Laura used the time waiting for the water in the teakettle to boil to steady herself. Whoever this G. Callen was, he was going to unusual lengths to make her feel comfortable with him. That should have been reassuring, and likely would have been at any other time, but now it simply set her more on edge. What was coming that she wouldn't like?

The kettle whistled and Laura filled the teapot she'd inherited from her grandmother before arranging cups, saucers, lemon and sugar on a tray with it and taking it to the table where Callen sat.

She didn't miss that he'd chosen a chair that gave him the best vantage of the room and, through the windows, the property beyond.

Callen smiled as she put the tray on the table. "My boss would love you. She holds tea almost more sacred than God."

He had an easy charm that reminded her of Clint, and Laura wanted to smile back. Instead, she said, "Did your boss send you?"

"Barton's partner did."

Laura blinked. "Natasha?"

"Is that her name?" Callen looked interested for a moment before he shrugged that off. "Doesn't matter. I got a message from her instructing me to call a number. A guy with all the manners of a grizzly and the voice to match answered. After he checked me out, he said I should get you and your kids out of the country, quickly and quietly."

Laura couldn't help staring at him. "And here you are? Just like that?"

"More or less. The tea should be ready."

Automatically, Laura reached for the pot and poured two cups. "Sorry if I'm skeptical. Just like that?"

Callen accepted the cup she offered him. "Thank you. How much did he tell you about Budapest?"

"Just that it was bad, but they got out all right." Laura frowned, searching her memory for things that Clint might have said once, many years ago. "Thanks to … a man from another agency. That was you?"

"That was me." Callen sipped his tea without adding lemon or sugar. "Three days of hiding and fighting for your life forms a bond. Not to say we kept in touch or anything - our jobs don't make that easy - but we knew if we ever ran into each other again, we had an ally. So when Romanoff - Natasha? - emailed, I knew it had to be bad, and I'd do what I can to help."

Laura reviewed what he'd said, tried to match it to memories of long-ago conversations when Clint had been an agent, not an Avenger. Callen's attitude, his loyalty to people he barely knew, felt like Clint's own.

"You talk a good story," Laura said finally.

Callen smiled again. "But you're wondering why you should trust me."

"If it were just me," Laura said, "I'd go now. But you're asking me to trust you with my children."

"And that's not easy," Callen agreed. "I worked with my partner, Sam, more than a year before he introduced me to his wife and kids."

"And?" Laura prompted.

"And?" Callen took another sip of tea, gave a one-shoulder shrug when he set his cup back down. "Kamran calls me Uncle Callen. I have Christmas dinner with them. Sometimes I go to the kids' school plays. I even dressed up as Professor Lupin once."

"Do you have pictures?"

"Not of that." Callen reached into his other pocket and pulled out a cell phone. After he tapped a few commands, he offered it to her.

He'd loaded a picture of a large, handsome black man with a little girl on his shoulders watching an older boy - maybe close to Cooper's age - on a basketball court, lining up a shot from the free throw line. Laura smiled at the image, then scrolled through others of the same family. Some showed their mother, easily as beautiful as their father was handsome, and one or two had Callen himself in them.

Laura handed the phone back. "No family of your own?"

"No."

"Haven't found the right woman to settle down with?"

"Not the settling kind." It was just a statement of fact, but Laura couldn't help a surge of sympathy. This man was like Nick Fury, driven to save the world - or at least his corner of it - and had given up a normal life to do so.

"Thank you," she said.

Callen looked up at her sharply, then nodded an acknowledgment before taking another sip of tea.

Then Laura remembered something else. "You said we're supposed to get out of the country quickly and quietly. So how come we're having tea?"

"Because," Callen sat forward, his blue eyes - a deeper blue than Clint's - as serious as his expression. "It's important that you trust me. I can keep you safe, but only if you trust me."

Then he grinned, though his gaze never wavered. "Besides, the first rule of going on the run is…"

"…Don't run, walk," Laura finished with him, and was rewarded by a flash of surprise. She smiled just a little. "Clint did what he could to keep us off the grid, but we always knew there's a chance someone might find us. He taught me a few things."

Callen nodded, as though that made perfect sense. Maybe, in his world, it did. Still, Laura took refuge from the intensity of his gaze in a sip of her own, now lukewarm, tea. Callen reminded her too much of Clint, and she wasn't certain that was entirely a good thing.

Whether it was or not, Laura had a decision to make. She saw three options. First, kick Callen out and take her chances staying here. Second, kick Callen out and take the kids on the run by herself. Third, trust Callen and go with him.

One more piece of information might help her decide. "Where are you taking us?"

"Wakanda."

"Wakanda? Why?" She'd expected Mexico, or maybe some pencil-dot town in Europe.

"Because that's where Romanoff's contact told me to take you."

"Wakanda, specifically?"

Callen nodded. "It's a reasonable supposition that's where Barton is."

"I thought he was in prison."

"Maybe he is, but Wakanda's offering his family asylum. Or maybe we'll be met there by someone with more information."

"Then why not go to the Wakandan embassy?" Laura asked.

"You could," Callen said. "But whatever happens, that puts you and your kids on someone's radar."

Laura frowned. "What do you mean?"

"First, the staff there may not have any idea what's going on - whether Barton has been granted asylum or whatever - and will then have to ask the higher-ups to find out. Or, maybe they let you in and put you on a diplomatic flight out. That might work, but it also means you and your kids are exposed while you're getting to the plane, and you're not protected by diplomatic immunity until you board. Or any of a dozen other possibilities, all of which bring you attention we don't want."

Laura finished her tea while she considered. Any choice could be dangerous, including the choice not to choose. But she couldn't silence the voice inside her that whispered, What if he can take you to Clint? What if you can see Clint again?

In the end, that consideration was the most important. Still, when she met Callen's gaze again, she had to say, "You know if you hurt us -"

"Romanoff will kill me. Yeah, I'm not stupid enough to piss her off."

That made Laura laugh, a sound which was cut off by a wail from upstairs.

Without so much as an "Excuse me," Laura was out of her seat and dashing for the stairs.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Cooper met her at the top of the stairs, a shotgun in his hand. "He woke up and I couldn't keep him quiet."

"It's okay," Laura said. "It's okay."

She pushed past Cooper to scoop Nathaniel from his crib and murmur soothing words to him as she rubbed his back.

"What's going on, Mommy?" Lila asked.

"We have a guest," Laura told her. "Someone who knows your dad and aunty. Come and meet him."

Lila nodded and followed her down the stairs. Cooper followed, his expression suspicious and so like his father it made Laura's chest tighten.

Callen was still sitting at the kitchen table - or, Laura corrected, he had swiftly retaken his seat - when she came down the stairs. He looked up, and a frown flashed across his face before he gave a friendly smile.

"This is …" Laura hesitated. "I'm sorry, what would you like to be called?"

"I'm Callen." He rose and offered his hand to Cooper, seemingly unfazed by the shotgun Cooper still held.

After a moment, Cooper grudgingly shook Callen's hand. "Cooper."

"And I'm Lila."

Laura watched, amazed, as the child who had given Thor the stinkeye practically climbed up Callen, trying to hug him.

"Easy there." Callen dropped to his knees to accept her hug, even though Laura had the sense that he really wasn't the hugging type. "Very nice to meet you, Lila. And who's the little one?"

"That's Nathaniel. He was supposed to be Natasha, but then he decided to be a boy."

Callen hugged Lila again before rising to his feet. He met Laura's gaze calmly. "Does this mean you know what you want to do?"

Laura nodded. "My son should know his father. We'll go with you."

"Where are we going, Mommy?"

"A long way," Laura said. "But we're going to see Dad."

Lila's squeal was part happy, part excited, and all loud.

"Shh," Laura said. "We have to do what Mr. Callen says, okay?"

"Why?" Cooper sounded suspicious.

"Because Dad's far away." Laura shot her son a glare. "Someplace I've never been, so we have to be careful."

"Have you been there?" Cooper demanded, glaring at Callen.

Callen answered him as if he were fully grown. "No. But I've been to places close to it, and lots of other places, too. I'll be a good guide."

Cooper scowled at Callen dubiously, but when he met Laura's gaze and she nodded to Lila, Cooper's expression relaxed a little.

"Guess a guide's a good thing," he allowed.

"When do we leave?" Lila asked.

"Soon," Callen said. "But I need to take your pictures, first."

"Why?" Laura asked.

"Passports," Callen told her.

"I have a passport." Cooper sounded smug.

"Good," Callen said. "But we're going to be playing pretend while we travel, so we need another one."

In a different name, Laura finished silently. "Lila, go comb your hair, okay, sweetie? Cooper, a close encounter with a comb wouldn't hurt you, either."

The kids went upstairs - Lila at a run, Cooper with a suspicious look over his shoulder - and Laura turned to Callen.

"Do you want to take Nathaniel's picture first?" she asked.

"Sure," Callen agreed easily, and in a few minutes, she had Nathaniel sitting against a white wall.

Callen squatted to get level with him and snapped a couple of pictures. A few minutes after that, Cooper and Lila had returned and had their pictures taken, as well. Then it was only Laura left. She handed Nathaniel off to Cooper and took a moment to comb her own hair.

When her picture, too, had been taken, Callen said, "You should pack like you're going for a vacation someplace warm for a week."

Laura lingered when the kids ran upstairs this time, watching as Callen worked his phone. He didn't seem to mind that she was listening when he spoke to whoever he'd called.

"Eric, I'm sending you some pictures. I need passports and visas for all of them … Wakanda … Right, stops in between. And for me, too, make us a family." Callen met her gaze when he spoke, and Laura swallowed, but nodded. It made sense and gave them an excuse to stay together.

Callen was quiet for a moment before he spoke into the phone again. "Tell Hetty it's for my detached duty assignment. And overnight them to Gibbs - no, overnight them to Abby. I'll pick them up tomorrow, maybe the day after. … Good thinking. … Thanks, Eric."

Callen ended the call and stood, apparently waiting to see what she'd say. Laura straightened her shoulders.

"What's the plan?"

"We're a family going on vacation," Callen said. "We'll travel by land and air, vary the route to confuse anyone who might be tracking us."

Laura nodded. Clint had told her something similar once.

Callen stepped closer to her, lowered his voice. "That's why I wanted - needed - you to trust me."

Laura understood immediately. If they were a family, they should be comfortable with each other. But, "We could be a couple fighting, trying to save the marriage by going on a family vacation."

"Save a marriage by taking the kids along?" Callen countered. "I don't know much about relationships, but that doesn't seem like the best idea to me."

"Probably not," Laura admitted after a moment. "What's the first stage?"

"Driving, here to D.C."

Laura winced. "That's a long day of driving, even if we switch off."

"If the kids get too tired, we'll stop," Callen said. "I'd rather drive straight through, but running you to exhaustion isn't keeping you safe."

"It is, depending on the alternative," Laura countered. "We've done road trips before - not since the baby was born, but Cooper and Lila should be good."

"Then we'll get on the road as soon as you're ready."