Author's Note: Okay, this is my first fanfiction in a VERY long time and this idea came to me after seeing all the set photos of Hawkeye. This is going to be Pre and Post Endgame with a few changes *coughs*Tony and Natasha*coughs*. So I hope you like it and please, please, please let me know what y'all think in the comments.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MARVEL OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS. I ONLY USE THEM FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES.

Prologue

Clint had had his fair share of bad days. When one lived the life he had, it wasn't shocking that it was easier to count the good days than the bad. In fact, his bad days had made up the majority of his early life. An abusive father, a car accident that took both his parents and most of his hearing, followed by abusive orphanages and being used and twisted by an evil organization that played itself off as a circus were just some of the highlights that defined the childhood of Clint Barton. When you add in the years of living as an assassin for hire, it was a surprise that he even lived past twenty. But that all changed when on Phil Coulson came into his life and offered him a new chance. To become an agent of some long-winded organization that stopped evil threats across the world. An organization known now as SHIELD. Everything changed after that. Instead of killing for money, he killed active threats that saved thousands of lives. He saved another assassin like himself and gave her a chance to make up for all the bad he had done and gained a partner and friend in the process. He would go on to make more friends who would become known to the world as the Avengers, as well as joining their ranks. From a lonely assassin to a superhero. A drastic change in scenery. One would think becoming a superhero would be the best moment of his life.

It wasn't even in his top five.

The first moment of his life was when he met one Laura Mason. Funnily enough, it had been when he was on mission. His job was to go undercover and locate a potential Hydra recruitment ring in some college program. Laura had been in one of his classes (why Coulson had made him actually go to those, he had no idea – he missed most of them during that time). She had been his lab partner and despite the fact Coulson warned him not to get too close to the civilian, he couldn't help himself. She was gorgeous and smart and a huge nerd. She ended up finding out he was a SHIELD agent once the threat had been neutralized – poor woman had been locked in a classroom with a bunch of other students and almost blown up to hide the true purpose of the cell but Clint had saved them.

Coulson was furious and made him fill out paperwork for a month after that.

But he used that time wisely. He started seeing Laura more and more, going on a few dates where he could. He thought he might have blown any chance with her after she found out he lied about who he was when they first met, but while she had been mad at first, she said something along the lines of, "Well if you really liked me, you'd figure out how to fix that, Barton." A challenge he put all of his effort into.

Now, of course, having to explain to Director Fury and Coulson that he was marrying her, that terrified him. He would never forget the look on either of their faces when he made the announcement and asked for their help to keep her off anything that could tie her to him. Coulson had shook his head and Fury asked if he was out of his mind in a lot more colorful words than that, but when he explained why he needed someone like her in his life, how could they say no?

The next best memory was they day they got married. It was a very small, private wedding. SHIELD had set it up and provided discreet security. The only people in attendance were Laura's family, Fury, Hill, Coulson and Natasha, with Natasha acting as Clint's best woman. Clint had no family to speak of and he had told Laura all about his past. Barney was somewhere, sure, but the bad blood between them was suffocating at that point. He couldn't bring himself to reach out to him. Clint would never forget a few things about that wedding – Fury being the officiant and marrying them with probably one of the most hilarious and horrifyingly embarrassing speeches to date about how terrible Barton was and how he couldn't believe someone actually fell in love with him, Natasha almost killing one of the security agents because they went to the bathroom, and how absolutely gorgeous Laura had been in that dress. In that moment, he never thought she could look more beautiful.

He said that every time she was pregnant, too. Cooper. Lila. Nathaniel. His greatest gifts. The final three to make up the best moments of his life. Cooper's birth had scared him more then any mission he had ever been on. How could he be a dad? His own father was a drunken asshole who abused him and his brother at any chance he got. He didn't want to become like Frank. He was so terrified that he almost missed the birth of his son. If Natasha hadn't literally drug him into that delivery room, he might have missed it.

Clint was so glad he didn't.

He made sure he was there for Lila and Nathaniel's too. He hated being away from them so much, but he and Laura had agreed to never lie to them about what Clint did. "You're their hero," she told him every time he was away on mission and he felt bad for missing anything of theirs. Cooper's first steps. Lila's first grade science project. Nathaniel's first word (coincidentally, it was fast, which made him wonder if someone had told him about the origins of his middle name). All things he had missed and hated himself for. But Laura would tell him they weren't mad because they knew what he was doing and how he kept them safe. He could never let them down.

At least, until Steve made that call.

Clint had been retired. He should have stayed retired. It would have made things so much easier. But when he picked up that phone and heard Steve ask for help to save Bucky and get Wanda out of the basic house arrest of Tony Stark, how could Clint say no? The look on their faces when he explained he had one more mission to take care of and would be right back still broke his heart. Laura's actually scared him. "I'll be fine. Just helping out Cap. I'll be back before you know it."

He should have learned long ago to never say those words.

Because a few shorts days later, he was sitting in the Raft. A fugitive. Because he helped Captain America. If it had been any other situation, he might have laughed about it. But Tony's words still haunted him. Why didn't you think about them before you choose the wrong side? It was debatable that he chose the wrong side, but of course he had been thinking about them and not how he missed being in action or that great feeling of the bow in his hand.

Right?

Well, it didn't matter because Steve broke them out and Clint went home. House arrest, sure, but he was home. Two years stuck at home with his kids and he loved every second of it.

Until the worst day of his life came.

It was just a sunny afternoon. He never expected to suddenly be alone on his farm. He didn't expect to see piles of dust where his wife and kids once stood. And he sure as hell never expected to turn on the news to find out that half the population had been snapped out of existence because the Avengers – his team – failed to stop some huge alien entity thing.

It was the darkest day of his life.

And darker days were ahead of him.