AN: An idea that was hopping around in my head. Slight Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocoll crossover. I own nothing.
A long time ago, the Barton-family counted six members. There were Barney sr., his wife Cara and the four kids Barney jr., the (identical) twins Clint and Will and last but not least little Virginia.
They weren't exactly what you would describe as a happy family. Barney sr. was an alcoholic and often abusive, while Cara was just weak. She never stood up for her family or herself. That left the children to find their own ways to survive.
The first thing they learned was to look after themselves, because they knew they couldn't expect help from anybody else. especially for Clint, Will and Virginia loyalty became the most important good.
Barney jr. was distant and seemingly emotionless, but he often took the blame for the younger ones so they wouldn't get beaten up.
Clint and Will took it upon themselves to look after their little sister. They were only two years older than her, but they tried to protect her from everything. And on the other hand, she kept them sane. She always made them smile, and as long as the three of them were together, they had at least some kind of family.
Will played chess with her, and they were evenly matched, both loved those games. He taught her to read, too, long before she first attended school. Both of them loved to read, it opened new worlds for them. Clint was quite different. He always made the other two laugh with his ridiculous jokes and the habit to nickname everyone and everything. So it was of course Clint who gave Virginia the nickname Avy. If you asked him, he couldn't explain why he choose this nickname, but Virginia had always hated her name and so it stuck. Soon Will picked up calling her so too. Barney jr. And their mother still called her Virginia, but they didn't speak with her often. In school she was Ginny. For their father, she was 'the little bitch' or, when he was good-tempered, 'the little idiot'. But she didn't care. For herself, she was Avy. Avy Strawberry, like her strawberry-red hair.
When she was three, Avy ate a piece of strawberry-cake and had a strong allergic shock. There was no anti-allergicum in the house and when they finally managed to bring her to the hospital, the doctor told them that it had been really close. She nearly died.
Barney jr. left home more frequently after this. It felt like he didn't want to be home. Cara drank more alcohol. Barney sr. never noticed. He had spent the whole day in a bar and never realized what had happened. Clint and Will strongly doubted he would have cared.
But the twins could never forget. They could never forget how close they had come to losing their sister. After that day, they always carried the anti-allergic pills Avy needed with them.
That didn't change when their father died in an car accident and their mother drank herself to death a few days later, when they were ten and Avy eight.
It didn't change when forstersystem split them up and they weren't able to find each other anymore.
It didn't change when Avy got adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Potts, two very nice people from Boston who had always wished for children but weren't able to get them.
It didn't change when Will got adopted by the Brandts.
It didn't change when Clint and Barney ran away to join a circus, or when Barney nearly killed Clint and left him to die.
It didn't change when Clint and Will joined the military and later SHIELD and IMF, to same time but unbeknownst by the other.
It didn't change when they ran into each other in Prague a year later, both on a mission and suddenly on the run from several drug cartels who weren't amused when their dealer suddenly made deals with the concurrence (in their defense, Clint and Will were equally suprised who the other had made (fake) deals with).
It didn't change when Clint brought the Black Widow home and she became part of the family.
It didn't change when Clint and Natasha joined the Avengers.
Clint and Will both searched for Avy. But they never found her. Her files were lost and so was she. Lost in the forstersystem. Will pulled every string he had, called in every favor, but they couldn't find her. Avy did the same, but all she got was that Clint and Barney ran away and that Barney became a criminal. She never knew Will was adopted, just like her brothers never knew she was adopted.
But Clint and Will could never forget their sister.
The pills, hidden in Clint's bow, in books, even in medallions, made them feel like she was near. Clint always thought that when he has this pills close, she is close, too.
So, when Fury sends Clint on a protection assignment a few month after New York, muttering something about Stark owing him one, Clint still has on of those anti-allergic pills hidden in his purse. And, as it is, he just thinks of his long-lost sister when he opens the hotelroom-door to tell Pepper Potts he's gonna protect her during her business-trip to Egypt.
He sees her sitting at a desk, writing something in a file. All he can think is 'Her hair looks exactly like Avy's' before she lifts her head and he realizes it is her. Both stay silent for a long time, frozen and unbelieving.
Then he manages to choke out one word: „Avy?"
That's all it takes. She jumps to her feet and runs to him, falling into his arms.
AN: This is one of those ideas where I don't know what to think of it myself. I may have a story for this universe ready in my head and if there are enough people who want to read it, I might be persuaded to write it down.
Tell me what you think!