Hello (*smiles embarrassed)

I'm sorry you had to wait so long for an update, but this chapter was really difficult for me to write and I just got stuck. But I think now I have overcome the block and hopefully I will update this story regularly again.

Many thanks to Senema for her quick beta. If there are still mistakes, they are my own. Enjoy!

Chapter 16

After breakfast, Natasha had dragged Clint outside and led him to a hidden corner where they were completely undisturbed. Clint frowned; he had seldom seen his friend so agitated. "What's wrong with you?"

Natasha swallowed, sat on a stone bench, and pulled Clint down beside her. "I have to tell you something, but I don't know how!"

Clint blinked. That was weird, usually Tasha was more the make it short and painful type. "Such bad news?"

"Not really." Natasha laughed brittle. "It's good news, but I still don't know how you will react."

Clint sighed. "We won't know until you tell me. Spit it out, Tasha!"

"Phil is alive", said Natasha quietly.

The blood drained from Clint's face and for a moment, he thought Natasha had allowed herself a cruel joke, but one look in her eyes taught him better. She would never make that kind of joke about Phil. "How? I mean, I don't understand, we attended his funeral."

Natasha's sighed. "I don't know anything either. We will have to ask Phil, Fury gave me his number."

"Fury? He knew Phil was alive?" Clint shook his head in annoyance at himself. "Of course he knew. That bastard! How did you find out?"

"He told me that he sent a very good friend who he absolutely trusts to your farm." Natasha smiled slightly.

"Fury really should know better to betray himself like that." Clint laughed humourlessly. "He knows best how you can extract information even from the smallest of remarks."

"In his defence, he was very worried about Laura and the children", said Natasha.

Slightly soothed, Clint stared at the floor, trying to grasp this new knowledge. "I don't want to talk to him right now, there is just too much for me to think about and to decide."

"I can understand that", said Natasha gently. "When you are ready, let me know and we will call him together." She got up and left.

Clint looked after Natasha. She just knew him too well and recognised that he would rather be alone now. She would give him a few hours to sort everything out and if he didn't come back, she would set Laura on him.

He pondered the situation with Phil, and more importantly, how he should deal with his new status as a fugitive.

Clint sighed. He had to admit that he didn't particularly enjoy any of the options available to him.

If they accepted T'Challa's offer to go to Wakanda, Laura and the children would be safe. None of his enemies and not even the US government would have the chance to blackmail him by threatening the life of his family. However, it also meant that Laura and his children would lose their home for the foreseeable future, maybe even forever.

Because he himself had become an orphan at an early age and then had an unsteady youth that he had spent in a circus, who never stayed long in one place, he had never known stability or a permanent home. He couldn't do that to Laura or his children. Clint pressed his lips together, option one was therefore out of the question, the happiness and welfare of his family always came first.

Then there was the second option that he could go to jail or, if he were lucky, the government would grant him house arrest. Maybe he should ask Elijah if he would use his special talents of persuasion for him. This way Laura and the children could keep their home and as a bonus, he could protect them in case there was another attack on the farm.

Of course, if an attack occurred outside of his permitted range, he would not be able to protect them. Perhaps he could make an additional deal with the government that would guarantee his family's protection. What happened to him or what the price for it would be was secondary to him.

The third option he felt was the most unacceptable and not because it forced him into a life on the run. He would never go to Wakanda with the other Avengers alone and thus leave his family defenceless. However, he was only able to help his family to a limited extent.

At best, the government and his enemies would monitor them non-stop, just waiting for him to go near them. At worst, they would use his family as bait, which put them in even more danger. No, the third option was definitely out of the question.

Torn between three unsatisfactory options, Clint opted for the second. It was the only way to guarantee the greatest possible security for his family. In addition, this way Laura and his children could keep their lives too and would not be homeless. That he would pay with his freedom for this, was perfectly acceptable to him, at least this way he could remain with his family.

xxxxx

Unbeknownst to Clint, Laura also thought about the options available to them. She sighed. Going to Wakanda with Clint meant leaving everything behind. The children would lose their friends, their school and their home, leaving behind everything they knew. It meant completely uprooting them with no way of telling when and if they would return. Laura sighed. She didn't particularly like that option.

The second option was best for her and the children, but it meant that Clint had to crawl before the government and Ross. Now that Laura knew, what Ross had done to Clint, Wanda, and the others in the raft, everything in her opposed this notion. She didn't want to subject Clint to this humiliation, Clint would again be Ross's prisoner.

It might be better than jail if the government accepted the deal, but what if an attack happened on her or the children while they were not in Clint's proximity. Clint would not be able to protect her, and she most certainly would not rely on the government to protect her.

With the third option, Clint wasn't with them at all, but she knew too that he would never go to Wakanda and leave them behind without protection. The children and her would be the perfect bait for Clint's enemies and the government to lure Clint into a trap. This was by far the worst option for everyone involved.

Laura sighed again. She had to talk to someone, but it couldn't be one of the Avengers. She needed someone who knew about the whole situation, was neutral, who could and wanted to listen, and most importantly, was willing to let her make her own decision.

She thought about the people, who were on the property and began to grin. She knew the perfect candidate to use as her sounding board.

Laura entered the house and went to Elijah's wing. The connecting door was open. Shana had explained to her that this meant that Elijah was in his study and everybody could disturb him, if he deemed it important enough.

She was about to knock when Elijah's voice rang out. "Please come in, Laura!"

Laura entered the study with an embarrassed smile. "Hello Elijah. Do I bother you?"

Elijah gently shook his head. "I will always have time for you, Laura. How can I help?"

"I need to talk to someone." Laura shrugged helpless. "So much has happened and I need someone who listens to me with an open mind."

Elijah smiled slightly. "I cannot promise you complete objectivity, but I have been known to be a good listener." He got up, closed the door so that nobody would bother them and went to a sofa that stood in one of the corners. "Please take a seat! Can I offer you something?"

"Water would be good." Laura laughed softly. "I think I'm gonna talk a lot." She sat down and after Elijah had fetched water for her, he sat down next to her. Without saying another word, he looked at her carefully and patiently waited for her to sort through her thoughts and start talking.

Laura sat in silence for almost five minutes and Elijah did not move or make a sound. Finally, she knew where to start. "Did Clint tell you how they treated them in the raft?"

"No, not exactly. I heard a few things, but after meeting Wanda, I think those things were just the tip of the iceberg." Elijah sighed. "I must confess that I mainly looked at the information that would help rescue them, not the exact circumstances of their imprisonment. I had limited time and had to prioritize."

Laura smiled slightly. "Don't worry about it, Elijah!"

She told Elijah what Clint had told her about his treatment and the treatment of the others. The more he heard the more rigid and expressionless Elijah's face became. As she now understood, it meant that he now had his emotions under rigid control. Moreover, she assumed that it also meant that he was very angry about what he heard. Nevertheless, he did not interrupt her and gave her the opportunity to speak her mind.

Next, she told him, which options she and Clint saw for themselves to minimize the harm to their family. His rigidity was gone now instead Elijah looked thoughtful. Finally, Laura finished and fell silent.

Elijah waited a little to make sure she was done. "Have a drink, you sound hoarse."

Laura smiled and emptied her glass.

Elijah refilled it. He hesitated a moment, then asked. "What do you want from me, Laura? Did talking to me help you to make up your own mind?"

Laura sighed. "No", she admitted. "And I really want to know what you think."

Elijah nodded. He got up and went to the window, where he looked outside for a few minutes. Laura showed him the same courtesy as he had her and did not interrupt his thoughts. Finally, he came back and sat down again. "Did you know that my family was on the run for over 1000 years from our father? That he terrorized us even as children without mercy and after he changed us, hunted us like animals?"

Laura looked at him in dismay. "No, I had no idea."

Elijah smiled sadly. "Our father wanted to kill Niklaus. Even when we were still human, he always abused him and then he found out, his wife had cheated on him and that Klaus was someone else's son.

Of course, the story is a little more complicated, but it ended up with Mikael killing off all pack members of Niklaus's real father. There were other incidents, but it ended with Niklaus killing our mother in revenge."

Elijah shrugged his shoulders disinterestedly and Laura could see that her fate did not affect him. She wondered, uncomfortably, what this so-called mother had done to her children that his brother's murder of her caused no emotion.

"In any case, my father chased us with a malice that was second to none. He burned down entire cities, so that we never could experience a single second of peace or happiness. When he found us, he killed and destroyed everything that we loved and was important to us. Every time we thought we had escaped, he found us again." Pure hatred rang in Elijah's voice.

"We had no home, no stability. Moreover, the more he hunted us, the more ruthless and brutal we became when he cornered us. Our only wish, our only thought was to escape Mikael and over the centuries, we became more and more indifferent to those, who had to pay for it.

So no, I don't think the third option is a good idea. The price Clint would paid would be far greater than you can imagine or bear."

Laura swallowed; she had never seen Elijah so emotional. Nevertheless, she had to agree with him that the price would be too high for Clint, but also for her and the children. "You're right, the third option is out of the running", she said firmly.

"Option two is tolerable and I would use my skills to keep Clint out of jail." Elijah smiled mischievously and Laura just had to smile back. "I don't have to tell you anything about the disadvantages, you have already listed them.

I would use my contacts too, so that you and your children are as safe as possible, but I also have my limits." Elijah was completely serious now. "I cannot guarantee or promise anything. And by the way, I really hate breaking my promises as I still consider my debt to Clint unpaid."

"I understand, Elijah." Laura was thoughtful.

"Now let's talk about the first option." Elijah leaned forward and mustered her intently. "I just have one question for you, Laura. What is your real home?"

Laura considered the question and started smiling. "Elijah, has anyone ever told you that you are a manipulative bastard?"

Elijah grinned in amusement and didn't seem in the least offended by her insult. "I have heard this term many times, from my enemies, my allies, a few friends and also very often from my siblings. Although they abuse me with completely different names that I would not ever tolerate from anyone else." He winked at her.

"But to get back to your question, Elijah, my real home is and will always be my family." Laura got up and Elijah followed suit. She stepped up to him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Elijah!"

Laura left Elijah's study, her steps elated and her decision made. All she had to do now was to convince her stubborn husband, who without doubt had already chosen the second option.