Author's note: In my last story, Guilt Trip, I wrote that Wanda had stayed with the Barton's for a about a year. Mu mind kept going back and picturing what happened when she stayed, and I thought why not explore that. Hope you like what you read.


Clint had been working in the barn, trying another attempt at getting the tractor to start up. He cursed as he listened to the engine fail to turn over…again. "Stupid piece of crap," he muttered as he climbed off it and threw the wrench he'd grabbed for another attempt at fixing off to the side. He looked at it and as he contemplated what might possibly be wrong with it, he could swear he heard his wife's voice echoing inside his head.

We should just buy a new one. It'd be cheaper than fixing this thing all the time. He'd argue that this one was still salvageable. Then at least try calling Tony, he got it to work last time. He'd then, stubbornly, say that Iron Man himself had more important things to attend to than drop everything just to fix a simple John Deere.

He was surprised when she gave up and walked away without any further rebuttal, but figured she was biding her time. When he heard the unmistakable sound of landing thrusters just outside, he rolled his eyes. I can't believe she called him, he thought as he started walking outside to greet Stark. To his surprise he watched as a quinjet landed next to the barn. He walked to the rear and waited as the landing steps folded down and smiled as he saw Natasha coming down.

"Nat," he greeted as the two spies hugged each other. "Nothing's wrong is there?"

She shook her head. "But we do need to talk."

He nodded and led her into the house. Laura was excited to see the family friend, commenting that it had been too long since they'd talked. Clint noticed that Laura didn't bring up the subject of Bruce, and smiled subtly as he realized that Laura was probably just as good as he was at avoiding sensitive subjects when necessary. "I'll leave you two alone to talk," she.

"It's alright, this actually concerns you too," Natasha said before Laura could leave. Laura looked to Clint, but he just shrugged, letting her know he had no clue what this was about. "We have a situation involving Wanda," Natasha started as she looked at the couple across the table from her.

"Something going wrong with her training?" Clint asked, knowing that Natasha was working with her more than anyone.

"She not fitting in?" Laura asked, causing both spies to smile. Leave it to the Mom in this conversation to ask that, they both thought.

"No, nothing like that. She's coming along pretty well in her training," she told Clint. She then looked toward Laura. "And she's starting to come around after she came to grips with what happened to her brother, so, don't worry, she's okay. The problem is we were finally able to piece enough of her past together to get a picture of who she is. While we expected the whole lost her parents, grew up in orphanages and such, we were surprised when we found out a special piece of information – her age." Clint and Laura both looked at the stoic redhead. "She's just turned seventeen."

"What?" Clint almost shouted. "Sev…seventeen? But that means that Pietro was -" he started then stopped in an effort to control himself.

Natasha and Laura both remained quiet for the moment, letting Clint get it out. They both knew what he was thinking. Pietro was seventeen years old; still a kid. A kid that died throwing himself in front of some bullets so that Clint could get back to his. Laura wasn't sure if Natasha knew, but she knew that Clint still blamed himself for that. Now that he knew how old Pietro was, there was no telling how he'd take it now.

"Don't do that to yourself Clint," Natasha told him softly. "You didn't know. None of us knew. If we had, we'd have made them get out with everybody else."

Clint just stared away from her, not saying anything. But the clenching and unclenching of his jaw told both women that he was processing the information. Laura thought it best to change the subject, albeit slightly.

"So how does her age affect things?" she asked.

"Steve, Tony, and Fury don't have a problem with her training with us, but she cannot be going out on missions. They also feel she should stay somewhere else on a long term basis; somewhere more stable, more…normal."

"You mean with us?" Laura asked. Natasha nodded.

"Why us?" Clint finally spoke.

"Because Steve, Tony, and myself don't trust anybody else with her."

Clint looked at Laura, almost wanting her to say no for him. "She has nowhere else to go," Laura told him gently.

"But…"

"Clint," she said softly, taking his hand in hers, "I know that seeing her might make you feel like you're going to be constantly reminded about what happened to her brother, but she needs a home. Besides, her brother gave his life to protect yours. Think of this as a way to pay him back by protecting her."

Clint just stared at Laura, wondering how she always knew just what to say to him to put things in the right perspective. "How long until she gets here?" he asked Natasha after a few moments of silence.

"A couple of days."

"That'll give us enough time to get the guestroom ready for her, and tell the kids," he said.

Laura smiled and kissed Clint softly on the cheek. The tension was starting to lessen, but Laura wanted to get rid of it faster. "Well now that that's settled, I need to wake Nate from his nap. Nat, would you like to see your nephew while Clint tires to fix that god awful tractor again?"

"You're still trying to fix that thing?" Natasha asked in disbelief. "You do know that you have enough money to just buy a new one, right?" Natasha asked matter-of-factly.

"That one still has some life left in it," Clint replied.

"Then call Stark, he got it running for you last time didn't he?" she added.

Laura looked at Clint in agreement, causing him to let out a deep breath to remain calm. Rather than say something that would no doubt have him sleeping on the couch, he decided to act with some discretion. "Just get the kid," he said through strained teeth. As he went back outside to go back to the barn he heard Laura and Natasha laughing, no doubt having fun at his reaction.