"Look, he has no memory of meeting you before. I don't even think he has any memory of being a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. All he is, is a four year old Clint who was suddenly displaced out of his life and placed into Stark Tower surrounded by Avengers. He's lost, slightly scared, confused and we want to make sure he is completely healthy. Please," Bruce told the S.H.I.E.L.D doctor. He had dealt with the man only once before when Clint had been getting his check-ups as a baby and honestly didn't even realize this was the same man. Jazuat was glad for that to some degree. When Natasha had seen him, she had gotten this deadly look on her face that he almost turned and ran.

The man looked over Clint again through the clear windows that separated the medical room from the hallway. Last time he had seen Clint, the little archer had been maybe a five month old boy dealing with issues of formula. Now he was a four year old kid. This was certainly getting far out of his pay-grade. And something that Jazuat wasn't sure that he wanted to get into. After messing up so many times with something as simple as a possible milk/formula allergy, Jazuat feared he couldn't be trusted with something like this.

"He seems to be a healthy kid outside of being slightly malnourished. But just feeding him some more food can help that," the doc pointed out, sounding like he didn't want to examine the boy. Bruce frowned. He easily figured that out on his own. What he needed was more information. Could Clint be suffering from any brain damage? Was he developmentally on time for his age? Was there anything they needed to watch out for considering what happened?

"Please. This is important. We need to make sure that his time as a five month old didn't mess anything up or the serum is changing him," Bruce pressed. The doctor sighed. Again he looked at Clint through the windows. The boy was looking back at him this time, before the other Avengers had been conversing with him. Now, Jazuat could see that Clint looked a little freaked out but calm enough with the remaining Avengers surrounding him. Slowly, the doc looked back to Bruce. Banner could see that the S.H.I.E.L.D doc was still hesitant but was beginning to fall.

"Fine, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Bruce said, almost sounding like he was sobbing instead. Jazuat shook his head. He wasn't done speaking. Bruce frowned but didn't stop the doctor from continuing on. The doctor was looking out at Clint even as he spoke.

"But... I'll need to see him alone to get a good read on him."

"But-" Bruce started to protest. Jazuat spun around, raising his hand to stop Bruce from saying another word.

"Even though he seems to have lost all memories, unconsciously, something is telling him to trust you all. I need him off center to get a good read," the doctor admitted. Bruce bristled, glancing back at the others as he debated those words. For a moment, Jazuat feared that he pressed too far. But Bruce didn't argue. He stood there thinking about it all. Something was up with this whole idea but Bruce needed Jazuat's help. Was it worth the risks? Worth Clint possibly not trusting them after?

But the more that Bruce thought about it, the more he remembered his own time as a doctor. He had done the same thing a number of times with children in other countries. Many times when the parents were around, the child was too shy to talk to him but by getting them alone, the child was forced to answer. Almost as if they were forced to trust the only adult left in the room. Knowing that Jazuat was right and there was no other choice, Bruce nodded and turned to go retrieve Clint.

It took only a second to step outside. By that time, everyone had stood from their seats and pretty much gathered around, ready to step into the room where Dr. Jazuat waited. Bruce shook his head, wondering if the others would agree with his decision. Slowly, he looked over Clint and then the others. They seemed confused but ready to hear what he had to say. As much as it pained him, Bruce knew that they trusted his word over anyone.

"Actually, he wants just Clint," Bruce told them. Tony frowned, wondering how in the world that was going to be okay with anyone. Steve shook his head and patted Clint's shoulder as he backed away with a deep sigh. But Bruce could tell that the solider didn't like this idea in the least. Natasha snarled, not really wanting to leave Clint alone with the S.H.I.E.L.D doc (after the formula debacle, Natasha started not trusting him) but was forced to trust Bruce and his word that it was going to be alright. Nodding, Clint moved forward and slipped by the Bruce. It took him a few extra seconds for him to realize that the doc wasn't following behind him. The archer turned back to look at him.

"Bruce?" Clint questioned meekly in the doorway. Jazuat stood behind the boy, placing something down on a waiting tray by the bed. One could only hope that it was something like a vaccination that Clint would need or something. Bruce shook his head at the boy and kneeled down to Clint's level. Since turning four, Clint had latched himself well onto Bruce and Steve's side. It was a nice feeling but Bruce understood that this was important and needed Clint to know that they weren't abandoning him.

"No, just you. We'll be waiting out here for you. It won't be long. I promise," Bruce told him. Clint shuddered, feeling like something was about to go wrong, but nodded. He really didn't want to see this man all by himself but at least the boy would be able to see them through the windows. Slowly, he headed deeper into the room. Bruce smiled lightly and got back up before stepping back and closing the door. Before closing it fully, Bruce looked at them both. "We'll be waiting right here."

"Thanks," Clint whispered, turning back in time to see Bruce close the door. Bruce smiled once as Tony sat down in a far chair. Steve waved and Natasha grabbed another chair to move it closer to the door. As she placed it down, the windows shift to opaque, blocking any more view of the others. Clint's eyes widened as a lock engaged with a click. Not knowing if this was normal or not, Clint looked around in shock.

"Finally," the doctor called behind him. Clint spun around in horror and surprise. His fear of doctors skyrocketing as he stared at Jazuat, mentally praying that Steve would try and break down the door. Sadly, nothing happened. Almost as if the others couldn't tell that something horrible was happening behind the now locked door. Clint briefly wondered if they even knew that they door was locked.

"I want to see them!" Clint screeched, completely unaware that S.H.I.E.L.D had built the medical wing to have soundproof walls. Many times agents came back and either had horrible nightmares or were in such pain that their screams echoed down the hall. After a while, someone finally came up with the idea of soundproofing the walls so that even if an agent was screaming bloody murder, the others in the wing could still sleep. No one heard him.

Jazuat laughed at the boy and shook his head as he moved away from the wall. Clint noted a panel with a number of buttons and dials. One of them had to control something; either the door or the windows... Something to be able to alert the others of what was going on in this room. Clint shifted closer to it, noticing Jazuat didn't seem to care. If he could get over to that panel before Jazuat did anything to him then it would be okay.

"Boy, you don't get it. You ain't going to see them ever again" Jazuat said. Clint grimaced and backed away a step as the doc spun around to see the boy inching closer to the panel. Jazuat's eyes narrowed but he didn't seem too concerned. The doc knew the Avengers weren't concerned with this. They trusted him to be a healer. But they didn't know everything. Clint was tempted to turn around and alert the others by banging on the door but... Who know if they would believe him over the doctor? Before he could think more on it, Jazuat grabbed something off of a silver metal tray table he had been preparing before.

"What do you even want with me?" Clint whined, feeling more lost than he had since waking up only a few hours before. The doctor smiled, an evil sickly looking image that made the little archer shudder. Technically, Jazuat didn't want anything to do with the boy, but his bosses... That was another story. Clint backed away as the doctor turned to face him, tucking the item he grabbed behind him. The archer was quickly backing himself into a corner. "Please! I don't know anything! I'm just a boy from the country!"

"Oh, I know. And that's why this is the perfect time for this to happen," Jazuat explained as if that made any sense. Clint hit the corner with a thud as Jazuat shifted the item around to show what it was. The boy was stunned to recognize it as a needle filled with an unknown liquid. But it was something that Clint was certain wouldn't be good to have injected into his system. He shifted down into his corner to get away.

"They'll know it was you," Clint cried as if it made a difference. Jazuat laughed and leaned in close to Clint. The archer tried to lash out but Jazuat, trained to handle trained agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, was faster and backed away in time.

"I'll let you in on a little secret. I was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Given only four more months to live. That serum inside you just extended that," Jazuat told the boy. Clint winced as if the doc had slapped him across the face. Tears began leaking out. He had no idea what this man was saying. 'Serum? What serum?' But Clint needed to try and stop this guy. So, Clint decided to try what his brother would always try...

"I'm sure they would be willing to give you some! I bet that they have a ton of it left over! Just go and ask them! They seem friendly enough," Clint lied. He hadn't been around enough to know if any of it was true. Nor did he know what he was really saying. But he hoped that the doctor didn't know much more than he did. Then again... Considering Jazuat quickly began hysterically laughing, Clint assumed not.

"Bruce tested that serum on only his blood. His gamma irradiated blood! We needed it tested on someone normal. Someone... Human," Jazuat responded before looking Clint over. Clint followed the expression before his eyes widened. He was the test subject? Was that the only reason why the others were so nice to him? They were checking him? Finding out how the serum worked on him? Did they even care?

Knowing the boy was distracted, Jazuat lunged forward. Clint, feeling the shift in the air and having experience with his father, dodged but didn't get far as he felt the needle pierce his skin. The doc cried out in triumph as he pressed the plunger to release the contents. Clint screeched, falling and stumbling as he tried to get away. Whatever was in the needle, it was fast acting... Within seconds, the boy was tired, dizzy and the room was staring to spin... He stumbled along, trying to find somewhere to hide even as he drifted into oblivion.

"Did... Did you do this? To me?" Clint growled. Jazuat laughed, leaning on the wall for support as he got up from his attack. Clint stumbled to the ground, trying to fight off whatever the doc gave him. Jazuat shook his head with a smile, moving in on his quickly slipping target. Clint glanced once again toward the door, wondering if any of the Avengers would even care what was happening. Would they just move onto another test subject? Would they forget about him?

"No... No, I wish. Just happened to be the most perfect timing."

"This is taking a while," Tony muttered after over two hours of waiting. He was sitting opposite of the doorway, fiddling on his phone. JARVIS, who was still in S.H.I.E.L.D systems, was quickly tracking through cameras to try and find the room that Clint was currently in. The AI hadn't been watching them before as it hadn't been important, but now... Now, the AI was certain that he was going to track the coming and goings of every Avenger in every S.H.I.E.L.D base, outpost and so forth from this point on. He was never going to lose track of them again. It was getting to a point that JARVIS was ready to demand tracking implants on each of them or maybe even in each and every bone... Yeah, that sounded good... Each bone... Something like that so that if Natasha or Clint ever got taken again it wouldn't be an easy removal of one implant... But that's another story. (And I'm getting lost in JARVIS's POV...)

"Maybe Clint is giving the doc a hard time," Natasha suggested, sitting next to the door as if she was guarding it. Tony frowned but shrugged. It was possible. Clint was a little iffy at times when he was six. But that was when he was frightened of orphanages and abandonment. At age 4, he'd believe his parents were alive and waiting for him. Who'd know how he'd act around doctors now. Actually, Clint never really admitted at what age he began not trusting doctors. No one would be surprised if it was around this age.

"He seemed fine around me," Bruce mentioned, forgetting that Clint seemed to innately trust them all. Tony shrugged again, distracted by his phone and the data that JARVIS kept throwing at him. Apparently the AI wanted to design something like tracers that dissolved into the blood stream or something weird like that. Distracted with the possible theories, Tony tried to force not only his mind but also his AI back on track. Natasha snorted.

"We were all there though. This doctor is alone," Steve added, reminding them all how Clint could be when they handled him alone. If Clint was with two or more people, he was usually on good behavior. But normally once alone with a person, depending on the person, Clint became a little terror.

"Hey, he wanted it this way," Natasha countered. Steve nodded, still not liking it. Bruce sighed deeply and glanced over at Tony who was tapping rather harshly on his phone and beginning to hiss rather darkly at the device. Natasha raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the genius as Bruce shifted seats to see what Tony was doing. "What is going on over there?"

"Nothing? Just JARVIS acting up," Tony grumbled. Bruce chuckled at a couple of the algorithms that passed over the screen. Tony groaned. "Apparently he thinks we should make tracers that go into our blood streams that are gamma proof, super solider serum proof, god-like proof and enemy spy proof because we Avengers get kidnapped too much for JARVIS's liking."

Steve snorted and looked away from Tony. The idea of some sort of tracer hiding in his blood steam was horrifying but JARVIS did have a point. They did get kidnapped a lot. Bruce smiled and leaned back in his seat, glad that that's all that Tony had been cursing about. He knew that when they got back to the Tower that they would be working on the theories. As much as JARVIS thought this was important, it could endanger them as well. Natasha chuckled and rolled her eyes. For a moment she had thought that Tony had done something stupid but hearing this, all she wanted to do was laugh. She honestly shouldn't have been worried but something was beginning to bug her. Something was wrong and it was starting to put her on edge.

"Well, if that's all," she said, mentally beginning to focus on what was bugging her. Tony grunted and went back to the phone to try and tame the now wild AI. As much as JARVIS's idea was tempting, Tony was still focused on getting an eye line on Clint. The group ended up like that for another few minutes before growing bored again.

"You know, it's been a few months now... Has anyone heard from Thor?" Steve wondered, leaning forward in his seat. Tony shook his head no, still mostly distracted by his phone and JARVIS. Bruce shook his head no. Natasha frowned and also shook her head no. No one really thought about Thor having been missing. They had all been so distracted with Clint and his issue with serum that no one really thought about it.

"I have S.H.I.E.L.D monitoring his friend, Jane Foster. From what I know, she hasn't heard from him either... Do you think something might be wrong?" Natasha asked, reaching into her pocket to get her own phone to check for any updates. Maybe that was what was wrong? Steve sighed and shook his head. It wasn't surprising to not hear from Thor for a while but Heimdall normally informed Thor if something happened to the other Avengers... And this was definitely something. Was Thor is some sort of trouble as well? "Steve?"

"I don't know," Steve exclaimed, sounding more confused and angered than anything. He shook his head before standing and beginning to pace. Bruce and Natasha watched him in his sudden 'frantic' movements. This was a common thing that the super solider had started to do; when Steve panicked, or got stressed, he moved. He needed to move as if moving gave him the answer he so desired or if someone got so annoyed with him, they finally gave him the answer he needed. "There could be... There could be a million things... The bridge could be broken... Loki could have escaped. A war could have started. His father could have died. One of his friends could have died. He could be stuck on a quest or a mission. Who knows? He may need us. I just... I don't know."

"Are you worried that he may be worse off than us?" Bruce tried; worry leaking into his own words. He glanced over at Natasha as she typed away on her own phone trying to get an answer from it. She acted as if the phone would magically connect to Asgard and tell her all the happenings of the other world. Steve sighed and looked to the doctor before nodding and sitting back down into his seat. He placed his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. Bruce frowned and glanced at Natasha for support. As she wasn't getting any answers from the device, she gave up and focused on Bruce. Seeing the distressed captain, Natasha shifted chairs to sit beside Steve even as she put her phone away.

"There's nothing we can do about it here. Besides, I'm sure that Heimdall would have done something to call us. We know that more than just Thor can be sent down here. I'm certain that Heimdall would have sent a messenger down to get us if Thor needed our help," Natasha soothed. Steve nodded, thinking on what she had told him. But it was still bothering him. Something was wrong and he was seriously thinking that it had to do with Thor. Slowly, he looked up at her. Right away, Natasha could tell that he was still bothered. Not that she minded, she was still bothered too.

"But then why hasn't he shown up?" Steve wondered. Natasha bit her lip. She had no answer for that one. But luckily she didn't need to come up with one as Tony took that moment to jump to his feet. His phone clattered to the floor as he stared at the door to the room before them in shock. Something he had seen on the phone made him horrified.

"Tony?" Bruce wondered, glancing down toward the phone to try and see what the genius had seen. The phone quickly went dark before the others could look at it. Tony didn't speak as he suddenly rushed toward the door and started to try to open it. It was still locked (not that they had checked that when Clint first entered). He began pounding on it, almost as if the Avengers were the ones trapped in the room and trying to get out. Seeing that the door wasn't going to open, Tony shifted to the window.

"OPEN UP!" Tony screamed, pounding on the glass. Steve, Natasha and Bruce jumped to their feet, horrified at the genius's sudden reaction. They had never seen him react like this. So this time, they knew it was serious. Something was really wrong. Steve cautiously moved toward the genius as if to pull him away. Bruce backed down the hall, moving to intercept people that might come down to see what the racket was about. Natasha stayed frozen in front of her seat, wondering if she should check Tony's phone again to try and see what he saw. "OPEN UP!" Tony continued on, undeterred.

"Tony!" Steve shouted, moving to stop the billionaire as a couple of agents and other employees began to turn and look down the hall to see what was going on. Tony ignored the captain and continued banging on the glass. Steve frowned and stepped forward, straining to get into more or his 'Captain' mode. A mode that Tony normally didn't respond too, but Steve couldn't think of anything else. "Tony!"

Tony stiffened at the tone and turned to look at Steve in full on 'Captain' mode. Normally, Tony would laugh at Steve but right now Tony looked at Steve as if the man was a miracle. And then the genius slowly looked at the door before looking back at Steve. As the billionaire was doing this, Bruce, Natasha and Steve noticed tears that were forming in the genius's horrified eyes. Something had petrified Tony into crying, something he had seen on his phone. But what could it have been? Before they could really think about it, Tony rushed over to Steve, sliding on the tile to get over to the super solider faster. Steve jerked back in shock.

"Steve! Oh my god! Steve! Break the glass! Please... God! Break the fucking glass! Get me into that room!" Tony begged. He actually begged. Steve, shocked at hearing the genius beg, didn't move. He just stood there as Tony began to hang off of his shirt. They all just stood there as Tony continued to beg, his words slowly beginning to morph into slurs as he started to sob and then whine. "Steeevvveeeeeeeee!"

"Fine," Steve said, gently prying Tony off of his shirt. If it would get Tony to stop whining like this and causing a scene, Steve would break down the glass. Hell, he'd break down the door. Tony let go without hesitation and dropped heavily to the floor, watching the soldier with a desperate gaze. Frowning, Steve walked over to the door. He glanced at Bruce and Natasha to see if he should actually follow Tony's begging demand and when Natasha nodded, the super soldier turned and punched it.

Bruce, Natasha and Steve all expected to hear some sound of protest from inside. They fully expected a shocked S.H.I.E.L.D doctor and a stunned, surprised four year Clint. The trio was even prepared to possibly see Clint naked because of some sort of examine that Dr. Jazuat needed to conduct. But that wasn't what they saw. They instead finally got to see the thing that had railed Tony up so badly. What had petrified him and made the genius cause this huge scene.

The room was empty.

4065 words... Aw, poor Tony. Poor Clint... Poor everyone. I just can't leave them alone, lol.

So, we are still waiting on the date for the gallbladder surgery. Thankfully it will be an in and out procedure. No overnight hospital stays or anything. But we still have no idea if it will clear up his illness. In fact the surgeon mentioned that if the gallbladder is removed and he is still sick then he might have nerve issues and no doctor in the world can fix that. He'll have to be ill the rest of his life. (grr). But we'll see.

Toddler Clint is doing fine. Just celebrated his second birthday and he had fun. Sadly now both he and I are suffering from some sort of cold that no medication seems to be working on. In fact, I've been getting so bad that I almost passed out at work during a coughing fit. Poor Toddler Clint has been getting up in the middle of the night just to cough. He's so tired that he isn't waking up on time in the morning. But, he doesn't seem to be suffering as much as I am, thank god. Still, he's a happy carefree baby.

Anyway, Review Response:

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Review Responses:

Niom Lamboise - Glad you keep enjoying this.

sammygirl1963 - I wish Clint could have stayed a baby as well but I was running out of steam. And I needed something to do. Didn't want anyone getting to complacent with him as a babe. Thanks for the prayers. We hope the surgery works as well.

amy. d .fuller .9 - All I can picture now is you having cereal or something and milk coming out of your nose... Probably didn't happen that way but that's all I can picture. As for the puzzles, the serum was mentioned as unstable. Anything could happen. Heck, I may throw you all for a loop and age him past what he was supposed to be. Anyways, thanks for the prayers and we hope the gallbladder is the main reason why he has been sick this whole time.

Bookdancer - I'm glad that you love the story. It means so much to hear the praise from readers. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of the story.

MO-5431 - Thanks.

Alibird1 - Tee hee... I just love causing all these feels. Thanks for the thoughts on my husband and son.