Clinton Barton was surprised to say the least when his wife, Laura, told him that she was pregnant. However, he attempted to put a brave face to it.
"What do we do though?" she had asked. "With your career in SHIELD…the child is going to want a father," Laura said.
Clint had looked around their apartment and shrugged. "We'll work something out. Believe me."
That was the problem with working for a government agency.
This was month one in a single nutshell. A mixture of hope, anxiousness, and love for their child, whatever it would be.
The second month was the same. They dug through the baby books for names, trying to think of good ones as Clint looked for openings with SHIELD.
"If it's a boy, how about Ian?" Laura asked.
"Sounds good."
"Ian Alistair Barton, does that sound okay?"
"I was thinking more Ian Alexander."
"What about if it's a girl?"
"…I hadn't thought about that."
They eventually decided on having no idea what to name the kid.
Three months in, Clint started looking for somewhere to move. New York City was not where he wanted to raise his child.
The beginning of month four, they got the ultrasound.
It was a girl.
Both parents were ecstatic, so much so that Clint immediately called Natasha Romanoff, his best friend in SHIELD. The former assassin had a soft spot for him and his wife, and she had been the only one he told.
Natasha was glad for him. "Let me babysit sometime," she said. "What are you naming her?"
Clint smiled, holding the phone closer. "We were thinking about Natalie," he said.
"Great name. Wonder where you could have got it."
Clint shook his head as Laura grabbed the phone. "Nat, it's great, isn't it?"
~I took a walk around the world~
"Laura! I found a place!" Clint barreled in the door. "A farmhouse. It'll be perfect. Here!" He pulled up the computer and typed for a few minutes. "It's affordable, too. It'll be great for a kid!"
Laura leaned over his shoulder, looking at the information. "I agree, it would be perfect…"
Clint stood up and clasped her hands. "Then?"
"Then…." Laura said slowly. "Then we'd better start packing, hadn't we?"
Clint dropped to his knees and stared at his wife's belly. "Here that, Natalie? We're moving to the country!"
~To ease my troubled mind~
"So….SHIELD doesn't know?" Laura asked as they surveyed the inside of the farmhouse.
"Nope. Natasha's agreed to keep it under her hat too." Clint looked around. "We could definitely make this work, Laura. What does Natalie think?"
Laura put a hand on her belly and smiled. "Natalie says that there's a yard big enough for her to play in."
"And we'll put in a swing on that tree," Clint said, pointing. "There are plenty of things I could do with the place."
"Let's get started."