A/N: Sorry that this chapter is so late! We were on vacation last week, so I didn't have time to work on anything. I hope it doesn't disappoint, though!

Disclaimer: Disney still owns Marvel. No one else ever will, because Disney is greedy.

Chapter eight

Shopping - part 3

About ten minutes later, a chubby mall cop makes the group leave the escalator. Clint turns back and sticks his tongue out at him as they walk away. Natasha rolls her eyes, but can't keep the smirk off of her face.

"Where do you guys want to go next?" Clint asks.

The boys shrug. They're still not sure what exactly will be in a mall. They've seen several stores, some they now wish that they hadn't. Others have been neat to look at through the windows, but they didn't look cool enough to go into.

Hela asks softly, "Can we go in there?" She points to a store that is small compared to the others in the mall. The sign above the store reads simply, The Holiday Store. In the windows are stick on Halloween decorations. There are the classic bloody warnings, posters and things like that. Fake caution tape is wrapped around the store.

Clint smiles. How ironic. The goddess of death has a thing for Halloween. The archer casts a glance at his partner. When he sees the smile on the redhead's face, he can tell that she's thinking the same thing. Narfi looks excited about going in. Vali, on the other hand, looks a bit scared. He also looks like he's trying to hide his fear. Like he's scared to let the others know that he's scared.

Hela turns her young eyes up to Clint. He keeps forgetting that the right one is completely white and blind. It startles him every time he sees it. This time he actually jumps slightly. Hela frowns. "What's wrong?"

Clint shakes his head, trying to shake off the shock. "Nope."

Hela looks down. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to ask for something bad."

Clint laughs softly. "No, not that. I meant nope as in nothing's wrong. But yes. We can go into the shop."

Hela looks up, her lopsided smile reaching her eyes. She bounces as much as her leg will allow. "Ooh! Yay!"

Clint chuckles as he leads her and the rest of the group into the little shop. The shopkeeper looks up at them. Clint is surprised to see someone who didn't completely freak out when they saw the group. She just looks over them with a mildly curious expression. Her eyes rest on Hela for a moment before she gives them all a kind smile.

"Can I help you with anything today?"

Clint shakes his head, smiling slightly. "No ma'am. We're just looking around."

The woman nods and turns back to her work. Hela's eyes go directly to the costumes. She looks very excited.

"I wanna go there!"

Clint nods. He says, "Just a second."

He turns to the woman behind the counter and asks, "Can you tell me where the adult costumes are? I'd like to avoid those. Young eyes, you know."

The woman looks up, still smiling. She nods and points to the back right corner. "They're right back there. We have a wall separating them."

Clint nods. "Thanks."

He looks back at the kids and says, "Go on! Have fun, but don't go in there." He gestures to the room with the adult costumes.

Hela and her brothers nod and take off toward the children's costumes. Hela immediately finds a princess dress. It has a wide bottom and is bright yellow. There is lace around the collar and the bottom edge. She runs her fingers over the fabric, looking wistful.

Clint looks at Natasha and they nod to one another. Then they walk toward the kids. Clint comes up beside the boys and says, "Pick whatever you want. Halloween's on me!"

The twins' eyes widen. They start to rifle through the costumes, trying to find cool ones. They end up finding several super hero costumes, but none that are as nice as Hela's. Then Vali finds an amazing costume. Or rather, costumes. It's a set of two, bottles, one red and one yellow. The twins pull the bag out and present it to Clint.

"Can we get these?" they both ask.

Clint nods, grinning. "Yeah, sure! Those are great for you guys!"

He looks back at Natasha and smiles when he sees the redhead leading Hela to the changing room. He then turns back to the boys and asks, "Do you want to try those on?"

When they nod, he takes them to the dressing room. Amazingly enough, the costumes fit with the first sizes grabbed. Clint is thankful for this, because he has never liked standing around and waiting for people to try on set after set of clothes.

They head up to the counter to pay, toting their new costumes. The woman rings them up and Clint pays by swiping a StarkCard. Tony gave each member of the Avengers a StarkCard so they would have access to his cornucopian bank account. Clint is glad for this. Now more than ever, as the costumes rack up a grand total of 100 bucks even. He lets out a low whistle and the cashier smiles.

"Yeah. I think they're a bit overpriced myself, but hey. I just work here."

Natasha chuckles. "At least we have a card, though."

The woman nods, grinning. She asks, "So, are you planning on having a big Halloween party?"

Clint shakes his head. Natasha looks thoughtful, though. Like she thinks it might be a good idea to do that. Clint says, "Nah. These three are Loki's kids, and they've never had any fun. We just thought it would be good to start with Halloween. Do you know anywhere with good candy?"

The cashier nods. She then explains how to get to a great neighborhood with lots of nice old couples who generously give kids candy. Loki's children's faces light up with each description she provides.

By the time they leave the shop, the kids' expressions resemble those that they might have on Christmas morning.

They go around to the other shops in the mall, and Clint doesn't notice how late it's gotten until he sees the dark sky through a window. Hela drags her feet more than usual, her eyes droopy and tired. Narfi and Vali both look tired, too. The look around, not half so energetic as usual. Even Natasha looks exhausted. She keeps brushing her hair out of her face, even if it hasn't fallen forward. Clint is the only one who isn't completely tired.

The archer smiles slightly and asks, "Do you guys want to go back home?"

He gets four nods in return. Hela mumbles, "I'm tired..."

Clint chuckles. "Okay. Let's go."

He leads them to the exit, smiling at those that they pass by. The mall is close to closing now, and there aren't many people there now. Most of the people still in the building are workers and night owls. Clint falls under the night owl categories. It seems that none of the others in his little group are, though.

When they finally reach the car, Clint helps Hela get into her car seat, buckling her up. Natasha puts their purchases in the trunk before sliding into the passenger seat. She buckles up and lets her head fall against the headrest.

Clint makes sure that the boys are buckled up before climbing into his seat and clicking his seatbelt into place. He takes off to the soft snores of Vali and Narfi and the deep breaths of Natasha. If he didn't know that Hela was there, he wouldn't now. She's completely silent.

When they get back to Loki's house, Clint carries all the kids inside. They're all fast asleep, as is Natasha. He changes Hela into her nightclothes and tucks her into bed. He then does the same with the boys. When they're all settled down, he goes out to the car and brings their purchases inside. When he comes back inside, he finds Natasha asleep on the couch. He sits down beside her and turns on the TV. It doesn't take long before he too has fallen into dreams.

A/N: This is the last chapter of the Shopping part. I hope it was enjoyable.

I'm now a beta, so if anyone needs one, let me know!

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