Natasha took off the white coat, rolled it into a tight ball, removed a layer of trash from the nearby receptacle, inserted the coat, and replaced the trash. She then turned her attention to the computer, hitting the right keys until the home screen came back on. She wiped everything she had touched. She peered out the cracked door of the private office she had commandeered and waited before venturing out into the hallway. After hearing no sounds of life, she pushed it open the rest of the way with her elbow, pinned on her visitor badge and slipped out.
Clint Barton- single. His normal antics during a mission in Paris caused his injuries. That mission was also the last documented appearance of Iron Man.
After the realities merged, he had gone into a coma-like state that lasted for two days, raising the concerns of his medical team but he had come out of just yesterday with apparently no ill effects. It was a relief to know the transition didn't seem to have hurt him.
The healthcare workers exchanged smiles with her as she made her way to his room. A familiar voice called from the other side of the door in answer to her knock. Beyond was Clint, just as she remembered him. Bruises with random cuts and scrapes, bandages and stitches covered his body.
"Nat!" he exclaimed. The same smile. Natasha opted to pull up a chair beside him and reach over to squeeze his hand. He squeezed back, apparently satisfied with that.
"Nice surprise! I thought you were my slave driver!" He exclaimed. The last time she had seen him, he was angry and now he appeared to be content despite the injuries. The return seemed to have been beneficial as if he'd just returned from a long vacation.
"Your slave driver?" She asked as she let go of him, placing both hands in her lap.
"It's my nickname for my physical therapist," he replied "She's tougher than Rogers. So, I'm sorry I missed everything."
"Be glad. We missed you being there..," she said. "Without you, it wasn't the same." That was the absolute truth.
"So tell me what happened!" Natasha had memorized this world's version of events and she recounted them in exhausting detail. Everything was like what happened back 'home', but with a different outcome.
"That 'blink out' happen here. Some Doctors, Nurses, gone, but they came right back, with the memory problems Stark mentioned," Clint said. He pushed a button the bed control, raising himself him into a sitting position. "I don't know if I went away or not, I remember waking up here with everyone looking down at me breathing a sigh of relief."
"Thanos did what he intended, but some unseen force didn't like it and tried to put things back together. Whatever, whoever it was, got most of it right, but it was a big job, fixing the entire universe. This person, or whatever, wasn't Omnipotent or anything, but just doing the best he, she, it could do. I know, it sounds convoluted, but it's the first theory they've come up with," Natasha said. The explanation given to her was much more detailed, and she had parsed it down as much as she could and it still made little sense. "It affected some people more than others."
"Like the work of a committee," Clint said. " So King T'Challa is investigating it? He'll get answers. Not much gets past them." The idea made her nervous. Clint went silent for a few minutes, staring at the wall. "I guess we should just be glad everyone's here, no matter how messed up we all are."
"No matter how messed up," Natasha repeated and waited. She hated that he was in pain but that also meant he was under the influence of various drugs and that might make him more inclined to ramble on and reveal more information.
He adjusted his setting so he could stare at the ceiling. "Since they stuck me in here, I've had lots of time to consider what happened and… we should come clean about Paris."
Natasha did what she always did when thrown a curveball. She got up and walked over to the window hiding her face. The memories of the other Clint must have been given to the Clint they knew, wiping away her old friend and their time together. This was unexpected and it hurt and she had no idea what it meant. She took a moment to process it but she had to save the heavy thinking for later. He possessed valuable information. She needed to draw him out without him knowing and this would be tough. Clint knew all the techniques. She had to assume this guy was just as savvy.
"What brought this on?" She asked, her reaction coming from years of practice. The window looked out on a small park. Someone was pushing a person in a wheelchair along a paved walkway.
"We're supposed to be the good guys. Good guys own up!" She heard him give a little groan. The bed creaked. He was trying to shift his position.
"You and Doctor Banner… and Cap." She said out loud. "Always the ones with the conscience." The people below had disappeared into a small copse of trees.
"Don't forget Barnes. He's been trying to make good ever since… but he knows nothing about it unless Rogers told him, but they've been on the outs…"
"He's in Wakanda with him right now. I believe they've made up," she said. She made a mental list of Clint's revelations. Whatever happened, Bucky wasn't there.
"Well, that's good news but he might tell him and if he says anything to Barnes, he'll feel he should tell Wilson too." Neither was Sam.
"Rogers is an honorable guy…" Natasha began. Her mind put together another list, this one of many scenarios.
"Yeah, I know, but it's not like we swore a blood oath or anything."
"That's not our style."
"No, it's because Stark doesn't want to talk about it. And since he hasn't wanted to talk about it, we haven't. Why isn't it up to Cap? He was damn angry about it. He's our leader in the field!"
"The Barnes situation kept Rogers preoccupied. He wasn't worrying too much about… Paris."
"See, you don't want to talk about it, call it what it was! It was a mis-…" A loud knock on the door drowned out his last word.
"Come in!" He said, in the same tone. The door opened revealing the face of a woman she had known as Laura Barton. Natasha took a few seconds to regain her composure but, the woman didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.
"Well, aren't we testy today!" she said. She acknowledged Natasha with a smile. "A visitor! So is this your… girlfriend?"
Natasha let Clint answer which he did with a loud laugh. "No, she's my partner from work. I suppose you say she's my work wife, but she hates it when anybody calls her that." There were no words to describe the relief that went through to Natasha's core but it left her with another observation. He didn't remember Laura. He was a completely new person. The same, yet different. A stranger and yet...not. He remembers me as his partner...bits and pieces mingled together. Is this going to happen to me?
"I don't blame her. So sorry, but I should have recognized you, from the news reports. You're a member of Stark's team!"
"Yes, I am. And you must be Clint's slave driver," Natasha said, giving her a genuine smile.
The woman laughed. "That's a mild one. I've called me worse. I'm Ms. Barton. I'm sorry but I'm on a tight schedule today so we have to cut your visit short."
"I told you she was a slave driver!" Clint said as he and Laura exchanged smiles. Natasha wanted there to be something there. She not only wanted Clint happy, but she also wanted her friend Laura back in her own life.
"We'll talk later, I promise," she said, reaching to squeeze his hand again. "Do what she tells you!"
"I always do. She's the boss."
Natasha took his words as a good sign as she left his room. Back in the office of the absent administrator, she re-opened the files on the computer to Clint's personal information. With a click of a key, she switched out the names of his physical therapist. Laura would no longer be his patient and there would be no impediment for them getting together. She would do all she could to make this happen, and the hell with Bruce's misgivings. She wanted her adopted family back.