Although Clint made a good show of keeping his attention on his driving, Natasha knew his mind was on her. He had expected her to brush the sickness off as nothing, some kind of bug she had picked up, and claim that she just needed a day or two of rest and she would be fine. The last thing he had expected, she assumed, was for her to agree to see a doctor so easily.

Of course there was a part of her that had wanted to ignore it all, to pretend that everything was fine, but she knew he would see right through her and the tension would get so bad between them that it would ruin the relaxing mood they were trying to create here. It was a testament to how far their relationship had progressed that she had chosen to face this head on instead, though clearly it still had a little ways to go since she wanted to do it alone. She still had a ways to go.

“Shh, it’s okay little one,” she said in an almost musical tone from time to time, trying to soothe the confused and terrified kitten. “We’ll take care of you.”

Looking over at Clint when he suddenly touched her hand she nodded. “I know,” she said, honestly. She knew he would be, but there were some things she still needed to do on her own. She wouldn’t shut him out, wouldn’t keep from him whatever she found, but she wanted to do this alone, to give herself time to deal with the results before having to talk about it. She hoped he understood that.

Catching his hand in hers, she brought it to her lips to kiss his knuckles gently. “We’ll always have each other’s backs.”