Magic & Desire (Clint Barton Fan Fiction)

Chapter 19

"So you know Sergeant Barnes?" Clint asked as he climbed into bed, taking up most of his side and the middle.

"I know the Winter Soldier." I nodded my head, brushing out my silver hair.

"Tell me more."

I put my hairbrush down and picked up Ember to put her into bed. Slipping underneath the blankets, Clint pulled me closer to him. We faced each other and Clint slid his hand from my side down to the back of my knee, which he pulled up and over his waist.

"I met him when I was fourteen, four years after HYDRA took me. I couldn't fight until the Soldier came along and literally tried to kill me during our training sessions. He was ordered not to go easy on me and the very first time we fought, he stabbed me in the stomach."

"So he basically taught you to fight." Clint started tracing circles on my knee.

"Yeah."

"Do you know his story?"

"Yeah." I spoke a little quieter, looking down to Ember, who put herself between us with her back to Clint. "After working with him for a while, I asked him what his name was. He shut down basically and when we started fighting again, he broke my arm. I never asked again, but I tried reading his mind one time." I gently ran my fingers over Ember's soft black fur, listening as she purred contently.

"What happened?"

"Knocked him out and gave myself a concussion. He had his memory erased and having me go in there to try find out who he was caused something to mess up and it knocked him out. So then I read Pierce's mind instead. Pierce was his handler."

"Alexander Pierce?"

"Yeah." My eyes flickered up to meet his. "How do you know?"

"He was a double agent. Both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA at the same time."

"I heard about that." I closed my eyes for a moment and replayed the moments when the first two stretchers were rolled out of the jet earlier in the night. "I was.... scared.... when I didn't see you come out of the jet." I admitted quietly, kind of embarrassed to say it out loud. "I thought something had happened. I knew something would happen."

"But I told you that I'd come back for you." Clint brought his hand up to my jaw, where he tilted my head up and made me look him in the eye. "There's gonna be missions like that, ones where I'm the one on the stretcher—,"

"I don't want to talk about it." I moved my head, causing him to move his hand and then I looked back down to Ember. "I should get some sleep. Healing Steve and bringing him back like I did kind of wore me out."

"Then sleep. And I'll just try to do my best not to punt this damn rat out of the bed." Clint picked up Ember and tried to move her, but she hissed and scratched his arm.

"She doesn't like to be picked up, Clint." I took Ember and put her behind the bend of my knees under the blankets and then took ahold of Clint's wrist to inspect the scratches on his forearm. They were bleeding a little, but they were nothing too bad.

"I'm not even getting up for it." He stated as he scooted closer to me.

"I'll fix it." I put my palm over the wound and recited a little healing spell. "Now go to sleep. And don't touch my cat."

"I just want to hold you."

•*•*•

Literally no one in the Tower was up until noon the next day. I made my way out of the elevator with Clint and on to the medical floor.