Delayed Drowning | Chemical Pneumonia | Oxygen Mask

"Look, it's the lovebirds," Tony announced as the couple as they walked into the tower looking tanned and healthy.

"Hawkeye and Lady Hawkeye! Welcome back!" Thor greeted the couple as he took his Pop-Tarts out of the toaster.

"Slackers," Nat said under her breath as she sat on the couch, sharpening her knives. "Can't believe you actually took a vacation, Barton." She looked over at them with a smirk on her face.

"It was our honeymoon, Nat. Geesh," Clint sniped back but grinning.

"How was the island?" Bruce asked while reading a scientific magazine.

"Everything I could dream of…and more," Mikayla replied, looking toward Clint, and squeezing his hand. "Thanks for asking, Bruce."

"Welcome back, you two," Steve walked by and slapped Clint on the shoulder, then squeezed Mikayla's shoulder. "Good to have the full team back."

"Wish we could have stayed longer but didn't want to break the good luck streak we had going," Clint said. "No bad guys, no attacks, no nothing other than the two of us for two weeks." He leaned over and kissed his wife. "Wait, we forgot to do something." He walked her back out into the lobby and put down their suitcases. He picked her up and carried her bridal style over the threshold. "I believe that's a tradition, isn't it?"

Her arms were wrapped around his neck. "Nothing says we have to stop in the common room, Mr. Barton."

He kissed her. "I love how you think, Mrs. Barton." He looked to the group. "Good to see you all, we'll be back." He carted her off to their rooms.

"Good to know the sappiness hasn't gone anywhere," Nat said.

"I think young love is sweet," Thor said, making him realize how much he missed Jane.

"Not enough fonduing done, I guess," Tony muttered under his breath.

"Tony, really?" Steve said as Bruce snickered.

Nat turned the volume up on the TV to drown out the newlyweds. About an hour later, Clint came running out into the room. "Guys, something's wrong with Mikayla." He was breathing heavily and rapidly losing color. Suddenly, he collapsed and fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

Steve ran to check on Mikayla. He found her on the ground, curled up in a ball. He shouted, "She's coughing, too, plus vomiting." He turned her to her side so she wouldn't choke.

"I can't help both of them," Bruce said. "Friday, call 911."

"At once, doctor."

"Clint, what happened?" Nat said, wiping the blood from his face.

"How's…wife?" Clint asked in between coughs and more blood. "Hurts."

"What hurts?" Tony asked.

"Chest…burns." Clint began gasping for air, then fell unconscious.

"Ambulance is on their way," Friday announced.

"Tell them to prepare for two patients. Mikayla lost consciousness after complaining about her chest hurting," Steve said.

"What the hell did those two do on their honeymoon beside the obvious?" Tony asked. "Thought they said there were no bad guys? If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were poisoned."

"Probably not a good idea to speculate, Tony," Bruce said. "We won't know anything until they get to the hospital."

"Ambulance is here, boss. Thor's already downstairs to meet them."

"Thanks, Friday." The EMT's showed up and took the newlyweds to the hospital. "Can anyone have a normal life around here? You'd think nothing would go wrong on a damn honeymoon. It's my island. I run extensive background checks on all the staff."

"No one's saying it's your fault, Tony."

"Steve, it was my island, of course, it's my fault. We've got to get someone out there to find out what the hell happened."

"I'll take the Quinjet. Nat and I can go. Which island?"

Tony gave him the coordinates. "Report as soon as you get there." Steve and Nat left to board the Quinjet. "Thor, guess you and I can head up to the hospital, catch up with Doc since he rode in the ambulance with them."

"We shall leave at once," Thor replied. They left their suits behind and Tony drove them to the hospital in one of his sports cars.

Bruce was waiting for them in the waiting room. "They're running tests now. Both are still unconscious."

"Do they have any idea what caused it in either one of them?"

"Not yet. I know in Mikayla's case they've ruled out poisoning. Clint's test came back inconclusive, so they're running more tests. Mikayla's lungs have been damaged and she's on a breathing machine. Clint's on oxygen, breathing on his own."

"Have they not had enough struggles and obstacles?" Thor asked the question all three of them had been thinking.

"They've made it this far, Thor, they'll come through it okay. Remember, Nat won't give them an option to not make it."

"Where are Nat and Steve, anyway?" Bruce asked.

"On the jet to take a look-see at the island, see if they can find anything that will help figure out what the hell happened to our birdies." Tony was pacing and flexing his fingers, itching to get in his lab, and work on something. Thor had sat down and was staring off into space, trying to figure a way he could help his teammates. Bruce went back in with the doctors to see if there were any updates on the couple.

After several hours, Bruce came back out, a concerned look on his face. He took off his glasses and put an earpiece in his mouth, trying not to chew on it as he figured out what to say to his friends. "Clint was poisoned. He inhaled some strange gas that gave him chemical pneumonia. The pain he complained about was due to the gas burning his lungs, which was the same reason he coughed up blood. He's been moved to a room and is sleeping."

"And our fair Mikayla?" Thor asked.

Bruce hesitated and swallowed before answering. "You may want to be sitting down for this." Tony and Thor immediately sat down. They knew Bruce wouldn't lie to them or sugarcoat anything for their behalf. They were sure he would give them the facts. "It's not looking good for Mikayla. She's slipped into a coma and is still on a ventilator. Poison has been ruled out, but they can't find what caused her lungs to fail. Without a miracle, I'm afraid she won't make it."

It took everything the two men had to not start punching holes in sheetrock or glass. "They just started their lives together, Doc. This can't be happening. Someone's responsible for this. We're going to get them, and we're going to end them because that's what we do. Isn't that what we fight for? Aren't they the kind of people we're supposed to protect? What the hell are we doing if we can't protect our own?" His phone rang. "What?"

"It's Steve. We're on our way back. Any updates?"

"Clint's fine, Mikayla's dying. What did you find?"

"We're sending you a video. Found something that might help. We'll be there soon." Steve ended the call.

Tony pulled up the video. It showed the happy couple goofing off around the pool. Clint was wearing purple boxers. Mikayla had on a one-piece cobalt blue bathing suit. They were chasing each other around the pool when Mikayla slipped and fell into the shallow end and started screaming. "I can't swim," and started sinking in 4 feet of water. Clint immediately jumped in and brought her back to the surface. He started CPR and got the water out of her lungs. She started coughing, so he set her up so she could expel the water from her lungs.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you didn't know how to swim?"

She was coughing and her voice was scratchy. "Subject never came up. We've never been near a beach or a pool, so it didn't seem relevant."

"Mikayla, we live on the ISLAND of Manhattan. Did you not think it prudent to tell me this little fact?"

"You're right, I should have. I'm sorry I didn't, it won't happen again." She looked around for something. "I think I need more suntan lotion. Care to help?"

"You know I can't say no to you, babe." He rubbed lotion on her back, then she rolled over so he could apply it to her front side. "Screw this, babe, I can think of less dangerous things to do. Let's get this lotion off of you." He picked her up and they exited the camera shot.

"I think we can figure out what happened next," Bruce said.

"Shh, the camera's still rolling." Tony fast-forwarded to the evening when he noticed movement around the pool. One person, dressed all in black, entered the picture, put some sort of liquid in the pool, then left as quickly as they'd arrived. A few moments later Clint came out by himself.

"OK, not a sight I need to see. Don't think I can wipe that from my brain any time soon," Tony said.

Bruce replied, "I'm sure he didn't think he would be on video, Tony. Why else would he go skinny dipping in the pool?"

"Doesn't matter, it's still not something I ever asked to see."

"Lady Mikayla must be quite pleased," Thor added. The two men just looked over at him and shook their heads.

Once the video ended, they discussed what they saw. "Obviously, in between the time Mikayla almost drowned and Clint came back out displaying the full monty, someone put something in the water. Friday, run facial recognition, and see what you can find."

"On it, boss."

"I think I can explain what happened to Mikayla, and this will help the doctors treating her. I'm guessing she developed delayed drowning. It's a condition in which water gets in the lungs, but the body doesn't react for at least 24 hours, giving it time to damage the lungs." Bruce explained the condition to the other two. "I'll go let the doctors know so they can begin treating her. Tony, this is just the miracle she needed."

Steve and Nat arrived sometime later and joined the rest of the group in the waiting room. Clint and Mikayla had been moved to a room in the ICU. Clint was alert but sleeping. Mikayla was still on the breathing machine but was responding to treatment. The doctors were hopeful, after determining what had caused her situation, that she would be able to make a full recovery.

Three days later, Mikayla was breathing well enough on her own to be taken off the machine and switched to a nasal cannula. Clint had been discharged, his only side effect being a little pain when he inhaled on occasion, but that was improving each day. The criminal had been caught. "Come to find out, he was dyslexic and went to the wrong house. He'd been paid to poison the house at 248 Stark Lane, but instead went to 284. Because of the poisonous gas, Clint came down with chemical pneumonia." Tony explained. "So, for once, no one was after any of us. Good to know." The group was sitting out in the waiting room, trying to give the couple some alone time, hoping Mikayla would wake up soon.

"Babe, wake up for me, please? I miss you. I always promised nothing would hurt you again. I failed. Forgive me, please?"

She started coughing. "Why wouldn't I forgive you?" Her voice was scratchy from being on the ventilator for several days, but it was her voice, and it was strong.

"I didn't think I'd ever hear that voice again." He kissed her on the temple and stroked her hair.

"Not getting rid of me that easy, flyboy." He was holding her hand, so she pulled him close to her. "We've got some time to make up for. That was our honeymoon, damn it."

"Damn, did they inject you with super serum while you were out? I wouldn't think…"

"Don't think, just shut up and kiss me, Clint."

"As I said, I can't tell you no." He leaned over the railing and the couple passionately kissed. Well, as passionately as they could with Mikayla having a nasal cannula.

"Steve, they are not fonduing. Mikayla was at death's door," Nat said. "There is no way she will be capable of that. 10 bucks says you're wrong."

"I don't know why I'm doing this," Steve said, "but you're on." He opened the door, immediately shut it, took a ten-dollar bill out of his pocket, and handed it to Nat. "I'm done. I give up."

Nat chuckled. "I never bet against those two and their fonduing ways."