21 Days [A Hawkeye/ Clint Barton fic] [HEAVY EDITING]

Not Her Clint Barton

Natasha jogged by the gurney her best friend lay on as they rushed him into a Russian civilian hospital. The closest SHIELD Medical Center was nearly an hour away, but this had been their only option.

Blood was pouring out of the five stab wounds decorating his chest and abdomen. Her friend was screaming in pain and panting heavily, fogging up the oxygen mask strapped over his mouth and nose. Doctors had rushed up to them as soon as the gurney came through the doors, and after an insanely quick exam, they were already cutting into his side to place a chest tube, skipping the anesthetic because there was no time. They had been separated during a mission, and Natasha had received a distress call from Barton through her com set. She found him bleeding out in the middle of an alley.

"Hold on, Clint! Hold on!" He was gripping her wrist as she gripped his. Nurses tried to tell her to let him go so they could take him back to the trauma bay to treat him, but Natasha made the excuse that she was his translator. After some arguing, they let her go back with them.

She kept her hand wrapped around his as they worked to cut off his vest and soak his chest and abdomen with antiseptic solution. His vitals started to crash as they treated him, and soon enough, Natasha was pushed away so they could work to stabilize him.

"D-don't leave me..."

"Can you hear me screaming: 'Please don't leave me!'" Natasha woke up from her light nap and pulled her headphones out of her ears. The music was replaced by the sound of Clint whimpering and making vocal protests in the back of his throat. His heart monitor's pace was increasing the more he struggled in his sleep.

"Clint?" She stood up and was at his side in seconds. "Barton, wake up. You're safe." She tried to gently shake his shoulder, but Clint never opened his eyes. He was sweating, squirming, and twisting his head to either side and pressing it to the pillow. At some point during his squirming, he managed to push the cannula, which had replaced his oxygen mask two days prior, down to around his neck.

"L-Lemme go!" The archer cried in his sleep. "N-No!"

His Russian teammate immediately reached over him and pressed the call button for assistance. Roughly half a minute later, Cody, the nurse they had met roughly a week before, came running into the room to check on Clint. He glanced at Natasha before hurrying to Clint's side to shine a penlight in the archer's eyes. "Agent Barton, I need you to come back to us."

Clint just whimpered and turned away as soon as he felt the nurse push open his right eye. His cochlear implants had been activated and tested the day before, so they knew he could hear them.

"You're okay. He's not here to hurt you. No one is here to hurt you." Natasha tried to calm him down before looking at the nurse. "Is it some kind of seizure?"

"More like a night terror. I think he thinks he's back at the facility." In an instant, Clint's eyes snapped open and he shoved the nurse away from him. "Get away!" Clint barked, scrambling to pull out his IVs, peel off his blood pressure cuff, and jump out of bed. The nurse pulled out an emergency high dose of a sedative every nurse tending to Hawkeye carried in case he did act out. Sometimes, Natasha thought Fury was going too far with the already drawn emergency doses of sedatives, but they never knew how Clint would react to any sort of stimuli.

"Clint!" Natasha rushed to pull him back down on the bed, but the agent immediately threw her away from him out of fear. The Black Widow stumbled back into the chair she was once in, but then got up and rushed after Clint after he took off down the hall. Cody had given Natasha the syringe to inject into Clint if she caught him before security did.