Note: Directly Follows last chapter, "Freak Out"
December 15, 2007
Phil regained consciousness slowly. The first sense to come back was his hearing. He would drift in and out of a state of semi-awareness. The voices he heard were murmurs of indeterminate gender and he couldn't comprehend what they were saying.
The second was smell. The air was sterile: rubbing alcohol and medicine.
He briefly awoke to waves of pain in his torso, but a woman rushed in and fiddled with something next to him with a few hushed words and he quickly drifted off again.
The next time he woke up, it was for good. He blinked, and the room slowly came into focus. He saw Natasha in the corner, and she immediately noticed he was awake.
"How?" he croaked out.
She handed him a cup of water that was on the table next to the bed. "You've been unconscious for just over three days."
He tried to hold the cup of water, but his motor skills weren't quite there yet. He was fought off embarrassment as the spy had to help him press the cup to his lips. He took careful sips, not wanting to start choking on the water.
When he drained the cup, he asked, "What happened?"
Natasha leveled him with a stare. "What do you remember?"
Phil thought hard. Then, "A.I.M cell. Yemen."
She nodded. "Your asset double-crossed you. When you didn't check in, Fury sent me." Her forehead furrowed. "You shouldn't be doing missions solo, Phil."
He raised an eyebrow at her and her mouth twitched in response. "I realize your skillset exceeds my own, but if you had a partner you might not have been taken." She paused. "You have people to think about now."
Phil grew concerned. "Does Laura know where I am?"
"I brought her. There was some sort of overnight emergency at her work that she left to deal with, or she would have been here."
"How did she react?" Phil asked carefully.
The look Natasha gave him made him think that she was weighing the option of lying to him. "She was… very upset. If you want my honest opinion…" She trailed off, giving Phil the opportunity to tell her to stop speaking if he wanted to. When he nodded, she continued, "I don't think she can handle another episode like this. She doesn't have the constitution for it."
Phil sighed heavily. "What are the odds of her quitting over this?"
"You've kept your relationship with her private for as long as I've known you, so I can't speak to how healthy it is. But if she decides to leave you, I don't think it'll be because of this."
Although in the grand scheme of things the two of them have only known each other for a relatively short period of time, Phil recognized the glint in her eyes. "You threatened her."
Natasha's face was a blank mask.
"Agent Romanoff, I can handle my own affairs." It might have been more threatening if he wasn't so raspy from being intubated.
They stared at each other for a moment longer until she abruptly stood. "I will tell the nurse's station you're awake."
She left him to ponder how exactly he was going to fix things.