I'm just gonna jump straight in…but all disclaimers remain the same, thank you to TheNaggingCube and John for the reviews and to all who favved and followed.

Mistakes all mine…

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Chapter 7 – Surprise

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The sound of the copters startled Clint and he opened his eyes slowly. It was dark but he felt safe. He had always trusted his instinct; it had saved him many times before during his wild days until someone's instinct had saved him in turn. He knew Coulson was there beside him. He could identify the hand that was on his chest, grounding him to the real world. He had to learn to trust at least one person and aside from Natasha, Coulson had been the other anchor in his life.

'Clint?' Coulson stared at him with concern eyes.

'Sir. Good to see you.' Clint slowly turned his face towards Coulson and smiled tentatively.

'How're you feeling?' Coulson still had his hands on Clint's chest. He tried to sit up but quickly shut his eyes at the sudden nausea that hit him.

'Just lay still, Clint.' Coulson pressed his hand on the chest but Hawkeye had already pushed himself up. Coulson sighed and grabbed his arm to steady him.

'I'm fine, sir. But they have Nat. We have to go back there.' He swayed when he got up too fast. Grabbing hold of the hand rail but missing nearly face planted himself on the steel floor. Coulson shot a hand out and managed to hold Clint steady.

'We wouldn't be able to do so if you accidently got thrown off the helicopter. Now sit!'

Hearing the commotion, Cross glanced over his shoulder and smirked.

Clint saw it and glared at him. He quickly returned his attention to the front.

'We are 5 minutes out from the base, Clint. There are agents scouring the place for clue. It is best for you, at this moment, to check into the infirmary. We need to know what they have injected you with.' Clint stared at Coulson stubbornly. Coulson knew that Clint needed to find Natasha. Clint was not the only one who needed to find her - but to have him running around with the drug still in his system would jeopardize the rescue mission.

Clint's vision started to blur and he blinked few times. He leaned onto Coulson and allowed the older man to pull him down. Placing his head in his hand he tried to swallow down the bile that were rising up his throat. Coulson sighed heavily and hoped that Natasha would hold on.

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A sound from the door startled her. When the door opened she wondered what would Clint do now if he knew who had them captive. She waited for the man from her past to come in and taunted her once again. She had kept silent when he first revealed himself to her last night. All these years she thought that he was dead. She had held the memory and locked it deep in her heart, never surfacing unless she found herself in Budapest once again. She took a deep breath and looked at him and waited for what would come next and prayed that Clint would be spared from her secret.

'Natalia…How are you this morning? Sleep well?' The man walked slowly and stood right in front of her. Natasha remained quiet glaring at him.

'Hmmm…I distinctly remember we used to chat every morning after our….'

'What do you want Alex.' She growled at him and her eyes were cold.

'Talia…Is that how you talk to your husband?' Alexi chuckled and stood behind her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

Natasha kept her posture rigid but having Alexi behind her made her nervous. A shiver ran down her spine. She closed her eyes briefly and thought about Clint. She snapped her eyes open when she felt Alexi's hand travelled up to her neck. She tried to dismiss the minute tremor that travelled thru her body when he placed his lips near the base of her neck.

'Talia….I miss you.' His hand travelled up and down her hand. Natasha's emotion of her past memory threatens to journey out from the dark place within her. She fought to have them buried deeper in her. She exhaled sharply and let the memory with Clint to surface and bathed her with warmth and happiness.

'You are dead to me, Alex.' Natasha coldly replied and turned her head sideway away from him.

'How can I be dead when I am here with you, Natalia.' Alex's hold on her arm began to bruise and Natasha steadily kept her breathing normal.

'So it seems. But you have no hold on me anymore. So you have better tell me what is it that you want or you can let me go.' Natasha felt a sudden urged to break his hands that were still latching on her shoulder.

'Tsk tsk..Natalia…such hostility. Perhaps you should reconsider how you treat me unless…'

Natasha knew the underlying threat and that made her angrier. She wanted desperately to know where they were holding Clint. Not knowing how he was made her very jittery and the fact that they did not even mentioned him, until now, caused some worry seeping into her heart.

Natasha looked up and saw that Alexi was smiling. She twisted her hand behind her back and felt the rope scraped her already bruised wrist. Her eyes never left Alexi's face.

'You know that you have a very ugly smile Alexi. I wonder how I did not see it the first time.' Natasha smirked at him.

'Maybe I was too young and stupid at that time. I couldn't even remember. The past is so..how I say this….uneventful.'

Alex launched himself forward and placed his hands on the chair trapping Natasha with his glare.

'Uneventful? Is that how you see it, Talia? Have you forgotten your past that easily? How were your nights all these years? Did the screams and blood kept you awake or did the archer's touches soothed all your misery?' Alexi spat at her. Eyes so wide, glaring at her.

Natasha eyes blinked once. Even though she managed to hide her emotion she was surprised at hearing Alex's angry spite at Clint. She stared at Alex eyes who was breathing hard in front of her face. She couldn't help herself wondering how long had Alex returned from the 'dead', so to speak.

'Why Alex, is that jealousy I detected from you?' Natasha coyly asked. She needed to know about Clint's condition. She smiled at him and batted her eyes.

Alex removed his hands and stood up straight. Pure rage was written on his face.

'You will be sorry, Talia. Once we have him, you will beg for his life from us. Then you will know.' He stomped out from her room without a backward glance. If he did, he would see a smile creeping on her face and her struggle increased.

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'Can we go already?' Clint impatiently growled. He slapped the doctor's hands that were in the midst of examining his dilated pupil. She glared at him and pressed her lips tight.

'Agent, if you could put this info in your thick skull for a minute..', she started to swing the penlight in front of Clint's face, 'You have been injected by a strong drug that ordinary people would still sleep it off for a few more hours.'

Clint eyed the penlight that were dancing in front of him and grabbed her hands. 'But I am not ordinary so I would appreciate if you could just release me so that I could do my job.' The doctor just eyed him and the hands that were holding her wrist. She pointedly looked at the stubborn agent who promptly released his grip. She took a calming breath and glanced at the older man behind her that was observing the whole scenario with a smile.

'Agent Coulson. Do you have anything to say?' She raised her eyebrow at him clearly asking him to advise his stubborn agent that he needed to take a rest. Coulson pushed himself off the wall and stood to Clint's side of the bed. Clint eyed his handler with a pleading look – focusing on giving him the puppy look- and promptly shut off his face when the doctor shifted her snapped her glance to him.

'Agent Barton,' with serious expression, he raised three fingers to Clint's face and asked, 'How many fingers am I holding?' Caught off guard by the sudden question, Clint quickly answered three. Coulson peered directly into his eyes and Clint widened his eyes in surprised. Satisfied, Coulson addressed the doctor again.

'I would say that he is recovering nicely and being such an extraordinary agent that he is, I'm sure Hawkeye, ' Coulson slapped Clint's back so hard that he dropped from the bed to the floor standing rigid, 'could perform his duty in the field efficiently, Doctor. Now if you could sign this form, we will be on our way.' Coulson shoved the clipboard out of nowhere to the startled doctor who obediently signed the dotted line. He grabbed Clint's forearm and dragged him towards the door, closing behind them with a soft click. She blinked at the two retreating bodies and shook her head.

'I think I've just been played.' She return to her desk and typed into the file of Hawkeye.

'Fit For Duty. If he comes back here in a stretcher, I am going to strap him and his handler and locked them in the room and throw the keys away. Extraordinary my ass.' She muttered while pressing the keyboard enter.

Clint couldn't kept his grin off from his face while being manhandled by Coulson.

'Wipe that grin, Hawkeye, or I will turn around and handed your sorry ass to her right this instance.'

Clint grin grew wider but immediately turned serious when Coulson glanced at him to make good of his threat. They reached his office and Coulson released his hold on the archer to open his door. Clint reluctantly walked in after a pointed glare and made a beeline to the couch. He sat with a sigh and dragged his hand across his face.

Coulson quickly gathered a few files and reached for his phone. Clint was about to open his mouth when Coulson spoke to the phone.

'Director.' He paused and listened intently. Clint simply waited until he finished his conversation with Fury. He sat back and tried to eavesdrop.

'Yes Director. Understood. Yes. He is with me.' Clint knew that they were talking about him and turned his head to Coulson.

'But… Of course. I still think we need other option, Fury.' That perked Clint up. Coulson rarely used Fury's name unless he was disagreeing with him on anything they were discussing. Clint stood and eyed the older man's face, trying to read any tell tale sign of their conversation. Coulson raised his eyes to Clint and he froze. He could see incertainty in his handler's eyes. Clint anxiously waited for the conversation to end so that he could ask Coulson.

'Yes Director.' He sighed deeply and closed his eyes. 'Be there in five, sir.' Coulson placed the phone back and tapped his hand on it. Clint was shifting his weight from one foot to another, not yet ready to pounce on him, in case he totally misread the conversation.

'Clint.'

With the mentioned of his name, Clint moved to stand next to Coulson and peered into his handler's face.

'What is it, Coulson? Is it Natasha? Does Fury have info on her whereabout?' Clint stopped short of grabbing Coulson's shoulder so he grabbed the back of the chair instead.

'There will be a briefing in his office in five. Let's go.' Coulson quickly stood up and grabbed the files on his table and started to head for the door.

Clint gaped at him and strode quickly to catch up with him.

'Wait, Coulson! Is there anything I should know first?' Clint walked alongside Coulson. He never saw his handler closing up like this. All the missions that they have planned and gone together, he had always maintain an air of relax but cautious. It made Clint worried about Natasha. The rescue team at the site had come back with no new information on the missing agent. They brought back his car and now it was being examined for any clues.

Coulson kept quiet and continue his walk to the Director's office. Clint matched his stride and not long they stopped in front of the Director's door. Coulson stood straighter but hesitated when he grabbed the door knob. Clint glanced questioningly at him and the door.

'Sir?'

Coulson abruptly turned grabbing Clint's forearm and turned him.

Clint was surprised at the force that he had to take a step back and stared at him.

'Sir? What is..', Coulson shut him up by raising his hand.

'Remember this Clint. Whatever the Director asked you to do, I want you think really hard. Consider all angles before you made a decision. Do you understand me? We will get Natasha back. That I promise you.' The intent look Coulson was giving to him and the vehement of his voice, caused Clint to shudder but he nodded his acquiescence.

Coulson continue to stare down to Clint for few more seconds and nodded. He released his hands and raised it to knock on the door. Clint took a deep breath and waited for the permission to enter. He stole a glance at Coulson and blinked. Coulson looked sad and resigned. Clint wanted to ask him but a voice from beyond the door stopped him.

'Enter'

Coulson took a shuddering deep breath, opened the door wide, pushed the startled Clint first and closed the door after him. He guided Clint to the chair and pushed him down to sit. Clint tried to refuse but one look from him and a firm grip on his shoulder had him swallowed down his protest. He turned and looked at the Director of SHIELD.

Director Fury was seating behind his desk with a solemn look and stared at him with his one eye. Coulson walked to stand with his back on the wall behind Clint and nodded to Fury. Clint eyed the interactions suspiciously and about to question either one of them when there was a knock on the door. Coulson moved to open the door.

Clint couldn't help but to snark a comment.

'Are we expecting company, sir?'

'No, I'm not. But you are.' Before Clint could asked him what he meant by that, the door open and Clint turned to see who it was.

'Good afternoon, Director.'

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*sigh tiredly* think I continue this later…it's a long chapter so I better cut it off here. No worries I'll be back next week.

Thanks for reading guys…

Shila1378