Promise - Kate Bishop

3.3 - Phone Call

Clint walked out of the bathroom, towel around his neck whilst he dried his face. He walked into the kitchen, opening the freezer, looking for something cold to ice his neck.

"Hey, Clint." Kate greeted, walking out of the room in a fresh outfit, Jasin following. Kate took off down a hallway to do something while Jasin stood and watched him reach for his phone, answering it.

"Hey, hey, babe." He answered shakily.

"Hi, Daddy." A young boy answered.

"Hey, listen, I can't really talk right now cause.. Maybe.. Do you have time to text? Can you text?"

His hearing aid was destroyed, remember? Loki questioned.

"Oh, yeah." Jasin answered, she motioned to Kate, pointing at her ear, she seemed to have understood the message and rushed to get a marker and paper. Kate flagged down Clint's attention.

"What?" He questioned softly.

Kate held up a small writing pad, 'Little boy', was written on it.

"Nathaniel? Nathaniel, what are you..."

"How's little Natasha?" The redheaded female asked, smiling, placing her hands on a very pregnant woman's belly, softly.

"She, is Nathaniel.." The woman said, smiling. Natasha's face immediately fell.

Natasha leaned down to her stomach whispering a soft, "Traitor."

"What are you doing buddy?" Clint asked. "Is everything okay? Where's Mama?"

Jasin shook her head violently.

Calm down, it was just an event that happened in the past. You saw your mother and Clint's wife, Laura. Loki explained.

"Oh, okay. Thanks. How do you know his wife?" Jasin thought.

I met her during the blip, but she returned when they reversed the snap.

"She's still asleep. I'm so bored." The child answered.

"Look, there's a.. There might be a little delay, buddy." Clint said. "It's kind of a bad connection."

Kate held up the notepad again 'Everyone's asleep, he's bored' written on it.

"You're bored," Clint says chuckling. "You're the early bird. Hey, bud, I miss you. Why don't you go get some breakfast and read a book or something' till mama wake's up?"

"What's the point of even reading a book," Nathaniel whined, soon changing topics. "Are you coming home tonight? It's Christmas movie marathon."

'Home tonight for movies?' was written on the notepad this time.

"Tonight is movie marathon night, that's right," Clint said, shaking his head sadly. "I really wish I could be there with you, buddy. You know how much I love that, but I'm not going to make it. I'll be back in the next day or so. It'll be in time for our ugly Christmas sweater party. Ready for that?"

The line was silent.

"Nathaniel? Buddy?" Clint questioned.

"It's okay if you can't come home for Christmas, daddy." Nathaniel said sadly. "We understand."

"Oh boy, I tell you I miss you so much.." Clint said, speaking so there aren't extended parts of silence while the boy waits for a response.

'Says it's okay if you can't be home for Christmas.' Kate wrote.

"I'm gonna be there buddy. You know I'm gonna be there, like I said, right?" Jasin looked at the scene in front of her sadly. She closed her eyes and brought her hand up. Sliver slowly enclosed around his ears, but it allowed Clint to hear again. His eyes widened, looking over to Jasin.

"You're welcome." She whispered, Clint nodding in thanks.

"I'm so happy to hear your voice. Daddy's gotta go, okay?" Clint said sadly. "I love you."

"Love you, daddy."

"I love you more." He replied, voice shaking. "Bye bye."

"Thank you both." He spoke once he had hung up.

The females nodded, Kate turning away and walking towards something else.

"I'm heading out. I need some answers." Jasin spoke, gaining Clint's attention. "Catch."

Clint brought an arm up and softly caught the small device she threw at him, "What's this?"

"New hearing aid, better fit and quality." Jasin explained, doing a mock salute before leaving.

Clint looked down and softly smiled, shaking his head, and placing the new device in his ear, "I guess she got Tony's tinkering habits."