brings something that I can't give you somehow; he's the one healing you, not me."

"Steve, it's not like that," you replied, feeling your body fill with fear. "Don't make this into something that its not."

"I should have known when you went to Korea with him and didn't tell me," he nodded, his eyes now glistening with tears and a crack in his voice.

"Stop it," you pleaded, "don't do this."

"Peg asked me if I had ever put myself in your place, and I hadn't until now."

A cold chill ran down your spine at the mention of her name, realizing that you weren't the only one who had kept a secret. "Wait, you went to see her? When?"

"When you were off making a life-altering decision without me," he snapped, his demeanor immediately shifting to defensive.

"Why?" you whispered angrily. "Why is this coming up again? Why is that woman coming up again?"

"Oh, no," Steve stood and pointed down at you, "don't you flip this around on me, (Y/N). You were the one kissing another man only a few minutes ago. I haven't been a part of anything since Barton stuck his nose into this and you know it."

You pushed yourself up to your knees and accepted Natasha's hand when she hurried to your side to help you to your feet. "That's not true, Steve. The decisions that I made were for the both of us, and if you could just pull your head out of your ass for a minute, you'd see that. What could going to see Peggy do for the both of us, exactly? Hmm?"

"I went there for closure! To finally move on so I could focus on my life with you!"

You stumbled back slightly, shaking your head at your sudden realization, "oh my god. I was right all along. You were never over her. All this time..." you paused, "all this time and you were just settling for me." You looked down at your hand and pulled the ring from your finger, throwing it at his chest. "Here, let me release you from your burden, Steve."

He grabbed the ring before it could drop to the ground, holding it in his open hand and looking at it blankly before lifting his eyes to meet yours. When he spoke again, his voice lacked any warmth or feeling towards you.

"Thank you."