Chapter 4

Clint's POV

3 weeks later

I woke up at 7:30 a.m. to the sound of my internal alarm. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans from my duffel bag. Walking out of Steve's room, I saw that the door to Rena's room was still closed, indicating that she was asleep.

I glanced outside the living room window in worry. When the hell are you getting back, Steve? I thought frantically, as if that would bring him back. I could already see that his absence was taking a toll on Rena. She slowly became less cheery and upbeat, though she tried hard to put on a mask for me. I saw the way she looked over at the windows, she needed her daddy back.

I slowly crept over to her room and opened the door. I still saw her sleeping body in an oversized t-shirt and pants that had to be safety pinned 3 times at the waist, both obviously belonging to Steve at one point. I smiled evilly as I walked over to the blue curtains and dramatically opened them. Sunlight poured into the room like a busted water balloon. She groaned in distaste and pulled the covers over her head in a feeble attempt to block out the impeding light.

"Why the hell are you waking me up at…whatever the hell time it is?" She hissed from the darkness.

"Considering its 7:30, I thought it'd be nice to go out for donuts. Of course, unless you're too busy sleeping."

She shot up like a rocket, "I'm up; I'm up!"

I chuckled deeply as she shooed me out of her room in order to get dressed. I sat down on the living room couch and waited for her. I pulled my phone from my pocket and played on it while I waited. Finally, she emerged wearing a pair of cargo short shorts, and a dark tan shirt that had a skull and a SCUBA tank on the back. She wore a pair of leather sandals with the straps dyed teal.

"Ready to go?"

I nodded and we left the apartment to go to the nearest "home-style" bakery. After about a block of walking, we finally happened upon a place. Wasn't very original in the title, "D.C. Home-Style Bakery." Walking in, I saw some of that sparkle return to Rena's eyes as she eyes the delectable treats. Chuckling lightly, I walked up and ordered a simple apple fritter while Rena ordered a chocolate éclair. The waitress grabbed the items and I paid for the items while she wished us a good morning.

I chose a spot by the window and we began to eat in silence. After I finished, I noticed that Rena had barely touched her éclair.

"You alright, Rena?"

She nodded, "Yeah, just a little tired."

"Well eat some sugar; that should help."

She had a small laugh before eating. I could tell something was troubling her. I would ask, but I already knew the answer. To me, Steve just left for another mission, per usual. But to Rena, an adolescent, it seemed like Steve was abandoning her.

Out of the blue, my com link went off with Agent Coulson's voice.

"Barton, we need you at the Besthda Hospital stat."

"What happened?" I asked frantically.

"Rogers and Romanoff, they're back. They've been back for 2 days now, but not everything's great. Rogers' fine, but Romanoff sustained 2 gunshot wounds to the shoulder and 1 to the calf. She's also sustained multiple fractured ribs and a possibly broken leg. Clint…she just got out of surgery."

"Do you want me to bring the girl?"

I could practically smell the worriedness off of Rena's face. I held up one finger and continued to press the com link with the other.

"At this point," he said grimly, "I'd let you bring in the 3 ring circus if it got him away from her bedside and into the world."

I nodded, "Affirmative, be there in 5-10 minutes. Barton out."

I released the com link and got up.

"Where're we going, Clint?"

"The hospital," I said simply, "Now let's get the car."

Once we ran back to the apartment and literally hopped into my black sports car, we were zooming down the streets of downtown D.C. towards the medical district.

"Clint…what happened? Why are we suddenly going to the hospital?"

I sucked in a deep breath and clenched my hands around the steering wheel, "Steve and Natasha are back from their mission."

She got this really elated look on her face, then the stark reality set in.

"Steve's not dead is he?"

I shook my head, "No, but Natasha is. She was shot 3 times and fractured a lot of bones."

"Oh my…"

"Yeah, so we have to go check on her and keep her company. Y'know, keep her mind off the pain. You think you can do that?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I can do that."

I exhaled a breath I didn't even know I was holding. Hopefully, Steve won't freak out now.

Rena's POV

"Steve's home." Those are the only words that mattered to me at the moment. Finally, after nearly a month of agonizing wait, he's home! But at a price, I sincerely hope Natasha, whomever she may be, is okay. The way Clint said it, it seemed that he cared for Natasha like they were brother and sister. I really hope she'll be okay.

We pull into the parking lot and climb out of the car. Clint then grabs my hand and tells me to not let go as we weave through the lines of citizens and doctors in the hallways. Then we climb the steps for about 3 flights until we reach Natasha's room. Before we could go in, a man (who Clint addressed as "Agent Coulson") stopped us.

"Be careful," he warned, "Captain America is in a really emotional state right now. Go in there quietly, but don't sneak up on him."

I could tell that this conversation was directed mostly to Clint.

"What should be our plan of entry?" Clint asked.

Coulson's gaze shifted to me and then back to Clint, "Send the girl, Rena, first. I don't think he'll lash out on her."

As much as I hated being the guinea pig, I was willing to do damn near anything to see Steve again. Coulson then took my hand and led me into the room, shutting the door behind me.

The sight made me want to almost break down in tears. I saw Steve hunched over and holding the hand of a beautiful, red-haired woman who must've been Natasha. I cleared my throat softly, letting Steve know there was somebody else in the room.

"Who is it?" Steve asked remorsefully.

"It's me." I said simply, not knowing what else to say.

He suddenly whipped around and I flinched, fearing he would hurt me. But instead he drew me up in a strong embrace. I was shocked to say the least, but I quickly returned the hug, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"I've missed you so much, Steve." I whispered, tears threatening to spill over.

He hugged me tighter, "Me too, kiddo. Me too…"

We stayed there for what seemed like hours until I heard a raspy voice cry out, "So this is the girl you've been talking non-stop about, Cap?"

We broke away and Steve led me to the hospital bed.

"Rena," he introduced, "this is Natasha Romanoff. Natasha, this is my daughter, Rena."

She shifted until she was in a sitting position.

"Well, pleasure to meet the woman who's finally getting him into the real world."

I softly smiled and nodded. I was about to say something else when a doctor in a lab coat walked in.

"Well, Miss Romanoff, everything's checked out okay. You're free to go home."

She nodded and he walked out while Coulson and Clint walked in.

"How you feeling, Romanoff?"

"Like I could still kick your ass, Barton." She grunted.

Coulson cleared his throat, "Agent Romanoff, due to your condition, we find it important that you don't stay by yourself at your place. You will be relocated to one of the bunkers at SHIELD."

Steve shook his head, "That won't be necessary."

Coulson raised his eyebrows, "Captain, in her condition-."

"It won't be necessary because she'll be staying with me."

"It' alright, Steve." Natasha said, "I'd hate to impose on you."

"Oh, you wouldn't be imposing at all." I piped up, "I'll gladly sleep on the couch."

She was about to refute me, but Clint cut her off.

"Nat, bunking with Steve is probably the best thing to do since SHIELD beds are utter shit and I live at SHIELD."

I nodded, "Clint…I mean, Agent Barton's right. All I've to do is spruce up my room and its move-in ready."

Seeing that all of us were against her, she relented.

"Alright, but just until I recover."

We all nodded and Steve signed some liability documents that Coulson "oh so conveniently" had with him in his suit pocket. After that, a nurse brought in a wheelchair and the guys helped Natasha into it. It was pretty easy to tell that this woman was a fighting machine from how well her muscles were toned to the scars that were barely peeping out behind her makeup. From her grimaces, I could tell she hated being helped. Maybe she saw that as a sign of weakness.

Soon after, Steve was rolling Natasha out of the hospital with me by his side. Once outside the sterile prison, Steve wheeled Natasha to his car while I walked with Clint. We all agreed to meet up at Steve's place, but Clint would drop me off a few blocks away, so as to not draw suspicion.

The ride back was silent, deafening silence. I almost wanted to scream, but I kept my composure.

"So what's going to happen to you now, Clint?"

He pondered that for a moment, "I'll probably go back to New York, got a friend there that needs some help."

I nodded understandingly and the conversation died. Silence once again filled the car until it came time for me to leave. He dropped me off by that donut shop that we went to this morning. I said goodbye and shut the car door behind me before he sped off in the distance. Damn, all this happened in one day! It's barely noon!

I guess I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't realize I ran into somebody until the actual collision and a light ping filled the air.

"Oops, sorry about that. Got lost in the scenery." I apologized.

"It's alright." A baritone voice said, "It happens to all of us."

I smiled and kept walking on. It wasn't until I was outside the apartment that I realized that arms shouldn't make a metallic "ping" when collided with. (Anatomy was never my strong suit.) I opened the door to find Steve eating that dried seaweed that tastes like cow shit (don't ask me how I know that) in the kitchen.

"Glad you're back, Rena." I could sense the weight that those words bore.

I smiled, "Good to be back. Is Natasha in her room?"

He nodded, "She's just putting some stuff away, don't worry."

Awkward silence filled the air. I guess this is part of what they meant about how a soldier's real battle is in their home. The battle of re-communicating with family.

"So…" I said, "How was Germany?"

He shrugged, "Alright-ish. But Frankfurt was really nice."

I nodded, "That's good… So I'm assuming that Clint brought you up to speed on what's been happening?"

He nodded, "Yeah. So pizza for breakfast, huh?"

I laughed, "Clint's idea, not mine."

He chuckled and shook his head, "Whatever you say. Anything else new?"

I shrugged as I got myself a glass of water, "He taught me how to sneak around and shoot things."

Steve rolled his eyes, "Oh joy."

I chuckled lowly, "Yeah, but he kept me from causing trouble. Well, too much trouble."

We both shared a laugh and it died in the air. Thundering silence filled the kitchen as I twiddled my fingers.

"So…what happens now?" I asked nervously.

"We, uh, just try to go back to normal."

"And if that doesn't work?"

He smiled warmly, "Then we'll create a new normality. I know all this change is sudden, but it will even out soon. I promise."

He wrapped me up in another hug and kept whispering how everything's going to be fine, mainly to convince myself. Maybe everything will be fine, but with my luck, shit shall hit the fan at the most inopportune time.