It had been dark when he'd woken up. Dark and the smell of antiseptic ointment had bitten and fuck, his entire left side throbbed, painkillers or not. His leg, for the moment, seemed to have shut up and whatever had happened when he'd had his head smashed to the floor obviously hadn't been that bad. Then again, he'd always had a thick skull.
He lay in the quiet for a second, only long enough to really wake up, when the door opened and Coulson stepped in.
"Hey boss," Clint croaked, waving with his right hand. "What's the verdict?" He wanted to ask where Natasha was, wondering if she was all right, if there was something he should know because .. well, because she wasn't there.
They'd stayed on the comms, exchanging very random quips about old missions until med evac had dragged him out and started poking him with needles. He thought he remembered her saying she was on her way but he couldn't be sure. Minutes later the world had blacked-out.
"One cracked rip, one only bruised, light concussion and there was something in the bullet you took to the leg. Some sort of poison, but they got rid of that quickly." His handler gave Clint and indulgent smirk. "4 days in here, 2 weeks sick leave."
Clint groaned, head hitting the flat pillow behind him. "No," he said in the end and used his right hand to throw the covers back. "Definitely not. Sorry sir but ..." He looked up quickly. "You know where I gotta be, especially because she's not here so ..." He nodded, as if that explained it all and to Coulson it did. He didn't even so much as sigh deeply, just gave the tiniest of eye-rolls.
"She is perfectly fine, Barton. No need to be a drama queen." The older man somehow magiced a small pile of papers from somewhere and, together with a pen, held it out to Clint. "I ordered her to go home, she was exhausted and, frankly, a shower was in order."
Clint threw Coulson a look, squinting slightly while he signed the discharge papers. "If you say so," he settled with in the end. Thank fuck it was dark, meaning there were less people around to try and talk him into staying. He'd had the discussion too many times with Coulson already and hey, he was still here so really, he knew when was early enough to leave.
Still, he did let Coulson wheel him out of the medical bay and into the elevator before hitting the button to his floor. He hoped that Natasha would be there and even if she wasn't - he needed something to wear that wasn't a hospital gown.
"I trust you will actually stay in bed for at least 2 days?"
Clint rolled his eyes and grinned. "Aw, come on Coulson. You know me, course I am." Thinking further, his grin turned into an honest smile. "A daughter, Phil. Gonna be a dad," Actually saying it aloud to someone else, another person he cared about it ... it made it so real, Clint had to swallow a few times. His fingers drummed on the handle of his wheelchair because, damn, he needed to get to where Natasha was. And hell, he'd be a model patient as long as it kept Natasha close and as long as he knew in a few short months, he'd get to hold his daughter in his arms, bounce her on his hip and have her cling giggling to his leg while he walked around the tower.
Phil's hand on his shoulder made him look up, and he answered the honest smile he found. Then, the elevator binged opened.
"Tell Skye thanks, will you?" He was back to grinning. "Might not be half bad, that team of yours." Then he wheeled himself the rest of the way, the soft light coming from the living room letting him know that Natasha was, after all, there. He found her curled up on the couch and couldn't help leaning over, hand slipping under the blanket and coming to rest on her belly.
"Hey you two," he grinned, the winced slightly when he pulled too much on his left side. "Anyone up for bed?"