14. Rescued 14

Clint did not remember being dragged out of the back of the van very clearly, only that strong blue-clad arms had wrapped around him and pulled, carrying him like a child over to Natasha's car. The corgis were there, excited and confused by Iron Man holding their leashes awkwardly. Clint collapsed in the front seat while Tony and Steve negotiated with the Cor-mmandos to get them into the back seat. Then Natasha slammed into the driver's seat and floored it, and Clint wondered where she had gotten the portable police siren that was mysteriously stuck on the roof of the car.

"Donut saved him," Clint said, feeling drunk on adrenaline and shock. His internal clock told him that it had been no more than an hour from the time they had first discovered Phil, and the whip lash of emotions were still roiling in his blood.

Natasha just nodded, her expression grim. Clint reached out and put his hand gently on her thigh.

"I'm fine, Nat."

"You're one good cry away from a complete break with reality," she snapped.

"I mean aside from that."

She cracked a small smile, glancing over at him.

"I missed that last part, I guess Tony and Steve are arranging to get Phil to the tower?"

"Fury showed up and argued with them about it, since Phil got his memory back, but Thor put his hammer through the engine block of Fury's SUV when he found out what had been going on."

"Guess he's still touchy about the tesseract, huh?" Clint wanted to ask if Thor had mentioned Loki, but he knew that Natasha would be all over him for that.

"A little," Natasha said with her small smile peeking out again. "And he considers Coulson a friend, so that didn't help Fury's argument."

Neither one of them mentioned that Thor had been the only one there when Loki had killed Phil. Or not-killed him, or whatever they were calling it now. It hurt Clint's brain to try and figure that out. He settled back and petted Donut, who was completely passed out in her sling, one paw twitching a little. After a moment, he pulled out his phone. Natasha gave him a curious look but didn't ask.

"Hey, Mr. Delany?"

"Mr. Barton! So glad to hear from you. Sorry day when you moved out. How is our girl? And those boys of yours! I saw the magazine spread, those handsome devils. And your boyfriend, is it? That tall blond?" Delany coughed. "Quite the catch, there, son. I tell you, if I were 20 years younger—"

"I need you to check on Donut," Clint broke in.

"What's wrong?" Delany's voice went sharp and professional in a heartbeat.

"Uh, nothing. I don't think. She just went through something…actually I don't think you have clearance for me to explain this."

"Clearance? Like, security clearance? Is she the President's cat now or something?"

"No, nothing like that. I'm, uh, military, actually. Not a private body guard. And I tend to be on, uh, the front lines a lot. Like, just now. With Donut."

Even Natasha cringed a little at that utterly lame explanation, but Clint just waved a hand at her to shut up.

Delany hummed for a second. "Did you get our baby hurt, boy?"

"No sir, no I did not. I don't think. Could we just send a car for you? Please?"

"I'll have my bag and be outside in fifteen minutes. Just send a cab."

"Yes sir." Clint hung up and touched the icon for JARVIS. It was easy to get a Stark town car sent to pick up Mr. Delany, and when that was done Clint collapsed against the seat again. Dum Dum promptly stuck his nose into Clint's ear from the backseat. "Hey! Stop it!" Clint shoved him back. "I'll be so glad when I can dump you back on Phil!"

"Will you?"

Clint turned to look at Natasha. "What?"

"Will you really be glad to give the Cor-mmandos back to Phil?"

Clint's stomach dropped. He had not really thought about what that meant, or how he would feel about giving up the dogs. He tried to shrug nonchalantly. "They're his dogs."

Natasha twitched her shoulders. "They used to be."

"He's alive, and they are his dogs. He gets them back."

"Of course he does. I'm just asking if you really are going to be glad about that."

Clint pushed Stevie back, who had tried to sneak up and sniff Donut. He looked at the three mis-matched corgis in the back, lined up and looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to take them back to Phil or maybe dole out liver snacks--it wasn't like Clint had ever really figured them out. Clint had come to grips with the fact that he would never have the connection to them that they shared with Phil, but over the past nearly five months they had become part of his life…part of his family. And as important as Phil was to Clint, they were not family. At best they were friends, something that Phil had worked hard to make clear over the years, and Clint appreciated that even if it broke his heart a little. Or, a lot.

Natasha's hand joined his in petting Donut. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Yeah." Clint looked down at Donut again. She was still snoring and was completely dead to the world. Clint continued rubbing her belly as the siren wailed overhead and Natasha aimed for Avengers Tower like a missile. Clint figured the only reason she wasn't jumping curbs and clearing sidewalks was out of concern for Donut. He reminded himself to thank her for that sometime…if she managed to get them to the tower without flipping the car.