So I'm a little upset with my OB... He originally told me that today, I'd find out if my due date is changing or not. Now he claims that I won't find out for four weeks and it won't be a changing due date. What it would be is if I need a c-section or not. ARGH! So not what I was told before... But at least this means I supposedly have more time to finish this story which is good... Cause I'm six chapters ahead and no where close to the finish. _
Well, thank you for everyone who reviewed! And here is more of the story!
Clint woke up about three hours later. Course he didn't realize that at first. All he realized was that he was laying on a firm yet slightly soft mattress, it smelt like antiseptic, and there was a soft beeping in the background masking the soft whispers of conversation. Groaning, Clint opened his eyes and started to look around. Thankfully the lights were dimmed down and so it didn't bother him. Not that there was anything to bother right now. He felt normal for the first time in, what felt like, forever.
"Clint?" came a soft female voice. Clint focused on it and saw Natasha, who was sitting in a chair beside his bed, was watching him. The archer gave her a soft smile, which she returned. "Hey."
"I thought you were on a mission," Clint croaked. Natasha stood then and reached forward to rub the back of her hand against his cheek. Her cool hand felt nice and so he leaned into it.
"I was, two hours ago. You were found in an empty hallway, unconscious," Natasha explained. Clint frowned and looked away. It was then that he noticed the other Avengers in the room. Bruce was standing at the end of his bed, looking over his medical chart. Tony was sitting by the door, just in case Clint began throwing up again. Steve and Thor shared the visiting couch that had been specially made to hold both of their larger forms.
"Your fever spiked and you had a bad case of meningitis, which untreated had created a large amount of swelling in your head. So you dropped unconscious. You are very lucky that we brought you to S.H.I.E.L.D. If you had been alone in the tower there could have been irrepealable damage. As it is, the doctors fear that between the meningitis and the medication used to fix it, there may be some type of brain damage. But, we won't know that for another few days," Bruce mentioned as if Clint really cared about his health at the moment.
"I was found alone?" Clint asked, unsure. Natasha and Bruce frowned, upset that Clint didn't even seem to hear about his health. But his eyes showed something that made Natasha nod in agreement to him. Clint looked away from her in confusion. "I swear that Coulson was there."
The room went still. No one spoke. Not even a single on of them moved. They all just stared at the archer. It took a minute before he looked up and met each one of their faces. Tony had an eyebrow raised, unsure if he should make fun of Clint or not. Bruce looked worried. He was almost certain that Clint had a delusion but he didn't really want to assume. Steve seemed sadden. The guilt of never being able to sign Coulson's Captain America cards still fresh even after all this time. Thor was looking like he was debating how to let Clint know that the older agent was dead. And Natasha had a frown on her face. Clint realized they were all skeptical, but as he thought back on it all, he was certain that Coulson had been there.
"I'm not crazy. I saw Coulson. I'm positive he was there with me. He called medical," Clint mentioned so angrily at the group that they all wondered what to do now. A few of them were afraid that Clint would attack them if they said something. While the others were afraid that Clint had some new mental problem. As Clint focused on the other Avengers once again, his eyes narrowed into slits. "I heard him! I felt him holding me! HE WAS THERE!"
"Clint, we aren't saying that you didn't!" Bruce called, fearful that if Clint gets too upset then he'd endanger himself. No one spoke as they waited to see what Clint would do. Clint patiently waited for someone (Tony) to disagree with Bruce. But when no one did, Clint focused his anger onto Bruce.
"But you don't believe me."
"Clint, I'm sorry. But if Coulson was alive, don't you think that Fury would have told us by now?" Bruce pointed out. Clint frowned and looked away. He had no argument for Bruce and so he decided to stay silent. Figuring that Clint was done talking about it, Bruce moved on. "Look, I talked to Medical and they've agreed with my assessment. Your sickness is not just one bad illness. You actually got hit with multiple illnesses as once."
"Lucky me." Tony snorted in humor. Steve gave the archer a soft smile, knowing very well what it was like getting hit with multiple sicknesses at one time. Thor seemed confused, as a god he barely ever got sick, never mind sick with multiple illnesses. Natasha backed away, having not heard what Clint was sick with, she really didn't want to catch anything. Bruce didn't even seem to notice the sarcasm as he continued to state what Clint was afflicted with.
"You started out with a simple flu but had added strep throat and possibly an ear infection. The ear infection cleared up on it's own but that was what created the meningitis. Now, I had assumed you had strep throat so I've been giving you some antibiotics for that and so it's pretty much gone. The flu has been running it's course but the antibiotics for the strep throat helped stopped it from getting worse. You are now on some meds for that. Our biggest worry is definitely the meningitis. That is a very deadly disease that has gotten slowly worse as I didn't treat it. The whole disease was slowed, again thanks to the other medication you were on. But now you are on the correct meds and should be okay to leave here later today. Course, JARVIS and I will watch over you much more then before as a just in case," Bruce explained. Clint blankly nodded, not too concerned with what Bruce was talking about. Bruce, seeing that Clint wasn't really paying attention, sighed before looking at the others. "We should go get some food and rest. Besides, Clint could use the rest as well."
Everyone agreed and within minutes it was just Clint and Natasha left in the room. Clint, who had been mostly ignoring his visitors, took an extra five minutes before he noticed that Natasha had stayed. She had retaken her seat beside his bed and had just been staring at him, waiting. Now that he was focused on her, she smiled softly but he spoke first.
"I thought Bruce said you needed food and rest."
"I stole a granola bar before coming in here and have been pretty much resting. I don't need to sleep right now. Besides, I want to make sure you won't try and escape Medical right now," Natasha retorted. Clint frowned but nodded. He knew that if he had indeed been left alone, he'd have run off. Hell, he'd have been venturing around the Helicarrier looking for Coulson if Natasha wasn't watching him. Clint relaxed into the bed.
"I hate how well you know me some times." Natasha snorted.
"No, you don't. Besides, I don't think you understand the implications of what Bruce was saying. You are technically dying right now." Clint raised an eyebrow. He didn't think he missed Bruce's long winded speech that much. How could he have missed the fact that he was dying. "You have meningitis. It's swelling around the brain stem. If you weren't on meds for other things, you could have died a few days ago without us even really knowing."
"Hmm. That sucks," Clint muttered, trying really hard to not think about it. Natasha rolled her eyes and gripped Clint's hand. He slowly looked down at their joined hands before following her arm up to her shoulder and then to her face. She was giving him a soft sympathetic gaze.
"You'll be okay as long as you rest and take your medication." Clint sighed.
"You sure?"
"Yes."
After that the two feel into a peaceful silence. About ten minutes later, Clint felt himself drifting off. When he tried to fight and stay awake, Natasha slipped into the bed beside him and whispered some soft words that forced him to give in. He was out of it three seconds before Bruce came back to see Natasha curled up around the archer. The doc gave her a soft smile and a nod before turning and leaving the two partners in peace. Natasha feel asleep about seven minutes later. Less then a minute after that, Coulson stepped into the room.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered to the duo. They surprisingly slept on. He smiled at that. It showed how much they trusted him that he could visit them while the slept and they didn't stir. For a moment he was proud of all the work he went through to gain their trust but then he remembered. He was dead to them. Coulson didn't exist in their world now. The only ones they had to trust now were each other.
Silently, Coulson moved over to them and gently rubbed Clint's cheek and Natasha's left arm. Clint shifted to press harder against the agent's hand but otherwise they didn't stir. Coulson had been with Clint all the way up until Fury called down and told him the Avengers had arrived. He hadn't wanted to leave the younger agent alone for even a moment but... Fury had already told Coulson that he'd be fired or even worse if any more of them saw him.
"You're lucky I know the others have already headed to Stark Tower," came Fury's voice from the door. Coulson froze when Natasha shifted and moaned slightly at the noise but she calmed quickly. The once dead agent spun and gave his director a dark glare before storming out of the room. Once in the hall, Coulson closed the door. Fury's gaze was focused on him.
"You could have just made that even worse," Coulson told the director. Fury glanced back at the room. Seeing that neither agent seemed fazed, Fury couldn't really see the issue and just assumed that Coulson was mad at him for lying to the Avengers. Rolling his eyes, the director looked back at his old friend.
"They are still asleep," Fury needlessly pointed out. Coulson sighed.
"And if you had woken them? Would I have been the one to get in trouble?"
"You were the dead idiot in the room with them," Fury mentioned with a small smile. Coulson snorted, figuring it was always going to be his fault when it came to the Avengers. Even if it was something stupid like say, Tony uploaded JARVIS to the Helicarrier mainframe and the AI alerted the genius to Coulson's presence. Fury would say that Coulson should have know and shouldn't have been on the Helicarrier.
"I still don't see why they can't know," Coulson said, changing the subject to a time old argument that they have been having. Fury groaned before turning and walking away. He almost expected that Coulson would follow. And after a moment, Coulson did just that.
"I'm already on uneasy ground with most of them. Stark can quit at any point. Hell, he still isn't even qualified for the Avenger Initiative. Banner is only around because Stark and Rogers have taken a liking to him. Hell, even Romanoff and Barton are stuck in the Initiative because of Manhattan."
"I thought Cli- Barton was always part of the Initiative? Even Banner was considered if he'd be willing. And from what I hear, he seems to be rather willing," Coulson responded, sounding confused. When he tried to say Clint's first name, Fury leveled a glare on the agent and Coulson quickly fixed it.
"Barton doesn't know. And Banner... If he finds out that we wanted him for the whole project, he'll run. So, I'm letting them assume that only Rogers and Stark were considered. But Romanoff... I'm partly surprised that she's still going along with it. The Black Widow was already widely known and that never seemed to hinder her before."
"So you think that if they see that I'm alive it will dissolve them?"
"Not dissolve them. But... Stark is already impossible to control. Imagine if he learned about my lie? He'd fight to take the Initiative away. And depending on how the others take it, they may follow," Fury explained. When Coulson frowned in disbelief, Fury sighed. He focused more on the other agent. "They've been through a lot as a group. And most of it focused around your passing. If they find out that you weren't dead many of them will feel betrayed. Barton and Rogers being the main two. I can't lose this group."
"Is the council still on your ass?" Coulson asked. Fury stopped walking now. He sighed once again and looked up to the ceiling as though he was praying. Coulson paused and waited for an answer.
"The Council doesn't just want my ass. Ross has been begging to get at Banner. I've had to try to come up with random reasons as to why Hammer has to stay in jail. Some of the Council still wants to throw Barton in jail or even put him back on death row. Romanoff is one mission failure away from being called a traitor again. Never mind the fact that the Council wants Thor locked down every time he appears on earth."
"Ah." Fury looked back down at Coulson with a slightly confused expression.
"That's all you have to say?" Couson shrugged. Fury snorted before the two began walking again. "If I lose the Avengers, Hill will take my job. And you know that she already doesn't like Stark, Barton and Banner. Never mind the fact that she even mentioned at one point about reopening the super solider program."
"So, me being kept from the Avengers is what stops all that from happening?" Fury glanced over at the agent. Coulson wasn't focused on Fury at all. He seemed to be off in his own world. Sighing, Fury brought his friend back into the conversation.
"Lets hope so."
And that chapter is over! Hope everyone is still liking this! ^_^ Don't forget to review, favorite and follow! My husband has been stressed at work and has really been looking forward to reading what everyone did! Sadly he's at work as I post so he can't steal my phone, but he loves all the shout-outs!
Until next time!
