"I'm sorry маленький ястреб," Natasha whispered after they had been driving back to New York for a few hours. Clint said nothing, just looked out the window. He still wasn't ready to handle any of this. Bucky looked to Natasha's face in the rear-view mirror when she glanced up at the mirror quickly. When he did nothing to help, she sighed deeply and turned back to the road. They drove for another few hours before Clint broke the silence.

"They didn't look that much like me, did they?" the archer asked. Natasha frowned, glancing over to him. Cooper and Lila had many characteristics of Clint. But, as they grew, they had certainly seemed to take on a different look. And it was clear that it was partly Laura but it hardly looked partly Clint anymore. Hal had a very similar body type and overall image of Clint but notable differences like eye color, facial structure, and a few other minor things.

"Meeting Hal, I can see they resembled him more," Bucky admitted, wishing he could have said something else. But he wanted to be honest. Between they two of them, with their super soldier serum, they could both remember what the three kids looked like. And as Bucky said, they matched with Laura and Hal far more than Laura and Clint. Clint sighed deeply.

"At least we know Nate's gonna be born." Bucky winced. He hadn't thought of that since Clint and him had first questioned Loki on it. But now, Bucky could see how Clint would feel about this. Nate was named after Natasha and Pietro and he wasn't even Clint's kid? What was wrong with Laura that she thought this was okay?

"Who's Nate?" Natasha wondered.

"Nate... Nathaniel Pietro... He was my third child with Laura. But, apparently it was all a lie," Clint muttered. "I don't know what to really think at this point."

"I'm sorry," Natasha repeated. Clint shook his head. There wasn't much more they could say. The rest of the drive was done in silence, no one willing to break it now that they had fallen into it. They made it all the way to New York before someone spoke.

"Can we go to the tower?" Clint questioned. Natasha glanced over to him for a second before nodding. Bucky sighed knowing that Clint wanted to go to Stark Tower to raid the man's liquor bar. Not that he seriously blamed Clint. He would have wanted to had he been in Clint's place. Actually, no. He should say that he wanted to period. Laura had not seemed to be the type that would cheat on Clint. Or at least, the Laura that Bucky had met after the Accords. Once Clint returned from the past, Laura had divorced him so quick that there hadn't been a chance for her to. Except, now they knew Hal had been waiting in the wings.

It felt like no time at all before they pulled up to the tower. Natasha headed right for the garage and Clint led her toward the area that had the private elevator all the way up to the common floor. He knew that Tony had it installed before because he had been the one that hacked JARVIS and allowed Phil access in his version of 2012. As Clint had figured, Tony had already put their credentials in JARVIS's system so everything opened for them. The ride up to the common floor was quiet and when the doors opened, Clint was already off. He knew exactly where Tony hid the good stuff.

"Oh! Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, Sergeant Barnes!" Pepper greeted as soon as the trio slipped into the room. Her gaze followed Clint as the archer hardly gave her a welcoming nod.

"Miss Potts," Bucky said back, moving to make sure Clint didn't get in too deep with something that Tony might be mad at him for drinking.

"Pepper," Natasha replied, slipping over toward where the woman was sitting in the living room. Pepper arched an eyebrow at Clint heading right for the liquor cabinet. "He had a family issue."

"Ah," Pepper muttered as Tony and Loki strode into the room.

"Oh! Hey, visitors!" Tony happily cried, looking about. Then he noticed Clint raiding his alcohol. "Visitors stealing my drinks."

"Yup," Clint retorted, pulling out a large glass and filling it nearly to the brim with whatever he had grabbed. Tony arched an eyebrow.

"Dare I ask?" Loki wondered. Clint downed the entire glass. Nearly everyone raised their eyebrows in surprise at the action.

"Laura," Bucky informed. Loki frowned. "Was with a guy named Hal."

"Ah," Loki hummed and Bucky raised an eyebrow as Clint poured another glass. "No. I did not know. There had been mention of a man during the time that Clint had been gone. But I never met anyone."

"I would ask why you didn't think to say anything but. Wouldn't have mattered back then," Clint called, downing the new glass. "Might have made today a bit easier."

"I apologize. I had no notion of exactly who he was."

"Apparently the sperm donor to what I had thought was my kids," Clint hissed.

"Oh shit," Tony whispered, stunned. He hadn't met this 'Laura' but to be the man who was on the other side of learning about the cheating, Tony could only imagine. Seeing it from his side, as the one who normally helped doing the cheating (not that he always knew), he could see why Clint was taking it as roughly as he was.

"Oh my. I'm so sorry," Pepper added. Clint huffed, pouring a smaller glass and sighing as he put it down.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what to feel about it right now. I feel bad for Cooper and Lila the most," Clint admitted. "Apparently Laura and Hal never told them either."

"That sucks," Tony murmured, heading over to the other side of the bar even as Bucky stole the alcohol from Clint. Not that the archer had gone for his third glass. He sighed and handed a glass over to Tony and then one to Bucky. Obligingly, Bucky poured Tony and himself a glass. Clint looked down at his third.

"I hate the serum," the archer grumbled. While alcohol actually affected Clint, it never, ever lasted long. And given the fact that he was using shot glasses, it would take a decent amount of time before he could get fully drunk. Actually, no. To get as drunk as he wanted to be. Bucky huffed in agreement. His serum was a bit more like Steve's so it was hard for him to get drunk as well.

"Oh? The solder serum?" Pepper questioned, getting up. Clint nodded.

"Our metabolism runs faster than normal. We can't really get drunk," Bucky explained seconds before he downed his entire glass. Tony made a small face at the fact that his good liquor was being drunk by two guys who wouldn't feel the affects of it.

"Asgardian mead seemed to do well," Loki mentioned. Clint looked up at him expectantly. He knew that basically one glass of that had gotten Steve tipsy and his serum had always been better than Bucky's and Clint's. The trickster winced. "Sorry. I do not carry that with me. Even in the pocket dimensions."

"Damn," Clint sighed. He looked down at the drink before him and then downed it in one sitting once again. Once done, he turned and put the cup in the sink to be cleaned later. He wasn't going to go back to the old habit... He wasn't his father. No matter what, the end of a bottle honestly wasn't the best way to handle things. Bucky quickly downed his own glass, followed by Tony, and then they both followed Clint's example. Clint headed into the living room, plopping down on the couch. Natasha went to sit beside him but paused and instead gave Bucky the room to. Once the Sergeant was sitting, Clint leaned back into him with basically a pout. "JARVIS, can you send an e-mail with the bare bones of the time travel going on and my relationship with Bucky to lahurd five seven eight one at go dash mail dot com?"

"Shall I send you a copy for review before?" JARVIS intoned. Clint shrugged and Bucky couldn't help but start to run his hand through Clint's hair. The archer relaxed into him a bit more as everyone settled into seats around them.

"Maybe just make sure she's the only one who can see it," Clint suggested, the image of Hal learning everything and announcing it to the world.

"Understood."

The room fell into silence as everyone wondered what to say next. Not much one could say. So, rather than leaving things in silence, JARVIS turned on the TV to a random channel. It didn't take much longer after that before there was a large debate over what to watch. Tony, as a joke, suggested every time travel movie ever made. Pepper kept asking for comedy. Natasha did spy films, knowing Clint loved making fun of them with her. Bucky did action adventure.

"I have never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail," Loki randomly mentioned when the name trailed by. He had a distant memory of Clint having enjoyed the movie thoroughly. If it was true, Loki could use this as a minor distraction to go back to his search. He had thought he was getting close to an answer. Tony spun to look at the trickster, offended. Even Clint perked up to look at the Lie-smith.

"Travesty! We need to watch that!" Tony demanded.

"Is that the one-" Bucky started.

"That Tony quoted a lot. Yeah. Yeah it is," Clint agreed.

"What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" Tony laughed. Clint looked to him.

"What do you mean, an African or European swallow?" the archer quoted. Tony cackled as JARVIS loaded up the movie. Natasha shook her head, raising a hand to press against her forehead.

"Children," she huffed.

"I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries," Clint countered and no one could not hear her snort. Tony laughed again but the duo quieted down for the movie.

"I do believe that I enjoyed that," Loki muttered at the end, surprised that the movie had distracted him so much. Bucky looked over to him giving him an incredulous look.

"Seriously?" Loki nodded.

"There are more," Tony mentioned. Loki seemed to perk up a bit and next thing any of them knew, they were doing a Monty Python marathon.

A month passed in relative silence and Clint couldn't help but remember that it had been about now that he had nearly gotten cleared of all wrong doing while under Loki's control. It was an odd feeling knowing that he had been attacked and tortured on these days when he first went through this time. But instead was safe in Stark Tower. With the month passing, Clint was getting restless.

"JARVIS, pull up mission report ZZ dash nine eight one five," Clint huffed. The file he requested automatically showed up on a holo screen right in front of him. It was a report from Phil's time as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Something that wasn't going to happen for another few years. But, it wouldn't hurt to see if there was something he could do now to stop it from happening. He'd been doing this mostly case by case and sending a report to S.H.I.E.L.D intelligence to get them working on the cases.

"Agent Barton, I have a call from Director Fury for you," JARVIS intoned a minute later. Clint perked up a bit.

"Put it through," he replied before calling out a greeting to the Director. "Director Fury, is there something I can do for you?"

"Stop," was his response. Clint frowned.

"Excuse me?" the archer asked. Fury sighed deeply.

"Stop sending Intel messages. We're going through the files just like you," Fury informed. Clint winced. He had only wanted to help. "You're on stand down."

"I feel like I'm basically fired and only getting pity pay," Clint countered, getting to his feet to pace his room. It was like before. Like when Loki had taken over his mind. He wasn't trusted to go on missions anymore. "I can still work."

"I'm not disagreeing with your ability to work. There has just been no need for your skills," Fury answered and Clint shook his head. There had to have been some type of mission. Something, somewhere.

"But-"

"Barton, please," Fury interrupted and Clint stilled. He hadn't heard Fury say that to him in years. And not just because they hadn't seen each other really since Ultron. "I know things have been difficult for you lately."

"Difficult doesn't even begin to cover it, Director," Clint nearly snapped. He was getting frustrated now. Sitting around doing nothing had never been a strong suit for him. It was even worse now that he knew the challenges that everyone was going to be facing soon. He needed to find something to do. Something to distract him from not being able to do anything.

"Agent Barton. I do not feel comfortable putting you on missions that do not require your skill set at this moment," Fury hissed. Clint frowned. The Director had never had an issue with it before. Especially if he went on a mission with Natasha or Phil or both. "With an unknown amount of Hydra agents within our ranks-"

"I can handle myself!" Clint cried, insulted.

"I am not saying you can't," Fury growled. "My issue is I don't want to lose you."

"You-"

"We found a file on your during our last examination on our system. And it wasn't a personal file. This one spoke of the information you brought. Somehow, someone got a hold of your phone and copied nearly every file," Fury informed. Clint froze, surprised. "There is mention of your serum. Of your magic. Of your relationship with Barnes. There are reports from your Avengers missions and when and how you got hurt."

"Sir-"

"Agent Barton, Hydra is too aware of you and Sergeant Barnes for either of you to be useful for any S.H.I.E.L.D missions. We need you both to stay out of everything," Fury stated. Clint winced. The Director had a point. His mind flashed to when Brock Rumlow had caught him and tortured him. Made him lose all his memories, gave him trigger words. A shudder ran up his back. "This is for the benefit of everyone."

"Understood," Clint whispered in defeat. There was no argument.

"I will send a message to Captain Rogers. Maybe you all can start training as Avengers. Keep yourselves busy that way." Clint snorted. Tony had hated doing it before when the Avengers actually existed. To do it now when there was no knowledge of when the skills would be needed? Clint highly doubted that it would happen. "For now, you are on stand-by. Stop looking into old missions and simply wait until we call you."

"Yes, sir," Clint mumbled and he heard the sound of the call ending. He sighed deeply before turning and glaring at the holo screen with the 'old' file he had been looking at. The screen vanished a moment later. "Thanks."

"It is my duty to serve, Agent Barton," JARVIS replied. Clint gave a dark chuckle at that. He shook his head and looked toward the window. "Might I suggest possibly watching a movie?"

"Seen 'em," Clint retorted. "It'll be-" That was when Clint got an idea. He had time. They had time. Nothing was coming yet and Fury refused to use him so he had nothing to do. And Loki was here, now. Clint could finally learn more spells. And this time, he'd make sure to focus on everything. He wouldn't make the mistake again of being unsure if he was casting correctly. "JARVIS, tell Loki to meet me in the gym!"

Happy delayed Thanksgiving for those that celebrate it. Hope everyone had a good and safe day. We stayed home, getting food premade and delivered the night before so we didn't have to worry about much. Course, Darius refused to eat any of the food and stuck with a Lunchable. *eye roll* Whatever. At least he ate. This morning was an early day due to hubby needing to go work but I was able to put Darius to sleep again for another four hours or so. I barely caught an hour but he's been doing good with not bugging me. Told him I was 'working.' Which, as a writer (fanfiction and otherwise), is true. Writing is my job. I should just work more on the income making stories than the fanfictions, lol.