Last chapter! Here we go!

"Natasha, wait until I say and then pinch his nose shut and breathe into his mouth!" Steve ordered as he began CPR on their lifeless archer. The crash site had attracted a crowd, and now, all the people still there were waiting to see if they could save Hawkeye. The Avengers heard multiple people asking if Hawkeye was alive and what was going on. Natasha struggled not to scream at them to disband. 

"6...7...8...9...now!" Natasha tilted Clint's head back, pinched his nostrils shut, then breathed into his mouth. When she pulled away, Steve continued pumping his friend's chest. Natasha heard the sudden crack of Clint's ribs under the force of Steve's palms.

It was lasting forever; every second that passed was crucial. Natasha did not hear the next time Steve told her to breathe for Clint. It became second nature.

35...36...37...38...39... Natasha!" Another breath, and then a pulse check. 

"Steve, we have a pulse!" She pulled Clint closer to her, resting his head in her lap as she stared down at his still form. "Clint? Clint!" Steve pulled him away from her and scooped him into his arms before she Natasha could react. "Steve, no!" 

"Just because he has a pulse now doesn't mean it's going to last!" Steve responded, taking Clint over to some paramedics from SHIELD Bruce had called after tracking their location from the tower. 

"I'm going with him!" Natasha announced as she rushed after them. The paramedics denied her access, saying she'd be in the way as they fought for his life on the way to the nearest SHIELD medical facility. Once they loaded him onto a stretcher and into the back of the ambulance, they bagged him to keep him breathing. 

"Don't let him die, do you understand!?" Natasha growled at the paramedic denying her access. 

The paramedic hesitated before answering. "Get in. If he knows you're there, then maybe he'll have a chance."

21 Days

It was like Russia all over again. Natasha ran beside the gurney her best friend lie still on. Clint was still struggling to breathe on his own, so the bag remained over his mouth and nose. "Internal bleeding in the abdomen, left kidney is failing. Pulse is 140 and weak, BP's 60 over 30," one of the SHIELD paramedics announced as they wheeled Clint's lifeless form into the lab. They moved the gurney next to the field operating table in the sectioned off, sterile area. 

"On my count:" Jemma Simmons began as she grabbed the edge of the warming blanket by Clint's head, "One, two, three!" On three, the paramedics and two of the assisting surgeons moved the archer onto the table. "Okay, let's get him prepped for surgery. Natasha!" Simmons turned her head toward the agent who would not leave Barton's side. As she looked up, the doctor told her to leave and be with Coulson in his office. 

"I'm not leaving him." Natasha growled, causing Simmons to return a pleading look. 

"Natasha, please...the sooner you leave, the sooner we can begin the operation. Barton's life is on the line...we can't waste any more time!"

The agent looked back down at her partner, who now had a tube protruding from his mouth. She shakily reached out and squeezed his hand before getting on her knees and resting her forearm on the edge of the table. She faced the side of his head. "Listen to me, bird brain. You fight like hell, okay? I can't bury you, Laura can't bury you. The Avengers can't bury you. Just fight it! Please...please!" 

"Natasha..." Natasha turned her head to see Agent May standing by the doors. "We need to go. Barton's in good hands. One of the surgeons working on him is one of the doctors who removed the arc reactor from Stark's chest. In other words, they know what they're doing. Come on."

Natasha took one last look at Clint, then moved in and kissed his cheek before leaving with May. Once the doors closed, the spotlights were switched on, Clint's shirt was cut off, his hair was secured back in a blue net, an IV was placed, a breathing tube was shoved down his mouth, a blood pressure cuff was wrapped around his left bicep, his casted arm was tied off to the side to keep it out of the way, monitors were attached all over his body, his abdomen and chest were soaked in a sterile brown-tinted liquid, and then the scalpel made contact with his abdomen. 

Agent Melinda May was cautious about keeping Natasha's attention away from the doors of the operating room. "I know I don't show much emotion around here..." May turned around to see Natasha hanging her head as she spoke. She looked up at May. "I'm a different person around Barton. He's my partner...he saved me...and I couldn't save him."

When they reached Phil Coulson's office, Natasha was surprised to see everyone there. Coulson, Steve, Tony, Rhodey, Sam, Steve, Ward, Hill, Thor, May, Mack, Daisy, Bobbi, Hunter, Yoyo, Fitz, Piper, Davis, and even Nick Fury stood around the room, each holding a shot glass containing a small amount of whiskey. Lincoln and Bruce had left to assist Simmons and the other doctors with the operation on Barton. 

"W-what's everyone doing here?" Natasha asked nervously. She seemed confused when Davis handed her and May a shot of whiskey. 

There were a few seconds of complete silence before Agent Grant Ward spoke up. "Agent Barton's a fighter. Damn guy's hard to beat in a fight, I gotta admit it."

"Except for that one time when you knocked him out during a sparring session and you called me to carry him to the infirmary," Mack added, earning a few small chuckles from the surrounding agents. 

"He likes to annoy me in the lab. Of course, every time I say we need a monkey to test out a new invention, Bobbi either suggests Hunter of Barton," Fitz smiled softly. 

"Bobbi's had relationships with both. She's just getting her revenge," Yoyo smiled. Again, more laughter. 

"Barton taught me how to shoot a gun...Grant just likes to take the credit for it though." Daisy fumbled with her shot glass. 

"Hey, I worked with you every time Clint wasn't on base," Grant Ward perked up.

"Sorry we keep taking Hunger Games away from ya, Coulson," Tony said.

"Barton has been of great service to the Avengers," Thor commented, "I cherish his brotherhood."

"I was standing right here when Barton had his first surgery as a SHIELD agent...and the day after surgery, he came shakily walking in here. He was scared and said he had to get the hell out of there because a doctor told him he couldn't pick up his bow for eight weeks. He wasn't supposed to leave the infirmary for another week, but you all know how he can be." Coulson's comment had everyone nodding their head. "Just wait. He'll probably be walking through that door sooner than we think." He motioned to the open door. 

"I can't see him die..." Daisy had tears rolling down her cheeks. Mack wrapped an arm around her.

"Clint saved my life. He had orders to shoot me...but he didn't..." Natasha swallowed thickly. 

Another minute of silence happened before Fury held up his shot glass. "To Barton."

Everyone else lifted their glasses. "To Barton." Then they all tipped the whiskey into their mouth. 

21 Days

No one left Coulson's office that night. Agents brought in pillows, blankets, cots, and even dragged in two more couches just so they could all wait together. Several of them could not sleep that night, but the ones who did slept restlessly. More people cared about Clint Barton than Clint thought. 

It was 4:50 in the morning when Simmons walked in the doorway. When she walked in, every agent snapped awake and looked at her for news. The atmosphere was tense.

Fitz got up, walked over, and hugged her, not caring that she was still dressed in bloody surgical scrubs. Simmons exhaustedly held onto him for a few seconds before leaning away and looking at everyone. "He's a fighter...he made it." 

A wave of happiness, "yeah!" and "I knew he'd live!" comments flooded the room. 

The biologist waited for the noise to die down before she spoke again. "Give him an hour to come around. Lincoln and Bruce are getting him set up in a recovery bay. We have him tied down. We can't risk him being disoriented and lashing out, especially in his condition."

"Only a few visitors at a time. We're afraid he may be too weak to talk or even keep his eyes open. We can't have his blood pressure rising anymore." 

"Romanoff, Rogers, Stark. Go ahead," Coulson ordered, then watched as Simmons led them to the recovery bay. "Daisy, Yoyo, Fitz, I've asked Lincoln to meet us in here. We need to discuss some things."

Daisy and Yoyo looked at each other before looking back at Coulson. "What about seeing Barton?" Yoyo asked.

Coulson waited for everyone else to be out of the large office space before answering, "This is about Barton...and I only want you three to know it. Simmons knows it as well, but I want her to keep an eye on the other Avengers. Stark has a habit of sticking his nose in places it shouldn't be. Same with Natasha and Barton. None of them should know about what happened in surgery."

"Do we even have clearance, sir?" Daisy asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"No, but I'm ordering you to sit down and listen." Elena and Daisy pulled up chairs in front of the desk, while Fitz stood behind them. Lincoln soon joined them, standing beside Coulson. He was in a clean set of SHIELD surgical scrubs with a black stethoscope draped around his shoulders, and a dull yellow file in his hands. CLASSIFIED LEVEL 10 was stamped across the front cover, shielding bits of the original stamp of BARTON, CLINTON FRANCIS. ACTIVE LEVEL 7.

"How's Barton?" Coulson turned to him. 

"As well as I expected. He's still asleep, but he's been trying to wake up. I think he's aware of his wrist restraints, but he hasn't tried moving his legs yet. I just finished up with an ultrasound, and there seems to be no more internal bleeding...and both kidneys are fine."

"What happened during surgery?" Yoyo pushed. 

Lincoln was hesitant. "Barton...he...he died...three times on the operating table. We didn't think we'd get him back on the third try...until Fury sent Simmons a message about giving him GH-325. After a dose of that, he stabilized..."

"So you just gave up on treating him by the books and went rogue by giving him that!?Coulson...what if he starts drawing the lines and circles like you?" Daisy snapped.

"He won't. He'll be exactly like you, Daisy. We don't know how the new blood will mix with his own, and we have no idea what his inhuman ability will be...if  he develops one," Coulson explained. "We aren't certain he'll develop one. If he does, well, then we have a problem

"There's one other thing I need to mention that I think is important." Yoyo, Coulson, Daisy, and Fitz looked at Lincoln again. "Daisy, you probably don't remember, but when you were under Hive's control, you let the doctor take several bags of blood from you. Well, we found those...and you have the same blood type as Barton..."

"So Clint has my blood in him. Great...that just adds to the dosage of GH-325."

"Romanoff and Barton were leaving the Avengers once Clint was healed. We need to get Natasha on board with keeping Clint around so we can keep an eye on him. Lincoln, have you taken any new blood samples from him yet?"

"Not yet, sir."

"Get going. Once he wakes up, he isn't going to be too happy about you sticking a needle under his skin." With that, Lincoln turned and left. 

"How are we going to tell him?" Fitz asked. 

"We're not. We'll let him go home for a few weeks, then we'll see about bringing him back here to monitor him. This file stays with me until further notice. I can't risk the ATCU or Hydra finding out and capturing him. Well, Hydra already wants to capture him, but if they knew he is possibly enhanced...it's hard telling what they'll do."

"He'll be terrified if he develops inhuman abilities..." Yoyo concluded, shooting a nervous look at Coulson. She shot out of the room and back in an instant. "He's waking up. He keeps pulling at his restraints. Laura and Natasha are there trying to keep him calm."

"Let's go see how they're holding up." Coulson suggested, kneeling down and locking the file in a safe under his desk before getting up and walking out with them. 

When they entered the recovery bay, the smell of antiseptic cleaner hit them immediately. No one felt comfortable in a room when it smelled like that. Clint lie unconscious in the hospital bed, his left wrist still trying to figure out why it could only get a few inches away from the bedrail. Bruce had just finished moving his IV from the top of his hand to the side of his neck, just above his collar bone, so it would be safe from his constant squirming. His casted forearm was stiffly restrained against his chest in a sling. A cloth sack covered his fist so he wouldn't figure out how to unbuckle it and throw a punch at someone. 

Laura was holding his cuffed hand, letting him squeeze her hand. She had brought one of his own pillows from his on-base room, knowing he wouldn't be as nervous if he woke up to familiar feelings or scents. It was the only blue pillow among the basic white hospital pillows. She even brought the purple blanket with light purple arrows all over it that had been crumpled up at the head of the bed. Natasha had bought it for him at Target for his birthday the year before. "I don't get it. Why is he healing so much faster this time? I thought this surgery was more intense?"

"We...we had a better surgical team this time around...and we only focused on one area." Simmons nervously looked at Coulson for approval. Coulson just nodded once. He watched as Clint's leg tried to bend, but immediately dropped when the metal piece of the cuff clang against the metal bar it was attached to. 

"Shhh..." Natasha tried to shush him, running the back of her hand across his cheek. Her actions caused him to whimper and settle down. It was only a matter of time before he started turning his head either way and trying to push the oxygen mask away from his face. "He's figuring it out. He's gonna dislodge that IV too, Bruce. Why don't you put it in his side or foot?"

"His foot's covered, Natasha. I'll keep him under watch to make sure he doesn't squirm too much."

"When will he be allowed to be without the restraints?" Daisy asked, stepping forward. 

Bruce glanced at her before directing his attention at Clint's unconscious form. "Not until we're sure all the anesthesia is out of his system." Everyone in the room noticed Simmons wasn't leaving Hawkeye's side. 

"Simmons? Are you okay?" Daisy asked, crossing her arms over her chest and letting her weight shift to her right leg. 

"It's just..." Jemma hesitated as she struggled to find the right words, "he's been through this once and we all thought it worked, but now...we're starting the journey over."

"But he's gonna get through this..." Laura interrupted, then sighed. "He's bullheaded...stubborn." A slight chuckle. "Lila and Cooper are like that." 

Natasha smiled softly, grabbing the fleece blanket draped over his lower half and pulling it up over his casted arm resting on his chest. 

"So it's over?" Laura looked up at Simmons, who looked down, then at Clint. 

"We hope."

21 Days

"What if we can't bring him back this time!?"

"We have one last chance. I don't want to do this, but Fury ordered it! Lincoln, get the vial ready. We've already given him the O- blood we had in storage, and it was Daisy's blood post-transformation! If we add the vial...what if his DNA changes for the worst?" Simmons cried, throwing away another heavy sheet of gauze covered in Clint's blood. 

"We're not losing him. Daisy's blood may cancel out the Kree blood. Post-Terrigenesis blood and Pre-Terrigenesis blood may cancel each other out!"

Lincoln took the vial and injected into the archer's IV line without considering the consequences. A few seconds after pressing down on the plunger, the archer's vitals went haywire. 

"We're losing him...wait...he's stabilizing!" The archer's body seized for a full minute before his back crashed against the table and the monitor numbers turned from red to green.

"Oh, my God. It's working..."

Clint snapped awake with  a gasp. He yanked his arm and ankles against the restraints holding him in place as he took several shallow breaths. The clear mask over his mouth and nose fogged up as he anxiously breathed. 

Natasha, Bruce, Laura, Lincoln, Simmons, Tony, and Daisy were on him in a split second. Tony and Daisy pinned his legs down to keep him still as Natasha talked to him. "Clint? Clint, talk to me. Wake up," Natasha calmly instructed, keeping her hand on his shoulder.  Her other hand gently slid up above his ear and secured one of the implant's magnets against the one under his skin. She popped the other part behind his ear, so he could hear them. 

His head fell back against the pillow as his breathing slowed. "Tasha?" Natasha softly smiled and nodded her head as she straightened his blanket and pulled the edge up to his. "Tell everyone to get out of my room...I can't sleep..." He was talkative with anesthesia in his system. Everyone figured they'd make the best out of the situation and ask him questions.

"It's me, Stupid. I never left your side...except for when they dragged me out of the OR. You did great in surgery." She watched Clint flinch as she pulled off the hair net, then ran her fingers through his hair. Her fingers became caught on a chunk of hair matted with sweat, blood, and dirt, so she pulled away before she was tempted to untangle it with her fingers. His hair was tinted slightly darker from the fire's ashes. 

He turned his head away from Natasha and looked at Laura, a confused expression on his face. Laura couldn't help by smile at his dumbfounded expression. "What's wrong, baby?" She reached out and gently pushed his hair behind his ear. "You need a haircut."

Clint didn't like that. He shook his head as a response. "No...I don't want one. I-I wanna look like Natasha!"

Natasha rolled her eyes and let a small chuckle escape.

"So you wanna look like Natasha now?" Bruce played along, pressing a few buttons on the machine closest to him and electronically inflate the blood pressure cuff secured around his bicep. Simmons rolled her eyes and took the time Clint was drowsy and loopy to check his lungs.

"No...I-I like how her long hair looks...and I wanna see what I look like with long hair!" Clint burst out in a fit of laughter, making Natasha start laughing as well. When she laughed, Clint stopped and stared at her like she was crazy. Simmons was thankful when he unintentionally took a deep breath and exhaled.  

"What's so funny?" Clint asked dully, not paying attention to Simmons at all. He didn't notice when she injected a medication into his upper arm.

"You!" Natasha smiled. "You're always loopy when your under anesthesia." Clint didn't listen to her; he was too focused on wondering why his right hand was missing. In reality, it was only covered by the cloth sack to keep him from fumbling with the restraint on his right arm or finding a way to unstrap the sling.

"They took my hand...they took my hand, Nat...I-I need it..." He sounded serious. Everyone was struggling to hold back laughter. Natasha rolled her eyes and pulled off the cloth sack. 

"You're fine." She smirked.

"That's not a SHIELD standard look, Barton. Or an Avenger standard look...unless you're Thor, but you're not Thor." Tony released Clint's leg when he figured he wouldn't be lashing out anytime soon. "Hey, buddy, I'm sorry I wanted to lock you up in the Raft, but the doctors say there's no chance of the programming making a grand return. I know you feel high on pain medicine right now, but don't say later that I never apologized to ya."

"Clint, it's Daisy." Daisy stood up and took a couple steps toward him. "Remember last November when my sandwich went missing from the fridge?"

"I took it...Hunter told me to..." Clint answered before his eyes fluttered shut as he dozed off again. Daisy just smirked.

"It may take a few hours for the anesthesia to wear off. I was surprised he was awake for this long, but he's always defying odds. He doesn't go under easily and he doesn't wake up easily, hence these things," Simmons informed, tapping the cuff wrapped around his wrist. "If you hadn't been here, he would've lashed out. Well, if he hadn't been restrained, he would've tried to bolt. We'll have to go through the same thing tomorrow, but he'll be stronger and the surgery will not be life threatening."

"I know...it's standard procedure." Natasha swallowed a lump in her throat as she thought back to the time at the tower when they said they would try to avoid restraints, then looked at Simmons. "Another surgery? Why?"

"When the Quinjet crashed, his broken arm slammed against the dashboard and knocked some fragments loose. We couldn't risk keeping him under longer than we already did. It wasn't safe. We just have his arm splinted for now, but the next surgery is scheduled for 10:00 AM. He won't like it, but we have no other choice; we have to place some pins to help it heal properly. This is the end, Nat, seriously. No more after this..." Bruce promised, placing his hand on her shoulder. 

Several hours later, when Clint woke up the next time, he seemed level-headed. The anesthesia was out of his system. Natasha sat beside him, taking Laura's place since she had left to grab something to eat from the base kitchen. The clink of metal against metal caused Natasha to look up from her phone. 

"Clint?" His tired blue eyes looked up at her. He remained silent as his attention drifted to the cuff holding his wrist close to the bed rail. 

"Do you want that off?"

Another stare from the baby blue eyes, then a head nod. 

Natasha put her phone down on the bedside table, then learned over and unbuckled his wrist. The skin where the cuff had been now glistened with sweat. She let it fall off the side of the bed and dangle a few inches above the floor before looking at him again. "How do you feel?"

"Sore...groggy...what time is it?" 

"Just after 6 PM. You slept forever," Natasha answered, then heard a whine from her partner. 

The thought then hit him. "Tasha...where's my brother? Did he--?" Natasha was quick to place her hand against his free arm. 

"Relax. Lincoln patched him up, then had him escorted to his own cell. He's in joint custody of the Avengers and SHIELD. His cell is actually next to Ashlocke's."

"The Avengers...Nat, are they here? Do they know I'm...we quit?"

Natasha nodded once. "They know, but the rest of SHIELD doesn't know. I wish you were there to see what they did for you, Clint. They were all worried. We sat in Coulson's office for the entire duration of your surgery."

"Even May?"

"Even May. Fury was there too. You mean a lot to them, Clint..." She watched as her partner pulled off the oxygen mask and tossed it off to the side. "Clint, I think the doctors want you to keep that on."

"Screw them. Simmons is nice to me when she's not in her lab coat..."

"No, Simmons is nice to you when you cooperate, which is never. Well...you're only cooperative when you're asleep." Clint rolled his eyes at her comment. 

"I-I'm ready to start over, Nat. Laura needs me at home...and I want my kids to grow up with a father."

"Laura offered me a place to stay until I figure out what I want to do. As of now, Fury granted me a ninety day leave of absence. I never took a day off...so I guess he owes me." She paused, waiting for him to answer, but when it seemed like he wasn't going to answer, Natasha sighed and continued. "Surgery again tomorrow. If you would just let your arm heal. Stop crushing it against things." She traced over the bandages with her fingers. "You need to sleep and build your strength up for in the morning."

"I've slept all day, Nat..." He whined in protest. He closed his eyes when Natasha ran her fingers through his hair again. 

"Clint, you still need to go back to sleep."

"I have one question though. I know I just cleaned up yesterday...or whenever the trial was, but when I'm discharged from here, can I shower by myself?"

"If you can stand up by yourself. Barton, if I hear you faceplant the shower floor, I'll force you to let us help you again. Now go to sleep. Are you hungry? I can ask Simmons what Laura and I can whip up for you."

"I'm sick of your protein drinks, Nat..." 

"Fine. Want a smoothie? Maybe some juice or soft pears?"

"Surprise me..." Clint's eyes slid shut again. Natasha just looked at him for a second before turning and leaving the room. When she was gone, he slowly and painfully sat up, then disconnected himself from the IV and wires before forcing himself to stand up. His free hand immediately went to the bandages around his middle, feeling the area around his stitches tighten.

He wanted to shower. He wanted to get the blood off him...his brother's blood off him.

21 Days

Natasha walked back into the recovery room at the exact moment Clint collapsed in the shower. Upon hearing the loud thud, she dropped the packaged snack on the disheveled sheets covering the bed, then rushed to the bathroom. The air was hot and humid from the shower still running. She heard Clint whine and groan in pain from the other side of the curtain as he tried to stand up. 

Natasha pushed back the curtain, then looked down at her partner. Panic was in her eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She shut the water off.

"I smelled like burning Quinjet and blood. It's not a pleasant mix, Nat..." He huffed as he tried to stand, but his foot slid out from under him and landed him on his rear again. 

"And why did your bright idea consist of you wearing your hospital scrubs in the shower?"

"For times like this," The archer sighed, frustrated with himself. His hair stood up messily, covered in pink residue from the shampoo mixed with blood. "I wanted some independence...I just didn't know how hard showering could be with one arm in a sling and a heavy bandage wrapped around my middle..."

"And both are completely soaked. Bruce, Lincoln, and Simmons will be pissed!"

"I'll just play the sick card...and I'm already playing it. My stomach really hurts, Nat...and my arm is throbbing. I'm probably running a post-op fever." 

"Clint..." She shook her head as she knelt down in front of him and looked at him in disbelief. "If you weren't wounded, I would slap you." She used her thumb to wipe away a small trickle of watery blood off his forehead before it reached his eye. "Okay. I'll get the matted hair issue fixed, and you work on the blood staining your body."

Hawkeye opened his mouth to protest against her help, but seeing the look on Natasha's face made him shut up. He looked forward again, facing the white shower wall. "Fine."

21 Days

"This is the stupidest thing you've ever done, Agent Barton!" Simmons scolded as she finished dressing and wrapping a fresh bandage around his middle. Natasha had helped him get dressed after the shower, leaving his shirt off, and was now holding the fruit cup still for him as he used his free hand to carefully spoon pieces of softened fruit into his mouth.

Clint had been smart enough to wrap his wounded arm in plastic, so the only thing they had to do was get him a dry sling. He flinched and whimpered as Bruce moved his arm out of the old and into the new, but he only received another scolding for that. The archer just rolled his eyes. 

"Why did you get out of bed, Barton? You just had abdominal surgery!" Bruce snapped, adjusting the strap of the new sling around his shoulder before moving on to get the supplies to replace the IV.

Natasha put the now empty fruit cup on the bedside table, then helped Clint put his shirt on again once Simmons was finished dressing his incision. She watched as Lincoln forced his once free arm down to strap it in again, which she didn't like. "You need to stop letting him out of the restraints. And he should still be on oxygen." He shot a glare at her.

Natasha's eyes narrowed. "He was awake and clear of the anesthesia. I thought letting him out of the restraints when he wasn't fuzzy-minded was standard procedure!?"

"It's not Nat's fault..." Clint growled, flinching when Simmons slipped a nasal cannula over his head. Its placement distracted him long enough for Bruce to slip a catheter beneath his collar bone. "Nothing's been Nat's fault from the beginning. I ran away from her the night I got sick on the mission. It was my fault I got captured. I should've let her call an extraction team for me. It's my fault I have another surgery tomorrow. It's my fault...It's all my fault..." He broke down. Natasha pulled him close to her before anyone could see the tears roll down his face. 

Simmons sighed and looked at Bruce and Lincoln. "Let him rest. We all need to get some sleep before surgery tomorrow. All of us are exhausted..." 

When the doctors left the room, Natasha and Clint were alone again. Clint was sobbing now, and Natasha wasn't about to let him go. He clung to her, visibly trembling with anxiety. "I'm sorry, Tasha..." 

Natasha ran her fingers up the back of his scalp, resting her hand against his crown as she planted a quick kiss on the side of his head. "Just calm down. Calm down, and go to sleep. Go to sleep, Clint...go to sleep..." Her voice became a whisper. "Please."

His best friend finally got him to lie down and go to sleep half an hour after the doctors had left them alone for the night. As she held him, she shooed away technicians walking in every few minutes wanting to check his vitals and IV. 

She never pushed him away. She let him lean against her until he fell asleep. Natasha slowly shrugged him off and let him lie down against the pillows. His eyes cracked open for just a second when his head hit the pillows, and Natasha could've sworn she saw his eyes flash bright blue. 

"What did they do to you, Clint?"

2 months later...

"Look at you. First drink since before your trip through Hell." Natasha took a quick swig from her beer bottle as the two sat at a table in the dimly bit tavern. "How do you feel?"

"Just glad I had my last check up this morning. It feels good going to a regular doctor's office, where they don't slide restraints on me as soon as I walk through the door." He glanced down at his once casted arm, which was now in a black Velcro brace. He would have to wear it for a month before they let him take it off for good.

"I'm just glad your primary SHIELD physician was able to transfer to that office for your care. Until I can wipe everything from your file, we can't take any risks..." Natasha sighed, tapping her nail against the glass bottle. 

One of the bartenders walked up behind them and slid a shot glass in front of Natasha. Natasha looked at it, then looked at the waitress. "Um..." She motioned to the drink with her hand. "I didn't order this."

"Compliments of the man sitting over there." The young woman nodded toward someone sitting in a booth with his back turned to them. After she finished what she was saying, the person turned his head to face them: Davis. Piper, who was sitting across from him at the table, looked up and smiled softly. 

Seconds after she left, the same waitress walked up behind them and put a shot in front of Clint. She scoffed. "You two are popular." Two more shot glasses came after that. 

Clint turned his head and scanned the room. May looked up from a table near them. He turned back to Natasha, who had tears in her eyes. "Why are--?

"It's a spy's goodbye," She quietly blurted out. Natasha lifted her head up and looked toward the left. By the door, she saw FitzSimmons each holding a shot glass. 

Daisy, Mack, Ward, Yoyo, Sam, Rhodey, Thor, Tony, Bruce, Steve, Bobbi, Hunter, Lincoln, Coulson, and Fury were also among the crowd, each separated from everyone else and holding their own shot glass. 

The SHIELD agents held up their glasses first. Clint and Natasha nervously held up their own glasses. They all toasted at once. When the toast was over, everyone got up and walked out in a random order. The agents made eye contact with the former assassins as they left. When they were gone, it was just the original Avengers, Coulson, and Fury.

"I guess this is how Avengers say goodbye too..." Clint swallowed a lump in his throat, thinking the moment was bittersweet. 

"I guess you're right." Clint nodded. They picked up the second round of drinks, then looked at their team. 

This was it. 

They raised their glasses. 

They were not SHIELD agents anymore, they were not Avengers anymore. 

They were normal.

AFTER CREDITS SCENE

The lights, or what was left of them, were flickering. Several rooms and different wings of the department he was currently alone in stood dark and empty. 

Dead guards with arrows sticking out of their chests littered the floors. The blood on the tiled floor glistened in the light. The substance had been there a while because it made the surface sticky.

Clint Barton limped out from a destroyed hospital suite, dressed in a shredded gown and thin scrub pants; both articles of clothing were blood spattered. The dim lights made the droplets of sweat on his skin glisten. He was shaking and breathing unevenly. He had his black and maroon bow in his right hand while his left hand was pressed against the wall, supporting his weight.

An ugly line of stitches arched around the back of his ears, and the skin around the area had been hastily shaved. It was not an undercut or a mohawk fashion, just carelessly shaved patches where his original cochlear implant scars had been hidden. The archer was completely deaf now.

His team had left him here, but did they really knew who ran this hospital? They had abandoned him. Even Bruce Banner said he was a lost cause.

When he pulled his hand away from the wall and carried on down the hallway, he revealed a symbol engraved in the sign by the doorway. 

Hydra. 

The Avengers will return.

Barney Barton will return. 

Doctor Ashlocke will return. 

No official synopsis yet, but I can say this: 

"Do you know why you're here? Because you're dangerous." Six months after Clint Barton was rescued from the Dominion's rogue medical facility, and only four months since he was given a life saving dose of GH-325, or Kree blood, he is plagued by nightmares and the constant flow of pain throughout his body. Even when he had the team take him to Wakanda to restore his hearing without the use of cochlear implants, he managed to hide the pain from the doctors. After months of hiding these occurrences from the Avengers, he forces himself to tell them, but it was all a mistake. 

I'm really sad to see this book end, BUT there will be a sequel coming out in the middle of November! I'm shooting for November 15th! 

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has followed this story, left comments, liked chapters, or have read it! THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH. 

-Winchester Shepherd