yavanna80  

Clint couldn't believe what was being asked of him for this mission; well, not even a true mission really, but a task that Tony decided that he was perfect for beyond everyone's better judgement. The group sat around the conference room, giving him their best looks of support and encouragement as he held the crisp, white coat in his hands, staring down at it as if it were making him painfully uncomfortable to even have it touching his skin.

"I have to go undercover as a doctor?" he asked quietly. "Are you fucking kidding me? Why aren't you making Banner do it? At least that would make sense."

"We can't. He's out of town until next month, remember?" Tony answered with a smug grin. "Besides, you don't have to do anything doctor-y. All you have to do is walk up to the nurse's station, tell them that you're there to transfer the guy that we need to apprehend, and then wheel him down to the lower level so we can take him."

"He's gonna screw this up."

"Thanks, Nat. You could at least fake a little support," Clint huffed. He tossed the coat onto the table with an annoyed flip of his hand, crossing his arms tightly over his chest in frustration while his foot tapped incessantly with the growing anxiety that he was finding harder to control. "She's right though."

"Barton, you're not going to screw this up," Steve added, trying to be supportive despite the harsh glare thrown to Nat, "and we're going to be there to back you up. Just act like you're supposed to be there and like you know what you're doing, and you're good."

Clint snorted in amusement as he stood, reluctantly grabbing the coat again to point it in his teammate's direction, "yeah, you see, Cap, that's the problem. I have no clue what I'm doing, which you all get to find out the hard way. Don't say that I didn't warn ya."

~~~

When Clint first stepped foot onto the floor that held his target, his heartbeat began to race so quickly that he actually felt a little bit dizzy and the sound of it bounding in his ears drowned out the voices of the hospital staff around him. He wasn't exactly sure why he was so terrified; if he said or did anything wrong, his plan was to turn and run in any other direction, and he thought it was a pretty solid plan. That was a plan that couldn't be screwed up; Steve and Tony's plan definitely was.

"Okay, calm down, Hawk," he whispered to himself, squaring his shoulders and giving the coat a little tug to straighten it out to be convincingly presentable. "Room 624...624..." he mumbled, creepily taking the first few steps with his eyes on each number plate by every room. When he realized that the rooms weren't set up in the order that he expected, he pulled out his phone to review the map that Tony had downloaded for him, but a voice startled him into dropping it onto the floor before he could see any of it.

"Can I help you find something, Doctor?"

"What?" he gasped a loud, the phone banging on the shiny tile floor with a bounce. "Oh, shit...I mean...I'm sorry," he stammered, grabbing the device quickly and shoving it back into his pocket. "Yeah, um...I'm looking for room 624."

"Why?" you asked, your voice turning not exactly suspicious, but cautious, and it wasn't lost on him in the least. "That's a restricted patient."

"I know, but...I've been asked to transfer him."

"On who's order?"

"Are you questioning my authority?"

"Yes. I thought that was fairly clear."

Clint was now cursing every single member of the team that was waiting for him below, growing more and more pissed off that he had been right all along and that no one was believing him. Of course, the comms were silent when he could use a little help more than ever, but he wouldn't be able to call out to them without you hearing it and raising even more concern as to who he was. Speaking of that, who the hell were you anyway? You sure seemed awfully protective of whoever this guy was in room 624, and suddenly you weren't the only one sounding suspicious.

"Is it common for nurses to question doctor's orders around here..." he paused, leaning forward to get a better look at your nametag, "(Y/N)?"

You returned the gesture, but when you leaned in towards him, you took it one step further and reached out to grab his tag, pulling it from his coat and into your hand. "Yes, it's common to do when I'm in charge and I haven't heard plans to move my patient, Doctor...Rogers. Really? That's what you're going with?"

"What? That's my name!"

"Sure, whatever you say-"

"Doctor! We need your help over here!"

Clint stood in place, waiting for the rest of your sentence and to continue your argument, but nothing more came. Your eyes widened as you stared back at him when he wasn't getting the urgency of the call that came from behind him, and when he didn't make any move to answer it.

"That's for you," you snapped, lunging forward to run past him, grabbing his arm to lead him along with you.

"Woah, I don't think so!" he laughed, albeit nervously, yanking his arm from your grip. "I don't think they meant me!"

"Do you see any other doctor standing here?"

"I don't see any doctor standing here," he groaned under his breath. "Look, you're just gonna have to call someone else, because I need to move this guy right now."

"You're not moving anyone until I get this figured out, so you need to get over here and help...now." Once again, you took his arm and forcibly pulled him along. You could feel the muscles of his arm tense under your hold, and that he was doing his best to slow your progress towards the room where he was being summoned, but your determination was stronger and he wasn't about to get away from you this time. Once you had him past the threshold of the doorway, you took a stand behind him and gave him a firm shove forward, thrusting the reluctant fake doctor into a hot mess of a situation.

"No! No, no, no, no way in hell am I doing this!" Clint barked, trying to back up only to run into you. "I can't deliver a baby! I'm not that kind of doctor!"

"What kind of doctor are you? Every doctor goes through a rotation on childbirth," you challenged.

"I'm...a...I'm...whatever kind doesn't do that!"

"It's like riding a bicycle, just hop on!" You pushed him again, and when he resisted by planting his feet firmly so that he wouldn't move, you decided to improvise. Grabbing one of the stools from along the wall next to you, you pushed it behind him and gave the back of his knees a hard tap, making him drop back onto it so that you could move him right into the line of delivery. "There, all you have to do is be sure that you don't drop it."

"Ugh, oh my god, no," he grimaced, turning his head away from the worsening scene right in front of his face. Without even noticing, you had moved so quickly that he was wearing a gown and gloves to cover himself in preparation, coming back to his senses when you were securing the mask over his mouth and nose. "(Y/N), seriously," he said to you softly, "I can't do this."

"I'll walk you through it," you assured him, the hand you were resting on his shoulder giving him no consolation at all. "Okay, momma," you turned to the patient, hearing Clint groan from beside you, "go ahead and push."

There was no going back now, even though Clint gave it one more try to push the stool back, only to find your foot holding him in place. With each step of the way, you gave him quiet commands on what to do, giving him praise when he needed it just to keep his nerves in check, but also making sure that when he decided to veer from the plan just a little, you reigned him in before mistakes were made. After almost thirty minutes of the back and forth of the patient pushing and Clint whining that he couldn't go on even one more second, it was time for him to do the one thing that you really needed him to. Even though he was yelling almost as much as the woman who was actually in labor, Clint came through at the last second, catching the tiny infant in his hands with a look of wonder in his eyes that you knew you would never forget.

"That's...that's a real baby," he whispered, shaking in complete shock.

"Yeah, that's usually how these things work," you smiled, wishing that you had your phone to capture this moment for him, but all you wanted to be sure of was that he didn't drop the slippery little bundle.

"I actually helped, didn't I?"

"Yes, Doctor, you really did."

"Wow," he sighed heavily. He found himself unable to look away from the little one in his hands, even as they started to cry and wiggle within his hold, and when the nurses around him reached down to take them away. It was a surprising feeling to be so connected to something like this when it wasn't even his own, but he had been there to share the moment of a first breath and a first cry, and he knew that it was something of a gift that he would never take for granted.

You didn't mistake the shimmer of a few lost tears falling from Clint's eyes when the baby was finally taken from him to give to their parents, setting you into action to be sure that he could pull himself together again. "Alright, let's get this stuff off," you smiled gently, reaching behind him to remove the mask first, followed by the gloves and gown. You rolled them up and gave them a quick toss into the garbage, turning back to him with a hand towards the door to lead him out. "Let's step outside so we can continue where we left off."

"Right, yeah...sure..." he stumbled, shaking his head in disbelief as he passed by you. "Okay, so...about this patient that I need to move-"

"You're not moving that patient, Mr. Barton."

"Listen, I have specific orders to...wait, did you just call me Barton?" he gasped, taking a step back and now fully back to his sharp senses.

"Yes, I did," you nodded. "So please, just go ahead downstairs and tell Stark that he's not laying a single finger on my patient. Director Fury has made it very clear that we're handling this and we don't need his help."

"Holy shit," Clint snickered, resting his hands on his hips in amused defeat, "I shoulda known."

"Yeah, probably. You're the third attempt he's made since the guy got here, but I have to say, this one was by far the most entertaining."

"Okay, so hold up. When did you know that it was me?"

"As soon as you looked up from dropping your phone."

"So why did you have me help in that delivery if you knew that I wasn't a doctor?!"

"Hey, don't get pissy with me, Barton," you pointed at him sternly, "I was doing you a favor."

"How do you figure?"

"You and I both know that when you show up downstairs without this guy, you're in for a world of shit-giving. This way you can go down there with a story that makes your failure at least somewhat legit." Before he could open his mouth to say any more, your phone sounded from the nurse's station a few feet away; you held your hand up to warn him not to move, taking the few steps to cross the floor to read your message. "Aww, this is adorable," you whimpered, hurrying back to stand next to him, "look. Someone got a great pic of you in there."

Clint took the device and held it up to see, his entire posture softening at the sight of the picture on the screen; it was him, fully clad in medical gear, holding the tiny baby as they both looked at each other equally confused at what they were seeing. He took a deep breath and stilled his emotions as best as he could, but he knew that it was a battle that he wouldn't have long to fight before he lost it completely. "(Y/N)...thank you for this. I know that it wasn't how this mission was supposed to go...but it turned out better than anything else I've ever done."

"You're welcome."

He handed your phone back and thrust his hands into the pockets of his white coat, bouncing on his heels just slightly and looking around where the two of you stood, unsure of what else there was to say. Clint was pretty sure that the mission had come to a close and that he was about to face the disgrace that you had predicted, but it would be out of character for him to not give it one last shot. Even though the end result would leave him fleeing from you in terror and more than welcome to face the ridicule from anyone just so that he got away in one piece, he couldn't help himself.

"Okay...so...I'm not getting into 624 then?"