A/N. Kind of an AU about how Clint found Laura and started a family. We're going to pretend that the movies were all a little more spread out, all right? Cool. Enjoy!
It had been a hard battle. The enemy - a group of terrorists/xenophobes had partially destroyed a building that was both apartments and offices, and the battle had turned into a frantic rescue effort before the building collapsed on itself.
Clint stumbled through the rubble, looking for the life sign that Tony had told him about. Then he found her - a young woman covered in rubble, her leg caught under a desk. He came over and started heaving the rubble away. "Can you walk?" he asked.
"Yeah," she gasped, standing up.
And then an enemy agent dropped through the ceiling and started shooting. "Go!" Clint said, knocking an arrow and shooting the man's thigh.
"I can't," she said desperately.
"Yes you can. I'll cover you!" He knocked the man back.
"No, I really can't! I'm blind!" she yelled.
He spared a glance and silently berated himself for not noticing the dark shades on her face. He knocked out his opponent and turned to the woman. "We have to go."
"Just leave me," she said, as the building creaked.
"No," he said firmly. "You will make it out of this. I'm Hawkeye, do you know about me?" He guided her through the room.
"Yeah," she said shakily. "An Avenger. You're a marksman, right?"
"Exactly." He lifted her over a fallen beam. "I'll be your eyes," he promised. "We'll get out of here." He tapped her right leg. "Climb up, the hallway is trashed."
They got out just as the fifth floor supports broke and the building came down.
"Hawkeye!" Steve shouted, fishing them both from the ground. "You ok?"
"Yeah," he said. "Miss, you okay?"
She rubbed at her eyes, trying to get the dust out of 'em. She'd lost her glasses, and Clint could see her milky white irises. "Yeah," she said. "Is it over?"
"Yes ma'am," Steve said, trying not to stare.
"Do you need a ride home?" Clint asked, taking her elbow and leading her away from the building.
She sighed. "That was my home. And my work."
"Do you have any family?"
"No."
The paramedics came, and she was taken away to get checked out as the Avengers regrouped.
"Do we know what they wanted?" Steve asked Tony.
"The computers," Tony said, landing next to them. "They copied and wiped all the hard drives before blowing it up."
Clint glanced over at the blind woman. He took in her posture, her fingers tapping lightly on her thighs. "Her," he said, pointing. "She's a techie."
"Hey you!" Tony hollered. "Cute techie! Come here a sec."
"Tony she's blind you idiot," Clint said, whacking him with his bow. He went over and said, "Ma'am."
"Yes sir?"
"You work here?"
"Yes."
"Doing what?"
"I am, I mean I was, a senior programmer."
"You know the projects?"
"Yes."
"Do you have any backups off site?"
"No, we weren't allowed." She found his sleeve and tugged at it urgently. "But I have eidetic memory."
He grinned. "Perfect. Come on." He helped her up and led her to the others. "Guys, meet the senior programmer, uh, what's your name?"
"Lizzy Colter," she said, giving him a half-wave.
"How are you a senior programmer if you're blind?" Tony asked, and received a shove from Steve.
Lizzy didn't seem bothered. "Eidetic memory and 110 wpm, with complete accuracy," she replied calmly.
"Eidetic?" Steve questioned.
"Well I can't exactly say 'photographic,'" Lizzy said, smirking.
"All right," Steve said. "Let's move out, clean up, and get Miss Colter to a computer."
"Back to the Tower," Tony said, eyeing Lizzy's drooping, shaking form. "Someone's going into shock."
Clint caught her before she fell over. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he said, rubbing her arm. "You're safe now."
"I know," she said, trying to curl into a ball. "I've got a migraine." She rubbed her eyes. "I'm not-" She keeled over.
"Let's go," Clint said, picking her up.
They put her in a guest room with JARVIS to watch over her and went to shower and sleep.
Lizzy woke up six hours later still with a throbbing headache and a stiff neck, completely disoriented. "Hello?" she whisper-groaned.
"Good evening Miss Colter," JARVIS said, sotto voce. "I am Mr. Stark's AI, at your service."
"Where am I?" she asked, sitting up.
"Avengers Tower, miss. This room and the adjoining bathroom have been assigned to you. There are clean clothes on the wardrobe if you'd like to shower."
"Thank you," Lizzy whispered, carefully standing up and feeling her way to the bathroom.
"How hot would you like your water?" JARVIS asked.
"Mildly hot, please," she whispered, and was pleasantly surprised when she found it had a massage setting. She stood here for a long time letting all the dust and the tension rinse out. She found cleansers and scrubs, washed up, and got out. She got dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants, and lay back down with a cold cloth on her head.
"Miss Colter?" came a quiet voice.
She turned her head in the person's direction. "Who's there?" she asked.
"My name is Bruce Banner, I'm a doctor," the voice said. He sounded nice. "I came to check up on you."
"Oh." She sat up. "Migraine's almost gone."
"How long have you had them?"
"Seven years. Since I've been blind."
He hesitated. "Can I ask, how?"
"Car accident."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I've adjusted." She rubbed her temples lightly.
"Are your migraines stress-induced?"
"They just, happen," she said. "No discernible pattern. This one was probably stress though."
"Probably," Bruce agreed. "Do you feel up to working at a computer?"
"Yes. I just need some water and-" the smell of food hit her and she nearly swooned. "And some food if you've got it."
Bruce laughed. "I think we can manage that." He pressed a cane into her hand. "This is for you."
She inspected it with her hands. "Thank you. This is perfect."
They made their way to the kitchen, and after Lizzy wolfed down two sandwiches and two cups of coffee, Bruce led her to the lab, where Tony was trying to recover a couple hard drives. "This isn't working," Tony groaned. "We really need a clean copy."
"Good thing you pulled me out of the rubble," Lizzy smirked. "Where's the computer?"
"Ten o'clock, three paces forward," JARVIS said.
"Thank you JARVIS," Lizzy said, finding the computer and starting to type. "These are the projects that our office was working on within the last three months."
"Do you know all the code for all of these?" Tony asked, looking at the titles.
"Yes."
"Do you know what a group of terrorist xenophobes would possibly want?" Bruce asked.
Lizzy frowned. "These three, maybe." She typed them out. "These all had to do with satellite programming and bio scanners."
"Were you trying to write tracker programs?"
"Not trying," Lizzy corrected. "We succeeded with Project Describe."
"All right, describe it. Er, type it."
Lizzy's eyes widened. "That's like 5 weeks of straight typing."
"Well get started. Maybe JARVIS can extrapolate the rest."
"I think I like your AI better than you," Lizzy said, her fingers already flying across the keyboard.
"Hey!" Tony protested.
Bruce laughed. "Welcome to the club Lizzy."
She kept up a steady speed of 110 wpm with no typos for several hours, until Clint came down. "How's it going?" he asked the Science Bros.
"She's fast," Tony said.
"I can hear you, you know," Lizzy said, from across the room, not even pausing in her typing as she glanced over at them.
"Okay, that's creepy. Stop doing that," Tony said.
"What, looking at you and having a conversation while I'm typing?" she asked, giving him an innocent smile.
"Yeah, that."
"Nah. I can't see the screen, why should I look at it?"
"How did you lose your sight?" Tony asked.
Her fingers faltered and she erased the last two letters, starting over again. "I, it was a car crash. I was 21, out with my friends, our car crashed. I had my eyes open when the explosion happened. Completely seared my retinas. And that was it." She hunched over her keyboard, self-conscious.
"I'm sorry," Tony said, surprising everyone with his apology.
"Not your fault," she said, shrugging. "I adapted. And I was always better at kinesics than seeing. Now I can read faster with my fingers than I ever could with my eyes."
Clint smiled. That was the kind of person he could admire. Someone who rolled with the punches and turned it into an advantage. "Hey, anyways, I'm supposed to tell you guys to come eat lunch," he said. "We got gyros."
"Nice."
Lizzy saved the program and reached for her cane. She stood up carefully, and nearly tripped on one of Tony's projects.
Clint grabbed her elbow before she could fall. "Here," he said, linking elbows with her. "Trying to walk through here even with sight is difficult, they leave their stuff all over the place. Well, not Bruce. He's tidy."
"Are you saying I'm not organized?" Tony asked, affronted.
"Yes," Clint said, smirking.
Lizzy grinned. "This is like listening to a sit-com, honestly."
They all laughed.
Lunch was a merry affair, and even Natasha warmed up to the blind programmer. She and JARVIS had figured out some sort of system and Lizzy was perfectly capable of navigating the tower.
"How long is the rest of the program going to take?" Steve asked.
"If I focus on the main coding parts... a week? Less, if I have an unlimited supply of caffeine."
"Sounds good."
Lizzy hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Um, what happens afterwards?"
That made them pause. They realized she didn't have anywhere to go and nowhere to work.
"How would you like a job at Stark Industries?" Tony asked. "I've been looking at your resume and your programs, and you really are one of the best."
Her eyes widened behind her dark glasses and she stared at him. "Really? You're not just feeling pity for me?"
"No, I mean it. We can always use another computer genius. What do you say?"
"I would love it."
"Great. Room and board is included in your salary on one condition."
Lizzy frowned at him. "Which is?"
"You let me and Bruce use you as a guinea pig for bionic implements, specifically in the vision area."
"What?"
"Yeah, I was thinking. You know Geordi La Forge from Star Trek The Next Generation?"
The question was met with virtual crickets.
"Okay, anyways, he was blind, too, and he had a sort of visor that interpreted everything around him into sight, and eventually that turned into bio-mechanical eyes that looked completely normal. His sight was actually better than most people."
"So you want to design something like that?" Bruce asked.
"Yes."
"Using me as a guinea pig?" Lizzy clarified.
"Yes."
She grinned. "Deal."
"Great!" Tony clapped his hands together. "We'll find Pepper and you can sign the contract. Come on, come on, we have stuff to do." And he hurried his two science fellows away.
"You look happy," Natasha told Clint, raising an eyebrow at him suspiciously.
"What?" he asked defensively. "She's smart, and funny."
"And beautiful?" Natasha said knowingly.
Clint couldn't help the tiny smile. Lizzy didn't know it, but her reddish brown hair and freckled skin and her curves were absolutely stunning. "Well she is," he said, matter-of-factly.
"I'll be your eyes," Natasha said, echoing what he'd told the blind woman only yesterday. "Such romance."
"Shut up Tasha," he said, shoving her lightly.
"Hey, I'm only calling it as I see it," she said, returning the shove.
He made a face at her and escaped to the gym to train.
"For the record, I approve," Natasha called after him.
He grinned.
It was 10 PM when Lizzy started feeling tired. "Can we pick it up again tomorrow?" she asked, covering her mouth with her hand as she yawned.
"Sure," Bruce said. He tapped Tony on the shoulder. "We're going to bed."
"Kay," Tony mumbled, stumbling to his feet.
"You all right to get to your room?" Bruce asked as they got out of the lab.
"Yeah. I've got it memorized."
"Okay. Good night Lizzy."
"Night Bruce." She got in the elevator and started up towards her floor. The elevator stopped and someone got on with her. She recognized the breathing, slow and steady, controlled, nearly silent. "Clint?"
"How'd you know?"
"Your breathing."
"Oh."
They stood in awkward silence and then she asked, "Can I see what you look like?"
"What?" he asked, confused.
She blushed under his intense gaze, which she could feel burning into her. "I mean, I want to know what my favorite superhero looks like, build a picture in my mind." She held out a hand. "May I?"
He swallowed hard. "Sure."
She placed a soft hand on his shoulder, moved up his neck to his jawline. She traced the shell of his ear and ruffled his hair. "What color's your hair?" she asked quietly.
"Uh, light brownish, blondish."
She nodded, and her forehead wrinkled in concentration as she traced the wrinkles in his forehead, his eyebrows. She paused at the crinkle in his skin. "Scar?" she asked.
"Yep," he said stiffly, closing his eyes as her fingertips drifted over his eyelids and outlined the shape.
"What color are your eyes?" she asked.
"Blue," he said, swallowing hard and stepping back.
She dropped her finger down the slope of his nose and cupped his cheek before running her fingertips over his lips. "There," she whispered, stepping back and dropping her hand. "Thank you," she whispered, blushing.
He was blushing too. "Yeah," he said, his voice hoarse, and cleared his throat. "Ahem, um, yeah. This is your floor."
"Oh. Uh, good night."
"Good night," he said, and the elevator doors closed. He returned to the floor he and Natasha had split, and dropped onto the bed. "No," he told himself fiercely, "she's a civilian, she's a liability, she's not safe, she's-" He sighed. "She's perfect." He groaned. He had already fallen for her, and fallen hard. "I did not see this coming," he told the ceiling glumly.
"Miss Colter is quite aesthetically pleasing," JARVIS said. "I believe everyone saw this coming, Agent Barton."
"Shut up JARVIS," Clint said, shoving a pillow over his head. "It's just a crush."
But as the days passed he had to admit that no, it was not just a crush. He was hopelessly head over heels for her. "Seriously, man, just ask her out," Tony said, looking at Clint's lovelorn expression.
"I can't," Clint said.
"Why not? Is it because she's blind and you're the amazing Hawkeye?"
"No," Clint said sharply. "Don't be an idiot. She's blind, I wear hearing aids. That has nothing to do with anything."
"Well what's the issue?"
"I don't know how she feels about me."
Tony stared at him in disbelief. "Clint, she put her hands all over your face to make a mental portrait of you," he said. "She hasn't done that with any of us, and I'm her boss. Wouldn't you want to know what your boss looks like? But no, she wanted to see you." He tapped Clint on the forehead. "Use your spy skills and get the girl, birdbrain."
"Don't touch me," Clint scowled.
"Oh, I see, only Lizzy's allowed to touch you." He smirked. "We should stamp 'Property of Lizzy Colter' on your forehead."
"Go away Stark."
"Fine, fine, I'm going. If you don't ask her out by the end of the week though, I'm setting her up with Rhodey."
Clint gave him a dirty look. "Don't you dare."
"Well make a move, then."
The next day, Lizzy was at her computer, typing away busily, when she stopped. "Clint? Are you there?"
"How'd you know it was me?" he asked, dropping into a chair beside her.
"I just do." She started typing again. "What's up?"
"Um, I was wondering, would you like to go out to with me? To dinner? I mean, you've been here for a long time, and you must be hungry, and I know the perfect place-"
"I would love to go out with you," Lizzy said, stopping him before he embarrassed himself further.
"Oh. Um. Good. 6 o'clock?"
"Sure."
"Okay." He grinned. "See you in a couple hours."
"Yeah."
Clint went away, grinning, and Bruce gave him a silent high-five as he left.
"JARVIS," Lizzy said, "what am I going to wear?"
"I will page Miss Potts for you."
Pepper came down a few minutes later. "JARVIS said you have a date," she said, grinning.
Lizzy blushed. "Clint asked me to dinner."
"Oh, finally." Pepper pulled her out of her chair. "Come on. We've got to get you a dress."
At 6 o'clock Lizzy was wearing a knee-length flowy dark green dress and black flats, and her hair was in loose curls. She didn't know what she looked like, but she felt pretty. And hearing Clint's quiet gasp of surprise was enough to confirm her suspicions. Yeah. She looked good.
"You look incredible," Clint said. "And you can't see it, but I'm not looking too bad either."
She laughed. "I'm sure you do."
He took her elbow. "Shall we?"
They went to a nearby pizza parlor, and found that it was insanely easy to talk to each other. After dinner, they walked back to the Tower, holding hands and listening to the sounds of the city.
"Thank you, for dinner," Lizzy said, as they got out of the elevator on her floor. "It was the best first date I've ever had."
"Have you had many first dates?" Clint asked.
"Nope. Just this one." She grinned wryly. "Most people don't want to date a blind girl."
"I do," he said honestly. "I don't care that you're blind. I have eyesight enough for both of us."
"Humble, much?" she asked.
"Nah."
They both laughed. "Can we do this again someday?" Clint asked.
She smiled at him. "You know where to find me."
"Good night."
"Night."
The next day Clint was ambushed by the guys and Lizzy was ambushed by the girls. "Tell us everything," Pepper demanded.
"You guys must be really bored to be grilling me," Clint said, unimpressed.
Lizzy only laughed and answered the questions.
It was the day after that Clint was sent on a mission with Natasha. It would take an estimated three weeks to complete. "Barton, wheels up in ten."
"Right. Let me say bye." He made his way to the lab, where Lizzy was hard at work on the computer. "Liz?"
"Clint!" she said, her expression brightening as she turned in his direction. "What's up?"
"I have a mission," he said abruptly.
"Oh." She ducked her head. "How long?"
"Three weeks."
"Be safe," she said anxiously.
"I'll try."
She reached out a hand, and when he took it, she pulled him forward and hugged him fiercely. "No really," she said. "Come back safe. We haven't had our second date yet."
He laughed. "As soon as I get back," he promised. He released her reluctantly and headed out. Strange... now he had a reason to come back home...
He and Natasha came back three weeks later, tired, sore, and quiet. "It was not a good three weeks," was all Natasha said. Clint said nothing at all, not even when Lizzy asked him about it.
"Clint," Lizzy said finally, as the third hour of intense silence started.
"Yeah?"
"You wanna watch a movie?"
"Sure?" he said uncertainly.
"Good. Come on." She took his hand and they went up to the movie room. She pushed him onto the couch, sat beside him, and he curled an arm around her gladly. "You pick a movie," she said.
He chose a random action movie, and as the opening credits struck up, he watched as Lizzy took her dark glasses off and rubbed at her eyes. "Tired?" he asked gently.
"It's funny, even if I'm not looking at the screen my eyes still get tired." She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder.
They watched the movie for a little bit, but as it went on, Lizzy noticed that there were no sarcastic comments from Clint, no chuckles. He was absolutely silent, and it terrified her. "JARVIS pause," she said, sitting up.
"What's wrong?" Clint asked.
She turned to face him. "I should be asking you that. Since you've been back you haven't said more than ten words. If it wasn't for your breathing I wouldn't even know you were here. You're scaring me, Clint." She put a hand on his cheek. "Please, just talk to me."
He sighed. "Lizzy, I can't. It's classified."
"The mission might be but your feelings are not. Let me help you."
"I-" He sighed again. "I'm not, I can't."
She sighed. "Okay," she said softly. "You're not one to talk about your feelings, I get it." She leaned closer and ran her fingertips over his face, reading the tension in his expression. "You're angry, and disturbed. You're tired. Goodness Clint, when was the last time you slept?" She didn't let him answer. "You didn't like what happened on your mission. And-" she stopped as she felt dampness on his cheeks. "Are you crying?"
"I'm just so tired," he said brokenly.
She pulled him down into her arms and pressed her lips to his lightly. "It's okay," she said softly. "It's okay. I get it."
"No, you don't," he said savagely, pulling away from her. "I kill people for a living, Lizzy! I spy and cheat and steal and hurt in defense of the innocent people of this world so that they don't have to. So you don't have to. You don't understand anything, you can't even see." As soon as he said it, he regretted it, but he was too angry to take it back. He could only stand there, chest heaving with emotions.
"You're right, I can't see," she said softly, "but I can feel it. I can hear it. I care about you, Clint, and I don't want you to be hurt, either." She stood up and took her cane in hand. "I'll talk to you later. Get some rest." And she was gone.
Clint turned and stormed off to the gym. He spent half an hour beating the stuffing out of a punching bag before finally collapsing in exhaustion on the mat, guilt nearly consuming him. He shouldn't have taken his frustrations out on Lizzy.
Steve found him there, half an hour later, still lying on the floor. "Go sleep," Steve ordered, hauling him to his feet. "You can apologize in the morning."
The next morning Clint went straight to Lizzy's apartment and knocked on the door. There was no reply. "Lizzy?" he called quietly. Still no reply. He leaned his head on the door frame. "Lizzy? If you can hear me, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said last night. I know you can understand me. I just, I've been alone for so long I don't know how to talk to anyone. I need you to help me, and maybe, a hug? Please, can you forgive me?"
The door opened slowly, and Lizzy stood there, smiling softly. "Of course I can," she said, and held out a hand.
He stepped forward and engulfed Lizzy in a bear hug. "Thank you," he breathed, burying his nose in her hair and sighing gratefully.
She wrapped her arms around him and ran her fingers through his bristly hair. "Just please don't do that again," she requested.
"Deal," he said.
She led him to the kitchen/ living area. "Sit down," she said. "I'll make us some breakfast."
"You can cook?" he asked, surprised.
"Of course I can," she said. "As long as I know where everything is and since JARVIS won't let me burn anything I can make anything you like. Except right now I'm making an omelet."
He watched her move around the kitchen with ease and smiled when she flipped the omelet with a flourish. "Show-off," he teased.
She smirked at him. "You better believe it."
They had a relaxed breakfast and Clint followed Lizzy to her office further down the Tower. "Can I hang out with you?" he asked timidly. "I don't want to be alone."
She gave him a beautiful smile. "I'd love to have some company."
He took her out for lunch and stole her away afterwards.
"Where are we going?" she asked. "The office is the other way."
"I don't even know how you know that but we're not going back. It's a surprise."
"I don't like surprises."
He took her hand. "Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do," she said, squeezing his hand.
"Then let me give you a surprise."
"Fine." She pouted at him and laughed. "Can you give me a hint?"
"You'll like how it smells," he promised.
"Well that's no help. Is it a library? Even if I can't read most of them I do like the smell of books."
"Nope."
"Is it...a bakery?"
"Nope."
"It's not a swimming pool right?"
"No. That's not safe."
"Okay, good." She frowned, thinking hard. "Another hint?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Nope." He laughed. "Don't give me that puppy dog look. I'm a trained agent, you're not getting anything from me."
She put her hand on his knee and leaned into his shoulder, whispering into his ear, "Are you sure?" She pressed her lips to his cheek gently, and couldn't help but grin when he shivered.
"That's not playing fair," he said, clearing his throat.
"Neither is kidnapping a blind woman," she said.
He turned to her in alarm. "I promise I would never hurt you or take advantage of you. If you're really uncomfortable I'll tell you everything."
She sat back, mollified by the sincerity in his tone. "No, it's fine. I trust you." There was a pause, and she could practically hear his grin.
It was another fifteen minutes until he parked the car. "Okay," he said. "We're here."
"Good. Where are we?"
He helped her out of the car. "You tell me."
She breathed in deeply, and smiled. "Central Park, by a lakeside."
"Precisely." He opened the basket on his arm. "How about now?"
"Picnic?" she asked.
"Yep." He led her forward. "Come on. There's a perfect spot just over there."
"We're under a tree," she said, feeling the difference in temperature.
"Yep."
She sat down cross-legged on the blanket and sighed. "I wish I could see this place."
He touched her knee gently. "Give it a few more days and you might be able to. Tony says that they'll have a prototype soon."
"I don't want to get my hopes up," she said.
"I know." He smiled. "But in the meantime, sandwich?"
It was 2 weeks later, and Lizzy was summoned to the lab. "What's up?" she asked the Science Bro's, who were looking entirely too pleased with themselves.
"We have a prototype," Tony announced. "Close your eyes."
She gave him a Look that was especially effective with her blinded eyes.
"Okay, never mind, just hold out your hands," he said.
She held out her hands, and a few seconds later Bruce put something in her hands. "What is it?" she asked, feeling the shape. "It's like a really heavy pair of sunglasses."
"Got it in one," Tony said. "Put 'em on."
She put them on, and winced as the sides of the glasses pinched her skin. "Ow."
"Oh, sorry, that's the neural interface," Bruce said.
"This feels migraine-inducing," Lizzy said doubtfully.
"If you get one Bruce will fix it," Tony promised. "Okay. So it's interfaced to your brain. If you tap the button on the side it'll turn on."
Lizzy felt the button on the side, and carefully clicked it. An explosion of shapes and colors filled the vision centers of her brain and she cringed, squeezing her eyes shut even though that didn't help. She hadn't seen in so long, it was overwhelming.
"Can we lower the threshold?" Bruce asked quietly.
"Yeah." Tony twisted a few holo dials. "This better, Lizzy?"
The world went grey again in Lizzy's eyes, and only a few vague outlines appeared, like a smudged sketch. She took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay. Yes. Much better."
"Describe what you see."
"Floor, table..." she reached out hesitantly and pointed at Tony. "Tony? And Bruce," she continued, pointing at him.
"Good job. Let's turn it up just a little bit."
She winced at the slight pain in her temples, and saw more details, more things, still in black and white, like looking in the dark.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Can you describe what you see now?"
She smiled faintly and turned to the rest of the room. "Table, table, computer, robot, computer, beer..." she gave a quick laugh of disbelief. "I can see... I can actually see..."
"Do you want to turn it up all the way?" Bruce asked.
"Um...yeah. Let's try it."
"Okay. Hold on. And..." there was a tiny click, and Lizzy's vision went blank.
When it came back a second later, full color, full resolution, there was a man standing in front of her that she'd never seen before, but she knew exactly who it was. She smiled. "Clint."
He grinned at her. "How did you know?"
"I just do." She reached out and touched his cheek. "You look exactly like I thought you would."
"Oookkkaay," Tony said, after another few seconds. "You can gaze into each other's eyes later. We've gotta run some tests."
Clint stepped back, still grinning. "Go ahead."
They ran a few more tests, trying different resolutions and color schemes, and decided on settings.
"Okay, you can keep these settings for a few days, and you'll tell us if you feel any disorientation or dizziness. It's just like getting contacts," Bruce said.
"Awesome."
The explosion happened two days later. Clint had taken Lizzy to a bagel shop that, according to Natasha, had the best bagels and coffee this side of Asgard. They were halfway through breakfast when Clint's spy senses raised his hackles. "Something's wrong," he muttered quietly, taking Lizzy's hand across the table. "We need to go."
"Okay." She stood up without questioning, and at that moment the bomb went off. She was hit in the face with a wave of heat and fire, and the last thing she saw was Clint's horrified face before everything went black.
Clint stayed by her side in the hospital for two days, not even caring that the bombers were still out there. All he could focus on was the steady beeping of the heart monitor. She was alive. She was okay. She had to wake up. She had to.
Natasha came by to see them the second day. "Clint?"
"Yeah?"
"We found the culprits."
"Who?" he demanded.
"The same xenophobic terrorist group that blew up her workplace to get to the tracking programs."
He muttered something not nice under his breath. "Can we get rid of these guys?"
"It'll take years, Barton. And we think they have ties to HYDRA."
Clint rubbed his face with his hands. "As long as she stays alive she's a target, isn't she?"
"Yes." She rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Clint."
"Yeah," he said hoarsely, leaning forward to kiss Lizzy's forehead. "I'm sorry, too." He sighed again. "I never even got to tell her..."
"Come on," Natasha said, pulling him away from Lizzy's unconscious form. "There's nothing we can do now."
"But-"
"Come on, Clint," she coaxed. "Let's go get something to eat."
A white-coated SHIELD doctor came to deliver the news to the Avengers a few hours later. "I'm sorry," he said somberly, "but Miss Colter didn't make it. She died of severe third-degree burns and internal bleeding an hour ago. We did everything we could..." He tugged at his tie. "I'm sorry for your loss." And he fled the room.
Everyone was standing there, frozen, afraid to look at Clint. He sat down on the nearest chair heavily, and hid his face in his hands without a word.
Tony looked pale. "We were going to go visit her today," he muttered softly. "We fixed the vision problems on her contacts..."
Clint made a choked sound in the back of his throat. "Can I," he started, gesturing vaguely.
Tony handed him the small box. "Yeah, of course. Here." He grabbed his arm soberly. "Clint, I'm really sorry."
The archer didn't say anything in reply as he clutched the small box to his chest.