Apparently Pepper wasn't the only one who was inclined to come up and check on the teenagers that morning, because Natasha came into the kitchen a few minutes later.
"Good morning," Pepper greeted the assassin.
Natasha barely twitched her lips in response.
Pepper bit her lip before asking quietly, "Is Barton that upset?"
"Nah," Natasha said with a shrug of her shoulders, not sure whether or not she was lying – and that's what had her at least halfway in a mood.
Her husband really hadn't said much since they had all started home from South Dakota the evening before, but at least he didn't appear to be ready to kill her.
"I was just thinking about you," Pepper said, changing the subject.
"Oh yeah?" Natasha asked, glancing at Pepper's daughter. What she could see of the girl's expression suddenly looked a little pained, and Natasha couldn't help but touch elbows lightly with the fourteen year old and ask, "How are you guys doing?"
"Fine," Dakota answered quickly, keeping her gaze elsewhere as she turned to start putting batter in a waffle maker.
Pepper and Natasha locked eyes over the tiny girl's head before Pepper told Dakota softly, "You can talk to her, you know; she'd have a way better idea of what you're going through than I would."
"Yeah," Natasha said cordially, leaning her elbows against the counter so that she was on Dakota's level, seconding, "I'm willing to help any of you guys any way I can. Why, what's up?"
"Bad day yesterday," Dakota hedged.
"I thought that any day where everyone came back from a mission unscathed was a good day?"
"Blaine did not come back unscathed – at least not mentally."
Natasha nodded slowly at that, showing that she had thought maybe that was the case, but then forged ahead with the matter at hand, guessing, "But that's not what's bothering you, is it?"
"I'm thinking a lot of things right now," Dakota confessed.
"Well, tell me one of them."
Dakota considered this for a second before she said slowly, "Am I part of the problem… or could I help him? Should I try? Sometimes the memory's too close to the surface and I'm afraid of him, and I think he knows it, but I just want to help. Or does my being near him just make it worse?"
"Who, Blaine?" Nat asked.
Dakota nodded mutely, and Natasha opened her mouth to form some sort of an answer when she heard the elevator doors open, letting someone else onto the seventh floor.
"Tasha?" Clint called out.
"We're in the kitchen," Natasha answered before saying to Dakota, "Why don't you ask an expert?"
"Expert at what?" Clint asked, appearing in the kitchen doorway.
"When someone you know tries to kill you, is it a good or a bad thing to try and help them through the emotional backlash?" Natasha asked him, gesturing minutely towards Dakota.
Clint stopped where he was, shoving his hands into the back pockets of his jeans as he mulled that over. "Well, I assume we're talking about you and Blaine, here, right?" he asked Dakota.
The girl was flustered now, but she nodded.
"Let's get one thing straight then," Clint said. "His problem right now is not what happened six months ago; it's what happened yesterday. He killed someone, and your first kill is always h*** to get over. This isn't your fault at all. As a matter of fact, I'd even bet that you're a great help to him, aren't you?"
Dakota flushed at the mild implication, stammering out, "I try."
"Good," Clint said approvingly.
"But I don't always do very well," Dakota confessed. She looked at Clint through her eyelashes, seeming almost afraid to voice the words as she said, "Sometimes I'm still afraid of him because of… you know… and I think he knows it."
Clint paused at that when Dakota struck upon something that Clint and Natasha had lived through themselves, and she saw his chest move slowly up and back down as he took a deep breath before answering, "Yeah, he probably does know it… but maybe those are the days when he wants to help you through what you've got on your mind."
"And what if we're both having a bad day?"
Clint looked into Natasha's eyes as he answered, the words ringing so true for the life that they had lived together as partners – in S.H.I.E.L.D. and later in marriage. "Then you just have to be broken together."
He smiled slightly at his wife, and Natasha felt relief rise up from the pit of her stomach when she realized that he really wasn't acting that upset with her at all. Maybe he actually wasn't upset. He understood that sometimes she didn't think straight about situations, especially big ones like the fact that they had children together. Maybe they would be okay.
"Did I say that right?" he asked her, stepping up to the counter and turning her so that he could give her a chaste good morning kiss.
She searched his eyes for a second; elated when she realized that by the look in his eyes, they were not only going to be okay again, but they were already okay again. Somehow, for some reason, he had already forgiven her for not telling him about Blaine and Scarlet.
"Just right," she agreed, her eyes betraying the fact that there was a double meaning behind her words.
He smiled then – still a small smile, but a real one nonetheless – and released his hold on her, turning to ask Dakota, "What are you making, kid?"
"Waffles," Dakota answered, opening the waffle maker and starting another round of the food.
Pepper asked curiously, "Are you a good cook?"
"Good enough, I guess. Considering who I live with, I practically have to be," Dakota answered with a roll of her eyes, although her expression was filled with affection for the kids that she had grown up with.
"Good enough for the Avengers and I to have a group breakfast up here with you kids?" Pepper asked, although she had to know she was pushing her luck.
Dakota bit her lip, eventually answering, "Okay, but if Andy tries to kill me, I say that Clint and Natasha both saw you twisting my arm about it."
Pepper stifled a sigh, answering, "I think I can deal with that."