It was a particularly nasty blow to the knee that sent Natasha tumbling to the ground. She hit the pavement hard and instinctively placed her right hand on her stomach while her left hard went down to her left knee. Her opponent had delivered a swift hit to her knee with his current weapon of choice, a bat. Natasha bit her lip and prayed the next blow he delivered wasn't to her barely noticeable baby bump. She knew now that her knee was hurting this bad that there was no hope of her fighting back and winning. She had only just gotten back on the mission field two weeks ago and already she was hurt again. Something about being pregnant just threw her off her groove so much. The blow from her opponent never came. She looked up just in time to see the arrow drive deep into his chest. Her opponent fell backwards instantly dead. Natasha sighed in relief and turned in the direction the arrow had come from. Clint was running toward her with concern written all over his face.
"Nat! Are you alright?" He asked as he reached her. She shook her head as she finally let the tears fall.
"I think he broke my knee." She choked out. Clint's heart broke for his wife. He knelt down and carefully slid his arms underneath her knees and neck. He lifted her up gently and carried her over to the safest place in the vicinity. He laid her down gently on the floor and knelt down to get a good look at her rapidly swelling knee. Clint could tell she was in indescribable pain even though she was trying to hide it.
"I need an evac now. Nat's down hard." Clint called into his com. Clint gently probed the tissue on Natasha's knee to access the damage. Nat cried out sharply the second Clint touched her knee.
"Oh my God. It's got to be shattered." Natasha gasped out. Clint sighed and kissed her gently on the forehead.
"Did he hit your stomach?" Clint asked worriedly. Natasha shook her head.
"I think peanut is okay." She told him. Clint smiled and nodded.
"That is awesome. I think there's some muscle damage here Nat." Clint told her worriedly, the smile wiping off his face.
"Maybe the universe is telling me to stop until after the baby." Nat told Clint sadly. Clint nodded.
"I think you should listen. You can work with Hill for now." He suggested. She nodded. "Where is that damn evac." Clint growled. Natasha smiled through her pain and tears.
"I'm sure it's coming. God this hurts so bad." Nat winced.
"Fury. Where's my evac?" Clint asked into his com. Natasha sighed and closed her eyes tightly at the pain. Clint looked down at her worriedly and felt his heart break anymore. She was in so much pain, he was almost certain this was hurting her more than all of her injuries put together from being held hostage. He was deeply concerned for the damage to her knee. He couldn't even see the extent of the swelling because of her suit but he knew it wasn't good. He knew some of the bones were broken and he suspected there was some ACL damage. Their target had been more aggressive than they had thought. They weren't expecting them to be waiting for them. They had been expecting them, and Nat was paying for it now.
"Evac in-route Hawk. ETA 5 minutes." Agent Maria Hill's voice came over the com in both of their ears.
"Five more minutes babe. Hang in there. We're going to have to get that suit off you." Clint told Natasha. The wounded Widow nodded slowly.
"This is going to be so painful." She told him wincing. Clint nodded. Thankfully the evac arrived on time. The medics carefully lifted Natasha on to a stretcher and then on to the craft. Natasha slowly and painfully changed out of her cat suit into a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt once on board before letting anyone look at her knee. Ten minutes after getting on board she was laying down on an exam table with her knee propped up on a mountain of pillows. Clint was positioned near her head holding her right hand in case she needed something to squeeze while they examined her knee. Coulson was standing in the corner of the room observing. The doctor pulled the x-ray machine over and started to get ready to take the pictures. Even the slightest movement to her knee made Natasha's body go rigid from the pain. Now that her knee wasn't restrained by her tight suit it had swollen immensely and it was obvious that bones were broken.
"Fury is benching you until further notice." Coulson told Natasha. Clint nodded.
"I really think that is a good idea." Clint told Natasha. She sighed but nodded.
"I agree." She decided. Clint smiled and kissed her gently on her hand. Natasha smiled. The doctor slid the pillows out from under her knee and replaced them with a board for the x-rays. Natasha winced as her knee hit the board. "God can we just cut it off." Natasha complained. Clint smiled sympathetically and squeezed her hand tightly.
"Hang in there baby girl." Clint encouraged her. She nodded and bit her lip. Two hours later Natasha was laying as comfortably as possible in her room on the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier. Her knee was wrapped in a compression ace bandaged and elevated on multiple pillows. X-rays had confirmed several small fractures in the top of Tibia and the Patella. Once the swelling in Natasha's knee goes down they were going to do an MRI to see the kind of muscle damage the bat had left. Natasha was left alone in the room trying to relax while Clint was in a meeting with Fury. Sitting around doing nothing, even though she was injured was driving her insane and she wanted more than anything to get out and do something. Just when Natasha was contemplating if death would be less boring, Maria Hill wandered into her room. Natasha smiled at her friend and gestured for her to sit down on the end of the bed.
"How are you holding up?" Maria asked as she eased herself down on to the bed.
"I'm bored out of my mind. Please save me." Natasha joked. Maria smiled.
"Desk life isn't so bad. You'll be my right hand woman. It'll be great." Maria told her in attempt to cheer her up. Natasha smiled.
"Yeah, you're right. I think it's a good idea to stop even after my knee heals to come back until after the baby anyways. I spend all mission worrying something will happen so my game is noticeably off. Desk life will be good for me." Natasha reasoned. Maria nodded and smiled.
"I'll try not to make it unbearable." Maria joked. Natasha smiled. Maybe desk life wouldn't be so bad.
