Her Hidden Past

- Chapter Ten -

Clint leaned forward to press a kiss to Natasha's forehead once they were alone. He quickly cleaned up all the gauze and discarded packaging from the suture kit, tossing it all into the rubbish bin in the corner. The bloody towels quickly followed.

"Hawk?" Natasha's eyes were still closed. She moved to roll towards the edge of the bed. Clint was immediately next to her, preventing her from moving any further. Natasha's eyes flew open as she grabbed his wrist in a crushing grip ready to defend herself.

"Just me, Tasha," Clint winced.

She looked around disoriented for a moment as pain stabbed through her body. Realising that she was safe, she let her hand drop.

"How bad?" Natasha whispered softly.

"Thankfully, no worse than it started out," Clint replied softly. "Do you want to sit up? You need to get your energy back, you lost a lot of blood again."

"Please," She nodded quietly. He put an arm under her shoulders lifting so she didn't need to put pressure on her injuries. She moved her good arm around his shoulders and used his strength to help her to her feet.

"Are you sure you should be standing?" Clint asked as he steadied her.

"I'm fine," Natasha tried to convince him.

"You're anything but, Natasha," Clint raised an eyebrow at her, studying her. He decided not to fight it, "At least let me wrap the shoulder and hip again to protect the stitches.

Natasha nodded, focusing on remaining upright as he let go of her to grab the bandages he had put next to the bed for the purpose. When she was sure she was stable she removed the last of the ripped and bloody shirt. She didn't fight as Clint lifted her uninjured arm to rest on his shoulder, simultaneously giving her something to hold on to and getting her arm out of the way of the bandage. He quickly and efficiently wrapped one of the bandages around her shoulder and chest once again immobilising the arm. Once he was happy her arm was securely wrapped, he grabbed the second bandage sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes quickly moving to her hip.

"Nat, what is this?" He gently rested his hand against the large bruise spreading over her side.

"Medvedev threw me into the wall," She admitted through clenched teeth.

"Broken?" Clint asked quietly, pushing gently as she shook her head. None of the ribs gave as he checked one by one. "Do you want them wrapped?"

"I don't think they need it," She shook her head.

He nodded, quickly and gently wrapping the bandage firmly around her hip. As soon as he was done, she moved away to get a new shirt from her bag.

Clint headed out the door quietly giving her the privacy to change if she wanted. A few minutes later she joined him standing half a pace behind him, watching as Maria tried to get one of the men to talk.

"They won't talk," Natasha announced their presence after a few minutes of silently watching. She stared a moment at Lisov, who had whipped his head around to stare at her, before slipping around Clint and vanishing into the kitchen.

"We need to update Fury," Maria spoke quietly as they all joined Natasha in the kitchen.

"Did you get anything from them?" Clint asked.

"No," Maria sighed. "Natasha, do you want to see if you can get anything out of Lisov?"

"He won't talk," Natasha repeated. "I'd rather put a bullet in him than hear what he might have to say if he did want to talk."

"Please just try," Maria asked. "See if we can learn anything useful."

"Ten minutes. My way. Alone." Natasha conceded after a moment studying the young commander. "Then I shoot him."