Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 10: You Were Wrong, Dr. Blue

Clint hadn't woken up as the little group transferred from the blackbird into the mansion, and he hadn't woken up when Logan had carried him down to their room. He hadn't woken up when Logan had put him down in K's bed, either — and the only indication he gave that he was even remotely affected by all the movement in his sleep was the fact that he curled up tighter to K once she and Logan climbed in bed as well.

K was nestled in between Clint and Logan as she started to drift off, too — since she had been in Sinister's clutches for longer, and the healing was starting to take its toll.

And Logan simply made sure that K was comfortable and stayed with both of them, knowing that just because they were both exhausted enough to fall asleep didn't mean there wasn't still going to be a lot to clean up after this mess.

Eventually, Logan fell asleep too, but of course, that was about when Clint woke up again — not because he'd slept off the rough night but because he'd started to make little whimpering noises in his sleep, and then his eyes flew open, and he sat bolt upright in a panic.

He was climbing out of the bed before he was even fully awake, almost shaking from how upset he was, and he only paused when Logan asked in a quiet rumble where he was going.

Clint paused and bit his lip as he looked back at Logan. "I... I need to find Rachel," he whispered.

Logan frowned at that, but he wasn't about to stop Clint either — not when he could smell the sharp tang of fear in the room, and not when he knew who'd had Clint and K. And it was the middle of the day, so it wasn't like Clint would be waking anyone up.

When Clint saw that Logan wasn't going to stop him, he didn't hesitate to rush out the door, intent on finding Rachel — or at least one of her parents so that he could make sure she was okay.

He did eventually find Jean at least, talking easily with Storm in the living room — though both women stopped when they saw the upset little boy in the doorway and turned his way. "Clint, are you alright?" Storm asked, the concern obvious in her tone.

Clint paused, his chest still heaving from running, before he bit his lip and shook his head. He started to raise his hands to sign — that was still his default language when he was upset — but paused and decided better of it before he asked Jean, very softly, "Is Rachel okay?"

Jean was surprised by the question at first, but when she looked into Clint's mind and saw the nightmare he'd had — that he was right back with Sinister and that Rachel and Jean had both been there too, and so had Barney and Jan — she rushed over to close the gap between them and pull Clint into a hug. "She's fine, Clint. She's with Scott. We're all fine, alright?"

Clint nodded and tried to hide the way his breath hitched just the slightest bit as he clutched onto Jean. She could hear everything he was projecting without meaning to — the panic and the fear and the confusion and the overwhelming protective drive all merging into a mess of emotions that made it hard for him to think straight.

Not that Jean blamed him. Dealing with Sinister... that wasn't something anyone his age should have ever had to deal with.

When Clint kept hanging onto Jean for dear life, she shifted so that she had pulled him down into a sitting hug so she wasn't as crouched over, and she gave him a soft kiss on his forehead. "I'm so sorry, Clint," she said. "I'm so sorry that happened to you and your mom."

Clint held onto her a little tighter for a moment before he took a deep breath that caught a few times, though Jean pretended for the sake of Clint's pride that she didn't hear that. "I... I just don't want him to touch anyone," he whispered, almost too softly for her to catch.