Chapter 15

By: MysticFantasy

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The medical wing of the helicarrier was in total chaos. Doctor's, nurses, guards and agents were running around like headless chickens.

The only reason that Natasha wasn't getting trampled on was because she was in an examening room, lying on a stiff bed with an itchy blanket.

She'd been taken to this room as soon as they had landed on the helicarrier. She had demanded to stay with Steve but doctors had used some kind of lingo that prevented her from being able to follow after the captain.

A single doctor and nurse had given her an examination. Determining how much blood had been taken from her, what kind of sedatives were used on her and treating any other injuries she had.

Needless to say, it didn't take long for them to finish patching her up before she was alone. Until Clint came to keep an eye on her and to prevent her from sneaking away to try to find the leader of their team.

"Clint, please, I need to know how he's doing." Natasha lightly pleaded, not wanting to leave the warmth the ugly blanket was providing her.

"Nat, there's nothing right now." Clint replied as he sat in a chair next to the locked door.

"Don't lie to me." Natasha lightly snapped. "I know when you're lying."

"Ok, fine." Clint sighed. "I do know something but I'm not going to tell you because you don't need to hear it right now."

"Like hell I don't." Natasha declared. "Tell me, Clint."

"Why are you so worried about him?" the archer suddenly asked. "He's our friend and our team leader but you've never shown this kind of concern for anyone before."

"If you went through what we did, you'd understand." Natasha simply stated. "He kept me alive."

"I get that. But there's something else." Clint said. "You stayed with him the entire way back here, you wanted to stay with him when the doctor's took him to get thawed out...Nat, this is telling me that you like him. Like, really like him."

Natasha remained silent and that told Clint everything.

"You do like him. Don't you?" he questioned.

"Yes." Natasha answered. There was no point in trying to hide it from her partner. They knew each other well enough to know that Clint would be able to get the information out of her and she knew that he wouldn't give up trying to find out.

"About time." Clint said.

"What are you talking about?" Natasha demanded, a little surprised that he wasn't trying to get all of the details out of her.

"Nat, for being the world's greatest spy, you sure are blind sometimes. Cap has been giving you those love sick puppy looks practically since after our little 'scuffle' with Loki. He actually came to me on three different occasions to ask what would be the best way to ask you out. I told him to figure out what you might like and then I gave him the shovel talk."

"The shovel talk? Really, Clint?" Natasha asked. "Why didn't you ever tell me he was asking you these things?"

"He made me promise not to tell." Clint answered. "But seeing as how you two finally got together, guess now was a good time to tell all."

Natasha lightly smiled.

Learning that Steve already cared for her so much already made her feel better about herself. But to now learn that he'd been seeking to gain her attention for so long just made her heart skip a beat.

He loved her the entire time.

This new information made her more determined to find out how Steve was doing.

"Clint, please, as your friend, I'm asking you how Steve is."

Clint lightly sighed. There were a few things in the world that he wasn't able to resist. His partner asking him a question was one of them.

"They said that he was almost exactly the same as the first time." he answered. "He's alive but it's going to be a while before he wakes up. They don't know how long though. Could be a few days or, like last time, months."

Natasha once again felt herself still. She wasn't sure if her heart could take so many bad things.

She had finally began to allow herself the chance to start loving someone and now she learns that it may be months before a first date could even happen.

"I'll go see if anything's changed." Clint offered as he stood from his seat and unlocked the door. "Please Nat, stay in bed."

Natasha weakly nodded and Clint left the room. She wasn't sure if she would be able to move even if she wanted to.