TRIGGER WARNINGS will apply in future chapters for mentions of childhood abuse.


Coulson pinches the bridge of his nose and clenches his eyes shut. He isn't sure what to do about the current situation. Barton's gotten himself into another mess, though Coulson knows it's not entirely his agent's fault. SHIELD had trusted what turned out to be faulty intel. That mistake had nearly cost them one of their best agents. Luckily, medical has since cleared him.

There's a soft groan and shifting that alerts Coulson to Clint's waking. The agent is settled on the couch in Coulson's office with a pile of blankets settled on top of him. In his state, Coulson had thought it best not to leave him alone.

Coulson holds his breath, hopes Clint settles back down. He's not prepared to deal with him just yet.

Clint appears to settle back into sleep, and Coulson lets out the breath he's been holding. Now if the agent could just stay unconscious until he's figured out what to do with him. Coulson would take care of him, if he weren't spread so thin already. He's having to deal with the death of two top agents as well as the incapacitation of one of SHIELD's best (the sleeping agent on his couch), while having to keep up with all his regular duties.

His options are limited, as he doesn't trust a lot of people with Clint. A soft knock at his door draws him out of his thoughts, and he looks up to see Natasha entering the room. She closes the door behind her silently as she watches Clint sleep. "Have you figured out what to do with him while he's... in this state?" She asks.

Coulson sighs. "No, and I need you for the mission tomorrow." He's already tried to find another agent that might be suitable, but he'd been unsuccessful. Somewhere he knows that part of him hadn't wanted to find anyone else. The mission is key to finding a way to help Clint, and he knows that Natasha is the best at gathering information. "And I don't want to alert Bruce to the situation."

The mixture of a small child and Bruce concerns him. There are too many things that could go wrong, and, given Clint's history, it's just not safe. He could stay here at SHIELD, but he'd go mostly neglected. He's thought about having a nurse at medical look after him, but Clint hates medical. Coulson doesn't trust any other agent to take care of him, but he's desperate enough he's thought about asking Fury. Fury, at least, wouldn't hurt him, but he'd probably forget about him. Natasha would have been his number one choice, but he can't do anything about that. He'd do it himself, if he weren't so busy. He doesn't have time to attend to Clint's needs right now; something he feels guilty about. He wishes he could take care of him.

"How do you think he's going to react when Clint's still not home several days after he's supposed to have returned?" Natasha asks. As much as the Hulk concerns her, she feels like it's the best bet. Besides, Bruce is living in the Avengers' tower. There are several others there to help if anything goes wrong. JARVIS would be an excellent way of keeping tabs on Clint, and Pepper would most likely be a lot of help with her experience in taking care of a petulant child.

Coulson frowns. He's considered it, of course. Bruce is Clint's boyfriend after all, but the idea of it scares him. Still, he knows it's his best option, but it worries him. He's scared to just let him go like that, but he knows he really doesn't have much of a choice. If only Natasha could stay. "Can you handle making sure the Avengers know what they're taking on? I'm not asking you to share his past with them, but I want it to be understood that they cannot mistreat him in iany/i way."

Natasha nods her head. She has plenty of time between now and tomorrow to talk to them and make sure everything's set for Clint. "Can you keep him for the night?" She asks, needing the chance to prepare the Avengers for Clint's arrival.

Clint chooses that moment to bolt off the couch and move for the nearest corner. His eyes are wide and alert. It's only the second time he's woken up since he'd been turned, and medical had warned Coulson that he'd been pretty agitated then. It's no surprise that he is now.

His little fingers are pressed flat against the walls on either side of him, and he looks like a trapped animal. Both Natasha and Coulson feel their hearts twist painfully at seeing their friend, now several years younger than he'd been just the day before, looking so terrified in their presence.

Natasha takes a couple of steps forward, careful with her movements. She crouches down, still several feet away from the small agent. "It's okay," she says softly. She can hear Coulson moving behind her, his chair moving against the floor as he stands. Clint tenses in front of her.

"Don't," she says and turns her head slightly so both know who she's directing the command to.

Coulson settles back in his seat and watches. Clint eases a little, but not by much. It hurts to see the little boy so afraid of him. For a moment, he's reminded of a young Clint, not as young as the one in front of him now, but he'd still been afraid then. By the time Coulson had found him, Clint showed fear very differently than he is showing now. Coulson had been sure to show the boy nothing but kindness, even when Clint had absolutely shredded his nerves. To know he'd just caused one of the closest people to him distress, simply by his presence, has to be its own kind of torture.

Natasha focuses her attention on Clint. She's not exactly trained to deal with children, but she knows Clint like the back of her hand, and she also knows that a younger Clint is more likely to warm up to her than a man. While adult Clint trusts Coulson with his life, this Clint knows nothing but pain caused by men meant to protect him.

Part of her hopes that this little Clint might even recognize them to some degree. If he calms down, he might feel comfortable around them, but she knows she can't rely on that. She's dealing with a child who has been abused, something she knows all too well, and she knows she needs to tread carefully.

"I'm sorry. Don't tell my pa," he says, eyes looking around like he's trying to figure out how to escape.

"I would never do that," Natasha tells him. She couldn't, but she wouldn't even consider it anyways.

Clint doesn't look convinced, and she holds back a sigh. She doesn't need to upset him any further. "We're in New York right now. Do you know where that is?" She asks. When he shakes his head, she continues, "It's very far away from your pa."

Clint seems to accept this. He turns his attention to Coulson and points at him before asking, "Who's he?"

"He's a really good friend of mine," she watches as Clint unglues himself from the wall. He still doesn't move any closer. "His name is Phil. Mine's Natasha."

"I'm Clint," he says with the slightest of smiles. He doesn't look as afraid, and his little body eases some. She wonders how many people Clint had trusted like this and had later turned around and hurt him. He's young enough now that she's hopeful that he's trusting enough to let the Avengers take care of him if she promises him they will be nice.

She nods and smiles back, "Are you hungry, Clint?"

It's his turn to nod. He bites his lip and adds, "A bit."

"Alright. Let's go get food. Phil here has to do a couple of other things so we can have a place for you to stay." Clint looks concerned for a moment, but his hunger seems to be at the front of his mind. He moves over to her and resists the urge to hold his arms out. He's still tired, and he doesn't know how far away the food is, but he doesn't want to do anything to upset the kind lady.

Natasha smiles apologetically at Phil. She'd been completely prepared to deal with the Avengers, but she needs to make sure Clint understands he's in a safe place now, and trying to leave him right now wouldn't be a good idea. She knows from her own experience that it's hard to connect to people after being hurt for so long, and she knows Clint had difficulty developing a friendship with Coulson when they first met. She considers this nothing more than childlike trust, and it's not something she wants to risk messing up.

She leads him from Clint's office to the cafeteria, keeping an eye on him the entire time. He's fidgety, and he'll occasionally open his mouth like he's going to say something. Every time he closes his mouth again. She considers asking him questions, to spark a conversation, but she doesn't want to ask the wrong question.

The cafeteria is relatively empty, but all the food choices are just high enough that he can't get a good look. "Is it okay if I pick you up?" She asks. He nods once, and she scoops him up and places him on her hip. Medical says he's between the ages of five and six but he's fairly small.

He peers at the options curiously, not sure how much to ask for.

"Anything look good?" She asks, trying to encourage a response.

"The burger," he points towards the burger.

"Do you want fries?" He nods his head, but he scrunches his nose up like he's unsure. "What's wrong?"

"Too much."

"We can split it in half," she offers. Come to think of it, she's yet to eat today. She'd been with Fury earlier, debriefing from the last mission. With Coulson busy, she had to report to the Director.

Natasha sets him down so she can take the plate of food offered to her by one of the workers. Sometime between then and their sitting down, a cookie appears on the plate. She can't help but smile at that. All of maybe five or six years-old, and he's still sneaky.

While they're eating, she asks a couple of questions, trying to encourage a conversation. She's careful about what she asks, and apparently she says something right. The conversation ignites at some point, and Clint starts chattering away about anything and everything with a big grin on his face. She does her best to keep up and interact, wanting to keep the conversation going. She's concerned about saying or reacting the wrong way to something he says. She doesn't want him to crawl right back in his shell. From what Coulson and Clint have told her about their initial meet, when Clint had been fairly young, he'd been much harder to get to open up than this. She wonders if their little connection now has anything to do with her relationship to his older counterpart.

He's energetic, like she'd expected a child Clint would be. Adult Clint is downright miserable when he has nothing to do. He's tense and can be grumpy. Now, he's still fidgety and tens, but she can tell he wants to play.

Coulson looks up when there's a knock on the door. "Come in," he says. He's already talked to Stark about the situation. Thor's in Asgard, thankfully. Phil really doesn't think that would be a good combination. Pepper is aware of the situation as well, having been there when Coulson had called Stark. She seems pretty eager to have a little kid to look after. With her experience with Stark, all should go just fine. Steve shouldn't be a problem, but he does still want to talk to him about the situation. He hasn't gotten to him yet. Bruce knows nothing, still. Coulson can only hope he gets to talk to him before Stark does, though he supposes it doesn't really matter where the information comes from at this point.

When Natasha steps through the door, she actually looks somewhat worn out. Coulson can't help but raise an eyebrow at that. It's not until he gets a better view of the lump curled up against her side that he understands. Clint's clearly asleep, having worn both himself and Natasha out. "Outdone by a five year-old, Agent Romanoff?"

She gives a small smirk at that. "I'd like to see you try to keep up with him." She puts the boy down on the couch and covers him up with one of the blankets.

"Maybe he'll sleep through the night then. Tomorrow's going to be hard on him," Phil says, eyes trained on Clint.

"Did you talk to Stark?" Natasha asks, settling herself in one of the chairs in front of Coulson's desk.

"Yes, and he says he'll have orders set for JARVIS to keep an eye on Clint and Bruce. He thinks the whole thing is amusing, but I warned him to take care of Clint." Natasha can't help but think that Phil more likely threatened some not so pleasant things. He might not be the most intimidating looking agent, but he's terrifying when he wants to be. He's also good at following through on threats.

"Pepper seems excited by the whole thing," he adds, drawing Natasha out of her thoughts.

"That's good," Natasha says and glances at Clint. "Maybe he'll warm up to her." If Pepper can handle Tony Stark, she can certainly handle a five year-old version of Clint, no matter how damaged the little boy. Though Natasha has her suspicions about Tony's own past, which puts her a little more at ease that the couple will be good to Clint. Still, she can't help but hate the idea of leaving him. Phil probably feels worse for it.

"Maybe. I haven't talked to Banner yet-"

"I can do that," Natasha tells him. "I can go do that now. Better to do it in person anyways."

"If you're sure."

"I am," Natasha looks at Clint one more time. He's tuckered out, and, with any luck, he'll sleep through the night, without nightmares. Medical had told her that the previous night had been rather unpleasant. They had wanted to keep him overnight for observation, to make sure the whole 'de-aged' thing, as they called it, hadn't done anything more harmful to Clint. It hadn't, luckily, but little Clint had nightmares and panicked when only strangers were present to comfort him.

She heads off without letting herself think on the situation much more. Phil is fully capable of taking care of Clint.