NOTES: Thanks to the_wordbutler for her constant stream of support, especially for this story. And for making my words readable.
Anna isn't necessarily surprised to wake up to an empty bed. Rarely did she wake before Phil, so she doesn't notice anything is amiss until she steps out into the living room to find Clint Barton sitting at the dining room table, swiping at a tablet.
"Are you meeting Phil?" she asks as she pulls her bathrobe tighter around her body.
The man doesn't bother looking up from his tablet; he merely points to a piece of paper on the table. Anna immediately recognizes Phil's scrawl of her name on the front of a piece of paper folded in half. Anna eyes Barton once more as she picks up the note and unfolds it.
Anna—we were called out on a mission with the Initiative. Hopefully be back in a few days. Clint will stick with you. Love you.
"You're going to stick with me?" Anna asks. "Care to clarify that?"
Finally, his eyes meet hers. "He didn't tell you?"
Anna shakes her head, but she holds up her hand to keep him from saying anything else. "I'm going to need coffee before we have this chat. Want some?"
Clint pointed to a silver thermal travel mug sitting on the table. "I'm good."
Three days have passed since the night Anna met the Avengers—including the one sitting at her dining room table. Anna frowns as she pours a large mug of coffee. If the Avengers are away...
She walks back out into the dining room and sits opposite the famed archer. Looking him over, she can't spot any obvious injuries that would keep him grounded. "So explain," she orders.
"What exactly did Phil say?" he asks. Anna flicks the note across the table him, and he snorts as he reads it. "Wuss," he mutters before looking back up at Anna. "He asked me to serve as a bodyguard for you. Said you were attacked not long ago, and with him taking on the new position, he wanted someone to watch out for you."
"You mean watch out for me just when he's away, right?" Barton's lips roll into a tight line. "This is a permanent thing?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Rule one: you're not calling me that ever." She sips from her mug as she ponders things. Used to be she would be livid with Phil assigning her protection, especially without discussing it with her first. But then the attack happened. She has nightmares about Ward and Garrett, especially when Phil isn't sleeping next to her. Anna can't find herself getting too angry with Phil for his call. There should've been a talk, of course, but communication has always been a struggle in their relationship. "Wuss indeed," she replied.
"I won't usually be waiting in your apartment when you wake up," Clint reassured. "But I will tail you whenever you're outside the Tower."
Anna shakes her head. "None of that half-a-block-behind-me crap. I'm paranoid enough as it is, and I'll constantly be looking over my shoulder. If we're out in public, you walk right beside me."
"Okay," he answers with a nod. "But you have to do as I say."
"Seeing as how I never want Phil to have to rescue me again, that shouldn't be a problem." She settles back into her chair with another drink from her mug. "I know I've locked myself away the last few days practicing while Phil's done nothing but meetings, but I don't remembering hearing any news about you getting hurt. And I don't think Phil would assign you as my protection if you were injured."
"I'm fine," he replies, his eyes squinting slightly to try and track the trajectory of their conversation.
"Then why aren't you with your team?"
He shrugs, an attempt at nonchalance but it doesn't quite fully convince Anna. "Coulson put me on this."
"And I'm more important than saving the world?"
"You're his world," he replies quietly. "And I owe him." Anna doesn't say anything in response to that, just takes another swallow of her coffee and waits for him to keep talking. It takes a few minutes, and he's obviously reluctant to open his mouth, but he finally does. "Have you ever not been in control of your mind?"
Anna huffs a breath of bitter laughter. "I'm pretty sure I can speak five kinds of crazy."
"Ever have an alien inside your brain?"
Her gut churns at the question. "No," she admits quietly.
"You don't know the story, do you?"
"What story?"
"Of how Coulson died."
Anna's souring stomach freezes into a chunk of ice at those four words. "His redhead—Natasha—she was the one who told me was gone. She said he'd been attacked by Loki. That my idiotic and idealistic boyfriend had decided to take on an alien god all by himself."
Barton nods and stares at his hands for a moment before talking again. "I was the one who got Loki onto the Helicarrier. It's my fault that Coulson died."
Everything in her body shuts down. She's in an apartment alone with Phil's enemy all over again, and she can't bring herself to move. Her whole body begins to quake and her breaths come in quick pants. She falls whole-heartedly into a panic attack, and her vision begins to pinhole.
She can hear Barton's voice, but her brain can't process the words. It's too busy being flooded with terror. "Hey," he shouts, and she jumps in her seat when her vision begins to clear and she realizes he's kneeling in front of her. "It wasn't on purpose. I'd never hurt him on purpose. You have to believe me on that."
"Would you hurt me to get to him? Or let someone do it?"
"No," he breathes, and what little part of Anna's brain that's still functioning normally hears the honesty in the statement. He slowly shifts from kneeling before her to sitting in the chair to her left before speaking again. "Loki took over my brain. It was like someone caged me up and shoved me to the side, and I just had to watch the whole thing go down." He leans forward, elbows on his knees, before slowly reiterating, "I would never hurt Phil."
"I still don't get it. Why are you here? Why aren't you out with the Avengers? I haven't seen you in the news stories of them lately."
He rolls his lips once more. "S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't really trust me after the whole mind-control thing. Gave me shit jobs, just one rung up the ladder from tethering me to a desk."
"Phil's in charge now, he can change that."
"He did," Clint answers with a small smile. "I'm protecting you. Pretty sure that's the biggest job he could ever give someone."
Anna shakes her head. "I can't be more important than the Avengers."
Clint shrugs but doesn't say anything more. He pulls her cell phone out of his pocket and slides it across the table's surface to her. "You get in a bind and I'm not with you—which probably won't happen—you dial nine-one-one. You won't get the police; you'll get me. If I don't answer, it will go to May." He pauses to lean forward on his elbows again. "And if I don't answer, it's because I can't. Got it?" She nods, swallows, and reaches for her phone. But something about it seems off now, weighty and heavy, and her hand falls empty back into her lap. "You going anywhere today?" he asks.
It takes a moment for her brain to recalibrate and think of simple things like her schedule. "No, I don't think so."
"'Kay. Call me if you do. I'm under Greg Duffy in your contacts if you change your mind."
He stands and heads toward the door, but she calls his name before he leaves. He turns and waits expectantly for her to say something. "Why are you doing this?" she asks. "The real reason. I know you used to work with Natasha and the two of you are close, Phil told me as much. And I can't imagine a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent would turn down the chance to save the world. Phil's all about being a team player, and I'm sure he misses having you on that team. Why are you here?"
"I owe him," Clint answers simply. "He's saved my life more times than I can count. And I helped to end is. So now that he's back? And I can try and earn some… whatever with him? I'm going to do whatever he asks."