Author's Note: Ok – a one shot I wrote mostly on my phone whilst severely sleep deprived so if there's any silly little typos I've overlooked I apologise. And for the record I am about start work on the sequel to They Didn't Know…
Disclaimer: Don't have anything to do with Marvel and their wonderful play-land of creations … sigh…
Mrs Barton
Bruce made his way quickly down the corridors, barely acknowledging anyone he passed. Finally he turned the corner and found he had reached his destination.
"How is he?" the doctor asked quietly but urgently. Tony stopped pacing and screwed up his face.
"I know nothing more than what I told you over the phone," he scowled. "Docs won't tell me anything or let me anywhere near 'cause I'm not family."
Bruce too frowned.
"So we just have to sit in the waiting room and…"
"Wait," Tony confirmed, the word dripping in disdain but the billionaire's un-amused ``façade did not hide his genuine concern. Bruce sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Where's everyone else?"
Tony too sighed, flopping down on a seat.
"I can't get a hold of blondie, Steve's not answering his phone, house or cell – not that he bothers to take his cell with him anywhere – and Natasha is in Dubai."
Bruce blinked.
"What on earth is she doing in Dubai?"
"Apparently that is classified," Tony rolled his eyes. "Fury promises me she has been informed. JARVIS is looking into it to make sure he's telling the truth."
Bruce nodded slowly.
"Have you left messages for Steve?" he felt bad for badgering the other man but the silence began to grate on his almost immediately.
"I left dozens of messages - house and cell - but he's probably forgotten how to check them again. Not that he'll even notice if he has any."
Bruce arched an eyebrow but did not comment. The two fell into a strained silence, broken only by Tony attempting to call both Steve's home and cell phone, leaving increasingly desperate messages each time. Finally - after just over an hour of sitting and waiting - another figure appeared in the waiting room.
"Where is he?" Steve asked anxiously, looking from Tony to Bruce.
"In surgery - so far as we know," Tony replied. "And where the hell have you been! I've been calling you for hours!"
Steve took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.
"I was at the gym..."
"This is why I gave you a cell phone! We need to be able to reach each other in case of..."
"Tony..." Bruce also stood, resting a reassuring hand on the worked-up billionaire's shoulder as he turned to Steve. "Since we're not family they haven't been telling us much."
Steve's brows furrowed deeply.
"Let me try," before either of the other men could say anything Steve turned and made his way to the nearby reception desk. He returned only a few minutes later, his frown even deeper.
"This is ridiculous..." he cleared his throat as his voice came out a little cracked. "He has no family!"
"I told them that," Tony replied tiredly. "Didn't wash."
Steve sighed heavily, bowing his head briefly.
"Where's Natasha?"
"JARVIS has assured me she is en-route back from Dubai."
"Ok," Steve acknowledged, slumping down into a seat. "So what do we know?"
"Not much," Tony also sat back down. "JARVIS intercepted a message last night demanding an urgent medical evac. for an agent but details of the injury were sketchy. It was only when said agent was admitted to hospital that JARVIS found out it was Barton."
Steve took a deep breath, nodding slowly.
"And JARVIS can't tell up anything more?" the soldier asked. Tony blinked in surprise at the lack of scolding for JARVIS spying on SHIELD but then under the circumstances...
"He's working on it," he replied. Steve just gave another nod, sighing wearily as he ran his hands through his hair and bowed his head. Silence returned. A change of shift brought a new receptionist but she was no more forthcoming with information than the last. The three men took it in turns to badger the poor woman but none met with success. Bruce slipped away on occasions to fetch food and drink and although they both protested a lack of appetite Tony and Steve gratefully sipped on the juice and picked at the snacks the doctor brought.
Finally after several hours of waiting a member of the medical staff appeared in the waiting room. After a brief conversation with the receptionist he turned toward the three waiting avengers.
"You are here regarding agent Barton?" three quick nods answered the question. "He is out of surgery now but his condition is still critical."
The three men looked back at the medic expectantly but as he turned and started to walk away they realised that was all they were getting.
"Well what were his injuries?" Steve asked, his tone full of the desperation and exasperation they all felt. "What type of surgery did he have?"
The medic turned.
"I am afraid I am not at liberty to say."
All the men scowled and/or rolled their eyes in exasperation.
"Then can we see him?" Steve asked. The medic shook his head.
"Next of kin only."
The three avengers stared after the retreating man, none knowing quite what to say, relief to at least know something - for now at least - outweighing their frustration.
"Clint's tough," Bruce broke the silence that once again fell, albeit with a quiet voice. "Whatever it was he'll pull through."
His two companions gave a small nod of agreement but neither spoke. Steve slumped back down into his seat with an exasperated sigh as Tony crossed his arms and leant back against the wall. Bruce went on a coffee run. It helped keep the other two going and the walk helped calm him down...
"Where is he?"
The three men were startled from their latest silence by the sudden arrival of Natasha.
"So far as we know he's out of surgery and critical," Tony could not help but screw up his face slightly. "They won't tell us much more than that. We're not family."
Natasha inhaled deeply, arched an eyebrow, pursed her lips and turned sharply on her heel. Marching over to the reception desk she had a quick, efficient discussion with the receptionist before continuing on through the door that had been firmly shut to her teammates. All three stared in disbelief - but of course it was Tony who spoke first.
"How come she gets to go through?"
The receptionist looked back at the billionaire tiredly.
"She's his wife and is listed as his next of kin," she replied blandly. Tony's mouth gaped. Tony turned to his two companions.
"Did she just say..." the billionaire's mouth opened but nothing came out as he waved his arms.
"Wife," Bruce muttered, his expression as disbelieving as Tony's.
"Lying sons of guns," Tony grumbled, slumping back into his seat. "They both said there was nothing going on between them."
Yet again the silence returned. Bruce went on another coffee run.
x-x-x
"Guys?"
Natasha's voice pulled her waiting teammates from the restless slumbers they had fallen into - Bruce slumped in a corner, Tony sprawled over several chairs, Steve upright in between the two and Thor - who had arrived a little after Natasha - somehow sleeping upright against a wall.
"How is he?" Steve was the first to come round fully, standing quickly. Natasha raised a reassuring hand.
"He's stable. I've convinced them to let you guys through too," she gave a small wave with the hand she held up and the men did not need told twice. Quickly they followed Natasha through the corridors to a small room. One by one they entered, each taking a sharp breath at the sight that greeted them. Clint lay terrifying still and pale, torso wrapped in bandages, the rest of his otherwise bare chest covered with nasty looking bruises and cuts. His left arm was in a cast covering his wrist to his elbow.
"No one knows exactly what happened," Natasha spoke up quietly after giving her teammates a moment. "He had been badly beaten and stabbed and had lost a lot of blood before the evac. team was called in."
"So what kind of surgery did he have?" Bruce asked.
"He had a fair bit of internal bleeding. And the stab was deep but thankfully didn't actually do too much serious damage."
"But he's stable now yes?" Steve asked tightly. Natasha offered a faint but reassuring smile.
"He's stable," she confirmed, taking the seat closest to his bed. Another seat sat near the foot of the bed but none of the males sat. "We just have to wait for him to wake up."
"Well that's good," Tony nodded, directing his gaze from the injured archer back to Natasha. "So, Mrs Barton. Anything else you want to tell us while we're waiting for sleeping beauty to awaken?"
"That's Miss Romanov thank you Mr Stark," Natasha replied curtly although she let out a tired sigh. "It's not what you think. Something like this happened before. Clint was really badly injured on a mission in Istanbul. No one would tell me anything or let me see him. And they were threatening to amputate his arm at one point. Took a full SHIELD intervention to get him outa there. It scared the hell out of me. Scared him too when he woke up," Natasha gave a small shrug. "Neither of us had anyone - any next of kin. It seemed sensible."
Her teammates regarded her thoughtfully.
"So it's...What?" Bruce raised his brows. "A marriage of medical convenience?"
"You could call it that," Natasha nodded. Tony arched an eyebrow.
"So you're saying you only got married so you can pull the plug on each other?" Tony scowled as Bruce elbowed him. "What?"
Natasha however managed a faint smirk.
"Why do you suppose he tries so hard to stay in my good graces?"
Tony pursed his lips.
"And you maintain nothing more?"
"Nothing more."
"But what if either of you wishes to marry another?" Thor asked, a somewhat confused expression on his face. Natasha's brow arched slightly.
"At the time it was not a concern," she replied simply. "If he ever did wish to marry of course I would never stand in his way."
Tony scoffed and turned to Thor.
"You think Barton could find another woman crazy enough to put up with him? Red head over there only does cause she's bat-shit crazy too," despite his words there was an undertone of affection in Tony's voice. "And really can you see the man getting down on one knee and proposing to someone?"
Thor shrugged.
"I believe Clint would be quite the romantic whilst in the grips of love."
Tony arched an eyebrow dubiously at the statement. And the wording.
"Clint? Romantic?" he turned to Natasha. "So how did he propose to you then? Did Cupid get down on one knee?"
Natasha scoffed.
"He was lying flat on his back in a hospital bed and his words were maybe we should get married."
Tony smirked and looked back at the Norse god.
"See? Out of all of us Capsicle would clearly be the romantic..." he paused as he glanced over at Steve, finding the captain now standing by Clint's bed, concern still etched clearly on his face. "Relax captain," Tony said lightly but with understanding. "You're not losing another soldier today."
Steve looked back at the billionaire blankly for a moment before forcing a smile.
"Yeah, I know. He just..." the super soldier inhaled deeply. "He looks so frail - so human," a wry smile pulled on his lips. "I think sometimes I forget."
Tony gave a small, understanding nod.
"I think he makes a point to make sure we all forget," Bruce commented quietly. The team silently agreed.
x-x-x
A low groan escaped Clint's lips as slowly he became aware of... Pain. Lots and lots of pain...
"Clint?"
Natasha.
The archer blearily cracked open his eyes, blinking rapidly to clear his blurry vision. Clint felt a weight on his right arm and a red framed blur appeared in his line of vision he instantly recognised as the female who had spoke his name.
"Tash," he managed to reply hoarsely, blinking again and managing to see her clearer. The female stroked his arm gently.
"How are you feeling?"
Clint groaned and closed his eyes.
"Like I've gone ten rounds in the ring with Thor."
"What ring is this?"
Clint's eyes flew open at the unexpected booming voice that came from somewhere behind Natasha. He tried to pull himself into a sitting position but fell straight back down again with a hiss of pain.
"He means he feels like you and he have had a boxing match," Tony's voice explained. Clint took a deep breath and rolled his head to the side, finding the billionaire and god of thunder standing with Bruce and Steve. Clint blinked as he regarded his teammates.
"You had us worried there Clint," Natasha scolded although there was little force in her tone. The archer rolled his head back to look at her.
"Sorry," he replied, voice still a little raspy.
"Yeah Barton. Imagine scaring your old lady like that," Tony chastised.
Clint rolled his head back towards the rest of the avengers although his eyes drifted shut tiredly.
"Nothing 'tween me and Tash," he grumbled, almost audibly.
"Your marriage certificate says otherwise."
Again Clint's eyes flew open, in time to see Bruce elbow Tony in the side.
"Say what?"
"It's ok Clint, I've already explained," Natasha smiled sheepishly as Clint turned back to look at her. "I pulled my next of kin privileges to get through to see you and the receptionist who was keeping the guys waiting kinda outed us."
"Indeed I can see why you got married. Damn frustrating," Tony scowled before his face perked up. "Perhaps we should have a mass wedding? I mean," he jerked a thumb at the other three males standing around the room. "Who gets to pull their plug?"
Bruce, Thor and Steve returned an unamused look but Natasha and Clint chuckled, the latter's eyes drifting shut tiredly.
"And who gets to pull your plug?" Natasha enquired.
"Pepper of course," the billionaire replied. "She has had that power for years."
"Ah… of course," Natasha nodded, gesturing between the three remaining avengers. "Well, unless you're planning on encouraging bigamy you have a problem with your numbers."
Tony looked over his three – still unamused comrades – and shrugged.
"I'm sure we can work something out," he replied with a smirk, returning his gaze back to Clint. "Is he asleep again?"
Natasha leant over the archer.
"Yeah," the female stretched. "Look, we don't all need to be here. You all look exhausted – we can take it in turns to sit with him now he's awake," she waved a hand at the men. "On you go and get some rest."
Thor arched an eyebrow.
"What of you? You too must be exhausted. I am well rested – I will remain."
Natasha opened her mouth to argue but she had to admit she had been awake for the best part of three days straight now between the mission and travelling and sitting by Clint's bedside.
"Sleep and a shower would be nice," she admitted, clambering to her feet, making her way over towards the door where Tony and Bruce were already hovering. "Steve?"
"I'll stay and keep Thor company," he shrugged, smiling meekly. "It's not like I sleep much anyway."
"Right-o. We will relieve you at o-eight hundred," Tony smirked and gave the Captain a salute. "Good night."
x-x-x
Clint groaned quietly as he felt himself being pulled from his peaceful slumber back into the world where his head throbbed, his chest felt like elephant had stepped on it and his arm was broken. In two places. Groggily he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly as everything still seemed hazy and dark but he realised quickly it must be night time as although the light was dim his vision was clear.
More awake now the archer felt a light touch rubbing softly on his right arm. Turning his head to who he expected to be Natasha he blinked in surprise as he in fact found Steve. The soldier sat on the seat pulled close to the bed, elbows resting on the mattress, one hand loosely running over Clint's arm, his head bowed. Clint took a deep breath.
"Hey."
Steve's head jerked up at the sudden noise. His startled expression quickly turned into a warm smile.
"Hi," he replied leaning forward, both hands now on Clint's arm. "How you feeling?"
"Felt better," the archer admitted. Steve arched an eyebrow.
"Well if you will disappear off and get yourself beaten half to death…"
Clint frowned guiltily at the scowl that took over Steve's face. Shuffling his good arm along the bed he managed to take Steve's free hand, lacing his fingers through the soldiers.
"I'm sorry," he replied quietly but genuinely. Steve's grip tightened around Clint's hand, his frown deepening.
"I didn't even realise you were away. I went round to your apartment and got no answer. I had to ask Natasha."
Clint bit his lip.
"I did send you a message…"
"To my cell? 'Cause we all know I'm so good at checking that," Steve grumbled, arching an eyebrow. "You should have called me."
"It was the middle of the night," Clint objected meekly.
"I don't care," Steve replied determinedly. "Next time you call me – I don't care what time it is."
Clint blinked and swallowed hard, a little overwhelmed by the emotion in the other man's eyes.
"Ok," he agreed quietly. Steve's expression softened.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be having a go at you," Steve gave the archer's hand a gentle squeeze. "You know how I feel about you going away on SHEILD missions at the best of times."
"I know," Clint nodded. Steve – and the rest of the team with the exception of Natasha – had on more than one occasion voiced their concerns that the rest of the SHEILD agents could not be trusted to back up the archer as readily as they should. Clint had pointed out that he had killed or at least helped to kill many of their friends but that had not really helped the argument. While Natasha never agreed with the rest of the teams concerns she never argued with them either. "That may have been another reason I only sent you a text message."
Steve inhaled deeply, not wanting to start another argument on the subject.
"You really scared me there," he admitted instead. "The thought of… I mean if…"
"Hey…" Clint pulled at Steve's hand, unable to move far enough quick enough to offer any other kind of physical reassurance. "I'm ok."
Steve's lips curled into a smile. Running his free hand up Clint's arm he brushed his fingers through the archer's hair before leaning forward to capture his lips in a soft, lingering kiss. Pulling away only slightly Steve rested his head gently against Clint's.
"You're ok," he agreed, as much to reassure himself as to agree with the archer. Clint returned the smile as Steve leant back.
"And least you know I'll be ok for quite a while," he commented after a brief, contented silence, raising his bandaged left arm, unable to help a slight frown pulling on his face as he flexed only the very tips of his fingers that poked out the bandage. "This will keep me out the field for weeks."
"Yeah, doesn't look like you'll be giving me those archery lessons you promised me either," Steve tried not to smile at the archer's pout. "You know, you'll probably take time getting accustomed to doing everything one handed. And with your bad hand to boot," Steve waved the left-handed archer's right hand slightly. "Maybe someone should come and stay with you for a while."
Clint frowned thoughtfully – after another scowl.
"Hmmmm… maybe you're right," he arched an eyebrow. "Wonder if my wife's free?"
Steve chuckled and shook his head.
"I'm sure she'd be more than happy to attend to your every whim for a few weeks."
Clint grinned.
"So… how freaked out was Tony when he found out me and Tash are married? Kinda upset I missed it."
"Oh his face was a picture. I thought he was going to throw some sort of fit," the soldier's smile faded slightly. "If he wasn't still so worried about you he probably would have," his expression lifted again. "He will definitely throw a fit when he finds out about us."
Clint blinked. Biting down on his bottom lip he rubbed his thumb over the back of Steve's hand.
"You wanna tell them all?"
It was Steve's turn to blink as he unconsciously leant back slightly.
"You don't?"
"No… I mean yes… I…" Clint sighed, dropping his gaze sheepishly. "I just thought you might not want to."
"Why should I not want to?" Steve frowned as Clint refused to meet his gaze, unable to hear his mumbled reply. "You think I would be ashamed?"
Clint shrugged although it was clear that was in fact a yes. Steve shook his head fiercely, lightly touching Clint's cheek to try and coax his attention.
"I am not ashamed," he said firmly. "The only reason I have said nothing is because I did not know if you wanted to say anything. And this is… this is still kinda new," it was Steve's turn to drop his gaze sheepishly. "I didn't want to rush anything or ruin it."
Clint could not help the smile that pulled on his lips.
"So we'll just tell them when we're ready," he replied casually although as Steve looked back up he found an affectionate warmth in the archer's eyes. Clint smiled hopefully, his voice growing a little quieter. "You want come stay for a while? Make sure I don't do too much damage with my bad hand?"
Steve smiled broadly.
"I suppose I could come and look after you for a few days," he agreed casually, although the look in his eyes told Clint he had the soldier for as long as he needed. Or wanted.
And the archer knew he would be in no rush to get rid of him.