Lucy makes her way outside of the center toward the wide courtyard.

She would've enjoyed pushing her uncle further, but millions of pestering hulk questions left Banner's eyes flickering green and got her evicted from the lab early. His 'go outside for a bit' resembles Jennifer when she needs a 'Lucy break.'

It doesn't affect the girl who is happy to explore and crash Barton's target practice.

Barton slaps his son's elbow up an inch and crosses his fingers with a half laugh. Eight broken arrows in the grass later and all the archer wants is for the boy to get the target. Bouncing off the edge would be acceptable.

Lucy leans her elbows over the outdoor table, tipping it sideways, "Oops. What are you guys up to?"

Clint catches the table with one hand, silently groaning over another arrow going awry, "We're working on Garrett's aim."

The boy extends the bow for Lucy to see it, "Pop made it. Oak?"

"Mahogany," Clint lifts another arrow and tosses it to his son.

"Sick,' Lucy strokes a hand down the side, 'how does it work?"

"Push the button on the side," Barton hopes she'll look for one and knock herself in the head.

Instead, Lucy snatches Garrett's bow and situates her arms into the perfect hold as if it were instinctual.

Clint takes a momentary pause, his eyebrows lifting, "Give her an arrow, Garrett."

Tony arrives just in time with a sandwich in his hand. He's ready with a bet and Antonia at his side, "$10 says G-Man loses an eye- oh Lucy is shooting."

Clint tilts his head, able to predict the outcome based on her stance, aim, and hold, "$20 if she hits the target."

Lucy brushes off Garrett's final corrections.

Barton panics momentarily over her squint, "Keep both of your eyes open."

"Cheater," Tony huffs.

The arrow flies, not into, but through the bullseye. Tony is impressed regardless, and reaches for his phone and sends over the cash of his lost bet.

Clint restrains his own happiness over having a kid around that can shoot. Seeing the look of shock and shame on Garrett's face reels him in from celebrating too loud.

Clint addresses Lucy's shot with a simple "huh," ready to pick up a few of Garrett's missed arrows.

The girl is busy doing a happy dance around herself, pushing Garrett's shoulder, "Did you see that?!"

Garrett laughs, his eyes fixated on her smile, "Yeah that was cool."

She waves when Steve Rogers runs up along the path to join them. Now the Jameson girl is ready to move onto the next activity.

Tony can't help himself when he addresses Garrett, "You just got bested by a chic."

Garrett doesn't respond, still watching Lucy. Barton lowers his eyebrows disapprovingly, "Don't even think about it."

His son frowns, "I didn't do nothing!"

"Keep doing nothin' and hit something so we can pack this shit up."

Tony claps and laughs, "Oh I see; He's got heart eyes."

Garrett huffs with a light blush over his cheeks.

Steve arrives with a nod, "Hello Stark, Barton, Garrett."

Tony nudges the guys, "Poker tonight?"

"I'm in,' Clint mumbles, proudly watching his son's arrow finally bounce off the top of the target, 'That's my boy! I'll take it."

Rogers claps approvingly, "Excellent work recruit. I see you finally hit the bullseye."

Garrett forces a smile and tips his head forward, "Thanks Captain, but that wasn't mine."

"Oh, well good effort."

Stark runs a few feet ahead to herd his daughter and keep her close to him. Antonia is giggling when she tries to persistently break his barrier and charge forward.

She falls forward when Tony calls for Steve to catch her around the opposite end. He fails to reach her in time and she flops forward in her white, or at least white upon purchase, floral dress.

She cries and finds herself in the middle of mud, "Dada!"

The engineer groans and holds the child out with straight elbows, "Yo capsicle, can you grab that towel on Robin Hood's table."

"Uh," Steve scrambles awkwardly.

"Can you wipe her hands?"

He feels the need to explain first, "Now little lady, you need to hold still-."

"She won't."

"How do I-."

"Oh for frick's sake,' her dad embraces the dirt and hugs her close in his pristine suit, snatching the towel from Steve, 'It's not like I have a meeting in an hour. This is fine. Pep won't kill me and hang my head on the wall-."

"Oh good! That's an improvement from the stabbing threats."

Tony raises his eyes, throwing the mud filled towel at Steve's face.

"Hey Grandpa, where's your girlfriend?," Natasha calls from the balcony, her palms up in disappointment. Izabella is on one side with Violet while Brody on the other, "You were supposed to have a lunch date with Teressa."

Rogers looks up, a bit of dirt in his squinting eye, "Hi Romanoff. She's just not my type. That feels wrong to say-."

"Plan on brunch with Stephanie, 11:30 tomorrow."

Steve drops his jaw to respond, deciding against it due to the burning in his eye that now requires his attention.

Clint looks up as Natasha rounds the corner, completing the loop above the courtyard, "Poker tonight. 7:30."

Natasha pants watching Violet outrun her five times over.

Lucy catches up with the group and starts to run with them. Izabella smiles, "Did you finish with Vrach ?"

"Vrach?"

"Dr. Banner."

"Oh,' she shrugs and blows her blue tinged bangs, 'I guess. We ran some tests and said I had to wait-. What's in that room?"

Lucy falls behind, trying to look through a window.

Brody huffs through his teeth, grateful when Natasha calls for a pause to catch their breath after the second lap around;

"You're slow today Miss Natasha."

She scoffs and throws the water bottles from the cooler, "Maybe you're just catching up…"

Brody shakes his head and sips his water, "No, you're slow. I'm timing myself."

Romanoff ignores and reaches to flag down a sweaty Violet, "Breathe Speedy. You need water."

The youngest takes her bottle and addresses Riley's arrival, "Riley! I cut my time in half!"

The elder girl catches her friend when she jumps on her back, breaking into an unusual smirk, "Nice."

"Run with us!"

She frowns, "Screw that. No."

"What am I thinking today?," Lucy skips over a foot to interact with Riley, jumping to sit on the balcony's edge.

Natasha reaches a hand to snap her fingers and address the teenager, "Lucy, get down! You can't sit up there, you'll fall."

She obeys slowly, too busy shifting her position to watch Riley's eyes narrowing as she tries hard to breach the girl's mind.

Riley sighs, never moving her eyes from off of Lucy's, "Your eyes are creepy."

"Yeah I know! I was born this way! These aren't even my sick green contacts mom got me. I wear them sometimes- the joke never goes over our neighbor's heads."

Izabella believes she's helpful when she feels the need to define what 'sick' means.

Riley offers a smirk full of sarcasm and wide eyes, "No way! Does it mean 'amazing'? I had no idea."

Izabella shrugs, sweetly oblivious.

Riley's eyes are back on Lucy, the spoiled rich kid who has both parents and whose mind she can't seem to read;

"I'm not trying to be mean but are you stupid? Do you have a high IQ like your mom?"

Lucy crosses her arms, trying to be as cool as she presumes Riley to be, "I'm the smartest person I know, I don't need high grades to prove it."

"Your mom is one of the best lawyers around and her cousin has seven PhDs, that makes them really, really, smart, so. What do you mean you don't need high grades? Are you street smart? Is that what you mean? Because you just tried to sit on the balcony ledge of a three story building and that doesn't feel very street smart either. Did you get your brain from your dad?"

Lucy frowns, "Are you making fun of me? I thought we could be friends but you're actually really mean to me. And my dad's an astronaut so that makes him really smart, too."

Riley snorts, "Friends?! Girl, I don't know you! If you want my trust, you need to earn it."

"Or we could talk and bond over what we have in common-."

"I doubt we have anything in common."

"She likes the music," Izabella kindly offers, sensing tension between the girls.

Natasha claps to get the attention back on her, "Okay! 100 crunches and then we can start our games. Riley, are you working out with us?"

"No. I came out to say that I breached Banner's mind and had a chat with the hulk-."

"Woah," Brody is interested.

Natasha yells furiously, "Riley Park-Proctor!"

The girl laughs, "I didn't actually do it. I tried though…"

"Can you please go back to the lab with Bruce? I assume he's still in there with Kat and Micheal?" Natasha says, massaging her head with her fingertips.

"Kat thinks she contacted Michael's dead dad, things got weird so I left," Riley admits honestly.

"You need to do something productive during mentor hours. Something that doesn't include trying to trigger Bruce, who took off of work today to coach you. Just because you don't like dealing with your own emotions, doesn't mean you can't validate someone else's. You owe Micheal an apology for walking out on him when he was extremely vulnerable. That's not how teammates treat one another, yes?"

Riley respects Natasha so she accepts her lectures and heads back inside.

Clint nods, "Wreck 'em mama Nat. I'll see you later. Garrett and I are headed out."

"Bye Clint."

He whispers, turning away from the kid's line of vision. "Real quick, who has Lucy?"

She shrugs, supervising the kids workout program, "Bruce. He just tested her this morning."

"I want her. There's room on my roster."

She snorts and whispers back, "Seriously? It's Jen's kid."

"I know."

"I think Jen wants her with Bruce. She's only with us for the summer."

"The kid can shoot."

"Really? Don't tell Garrett."

"He saw it. She got a bullseye. Think about it?"

Natasha sighs over his persistence and eagerness to coach a kid like him, "I'll talk to Bruce... Should we clear it with SHIELD?"

He moans and walks off, cursing their organization under his breath.

"Fold," it's round seven and Pepper is done.

Thor's wife is currently asleep on the sofa across from the table, Agmundr on her chest and Agatha at her feet.

Thor doesn't entirely understand the game but he's succeeding for the most part. Clint is currently out $200 and determined to triple his initial investment in the evening, while Natasha just coyly holds her poker face and her earnings from the past hour.

Steve is too honest to play off his hand even when he tries.

Bruce is at Tony's level. While the engineer trash talks, the physicist holds a subtle smirk no matter what and outwits the rest of the table. Natasha is his weakness, able to read through his stare after how long they've been together.

Rogers folds next, leaving a showdown between Clint, Tony, Natasha and Bruce. Clint is sweating while Bruce just keeps it coy. To add to the stakes, Tony proudly throws in an additional bet on his turn;

"Whoever gets the pot, gets my Ferrari."

Pepper whistles and crosses her knee, "Such confidence. Which one?"

"The red one."

"You'd just give her away in a poker game?"

"Shh,' he waves his hand in protest, 'I need to concentrate to win."

Natasha judges the table and flicks her cards face down, chugging the rest of her beer when she quits the round, "Check."

Bruce tilts his head. Her action changes things, "Folding."

Clint huffs a sigh, eyeing his one competitor left at the table when it's time to reveal his hand.

Tony drops his first;

"Straight."

Clint smacks the table and restrains his urge to victory dance and scream at the top of his lungs;

"Yes! Straight flush. Suck! It! That car is mine!"

"God,' Tony slaps the table, 'Damn it! I hate you. I hate you, from here to the MACS0647-JD!"

Bruce bites his cheek, "That's a lot."

Natasha laughs and checks her phone for a missed call. Fury's never late and his lack of communication feels uncharacteristic.

Svetlana hasn't called to complain about Lucile Jameson either so the sleepover between Lucy, Izabella and Brody must be under control.

Natasha moves to stand with a distracting wave of nausea, "Hold my earnings Vrach . I'm going to bed."

Bruce checks over his shoulder, "I'll be right up."

"Night Nat," Clint mumbles. Pepper calls out next.

Thor takes her hand and stacks the cards to pass off to Rogers for a shuffle, "You must teach me how to flip them in such a majestic manner."

Alex is suddenly awake from his nap underneath the table, eager to follow his mom once Natasha whistles for her dog.

"Stakes!" Clint shouts.

Tony grumbles, "You just won a car! What more do you want?"

"Nat's loot. It's half mine, she owes me. Throw it in…"

Thor is ready to oblige with a reach before Pepper glares with a gesture, "Absolutely not, you leave that right where it is."

Thor grins with a thought, "I shall provide the incentive instead, we will duel for Mjolnir!"

"Oh, great! An ancient artifact no one but Thor can touch," Barton sits back with a huff.

Bruce lifts an eyebrow and looks at Tony with an approving smirk. If the scientist is being honest, he would love to at bare minimum find a way to dissect the hammer that appears during every mission.

It also seems to mildly upset the hulk who is inwardly groaning over its arrival.

Banner has a fuzzy memory of it nearly knocking Hulk in the head on their last mission and that feels like incentive enough. Anything that Hulk hates Bruce instantly loves...even when he doesn't.

"I'm in," Bruce mumbles.

Tony agrees, "Yeah me too. Deal us in, Capsicle."

Pepper is suddenly more alert with an overwhelming need to win this and beat Tony, "Me too."

Her husband scowls, "Why do you want it?!"

"I am not interested in Thor's hammer-."

Tony wheezes.

Pepper glares, "Stop. Whatever you're thinking, do not say it."

The demigod lowers his head momentarily, "My friends I must share some news. I am afraid I cannot stay for much longer, responsibilities in Asgard will be taking my time very soon. My offspring must learn the ways of royalty-."

Tony scoffs, "They're babies! What the fudge pops-."

"Don't, Tony," Bruce scolds.

Clint addresses the hammer, curious if he could sell it for scrap metal, "How much is it worth?"

"It is priceless," Thor is slightly offended by the question.

Tony corrects, "I bet I could sell it on the street for a million."

"You have to pick it up first, genius," Clint grumbles and checks his cards.

"Hulk can lift it," Bruce mumbles.

Tony laughs and pats his back, "He can't buddy, he's tried. It was a good try, don't get me wrong! What do you say Cap? Raise us one shield?"

Steve answers quickly, "No."

Natasha looks up from her tablet once Bruce finds her in their bedroom. Alex has his head on her lap, long tail thumping over Bruce's arrival.

Romanoff pets his head and addresses Banner, "Did you win?"

"Mjolnir," he can't blurt it out and keep a straight face.

She lifts a brow, "And, what are you going to do with Mjolnir."

"Study it. Take a picture, it's not like I can actually keep it," he's still laughing when he settles at the edge of their bed.

Natasha shakes her head with half an eye roll and shuts her device. She shifts with a groan that slips despite her attempt to muffle it and tugs her sheets up further over her shoulder.

"Tasha?,' she hums over his soft call, 'are you okay?"

She rolls onto her back, hands over her face, "I have a headache. Can you clear me for a mission? I need a signature."

He frowns, already knowing what her response is going to be, "A signature or a physical."

"Same difference."

Bruce bites at his cheek, "When was the last time you, I don't know, had a blood test."

She scoffs and rolls away from him, fluffing her pillow, "Irrelevant. I'm half super-soldier."

"Was it your concussion-."

"Bruce, I've never felt better."

He needs to push and he's dreading the repercussions;

"I don't want to just sign something-."

She rolls her eyes, "Are you really going to make me forge your signature-."

"You've done that? Natasha I'm worried about you. Why are you getting defensive," he's direct, kind but firm.

Romanoff tightens her jaw, "Whatever Clint said, it's a lie."

"Clint?" Bruce sighs over her difficult nature. He waits, forming his next words very carefully, "I'm not okay with you going on missions until you go in for a physical."

Natasha snaps, "Well it won't happen."

"-Tasha, it's not a big deal."

"It's pointless because nothing is wrong."

"If nothing is wrong then you wouldn't be afraid to just go in-."

"I'm not going in."

"Then let me check your blood-."

"Robert!"

Banner's eyes widen, immediately defensive. Before he can reply there's a shout from the living room, Clint has arrived with yell;

"Who the hell is Robert?!"

Bruce is in disbelief, unsure of how to reply. Natasha sits up with regret in her stare when she frantically moves to stand and address their company.

She whispers;

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

Bruce follows her with his vision, "I guess you don't tell Clint everything?"

She moves out to the living room after throwing a sweatshirt over her camisole, "What do you want Clint."

He mumbles, "I wanna work with Lucy on the archery course tomorrow."

Bruce appears and lingers in the doorframe, arms crossed when he interrupts unapologetically, "You can take her if you convince Nat to get to a doctor."

"Done," Barton snaps his fingers.

Natasha drops her jaw, feeling cornered so she panics, "I hate you. BOTH of you. Run my blood. Will that shut you up?"

The physicist agrees, "I can accept that."

"Great," she glares sarcastically.

"So who's Robert?" Clint pushes.

Natasha points, "I'm going to bed. And Robert Bruce Banner can take the couch,' she smirks sarcastically with a head tilt, 'have fun unpacking that."

She elbows him out of the way and glares at Barton before slamming the door shut with a twist to lock the door.

"What a shit name, no offense,' Clint snickers in the awkward pause, 'Does Tony know? If not I just made another $20."

Bruce groans angrily and tugs the back of his neck. He knows she's mad and she's even taken the dog with her.

He eyeballs the couch and sighs, eager for Clint to leave so he can make a bed with whatever is in the living room;

"Tony knows."

"Damn!"

Bruce lifts a thumb toward the bedroom door and mouths, "Do you know something I don't?"

"She fainted at Fury's."

"She did?"

Barton nods with worry, "She's moody too."

"I know that much."

It's around 4am when Natasha relents, hours later and much calmer from her explosion when she finds Bruce fast asleep on the sofa with their throw.

She feels nauseous again -the real reason she's unlocked herself from their room-, standing with the intent of snatching some crackers.

Her head immediately starts spinning once again. She curses under her breath, watching Bruce stir from a nightmare.

Her stomach is in a knot and she feels like death seemingly overnight.

The spy abandons her snack to curl up on the small sofa. She watches Bruce shift in order to accommodate her presence;

"Tasha?"

She lays her head over his chest, "It's me."

"I love you," he mumbles vulnerably and hugs her tighter.

Natasha lays awake in her husband's protective hold, watching Alex invite himself to curl up at the base of the furniture.