As silent bells doth toll
Chapter 1
He snapped awake, quite alert and in tremendous pain. gasping and grinding his teeth together, light hands fluttered around his face, his neck, his wound, and slowly the pain went away, covered by a fog of morphine that was dripping into his blood. She was saying something, hovering above him, tiny signs of worry, invisible to all but him, on her porcelain features. He could not hear her, mumbling to him, soothing him, but he saw her lips move. He lifted his hand gently, and brushed her face, silenced her as he drifted back to sleep slowly, the massive amounts of morphine numbing his battered body. He didn't know what came over him, but in the last second before he fell asleep, he asked her a question that he could not hear the answer to. That question rendered the fearsome black widow speechless, stunned into contemplative silence.
...
As Clint fell back asleep, unchecked surprise echoed on Natasha's face. Clint Barton, her partner, the only person in the world she trusted unconditionally, who knew everything about her, her lover and so much more...he had asked that small question that rung in her ears. No! No, he must have been addled by the drugs, confused by pain and morphine, for No one could love the black widow enough for that. not enough to ask THAT.
...
She looks surprised, Clint thought as he fell asleep again.
'Hell, that even surprised me...why would I ask that? Why did I think she might possibly say yes? No one in the world has ever loved him enough for that, why
would she?'
They were partners, and lovers, and so so close, and went together
perfectly. they were the Black-Hawk.
...
He awoke again in the early morning nearly two days later, Natasha still right
beside him, although she had changed clothes.
"How long have I been out?" He blinked and wriggled his toes, stretching and pulling.
"Two days. It's Thursday. They want to keep you for another two weeks.
Ready to leave?" It was an unspoken rule that they did not stay in medical for more than 72 hours, ever, without the other one breaking them out. when they were both down for the count, they threatened doctors and scared the nurses until they were discharged.
"Yes, please. home sounds good." So she changed his bandages carefully,
and re-wrapped the large gash tenderly in thick white gauze in loops around his torso, tight enough for travel but not so tight he could not breathe. She knew exactly how, she had been wrapping and stitching him up for years now. He carefully pulled a loose tee shirt and his purple pyjama pants on. Someone must have sent them from home. Then she lowered the hospital bed and heaved him into a wheelchair. It hurt a bit, But he was used to pain, and she was there, holding his arms. They wheeled right out of the medical bay, no one daring to stop them.
As they got on the elevator, everyone moved away, out of the elevator, stepping back to wait for the next car. The ride up was smooth, with their access cards giving the express priority, so the elevator stopped not once till they reached the top. And there, on the flight deck, Tony Stark was waiting, in his suit, next to a sleek, black, Stark Industries helli-jet.
"How are you, Birdy?" Tony took the wheelchair from Natasha and gently lifted it up, keeping Clint fairly balanced.
"Can you go clear us for Take off? I've got Bird Boy." Natasha nodded, and started off towards the air traffic controllers' tower. The Shield agents on deck scattered, not walking between her and the Jet, where he ward, her hawk, was. She was like a mother bear - only dangerous if you got near her child.
"You've been in Med bay for nearly three days, Clint. Natasha usually brings you home sooner than that. You okay?" Tony could be mean and callous, but he did care about his friends, and was usually nice to whoever was hurt.
"I'll be okay soon. four broken ribs and a ten inch, three deep knife wound. about forty Natasha stitches. She's going to want to redo them - she thinks the doctors are incompetent." Tony settled the wheelchair down and then picked up Clint, slowly, to settle him in the Co-Captains seat.
"All that, And I asked Natasha to marry me."