AN and Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. I'm just borrowing them for a bit. Anyways, here you go! Enjoy and please leave me some loving…..story alerts are good and all, but it only takes a brief second to leave me some genuine loveeeeeeeee….please…..I give up sleep to write these chapters for you…
Chapter 6:
Tony sat transfixed on the recovery bed in front of him. Lying motionless, hooked up to numerous tubes and machines lay Emma Carter – no, that wasn't her name. Her real name was Emma Stark, his little sister, who he had taken for dead all these years. And now she was laying in a S.H.E.I.L.D. recovery bed fighting for her life. The S.H.E.I.L.D. medics reassured him that she should recover and be fine in a few days, but he knew that she had lost a lot of blood from the moment that he had snatched her as she fell after she had been stabbed to the moment when he had arrived on the helicarrier. Thank goodness that it had been close to the NYC.
The door to the infirmary room slid open as Fury entered. "Any change yet?"
"Hun," Tony asked, coming out of his thoughts about his sister and her recovery. "Oh no not yet. I bet it won't be for a few more hours. Something about having to do emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding?"
"Correct," Fury said. "But I need you to come with me for a while, Stark. This situation is a bit delicate."
"A bit delicate?" he asked confused.
Fury nodded. "Come with me and I'll explain."
Tony followed Fury to the bridge and sat down at the conference table where a video feed of the recovery room was pulled up. "Now enlighten me on how my sister's situation is a bit delicate. I really would like to know. You've already managed to keep her a secret from me for over 20 years, what else could there be?"
Fury leaned on the table next to Stark and set down a ring. It was the ring that Emma had been grasping on to when Tony had left her in the care of the S.H.E.I.L.D. medics. He really had not paid much attention to it.
"So what?" Tony said, picking up the ring. "It is a ring."
"Let me tell you a story. About 9 years ago, I had these two new recruits with tremendous talents come into S.H.E.I.L.D. Sure enough, I was right about them both. They both rose up in the ranks and I began to trust them both with top assignments, both together and alone. One was your sister and the other was Agent Barton. Somewhere along the way a bond was forged between them, much like the one you and Ms. Potts share and well theirs got the better of them. Five years ago, Agent Carter left S.H.E.I.L.D. fulltime to raise their daughter. This ring was for Agent Barton."
"You mean to tell me that Legolas was going to get married to my sister without my blessing?"
"Agent Carter still has no idea that you are her brother. Nor does anyone else. I doubt that this is the best time to bring it up anyways. Let her recover, then find the right time."
Tony wanted to argue, but that was when Barton appeared on the bridge. He looked like hell, as far as Tony could tell. He was dressed in the typical S.H.E.I.L.D. attire, but it looked like it had been thrown on in a hurry.
"Sir," Barton said nodding towards Fury. He then turned to Tony. "Mr. Stark."
"If you will excuse me, Stark," Fury said, leaving with Barton.
Tony sat by and watched them walk off the bridge and back towards the infirmary room. After a few seconds he turned back and watched the video feed from the room. Perhaps Fury was pulling one over on him about his sister being involved with Agent Barton. This guy was a stone-cold assassin. But then again, his sister's file did say that she had more assassinations then any other S.H.E.I.L.D. agent.
"She looks worse than she really is. She lost a lot of blood, the knife nicked her pancreas and caused internal bleeding which was taken care of." Fury said as they stood outside the infirmary door.
Clint glanced in at Emma's motionless figure hooked up to the various monitors and tubes. Her heartbeat was steady and so was her breathing. That was all that he could ask for at the moment.
"Who got her here sir?"
"Stark did. He said he was testing a new suit and came upon the scene."
"But how's he know to bring her here?"
"She still has her S.H.E.I.L.D. ID tags and the Ironman suit picked up the signature." Fury said with a straight face. He knew it was a lie, but he was not going to be the one who told the relationship between Tony and Emma to the world. That was to be left to the siblings. But at least Clint bought it.
Clint sighed in relief and moved to allow the door to slide open. "Oh Barton, I believe that Emma was going to give you this today." Fury said, holding out the ring to him. "I'm sorry that your plans didn't go as you wanted."
He took the ring from his commanding officer and looked at it for a second then back at Fury. "Me too, sir," he said as he entered the room and the door slid closed behind him.
Fury watched as Agent Barton moved a chair directly next to Emma's beside and ever so gently he picked up the hand closest to him and gingerly held it in his own and began to whisper something to her as he used his other hand to brush the loose hair strands from her face.
After a few seconds he headed back to the bridge.
Fury hadn't been lying about Barton and Emma. Not wanting to intrude any longer then he already had, Tony clicked the live feed off. He sat there for a few minutes in thought. Maybe it was about damn time he changed a few things in his life as well.
A grasping of his hand brought Clint out of his semi-sleep. He had no idea how long he had fallen asleep for, but he rarely had a good night's sleep unless his was in bed with Emma. Other than that his body was on full alert for anything.
"C…l…int…." Emma hoarsely whispered. She was finally coming around from the sedation drugs that had put her on for the surgery. "Wh…at ha…pp..ened?"
"You were stabbed. Some internal bleeding. Didn't open up any old wounds. That's all," he whispered as he leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead as he helped her sit up in the bed. He reached for a cup and a bottle of pain pills next to the bed next. The medic had told him to make sure that she got two of these as soon as she had come around from the sedation drugs. He handed her the cup of water and pills. She took a sip of water and starred at the pills for a second.
"I'm sorry for messing everything up," she whispered.
"It's ok," he answered, kissing her lips softly. "We'll get married soon enough. Besides, I do like the ring you got me."
He held up his hand and showed her where he had placed the ring on his hand – not his ring finger on his left hand but on his right, just the opposite until they were married. "Now take these pills and get some more rest so that we can go home."
Emma nodded and took the pills. As she settled back against the bed again, Clint kissed her one last time. "I love you Emma," he whispered. "I'll stay right here all night."
"I love you too," she whispered back as she yawned.
As Clint pulled away to sit back down, Emma said one last thing. "I wanna come back to S.H.E.I.L.D…."
Natasha stood off to the side of the infirmary window – each moment she was getting weaker and weaker. The man she was in love with loved someone else. How could she not see this? She had always thought that she and Clint had a special bond between them.
After she had seen him in the park with the little girl and the young woman, she had been hurt but she wasn't going to allow herself to be counted out yet. But now everything was different. Natasha knew exactly who she was going up against for Clint Barton's heart.
AN #2: Don't forget to leave me some loveeeeeee. And don't get me wrong, I do like Natasha, but I wanted to introduce a new member to the team as well. ;) Happy Reading!
