•••

"What the hell were you thinking?" Clint barked out once I opened my eyes. I was lying on the metal floor of the helicarrier while my head was resting in Clint's arm. He was obviously mad and I didn't blame him. "The boy..." I muttered followed by a hard and painful sting in my lungs and abdomen which made me hiss out in pain. "You, shut you mouth!" Clint demanded sternly. His eyebrows were frowned up together and his eyes were trained at my torso. I followed his gaze and gasped at the sight of a big wound across my stomach. I knew I was wounded, but I didn't know I would be wounded that badly. So badly the navy blue colored parts of my suit turned black because of my blood smeared all over it.

"The boy is safe with his mom. You saved him." Clint whispered, a soft smile was plastered on his lips but he was bad at hiding the sadness mixed with it.

"Who actually saved him? Who saved me? Last thing I remember was standing in the middle of the road getting bullets blasted towards me."

Clint looked away from me at my words and sighed before turning his attention back to my open stomach and applying pressure to it.

"Can you be quiet?! You're losing too much blood-" Clint changed the subject quickly as he watched another flood of blood getting bumped out of my body with every word I said.

I stared up at Clint with watery eyes. The pain I felt was getting worse but I reminded myself to be strong. As strong as Ana and the slow death she got. The pain she must've felt... Hers would've been much worse than mine at the moment. I was used to almost dying and indescribable pain, Ana wasn't. She didn't do physical sports, she wasn't even used to having bruises, broken bones or cuts. Ana was tortured to death so I shouldn't be wining about some wounds.

"Where is Pietro?" I managed to ask despite the pain in my lower abdomen screaming not to.

Clint closed his eyes in frustration, applying more pressure to my wound. His hands were covered in blood and so were the rest of his arms. "I need to get you a doctor." He whispered as he finally dared to look me into the eyes.

"Where is Pietro?" I asked but this time slower, just to be sure he heard me. But Clint didn't answer, he just simply looked and scanned the helicarrier with distressed civilians on it.

I was drained out of blood and energy and I had a big urge to just close my eyes and sleep forever. I sighed when Clint didn't answer and clicked my tongue. My eyes started to feel heavier every second and I let go of the tears. "I told him not to die." I whispered to no particularly but me.

I slowly closed my eyes but got shook awake not even a second later. "Don't." Clint warned. His face was stern but I saw the glimpse of hurt in his eyes. He could break just any moment. He didn't deserve all of this, he deserved his wife and children on his cosy barn, his tractor and his little garden where he grew his tomatoes. Clint deserved peace and happiness, not death and sorrow.

"Don't sleep. It's not sleep, it's death." Clint warned me and my eyes fluttered open. Even in the darkest of days, he still managed to make it worse.

"Let's make a deal." I slurred. Even though my words were almost inaudible Clint managed to catch all of it and nod his head. "If I survive this," I continued, pointing lazily at my open stomach. I didn't know if I was hallucinating because of the blood loss or if I really just saw a glimpse of my organs glistering in the sunlight. "I get to live on your farm on the weekends and babysit your kids."

Clint weakly smiled down at me, "Deal." He whispered softly. He let go of a tear in his eye and I felt the drop of salty water fall upon the burning skin of my face. He wiped the tear off my face, accidentally smearing more blood against my skin. And when Clint pulled back his hand he panicked at the sight of the girl who had closed her eyes.

•••

I opened my eyes as if I woke up from a nightmare; quickly and scared. I ignored the bright lights against the ceiling which burned my open eyes and looked around the room. I was definitely in a hospital; the walls were boring, the furniture was old and worn and there was a needle sticking in my inner arm that was connected to a blood bag. I wanted to rip the IV out of my arm but I knew if I did that I'd be losing more blood than the blood bag was providing me with.

A heart monitor beeped in sync with my heart and not even a second after I woke up a doctor rushed in. "You're awake, I see." The blonde said as she put on gloves and walked towards me. I looked towards the door the woman just appeared from and just outside my room I saw Clint and Tony sleeping in their chair. Tony's eyes opened in an instant and his face darted towards the open door of my hospital room. He nudged Clint in his arm and the both of them stood up and rushed in, followed by Natasha who I didn't notice before.

"Hi," I softly said to half of the team who was currently standing nervously in my room. They looked at the doctor who was writing down in medical papers that hung on the end of the bed before looking up at me and smiling.

"Jelena Angeloff, we will be keeping you in the hospital for a couple of weeks to run some tests on you." the woman looked away from me towards the three Avengers gathered around me with a questioning look on her face. "Who is her guardian?" She asked and I softly smiled to myself as the three threw unknowing glances at each other. "I guess we all are?" Tony finally managed to say, doubtfully. The woman rose her eyebrow but smiled anyhow, "Is it okay we keep her here longer?" Tony nod and the woman cleared out of the room to give me some time alone with the rest.

I threw my legs to the side of the bed and Natasha immediately ran up to me to help me out. My abdomen stung but I think that was normal after what happened. Wait, what happened actually? Last thing I remembered was making a deal with Clint.

"Where is Pietro?" I asked, this time with much more energy and no blood loss. Clint closed his eyes and let his head drop as he sighed.

Tony smiled and a glimpse of sadness and sorry was seen but he straightened up his posture like he always did and looked at me with courage.

"He took several bullets to save you. They've been operating on him for ten hours now. Hope's not up but it's running low." Natasha said, not daring to look me in the eyes as she said those words out loud.

•••

Doctors surrounded the silver haired boy on the operating table. His heartbeat was surprisingly steady but the amount of blood he lost every second could be fatal to him. I fumbled with my hands as I watched Pietro getting operated on. Natasha and Clint stood just next to me, keeping me company.

Wanda left the room five minutes ago, she needed to rest because according to Clint the girl has been watching her brother for ten hours straight. I offered my room and bed for her to take a nap in. She shouldn't be sleeping on hard and uncomfortable chairs.

A half hour passed by and before I knew what was going on I was getting dragged out of the room by doctors. The last thing I caught in the corner of my eyes before I got locked out of the room was a heart monitor attached to Pietro's body flashing a red light with Critical Danger written on it.

Two hours later two doctor rushed out of the room where Pietro was in getting surgery. The blonde woman who came into my room earlier and a man with a beard cut similar to Tony's stood in front of me, Tony, Clint, Natasha and Wanda. I started to panicked and so did Wanda at the sight of the man's bloody glove which he stuffed in the pockets of his jacket. It didn't make it any better that he wasn't smiling nor showed any emotion. His face was blank.

"Pietro Maximoff survived." The blonde woman said with a wide smile while the man just stood there quietly watching the happy faces upon the Avengers. "We will keep him in recovery for a few weeks, though."

Everyone thanked the doctor's by shaking their hands. "Thank you..." Clint said as he cocked up an eyebrow, asking the man and the woman for their names. "Doctor Strange and Doctor Palmer." He answered and we all smiled up at the duo.

"Thank you, a lot." I sighed in relief. My once tensed up shoulders relaxed and I stared at the woman in question and as if she read my mind she said; "Room 120"

We walked towards room 120. Wanda was basically sprinting, leaving the rest behind. Clint stood by my side, his hand around my shoulders to hold me up. The pain in my abdomen came back every few seconds but I bit my lower lip every time to stop myself from crying or screaming.

We pushed the wooden door, with the numbers 120 painted on in white, open. I cocked my head inside the room first and Wanda who was already by Pietro's unconscious side turned her head towards me and smiled as to invite me into the room.

"He'll heal fast." Wanda whispered once the rest of the team was in the room. I stared at the unconscious silver haired boy who was sleeping peacefully. "We can only stay here 'till six." Clint reminded the rest as he looked at the clock hanging from the wall. 6.50pm.

"But what if he wakes up? No one will be here." Wanda stuttered. Her hand clasped her brother's tightly and her eyes never left her brother.

"I will." I whispered. My wounded body said no to sleeping on a couch but what the hell. Tony looked at me and shook his head in distaste. "You, you will sleep in your own room and recover. You can always visit him." He said sternly dragging me out of the room and into my own a couple halls further.

•••

I opened my door and looked left and right. The halls were almost empty, sometimes a nurse would walk by but I would tell them I was going to buy myself some food from the vending machines. What I was actually doing was sneaking into Pietro's room and guard over him. He should be waking up with a familiar face by his side.

Even though the hospital was a modern building, the door creaked as I opened it. I invited myself into his room and closed the door behind me. I thought Pietro was asleep until I turned around to see his blue eyes boring into mine.

"Hey." I softly whispered as I walked up to him. I sat myself down in the chair and smiled brightly at him. "Hi." He whispered back, he tried his best to smile but it pained him. My hand that wasn't attached to a blood bag reached out for his and I softly squished his hand to reassure him everything would be okay.

"Thank you." I whispered, my eyes never leaving the boy's eyes while his were trained on my hand in his.

"Were you worried about not having someone to spar with if I was gone?" He joked as he finally looked back up at me. His blue eyes were as calm as ever and I enjoyed it every second I stared at it. I chuckled lowly and shook my head, "Thank you for saving the boys life. And mine." I whispered as I leaned forwards to his lips. I just wanted to properly kiss him, a kiss where he doesn't run away from the girl once she opens her eyes. And now that he was in a hospital bed, I guess that was the perfect opportunity.

His plumped lips touched mine and I could feel the smile forming on his lips throughout the kiss. His hands cupped my cheeks even though his body yelled at him to stop using so much muscles at once in his body. He should be recovering and raising his arms was the last thing he should be doing, but yet he did anything for me. Which made him a selfish boy. But I loved him for that.

I suppose in the little time we had, I fell hard for him and seeing how he almost died made me realize that life is too short to just crush on a boy.

I pulled away from the kiss and once I opened my eyes I saw the speedster looking at me with a soft smile.

"I love you." I whispered against his lips, my heart beating like crazy when the words escaped my mouth. I bit my lip nervously, not knowing what he would say back. If he was going to say something back... It was all rushed but who knows when he'll almost die again? Better say it now or never.

"I love you too." He whispered back. Closing the distance between us once again by capturing our lips together.