hello lovely followers and readers of all kinds! how's it going? i hope good :)

so here's the next chapter, the kids are going... trick or treating!

as always, i do not own anything here, only the ideas :)

"Jemma, for god's sake, stay still!" heard Skye as she came out of the bathroom, her hair dripping wet and a towel in her hands. A week had passed since they had first arrived to the city and it was Halloween night so the kids had decided they were going treat or tricking around the neighborhood.

That's how Clint ended up helping Leo and Jemma out with their costumes.

The other ones where scattered around the apartment; Grant was probably planning on his not-so-secret prank plan for the poor people that dared to annoy him tonight and Melinda and Phil were eating something before putting on their costumes. Skye, laughing to herself about the mess Barton must be on, made her way to her room where a Black Widow costume was waiting for her.

As she slipped into the tight cat suit and armed herself with fake guns she heard Barton yell "Skye, could you please come here?"

Skye, laughing one more time, tied her combat boots and made her way towards the kid's room, where she had heard Barton's voice coming from.

"Yeah?" She asked innocently, as she crossed the doorway. Inside, Leo was sitting on his bed with an old Gameboy in his hands, playing nosily. In front of him, Barton was trying to tie Jemma's hair in what Skye hoped was a braid. The girl, dressed in a lab coat and lab glasses, was trying hard not to let a sound come out of her mouth, though Skye could see she was in pain.

Skye immediately rushed forward and took over the situation, grabbing the strands of hair that where in Barton's hands in her own and picking up the hairbrush.

When the braid was finished, Skye commented "so, the super assassin training didn't include braiding hair?"

Barton sighted. Skye had definitely made it her mission to light up the grumpy man's world so she teased and joked as much as she could when he was around.

"Skye, for the last time, are you intentionally asking for an arrow in your face or are you always like this?" he asked, tiredly. Skye felt bad for him, about two days earlier the doctor had cut off the medicine for his leg and Skye could see, even though Clint didn't say anything, that it hurt.

"Nah, this is just for you" she answered without skipping a beat "okay Jemma, there you go"

She kneeled so she was at the same level as the little girl and added "you make the most beautiful scientist I have ever seen"

The little girl smiled brightly at her and said "thank you Skye, you make a weally good Black Widow too, the only thing missing is the wig"

"Yeah, I forgot that on my room" said the older girl as she stood up.

"Now ma' costume!" jumped Leo, as he realized Jemma was ready "I wanna be Iron Man!"

"What 'bout Hawkeye? That guy's pretty cool too, huh?" said Clint, rubbing his leg unconsciously.

"Yeah, he's alright I guess" said the boy, Barton's brows knitted "I do like all his arrows and the way he shoots in one direction and looks the other way"

A smug smile planted on Barton's lips.

"But Iron Man's suit, it's just, unbelievable! His-" and then Leo entered one of his rants about the technological specifics and designs of the suit. Skye just ignored him and instead went to the closet to get the costume and the plastic parts.

Once Leo was all set and done with his Iron man suit, plastic mask over his face and plastic gloves that lighted up every time he pressed a button, the four of them made their way to the kitchen where Phil and Melinda where.

"Nice costume Skye" said Phil as he saw the group coming in.

"Phil, Mel, you should go change now, we'll be leaving in 'bout half an hour from now" informed Barton and the two of them left for their rooms.

"I'm gonna go help them, in case they need anything" said Skye as she followed the two pre-teens down the hallway. Before entering their rooms though she snuck into her own and picked up the red wig, placed it in her head and continued to help the kids.

Phil, of course, chose a Captain America costume and Melinda, who didn't know too much about the festivities, chose to go simple, and dressed up as a vampire.

The two kids looked awesome so Skye, never without her phone in her pocket, snapped one or two pictures of them together.

Then they made their way back to the kitchen where a heated discussion between the two smaller ones was taking place.

"No but the helmet's 'sposed to be attached to the west of the suit, the only pawt that is sepawated is the mask" argued Jemma.

"Well this's a costume! It doesn't have to be exactly the same!" responded Leo.

"Hey, kids, calm down, what's going on here?" asked Skye. Both kids looked back at her and responded almost simultaneously:

"The costume's not 'sposed to look like that!"

"She says the costume's not 'sposed to look like this!"

Skye mentally face palmed herself, kids could fight about the most stupid things sometimes.

"Hey, where's Clint?" asked Skye, what's with Barton disappearing all the time? Thought Skye.

"He said he had ta' attend some business and ta' also get his costume" answered Leo, picking up his candy bag from the counter and passing Jemma hers.

"Clint's wearing a costume?" asked Skye incredulous.

"Yah, he even asked me to help him a few days ago" continued Leo.

"What's it about?" asked Skye.

"Well, turn around and you'll see" said a voice from behind her. Skye spun around in surprise and was met by the tenth doctor; of course it was the blond, cast-on-leg version.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Skye, jumping in surprise "you're the tenth doctor!"

"Yes I am" said Barton on a fake British accent.

"Tewible accent" Skye heard Jemma whisper to Leo behind her.

"So, are we ready to go treat or treating or what?" asked Barton. He seemed to be on an extremely good mood compared to just a few minutes ago. Skye suspected his 'business' whatever it had been must have turned out pretty good.

So after picking up the jackets and coats needed for the cold weather, the whole gang headed to the front door, out towards the elevator and down to the lobby. On the way down Skye, without the kids hearing, asked "what's up with your good mood?"

"Got a call" he said just as the door opened "tell you later"

Skye, puzzled by his respond, could only follow them.

As they made their way out of the building Skye said hi to Mac, who was wearing a James P. Sullivan costume. The young agent gave her a curt nod and a sly smile.

After three rounds around the neighborhood, at least ten yawns from each kid and five candy bags full of candy, the group of seven made their way up the elevator. It was still early night, about eight thirty or something, but it was already darker than safe for the kids and the cold had started to become pretty uncomfortable.

As Clint opened the door the bunch of kids hurried inside and to their room to change into a warmer outfit, like their pajamas.

"so, it's still early, maybe we can ask Mac to come up and look after them while they sleep and we can go get a… something?" asked Barton taking off his jacket.

"Like on a date?" asked Skye, skeptically.

"No!" said Clint, a disturbed look settling upon his face "I just-, I need someone to talk to, and you're the only responsible adult 'round here"

Skye, thinking it through a moment, said "let me go change first"

She rushed towards her room, slammed the door shut and slipped out of the cat suit. She rummaged through her closet until she found the most comfortable and warm clothes she found, this was building up to be a pretty long night. And Skye wanted to be prepared.

As she came out she almost crashed into a sleepy Phil in the hallway "there you are" he said, rubbing his eye and yawning at the same time.

"What is it, AC?" asked Skye.

"You gonna give us a goo' night kiss, right?" he asked sheepishly.

"'Course I'm gonna do it" said Skye "I was just on my way, actually"

"You and Agent Barton are going out?" he asked as both made their way to Phil's room.

"You know you can call him just Clint" commented Skye "But, yeah, we're going out. You are staying here with Mac, the guy from downstairs"

"Oh, okay" he said as they reached the door.

Phil crawled into bed and Skye gave him a kiss in the forehead and made sure the sheets covered every inch of his body except for his face.

"Night-night Skye" said Phil sleepily.

"Night-night Philip" said Skye as she walked out and turned the lights off.

She then proceeded to do the same in the next two rooms until all of them where tucked in and snoring happily. It had become a kind of habit, ever since they got here, even though it had happened just a week ago. Skye and Clint would take turns tucking in the kids for the night.

As she left Leo, Jemma and Grant's room Skye caught a glace of Mac, sitting on the couch, his James P. Sullivan costume still on, his feet propped against the coffee table and the TV on.

Clint was waiting for her at the door, his usual clothes; dark jeans, a red hoodie and a black winter jacket, on again. They made their way silently down again on the elevator and out the glass door of the lobby. Outside, a nameless agent was waiting for them with the car. Skye had to drive since Clint had his leg on a cast.

On the drive to "The Old Hut", a bar they had previously visited the day after they had arrived at New York, Skye enjoyed the rare silence that set upon them. The usual bickering and teasing had disappeared, even just for a night, and Skye liked it, it felt like they had finally passed the 'I-hate-you I-hate-you-more' phase. Or that was, until Clint opened his mouth again.

"You really need some driving classes" he murmured just as Skye took a sharp turn too fast.

"And you're gonna teach me Mr. I've-only-crashed-my-car-about-ten-times-this-year?" asked Skye, a small smile lingering on her lips.

"Hey, that was on missions! It doesn't count" he said, crossing his arms over his chest like a pouting five-year-old "you try driving safely when there's about twenty guys behind you aiming missile launchers and machine guns at you"

A small, comfortable silence set upon them again. Now, it was Skye who broke it "is it hard? I mean, the thing about going off to missions, never being able to be at home for long?"

Clint took a couple of minutes before he answered.

"When you live like this, there's no real place you can call home, for example, my so called home is a small apartment on Coney Island, which I haven't visited for four months. So you start looking back to people, they become you new home"

"So… you've got a wife or somethin'?" asked Skye, she could already hear the yelling she was going to get for that.

"somethin' like that, yeah" he said vaguely, surprising Skye.

"Oh, look, we're here" he added, pointing to the small building to the right of the car. A bunch of men where all hanging out around the door, you could see it was full of people inside and the music and laughter could be heard from about two blocks away. Small Halloween decorations hung outside the windows.

Skye parked the car and the two of them got out and headed for the front door of the old bar.

so, next up... Bar Talk!

when Clint gets all sentimental and Skye lends an ear to hear him up. of course most of the conversation will be out of their memories in the morning, after all the drinks :) but you'll get to see all of Clint's insecurities and stuff, you know, all the thingshe would tell an almost stranget like Skye.

now, i need your help lovely people, please give me suggestions about the call clint received. i was thinking something related to natasha or something cuz, lets be real, what else would make clint jump in happiness?

so, leave you coments, please fav/follow, review, all the rutinal sfuff, you know i live on reviews :)

CmC