A/N- Alright, so here is the third chapter, thank you for all that have liked and followed this story so far. You all are amazing. Happy New Year.
3R's – Read, Review, Remember to look for the next chapter.
Lots' O' Love
All4TheBest
Erin finished up drying the dishes with her little owl wash cloth balancing on her tip toes to get better access to the countertop from her small step stool. However she made sure to push her weight back onto her heals when Natasha stole a glance at the small red head. Erin finished with the last glass and stacked it before moving to grab the pots so she could put them away and head off to bed before the 'talk' came.
Because Erin well knew that the conversation that she had with her mom before dinner in no way fixed the fact she had gotten into a fight. She placed everything where it went murmured a quick goodnight and turned to her room. She tried to walk silently as she could she got about two steps before she heard a noise and felt a hand land on her head.
"Not so fast Erin Johanna Barton," Her mother chastised turning Erin around and kneeling so she was eye level with the girl. Erin shifted her gaze to anything but her mother.
"I was just gonna…." Erin began nervously twisting her foot as if trying to sink it into the tile floor as each second passed the five year old just seemed more uncomfortable.
"Walk yourself into the living room and wait there quietly until I am finished so we can have a real conversation about what happened today." Natasha offered with a raised eyebrow Erin let out an aspirated breath and lowered her shoulders in defeat.
"Yes Mommy." Erin said with a slight groan hoping the fact she was protecting Peter she turned and walked into the living room with her head hung and jumped up on the couch and pulled her knees to her chest with a sigh. This was going to be a long conversation. It was almost a fifteen minutes Natasha entered the room to see Erin in the same position she had found the girl in when they had talks like this.
"Erin, you know that you aren't allowed to fight other people," Natasha began Erin moved to protest but stop at Natasha's raised finger "ever, no matter the circumstances, no matter who you are trying to protect, you get an adult Erin, how many times have I told you that? How many times have your father, and everyone else told you that? I know you've had to have heard it a million times, so today; today: when you were at school, when you started to fight, it wasn't because you didn't know it was wrong. So I would like you to tell me why you thought it would be a good idea to fight." Natasha said keeping her voice as calm as she could.
"Mommy, I…. I…. I didn't want to start a fight. Mommy, please believe me I didn't want to fight Flash. But he was hurting Peter, like Peter said he used to last year. I couldn't find anyone and I just wanted him to stop so I pushed him, not hard I promise, but he tripped, and everything got out of hand. I didn't mean to fight mommy, I know you don't like it when I fight. I just, I had to protect Peter, and he's my friend, my best friend, my very very best friend. And the bad guy was hurting him again. I just wanted to stop the bad guys, like you and Daddy always do." Erin said tears streaming down her face as her eyes stared at the tiled floor below.
"Erin, it's, you, come here," She said but Erin just sunk deeper into herself. "Come on Sovenok 'baby owl'." She said and Erin looked up her eyes meeting that of Natasha's she then clambered into her mother's lap.
"I am sorry Mommy, I just wanted to fight the bad guys." Natasha began to play with the girls hair softly noting all the new knots that had formed and mentally making a note the girl would need a bath either that night or the next morning. Soon Erin relaxed into her mother's arms and leaned her head back with a sigh welcoming the embrace.
"Erin I know that sometimes it is hard but you have to understand, just because Daddy and I," Natasha began "and most of the adults you know" she said off handedly thinking maybe that may be an issue now she really thought about it. A kid should have more influence than just spies and solders, that couldn't be healthy. "Fight bad guys, does not mean you can. You are a kid Erin, a precious little girl, you deserve to be a child, not to worry about bad guys. Be it bad guys your dad and I encounter or school bullies. Just be a child Erin, you deserve to just be a child."
"I am in big trouble aren't I."
"Yes you are, you gave me a right scare today Sovenok 'Baby Owl'. Also your father is awaiting your call. I told him I would have you call him after you woke up,, but it slipped my mind." She said shifting so she could hand Erin the phone the little girl looked up eyes wide but dialed the familiar number anyways. The phone barely rang once before her father picked up.
"Erin. Is that you, my god, are you alright. You got in a fight, a fight, how many times have I told you." He began to ramble from the other end.
"I'm sorry daddy, I'm really sorry. I will never ever do it again." Erin said to reassure her father, though she really wasn't planning on it. She hated the feeling of fighting Flash it made her feel horrible.
"That's good to hear, but you are still grounded. You know the rules Erin, no fighting, it's dangerous, I don't want you hurt. Why, why where you even fighting in the first place?" Clint said trying to keep his voice calm despite the odd pointed and clipped words that speared every few moments. A telltale sign to Erin that she was in big trouble, The five year old wouldn't put it passed her father to ground her for two months like he had done with the helicarier hide and seek game. Then and again groundings where never very bad, She was not allowed to hang out with Peter on the weekends or go to the local gymnasium on Saturdays for open-gym. She also lost owl for that amount of time witch was never fun.
"I… Flash was hurting Peter, I… I sorry," she whispered softly.
"Erin, I understand that you want to protect Peter, but fighting, Erin you know that it's against the rules. What should you have done when you saw Peter in trouble?" Clint said with an understanding sigh, he now at least saw why Erin fought and he understood. Not that he ordained it, but he understood. Erin would always protect Peter just as Peter would always protect Erin, it was just their friendship.
"Looked for a teacher," She whispered, "I did Daddy, but I didn't see any," Erin explained trying to validate her reason for the fight.
"How well did you look for a teacher?" Clint asked once again with a pointed tone as if he knew Erin had not tried very hard.
"Not really hard," Erin sighed.
"Give the phone to Nat please, then go get Owl, I think he should spend a bit of time with Nat don't you…" Clint said.
"But daddy," Erin began.
"No buts, please and thank you." Erin frowned but wiggled her way out of her Mother's lap handing Natasha the phone and then went into her room with her head down, dragging her feet.
"I hate this," Natasha said with a sigh.
"Who would have thought you were the pushover." Clint joked Natasha just growled though she was quite aware that she was the pushover. Witch was quite funny actually seeing as most they met thought she would be the one with the iron fist.
"I, she was protecting Peter," Natasha sighed as if that made it alright.
"She fought Nat." Clint said.
"How long," Natasha asked not needing to specify what she meant.
"two weekends," Clint said with a sigh.
"Two weekends." Natasha said and at that moments Erin exited the room with Owl clenched in her grasp. She held it out to Natasha reluctantly. Natasha grabbed the owl toy and tugged a bit before Erin released it and turned for her room.
"Erin after next weekend you can have owl back." Natasha said simply and Erin nodded her mind far from the fact her punishment was less than she expected and on the fact she was being punished at all.
"Can I go to bed," Erin murmured.
"Yes Ma'am, after you say good night to your father." Natasha said handing the phone back to Erin.
"Night Daddy, love you."
"Good Night Erin, Love you too."
A/N – Theres the chapter, which I hope shows a bit more of natural reactions from Natasha and Clint. I didn't make them extremely harsh on this issue for a reason. So I hoped this felt a bit more, real.
3 r's – remember to look for the next chapter, review, and read (witch you just did)
Happy New Year,
Lots' O' Love
All4TheBest
