A/N: Sorry these are late! A little thing called life happened and I forgot to post. (Read: I got a bad sunburn and my car broke down, among other things…) *hangs head in shame* But to make it up to you, another double post! Also; special thanks to Kalo Suva for being the first (and only) reviewer so far!

Warning – Mild cursing, mentions of child abuse; implied non-con/child molestation.

.0.o.0.o.0.

Nat knew that Clint hated hospitals, but she didn't know quite how much until the day he woke up after setting off a sonic arrow at point blank range.

Her first indication that her partner was awake was when a loud crash reverberated through the hospital wing aboard the helicarrier. She dropped what she was doing at the nurse's station (SHIELD might perform background checks, but Natasha did paranoid ones) and ran to his room.

Clint was standing in the middle of the room with his back to the door, wearing nothing but his medical-issued drawstring pants. He was breathing heavily, arms akimbo and shaking. A terrified nurse stood her ground (barely) in one corner. An upended tray leaned against the wall, some miscellaneous medical supplies scattered around it.

"Clint, what happened? What did she do to you?" Her partner didn't respond.

"I-I-I didn't do anything to him, ma'am. I don't think he can hear us." The nurse was losing some of her terror now that another agent was here. And possibly the only agent who had a chance at controlling Hawkeye at that.

Clint's shoulders tensed as he realized the nurse wasn't speaking to him, but to someone behind him. He spun around in a fighting stance, but he froze when he saw Natasha.

"Tasha…" He visibly relaxed.

"Nurse Sajda, you can leave now."

Nat could see Clint watching her mouth, reading her lips. He knew the nurse would be leaving the room, but he still started as the woman walked past his field of vision. Natasha stopped the woman in the doorway and turned her head so that Clint couldn't see what she was saying.

"I want Agent Coulson and Agent Barton's doctor down here asap. But they don't enter until I give the all clear. Understood?"

Sajda gave a quick nod of her head. "Yes ma'am." And then she scrambled out of the room as fast as she could. Natasha looked Clint in the eye.

"You always were a romantic."

"What?"

She moved to the bed and sat down. He had to follow her to understand what she was saying. "Ro-man-tic." She enunciated, forming the sounds as large as she could so he could read her lips.

"Not that. What happened?"

She quirked her head to one side. "You don't remember?"

"No." Unconsciously he rubbed at his ears.

"You saved Bobbi. Even after all the shit she put you through-"

"Not her fault."

"See? Romantic." That earned her a smirk.

"So how did I save her?"

"Sonic arrow." Clint nodded, understanding lighting his face.

"I was too close to the blast. It's happened before. I'll be better in a few weeks."

"…No, Clint, you won't." He looked at her, a question in his eyes. God, those damn eyes… "You weren't too close to the blast. You were at the point of detonation. Barton… you set the damn thing off in your hand."

He looked as though she'd shot him.

"The doctors are surprised your bones aren't jelly. As it is you've been unconscious for the last three days." She didn't mention that Bobbi hadn't been there at all, while she hadn't left the infirmary wing. No need to rub his nose in that loss.

Clint slid down the wall he'd been leaning against.

Natasha saw the light flick on on the camera in the corner. Coulson had arrived, and was letting her lead this.

If she believed in a god, she would thank him for small favors.

She stood up from the bed and walked over to him. Natasha crouched down in front of him, trying to catch his gaze. He looked down, to the side, anywhere but her. Nat sat down beside him, staring out into the room.

Seconds, minutes, hours later (she didn't really know) he sighed and rested his arms on his bent knees. Clint raised his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, staring at the ceiling and rubbing his ears again.

"I ever tell you why I hate hospitals so bad?"

Nat didn't move, didn't make a sound. Clint wouldn't have heard her even if she did.

"I spent a lot of time in them when I was little. My daddy was a drunk, and a mean one at that. Used to throw me and my older brother around a bit. I had fifteen hospital visits by the time I was seven years old. Then the car accident… He was drunk again. Wrapped the car around a tree, killed him instantly. My brother pulled me out; after that, I don't remember anything until I woke up in the hospital and they were telling me our mama had passed. She hadn't survived the surgery."

He was quiet for a very long moment.

"And then… in the group home… move visits." His smile was sick looking. "I can't stand to be in one of these sterile rooms ever since."

Nat leaned her head against his shoulder. Clint stiffened, then relaxed. If she wasn't on a job, this was about as close to a hug as she ever got.

They sat there for hours.

The little red light on the camera never went out.

.0.o.0.o.0.

Two months later…

"There has been very dramatic improvement, but I don't think you can expect much more. You'll probably only have forty-five percent hearing in your left ear, sixty percent in your right. You're lucky to have any hearing at all, given your proximity to the explosion. And it will probably get worse as you get older."

Clint stared at the doctor's mouth, not really absorbing anything he was saying. Deaf. Permanently deaf. God, hadn't he been punished enough for the wrong in his life? Wasn't working for SHIELD saving lives enough to make up for the ones he'd taken? Even out his ledger?

His thoughts were reeling, screaming, he couldn't focus. Then, an anchor, a touch on his hand. His thoughts calmed, eased, all focusing on that one point of contact.

Natasha.

"I'll take care of him. Get him to his fittings. I'll make sure he doesn't miss his appointments."

He looked at his partner, and for the first time since he set off that damn arrow, he felt peace. And that's when he knew he was no longer in love with Bobbi Morse.

He was in love with Natasha Romanoff. The Black Widow.

God have mercy on his soul.