Needless to say, Tony did end up having to help Clint dress. Thankfully, as he still has his memory and dignity, Clint was smart enough to do the shorts first, belt second and shirt last so that Tony didn't actually see anything that would be embarrassing to either Avenger. Considering how often the boy coughed, Tony found he was rather much needed to help steady him and rub the archer's back. It took less than five minutes to dress Clint but even that much work seemed to have winded his younger, sick body. Tony just stood off to the side as he watched his friend try to catch his breath. The archer leaned against the wall, trying to act as if he didn't need it to help stand. Tony raised an eyebrow as Clint just glared at the floor.

"God, I hate this," Clint moaned after a bit. Tony nodded, wishing there was something he could do to help. Helping to fix a computer issue, or fixing a car, or hell, even buying things, Tony could easily do all that. But healing someone who is sick, or even figuring out how Clint changed into a kid again, Tony couldn't figure out on his own. Slowly, the boy looked up to face the genius. His blue eyes looked glazed but tired and stressed. Tony winced in sympathy. AS Clint spoke, his head dropped to face the ground again. "I mean, honestly, why is it always me? Why do I always get tortured? What did I do to deserve all this?"

"Don't know. Maybe someone out there really likes you?" Tony joked. Clint raised an eyebrow as he looked back up at the genius. Tony shrugged as the boy dropped into a couple of coughs that left him gasping for breath. Moving forward to follow Pepper's normal soothing methods, Tony began rubbing Clint's back. The genius frowned as he realized he could basically feel Clint's bones underneath his skin and shirt. He hadn't paid any attention to it when he was dressing him. "Whoa, calm down."

"I'm good," Clint crocked after a minute more of coughing. Tony nodded, unsure if he believed the six year old or not. Just for good measure, Clint's body betrayed him and coughed. Tony snorted but backed away. Figuring that Clint knew his body better than Tony ever would, Tony tilted his head to one side.

"You good to head downstairs?" Clint nodded at this before slowly beginning to stand. Tony had to help him to his feet but once they did, Tony began encouraging Clint toward the elevator. Before they could even make it out of Clint's apartment, a voice called out to them. Clint stopped at the sound, curious as to what it was. Tony stopped as well, thinking it had more to do with Clint's illness than to it was the voice.

"Sir, I am receiving an elevated temp-" JARVIS suddenly supplied but stopped when Tony began tutting at the AI. Clint arched an eyebrow at the sudden interference from the AI. The newly turned boy had no idea why it had taken so long for JARVIS to suddenly notice. He actually hadn't been paying much attention to it. Neither Avenger really noticed that they stopped just inside the door to Clint's apartment/room.

"All ready know J. Bringing Clint to a hospital to get it checked on. A little slow this morning," Tony told the AI. Clint smirked at the interaction. Realizing that Clint wasn't fully informed as to what happened to JARVIS, Tony looked down at the kid. JARVIS quickly went through Clint's computer's history to find the hospital information that Tony had found. The AI checked out the reviews and made sure it was good enough for the group to travel as Tony and Clint continued speaking. "J broke last night. That's why it was cold this morning."

"Ah," Clint replied as if it made a difference to him. Right now, he could feel another large bout of coughing trying to inch its way up. He was holding back to try and at least make it to the elevator.

"I am now running at full capacity. Normal room temperature has been achieved in each room. Defense system is back online. I am now checking on all lost data and recovering what I can," JARVIS informed the two. Clint whistled in an effort to show he was impressed with the amount of work that JARVIS had already done. Tony smiled, glad that it was only the AI's circuits that had gotten damaged and not the code. JARVIS was too important to his life. No, it was more like the AI was Tony's life. "Shall I cancel the medical call to Dr. Bruce Banner?"

"Yes! Hell, YES!" Tony shouted to the AI. Clint frowned but was quickly forced to cover his mouth in a coughing fit that ended with a loud sneeze. Tony glanced down at Clint in surprise as Clint gave him a sheepish shrug. "Bless you."

"What's wrong with Bruce?" Clint grumbled. Tony smirked, forgetting that basically only he, Bruce and Pepper knew about JARVIS's instructions.

"After last time where you got sick, JARVIS started monitoring all our vitals. When he deems something wrong with anybody, he calls Bruce to let the doc analyze the data. If Bruce thinks that something is indeed wrong, then whoever is called by JARVIS to get to whoever is in need," Tony said. Clint groaned at knowing this was because of him. Just cause Natasha had told them that he tended to ignore issues until it was either too late, or too big. Tony snorted. "If it makes you feel better, Pepper made the program to watch me. She wanted someone to make sure I was partly taking care of myself. Once Bruce moved in and found out about it, he changed it to watch everyone. It was after you that the program changed to call Bruce."

"I thought only you controlled JARVIS." Tony laughed. Most people tended to assume that.

"I run his code. That's it. He's AI. So you ask him to make sure you train for four hours a day, JARVIS writes his own program to make sure you don't go over or under that many hours a day."

"So, anyone can ask him to do something?" Clint coughed. Tony nodded.

"As long as it does not break my prime directives, and Sir allows it, I aim to serve," JARVIS called. Clint raised an eyebrow at that and somehow that was all JARVIS needed to know before continuing. "I will not hurt Sir, Miss Potts, or other guests of Stark Towers or other properties that I have been installed into. I will not do illegal actions unless for the betterment of my approved list or Sir demands it of me. I will not act on my own unless it interferes with my other rules. I will not go 'Skynet'. I will not shut down the internet, no matter how much Sir says it will be fun."

"Skynet? Really?" Clint laughed. Tony shrugged.

"Happy got worried one night. All of those are written into his code so many times that even I can't change it. You would not believe how long it took to get all that in there," Tony declared as he suddenly realized that Clint needed to get downstairs. Knowing that JARVIS could continue speaking to them the entire way down, Tony slowly began to move Clint toward the elevator. "That's why whenever Pepper wants me to install a new directive, I try to fight her to make sure it's really for the best."

"When did you create JARVIS?" Clint wondered aloud. Tony smirked. This was his most favorite part about the AI's history. No one tended to believe it. Hell, there were even still many nights that he didn't believe it.

"At MIT. It was my final term. Can you believe he only got a B+? I almost made Obie sue," Tony joked before sobering at the old man's name. Clint winced, forgetting about Tony's own haunted history. Neither said a word as the boarded the elevator and descended. When they reached the proper floor, the doors opened to an angry Pepper Potts. She stood there in such a way that both Avengers almost wished they could turn and hide.

"What took so long?" she demanded. Tony pointed to Clint while Clint pointed at Tony. Pepper's eyes narrowed as she waited for one of them to own up. Neither did. With a deep sigh, she shook her head and rushed them into the waiting car. Right away, Clint began coughing and wheezing. "Step on it!"


"Where were you supposed to meet your friend?" Steve called to Bruce for the second time as the duo slipped past a crowd eagerly waiting for some sort of display. Bruce shrugged. His communications with his old friend ended after the doc had agreed to go to the convention to meet him. Bruce almost wondered if his friend thought this place wouldn't be as crowded as it was. No one really expected a science convention to get that popular. But when Stark Industries announced that they had a few tables (well actually it was more like half a room), people jumped at the idea of going. "You have any way of contacting him?"

"No. He just said we'd meet here," Bruce loudly said to Steve over the sudden screams of an excited group near a Stark Industries table. Bruce glanced over and saw Tony's face on a screen talking. He remembered the genius creating videos a couple weeks back but never knew what they were for. Apparently, now he knew. Steve winced at the noise, for the first time, wishing he never had super hearing. A large group of people then pushed their way between the two Avengers.

Steve focused on Bruce to make sure he was still basically following the doctor but when he crashed into someone, he was forced to look away. Bruce continued walking for a bit before realizing that something was wrong. Looking back, he noticed that Steve was splitting off from him and the solider was focused on his own path rather than the doc's. Another crowd merged into this one and Bruce began to feel slightly claustrophobic as he wondered if Hulk would consider any of this a threat. Backing away from the crowd and into a small alley built between stands, Bruce began to relax and hear something familiar. It was his phone. Wondering if it was his friend, even though he never handed out his number, Bruce answered without looking. "Hello?"

"Dr. Bruce Banner," a voice from behind him greeted. Bruce stiffened as he felt something stick into his back as the words were being spoken. It felt familiar and it took till Hulk unhappily growled for Bruce to realize it was a gun. Lowering the phone from his ear, Bruce looked down to see if it connected with whoever was calling. It read that the call had ended but that it had been made from Stark Towers, otherwise known as JARVIS. Oh how he so wished that it had stayed connected. Even if JARVIS just listened and didn't speak. "It would be very nice for all these innocent people if you kept calm and followed me."

"And you are?" Bruce countered, his eyes rapidly flicking over the crowd in search of Steve. Considering that both Avengers hadn't really been watching each other, it was no surprise that the super solider was nowhere in sight. It was now that Bruce was starting to see the trap snapping closed. A crowded convention, an old friend knowing just what he needed, no certain meeting point, no contact... For an unselfish moment, Bruce wondered if they had attacked his friend. "Is my friend still alive?"

"The solider or the scientist?" the person replied, ignoring the first question entirely. Bruce almost felt Hulk take over at the implication that Steve might be dead. "Don't worry. They both are fine. Hell, your 'Friend' doesn't even know you're here. The e-mails were sent by the group I represent."

"And who is that?"

"Advanced Idea Mechanics," was all Bruce was told before he heard a pop and felt a stinging sensation in his back. Hulk roared in his mind at the feeling but amazingly didn't surge forward. The time spent with the Avengers had soothed the beast enough that Hulk trusted them. Hulk knew that the others would try and look for Bruce. He would wait... Especially in this crowd... Bruce wouldn't like innocents getting hurt. Whirling around in shock, Bruce felt the numbness start and his world tilted as he lost his balance. The person, a woman now that Bruce could see her, caught him. Her mouth moved like she was talking to him but Bruce's slipping mind couldn't understand it.

"Why?" Bruce moaned, spotting other people coming to join them. The woman smiled but didn't answer. Bruce felt hands all over him before darkness fully took him.


"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!" Tony shouted as he paced the waiting room for the hospital he had chosen to bring Clint too. Clint, who was still violently coughing every few minutes, had been subjugated to a corner of the area with a mask on his face. Pepper sat beside him, rubbing his back as she watched Tony pace the area. She didn't look pleased with him at all. An elderly couple watched Tony as he paced back and forth. The woman held a large plastic bag filled with medication while the man kept subconsciously rubbing his chest every few minutes. A teenage girl holding her arm to her chest leaned into her father's side as Tony ranted and raved. The father looked as displeased with Tony as Pepper was. But the girl seemed to be enjoying the 'show' that Tony was putting on as he ranted and raved. "We've been here for over an hour!"

"Tony, sit down," Pepper pleaded as Clint paused in his coughing to glare up at the genius. Tony ignored her. Instead he spun around and continued walking the clear area of the waiting room. It had actually been close to two hours that they had to wait. The elderly couple arrived only minutes after then, the woman claiming her husband had an appointment with one of the emergency doctors. A half hour later, the girl came in crying while her father checked her in. He demanded some pain meds for the girl, got them and they had been patiently waiting ever since. Luckily, everyone in the waiting room recognized Tony as Tony Stark but was nice enough to not report seeing him, Pepper Potts and an unknown child in the hospital waiting room. But, that wasn't going to last long.

"I've never seen such lazy staff!" Tony continued ranting. The girl snorted in laughter at him as she had been watching the workers rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off for most of the time that she had been there. "Not even gonna set us up with a room!"

"Tony!" Pepper called, louder this time. The genius waved her off. He was too used to getting things right away to deal with waiting like this. Clint coughed out laughter as he watched Tony spin on his heel and restart his pacing. He placed a hand on Pepper's leg and shook his head, pretty much telling the woman that it was just better to let Tony pace. Considering ten minutes after waiting, Tony had started bouncing his leg, this was much better. Sides, Clint liked the entertainment of watching people staring at Tony, wondering who he was to get so pissed off like this.

It was within this moment that a man walked in with a hand covering his nose and blood draining down his arm. The man's face was already turning black and blue, a sign that Clint used to know that this man had broken his nose. He walked up to the counter and briefly spoke to the woman at the desk. Tony turned around in time to see her usher the man into a small interview room. A room that took Clint nearly twenty minutes to get into. Less than three minutes later, a nurse brought a wheelchair around and the man was placed into before being brought into the back.

Clint's eyes widened in shock as he focused on Tony. The elderly couple had watched the exchange and knew what was going on. As soon as the man was brought into the back, the elderly man turned to look at Tony. A small smirk was on his face as he knew the same thing that Clint knew was going to happen. The girl tucked into her father's arm as she had been watching as well but her father had been distracted and hadn't seen much outside of the man with a lot of blood being escorted into the back.

"Oh shit, we're in for it now," Clint mumbled. Pepper nodded, having seen mostly the ending bit as well, just as Tony spun to look at them in outrage.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Tony screeched. The teen snickered again but looked to her father and saw that he was also rather upset at this. Even the elderly couple seemed to be on Tony's side. Pepper went to stand but Clint pushed his hand down on her knee and shook his head. Tony needed to get this out of his system. They watched as the billionaire spun on his heel and stomped up to the front desk. The nurse waiting there was oblivious to what was happening. "What the hell is wrong with you!"

"Excuse me?" the nurse replied in faux anger as she looked up at Tony. Everyone watched as it took her a few seconds to realize who she was speaking too and then her eyes widened in shock. Pepper sighed deeply. To avoid reporters flocking to this hospital and bothering everyone, Pepper had signed Clint in while Tony had parked and helped Clint inside to sit down. But considering how long they had waited and that neither Clint nor Tony understood the implications of what the public would be seeing right now, Pepper couldn't stop Tony now. She looked down at Clint now and just sighed. Slowly she shook her head. It was too late. "To... Tony... Tony Stark!?"

"Why the fuck did that guy go before us? We've been waiting forever!" Tony loudly complained. The woman looked horrified before she began fumbling for a phone to call someone in the back area. She dropped it numerous times which only seemed to make Tony more upset and her more clumsier. It took her an extra three or four minutes to actually make the much needed call. Tony stood over her as he watched her say some type of jargon into the phone. Before the nurse could even hung up, another nurse, a male this time, came out of the back. He looked flustered and held onto a chart that was beginning to drop to the floor. It was quickly put together and papers half hung out of it. Pepper and Clint could tell that more than likely, the nurses in the back dug through the other files to try and find this one before pulling it out. The duo wouldn't have been surprised if the nurses had actually dropped it once or twice either.

"Clint Barton?" the man announced, confused at the name considering he had been told to grab the longest wait and bring them back. Pepper and Clint stood as Tony threw his hands into the air. Everyone watched as Pepper and Clint moved toward the male nurse and Pepper wondered how quick the news would spread. Maybe she should have signed Clint in with Tony's last name. But... Would that have made it worse? Pepper had no idea. She glance back into the waiting room before the doors to the back closed. As Tony followed, Pepper could see the nurses and other hospital staff going for their phones but none of the other waiting patients did.

"FINALLY!" Tony shouted to the heavens as he moved to follow Pepper and Clint. Pepper sent him a withering look but continued helping the weak Clint toward the back area. It took a bit for them to get there and then to walk all around the emergency department to find an empty room. Clint glanced in each room and noticed that every room had someone in it. Many people looked like they had been in some sort of accident.

"What happened to them?" Pepper wondered aloud. The nurse glanced back at them. He glanced down at the file to see why Clint was being admitted. Then he got an angered expression.

"A pretty big accident nearby. It's why we've been so busy," he explained before ushering them into a room. Right away, he dug into a drawer and dropped a blue hospital gown down onto the bed. He slapped it down really. Clint groaned at the sight of it. He hated those things with a passion. "Everything off, opening in the back."

"It's just a cough and a fever, do I really need to?" Clint whined, playing off his younger form. No need to tell the doctors that he was actually around 27 years old and Tony had somehow de-aged him. The man nodded. Frowning, Clint began working on his clothes, not glancing at Pepper or Tony. Pepper shifted to the back corner of the room in an effort to not look at the boy. Tony made sure to block the nurse's view of Clint's rather scarred back, just in case they tried to blame either of them. Once the boy was done, the nurse turned around to see Tony.

"Excuse me," he said. Tony glanced back at Clint and the boy nodded. Feeling better, Tony backed off. The nurse shook his head and began getting the readings he needed, like temp, blood pressure, oxygen level and other such things. He even questioned Clint on a few things like when this started, had it gotten worse, any other symptoms and such. Normal things that Clint was used too and even started answering before the nurse finished asking. When he was done, he stood and headed to the door. Tony stood to stop him but wasn't fast enough. "The doc will be here soon."

"Seriously?" Tony cried when the nurse left and closed the door. He cried out so loud that no one heard the click of the lock to keep the three of them in. Clint snorted at the genius.

"Guess you don't wait in hospitals very long," he remarked. Tony shook his head. Howard never took much care of him. Jarvis, the real Jarvis, actually knew medical care and tended to care for Tony on his own. Hell, this was more than likely Tony's first actual trip to a hospital since the night he was born... Well, no... Outside out visiting other people... So, hospital emergency room. "Waiting rooms can take up to three hours and waiting for the doc can sometimes take all night."

"Jeez, sucks to be normal," Tony groaned. Clint nodded. He agreed. Pepper smiled and shook her head at the two as she pulled out her phone to get a head's up on any press release about Tony in a hospital.

"Why I tended to deal with issues myself. Tended to work faster."

"Are you kidding me? You could be dying!" Tony hypothesized. Clint laughed before dropping into a loud, wet cough.

"It's probably just a cold," the boy grunted.

"Colds don't normally include excess vomiting," Pepper pointed out. Clint sighed and leaned back on the bed. At this point, all he wanted was to go back to the tower, lay on the couch with a bowl of chicken noodle soup and watch T.V. Tony and Pepper traded looks before Tony also grabbed his phone. He wasn't going to wait in another hospital emergency room again. Hey, he already had Bruce as a main doc, why not just get the remaining others? Pepper sighed and shook her head. The boy was relaxing back into the bed as the trio waited and waited. Clint barely even noticed as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.


And that chapter is done. 4,069 words total.

For all those wondering. Baby Clint is doing okay. His daycare has what is considered the 'stomach bug' going around and around and around with teachers and kids... So we are beginning to believe that has been most of what his diarrhea and vomiting has mostly been. He has been lucky enough to never catch a fever but since he never really complains of stomach pains or aches, we don't know it isn't really feeling ill until something (nine times out of ten him) is covered in vomit or diarrhea. Since all this has been going on, all together, he has lost close to five pounds so he is now mostly always tired and weak so he has turned into the cutest little couch potato.

Anyways, onto responses.

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Reviews Responses:

ELOSHAZZY - Yeah, I was projecting my experiences. Clint is thankfully doing better today but at the time that most of this story was written, he was constantly sick. And I'm glad that you like how things currently are. Just wait until the story progresses. I hope you continue to enjoy it, I really love it.

toshirolovehim - I'm glad you think this story is great and here is the next chapter, lol.

Niom Lambiose - I update every week, on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday (depending on how my son, husband or I feel and how busy our weekend is). If I skip I week I promise to explain why either the week before or as soon as I can. I try not too. And I can't wait until you guys get to the chapters with the other Avengers either. I just want to squeal when you get to the chapters I am currently typing.

sammygirl1963 - Yeah, poor Clint. I don't know why but if you end up being my favorite character, it ends up being worse for you... I tend to torture you more... Hmm... Something is really wrong with me. hee hee. Works out for you readers though. lol. More coming next week.

ThePenguinApocalypse - Glad you love it and I have been. Everyone can check out my profile page and see how many chapters ahead I am so that they know how many more updates I can do. If you notice I am falling behind, post a review or two to help give me a kick in the butt. Or make sure I'm alive. lol, just kidding.