“You love my sadistic streak,” she said, giving his shoulder a quick nip before he turned around. She could see him favouring his neck, his head mostly unmoving and tilted to one side, so that was where she started.

Her touch was gentle, just feeling him out a little first to find the worst of his injuries. He had really done a number on himself and she felt her stomach sink. They couldn’t go on like this or there wouldn’t be much left of him by the end of the week. Thankfully he recognized this too, and broke yet another uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them.

“I think we should try,” she said, placing a kiss right between his shoulder blades and lingering a moment before she leaned back again. She knew there wasn’t much Clint could really say at this point, not much he would say. He clearly didn’t know what to think, nor did he want to influence her decision; her decision, as he had been so adamant about. It was up to her to start the conversation, then.

“I have been weighing all the options, been comparing logic to entirely emotional responses. Logically it isn’t a question if you take all practical things into consideration, but it’s not that simple. It’s not like buying the right car or... I don’t know, something else.” She couldn’t think of another good example off the top of her head though there were a million of them. So many decisions had to be made logically and didn’t need to factor in emotions at all. This wasn’t one of those.

She paused to give him chance to speak if he wanted to.