Author's Note:

Hey guys! New story, yay! I started this story quite a while ago, but now know that it's time to start posting!

This is set during Nats and Clint's time at SHIELD, and before the Avengers!

Fits with the MCU right now :)

Natasha was seated in the mission briefing room, staring down Coulson, who was currently refusing to tell her about the mission until her partner arrived. She was surprised when she discovered she and Clint were set to go on a mission together- lately, they've been working alone, her infiltrating Stark Industries and him doing his own missions. If they were being brought together again, it meant it was something serious- why else would they use two of their best spies on the same mission?

Clint finally sauntered in, a whole thirty-seven seconds late, with the gall to look unapologetic about his tardiness. He slipped into a chair opposite Natasha, giving her a quick dip of the head in greeting before turning his seat to face Coulson at the head of the table. "What've we got this time?" He asked casually, as if he wasn't on full alert for the same reasons as Natasha. She could tell by the look in his eyes- calculating, deducing- that he'd drawn the same conclusions about why they must be assigned to the same mission and was internally scrambling to put the pieces together and figure it out on his own.

"Here are your wedding rings. You will be going undercover as a married couple; it's a long undercover mission." Coulson informed them, handing over mission folders. "You are to discreetly find the source of an organisation that is kidnapping children and adopting them out for a profit."

Natasha's eyes narrowed; anything to do with children always riled her up. She opened the file, seeing that the paperwork appeared legit. "How do they get the children to cooperate? Are they in on the ruse?"

Clint chipped in as well. "And how did you find out about this organisation? How do you know it's false?" Clint wasn't stupid; he wasn't asking because he couldn't figure it out. He was asking to ensure that they didn't go into the wrong situation, guns blazing. He was asking for proof.

Coulson turned to the projection screen behind him and flicked to a picture of a smiling little boy with curly blond hair and big brown eyes. "This is Brian. He was kidnapped from a park at age four. He was gone without a trace, and the case quickly went cold. A year later, a boy with identical facial features was found in the custody of a Mr. and Mrs. Rothman, two states away." He pulled up another picture of a little boy, similar in appearance but with black hair. "This is Ryan, who the Rothmans legally adopted about four months after Brian went missing. Ryan's birth certificate shows he was born somewhere else, and that his parents died. However, our facial recognition software positively identified these two boys as being one in the same. He is still with the Rothmans, as S.H.I.E.L.D. decided it was best for him to stay with his adoptive family while we investigate further- he's not in any danger, so for now we're just keeping an eye on both families." Coulson gestured to further information in the file. "Brian's situation brought our attentions to similar cases that have been popping up around that area in Ohio, leading us to believe that the culprits are serial kidnappers and are still at work. The Rothman family is your way in, and the primary target. They don't know that their adoption was ever investigated, and we want to keep it that way." Coulson paused.

"You want us to babysit a kid and his fake parents?" Natasha asked, not liking the idea one bit. Couldn't she be given a more proactive mission? One that did not involve having to interact with families?

Clint interrupted before Coulson could reply. "I don't think so, Nat- someone else is already doing that; otherwise how would they know the current status of the families?" He gave Coulson an 'Am I right?' look.

"Then why don't they knock on the door and ask the parents where they got the kid?" Natasha questioned.

Coulson sighed. "It's highly unlikely they would know- all signs point to them being completely unaware that their son was obtained through illegal action. And if we were to approach them on it and tell them, it would add unnecessary drama and distraction to our efforts- thus we're waiting until after the kidnappers are stopped to retrieve Brian." He explained.

Clint raised an eyebrow. "So you're letting the kid stay with his illegal parents until the bad guy is stopped- that's okay and all, but what about his real parents? How do we explain our surveillance of their family without bringing up their missing son? They're bound to notice if this goes on too long."

"And what are we supposed to do undercover?"

Coulson shook his head. "You won't be interacting with the biological family. Your main priority is to befriend the adopted family and get some more information out of them that way- information that only they would know, but probably don't think is too important. If a government agency comes in and demands answers, they'll close up and endanger our entire operation."

Natasha nodded. She couldn't argue with that; why they needed her and Clint to go in, she didn't know, but she wasn't about to argue. "When do we leave?"

"You have two hours to get ready. Your fake documentation and identities will be provided once you've moved into your house." Coulson replied. "It's four houses down from the Rothmans."

Clint snorted. "What are the chances that a house near our targets just happened to be on the market?"

Coulson gave a small smirk. "A house doesn't have to be on the market to be sold. You just need to offer its occupants the right amount."

Clint raised an eyebrow but didn't reply. Natasha stood up. "Is that all? I apparently need to switch my wardrobe to 'normal' clothes."

"That's not all," Coulson inserted, summoning her back to the table. "There's one last thing you need to know about this mission." He said rather mysteriously.

"And what might that be?" Natasha questioned, waiting patiently on the outside and impatiently on the inside.

He shuffled his paperwork to organise it, casually saying as he did so, "Your undercover personas will be interested in adopting, possibly to the point of beginning on the process."

Clint blinked before apparently working out exactly what that meant. "Hang on- you want us to illegally adopt a child?" He demanded.

"It's the only way to catch these people." Coulson assured.

"'It's the only way'- I've heard that garbage before." Natasha muttered. "Come, Clint- let's go get ourselves a child."

Clint grabbed another shirt from his dresser drawer and neatly packed it in his suitcase, followed by several more shirts and a few pairs of pants. Even though they would both be provided with undercover clothes, he still liked to bring some of his own for the familiarity they offered.

In the hidden pocket, he placed his identification, a gun and his folded-up bow; the arrows would be in the secret compartment of the car's trunk. Then he went to his closet and considered his shoes- being a spy meant that he had more pairs of shoes than the biggest spendthrift could imagine. But which ones to bring? Combat boots? Cleats? Sandals? What did normal adult men wear on a regular basis? Probably not the heavy combat boots, he decided sadly, passing over his favorite pair of shoes. Gym shoes? Yeah, those looked normal enough. He grabbed the shoes and threw them into the suitcase, then added a pair of dress shoes and a pair of sandals as an afterthought.

Lastly he pulled out his phone and dialed his wife. She picked up after the fifth ring, sounding sleepy.

"Clint?" She mumbled. He smiled sadly, wishing he were there with her to get in some early-morning cuddling with his wife.

"Hey, Laura. Did I wake you?"

"Mm… yeah. Lila was throwing up at two in the morning, so I had to spend a few hours taking care of her." Laura explained. Clint frowned.

"She alright?"

"Yeah, it's just a bug. She slept soundly after four o'clock, and she managed to keep the medicine down this morning." There was a shifting sound as she apparently rolled over to get more comfortable.

"I'm glad. Sorry I wasn't there to help, Honey."

"'S fine." She slurred sleepily.

"Hey, Laura? I was assigned a new mission." That seemed to wake her up.

"What? What kind of mission?" She asked, concern in her voice.

He sighed. "Undercover. It's going to last for quite a long time, too- at least three months, I'd say."

"Oh, Clint… Cooper's been looking forward to time with you." Laura lamented.

"I know." Clint replied, sadness pulling at him. "But it's important. I'll make sure to call you guys at least thrice a week, okay? It isn't a particularly dangerous mission, either. Just getting information."

There was a moment of silence. "Clint, you'd better be safe. And I expect at least four phone calls a week." She finally said, firmly.

He chuckled. "Yes, Ma'am. Can I say goodbye to the kids?"

"Mm… sure." There was more shifting and the sound of padding feet. "Lila?" His wife whispered.

"Mommy? Is Daddy on the phone?" Seconds later his daughter was speaking clearly into the phone. "Hi, Daddy!" She sounded tired, too, and her voice was croaking, but she seemed fairly cheery.

"Hi, Sweetpea. I have to go on a super-secret mission, Honey. I'm going to be gone for a long time. But I'm going to make sure to call you all the time, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy! Come home soon! Love you!" Lila exclaimed innocently. He smiled.

"Of course, Baby. Love you, too! Now get some more sleep."

Laura took the phone back. "Here's Cooper."

"Hi, Dad! Are you going away?" Now his son had the phone.

Clint sighed sadly but kept his voice light. "Unfortunately, yes. It's going to be a long mission, too."

"Oh…" Cooper trailed off disappointedly.

"But I'm going to call you all the time, I promise. Can you take care of the ladies while I'm away, Sport?"

"Yeah! I won't let anything happen to them, Dad!" Cooper sounded excited at the prospect of being the 'man of the house' for awhile.

"Thanks, Coop. I love you."

"Love you, too! Bye!"

Laura was back now. "Is Nat going with you?" She asked knowingly.

"Yes."

A chuckle. "Tell her that I say to keep you out of trouble." Then her voice got serious again. "Clint, I love you. Please get back to us safely."

"I love you, Laura. If you need any help with the kids, just contact S.H.I.E.L.D. and they might be able to spare an agent. I'll be calling as often as I can."

"Alright, Clint. I'll let you get back to your mission prep, then. Bye!"

"Goodbye, Laura- talk to you later." Then he hung up and double-checked his drawers for anything he might have forgotten to pack.

Natasha walked into her room, collected all of her belongings and placed them into a single bag; the bag was already mostly packed, as she never felt the urge to unpack in this place. So, all she really collected was her tooth brush and the pyjamas she wore last night- which Clint had brought her for when she slept around his. However, she had to admit, she felt better when she wore them, and slept easier.

Checking the time, she realised it took her a whole two minutes to gather all of her things and decided to make her way to the SHIELD undercover clothes room. She wasn't sure what they would have supplied for her and Clint to wear, so she wanted to see if she was able to choose some of her own.

Thankfully, they were all very cooperative, and she managed to get another bag- this one fuller- with 'personal items'.

She still managed to turn up to the meeting point over an hour early, and patiently waited for her partner.

Thank you for reading!