Hunter/Delaney
“Dr. Evans, a word please.”
Delaney looked up from her workstation at Maria Hill standing in the doorway. “Of course,” she said quietly before joining Hill in the hallway.
“I’ve gotten word from Coulson that the Avengers picked up one of ours, Agent Lance Hunter. He’ll be brought to to medical. You should know he can be rather...mouthy,” Hill said, giving Delaney a pointed look.
Delaney laughed quietly. “If I can handle Stark, I think I’ll do just fine with Agent Hunter,” she said. “Thank you for the warning. I imagine FRIDAY will notify me about Agent Hunter soon enough.”
“Just passing on information,” Hill said before walking away.
“Doctor, Sir asks that medical be equipped upon his arrival,” came FRIDAY’s voice moments later.
“See? Right on time.” Delaney said to no one in particular. “Hopefully Agent Hunter isn’t in too bad of shape. The director is low on agents as it is.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The Avengers weren’t all that far out and it was less than an hour later when Delaney was called down to the medical bay. Not only Agent Hunter, but Barton was also brought in on a stretcher.
“What have you done this time?” Delaney sighed as she glanced him over. He looked to have a gunshot wound that had scraped the outside of his right thigh. “Anything I can’t see?”
“No, just this one,” Clint shook his head. “See to Hunter; he’s much more knocked about. He’d been undercover and they picked him up. He was having the snot beaten out of him when we got there.”
Delaney winced in sympathy, hurrying over to where her aides were carefully transferring Agent Hunter to a hospital bed. “Report, FRIDAY!” she requested.
“Agent Hunter has two broken ribs, a cracked cheekbone, various levels of bruising, and two missing teeth,” FRIDAY supplied.
“Picked these up before we left,” Natasha said as she handed Delaney a little baggie with two teeth in it.
“Thanks,” Delaney said. The Cradle couldn’t regrow teeth without being very painful, unfortunately. Barton had learned that the hard way. “Right.” She turned to the nearest nurse and got her attention. “Alert Dr. Cho and ask her to get the Cradle ready. Inform her of Agent Hunter’s injuries.” The nurse hurried off and Delaney sighed in relief. “Okay! Everyone out except Romanoff and Hill!”
Much grumbling and shuffling later, only a few nurses, Natasha, Barton, Hill, Agent Hunter, and herself remained. “Let’s see what kind of bruising our dear Agent Hunter has, shall we?”
Stay professional, Delaney reminded herself as she gently removed the agent’s shirt and body armor. It was - rather difficult. Despite the facial injuries he was still an extremely attractive man.
Holy moly look at those abs - no, no, do not look at the abs, Delaney. She had the awful feeling that Natasha was reading her mind, the redhead standing opposite her with her arms folded and a smirk building on her face.
Gritting her teeth, she fell back on her familiar routine.
“Pulse fifty-five and steady, a little slow but probably about resting pace for a man in his physical condition” oh God here I go again “blood pressure low but steady, respiration shallow… definitely cracked ribs,” as she lightly touched a massive black bruise on Agent Hunter’s side “but the injury looks fresh.” She looked up at Natasha. “How long has he been unconscious, do you know?”
“He was drifting in and out when we got there. Mumbled enough to tell me who he was and some important info about the base, but he’s been out of it since we had to move him to get him on the jet,” Natasha shrugged. “So, about an hour, maybe?”
Delaney nodded, peeled back an eyelid to check the unconscious man’s pupils. Oh, he’s got really pretty eyes…
“He seems stable enough to get him into the Cradle, anyway,” she stepped back hurriedly as Natasha’s smirk widened even further. “Let’s get those teeth back in.”
One of her nurses had been busy sterilising said teeth, held Hunter’s jaw open for Delaney to carefully reinsert them.
I bet he’ll have a nice smile when he’s awake.
“All right,” she stepped back, peeling off her gloves. “Let’s get Sleeping Beauty here into the Cradle.”
Natasha was actually laughing aloud as Delaney and her team pushed the hospital bed out of the med bay and headed off to Helen Cho’s lab.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Boy, was I wrong about him,” Delaney muttered. “I definitely preferred him asleep.” Agent Hunter was more than mouthy; he was quite infuriating. He hadn’t said anything to her yet, but a few of her nurses were at their wits end with the man.
“What’s that?” Barton asked, a stupid grin on his face from the drug she was now regretting having injected him with to deaden the pain from his bullet wound. “You’re wrong about something? Have we fallen through an alternate dimension?”
Delaney huffed, choosing to ignore Barton and instead stalked over to Agent Hunter. “I’d appreciate it if you’d stop harassing my nurses. They don’t deserve it,” she said, glaring at him.
Agent Hunter grinned at her. “Well, now that you’ve shown up I can stop,” he said.
Delaney chuckled. “I’m assuming Stark’s just been practice for your delightful personality, Agent Hunter,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Just Hunter. Or Lance, if you prefer,” he reached for her hand, smiling up at her with a smile just as nice as she’d thought he’d have, his chocolatey eyes sparkling with humour. “Or you could call me darlin’. Whatever you like.”
“How about trouble?” She couldn’t seem to wipe the goofy smile off her face.
“Now now, gorgeous, that ain’t very nice.” He squeezed her fingers lightly, still smiling. “I understand I have you to thank for patchin’ me back up good as new, doc.”
“Couldn’t let those good looks get spoiled, now could we?” Stop it Delaney, she told herself. You’re a horrible flirt! But Hunter didn’t seem to notice at all.
His grin widened. “Glad you think I’m good lookin’.”
“I think you’re a menace to my peace of mind,” Delaney said, no heat in her voice.
She blushed as Hunter kissed the knuckles of the hand he held. “What’s your name, love?” he asked softly. The way Hunter was looking at her made her feel like she was a lost treasure he had stumbled across.
“Dr. Delaney Evans,” she said as she leaned down to kiss him. She laughed quietly as he made disappointed sounds as she pulled back, her lips right next to his ear. “When you see him, ask Coulson when I can get back to the exciting stuff.”