A few hours later, they drove down the long dirt driveway to the house and parked out front. They hopped down out of the truck and before they could even get the doors shut, Cooper and Lila came bursting out of the house, shouting about various stories and things they wanted to show to Clint and Nat. They laughed and let themselves be dragged inside by the hands, smiling to each other. The kids ran upstairs to go get the things they wanted to show the adults and Laura emerged from the nursery holding Nathaniel, a calm smile on her face.
"Hey you two." She said, hugging Natasha with one arm as she handed Nate off to Clint. "It's good to see you, Nat."
Natasha smiled and hugged her back. "I'm glad to be here."
Clint leaned forward and hugged Laura with his free arm, kissing her cheek gently. "Hey Laur. How are you? How are things going here?"
She smiled and waved her hand to dismiss him. "Things are fine as always. The kids are good, I'm tired, but the older they get the more I get to sleep. How was your drive up here?"
Nat rolled her eyes. "Loud," she said before Clint could answer. "How do you deal with his singing while he's here?"
Laura chuckled softly. "That's easy. He doesn't sing much around here. Only when he's out in the barn working and I don't have to be out there," she teased gently. "He sings to Lila at night sometimes too, but that's quieter and generally not too pitchy."
Clint's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Hey! Don't go selling out my secrets, Laur. That's no fair."
Nat grinned a little as she heard Lila calling her to come upstairs. "The children beckon," she said, excusing herself. "I want to hold that baby when I get back though," she called from about halfway up the stairs before disappearing into Lila's bedroom.
Clint grinned down at his son, kissing his forehead gently. He looked up to see an odd look on Laura's face and he furrowed his eyebrows a little in concern, standing up straight. "What's with that look? Is everything okay?" he asked immediately.
She shook her head a little. "It's nothing. I was just thinking about how well she fits into this family," she said, chuckling softly.
"We had a long conversation last night. I finally told her all about the situation. She was really understanding just like you said she would be."
She nodded a little. "I told you there was nothing to be worried about. You worry too much about everything."
He shrugged slightly. "I think she would agree with you on that."
"So what happened after that?" She reached out and smoothed her hand over the baby's head.
He raised an eyebrow, looking up at her. "What do you mean? We went to sleep…"
Laura sighed softly. "You're hopeless, you know that?"
He frowned. "Hey! I don't even know what I did wrong."
"Are you kidding me, Clint? The way you look at her…" she shook her head a little. "I've never seen you care about someone like that before."
He shrugged. "I love her. She's my best friend."
"Does she know that?" Laura asked, a hand on her hip.
"As a matter of fact, we just talked about it on the way here. We had a whole conversation about how important we are to each other," he said proudly.
"So you told her you love her… and she said it back to you?" Laura pushed the issue, leaning forward a little and hanging on his every word.
"Yes. Why are you being weird?" He was completely clueless.
"You, Clint Barton, are a lost cause." She groaned.
"I really don't know what you're talking about, Laura…"
"Okay. You told her you love her. You're probably the first person to say that to her in a very long time. She told you she loves you too. You're probably the first person she's said that to in a very long time. So why didn't you kiss her?!"
Clint let out a soft chuckle. "It's not like that, Laur. You've got it all wrong."
She shook her head a little, sighing softly. "Just think about it, okay? Just consider it. That's all I'm asking of you."
"If I say I'll think about it you'll leave me alone?"
She rolled her eyes a little. "I'll leave you alone anyways. I just think you should consider it. For both of your sakes'. You both deserve to be happy and I think you could make each other very happy." She shrugged nonchalantly and reached out to take the baby from him.
"Hey! That's my son!" Clint pulled away a little. "You live with him all the time. Back off," he said, swatting her hand gently as he pulled Nate closer to his chest.
Laura was laughing when Nat came back down the stairs, Lila on her hip and Cooper talking a mile a minute about some kid at school he'd gotten into a fight with. Clint raised an eyebrow and turned back to Laura.
"Coop's getting in fights now?"
She sighed and pushed a hand through her hair. "He got into a fight last week. We had a talk about it, but I don't think I got through. He's still talking about it like he's proud of it," she murmured quietly enough so that Cooper wouldn't hear her.
He nodded a little. "Tell you what, I'll talk to him. Maybe he'll listen better if it's coming from me. And if not, it might sink in better once he's heard it twice."
"Well you're certainly welcome to try. It's times like this I wish Barney was still around. These are the conversations that a boy needs to have with his dad," she said softly.
Clint let out a quiet sigh and kissed her head gently. "I'll talk to him," he reassured her. He crossed the room to Cooper, handing the baby off to Nat before giving his nephew a gentle noogey on his head.
"Why don't you and I go check out the barn? What do you say?"
Cooper nodded, smiling happily. He always liked to have some time alone with his uncle when he came around. He stopped at the door and pulled on his shoes at his mom's request before they stepped out the door into the sunlight and started walking through the grass towards the barn.
"So I heard you got into a fight at school…"
Cooper nodded and immediately told him the whole story: that the kid was in the grade above him and was making fun of him for not having a dad so Coop had hit him and then they both got sent to the principal's office. Clint's heart broke a little when he heard the reason that the older boy had been teasing him. He put his hand on the young boy's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Hey. You know your mom and I love you so much, right? There are a lot of kids that only have one parent, but you got a pretty kick-ass uncle to make up for the fact that your dad couldn't handle the pressure."
Cooper smiled up at him. "Swear jar," he said smugly.
Clint sighed a little and ruffled his hair. "I'll pay up when we get back. But I want you to talk to me. Coop, you're such a great kid. Mom and I are so proud of you. It's your dad's loss that he doesn't get to know you, okay? He made a big mistake leaving."
Cooper kicked his toes into the dirt while they walked, frowning a little and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Don't call him that," he mumbled.
Clint raised an eyebrow. "Don't call him what? Dad?"
"He's not my dad," Cooper said firmly. "We talked about our families last week. A lot of kids were talking about their stepparents and how even though they aren't their mom or dad, it feels like they are. So even though he is my dad it feels like he's not. It feels like you are," he said, finally looking up at him.
Clint looked down at the nearly thirteen-year-old boy and nodded a little, swallowing hard against the unexpected lump in his throat. "I've been around for a long time, haven't I kiddo?"
Cooper nodded. "Me and Lila like it when you're here. And so does Mom. She likes having someone to help her. She looks happier when you're here. And even happier when Aunt Nat comes with you."
Clint smiled softly. "Well I'll tell you what, I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm not planning to stop coming. Whenever you want me to come, you guys just call me okay?"
Coop grinned, nodding up at him. "Okay." He pulled open the big door of the barn and stepped inside the cool building. Sunlight filtered in the windows and dust floated through the beams as they walked across the dirt floor. "Are you going to yell at me for hitting Brent now?" he asked after a minute, hopping up and sitting on the seat of the tractor.
"Well I was hoping I wouldn't have to yell. Are you going to make me yell?" he asked, leaning against the front end of the tractor as he looked at Cooper with one eyebrow raised.
"No." He shook his head. "Mom already yelled when she had to pick me up from school."
"Good." Clint nodded a little and rubbed at the back of his neck for a moment. "We want you guys to stand up for yourselves. We're proud of you for not just standing there and letting him make fun of you. But we also don't want you to hurt people."
"But that's what you and Aunt Nat do every day."
Clint sighed. "That's different, bud. The people we deal with are the kinds of people that you can't sit and have a conversation with. When you're at school and someone makes fun of you, we want you to talk to someone first. If it happens again, tell the person that what they're saying or doing hurts you. If they don't care, then talk to your teacher and she'll handle it, okay? You can't just hit people when you get upset, alright?"
Cooper nodded. "I know. That's what Mom said too. I'll tell someone next time," he said sheepishly.
Clint ruffled his hair a little. "Good. Now what do you say we fire this sucker up and take her for a ride? You'll be thirteen tomorrow, I think it's time you learn to drive it."
Coop grinned and nodded excitedly, hopping down to let his uncle start the tractor and pull it out of the barn and into the sunny field. Clint put on the brake and waited for Cooper to get on the seat before explaining the controls. Once he had gone over everything, he sat on the seat behind the boy and let him start driving in jerky circles through the field.
