When Clint poked his head into the recovery room, Dr. Lake was out of her bed and sitting, staring at the monitor. It was showing a view of Arcadia, from one of the stealth drones Fury had orbiting overhead at all times.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“I’m fine,” Dr. Lake said. “It’s pain, but there was no physical injury to back it up, I—” she tried to lift a cup of water to her mouth, but her fingers were trembling so badly that she dropped it.

Clint snapped his hand out and grabbed the water. “It’s not a sin to accept you’ve been hurting.”

“That’s not why I’m here…” she said, softly, letting him raise the glass to her lips. “I had to get up and convince Jim that I was fine, or he might not have left the room, and he needs to. He feels so guilty and he’s not the one who deserves it.”

“And you do?” Clint asked. He sat down by her. She needed to talk. Tony would try to run her over with what he thought needed to be done, Bruce really didn’t have the life experience, Natasha was with the kids and Cap… Well, sometimes being a living legend could be a disadvantage until someone got to know you.

That left Clint.

“Heh—Have you ever had a five-year-old nearly burn down your house?” Barbara asked.

“No…”

“It was right after J-his father had left. Left on his birthday. They had a kit—a bicycle he promised he’d put together with him… and he left. It was me, he said, I was too clingy, and too into medical school…”

No, he wanted an excuse. Too clingy and too interested in something else? He just wanted out of the hard work of the relationship.

“So, well it was my last year, and things were difficult—I’d been depending on his income and we got…” Barbara brushed her eyes again. “Anyway, one day, I wake up and the house is full of smoke, the detector beeping away, so I go running into the kitchen, and there’s Jim, in his PJ’s, panicking at the grease fire.”

Clint hissed.

“I know. I panicked. My baby boy was two feet from a skillet full of burning oil and he was getting ready to dump water on it. I screamed, grabbed him, ran him out of the house…and put the fire out.” She took a deep breath. “And then I read him the riot act, and after I was finished yelling at him, asked him what was he thinking?”

“What’d he say?”

“That I was always tired and sad and he wanted to make me breakfas—” Her voice broke on the last word. Clint reached out and patted her hand. She didn’t talk for a few moments. “So after we calm down, I tell Jim that he can’t use the oven or burners until he’s older, but if he wants, he can make me cereal.”

“He did?”

Barbara’s laugh was half a sob. “Every day. He found our old alarm and set it, so every day until he could use the oven, there was cereal or a sandwich, or something. Even when I was a zombie because I was so tired from the internship and I didn’t have a husband to come home to and I didn’t understand… It was there. When I watched TV and fell asleep, he’d come down and put a blanket on me.”

“Good kid.”

“The best. And then I turn on him. I think the worst of him, that he’s jealous of Wal—of Stricklander, when I should be asking myself, my child, who has done so much for me, is suspicious, and maybe, instead of being so desperate to dive into bed with another man, I should wonder why my son doesn’t trust him. Stricklander was Jim’s enemy. What was my excuse for stabbing Jim in the back?”

She was trembling, and not from pain.

“You’re human? You didn’t understand why he was lying to you, and he was lying to you.” Clint didn’t let her interrupt. “And Stricklander has hundreds of years of psyops experience. He knew you. He knew exactly what points to press. I bet he knew everything about your husband, before he even started. And because of that, he knew exactly what to play on.” He paused. “What did you think when Jim lied about the goblin attack?”

“I…” She took a shuddering breath. “I didn’t know. I mean, it was such a transparent lie and I thought getting angry at him would make him tell the truth, but I didn’t know it was… It was…”

“Just like the day your husband walked out, and everything you thought you knew turned out to be wrong.”

Barbara didn’t say anything, just put her face in her hands. “How can I face my boy?” she whispered.

“Talk to him.” Clint frowned. “I have… Loved ones and they know some of what I do, but they also know I can’t talk about it. Jim didn’t have the experience to realize that he needed to keep you in the loop, at least partially and you didn’t know about trolls. But how about this? You can face him, because the moment you found out what was going on, you had his back. You turned your back on a being who could have shredded you, and I want a recording of that confrontation because he had tried to use you against Jim.” Clint smiled. “After seeing that, Thor had no problem accepting why Jim got the amulet. You know, I see a lot of you in Jim—and a lot of Jim in you. He’ll understand.” He extended his hand. “We’re getting ready to see the trolls. Want to see your son off? They’ll be at the final briefing before we go down now.”

“Yes…” Barbra said, taking Clint’s hand. “I’d like that very much.”