Warning – Mentions of mind control. Is that really a warning? Eh, it's mind rape. Let it stand.

.0.o.0.o.0.

Natasha was worried about Clint. This was the third time he'd missed an Avengers meeting, and she knew of at least two other appointments he'd missed, if only because they'd been mentioned to her in passing for being odd. This wasn't like him. Granted, since the New York Incident (and Loki, she told herself, don't forget Loki) he'd kept most people at a distance, including her. Hers was a closer distance, but a distance nonetheless, even after that first week she'd spent trying to help him sleep. It was a buffer. She understood that; he needed time. But even with the distance, it wasn't like him to miss things completely.

He was Hawkeye. He never missed anything.

Natasha didn't bother knocking on his apartment door. She pulled out the key she'd swiped years ago when they first met and used it to let herself in.

"Clint? You here?" She let the door slam behind her in the dark room. She was reaching for the light switch when she heard a low moan coming from his couch. All of Nat's senses went on high alert. "Clint? Are you hurt? Is there someone else here?" She flicked on the lights and the moan grew louder.

In an instant, she was crouched beside the old piece of dumpster bait that served Clint as a couch. The archer himself was lying on his side, one arm draped over his eyes. Nat took in the absence of blood, then laid her hand on his elbow.

"Everything alright?" She didn't imagine the flinch that came before his mumbled answer.

"Five by five." He very obviously wasn't.

"And with you?"

"Not particularly."

"You know you missed a meeting, right? Rogers is pissed."

He winced. "Could you talk lower? My head is pounding."

Natasha furrowed her brow. For anyone else, it would have been a full blown frown. She whispered, "Are you hungover?"

Cling winced again. "Pitch, not volume, Tasha. And no. Why'd you have to turn on the light anyway?"

Pieces started to fall into place as Nat straightened. Now she did frown as she stalked over to the wall and flipped off the lights.

Clint sighed in relief. "Thanks, Tash."

She waited until her eyes had adjusted before heading back to Clint's ragged couch. She shoved his legs off and sat down, and then it was her turn to sigh as he put his legs back up in her lap. This time, she made sure she pitched her voice low before speaking.

"You've got a migraine, don't you."

Her tone revealed to be a statement and not a question. She felt rather than saw him remove his arm from his face.

"Yeah."

"You never got them before."

"Nope."

They sat in silence for a long moment.

"How do they start?"

Clint let out a ragged breath. "My vision starts going fuzzy at the edges, and then large light spots appear right in the middle. First time it happened I nearly had a heart attack; the infamous Hawkeye, already partially deaf, going blind. But then it clears up, almost completely until it goes black around the edges and fuzzy across the middle. It's usually accompanied by splitting pain in my head. Then I can hardly move until it passes. I hide here in the dark until it hopefully goes away. Haven't found anything that dulls the pain so far. You've got no idea how much this hurts. I'd rather have a gunshot wound."

Natasha sat there with him for awhile, rubbing his calves. She watched his face as he grimaced his way through waves of pain.

"Mine usually start with auras appearing around light sources." Her voice was soft, lulling. "They gradually move to objects, and then Aura's friends spots and dots come out to play. I have to lie down until it goes away. Darkness is about the only thing that helps, but silence does too. Because all noise sounds like grating glass."

She felt Clint's eyes on her and knew how much it had to pain him.

"Mine are left over from Red Room. They played around in my brain, so now I'm paying the price."

Clint was so quiet and still, Nat thought he might have fallen asleep, which would be that much better for his migraine.

"They started after… after Loki."

Apparently he wasn't.

"I figured. You had your brain rooted around in; there's going to be some side effects."

"I thought the nightmares and the blackout of my memory was bad. But this…"

"Makes you want to drive an arrow through your skull."

"Yeah."

Natasha continued to rub Clint's legs as she felt him relax. She stared off into the dark as her partner slowly slid into the arms of Morpheus.

Slowly, carefully, she stood. She tried to walk away, but Clint shifted in her direction.

"Tasha?"

"Yes?"

"Don't go."

She sat down on the floor next to him and took his hand. "I'm not going anywhere, Hawk."

"Thanks Tash."

"You're welcome."

.0.o.0.o.0.

A/N: For those of you who were wondering, "five by five" is police radio code for "I'm fine". And I'm always happy to toss in a Joss reference. Faith always was my favorite Slayer…

Thanks to Kalo Suva and Shazrolane for reviewing! I would also like to apologize for not posting this yesterday; I finally went and saw the new Star Trek movie in all its gloriousness, and then I had to work a double shift. Sorry!