Thanks for the views, and for those that are still reading this story.
It's been a couple days and Clint still lays there unable to breath on his own. Hs cheeks are sunken in and the team has somehow created a schedule on who stay with Clint when. They never want him alone. The team hasn't even talked about it. It kind of just formed. Bruce and Tony usually get the nighttime shifts because they don't really sleep in the first place.
It's now been 9 days. The doctors are getting worried and they says that if he doesn't wake up soon they might have to do a head surgery on him. He looks even worse then before. There are bags under his eyes. They finally took away the bandages off of his chest and reveled the indents in his ribcage where the missing ribs are. His legs and arms are still wrapped. Even if he does wake up soon, he won't be out of bed for a while.
Tony: "Clint um... I'm not sure if you can actually hear me but I have not really liked the one sided conversations. There pretty boring." Tony chuckles to himself. "I need you to wake out. We have been waiting. It's too quiet and I feel like Natasha is going to kill someone if you don't wake up soon. It'd probably be me. Just Please wake up. I want to have someone to make fun of and not worry that I'll go to bed and never wake up again."
Steve: "Hi Barton. I hope you get better. We've all been waiting and I...I hope if yo–when you wake up, you'll be okay. The doctors are warning us that you might not remember anything. They also said that there will be hallucination. But that can't be so bad right?" Steve rubs a hand over his tired eyes. "Please.."
Thor: "Lady Natasha says that you can hear me. I don't know how but you might. I have to leave for Asgard tomorrow but I'll be hear when they take your tube out later today. I'd be pretty happy if you woke up because I worry for Tony. He is always tired. I don't think he sleeps. I don't even see Lady Natasha anymore."
Clint feels like he's floating. He hears familiar voices but can't quite place them. He hears them clear though but he can't focus. His brain is so muddled. The voice gives him something to grasp onto and not sink away. Each time the voices come back, he recognizes it a little more until he realizes that it's Tony. Clint grasps onto the voice best he can and pulls toward the light until he is blind. It's so bright.
Tony is holding Clint's limp hand when the heart monitor goes wild. He looks to Clint and he gasps when his eyes are wide open like saucers. They are wide and unseeing. Tony doesn't hesitate to press the call button to bring the rest of the team and a group of doctors in. Not even a minute later the team comes hustling in after the nurses and the stand off to the side waiting for the nurses to do their thing.
Clint shouldn't be awake. I mean, their not complaining but he's still intubated. He is freaking out and Natasha runs to his side. How Clint finds comfort in her will forever be a mystery to Tony but it works. Clint calms down. At that moment everyone becomes painfully aware of the tears sliding down his face. His eyes are locked on something that they can't see and the nurses explain that he is hallucinating. If he doesn't calm down more, then he might have to be sedated.
Clint tries to talk "arn..." and then he gives a weak airy cough. Natasha knows what he is seeing with that one syllable. She stands in his eyesight.
"Clint listen to me. It's not real. Barney is dead. And it wasn't your fault. You didn't know."
Another tear drips down his face and Natasha's heart clenches. Clint's eyes move to the spot where Natasha was standing before and tries to talk. The only noise that comes out is a small scratching noise, a gasp, and then Clint passes out.
The nurses sigh in relief and walk out to go get the doctor. They are going to take the ventilator off. So he might wake up again.
The doctor comes in and puts on gloves. This might hurt him but since his is unconscious it is unlikely that he will feel anything.
He grabs the small tube with one hand and opens Clint's mouth with his other. He slowly starts pulling it out, not wanting to tear Clint's throat, and then everyone winces at the sound of Clint's wheezing dry cough. Clint coughs a couple more times before he goes limp again.
"Don't worry, he might wake up again in a few hours or days, but the fact that he woke up now is really good news. He is on the road to recovery!"
The doctor walks out and the team stares wearily at their once again unconscious Clint
It's now been a couple hours of silence and the team is still cramped in the small chairs surrounding Clint's bed. When Tony decides to voice the question everyone has been wondering and he knows it.
"Who's Barney?"
They all suddenly glance at Clint as he flinches in his sleep, and the beeping speeds up before going back to normal.
"Okay..." Tony says before looking at Natasha. They others follow his lead.
"Why was he crying?" Steve asks
"First I'll answer who Barney is. Barney is Clint's brother."
"Jesus! How many secrets can you possibly even have. I swear he has secrets for his secrets."
Natasha smirks. "You have no idea. I have known him for 23 years and still don't even know half of his secrets. He knows everything about me though. Don't ask him Tony, he won't tell you. Anyways, Barney is Clint's brother and when they were younger they were really close but they um.. grew separate I guess you could say."
"You said that he was dead and that it wasn't his fault." Tony always being the curious one.
"That is not my story to tell. He might tell you though. So ask him when he's awake."
"Alright. I will."
Welp, thats chapter 8. He'll be awake next chapter. And maybe a little more secrets will be spilled.