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As she sank to her knees in the burning hot sand, vision wavering and mouth as dry as the desert around her, as Rhodey’s familiar arms wrapped around her, she was still terrified. She swallowed around the dryness in her throat and forced her mouth to work.
”The baby. Rhode, ’m pregnant. You gotta make sure…” She was wrecked with coughs, the arc reactor burning in her chest, rubbing against her lungs and she promptly passed out.
***
Clint had been searching for her just as relentlessly as Rhodey had. As he returned to base after another day of fruitless searching, he immediately noticed that something had changed. An air of hushed excitement rested over the soldiers. And then he heard the whispers. She’d been found.
He was running for the field hospital, shoving officers and soldiers out of the way without differentiating. A pair of strong, dark skinned arms finally stopped him just a few feet from his destination.
”Clint. Clint! Easy, I need to talk to you.”
”I need to see her!” he snarled back.
”Clint, listen! When I found her, she wasn’t in good shape. She’s more stable now, she’s resting - but you need to know… There’s this thing in her chest. She woke up when the doctors tried to examine it and she freaked. She says it’s keeping her alive and refuses to let anyone touch it, but… It looks pretty scary.”
”I can handle it”, Clint tried to move past Rhodey towards the door of his wife’s hospital room, but Rhodey grabbed him again.
”One more thing. She’s pregnant.”
Clint froze. ”I’ll fucking dismember - no, disembowel - every piece of…”
Rhodey interrupted him. ”She’s four months pregnant.”
Clint’s rage bled out of him so suddenly he was left vaguely dizzy. He felt like his ears were stuffed with cotton as he tried to process what he was being told.
”I’m gonna be a father”, he murmured.
”There’s still a high risk for miscarriage”, Rhodey burst his bubble with a solemn voice. ”They’re monitoring her closely and doing everything they can to keep them both stable, but frankly, it’s a miracle she’s still pregnant after everything her body’s been through.”
Clint nodded once, still trying to process everything, as he finally moved for the door.
”Okay”, he murmured to himself as he put his hand on the doorknob. ”Okay.”
***
Toni looked… Well, frankly, she looked awful. Her hair was a dull, tangled mess, her skin too pale, her cheeks too hollowed out. There were dark circles under her eyes, a hunk of metal and light in her chest and more IVs, monitors, tubes and machines than he’d ever seen around a single person before. But her chest was rising and falling steadily and as he stood there, frozen, her eyes opened. She met his gaze and smiled softly, her hand reaching out towards him.
He was at her bed in seconds, grabbing that hand oh so carefully, his other hand ghosting over her cheek, as if terrified she would break if he touched her properly.
”Hi there”, she murmured, still smiling.
”Hi”, Clint choked out, before falling to his knees, bringing her hand to his face as tears fell down his cheeks.
”Come on, Clint. I’m fine, we’re fine”, murmured Toni soothingly as he kept sobbing.
”I thought I’d lost you. I could have lost you both!”
Toni pulled lightly at his hand prompting him to get to his feet.
”Stop crying like I’m on my deathbed”, she scolded, but her voice was soft and she looked like she was close to tears herself.
She moved his hand to her belly, already starting to swell out with their child. Clint held his breath as he thought he felt something move slightly under his hand. He must be imagining things. Surely, it was too early to feel movement yet? Toni smiled softly at him.
”Hey, little one”, she murmured, stroking her belly softly. ”This is your daddy.” She squeezed Clint’s hand were it rested on her abdomen. ”And Clint. This is our little miracle.”