When they got to the ice cream parlor Clint started pleading for two ice creams, just like he always did when Pepper brought them there, but to his surprise Tony gave in and got him two. Natasha looked up at him with big green eyes and a pouting bottom lip and she didn't even need to ask before he agreed to let her have a second ice cream too.

They took their table by the window and Tony watched as Clint demolished his two ice cream cones in a matter of seconds before asking for a third, this time Tony had to sense to say no. He looked back to Natasha, who had opted for bowls instead of cones, as she stirred the lump of ice cream (or 'iced' cream as she called it) round and round.

"Natasha, what are you doing?"

"It's too cold, I want it to melt"

Tony looked at her while Clint planted his face in his sticky (still paint covered) hands; "She always does this, it takes forever!" he moaned, to which Natasha replied by sticking out her tongue. Clint smiled cheekily at her before swiping a handful of her ice cream. Tony was surprised when she didn't seem that bothered, only to see Clint spit it back out into his hands because he didn't like cherry. It was Natasha's turn to smile smugly now.

Clint sat awkwardly with a handful of spit covered, melting cherry ice cream, and Tony could see the cogs working in his mind so before he had chance to dump it back in Natasha's bowl he sent him quickly to the restroom to get rid of it and wash his hands.

Glancing at his watch to see they'd been there half an hour already and Natasha had yet to touch either bowl of ice cream, Tony gave up waiting and asked the waitress to microwave them for her

"You know, you could just have milkshake in a bowl for all its worth" Tony told her

"But it's not the same" she told him, smiling when the waitress returned with two warm bowls of mush that was previously ice cream. The waitress gave them both a strange look before leaving

Natasha ate painfully slowly and nothing Tony did could encourage her to speed up

"Tony?"

"What is it Natasha?" he asked, rubbing his forehead

"Where is Clint?"

Tony suddenly realised how long he'd actually been gone and thought it was time he went to check on him, asking the waitress, who wasn't happy about it but agreed, to watch Natasha; Tony strolled to the back of the restaurant to look for him.

But Clint wasn't in the men's restroom, and according to the old woman who, he hadn't accidentally gone into the women's either...

And Tony was cursing himself. They've been looking after Clint and Natasha for almost a month now, and they were so close, so close to returning to a team of superheroes rather than some rather inexperienced babysitters and their two charges, and he'd gone and lost one of them

It didn't take long for him to be located though, when the manager of the store found him in the back helping himself to more chocolate ice cream, along with a few waffles and Tony had to apologise and quickly usher the two kids out of the store. Natasha was not pleased she didn't get to finish her ice cream, but looking at the time they'd been out almost two hours, Natasha was still covered in ice tea and Clint in paint, and Tony had several missed calls on his phone. It was definitely time to head back.

Tony watched the two of them walking, hand in hand; chatting, racing, skipping. Trying not to step on the cracks in the sidewalk and hitting each other every time a taxi cab drove past. He watched as Natasha stumbled, but Clint caught her, and Natasha pull Clint out of the path of an oncoming cyclist; he watched and he realised he would miss them.

They'd been such a part of his life for almost a month now that he could understand how Pepper had grown attached the last time this had happened. Sure, he missed the grown up Clint and Natasha, especially since the Avengers hadn't been on a mission since all this had occurred, but the adult Clint didn't like to watch him in the lab like the child Clint, and grown up Natasha certainly didn't fall asleep on his lap like the four year old version did.

They made it back to the tower just as it started raining, leaving Tony to drag Natasha inside as she begged to stay on the sidewalk in the downpour. They rode the elevator up to the labs where Steve and Pepper were waiting with Bruce and Jane

"We have something for you" Tony informed them, when the two miniature assassins looked his way, confusion taking over their features as to why they were here in the lab

Bruce showed them the machine they'd been working on, using a combination of Russian research and the blueprints Tony had from Hydra's original machine
The kids did not react how they expected;

Clint took a few unsteady steps back, before shouting "I knew you'd send me back! You promised you were different but you're not, you're just like them!" he turned and ran off, seemingly disappearing out of view instantly

Natasha, unsure of how to react or what to think at first, seemed to inherit some of Clint's panic as she looked to Tony in horror

"Please don't send me back! Don't make me go back there please!"

Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she pleaded and begged

No one knew what to say; they all thought they'd known it was coming. This was the 'fix' they'd been searching for, but where they were getting their teammates back, Clint and Natasha were heading back to awful, life threatening situations that no child ought to have to go through.

Steve ran off to find Clint, asking Thor for help while Jane followed. They had no idea where he would be, but Steve thought it best to try start with the roof. When he wasn't there they tried the gym, his and Natasha's room, Tony and Pepper's room, the library, the garage, the communal floor...

Natasha was crying so hard her sobs wracked her whole body, her words long since drowned out by the dramatic intake of hitched breath as the inconsolable child wept. Pepper looks like she was about to cry too, and Tony worried he's holding Natasha so tightly it's hurting her but he can't risk her disappearing like Clint because Steve and Thor still haven't found him. Bruce stood awkwardly in the corner, not knowing what to say or how to even attempt to comfort Natasha where even Tony and Pepper had failed.

Bruce covered the machine with a large piece of cloth and pushed it to the back corner of the room and Natasha visibly relaxed slightly. She slumped into Pepper's arms as her energy levels waned. Pepper stoked her back and whispered in her ear as she held her, tears of her own running down her cheeks.

"I don't w-want to l-leave Pepper. P-please don't make m-me" Natasha wept, and it was Tony's turn to hold her trembling form as he fought back his own emotions

"Tasha, sweetie... Look at me" he asked gently, waiting to see those emerald eyes that got her out of so much trouble

"This machine" he began, noticing Natasha twitch on his knee when he mentioned it, "is not going to send you back, okay. But remember how we talked about you and Clint getting younger... When you came here you were eight, and Clint was ten. But now you're four, and Clint is eight, so we need to stop it before you get too young... Remember?"

The young girl nodded, peach-smelling curls bouncing as she did

"Well this machine is hopefully going to stop you getting younger, before you get to three, and then you won't get hurt anymore... But we haven't figured out how to make you a grown up again yet"

"So I'll stay four?"

"Hopefully"

"And I can stay here?"

"Yes"

"Forever?"

He smiled; "Forever"

"Pinky swear?"

"Only if you promise to help us find Clint?"

"Deal" she smiled, wiping the tears from her blotchy face before linking fingers with Tony