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Chapter 8: Plausible deniability
It felt like Monday again. Only this time she felt a taste of plastic and a bit of a sore throat. She was slightly confused as to where she was. Then she remembered. She had hit her head. Clint had taken her to Wyatt. She got painkillers but couldn't stay up. There was Bruce and Steve too. And then she was at the beach? How could she be at the beach? She checked her forehead and felt little band aids pulling together a small scar. Stitches, great.
It was snowing outside, a bit of light came through the door and she could see the inner patio of the building. She lifted her head a bit and counted the floors. Fourth floor. Civilian-allowed. Must not be that bad.
She stretched in the bed and a nurse came in. "Let me pull this out and you're free to go." She saw a new set of clothes in the chair next to the bed, along with her phone fixed. Odd, she didn't remember grabbing her phone. Oh shit. She rushed to it and saw she had several lost calls from Patricia. She'd have to call her back later. And one text.
"I hope you like the clothes, were the first one I've found on your closet." He had broken into her house, great. A new text. "And no, I didn't break in, I got your keys. Your shirt was stained with blood sweetheart."
She answered the text while checking the clothes "And you fixed my phone too?"
"You welcome. Nice pictures." Shit shit shit.
"Thanks." Clint walked through the door right then "Who is the little girl?"
"She's the daughter of a friend of mine." He closed the door behind him and grayed the glass walls. When she looked at him puzzled he clarified "I don't think you want an audience while changing your clothes." She agreed "That'd include you." he disregarded her comment and stayed lying over the door, with his arms crossed over his chest. She went over the clothes, grey Victoria's secret underwear.
"I always liked you in grey" she looked at him. "You went through my drawers?"
"Well, you needed underwear too!" She couldn't stay mad at him, even if he clearly went through her house, looking for something.
"What do you want Clint?"
"Why are you so obsessed with this?" She headed to the bathroom to dress up but he got in between her and the door "I've never seen you this obsessed with anything since you were in training." She lifted her eyebrow trying to imply how annoyed this whole thing made her.
"I had brought you coffee too. I drank it on the way up. Sorry." She sighed. "It's my job Clint."
"Yes, but you were beaming at Bruce for sorting it out yesterday, don't you remember?" Oh shit, I don't remember. Her head hurt when she frowned, and she loved frowning.
"Well, you even hugged him, before collapsing on top of Rogers."
"I did what?"
"Yes, Captain Tightpants was quite in shock." He let her through the bathroom but jammed the door with his boot so she couldn't close it. Since she was being watched, she put on her clothes without taking off her robe. It proved a very difficult task, especially with the throbbing headache and the lack of coffee. "He knows by the way." She looked at him through the mirror. "About..." he showed his ring finger. Only, no ring. "Oh."
"I explained that you're very single and available, so don't worry." She made a disgusted noise at him "Oh come on, I'm helping him adjust!" he sneered "Keep telling yourself that sweetheart." He stared at the way she buttoned her shirt. "Oh, I missed them in all the yelling!" She pulled the door opened and he almost tripped but she caught him.
"What is so important about this?" she left the robe on the bed and headed for the shoes.
"Stilettos? Stilettos?" She sat on the bed to put them on. "Hey, they were in your closet!"
"They're party shoes, not working shoes! I'm walking and running all day. How am I supposed to run in these heels?"
"Natasha can run on those" She's fucking perfect, I forgot.
She put them on. She knew he wouldn't let it go. She knew how mad he'd get when he found out, because he would find out, she was sure of it.
She also knew she was in one of the most packed-with-surveillance buildings in the country. She couldn't hint this without getting to Fury in less than 5 minutes. And that was the end of everything.
"I'm just very dedicated to my job now. It's the one thing that still makes sense." He took a deep breath and sat next to her, stroking her back gently "There was nothing you could do Nell, he was beyond saving." She cleared her throat. "Right, well, I have work to do."
"You can't obsess about this job like he did." She snorted "says the guy that fights demigods with his bow." they shared a smile. There was a knock on the door, a guard telling her she needed to see Fury immediately.
"I'm having a Déjà vu here. Hill yesterday, now Fury" She patted him on his knee and headed to the door. "Why didn't you go to his funeral?" Right, that. No problem, I have a canned response for that one. "I- I couldn't let him go. I couldn't see him dead." she swallowed heavily. Her throat hurt and all this bickering was making her worse. He wasn't buying it, they shared a look.
"He was dead and there was nothing I could do to save him. I couldn't deal with that. My ego couldn't deal with that." He bought even less now. Good. I mean, no, terrible, shit, someone's seeing this. Shit shit shit.
He walked closer to her "Dinner sometime this week?" she couldn't say yes, whoever was watching would know he'd want to push her into confessing "I can't. I have a deadline."
"Right, he'll pull the plug."
"Exactly" She looked at him gravely and it hit him. It wasn't figurative speech. She could see the distress and anger in his eyes. She had to keep it contained. She couldn't afford the whole thing blowing up due to Clint's temper.
And she couldn't afford someone picking up he figured something out from the cams on the room "Hey, since you've been such a nice ex today is my turn. Just a piece of advice: dont't get caught on camera making out with Widow in your suits, Fury will shut you down permanently. Be careful, okay?". Get it, you're smart. Keep your frakking mouth shut. He was a bit less confused but still angry "I can't get caught on camera, because there's nothing going on between us"
There was that agent knocking again. Shit, Fury is watching. Shit. Shit. Shit. "Whatever you say. I gotta go see Fury." She hoped he got the stress she placed in the name. Fury is behind this, not me, not me.
He had. "Go, we don't want to upset Herr Director." She started walking to the elevator and he rushed to her to giving her back her phone. "Don't forget this; you don't want it falling in the wrong hands." She smiled at him, trying to put the pieces together. It had taken them a long time to be friends again, and this was fucking it up. He took off through the stairs. Yes, he was mad. He was furious, but not at her. She just hoped he'd keep his mouth shut until she could explain, otherwise everything was lost.
When she was in the elevator, she realized she had an unsent message in her phone "I keep quiet, you come clean."
