Duyên || Clint Barton

009 || news

•••

"Well shit" I whispered, staring at the test in my hand.
I was pregnant. Again. Though to be honest I shouldn't even be surprised anymore.
I rushed down the stairs, spotting Clint and Natasha speaking at the breakfast bar. She had arrived a few days prior and was planning on staying the week.
I cleared my throat, gaining their attention.
"Not that this will come as a surprise to anyone, but I'm pregnant yay"
Nat shot up out of her seat "YOU SAID THAT IF YOU EVER HAD A THIRD CHILD IT WOULD BE NAMED AFTER ME!"
"I said that when I was drunk"
"You still said it" she yelled.
"Fine"
"Oh my god" Clint grinned, ignoring Nat as he walked around to press his hand onto my stomach "this is amazing!"
"Not so thrilled about having to push another human out of my vagina though" I joked, pulling Clint into a hug. We stayed there in happy silence for a moment, before Nat bluntly broke it.
"How much do you two fuck"
"Nat!" I exclaimed, smacking Clint when I saw him smirking.
"A lot" he mouthed, earning another smack to he chest.
"Didn't want to know, forget I asked" Nat groaned, sitting back down.
"What? Don't you wanna know about how much I make Grace sc-"
"You better shut your mouth right now Mr Barton or we're gonna have a serious discussion"
"Yes ma'am"
"That's what I thought"

•••

"Holy fuck" I breathed, staring at the news report. Fury's face stared back at me.
My ears picked up on certain words, 'dead', 'shot', 'Fury'.
My hands scrambled for my phone, and after a few rings Clint picked up.
"You okay?"
"Fury's dead"
"What?"
"On the news. He was shot in Steve's apartment. They're blaming him"
"Goddamnit. Okay let's not panic. Nat's going to go after him" Clint huffed, "I have another day on this mission, we'll figure something out, just - call Nat"
"Okay. Be safe"
"Always"

I took a moment to compose myself before calling Nat. After a brief pause she picked up.
"Nat are you okay?"
"Fury's dead Grace. I don't know what to do" she said, and I could hear the grogginess in her voice that she gets after crying.
"SHIELD won't kick you out surely. You've proven your worth to the organisation by now!"
"I know - but I might have to do something really stupid"
"Nat" I said firmly.
"Steve needs my help"
"Goddamnit. Look, I love you and all, just please don't die"
"I'll try my best" she laughed weakly, "I see Steve. I'm going to dump my phone, if I don't call you that's a good thing"
"Nat-"
"I'm sorry Grace I've got to go" she said, hanging up on me.
I grabbed a pillow and let out a frustrated scream into, letting a few tears slip out of my eyes. The main question running through my mind was how I had managed to acquire so many friends that constantly put their lives on the line.

•••

"Mummy?"
I looked down, met with Lila tugging at the hem of my shirt.
"Yes?"
"There's a man on the phone for you"

In an instant I was on high alert as I knew hardly anyone had that number, and everyone that did was busy with missions. Following the training Fury had given me back when Cooper was still a baby, I grabbed Lila and took her to the secret cupboard under the stairs.
"You stay in here and wait for Cooper okay?" I said quietly, turning the light on, "I'll be right back"
I made my way upstairs, avoiding any of the windows.
"Cooper" I whispered, gesturing for him to come over to me "we're gonna play a game okay? We need to avoid all the windows and get to Lila in the safety cupboard okay?"
He nodded eagerly, racing off in front of me.
When he made it, I opened the door and let him in.
"Do you remember how this goes?"
Cooper nodded, "I have to lock the door behind you and don't open it until you come back"
"Good boy" I smiled proudly, before backing out of the cupboard and waiting until I heard the lock click.

Happy that they were safe, I went over to the phone.
"Hello?"
"Grace"
"Who's calling"
"That is not important. I'm calling on behalf of SHIELD"
"What's the code"
"Pardon me"
"What's the code" I repeated firmly.
"Wha - Oh for gods sake Natasha just talk to her"
My body relaxed as soon as I heard Natasha's voice in the background.
"Just put that bitch on - I thought someone had found the house for fucks sake"
The man laughed and the phone was handed over.
"Grace"
"Jesus Nat you don't half know how to scare the shit out of someone"
"Sorry. I put Sam on the phone"
"Who?"
"It doesn't matter right now. What does is that I got shrapnel in my arm and it's deep. I need you to talk me through how to get it out"
"I can't just do that over the phone - where are you right now?"
"I can't tell you in case they've tapped the line"
"Okay I'll try" I said, screwing my eyes shut as I tried to visualise where on the body the wound was, "just - where on your arm is it"
"Mid forearm"
"Is it on the outside or the inside?"
"Outside"
"Fuck okay, how deep?"
"I don't know how big the bit is"
"Hopefully you missed the cephalic vein-"
"What?"

I decided to not answer her question, so as to not freak her out. I knew that if she had nicked the cephalic vein in her arm, she would have to have minor invasive surgery to sew it shut, something I was pretty sure she wasn't qualified for.

"Is it bleeding heavily?"
"No there's hardly any blood"
I sighed, "okay"
"That's Good right?"
"No, it means as soon as you remove that it's gonna spurt everywhere" I explained, "I normally would say keep it in until you can get to a hospital but I'm guessing you can't do that in your current predicament"
"Your guess is right"
"Okay -"
"How do I make it stop after I pull it out?"
"Do you know how to stitch?"
"Obviously"
"Well as soon as you take that out you're gonna need to apply a shit ton of pressure until the bleeding slows down. When it's not gushing you're going to need to stitch it if you can see deep into the arm. Then wrap around it with a clean bandage - you need to wrap it quite tightly. Like uncomfortably tight"
"Got it"
"If the bandage doesn't get soaked, you can loosen it. Just for gods sake, keep it clean"
"Okay"
"I don't want to know how this happened, but don't do it again"
"Yes mother" she said sarcastically, though the strain of pain in her voice lessened the effect slightly.
"Don't die"
"I won't"
"Promise?"
"I promise"

•••

A/N: to everyone in the UK who has GCSEs starting today, good luck!

I will try to continue updating once a day, however I will be suffering through the exams as well this year so I can't guarantee a steady schedule for the next month. That's not to say that I won't upload, because I know my procrastination will keep me writing when I shouldn't be.

Thanks for understanding :)