After

Everything was complete chaos for the next week or so.

After they got to the hospital Nat went straight off into surgery trying to get all the dirt and mud from her body before it started to infect her. They determined that the seizure was caused by losing so much blood and all the stress she put on her body for trying to stay alive. She should have been technically dead after just 5 hours, she doubled that.

That whole thing was a mess. Her father came in as soon as Steve took it upon himself to call Mr. Romanoff, but it wasn't a pretty sight when he got there. Clint was about the break the guy's neck, blaming him for what happened Nat because he didn't divorce his insane wife. He gave the guy a bloody lip and a good sized bruised on his face before both Thor and Steve had to hold him back.

"YOU STAYED WITH HER, THAT'S WHY SHE HURT NAT," he screamed at Nat's father. Clint was so enraged that the girl he loved was now on an operating table and might not make it was just like the whole universe pressing on him.

"I know…" Mr. Romanoff sadly said. Clint suddenly stopped fighting and everyone looked at him. The waiting room was suddenly filled with anxious curiosity. "It is Clint. I stayed married to Amy because I thought if I didn't take care of her, who will? It was selfish for me since Nat had to deal with her most of the time; and now she might pay the price for my desperation to have my wife back. I'm just glad she had you Clint." The room filled with silence, everyone looked at everybody to see what the appropriate response was.

"I am too," Clint replied. After that he sat down in a chair and didn't look at anyone, he just kept fiddling with his hands.

What seemed like days were only a few hours when the doctor finally came out. He was covered in drying blood which made everyone seem uncomfortable.

"She's alive, but very weak," the doctor said in a monotone voice. He didn't know that he just brought the best new possible the group. "She die twice on the table, legally dead for about 14 minutes." The words felt like an ice cold breeze ran through the room- like Death himself had been in their presents.

"Thank you, is she recovering?" Steve was the only one that seemed to be capable to speak.

"Slowly, and I don't think-" he looked around the room at everyone that was there. This included Clint, Thor, Steve, Bruce, Tony, and Mr. Romanoff (the girls had to stay at the police station and take care of Mrs. Romanoff, this included taking her to a mental hospital). "Just family is allowed in right now." The doctor said and waited for the 'real family' coming forward.

"Common Clint," Mr. Romanoff said and he went up to the doctor and motioned for Clint to come with him. Clint was obviously hesitant but followed after a second or two. They both left the comfort of the warm waiting room and walked down the cold almost colorless hallway. Their footsteps echoed off the lifeless walls, both of them kept their heads down and only followed the doctor's black shoes.

When they did finally arrive to Nat's room they both gasped as they saw her condition. She was hooked up to multiple machines just to make her body function. She had a breathing mask that would fog up when she exhaled. IVs were impaled in her arms with tubes leading up to bags filled with morphine and blood. A heart monitor indicated when her heart pumped; her midsection was covered with bandages. She looked so small in the bigness of the bed, wires and tubes.

"I'll leave you all alone for a bit," the doctor slightly bowed his head and walked out leaving the speechless men in the presence of an unconscious girl.

Nat's father ran right over to sit beside her in the only chair in the room. Clint didn't, he stood there frozen looking at Nat's face which was rolled to the side with the blankest face ever, and it gave him shivers.

"You know you're the best thing that could have happened to her," her dad suddenly said in the quiet room.

"How? If she hadn't met me then she would probably be better off." Clint spat. She wouldn't have been messed up with him and his friends, she would probably have a better life, she wouldn't be hurt right now.

"Listen here Clint," he dad said in a stern but loving voice. Clint turned to him but kept his eyes on his shoes. "You were the best thing that has ever happened to her. Did anyone ever tell you how my wife turned to alcoholism?" Clint slightly shook his head. "Well before Nat met you, my wife was the assistant manager for a large and the job started getting to her, she could never have a relax moment. Then as her drinking got worse it started to affect her job and she got fired and that's when our money got tight. Was only a baby but babies still required a lot of things… Well she started blaming Nat for taking up all the money and the rest you know." Clint drunk in the words of Nat's mothers story.

"Now that I look back on it I should have gotten her help, it wasn't Nat's fault. She was just a fun little kid who didn't know anything. When I was at work and I would come home I would often find her locked away in her room begging me to not let her mommy yell at her. Thank god that's right when she started with school and could have some refuge. Clint, the first day she came in raving about how you were the nicest kid in the class. You were like her reset button every day. I'm truly glad that you accepted her; I'm glad that you were her friend and let her go over to your house, hell I'm glad she spent the night all the time. You saved her Clint." Her father chocked the words behind the obvious tears he was holding back. Clint leaned forward and gripped the end of the bed and squeezed.

"We saved each other." Her dad didn't know that Nat also had saved him. When his parents died Barney dealt with it by going to his school counselor and moving on, Clint didn't take it as well. He spun into a depression and the only little light in his life was Nat. He couldn't go on without that little light in his life which had now grown into the sun.

Nat woke up a day later. Both Clint and her dad were there enjoying some McDonalds talking about high school they both had set. (Nat's dad also went to their current high school and was the best in long jumping.) When she woke up she didn't make any noise and just looked at her dad and her best friend talking and laughing and loved the sight of it. She saw both of them munching on some burgers and some fries. She was suddenly aware of the hunger of her body and that the last meal she had eaten was a few snacks at Tony's house.

"Are you going to share?" was the first thing she spoke and made both her dad and Clint jump a little. They both just stared at her for a second and then Clint jumped out of his seat and gave her some fries. He moved his chair over by her and didn't move the rest of the time she was there.

The rest of the day was filled with visits by doctors and their friends. The girls all came in one big group and all cried when they saw Nat; even though she denied it Clint swore he saw tears in her eyes as well. After they screamed and cried for a while they told Nat about how the girls finally got enough of the story out of her mom where she was able to be convicted and then Steve had called them to let them know they had Nat and what had happened it was enough to not only arrest her mother but also enough to but to put her in a mental hospital. When telling Nat this, Clint saw something that he had rarely seen; Nat was totally relaxed. She didn't have that look where she could run off in a minute or like she had to fight someone. She looked at rest, loose shoulders, her chest wasn't raised, her arms were loose she looked just peaceful.

After the girls left all the guys came in awkwardly. Steve went over and hugged her very gently, Thor gave her a head rub while Bruce gave her a half hug and finally Tony came in with his usual snarky asshole attitude no one could live without.

"Next time don't leave your phone at your boyfriend's house when you two are getting it on." Tony smiled. Clint tensed a little bit and looked at her father who just laughed. At that moment the doctor came in.

"Mr. Romanoff can I see you in the hall real quick?" the doctor held a clipboard and glasses. They both went out in the hall and closed the door. As soon as it clicked Clint slapped Tony in the back of the head.

"Dude!" Clint tried not to smile.

"Hey, hey hey, I was totally kidding, unless you two did something…" Tony insinuated.

"Tony, just stop talking." Nat laughed as her dad back in the room with a stressed look on his face. Everyone looked at him with a worried look. "Dad?" Nat sat up in her bed. By then they had taken the tubes out but still had wired hooked on her.

"Yeah, just the bill for this whole thing… it's not gonna be hard with our regular mortgage, food and other things." He breathed out while rubbing his scruff.

"I have proposition for you Mr. Romanoff," Tony raised his hand. They turned their heads to the boy with the black shirt with a blue light underneath. "Well, it's also for you Clint. Now I know you guys don't usually accept my help but my idea is that all of you, Mr. Romanoff, Nat Clint and your brother all move into Stark Towers. Free of any pay." Nat's jaw dropped a little while Clint nearly fell over.

"Tony, that's a very big proposition, I can't accept that." Mr. Romanoff seemed to get his breath back.

"Common, I've already talked to my parents they think it's great. It'll give me some company and it will get you guys out of those horrible houses, no offence. Plus it'll give you time to pay off these extreme bills by not having to pay for mortgage or anything. And the final plus is that we will always look out for each other. Mr. Romanoff, Nat is like a sister to me and Clint you're like a brother- all I want to do is help you guys." Tony leaned against the wall and said this speech like he had rehearsed it.

Now anyone who knew Clint at all or had spent just a few hours with him knew that he wasn't a very emotional person, but Clint something did something he rarely did. He ran up to Tony and hugged him. Everyone stared as Tony returned the hug and there it was, 2 senior boys hugging it out in room.

"Thank you," Clint said into Tony's jacket.

"Ok big fellow time to let it go," Tony complained with a laugh and Clint released him. Clint didn't think Tony knew how much this was going to change his life. No more sleeping in a freezing house in the winter and unbearable heat in the summer, he didn't have to worry about lights flickering or worrying about food, he could enjoy having a house.

"Nat?" Tony turned to Nat to see her answer but she was unreadable (as usual). She looked at her dad and it was like they had their own little non-spoken language because she turned back to Tony.

"It'll be nice to not have a house that smells like alcohol and depression anymore," she smiled. Tony smiled and gave her a cautious side hug.

After Nat got out of the hospital everyone helped both her and Clint move into their new home. After Tony talked with his parents they were happy to help them; it was mostly his mother who made the decision since his father was neutral about the thought. Barney was psyched to being able to live at Stark Tower for the time that he could. He had made the decision to going the Army and was going into boot camp within 3 months.

Nat and Clint decided to occupy two floors on top of each other. Tony made sure Clint had the floor with the most windows so he could always feel like he was in the sky. Nat got her own personal gym and a first aid area so she could always patch herself up.

The only thing that Tony required of Nat and Clint was that they had to join him for dinner so that they could all talk. Tony never admitted it but he was relieved to have some people there he could actually talk to, it was almost having siblings.

One night a few weeks after that crazy weekend the whole group was at Tony's house watching a movie, they all decided to watch The Breakfast Club, just a nice lazy Saturday night. While watching the movie Tony, Pepper, Thor, and Jane all sat on the couch while Peggy sat on Steve's lap in a huge circle chair. Bruce and Darcy were on the floor not cuddling but holding hands very loosely, Nat was lying across on a couch with her head in Clint's lap since it was still ill advised to sit up or do anything that might affect her core or the stitches that ran up and down both her stomach and back.

They were all silence and motionless until the dance sequence came up, Jane got up and started dancing with the movie, it got a laugh out of everyone. She pulled Thor up who reluctantly got up and started dancing with her. Soon Peggy, Darcy, and Pepper joined in pulling the boys with them. It was only Clint and Nat sitting down until Nat struggled to get up.

"Nat-" Clint didn't want her to make her condition worse.

"Common, I'm not going to let her take anything away from me, especially having fun with my friends," Nat briefly mentioned her mother who was just recently was put in a prison mental hospital and was now serving out a 50 year sentence. She would have gotten shorter if not for Nat coming up and telling them about the abuse she had to go through for years. They also had Clint brought up to testify about the abuse and how he saw the bruises and cuts.

"Ok then…" Clint smiled and slowly helped Nat get up and they started dancing with their friends. It was a little cheesy but everyone was laughing, they dance past the sequence since Tony asked Jarvis to put on some music. All the couples were laughing and giving each other little pecks while Bruce turned bright red to Darcy who was blushing.

"Oh for fucks sake JUST KISS HER!" Tony yelled over the song and gave Bruce a little push who pumped into Darcy. Everyone could see it happen, Bruce pulled Darcy against him and they finally kissed. Weeks of dating tension finally released itself; everyone cheered and Darcy got even redder and pushed her face into Bruce's shoulder who was smiling like he had just gotten the best thing in the world.

~
After the movie ended and everyone was just laying around laughing and talking until it was Steve who asked a serious question without meaning to.

"What do you think is going to happen when graduation comes?" he asked in a solemn voice. Everyone suddenly got quite, the room suddenly filled with thought.

"Well I'm not going to let distance going to impact my relationships with you guys," it was Nat who spoke up.

"Nat, you know that's somewhat unlikely," Bruce answered, always the rational one.

"No I'm serious," she propped herself up on her arm to look at everyone. "We've been through so much shit together that it would be a disgrace to not keep in touch with you guys. I don't care if one of you go to college across the freaking country, each one of you is important to me." Nat said her reasoning forcefully and everyone went silent.

"I've learned over the years not to argue with you, so I'm not going to fight you on this," Pepper was the first to responded and gave a meaningful smile to Nat.

"I shall not let the ending of high school be the end of talk to you my companions, I swear it." Thor agreed with Pepper. Slowly one by one they all agreed they wouldn't let the end of high school be the end of their friendship. They all ended up spending the night at Tony's house and they just enjoyed the last months of the most eventful year they had ever had.