MOAR TINY HAWKEYES


Chapter 7: Ducklings


If Clint was honest, he really hadn't wanted a little sister.

He liked Katie. He did. In fact, he was surprised by how much he enjoyed being asked to help her out, especially because she was so small and didn't understand how everything worked or where everyone was or anything like that. It was a lot like helping out with Rachel, who was walking around now and kept trying to follow Clint around.

(Which, to Clint's annoyance, wasn't helping matters with the "duck" nickname his mom had given him.)

But he really hadn't asked for a little sister, and he didn't really want one. He knew that he'd talked with his mom about whether she wanted her own kids, and he thought that was pretty clear…

Except it was kind of different. Because Katie and Susie needed help just like Clint and Barney had. And it wasn't really the same as Logan and K having their own. Not really. They were just helping kids who needed it, and that was why Clint's mom was a hero in the first place.

So he was, slowly, starting to get used to the new normal, even if his mom was with the Avengers and that wasn't really normal. But Katie and Rachel followed him around, Barney helped Susie and flirted with Kitty…

And then, Clint came back to the suite he and his family shared, holding Katie's hand because she needed a nap but didn't want to go to her room unless Clint came... and there was his mom, sleeping on her bed like she hadn't been gone for the better part of a week with the Avengers.

Clint grinned when he saw it and turned to Katie. "Mom's home," he said, then tipped his head to indicate she should watch him before he took a running start and jumped up onto the bed. "Hi, Mom!"

K twisted to grab a hold of him and bear-hugged him for a moment before she started tickling him mercilessly. "Hi, yourself, troublemaker."

Clint was gasping in breath as Katie tried to climb up to join them too. "Me too! Me too!" she chanted — until Clint reached down and helped her up so she could hug K.

K didn't stop until both of them were panting and gasping for air — the giggles all but run out. "You can't have missed me that much. I wasn't gone for too long, was I?"

"For-eeeever!" Katie giggled, half hiding behind Clint to avoid more tickles.

"Didja kick Hydra butt?" Clint asked, leaning forward with his eyes sparkling.

"Some of 'em, yeah," K said before she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "What about you? Did you solve the world's troubles?"

"No, I mostly did homework and played with Katie," Clint admitted with a shrug. "And Rachel learned a new sign!" He perked up. "She can say 'I love you' now!"

"Why wasn't that the very first one she learned?" K asked. "You know, so she can profess her undying love right off the bat … for all the fluff …."

"I guess 'cause Jean can hear her sayin' it in her head," Clint said with a shrug. He leaned forward seriously. "She and Scott cheat. So badly."

"Duh," K agreed. "I doubt they'd speak at all if it was just the two of them."

Clint giggled and nodded at that before, not about to be deterred, he got a little closer. "Didja beat the Red Skull?" he asked. "I betcha did!"

"Oooh, Skull!" Katie giggled.

"Never got close to him," K said. "Saw him — but he slipped out before we could get to them. And for some reason, Carol and Steve didn't want to just … chuck me at him."

Katie broke down in giggles at that. "No throw!" she insisted. "Mom says no throw!"

"I like throwing!" K told her before she booped Katie on the nose. "But … it's probably for the best. I beat Steve very badly at darts later."

"It's 'cause you get so much practice with me and Barney, right?" Clint asked with a crooked grin. "We're the best at games like that!"

K nodded. "Too bad you're not super strong. I'll bet you could have thrown me right at the Red Skull's ugly face."

"Yeah, I only got a sorta power," Clint said, scrunching up his nose.

"Natural-born awesome isn't a power," she said. "But it is cool."

Clint giggled. "I just mean how I don't got an X-gene in the right place, like Dr. Blue says. He says I might not even get powers; I'm just sorta-powered!"

"Who says it's not the right place?" K teased. "I think you got it just where you were supposed to get it."

"You just like that I'm weird," Clint giggled.

"No, I just like you."

Clint grinned and then darted forward to hug her around the middle. "I love you too, Mom," he said — though he didn't get much of a moment when Katie tried to climb into the snuggle too.

"And how are you, little purple wonder?" K asked.

"I been playing," Katie giggled. "Logan-Woolfereed brought me my teddy!"

"He's sweet like that," K said, nodding. "So … he didn't find a new sweetheart while I was gone, huh?"

Katie made a face. "No, silly! Clint says you're in loooooove!" She giggled. "So he miss you!"

"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean he stayed that way while I was taking all of Captain America's money."

Katie giggled and started pulling on K's hand. "We go see! We go see!"

"What do you want to go see?" K asked, dropping back heavily. "I can't… move."

"Logan-Wolvernine!" Katie insisted. "You gotta go see! We go see Logan-Wolvernine! Cuz you looooove him!"

"But I snuck in right past him," K said, acting like she was too tired to do anything — and then going so far as to let out a fake snore after Katie stared at her 'sleeping' for a few seconds.

Clint giggled and then leaned over to Katie. "Try tickling her," he whispered to Katie, who lit up with laughter and jumped on K's stomach.

"Not ticklish," K whispered, eyes closed still.

"Tickles! Wake up!" Katie insisted, trying her very best… while Clint burst out laughing as he watched her go to town.

Until, of course, K popped her eyes open and counterattacked her with more tickles and growls. "Okay. Fine," K said. "But I'm going to need hugs and kisses to get out of bed. It's like a law."

"Okay!" Katie said, already happily climbing up to give K little kisses on her nose and cheeks, while Clint laughed and tucked into K's side.

"She's just like this," he told K. "She was gonna take a nap, though, so she might fall asleep on you if she can't find Dad."

"If she was going to take a nap, she could have just snuggled up," K pointed out.

"I guess she's too excited to see you," Clint said with a shrug. "Because you were with the Avengers." He grinned up at her. "You gotta do that more, Mom. That's so cool."

"That's kind of what Carol was saying," K said.

"Cause she knows you're awesome, right?"

"Cause she liked outnumbering the boys," K argued.

"That's what Jean says about how come you should join the X-Men," Clint said.

"They both want more girls," K said, nodding. "But I don't know about being an Avenger. I'm very sure that there would be pictures with all the girls ... and Iron Man."

Clint made a terrible face. "Eww. Gross."

"Someone would ask for it; you know I'm right," K said, then gave Katie a little squeeze.

"Maybe Katie can be an Avenger," Clint said, and Katie giggled.

"Uh-huh. Nevenger!" she sang out.

"You want to be an Avenger?" K asked. "Hang out with Carol and Jan and watch Iron Man and Cap argue?" She gave Katie a little kiss on the temple and then let her slide down to the ground, where she started trying to skip alongside them.

"Inna be a 'Nevenger with Logan-Wolf-vareen!"

"Well, when you put it like that …"

Katie giggled. "I wike him," she said. "I wike him lots!"

"Well, I love him," K said. "He's fun, isn't he?" The little group had taken their time, and K had made sure that they took a few wrong turns — just to listen to Katie get exasperated and yank on her arm to go the right way.

Clint was giggling madly by the time they got to the others — though when they got there, it looked like Logan's attention was already occupied… by a very widely grinning Jean and Scott.

K grabbed a hold of Katie and pulled her back around the corner and covered her mouth quickly. "Shhhhhhhh. They're already happy enough. We can go back and nap."

Katie giggled and shook her head. "No! We go be happy with dem!"

"They gots enough happy," K whispered.

Katie rolled her eyes and pulled on K's hand. "Puh-leeeeeeease?"

Clint grinned. "She's gonna keep asking 'til you go, Mom," he said. "Mostly 'cause Rachel and her are best friends."

"But … they don't need me in there when they're being all … like they are."

"Let's at least say hi," Clint said. "Cause now I kinda want to know what's up."

"Well damnit now," K said, crossing her arms as she gave Clint a little look. "You two could have done this without me."

Clint grinned. "Yeah, but everything's better with you, Mom," he said. "And I missed you!"

"Oh, you must be getting top marks in creative writing with a line like that, Blondie."

Clint made a face. "That's not my name!"

"He's duck fluff!" Katie put in helpfully.

"He is," K agreed as she reached over to screw up Clint's hair. "Quack, quack."

"M-o-o-o-o-om!" Clint protested as Katie started giggling and quacking at the top of her lungs — which prompted Rachel in the next room to become a tiny monster for her mom wanting to join in the quacking games with the other kids.

Jean smiled as she looked past Logan into the hallway and then set Rachel down so the little girl could run right to K and her posse and start going "kack kack" as best she could, to Katie's obvious delight.

"When did you get in?" Jean asked K, obviously tickled.

"Um …. Earlier," K said slowly. "I was trying to catch up on a little sleep when they attacked me."

"Cause we didn't even know she was home!" Clint put in helpfully. "We just found her sleeping!"

"From 'Nevengering!" Katie said, her eyes wide as she bounced on her toes.

"Well, I'm glad you're here," Jean said, her eyes sparkling. "Scott and I were just telling Logan the good news."

"What's up?" Clint asked, trying to get away from the girls, who were now ganging up on him and trying to follow him around with their quacking.

"Scott and I are going to have another baby," Jean said, positively beaming.

For just a second, Clint stared up at Jean, and then he broke into a grin and hugged her tightly — with the girls close behind him doing the same thing. "That's great. You said you wanted one, right?"

Jean smiled and nodded. "We did."

"Well, good." Clint looked over at Rachel, who was giggling with Katie. "I think Rachel needs a sister."

"I don't really think it works that way," Jean said with a smirk. "But I tend to agree."

Katie giggled. "Sisser sisser sisser sisser," she chanted over and over again, until Scott snatched them both up and started to tickle them until they were both giggling and then snuggling into either shoulder once they got worn out.

And while the kids were getting excited with Jean and Scott, Logan and K had a little reunion of their own — entirely wrapped up in each until Barney had to break it up when he got there.

"Umm… I have questions."

"About what?" Logan asked, clearly in high spirits.

Barney smirked. "I mean, I heard there was a celebration going on from Susie—" He thumbed over his shoulder to where Susie was smiling and riding Hank's shoulders to come join the party. "—because she heard it from Dr. Blue. But I didn't know Mom was home?"

"No one was supposed to know that," K said. "I was sleeping."

"And you got sucked in, huh?" Barney said with a smirk.

"No, your brother and your Katie woke me up," K said. "I was going to just stay where I was until tomorrow."

"Want me to kick his butt for you?" Barney asked, his smirk widening. "I've been learning plenty in Logan's self-defense."

"Already told you: not for use against your brother," Logan said, though he had yet to let K step back from him.

"Aww, come on," Barney said. "It's totally defense of Mom!"

"Like Clint would say something against me," K said, shaking her head. "And if you'd been there, you'd have woken me up too, tough guy."

Barney grinned and shrugged at that. "Maybe," he allowed — though he got a bit distracted when Scott set the girls down again and they both rushed over to him for hugs … and quacking. "Wrong Barton. Come on."

"Nope, they've decided you're the interem mother duck," K said before she waved at him to go. "Waddle off with your baby ducks …"

"Hey!" Barney said, though it was hard to argue when Susie started to giggle and climb down off of Hank's shoulders to join the quacking — and he was clearly outnumbered.

"Oh, I hope we get a girl to add to that army," Jean laughed, leaning back against Scott as she watched the kids run off en masse to play together. "That's too fun to watch."

"Sounds like you're volunteering," K laughed.

"To watch them all gang up on your boys? Any day," Jean laughed, still obviously in a good mood before she came to hug K at last.

"Great; see you later then," Logan said.

Jean laughed. "Right now?" She shook her head. "But we're celebrating!"

"That's alright; if you want to turn us down, Hank will be more than happy to gather them up and tell them 'Nevenger stories," K said.

But at that, Scott laughed outright. "Got you there, Jean. We want them in yellow, remember?" he teased and kissed her cheek.

"Logan manages both in yellow," Hank pointed out.

"Oh, hush," Jean laughed. "Just for that, you're volunteered to help me with the small army."

"And Jan wears yellow, too," K said. "So you know ... "

Jean shook her head and then telekinetically reached out to scoot Logan and K closer together — the few inches they'd been separated when Jean hugged K. "Weren't you two going to go do something that required my stellar babysitting services?"

"Or Hank's," Logan said. "He's perfectly capable."

"Not to mention Susie's in love with him," Scott said, clearly enjoying himself watching the back and forth. "She'd sing his praises in the streets if she had half a chance."

"And with a lovely singing voice, I don't doubt," Hank said, smirking quietly.

"Well you can figure it out on your own," Logan said before he got a solid laugh out of Hank when he tossed K over his shoulder and started walking out. "See you later. Congrats. Again."