I don't own these characters or anything Marvel related. sad.
There was a fuzzy feeling in his head and he couldn't help but rub his face against the pillow as a way to shake the feeling off. He knew he had to be up for school already but he had no strength to get up. As he tried to move, he felt his stomach churn. He fought with the blankets as he tried to get to the bathroom in time. Getting there just in time, tears rolled down his cheeks as he emptied his stomach and was left dry heaving.
"Clint, you ok buddy?" Phil had noticed that Clint looked a bit pale during dinner and was worried he was getting sick.
He couldn't bring himself to say anything as Phil knocked on the bathroom door, the adrenaline rush that had allowed him to run to the bathroom was now wearing off.
Phil knocked on the door once more, he was worried for Clint. "I'm coming in, ok?" He cracked the door open and ran to pick up Clint from the floor. "I think we should call the doctor."
Clint had started dozing off again as he tried to respond to Phil, his eyes snapped open at the sound of the word 'doctor'. "No." his voice came out raspy and low. "I don't feel bad. I'm all better."
"You are not better; you can hardly even keep your eyes open." He placed Clint down on his bed and placed a hand on his forehead, he was burning up. "I'll go get the thermometer."
He saw as Phil left before he could think of an argument against the doctor and against the thermometer. He hated doctors; he'd only been there a few times when his dad had gotten a bit out of hand. Not to mention the time he ended up in the hospital after the group home incident. "I don't like doctors." he whispered as his eyes closed again.
Natasha was sitting on the couch waiting for Clint to get ready so they could go to school. She turned to look as Phil ran out of Clint's room and into his room. He seemed to be looking for something; she got off the couch and went over to Clint's room. Her eyes landed on the small blonde boy who had curled up into a ball. She frowned and went to sit next him on the bed, if she didn't like to see him sad then it was worse seeing him sick.
"You shouldn't be in here, Natasha." Phil was walking back into the room thermometer in hand. He frowned as he took in the scene, Clint looked bad. "You're going to end up getting sick too."
"I'm not going to get sick. I will stay with Clint." He was always there for her; there was no way she was going to leave him while he went through this.
Phil sighed as Natasha spoke, the thermometer beeped and he pulled it away from Clint's ear. "Hmm. I'll call the doctor; a fever of 103.2 is very worrisome."
"I don't want to go to the doctor." Clint muttered trying to stop the shaking the fever was causing.
Natasha looked at Clint then at Phil and frowned. She wasn't a huge fan of doctors either, but he didn't look too good. "I'll be with you, Clint, I promise. I will kick the doctor if he tries to come at you with a needle."
"No need for kicking, Natasha. If it'll make you feel better though, Natasha can go with us to the clinic." Phil hoped that Natasha wouldn't actually kick the doctor, but if it helped Clint go to the doctor then he would risk it.
"Alright." Clint whispered, his eyelids becoming heavy once again.
Phil took one last look at Clint before leaving the room to call the doctor. It took a while to make Clint cooperate and get into the car. After another trip to the bathroom, which only brought more dry heaving, they were on their way to the clinic. Natasha was now holding Clint's hand as the boy dozed off. It was hard for Phil to see Clint look so fragile, he wasn't the most talkative child, but he did pack a lot of energy and mischief.
Clint had fallen asleep once more by the time they got to the clinic. Phil picked him up reassuring him that everything was okay as the boy stirred, while Natasha grabbed his free hand. Thanks to the connections, that he had through SHIELD the wait wasn't going to be a long one. This allowed Natasha to play with the toys set out for the children while Clint continued his restless sleep in Phil's arms. After a few minutes, the nurse called them in. Phil felt bad for having to wake Clint up as the nurse needed to take his temperature as well as his pulse.
"I wanna go home." Clint muttered when the nurse was done.
If it was possible, Clint looked even paler than he had at home, his rosy cheeks evidence of the fever he was battling. "We'll go home as soon as the doctor sees you, it won't be long now."
The nurse led them to a room and assured Phil the doctor would be seeing them soon. He put Clint down on the bed, Natasha jumped up on the bed to sit next to him. "Natasha, you should sit on that empty chair over there so the doctor can have room."
Natasha had once again taken hold of Clint's hand. "No, I told Clint I'd be right next to him." She gave him a look of total defiance, if she had promised her best friend something she wasn't going to go back on it.
The look on her face said it all; she wasn't going to move no matter what he said. "Alright then, but if the doctor needs you to move you'll have to move."
The wait wasn't long, after about five minutes or so the doctor was walking into the room. He eyed both kids on the bed and turned to look at Phil. "I hear Clint isn't feeling too well, let's have look."
Clint tensed up as he heard the doctor's voice, he felt Natasha squeeze his hand reassuringly. The doctor pulled out his stethoscope and placed it on his chest, he inhaled and exhaled as the doctor instructed. After that was done, the doctor checked his throat and ears. So far, everything was going well, no needles or anything scary. It helped that Natasha had not moved or let go of his hand.
"So?" Phil asked as the doctor finished checking up Clint.
The doctor picked up the chart and smiled. "It looks like just a regular flu bug; his temperature is a little high so we will be giving him some medicine here. I am prescribing the regular fever reliever. If you feel his fever is getting dangerously high, you can place him in a cool bath to bring down the temperature. Now, if that doesn't work you will have to get him to the hospital. A high fever can cause convulsions and that is something we want to prevent. Other than that, make sure he stays hydrated to avoid any complications."
Phil frowned as the doctor handed him the prescription. "Alright, thank you."
Natasha had all the meanwhile been reassuring Clint that it was over and they would be getting home soon. "I can help you, right Phil?"
"Of course you can, I think Clint would like that." he said as he helped Natasha off the bed and picked up Clint.
Clint smiled as Phil picked him up, it was over, the doctor was gone now. He wrapped his arms around Phil's neck and put his head on his shoulder, it was nice to have someone taking care of you and worrying about you, it was a first for him. "Can we go home now?"
"We have to go pick up the medicine and some food first, then we'll go home."
"Don't worry Clint, I'm going to help him, so you'll be in good hands." Natasha said as they walked towards the car.
They went to buy food while the prescription was filled and then headed home. During the drive back home, Clint had fallen asleep once more. Natasha would place her hand on his forehead every few seconds to check his temperature. She frowned each time because it still felt too hot. Whenever she wasn't busy doing that she would take hold of his hand and say some things in Russian that Phil didn't understand. It was nice though, to see her care so much for Clint. If the roles were reversed, he was sure that Clint would be acting the same way as Natasha.
After they got back home, Phil took Clint's temperature again and was happy to see that it had gone down a degree. It now was 102.5, not exactly the best temperature, but better than the 103.5 that he'd had at the doctor's. "Alright, we have to get some food in you before I give you any more medicine."
Natasha went right to work, helping Phil by handing him a bowl for Clint's soup and a cup for his juice. She then ran to Clint's room to make sure nothing was in the way that would trip Phil while he was carrying in the food. She shook Clint awake and made him sit up despite his protests of not being hungry. "You have to eat, or you won't get better."
"Natasha is right, you have to eat so you can feel better and beat the virus. It's just chicken noodle soup and some apple juice." Phil placed the food tray in front of Clint.
Clint looked at food and made a face. He wasn't sure about eating, he didn't exactly want a repeat of this morning. He picked up the spoon and started with a bit of broth, and then some noodles. He didn't finish the whole serving, but he was able to at least eat half before deciding it was enough. After the apple juice, he drank his medicine and lay back down. He smiled as Natasha moved to lie down next to him. "Thanks." he whispered as sleep pulled him in once more.
The way Natasha was caring for Clint was, to Phil, perhaps the most adorable thing he had ever witnessed. There was the fear that she might get sick as well, but he didn't exactly feel like arguing with her about it. "I need to get some stuff done, yell for me if anything." he whispered to Natasha. She nodded and went back to staring at Clint; he couldn't be in better hands.
It was extremely important that she watch over him, in part she felt he was the only one who understood and knew the pain of her loss. She was getting used to scowling at him every time he started pranking people with Tony, it took this moment to realize that she rather be scowling at him than seeing him so weak. A while later Phil came to get her so she could eat, she refused to move until Phil assured her that he would stand guard until she got back. "He's going to get better, right?" she asked in a whisper as she returned from practically inhaling her food.
"Of course he will. He has the best nurse I've ever seen." Phil whispered back as Natasha resumed her post. He patted her on the shoulder and passed his hand over Clint's forehead before leaving the room. He was worried; Clint hadn't been able to keep down the noodle soup, throwing it up an hour after he had eaten. Thankfully, his temperature had remained steady. While it would have been best for it to go down, it not going back up was a good thing.
"Phil! Phil! Phil!" Natasha didn't know what to do, one minute she had been sitting next to Clint and the next he was thrashing about.
Phil ran into the room as soon as he heard Natasha's panicked screams. Clint was having a seizure, and she was a few feet from the bed crying. He took out his phone and dialed for an ambulance. Sure, he was a SHIELD agent trained to handle just about any situation imaginable. However, this wasn't about him being an agent, it was about him being Clint's dad and his son was currently having a seizure. He quickly went to work as the person on the phone told him what to do. He removed the blankets from Clint as well as his shirt, in an attempt to lower the fever that was cause for the seizure.
The ambulance got there just as the seizure subsided, what felt like hours, was only four minutes. Phil moved out of the way, as the paramedics got to work on Clint. First, they took his temperature, which was followed by a pulse reading. After which they applied ice packs under his armpits and between his thighs.
Clint began to regain consciousness as they moved him onto the stretcher and set up an IV. His eyes searched for Phil, but all he could see where two strange men doing something. His panic really set in as they placed an oxygen mask on him and began to move him. "Dad! Dad!" tears rolled down his cheek as his panic rose.
While the paramedics went to work, Phil went over and picked up Natasha. It was partly so she could keep an eye on Clint, and so that she didn't go attack the paramedics thinking they were hurting him or something. He went over to the stretcher as he heard Clint's voice. "Hey buddy, it's alright. You're going to be okay, Nat and I will follow the ambulance to the hospital." as he said this he saw Clint nod and close his eyes once more.
The ride to the hospital was short, but once again, it felt as though everything was going slower than it actually was. Once there, Phil and Natasha saw as the paramedics wheeled Clint into the emergency room. He didn't look to be conscious which worried Phil.
"He's going to be okay, right Phil?" Natasha had been staring in horror since the ordeal had begun. She gripped Phil's coat as he carried her.
"Yes, of course he will."
The doctor in charge of Clint went over to Phil as soon as he was done giving orders to the nurses. "Hello, I'm Doctor Jones. Clint suffered what we call a febrile seizure. This was caused by the sudden change in temperature his body suffered. His current temperature is 104.5; he is right now being given an ice bath in order to lower that temperature. The fever also caused dehydration. His breathing is a bit ragged, but we believe it is due to everything that his body is going through right now. We are going to run a few tests as soon as we get his temperature down."
"Thank you." Phil said as the doctor turned and walked away. He had kept a close eye on Clint's temperature, how had it gotten so high?
Waiting was horrible. Phil had phoned Fury to let him know what was going on; when he showed up to take Natasha home she refused to leave. He stayed around for a bit to keep Phil company, but had to get back to SHIELD after a while. He left with the promise of getting Clint more arrows and toys when he got better. Natasha eventually fell asleep in Phil's arms while they both waited for an update on Clint's condition. Phil couldn't be happier when the doctor appeared once more. "How is he?" he asked as he got up, Natasha still in his arms.
The doctor smiled and motioned for him to take a seat. "He is doing well; we were able to bring down his fever. We ran some tests, mainly to see if he had meningitis. He doesn't, it appears to have just been a fever that got really out of control. We'd like to keep him overnight, his breathing has started to get back to normal but we'd like to keep an eye on it. Also, he's still a bit dehydrated, so we want to keep him on an IV."
"How did I let him get this bad?" The change had been so sudden; he had tried to keep him hydrated and his temperature low. He rubbed his face with his free hand and sighed.
"Fevers in children can be quite unpredictable. It was a combination of things, which led to him having the febrile seizure. I can assure you, you did nothing wrong. The nurse will take you to his room if you'd like to see him." The doctor gave a nod and a smile to Phil before getting up and going back to his patients.
The nurse led Phil to the room that Clint was in, the small boy asleep. He did look better than he had earlier that day. He wasn't as pale or as restless as he'd been. Phil walked over to the bed and placed his hand over Clint's, he smiled as the boy opened his eyes. "Hey Clint."
It had all been a blur to Clint, one minute he had been staring at Natasha and the next everything had gone black. He opened his eyes only to find strange people around him, he had heard Phil's voice and then everything went black again. Bits and pieces were all he remembered. He opened his eyes as he felt a familiar hand on his. Phil was there with Natasha, he smiled sleepily. "You're here."
Clint's voice had been almost a whisper. "Of course I am. I'm your dad, aren't I?"
The boy nodded as sleep called him once again. "My dad." he whispered as he allowed himself to sleep.
The whole ordeal had been chaotic and frightening for Phil. Sure, he had seen some terrible things as a SHIELD agent. He had dealt with things far more gruesome and in some cases gory, but it didn't compare to the sight of seeing Clint in such a state. Thankfully, things hadn't gotten as bad as they could have.
Natasha had fallen asleep after throwing a tantrum in the waiting room. Phil had called Fury so she wouldn't be in the hospital, but she had promised Clint that she would stay with him. At the end, she won and while waiting for word on her best friend she had fallen asleep. She woke up to find herself in a hospital room, her attention immediately on Clint. It was already morning and he was staring at both her and Phil. She climbed out of Phil's lap and went over to where Clint was. "Are you feeling better?"
Waking up to see Phil and Natasha asleep on the hospital chair in his room was in his mind one of the best things ever. Granted, he rather not be in the hospital, but no one had ever shown him this much attention, care, and love. He remained quiet and just watched them sleep. His fever was still there, but not as bad as before and he felt a whole lot better. A smile formed on his face as Natasha started waking up, he saw as she went over to where he was. "Yeah, thanks. You kept your promise."
"Of course, silly. I need you to get better; otherwise I'll have to deal with all the boys on my own."
Phil woke up as Natasha climbed out of his hold. He smiled as the two kids spoke, being a father was harder than he'd ever imagined. It was all worth it though, seeing Clint get better and Natasha helping him.
AN: Have I told you how awesome you guys are? You are. Thanks so much for the reviews and the follows. I have answered a few reviews in hopes of answering a few questions you guys have. I will be writing a chapter that will feature Buck, Betty, Jane, and Rhodey. It might be one of the longer chapters due to the structure it will be in (it'll be different from the other chapters). This wasn't the storm, btw. This was just like a cloudy or sprinkly day. hehe.
Next chapter will be up on Friday, I have a busy weekend up ahead.