Okay, so this chapter took a little longer than I expected and then my friend surprised me with a trip and the house we were at had no wifi. So even though I had finished this a few days ago, I didn't have any way to upload it. But enough about me, get to your nice, long chapter.
And also, this chapter was partially based on an early Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes episode- which is a show you should watch if you don't already! (the first season is on Netflix!)
I don't own Marvel, etc.
Another sleepless night. Clint rolled out of his bunk and dragged his feet towards the bathroom. He was used to operating on almost no sleep, but this had been going on for weeks. In fact, he could trace the last night he slept through to three weeks ago- the last time he saw Natasha.
With her being out of commission, his workload had doubled, which meant he had to spend most of his days on the heli-carrier and the rest of them in the field. Sure, they had their nightly calls. But it couldn't compare to being to actually being in her presence, holding her in his arms, running his fingers through her fiery hair, feeling her warm breath tickle his neck...
The eyes staring back at him in the mirror were exhausted, and the dark circles under his eyes were expanding. He groaned to himself and splashed his face with the icy tap falling from the faucet. It made absolutely no difference. Sighing, he yanked a towel off its hook and tiredly dragged it down his face.
Clint rummaged around his half vacant closet for suitable clothing before he ventured out into the corridors of the heli-carrier. He made a beeline for the communal kitchen as did every morning. In their usual spots, he found Stark, Rogers, Banner.
"Mornin' Hawk," Tony mumbled a greeting as he bite into a pink sprinkle-covered donut.
"Stark," Clint nodded towards the billionaire lounging at the table, and then to the rest of his teammates. He was surprised to see The God of Thunder there, leaning against the counter and staring intently at the toaster; Thor was scheduled to be on Asgard for the the entire week- something to do with his damned brother and some complications with the hearing. But it seemed like the issues had been resolved, or so he hoped.
"How does Ms. Romanoff fair?" Thor asked as he retrieved his burnt poptarts.
A faint smile tugged at the archer's lips, remembering the conversation they had earlier in the week, "She's bored." He grabbed a mug from beside the sink- he almost reached for a second out of habit- and poured himself some coffee.
Thor bellowed a laugh, "And the child? It is doing well?"
"Yep," he popped the 'p' and took a sip of the dark roast steaming in his cup, "no complications."
The God of Thunder grinned and patted the archer's shoulder as Bruce offered a kind smile, "We're glad to hear it."
"Thanks Doc," he said with a yawn, residing in a chair Tony had kicked out for him.
"You look weary, Legolas," Stark observed aloud as he finished off his pastry, "Trouble in paradise?"
Clint snorted, "For there to be trouble, I'd have to be home every once in a while."
"Fury's just pissy that you benched his best player," Tony informed him, fighting a smile.
"I doubt the Director is really that petty," Steve interjected, glancing over the edge of the report he was reading.
"You'd be surprised," he snickered.
The intercom hissed. "I resent that, Stark," Director Fury droned, filling the kitchen with the sound of his annoyed voice.
Tony winced sheepishly, like a child being caught drawing on the walls.
"I didn't think he would be listening," he admitted when he thought he was safe.
"I am always listening," Fury shot back and Tony winced again.
"I guess good hearing makes up for the whole 'one eye' thing, eh," Tony whispered aside to Bruce, who's lip twitched upwards.
"It does," the Director confirmed. At that, Tony threw his hands up and rolled his eyes, making a mental note to hack back into the SHIELD interface later. He would not stand for this invasion of his- er, his teams- privacy!
"Anyway..." Clint continued after a silent minute, "I've had to take on all of Nat's assignments while she's out and I'm exhausted."
"Anything we could help with?" Steve offered.
"Nah," he sighed, scratching at his chin, "They're in-'n-out jobs." -he ignored the snort he heard beside him- "I think I'm being shipped to South Africa today to take out some war lord."
"Well," Bruce frowned, staring intently at the television mounted on the wall, "I think you might get to go home early." He turned the volume on high so the rest of his team could hear the breaking news.
"-And it appears that a terrorist group known as Hydra is currently attacking the UN building in New York City," the news anchor reported in a monotonous voice, "As far we know, the President of the United States and various other leaders of the free world, including the British and Russain Prime Ministers, are being held hostage. We go now to Maggie Kage in New York-"
Bruce muted the television and turned to his teammates.
"Hydra..." Steve growled to himself as the God of Thunder rose to his feet,"It sounds as though we are needed."
"I agree, big guy," Tony slapped his hands down on the white metallic table and used his arms as leverage to stand up.
The intercom buzzed again and Director Fury's voice once again demanded their attention. "Avengers Assemble on the flight deck in five minutes."
"Alright Avengers," Steve declared somberly, "suit up."
"Right behind you, Captain," Tony shifted into mission mode, a serious side to the billionaire that rarely made an appearance outside of world-jeopardizing situations.
Clint let out a long sigh and reluctantly followed his teammates out of the kitchen. A grueling, world saving mission was the last thing he needed. But hey, maybe he could get some sleep after this.
It was all over the news. The Avengers Save the World Again! was splashed on every headline, and making every top story.
When the news first broke that the UN was under attack just blocks from her home, The Black Widow had instinctively jumped to her feet. It wasn't until she yanked her closet doors open to suit up that she remembered she was out of the game. After Marrakech and countless talks in the middle of the night with Clint, Natasha had come to terms with the pregnancy. She was even mildly excited about the whole ordeal. But there were times when she cursed the child growing inside of her for making her a liability instead of an asset. The hardest part for the Black Widow was sitting on the sidelines.
A knock at the door pulled her out of the short-lived pity party that followed, and she found Pepper Potts on the other side.
"I just got off the phone with Tony. He said they were on their way on the UN! All of them- Thor, Bruce, Steve, and Clint. And... oh god- can I come in," she blabbered franticly as she rushed past the Black Widow to the television.
"Sure... make yourself at home," Natasha shuffled behind her to the living room. "Do you want something to drink?" she asked as she veered into the kitchen. At Pepper's request, she returned to the living room with two cups of calming tea- one for herself and one for her guest- and set them both on the table.
The two women were glued to their seats, knowing their boys would be making an appearance soon. What an odd feeling it was, Natasha thought, to be on this side of the action. Then the newscaster announced the Avengers had landed at the scene. Natasha hadn't been able to peal her eyes away the screen.
Now she understood why Pepper was always such a nervous wreck; everything seemed much worse when you're a mere spectator. In the middle of a fight, you only know one thing: that you need to survive, that your team needed to survive. But this... this was so much worse; the commentary, the visual of the enemy, the feeling of helplessness knowing there was nothing you could do. Natasha was on the edge of her seat, hands clawing at the cushion of the couch.
The camera would linger on Iron Man zooming around or the Hulk smashing his way through a Hydra robot the size of a house, the robot using it metal arms not only to crash its way though the city, but to also swat the giant green rage monster into the concrete. But every so often, the camera would pan down to the ground, where Hawkeye, Thor, and Captain America fought the hundreds of drones in close combat. The sight of Clint made her freeze instantly. She knew- better than most- that he was more than capable of handling himself. In fact, if she were there, standing next to him outside the UN building, shooting and fighting by his side, she wouldn't even need to think about him. But she wasn't; she was sitting in their apartment, watching, waiting for something to go wrong.
Arrows and lighting and phaser blasts continuously zipped all over the place, making it nearly impossible to see what was going on. After another minute- it felt more like an hour- the camera left the Hulk again and followed the action back on the ground. Hawkeye was firing arrow after arrow in an effortless rhythm he had perfected over the years. If you blinked, you would miss it; he snapped his arm behind him to the quiver to grab an arrow, pulled it into the bow, and released it in one sharp, smooth motion. And he did this continuously, without fault, only pausing to retrieve an arrow or two whenever possible.
A small smile tugged at the corner of Natasha's lips. She forgot sometimes just how spectacular he really was. But from her new viewpoint, she was reminded just what attracted her to Clint in the first place; not his charm or his smile that all the other girls would fall for, but his skill, his passion for fighting, and that he never missed a shot. Ever.
But suddenly, he buckled over- a blast ricocheted off of the Captain's shield and struck Clint's stomach. Natasha jumped to her feet, wide eyed and completely speechless. Pepper covered her mouth in shock. They waited for him to stand back up. And waited. And waited. They watched as Thor called out to Captain America, and and the former rushed to the fallen archer. The newscaster speculated if the wound would prove fatal for Hawkeye and Natasha wanted to break that balding asshole's neck.
"He's going to be okay, Natasha," Pepper whispered soothingly, resting her hands on the Russian's shoulders, "He's going to be okay."
The fighting continued relentlessly but the other Avengers began to fall back on Hawkeye's position, creating a protective circle around him as Thor assessed his injures.
"I should be there," Natasha's growled. Pepper took the Black Widow's hand and squeezed it tightly between her own. She hated this, absolutely hated this. Even if he didn't make it, at least she should be there with him, telling him he couldn't leave her, threatening to kick his hawk ass if he died on her because she wasn't raising this baby alone! She shouldn't be looking on helplessly from the comfort of her living room, waiting for the news to pronounce him dead. Just the thought had her teeth grinding.
Then Thor shouted to his teammates that his teammate would live. The camera followed the Asgardian as he tucked the archer under his arm and used Mjolnir to fly them to the roof of the UN. Natasha sucked in a relieved gasp of breath and nearly collapsed onto the couch. Pepper drew her attention to the wetness around her eyes and The Black Widow quickly blotted the saltwater away. She tried to pin the blame for the emotional display on hormones, but not even she was fully convinced.
The fighting lasted for another fifteen minutes before Iron Man was able to override the robot's control system and fry its circuits internally. The massive octopus-like robot toppled like a tree in the forest onto the city street below, and the remaining drones retreated to an awaiting ship. Before the newscaster could announce the Avengers had saved the world again, the five men had disappeared from the scene.
"Where did they-" Then Pepper's phone began to go off to the guitar intro of Iron Man- Tony had customized his ringtone to the Black Sabbath song that shared the name of his superhero alter ego on not only her's, but on all the avenger's phones as well. Usually, his little antic would leave Pepper rolling her eyes in the middle of a business meeting. But on days like today, that familiar riff meant she could breath easy again.
She gave Natasha's hand one last squeeze before excusing herself from the apartment."Tony!" Pepper breathlessly replied into the receiver as she passed through the doorway, "are you alright? Where-"
When the door clicked shut, Natasha let out a sigh. She collected the untouched and cooled mugs from the table and placed them beside the sink. Leaning her elbows on the counter, she massaged her temples, willing herself to relax after the overly stressful morning. But the image of Clint collapsing to the ground kept replaying in her mind. He goes on missions without her all the time- hell, he had been gone for the past three weeks on a handful of deadly assignments and saw that he had returned on many occasions bruised and battered. So why had she become suddenly so distraught over this one?
A thud on the balcony jostled the Black Widow from of her thoughts. As she had been preprogrammed to do since childhood, Natasha quickly sprang into action, instantly reaching under the cabinet and whipping around to point her pistol at whatever had successfully landed outside of her apartment. But instead of an intruder, she found Clint staggering into the apartment through the sliding glass door, buckled over, gripping his bow in one hand and his injured side with the other.
"Hey babe," he grunted with a small smile, ignoring the weapon pointed at his head.
"Jesus, Clint," she stowed the gun in her jeans and rushed over to the nearly toppled over archer. As she reached him, Clint dropped his bow to tightly embrace her. He pressed his lips to her hair as her nose nestled into the crook of his neck.
Natasha didn't have to ask why he was here, stumbling into their apartment instead of on his way to the recovery room- which, based on his current state, should have been his number one priority. He needed to see her as much as she needed to see him, though neither of them would ever admit it. In their past, three weeks away from each other was nothing- a minor blip compaired to the months on end they would spend undercover, completely unable to communicate.
"You scared the shit out of me," she mumbled into his collarbone.
He chuckled once, "Sorry," and placed another kiss on her wavy red locks. Just being able to smell her favorite fruity shampoo again made the delay in getting the painkillers and stitches he desperately needed worth it.
She buried into the durable fabric, hesitating before she spoke again. "I thought I'd los-"
She felt Clint's strong hands lift her face up until it was mere centimeters from his own. He was frowning, but his eyes we're determined, glowing with intensity. "Remember what I promised you in Valencia, Nat: I'm never going to leave you. And I'm not going to break that promise because of a few Hydra phasers, understand?"
Natasha squeezed her eyes shut and nodded, remembering the vow he made to her that uncharacteristically cool summer night in Spain. The archer entwined his fingers through her hair and closed the distance between their lips, urgently trying to make up for the three weeks they had spent apart. A low moan escaped from he Black Widow as her arms snaked up to Hawkeye's head, giving her more leverage to keep his mouth firmly in place. She could feel a smile tugging at his lips. The pain, for a beautiful moment, receded to the back of his mind.
But it was short lived. A new, sharper pain emerged, causing Clint to break the blissful kiss and crumple to his side. It was times like this that he wished he had some superhuman healing abilities like half of his teammates, or at least a suit that could take a hit. Before he fell over, Natasha ducked under his arm and straightened him out.
"Alright, we're getting you to SHIELD," she told him in a tone that he knew not to argue with, "And I'm going to talk to Fury."
"Why?" he grunted a question at her latter statement as she helped him limp to the elevator.
"You need a vacation."
I figure my word means nothing to you by this point so I'm just going to vaugly say the next chapter should be up soon.
Let me know what you thought!
And I just wanted to take some time again to thank everyone who favorited or followed or reviewed or even just read this story. Your support means everything to me and it is greatly appreciated.