[Open File: Videos]…

[Videos: Open File: Family]

[File Open: Video Open: Untitled]:

A little figure raced across the living room, giggling the whole way, "Nataliya, you get back here young lady, do you want to be smelly when Daddy comes home?"

There was another peel of giggles at the very thought, Natasha rolled her eyes, her daughter was hiding behind Tony's legs now, only half dressed with a big smile on her face.

"Well, good to see you haven't lost your touch Black Widow, outsmarted by a four year old" Tony said with a chuckle, Natasha gave him a look.

"Says the one who gets tricked by his own son on a daily basis," she said looking amused, as Leifr came over and grinned at Tali, she put her fingers to her lips as if telling him to be quiet, Leifr mimicked the motion and giggled too. Their parents looked on in amusement, it really was too cute for words.

"What are you two plotting down there, hmmm?" Loki asked as he walked into the living room from the kitchen, an apron making him look like a housewife and nothing like the villain he still claimed to be, "Leifr could use a bath too, now that I think on it," he said, as everyone was aware that the children refused to bathe without each other.

"You owe me one then, Liesmith," Natasha said as she swooped down grabbing a four year old in each arm, having snuck up on them while they were busy.

"Of course," he said with a grin, "You get one meal of your choice and a nap tomorrow," he said, Natasha hummed in pleasure.

"We should have brought you in long ago," she said and Loki chuckled as she turned back towards the children's bedrooms. They had had separate floors before, but the kids had always snuck to each others rooms in the middle of the night because for some reason JARVIS did everything they said.

The adults had decided to just put them all in one area, so the kids had their own floor which was what used to be the common room, with the kitchen and living room, Tony and Loki had their own floor, Clint and Natasha had their own, Bruce and Betty when they were living in the tower but they liked to live closer to the University that Betty taught at, Branden would live with them unless they had to travel otherwise he'd stay here. Thor and Jane had their own floor as well, but they were in New Mexico more often than not, Jessica had her own room as well, however rarely used.

Natasha was almost through the door when the elevator dinged announcing the arrival of someone.

"DADDY!" Tali squealed and squirmed enough to get out of Natasha's arms and run right at the elevator. It was to be expected that Tali was excited to see her Daddy after so long, it had nearly been a month. But the mission had been important and Clint was the only one qualified to go.

The elevator opened, but not to Clint instead it was a grim faced Coulson, who had been in charge of another area of SHIELD for a while before coming back to the Avengers, but only when the situation was dire.

"You no' Daddy!" Tali said with a little pout, "Where Daddy?" she demanded, and for once Coulson's mask cracked. Natasha set Leifr down looking at Coulson wide eyed.

"Phill..?" she whispered and he sighed he held out the file to her and she took it already knowing what was in it.

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly, he couldn't stay longer he just knew he couldn't he nodded stiffly and then turned and pressed the button to go down. Tali was looking between him and her mother wide eyed.

Everyone else was silent, Tony easily picked up Leifr who was looking at them all like he was trying to figure everything out. Loki looked pained, but he didn't move, he knew what it was like to lose someone like that, but even he didn't know how to explain to a child that their father was dead.

"Mommy?"

Natasha looked down at Tali and a tear slid down her face, she knelt down and opened her arms the file falling to the floor, the SHIELD emblem dark against the light colored file. "Come her baby," she whispered and Tali didn't need to be told twice.

She came into her mother's arms without any prompting, "Mommy? What wrong?" she asked, her little finger wiping at the tear on her cheek. Natasha held her close.

"Oh, baby," she whispered into her hair, "Baby…I'm…Daddy isn't coming back, sweetie, he's gone."

"Bu' Daddy said he was gon' play wit' me! He Pwomise!" she protested, more tears started to slip down Natasha's face.

"I know, baby, I know…but…he can't…he can't come back, he's gone…" she said pulling back to bring a hand up to her daughter's face, "I'm so sorry, baby…Daddy is never coming home…"

The little girl's lip wobbled, "Was I bad?"

"Oh, god no baby, this is not because of you," Natasha said, looking even more hurt, "Daddy had an important job to do…he wanted to make sure you were safe…he made sure everyone is safe…what he did was a good thing," she said, because Clint was a good man and a great father and she was going to make sure her daughter knew how good he was.

"I wan' Daddy," the little girl said, her own eyes spilling over, "Daddy!"

Natasha held her tightly, and cried silently, because she couldn't do or say anything to make this better.

Tony handed Leifr over to Loki and walked over to the fallen file on the floor, he picked it up and opened it.

Inside was hardly much help at all, it had the non classified parts of Clint's file, and a very vague summary of what happened and why he was on the mission. It was lame and official and Tony would hack the system later to find out more, but for now it was best just to comfort Natasha and Tali.

He sighed silently and walked over to the two crying females, he wrapped his arms around them gently, this was the only comfort he could give them.

Natasha no longer had a partner or lover.

Tali no longer had a Daddy.

It was a sad day in Avengers Tower, especially after losing one of their own.