Chapter Thirteen

"What is it?" Clint asked. He knew something or someone threatening was on the other side of the wall of muscle and sinew but their bulk was keeping him from seeing. Intuitively he knew it had to be Natasha. No one else would make his other team members this on edge.

"Romanoff," Stark grated. There was no way he was letting the woman get a clean line on the archer. The man wasn't yet begun to heal. There was no way he was letting Natasha get the chance to injury the archer further.

Several emotions raged through Clint's mind. On one hand he never wanted to see the woman again. Every time an image of Nat came to mind it was of her when she was torturing Clint. On the other hand, he desperately missed his partner. It was too easy with Nat, rarely did he have to speak when they were together. They knew each other well despite the number of secrets they still held from each other. He desperately missed being close to someone. Despite the other Avengers' best efforts there was a certain darkness in the two master assassins that set them apart from the others. That darkness had served them well over the years but it was also a barrier that the other Avengers and SHIELD agents would never cross.

"Is she safe?" Rogers demanded, appraising the woman with his eyes.

"Our people are confident," Fury responded. They'd run every test possible, including running her boards versus the ones they'd taken just before she was taken from Avengers tower by Cave. He was the first to admit to himself that it was still a crap shoot though. Only time would tell.

"Somehow that doesn't instil a great deal of confidence," Stark grated.

"Let her through," Clint said as he tried to shift into a less vulnerable appearing position. His body protested angrily but he ignored it. The four men standing guard in front of him exchanged worried looks before they stepped aside. Rogers and Banner moved to one side while Thor and Stark moved to the other.

With a deep calming breath, Natasha stepped forward, ignoring the hulking men on either side of her. All she could see was Clint. Her stomach turned while anger raged through her system at the sight of her partner. She'd known from Fury how much damage had been done to Clint but it hadn't really sunk in until now. In a heartbeat the assassin covered the distance to her friend. Despite a sudden nearly overpowering need to hug the archer, Romanoff moved slowly, deliberately. She was well aware of the five pairs of eyes watching everything. "Clint?" Tasha said quietly as she looked down into those intense blue eyes that she knew all too well but were now so foreign.

Clint didn't respond. Instead, he searched her face, her eyes for any sign of the craziness that had been there before. All he found was shame, concern and anger in the red haired woman's eyes. That gave him a flicker of hope. But then, Tasha had seemed entirely normal until she'd slipped him the drug in his beer.

"Fury told me what I've done," Tasha said as she moved a half step closer. Her arms wanted to reach out and envelope her partner's suddenly small appearing frame. The bruises, cuts, and casts on Clint's body only made her want to do it more. "I'm so sorry."

"You don't remember?" Clint asked. Somehow that was both fair and so incredibly unfair all at the same time. What Tasha had done to him tortured him every time he closed his eyes. It only seemed fair that she too should see the images. Apparently that was not to be.

Natasha dropped her head, the shame overwhelming her for a moment. "No. No, Clint, I don't remember any of it. "

"Well, I guess while I would feel better if you did it's probably just as well that you don't," Clint responded. Beyond Tasha Clint saw movement. His eyes were automatically drawn to the figure that had just slipped into the room. He was relieved to see Sarah standing uncertainly just inside the door. In the tension of the room none of the others had noticed. Despite her size, the woman could move very quietly when she wanted to. Uncertainty and fear burned on her round face as she took in the scene before her. For a split second Clint thought she might launch herself onto Natasha's back in an effort to protect him. A slight smile turned the corners of his mouth. That would be something to see if it wouldn't involve Sarah being badly injured.

"What now?" Stark asked. He didn't like the uncomfortable vibe in the room. He was all for throwing Natasha in a locked cell for the next three years to make sure she was fine. All ready he knew that was going to be an unpopular plan but it worked for him.

"We watch," Thor responded in a grumbling voice. He for one had no plans to head home. Not until he knew for sure that Natasha was back to her old self and Clint Barton was no longer in danger. Well, not from her anyway. Thor wasn't naive enough to think any of them would be kept from danger for long. It was part of their 'job description' as Tony Stark would say.

"That will get boring in a hurry," Clint griped. He was so very tired of being watched, of being poked and prodded and protected. At this moment he was willing to take the chance that Nat was reprogrammed just so he could get back to his life. Well, as soon as his body would let him anyway. He was hopeful though. Despite the shock of seeing his partner again after all he'd gone through, Clint wasn't getting that creepy feeling from her that he'd learned to associate with the woman of late.

"Agent Romanoff will be under escort for a while. After that we will be watching her remotely for several months to come. Unfortunately it will take a good long while for her to win back our trust," Fury responded. If the woman wasn't so damned good at her job they would simply bench her for the foreseeable future. However, there were all ready three missions that needed her special kind of attention. If Clint was in better shape he would send the assassin but that wasn't going to be an option for some time.

"Yeah, that's a brilliant idea," Stark grated.

"If you have other ideas, please, fill me in," Fury said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Actually," Tony responded brightly, being deliberately oblivious of the one eyed man's attitude. "I have several."

At the last second Fury was able to suppress the sigh of exasperation that tried to sneak through his lips. Somehow it shouldn't have surprised him that the billionaire genius would have other options for him. Nodding at the guards still hovering at the door, Fury indicated that this visit was over. All ready Clint was looking rather grey and sweaty. Clearly the man had a long way to go.

"Agent Romanoff," Fury stated, preparing the woman for the guards' advance. The last thing they needed was for the assassin to demonstrate how well she could take the security guards out. If she truly was healed she would allow the two men to lead her away.

With a final thorough appraisal of her partner, Natasha allowed herself to be escorted out of the room. She didn't bother to look at the other Avengers. She could feel their mistrust and anger rolling off them in waves as she passed them. Taking slow, deep breaths as she moved, the master assassin kept her cool. This was humiliating for the woman who was used to causing fear, not anger. But, the time it took her to redeem herself in her team's eyes would be well worth it. The Avengers were the only family she had left. They were worth fighting for. With a glance over her shoulder at the men she loved, Tasha followed the guards down the hallway. She was more determined than ever to do what she had to do.

OOOOO

The silence that followed Romanoff's exit was nearly deafening in it's intensity. Sarah was still hovering by the door. As uncomfortable as she was in the too crowded room she wasn't going to leave until she knew Clint was all right. Across the room she could pick out the subtle clues that the man was quickly running out of steam. Apparently Dr. Banner noticed it too because he began ushering the others towards the door.

Now that he knew the Hulk wasn't going to make an appearance and rip Tasha to shreds he felt better about leaving Clint. If anyone could pick up on the subtle nuances of the woman's psyche somehow he trusted his green skinned counterpart to be the one. Still, seeing Tasha so close to Clint had nearly pushed him over the edge. He'd felt his eyes begin to glow green as she neared the bed. Thankfully, though, the Hulk backed off. As the dark haired doctor turned towards the door he couldn't even feign surprise that Sarah was standing there. He was thankful though, she was the one person who Clint seemed willing to let mother him. And that was definitely what the archer needed in the foreseeable future.

"Take care of him," Bruce said as he brought up the rear. Thor, Stark and Rogers had all smiled at Sarah or otherwise acknowledged her presence as they passed her. All three of them felt better knowing they weren't leaving Clint alone.

"I will," Sarah responded, a shy smile gracing her lips. Now that the others were out of the room it suddenly felt very large, very white and very sterile. No wonder Agent Barton hated it so much. Glancing out the door to make sure the Avengers had left, Sarah padded across the room to Clint's side. The archer had closed his eyes and she thought he might have given in to sleep. But then they opened and came to rest on her face.

"You should get some sleep," Sarah suggested. The man was pale, sweaty and starting to tremble slightly. Reaching out, she placed a hand on Clint's forehead, looking to see if he had a fever. Instead, she found that his skin was cold and clammy. Without a word, she caught hold of a blanket carefully folded at the foot of the bed, shook it out and carefully pulled it over the man's body.

"I'm not tired," Clint quipped. He was exhausted beyond words but somehow he didn't want the woman to know that. She'd all ready seen him at his most vulnerable. He didn't want her to think he was still weak, despite the fact that he currently was.

"Bullshit," Sarah responded, the word slipping out before she had a chance to stop it. Immediately her cheeks turned bright red in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"No, you're right," Clint admitted around the smile that curled his lips. The exhaustion was trying to drag him down but he tried to continue to fight it. As the warmth from the blanket permeated the damp chill of his body, though, he was rapidly losing.

"It's okay. I'll stay until you wake up," Sarah said as she pulled a chair up beside Clint's bed. She'd been stopping in as often as she could but with work and the presence of the others she hadn't had the chance to spend as much time with the archer as she'd have liked. Tomorrow was her day off. She could stay all night if he needed her to. If the doctors would allow it or even if they wouldn't.

"Do you think she's changed?" Clint asked randomly as his eyes fluttered shut. The warm, comforting darkness was descending rapidly. For once he couldn't see the shadows of Tasha's torture hiding in the background.

"I don't know," Sarah answered honestly. "We'll have to wait and see."

"Hmmm," was Clint's only response as he finally gave in and fell into a deep, healing sleep.

Settling into her plastic chair as comfortably as she could, Sarah spent a few minutes watching the blond archer sleep. If Sarah had her way Natasha would never get anywhere near Agent Barton again. But then, Sarah was known to have trust issues. Agents Romanoff and Barton were partners. Eventually they would have to work together. She just hoped desperately that Fury and the others would be absolutely positive she was okay before that would happen. Satisfied that Clint was really asleep and not having a nightmare, Sarah pulled a pocketbook out of her back pocket and began to read. It was going to be a long night but that was okay, she had a long book and a lot of time on her hands.

OOOOO

Two days later Natasha had come to visit Clint three times. Each time it got a tiny bit easier but it was still like pulling teeth for both assassins. Clint was still arguing with the doctor about going home. He hated the hospital room. He hated the doctors and nurses and the very uncomfortable bed. He hated being poked at, prodded and treated like a piece of meat when a bandage needed to be changed. Mostly, he hated that he had no control over what was happening around him.

At a particularly black moment, Clint was considering swinging his legs off the side of the bed and standing up. He still hadn't gained an upright position in all the time he'd been held in the hospital. The doctors and nurses were too concerned about ripping stitches or pulling things that didn't need to be pulled. Clint, however, felt like he was going to explode. As patiently as he could, Clint waited for the current nurse to leave the room. He knew that if he tried to stand up while she was there she'd stop him.

The nurses had Clint up on his more damaged side, trying again to prevent bed sores. The pain wasn't so extreme that it interfered with his thinking but it was enough to keep him awake. The position was also rather conducive to getting the hell out of bed. If only the damned nurse would finish puttering and get the hell out.

In the last two days Clint had pretty much stopped talking to the medical personnel. He was that pissed off that they were keeping him here. When he voiced his opinion they were pretty quick to inject more drugs into his IV bag. That did nothing to reduce the anger that continued to simmer when he came to.

Just as the nurse was FINALLY going to leave, Sarah and Bruce came into the room. There was an odd quality to both of their faces that immediately put Clint on edge. They were up to something. He wasn't entirely sure he was going to like it.

"Good morning," Dr. Banner said, looking at the obviously keyed up Clint. All he got in return was a pointed glare.

As soon as the nurse left, Sarah slipped back out of the room for a moment.

"What's going on?" Clint asked. His curiosity had gotten the better of him. The two had a mischievous air about them.

Sarah returned before Bruce could answer. She was pushing a wheelchair.

"We're breaking you out of this joint," Bruce responded doing his best gangster imitation, which really wasn't very good.

"What?" Clint couldn't believe his ears. With a wide grin, Sarah pushed the wheelchair up beside Clint's bed while Bruce began to unhook all the wires and crap the doctors had plugged into him.

"We're taking you home. Your team mates took a vote. We figure you've suffered enough," Bruce stated. Before Clint could protest or help, Sarah and Bruce gently picked the blond archer up in a two man carry and deposited him as carefully as they could in the seat of the wheelchair. Pain instantly spiked through Clint's system as his back made contact.

"Are you going to be able to make it up to your apartment?" Bruce asked. Sarah was silent during the whole process but Clint could feel her hovering.

"Oh God, yes," Clint breathed. The pain was manageable. Getting the hell out of here was definitely worth a little discomfort. "Can you be disbarred or something for doing this?"

Bruce laughed. "You're thinking of a lawyer. I'm a doctor you'd have to sue me for malpractice." Banner stopped in his ministrations to look the blond man in the eye. "You're not going to sue me are you?"

Clint grinned. For the first time he felt the dark cloud that had been swirling around him since he and Steve were captured began to lift slightly. "Depends. How fast can you push this wheelchair?"

OOOOO

The trio paused outside the door of Clint's apartment. Sarah knew that it was spotless inside she'd made sure of that yesterday. Bruce was having some second thoughts about the archer returning to the scene of some of the more horrendous crimes Tasha had inflicted on him.

"You could come and stay with me for a while," Banner suggested.

"No," Clint responded. He barely managed to keep his unease from reaching his voice. Memories were swirling, trying to force their way to the surface of his mind. Ignoring the two men, Sarah stepped forward and keyed Clint's door. Turning the door handle, she pushed it inwards.

The memories broke through as Bruce pushed the wheelchair over the threshold. For a brief moment or two Clint was overwhelmed by them. They were so vivid that he could hear, feel, smell and taste them. The memories surrounded him, filled him. Just when the archer thought he would be lost in them forever, a cool hand slid into his. Grasping it desperately, Clint managed to ground himself sufficiently to push the terrible images down.

Blinking rapidly, breathing heavily, Clint looked down to see Sarah crouched in front of him, her hand being firmly held by his own, her other one resting on top of them. There was such care and concern in the brown depths of her eyes that they pulled him the rest of the way into the here and now.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked as she continued to look at his face. The man was clearly struggling with something powerful. She had a pretty good idea what and wanted to give him time to recover. Behind the wheelchair, Bruce stayed where he was, waiting to see how Clint handled being home.

"Yeah," Clint managed as he struggled to be control again. Damn but he hated to lose control, ever, for any reason. "I'm okay."

"All right," Sarah said as she carefully stood up and stepped out of the way. She still had hold of Clint's hand though. He was glad of that while Bruce pushed him the rest of the way into his living room. It was then Clint realized that they weren't alone. The other Avengers were waiting impatiently. Tony had tried to convince everyone to yell 'surprise!' but no one would go for it. Thor had no idea what he was talking about and Steve just thought it would be tacky.

"Welcome home, Agent Barton," Thor said, a wide smile gracing his usually stoic features.

"Thanks," Clint mumbled.

"It's time for you to start making new memories in your home. We thought we'd start with a little party," Stark stated. With a flourish he pulled a bottle of probably really expensive wine from behind his back.

There was a knock on the door. Clint barely registered it before Sarah let Pepper and Fury into the room. Tony's girlfriend immediately gave Clint as big a hug as he would allow before moving to stand beside Stark. Fury simply looked down at the nearly released Clint.

"If I see any signs at all that you are not improving, I'm sending you right back to medical," Fury stated. He meant it. He needed Clint healthy and the sooner that happened the better.

"Yes, sir," Clint responded. Then the party went into full swing as Pepper and Tony began pulling trays and trays of food out of the kitchen to lay them on the coffee table. Bruce retrieved glasses for the wine, although he gave Clint water instead. With the drugs that were still percolating through the archer's system, mixing them with alcohol was a really bad idea. Accepting the glass gratefully, Clint downed half of it before turning his attention to his friends. It felt almost complete. Almost. The only one missing was Tasha. Hopefully, with any luck at all, she'd be there to join the next party. If he ever allowed Tony to take over his apartment again, that was.

"I've hired Sarah to be your companion until you are fully healthy," Tony was saying between sips of wine and stuffing cheese and fancy crackers into his mouth. "Is that okay with you?"

Clint glanced down at the hand he still had clasped firmly in his own. Some day he was going to have to get over this attachment to the woman. It wasn't good for either of them. But, not right now. He was thrilled to know that Sarah was going to be there for him. That he wasn't going to have to be alone if he didn't want to. Clint was also glad that it seemed to be over. Well, mostly.

Taking a deep breath, Clint smiled at Stark without reserve. "Yes, that's fine by me."

Beside Clint, Sarah tried to get used to being around all these people. They weren't family so she wasn't sure if she should trust them. Then a thought occurred to her. Family didn't necessarily have to be related to you by blood. Family could be the people you choose to keep around you. Relaxing for the first time in a long time, Sarah was content to watch the Avengers. Things were going to get better. She could feel that in her bones. It was just going to take time. That was something they all had now.

THE END

A/N: Thank you so much for sticking with me. I'm finally finished, I think. Nothing else about this story is gnawing at me except, of course, where is Gordon Cave? Well, I'll have to see what my twisted mind comes up with. Meanwhile, I've got a lot of ideas for the next story I'm going to write. It's set after the movie and is stand alone from this out. I've mentioned the premise before about Clint and Loki. Bad things are in the future for our blonde archer. ;) I hope you will stick around for that one too.

Bye for now!