Broken - A Clintasha Fanfic *ON HOLD*

Broken - Part 2

When Natasha reentered the room, she thought about how she could convince him to come with her. There wasn't much time left and she still had to get him showered and dressed somehow. She couldn't take him to Shield just dressed in sweatpants. Coulson would kill her for it. Professionalism and all.

Sighing  she called Barton's name again before remembering that she still had his hearing aids and he had his back turned to her. At first she stood beside him trying to get his attention but he didn't even seem to notice her. Natasha then moved behind the punching bag to look him in the eyes. Maybe he would acknowledge her now. A brief flicker of his eyes showed that he had seen her but he didn't stop to hit the punching bag. Instead his hits got harder every time.

"Clint" She said trying to hold against the bag to steady it. Damn he was strong. She knew he only used about 60 to 70 percent of his force when sparring with her (because he almost broke her leg once and had felt terrible about it) but she was still surprised by his strength.

"Barton" she repeated careful to mouth the words so he could lip read. "I need you to come with me." He shook his head more stumbling than stepping away from her and the bag. "Nat I can't" he held his hands up in surrender.

"You have to" she tried again, following Clint cautiously. "Why?" his voice was hoarse. "We need you to take a long distance shot."
"Why don't send a sniper?" he challenged.
"Too many civilians and a range of maybe 1700 yards at least. You know nobody else can do it."
Suddenly his shoulders slumped "Nat. I can't!" he sounded desperate. "Had a bottle of vodka since mornin and  I dunno how many of those" The archer kicked an empty beer bottle out of his way. "Can't take the shot. Maybe hit something else." his eyes pleaded her to let him be but she couldn't. "I am so sorry Clint" she thought before stepping up in front of him.
"I saw you hit those targets over there just fine minutes ago. Take another shot and prove me that you can't do it!" with that Natasha handed him his bow and an arrow she had picked up from the floor.

Carefully as if the weapon was a delicate flower, he took the bow and weighed it his strong hands. Then he stumbled to the far side of the room, waiting for her to follow before he steadied his shooting stance just enough to be not swaying all the time. "You see that unused target on the right? Get me a Bullseye." Natasha demanded gesturing towards the target she'd picked.

Barton blinked a few times and she was sure he was at least seeing everything double and/or blurry. But after a few seconds a black carbon-fibered Arrow stuck out of the exact center of the Target. "See?" She couldn't help but smile a little. That was her partner. Not able to walk properly but could still beat every Olympic archer there was.

"Nat" he looked at her with those beautiful stormy-blue eyes she knew every female agent in Shield was secretly in love with (if not with his abs). "What if I miss?" The words "What if I hit a civilian?" hung in the air unspoken. "You won't" she assured. "We still have about seven hours until the hit." Barton just barely nodded. Looking detached.

Carefully Natasha reached out to grab his arm, tugging gently. "Come on lets get you showered." "M' fine" he mumbled but letting himself get dragged along by her. Natasha turned around to face him "You stink" she stated looking at his bare chest that glistered with sweat. "And it will help you sober." There was no point in giving him his hearing aids back now. He would just forget them and take them in the shower. Sure they were kind of waterproof but better not test it.

She had to steady him on their way up to his apartment. His usual graceful stride now full of stumbles and unsteady steps. Natasha was grateful he was able to carry most of his weight. She wouldn't been able to get him up to his apartment otherwise. "You should eat less Pizza you know ." she half-joked (seriously the amount of food he consumed in one day could be considered unhealthy). "S' all muscle." Barton sounded truly offended. To underline his point he flexed a little showing his impressive abdominal abs. "I know." She chuckled. "That's why you are so heavy idiot." He even smiled a little at her comment before tripping over a step, narrowly catching himself with his arms. "Fuck" "Come on only one floor left." Natasha tired to encourage him.

Halfway up the second staircase, a chubby man approached them. "Hey, let me help." She nodded gratefully. Together they half-pulled half-carried Clint to his apartment and into the bathroom. "Thank you ..." Natasha started. "Gills" he filled in "and no problem. Hawkguy over there's a friend. You can take him from here?" Gills asked. "Yeah sure. Thank you again and sorry about that knife earlier." she said remembering what Simone had told her. "Don't worry" he waved before leaving the apartment.

Natasha helped him into the shower and turned the cold water on, handing him shampoo. Clint was still in his sweats but didn't complain. Instead he turned his face towards the spray, enjoying the sensation of the numbing cold water on his skin. "Clean up and meet me outside I have food for you." She gently closed the bathroom door and went to get some dry and clean clothes. She had to search a couple of minutes until she found something presentable. Black jeans and a dark grey t-shirt should work for now. Natasha also took a pair of boxers (not purple this time) and socks out of one of his drawers and carried everything back to the bathroom, setting it onto the closed toilet lit together with a clean towel.

It took her a little convincing before the spy left the apartment again to get the Chinese out of her car. She didn't like leaving him alone now.

The water was still running when she came back, four boxes of takeaway in her hands. One for her and the other three for Clint because otherwise he would try and steal her food, too. Just as she started the microwave, the water stopped and she could hear muffled sounds from inside the bathroom. The door opened just as she set the two plates onto the kitchen counter. No matter what, you could always count on Barton being in time for food. His walk was still wobbly but at least he managed to make a somewhat straight line for the kitchen. The shower seemed to have helped.

"Hey" he started looking a little sheepishly. "Hey yourself" The redhead had to admit he looked kind of cute with his semi-dry hair sticking in every direction. A small smile crept on her face. "Back among the living?" "Uh huh" he eyed the plate with Chinese in front of him as if he didn't knew what to do with it. Suddenly she remembered the hearing aids in her back pocket and handed them over. "Here and eat up we have an hour and a half until boarding."

They both ate in comfortable silence. Clint was (as usual) finished before her and subconsciously reached out to grab a beer from the counter. She caught his arm before he could touch it and placed a water bottle in his hand instead. "Mission, remember?" Natasha asked arching an eyebrow. "yeah sure" he emptied the bottle in seconds and took another one, now sipping the water.

After Natasha had finished her food, too she threw the dishes in the sink. They had no time to clean them now and by the look of the stacked dish-tower in the sink her partner probably wouldn't mind. "Ready?" she asked. Looking at him expectantly.
"Yeah, just - just gotta grab my bow and stuff." He gestured  towards where she knew his primary weapon drawer was.
"I get the bow and you get the rest we meet in the stairwell in 10, okay?" nodding, the archer took a swaying step towards his closet to grab a duffle bag.

When she returned 5 minutes later, Natasha was surprised to see him already waiting for her at the top of the stairs, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Clint took a careful step down only to catch himself on the railing immediately before almost falling over. "Um Nat?" he asked embarrassed "Help me down?"
"Of course Barton" she suppressed a laugh. That she would life to the day her stubborn partner would actually ask for help. She might tell Coulson later.

It took them almost 15 minutes to get to the ground floor but neither of them fell so Natasha would call it a success. Now she was glad she picked a Shield SUV over her Ducati. She wouldn't have to worry about him falling off.

She called Coulson on the way to tell him they were coming in. The relief in his voice was obvious. Phil told her to drive directly to the airfield. He was already there and had her gear and Barton's sniper riffle with him. They would be briefed on the flight.

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Okay so there is a third part coming for this story and a poem that I wrote a while back. Look for it in my library:)
Also: I love comments and ideas how to improve so please don't be shy! And leave a like if you enjoyed my story so far!