[StarkIPM]Hey, Tabs... Did you find him? How bad is it? I've spoken to our doc here, she's ready to go wherever I tell her. She's okay, she won't talk. I'd come too, but... He doesn't like me there in these kinds of nights. It's you he needs right now. Just... tell me, okay?
[PM] Found him. Send doc ASAP. Address the one you sent me. Tell her to bring lots of⌠everything to patch him up.
The answer was short, troubled and gruesomely clear, but coherent enough to confirm Natashaâs decision not to drive there herself. She had tried that. They had gone through this a dozen times, and finally she had given it up. Clint always seemed to be better for months, sometimes a year, after his little visits to this very special kind of hell, and who was she to tell someone how to cope with things? Maybe Tabby could do what she herself had never been able to achieve. Clint knew far too much about her for that. She had become a spectator in all this and could only hope now.
Cho had stayed up in her lab, though Natasha had told her to go back to bed, that maybe they wouldnât need her, and in spite of her former words, Natasha was relieved. The woman had put back together more than one team member in the last months, she knew what she was doing. And her calm, professional, reserved mentality was assurance enough to trust her with this. This wasnât to go to the files, never.
Natasha had patched Clint up often enough after these nights to tell Cho exactly what she had to bring, so it was a short conversation. She saw the woman off to the garage and hacked one of Tonyâs bigger cars for her. Choâs mini wouldn't do to get Clint home without doing even more damage.
âI canât promise that I wonât have to get him hereâ, Cho warned her when she entered. âYou know, the others would understand, right? Youâre all coming from the same place.â
âNo. They wouldnât.â Natasha slammed the car door for her to cut to stop the useless discussion and watched the car leave with her arms folded tightly, heavy goose-bumps marking her arms.
It was possible indeed sheâd see the doctor return in company soon, and as much as she dreaded it, if it was necessary, Clintâs life and health were way more important than keeping his stupidity a secret. But she really hoped it wouldnât come to that. For him.
And maybe, a little for herself. She didnât know if she could stand seeing him like that one more time.











