She didn't think it was possible for the cold to ever leave her bones. She had taken a warm shower after being debriefed. Scalding hot coffee that almost blistered her tongue did nothing to shake it. Nor the meal of spicy beef soup and fresh bread that she got from the cafeteria. She had a SHIELD town car drop her off in front of the Stark tower and rode up to her flat, still shivering despite the elevator's hud telling her it was a balmy 72 degrees.
The elevator stopped a few floors below and opened "You don't look too good, Ms Romanov." Tony said as he stepped onto the elevator.
"I just got back from Siberia. I think it's just jet lag and a cold." She said dismissively.
"Well, if you need any… pharmaceuticals, I think I can hook you up. If you agree to be my guinea pig, I'll let you try out my cure for the common cold."
She shot him a skeptical look, "Has it even gone to animal trials yet?"
"No, but I know it'll work."
"How?" Natasha bit out, trying to stop from shivering uncontrollably.
Giving her blank look, he answered as if she had just asked him the stupidest question he had ever heard, "Uh… because I made it."
The elevator slowed, Jarvis's voice announced, "Your floor, Ms Romanov." and the doors slid open with a quiet swish.
"I think I will have to pass. I'm going to take a few days to recuperate and I'm sure I will be fine. Thanks for the offer, though." She backed out of the elevator and waved as the doors closed. A hot toddy and a hot bubble bath followed by a copious amount of sleep in her own bed would do her the world of good. "Jarvis, please run me a hot bath." She called out as she locked the front door.
"There's a phone call for you, Ms Romanov. It's Mr Barton. Would you like me to take a message?"
"No, put him through to my phone." She pulled her phone out and answered the forwarded call, "Hey."
"Hey, how do you feel?" He asked.
"Not good. I think I'm coming down with a cold." She poured herself a finger of vodka and tossed it back. Refilling the glass and juggling it and the bottle in one hand, her phone in the other, she walked into the bathroom where the water was already running for her bath.
"You don't think it could have anything to do with the water we drank, do you?"
She rolled her eyes, "You aren't getting superstitious on me are you, Barton?"
There was a brief pause before he answered slowly, "No… I just… okay, maybe a bit. Wasn't it Stark that said that magic is just science we haven't discovered?"
"Just take a bath, pour yourself a drink and relax. It's probably just exhaustion and a bug you picked up between here and there. If in the morning, we aren't feeling right, I'll send the canteen to Tony to get analysed, okay?"
"Fine." He sighed, "If anything happens and I die, I'm haunting you."
She hung up and tossed the phone on the bathroom counter. "Jarvis, direct all my calls to voicemail. I'm done for the night."
"Very well, Ms Romanov. Would you like me to get someone to pick up the canteen in question?"
"It's stored with my kit back at HQ. If you want to notify an agent on duty to get it delivered to Stark labs but make sure they know its low priority. It's probably nothing." She said as she threw off her clothes and eased herself into the tub.
Natasha jerked awake, confused and scared. She wasn't in the tub anymore. She was laying in a bed. A hospital bed. A monitor beeped steadily in the background. The medical smell of a hospital, the starchy smell of clean linens assailed her senses. She pulled the nasal cannula from her face and began indiscriminately yanking on wires that were attached to various parts of her body. "Lemme out." She mumbled incoherently, wanting to retreat to somewhere safe until she could assess the situation. Until the fog cleared from her brain.
"Ms Romanov, please stay put. You are at SHIELD's hospital lab. You are perfectly safe." A nurse called out. She was wearing white scrubs with the official seal of SHIELD stamped on a breast pocket.
She lunged for the nurse, grabbing her ID from her hip and staring at it. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to focus. It looked official- it all looked official and from this window she could just make out the familiar landmarks that she was accustomed to seeing from the Triskelion. "When did I get here? How?"
"I had you and Agent Barton brought here when you were showing no signs of improvement from Stark Tower." Fury answered as he entered the room with an entourage of surly looking agents. He settled into a chair by her bed and watched as Natasha struggled to sit up.
"I'm so cold." She muttered, hugging her arms around her body. "Why am I cold?"
The nurse picked the blankets off the floor that Natasha had kicked off in her struggles, "I'll get some more heated blankets and hot packs." She turned the monitor off before leaving.
"You have been hovering between mild to severe hypothermia since Jarvis notified Tony about detecting your erratic heartbeat. You have been resuscitated a few times. You and Barton it seems, have a game of who can die the most at any given time."
"Who's winning?" Natasha asked.
"Barton. He's not doing as well as you are."
"Damn. He's never going to let me hear the end of it." She mumbled.
"I am ordering you two to knock it off. I didn't give you permission to die."
She smiled and patted his hand, "Don't worry, boss." The nurse returned, gently placing hotpads between her legs, along her sides and near her neck. Heated blankets were added on top of the blankets already there. Natasha felt her body relax as the woman tucked the ends of the blanket underneath her feet. "Thanks."
"No problem. You have your button in case you need something. I won't be far. I am going to change out your saline soon." The nurse squeezed her knee reassuringly before leaving them alone again.
"Do we know what it is?"
"Jarvis flagged your canteen. It was analysed at Stark's labs and it contained a compound we've never seen before. We're cross checking with our alien tech but so far got no hits and we're trying to get a hold of Thor to see if he's heard of anything like this."
Natasha felt the cold in her bones leech the warmth from her blanket cocoon. She began to shiver again. "I want to see him." Her words sounded slurred and it was difficult to lift her head to look at him, but she did it and held his gaze for as long as she dared.
"I don't see why not. We'll get you two moved to a bigger room." He nodded to an agent who left the room and headed in the direction the nurse had gone
Helplessness and fear coiled in her chest, making her breathless. These were not emotions she was familiar with. "Yes, I want to see him. Someone has got to keep him in check." She said, forcing herself to look at Fury and smile.
"Is there anything else that I can do for you, Agent Romanov?" Fury asked.
"Don't let him die." She whispered softly, closing her eyes to keep the hot tears from spilling down her cheeks. He fished her hand out from the heap of blankets and gave it a squeeze. The warmth from his skin was shocking. She returned the squeeze but didn't open her eyes until he had left the room.
A short while later, she was being moved. They had piled more blankets on top and replaced the wires she had torn off of her body. Clint was already in the room when she arrived. He looked sallow, his lips were blue. He was packed with heating pads and blankets. "Clint…" She called but he was unresponsive.
A weariness settled over her like a shroud. She was so tired. So, so tired. Her eyes slid closed and she heard the faint but shrill alarms from the monitors above her head. It as the last thing she remembered before the sweet dark embrace of unconsciousness enveloped her.