When the funeral was over, Natasha took Clint and his children to the car and entered the driver's seat, under curious glances from some of the people who were in the funeral.
"Unwanted attention... Well done, Nat." She muttered scoldingly to herself as she turned the vehicle on. Now everyone would take rushed conclusions about her and her presence around the family who just lost a mother figure and 'oh! Look at that redhead, she's too close to the new widow in town' she could almost hear their thoughts.

"Don't mind them." Natasha looked to the passengers seat in shock after hearing Clint's voice. He hadn't spoken a word ever since the previous night, and Natasha wasn't expecting to hear him do it so soon.
She knew Clint, knew how his mind worked, how his heart worked, she would never take it personal that he didn't talk to her before. He needed a moment of silence and peace, and Natasha would give it to him, even if that moment consisted of 12 hours and 24 minutes. But who was counting?
"Right." She said and started driving, letting Clint drawn in his thoughts again.

The drive home was silent, the children were all sleeping in the backseat, and Natasha couldn't blame them. It was a rough night and a tiring day.
Natasha herself didn't really have a good night of sleep, she actually didn't sleep at all. After putting Clint to bed, she laid in the couch and tried to rest her mind, but it didn't shut down easily so 1 hour later, she found herself making rounds on the house to see if everything was ok and cleaning the kitchen after checking all the doors and windows, along with the children and Clint. She had just some time to do some push-ups and take a shower after the cleaning session before Nate woke up and she focused on him, feeding, bathing and taking care of him until it was time to wake everyone else up.
Drained would be the best word to describe Natasha as she drove them back home, and since she thought no one would actually notice because of the recent events, she forgot to hide her tiredness.
"We have another 30 minutes drive." She heard Clint's voice beside her, but she didn't turn her head to look at him, she'd always been a focused driver. "I can take it..."
She just shook her head. "You need to rest."
"And so do you." He said back "You look exhausted, Nat."
I'm not the one who lost a wife! She wanted to say, but she just shook her head again. "Rest!" She commanded and he sighed, giving up.

30 minutes later and they were home, as Clint said. Natasha opened the backseat door to wake the children up while Clint just walked back to the house, not sparring a glance to the car.
She woke the kids and carried Nate home, as they dragged themselves following her behind.
"You go take a shower and I'll prepare lunch." Natasha told the children as they walked in. Despite being almost 4 PM, they hadn't eaten after breakfast, so she had to make something that resembled a meal and not just cereal and milk in a bowl.
"Auntie Nat, you can't cook." Lila reminded her and Natasha could swear she heard a giggle from the children.
"Thank you for that reminder, sweetie. But I think I still remember how to make some mac and cheese." She said and they looked at her skeptically "I can!" She reassured them. "Now, I need you to take care of Nate while I do this, ok? So take turns on the bath and on babysitting" They nodded.
"Will dad eat with us?" Lila asked.
"I don't know, sweetheart. He's really tired... We'll see, ok?"
"Ok, Auntie Nat."

As predicted, Clint didn't really went down to eat with the children, but only Lila seemed to mind that. When Natasha successfully finished preparing the mac and cheese, she called the children, who were sitting on the couch watching a random cartoon and taking care of Nate, to eat.

"I'm not going to eat unless daddy comes and eats with us." The little girl said, crossing her arms and pouting.

Cooper stood up and grabbed Nate from his crib, walking to the kitchen. "Well, I'm starving." He said "So I won't wait for anyone."

"Go ahead, Coop." Natasha said and he tried to give her an encouraging simile, he seemed to know it would be difficult to deal with Lila.

"Your dad is tired, Lila. He won't come down to eat with us." Natasha explained, watching years threaten to pour the girl's face "I'll bring his food later."

Lila shook her head and stomped on the floor, and Natasha realized a tantrum was about to come.

"Let's eat, Lila." She called once, but the girl started crying hard, throwing herself on the floor and punching it with her little fists.

Natasha exhaled. She never had much patience with kids giving these little shows, knowing how it would be dealt with in the Red Room. She was never the kid to throw tantrums, therefore, she had never put any effort into putting up with those who did.

"It's your choice, Lila." Natasha lowered herself to the girl's level and said, looking straight and coldly into her eyes. "Your food's on the plate, feel free to join us. It will be there until 8 PM, in case you change your mind. If you don't, breakfast is at 7." Lila had stopped crying by the time she realized Natasha wouldn't put up with her little show, while Natasha had already stood up and left the girl alone.

Natasha found Cooper already eating and Nathaniel sitting on the baby chair. She figured it would be better to feed the baby and Clint before feeding herself, so she started her task, focused, since she'd never been good at those motherly things.

2 minutes later, Lila showed up and walked to Natasha, looking her with puppy eyes.

"I'm sorry, Auntie Nat." Lila said and Cooper dropped his spoon in surprise.

Apparently Lila apologizing for something was not as frequent as it should be, because every time she threw a tantrum, someone would quickly baby her and calm her down, and usually it'd come along with giving her whatever she wanted. Natasha, on the other hand, wasn't really fazed with the apology and only stared at the young girl.

"Are you calmer now?" Natasha asked.

"Yes, Auntie Nat!" Lila answered.

"How old are you?"

"7, Auntie Nat."

"Remember that before crying for silly things next time." The woman said, coldly. "Do you want to sit and eat?"

"Yes, please."

"Your plate is over there." Natasha pointed at the plate beside Cooper, who still had his mouth opened in an awe.

Lila silently walked to the empty seat and started eating her food. A small grin appeared in Cooper's face when he looked at Natasha and she winked at him. He knew things were about to change.

After the children ate, Natasha put a movie for them to watch while she cleaned the kitchen and prepared Clint's food. Baby Nate was already in his crib and the kids were engaged on the movie.

Natasha walked up the stairs holding Clint's tray and entered his room after knocking seven times to let him know it was her, in case he was awake. She found him awake and staring at the ceiling as if something really interesting was happening there.

"I brought you your food." She announced, since he didn't look at her before.

Clint moved his head to face her and a dry and involuntary snort came from his mouth when he saw it. Natasha was holding a tray and had an annoyed look on her face, consequence of his previous reaction. But that wasn't even the funny thing...

"Nice apron..." He commented, smirking as she rolled her eyes.

"Shut up and eat." She retorted, leaving the tray by the bed.

"Tasha..." Clint called before she could walk out the door. "Keep me company, please." She nodded and sat on the bed while he did the same.

"How are the children doing?" Clint asked, after a few minutes of silence in the room. It was comfortable, it was what he needed, but he didn't want that.

"They're still shaken..." She answered "But there's nothing much to do now." Clint nodded, taking a bite of the food -which was surprisingly good.

"Lila did throw a tantrum today." She informed and he stopped chewing.

"And how was it?" He questioned, mouth still full.

"Chew your food properly." Natasha grimace at his lack of manners "It was annoying though... I didn't really know how to deal with it. So I just let her cry and went to feed Nate."

"And..."

"She apologized after two minutes or so."

"Wow! That was fast... And she's not even the one to apologize often." He raised an eyebrow to show how impressed he was and she only rolled her eyes again.

"Whatever."

"I've always had the impression you'd be the one to spoil her the most... However, you're the one who's constantly keeping her grounded." Clint commented and put the tray beside the bed after eating all the food.

"Well, what can I do if you spoil her for both of us?" Natasha asked and a smile appeared on Clint's face. The first one.

"She's a daddy's little girl." He said, shrugging.

"Indeed." Natasha agreed and stood up to grab the tray he used.

Before Natasha could take it, though, Clint held her wrist and made her look at him.

"How about you, Tasha?" Clint asked, with soft eyes but something dark in them. Grieve.

"You know very well that I'm not the 'daddy's girl' type." Natasha chuckled, dryly.

"You know that's not what I meant..." He said, not letting go of her wrist and making her sit on the bed to face him.

"What do you mean then?" Natasha was trying to be the most evasive possible and Clint knew that. And she knew he knew.

"How are YOU doing, Tasha?"

Natasha sighed at the straightforward question.

"I should be the last of your worries, Clint."

"No, you shouldn't. The kids cry because they're sad. They laugh because they're happy. They let me know their feelings just by voicing them." Clint said "You bottle everything up and I only get to know it when you explode... Or when you're about to, in some cases."

"So I'll let you know I'm not about to explode anytime soon, Clint." She crossed her arms and glared at him.

"That wasn't even what I asked." He glared back.

"That's the only answer you'll get."

"God, Tasha." Clint sighed, frustrated.

"What do you want from me, Clint?"

"An answer!"

"I already gave you one!"

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Have you?" When Natasha shook her head, he continued "You look like a wreck."

"You sure do know how to make a woman feel gorgeous..." She snorted, not necessarily mad at him.

"Not funny, Nat. I can feel your exhaustion from here." He said, standing up from the bed.

When Natasha made a move to stand up too, Clint stopped her.

"You'll stay and sleep." He said, making it sound more like an order than an advice.

"The kids need to be put in bed." She protested.

"I'll take care of it."

Clint walked to the closet and tossed one of his shirts on the bed.

"Make yourself comfortable." He said, walking out the door. "I'll be back in half an hour."

Natasha grabbed the shirt and dressed herself on it to sleep. Clint and her were best friends, borrowing his shirt was just as usual as sleeping on his bed with him. That's why she wasn't even concerned when she slid under the covers of his bed.

As Clint said, 30 minutes later and he was back. Although Natasha had her eyes closed, she was not asleep and he knew that.

"Thank you, Tasha." He said, when he laid on the bed beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"It's nothing, Clint." She answered, not even opening her eyes, feeling the warmth from his bare chest on her back "That's what friends are for."

"Don't say it's nothing." Clint reprimanded, tightening the grip on her waist "You're a spy, not a housewife, Tasha. No one expects you to cook, clean and take care of three children that are not even yours to begin with. And here you are... We both know this is not your place, but you're still here, giving your best."

"And I'll be here for as long as you need me. I'll do it all a hundred thousand times if you need me to." She assured.

"And that's why I'm always thankful for having you." He said, giving her a kiss on the temple. "Now let's goo to sleep. We'll have a long day tomorrow."

"Good night, Clint."

"Night, Tasha."

A.N: I can't believe it took me 4 chapters to appear here with an author note... Blame it on my shy nature o_o hahahaha I don't really have a lot to say but thank you for all following, favoriting and commenting. I'll do my best not to disappoint you.

Did you like this chapter? Let me know what you think... And also let me know what can I make better, please.

Once again, thank you!