Sunlight shone through the closed blind, desperately trying to illuminate the room. Though Natasha was awakening, she stayed where she was, enjoying the silence and peacefulness of sleep still clinging to her. Eventually she let her eyes flutter open, immediately focusing on the nearest object to her, which was the wall.
She blinked, trying to erase the sluggish feeling in her mind, forcing herself to awaken completely. She rolled over, scanning the room as she did so. The light that reached inside the room left patterns on the carpet, and she was momentarily blinded by it's brightness. Clint, his jacket, and boots were gone, but other than that, everything was as she left it, and she reached out to grab her phone on her bedside table. She froze.
Laying on the portion of the table devoid of water bottles, pens, knifes, guns, or ammunition, was a tiny silver arrow, attached to a long silver chain. Natasha's breath caught in her throat. She reached out carefully for it, as though afraid it would fade away. She gently picked it up, letting the chain run fluidly through her fingers. Her eyes examined the necklace hungrily, knowing full and well who left this there for her.
She clipped on the necklace, adjusting the arrow so that it hung in the center of her chest. Grinning, she checked her phone. Her eyes grew huge as she read the time. Nine thirty. She cursed, threw back the blankets, grabbed her jacket, and made her way down to the kitchen/dining room.
Though Natasha had woken up far later than she usually did, it seemed that everyone else had slept in as well; Thor and Steve were waiting for the coffee at the counter, Bruce was unrolling the newspaper, and Tony wasn't even up yet. The only one who seemed to have woken up on time was Pepper; she was fully dressed, drinking her protein shake as she organized her schedule for the day.
Natasha mumbled a hello, which got little response, then moved over to the refrigerator, searching for something to eat. She settled with a plain bagel and apple juice, seeing as how the coffee wasn't ready yet. She sat two seats down from Pepper, directly in front of the window, her usual seat. Natasha didn't say anything, but she felt Pepper's eyes on her.
If Pepper noticed something, she didn't mention it. Pepper finished her shake, scribbled a few things in her planner, then stood up, leaving them all staring after her, wondering how she kept putting one foot in front of the other when she had stayed up as late as they did, and had one of the most boring and stressful jobs out of all of them.
Thor was getting irritated with the coffee maker. "GIVE ME THAT DELICIOUS DRINK ALREADY, YOU FOUL MORTAL CREATURE!" he yelled, making everyone wince. "Thor, it'll be done in a minute. I think. I don't know, Bruce? Am I right? Will it be done soon?" Steve asked, turning to the bemused scientist. "Yeah, it's almost done. It'll beep when it's finished." Natasha watched as Thor stared grumpily at the machine, smiling inwardly.
The coffee maker beeped just as Tony slouched into the room looking irritated, his hair stuck up and messy. Pepper followed behind him, walking straight to the coffee maker, pouring out a glass, and shoving it in Tony's hands. "I'm leaving," she announced. "Try your best not to destroy anything while I'm gone." Tony scoffed, making a face at Pepper behind her back. She caught it, and she glared at him. With a swish of her strawberry blonde hair, she left.
Thor, Steve, Tony and Natasha evaporated the coffee supply over the next thirty seconds, forcing Bruce to brew some more. The job of making coffee fell onto whoever woke up first that day, but Clint had 'forgotten' to do so when he woke up so early, leaving Bruce with the annoying chore. When there was a sufficient supply, they all settled back down at the table, reading the paper, scanning their phones, or staring out the window.
Tony, as usual, was the first to break the peaceful silence. "So Spider, have you heard from the Hawk?" Natasha glared up at him. He wasn't very smart about holding his tongue in the morning, and any other normal person would have quaked under her gaze. "Leave her alone Stark," sighed Steve from behind the paper. Tony made a face at him, even though Steve couldn't see him. "I 'm sorry, Natasha, but do you mind me asking about Barton?" came Bruce's voice. Natasha switched her eyes to him, softening her gaze. "No, I haven't heard anything. And you don't have to apologize; Barton's business isn't my own; it's everyone's on this team," she replied. Tony groaned. "So you're only mean to me?" Natasha refixed her glare upon him. "You're the only one who annoys me."
After breakfast, Steve and Natasha made their way down to the training room. Thor joined them a short time later, after he polished off another box of pop tarts. They spent the morning attacking punching bags, sparring, and running laps around the room. They tried to get Tony and Bruce to come down from the lab, but they said something about plasma volcanoes, so they left them alone.
When the group finally dispersed back to their own rooms to get cleaned up for lunch around one thirty, Natasha felt weird. She hadn't gotten a text from Clint or Coulson telling her everything was okay. She eased her thoughts by thinking that maybe Clint hadn't invaded the hospital yet.
When Natasha got back to her room, she checked her phone, pulling off the towel around her neck, revealing the silver arrow. Steve and Thor hadn't noticed it; if they did, they didn't say anything. She wiped the remaining sweat from her forehead, then looked at her phone. For the second time that day, she stopped breathing. There was a text from Coulson, and all it said was 'Call when you can.'
Natasha rushed to the bathroom, jabbing the Skype button and calling Coulson. Her thoughts raced; was Clint okay? Did something go wrong? Coulson answered almost immediately. His face was grave, his brow furrowed. Natasha held her breath. He read her facial expressions, something only he and Clint could ever do when she tried to hide her feelings. He realized at once she wasn't in the mood to be babied.
"He's been shot."