Disclaimer: I only own plot. The characters belong to Disney and Marvel.

Chapter 1

Clint wandered over to where his Captain was cutting down the trees closest to the house. Steve had arrived hours before with Wanda, Sam and Bucky in tow. Although technically it was more like the others had brought the soldier to the farm. When he'd seen the frustration in the Captain's face, Clint had exchanged a look with Laura silently asking her to try and find out from Wanda what was wrong. While Laura and Wanda talked, the men sat at the kitchen table to play cards and act like they weren't listening to what was being said. The whole trip ended had been Wanda's idea in the first place, a ploy to get Steve away from the facility after he and Natasha had gotten into a big fight. Apparently now that the Accords were officially over, Tony being himself wanted to get Bruce back, and had decided to ask Natasha for her help. The spy had agreed to help, and that was what caused the fight between the two leaders of the Avengers. Wanda had decided they needed to get Steve away from Tony before they could start an argument as well and so they'd ended up at his home.

Now armed with all the information Clint had been nominated to go talk with the soldier. This was a task that the archer wasn't sure he was equipped to deal with, but he'd try his best. After all, he'd known Steve for some time now, and he'd known Natasha even longer so he was used to dealing with the level of stubbornness those two reckless idiots could achieve. Clint liked Steve. Hell, Clint admired the hell out of Steve and trusted him without thought, but he was worried about him. Even though they'd gotten through everything okay, even though the team was back together and they were well on the way to being family again, Steve was not okay. So Clint was determined to find out the why, but he was pretty certain that Natasha was at the center of whatever was wrong with Steve.

Clint wasn't stupid he'd seen Steve talking to Bruce at the party before the whole Ultron fiasco, and he knew how close Nat and Steve had gotten while they were partnered together. That same closeness was suspiciously absent during their whole fight with Ultron, and Clint had almost felt how it had hurt the super soldier to let Bruce be the one to rescue Natasha from the clutches of the insane robot. Still the spy and the soldier had managed to fix what had been broken before the fight was done and later he knew Natasha had confided in the blond man about the vision Wanda had given her. Whatever progress that had been made between the two most stubborn people on the team was dashed when Nat had sided with Tony on the matter of the Accords. Even when in the end Nat had done what her heart had told her from the start, Clint knew the Captain had been hurt by her decision. Clint was pretty certain he was right particularly because of the glances Wanda kept throwing at the soldier from the kitchen window, a certain look in her eyes, that made the archer smile. He knew Steve was Wanda's favorite, and it was no secret the super soldier had a soft spot a mile wide for her, so it was no surprise that she was attuned to his thoughts. Clint concluded that he was going to have to have a real long heart to heart with his Captain, otherwise he and Nat would just continue to hurt each other needlessly. He wished Phil could be here to see it. To witness his idol and the girl they both raised fall in love with each other. Clint sighed, it'd been almost four years but Phil's death still hurt as much as the first day.

"So how long after you launched her off your shield did it take for you to realize that you were in love with her?"

Steve's rhythm faltered, but to his credit he didn't immediately try to deny anything, instead he put the axe down and sighed.

"The second I heard her say it was going to be fun," Steve answered quietly, a faint smile played across his lips but it wasn't one of happiness. Clint felt like he'd just kicked a puppy, a giant, blonde puppy. "I never really put a label on what I felt for Natasha. Not until I saw her and Bruce at the party. You probably won't understand it, but she's so beautiful and fierce and independent; she could have anyone she wants, so why the hell would she go for me? Everything special about me came out of a bottle like Tony says, and she deserves better so much better than just me. What I felt... feel for her... is so different from what I felt for Peggy, and I just took for granted that she was there. And then she wasn't. I waited too long, again; I'm sort of an expert at that," he swallowed. "How long have you known?"

"I'd been seeing signs for a while from both of you, but I was certain of your feelings for her on the night of the party; I mean for someone who was telling Bruce to go for it, you looked like they were torturing you on the inside. Then you were there for her after what happened with Bruce, and well I kind of put it together. You look at her with love filled eyes, Steve, it's not that hard to figure out, you two are just so fucking stubborn that you're making this harder than it should be. You look at her, the way I look at Laura. After the last mission you guys had, I was sure your feelings for her hadn't changed despite what had gone down during our little Civil War. Cap, I know you were nowhere near that laser blast, but you still took it for her and ended up in medical for weeks. That's the type of thing I would do for Laura, and she's definitely more than just my friend and teammate," Steve laughed it was a painful sounding thing but there was a genuine smile playing across his lips. Clint clapped him on the shoulder, "Cap, these days you aren't alone, sure we might not be your Howling Commandos, but we're all here for you. In case you hadn't noticed, me and Laura have kind of adopted you. And Nat, well she loves you back, but you and I know how she is, what she thinks."

"Love is for children," Steve quoted quietly.

"Yeah, but that's the red room talking, Cap," Clint said sadly, earning a sad smile from Steve.

"I know and Buck did that to her," Steve ran his hands through his hair and Clint worried for the man's mental health just then, "I don't know what to do anymore, Clint. We argued, bad before Wanda dragged us all here. Plus, I know there's still tension between her and Bucky and it isn't fair to subject her to it all the time."

"Steve believe me, if Nat didn't want Bucky around, you'd know. She's fine with James being at the facility full time. The argument you two had probably had more to do with her being pissed at you thinking she can't handle seeing Bruce again."

"That wasn't what I meant. I just... I don't want him to hurt her again. Clint, she was wrecked after wha happened with Banner, but now she's willing help Tony find him. I don't get it, she'd been acting strange before this but now..."

"Cap, I know she told you about the vision Wanda gave her, and I know you heard her talking to Bruce. Plus the two of you have been partners for a while, so I'm pretty certain you know Nat doesn't think she's a good person, doesn't think she's worthy because of the red in her ledger. That's why she went after Bruce, and I'd bet my ass that's why she's been acting strange. Nat has tried to ignore her feelings for a while now, but I think that's no longer working and she still thinks you deserve better."

Steve sighed and ran a hand roughly through his blond hair, "I've told her time and again that her past doesn't make her a monster, I don't know how to get her to believe that. I have no idea why she would think she's not worthy of my feelings for her, you all think I'm some paragon of virtues, but I'm not. I'm just human like all of you, and I've made my fair share of mistakes, she's got red in her ledger, so do I."

"I can see that, she can't. But what I'm really confused about is why you're not telling her all of this. You've found your best friend, there are currently no insane murder bots out to get us, no Accords to keep us divided; this is your second chance. This is your chance to act on those feelings you've had ever since you fought together in New York."

"I'm not denying it, but..."

"Steve this is bullshit. You've got a second chance so use it. You guys fought, so what? This isn't the first time you've argued, you'll fix it. Bucky's ok now so he's no longer an excuse. Why won't you let yourself be happy? Nat's over Bruce, has been for a long while, Peggy's gone," Clint said gently, "so what's left? The only issue left now is Sharon."

Steve looked bewildered at Clint's last sentence, "Sharon? What does she have to do with anything?"

"Nat knows she's the one who gave you back your gear back when we were all running from the government and that you two kissed."

Steve groaned, "I've got nothing with Sharon. She's Peggy's niece, and it was... well it was complicated then, and it's still complicated now, but there's nothing going on between us."

"Huh, good to know. Maybe you should let Nat know that," Clint told him.

Steve chewed on his lower lip, "You really think Natasha has feelings for me?"

Clint chuckled, "I do, Cap. She's always treated you differently, and in case you haven't noticed you're a pretty handsome guy. You're quite the catch, Steve Rogers. But I approve of you for Natasha because you're a good man, and I know my sister would be in the best of hands. Nat doesn't care about all of this, she liked the scrawny ninety pound kid from Brooklyn she read about in your file just as much as she likes the imagined paragon for American ideals who's really just a little shit. She secretly likes the partner who's never been afraid of manhandling her to safety behind his shield, never caring about her reputation, never being afraid of her like so many others."

Steve laughed softly, but his attention was grabbed by the loud voices coming from the house. Clint saw a fond expression cross the taller man's face when he saw his two best friends laughing and joking around with Wanda and Lila, "Talk to Bucky, convince yourself that he's okay, and then call Nat. I'm pretty certain that by now she's cooled down and will be ready to talk."

"I will, Clint and thanks."

"Don't mention it, man. Just take care of her like I know you can, and as she deserves."