A/N:

I am still really mad about my mistake in my last chapter. And now because I did that dumb mistake I had to wait before I posted this one and honestly, I am just pissed off. But it's fine. It forces me to work on Bulletproof and it also makes room to start on the new Fanfic. It's fine.

I am still so surprised about all the support. I did not expect that. Thank you for the reviews and everyone how followed and favorited. I love writing this story, but I need to alternate between Bulletproof, even though I actually get more readers on this one, which again is mad.

Please PM or review if you want to see anything special, I am open for suggestions.

Now back to clean up my mess. Spoiler alert, it's a lot to clean up…

S-B

Natasha spent noticeably more time in Washington and Laura found herself in the same situation every year where Clint was out on missions and Natasha never coming home. Thankfully Natasha was good at updating her on all of her adventures. They seemed to get longer and longer as time went on. On the good side, it meant that the few times she did get time off her mini holidays were longer than before, but they were still too short for Laura's liking.

Natasha was on average visiting 15 times a year. And yes, Laura was counting.

When Laura found out she was pregnant for the second time Natasha was in London. She remembered the day Natasha had walked into the house after her mission. Natasha had walked into the house but stopped the second she saw Laura. She was only on week 12 but a tiny bump had started to show, and no details went past Natasha.

Natasha had looked at her for ten long seconds. The cold stare had made Laura's heart skip a beat or two. Then she had looked at Clint for another two seconds before she had hit him really hard in the arm before she dragged Laura into a big hug.

Laura hadn't planned another pregnancy. Guess that's just what happens when Clint disappears for a longer time than usual.

Natasha had seemed happy at first. Then she had seemed a bit scared about the idea of a baby. And not before Laura had reminded her that when she met them Cooper was only a few months she had calmed down a bit.

Laura was very excited about the new addition. It was years since she and Natasha had talked about child number two, but Laura remembered the day Natasha had mentioned it very well.

"So, guys, what do you want to call the baby?" They were currently eating breakfast. The mood was a bit bittersweet. Natasha and Clint were going on a mission in a few hours and this was the last "family meal" in a while. Even 3-year-old Cooper seems to notice something was up.

"Nat. She is only 20 weeks in. It's like 20 left. We got more than enough time to figure out a name" Clint said with a small laugh. Laura smiled at Natasha and nodded.

"Oh, come on. It's no way you guys don't have any ideas. At least some names you like." Natasha said as she took another sip of her coffee.

"All I know is that I want it to start on the letter L," Clint said with a smile.

"Why?" Natasha asked again looking at her partner with a confused look.

"Just because." Clint winked at her and Laura could see the annoyed look on Natasha's eyes.

"Fine…" Natasha answered shortly. They sat in silence for a while watching Cooper play around on the floor. Laura hadn't thought about baby names at all. She knew a few moms who picked the baby's names even before they were pregnant, but she had never been like that. They didn't have any names passed down in any of their families and neither Clint nor Laura had any reason to rush the process.

"You know what a nice name would be?" Natasha said with a dreamy voice shaking Laura out of her thoughts.

"Lila." Natasha continued, earning a surprised look from the parents.

"I mean Clint's favourite colour is purple and Laura's favorite flower is the syringa, also known as the Lilac, mostly common here with the colour…."

"Purple." Clint finished. Laura was stunned by that Natasha had just put down.

"Oh my god, that's perfect!" Clint laughed dragging Natasha into a hug. Laura was still silent.

"What do you think babe?" Clint said with a happy voice.

"It is. But we don't even know if it's a girl yet." Laura giggled at her husband how as almost jumping in excitement. They hadn't bothered to get an ultrasound to check the gender yet. They had one scheduled next week, which meant she would have to go alone without Clint.

"It is now. I just decided." Clint said into her stomach before he lifted her up from the floor and spun her around earning a small laugh from Laura.

Laura though a lot about the baby while Clint and Natasha were gone. It was her way of keeping her mind off her worries. She went shopping with Cooper and sorted through all of Cooper's baby stuff. Sometimes Natasha and Clint would send a few texts with suggestions and ideas for the preparation for the new addition. Natasha seemed especially curious about the whole thing.

She found that being pregnant, and of course having Cooper, helped when Clint and Natasha were away. She always had someone to talk care for. Cooper was getting older and he had more than enough energy to keep Laura going the whole day. When he finally drifted off to sleep Laura could sit and talk with "Lila" for hours before she finally went to bed.

The day she found out it was a girl Clint had called her and he had ranted for hours. He talked about how badass she was going to be and how awesome it would be to have a girl now that Natasha was such a big part of their family. By the time he hung up, he had already explained all his future plans for his daughter.

Of course, Laura missed Clint a lot, but being a single mom wasn't that bad. By day 12 Laura was well into a working routine with her and Cooper. Clint and Natasha were rarely gone for too long, but now Laura knew that if anything would happen, she could do it.

This wasn't the first time Laura thought about a life where Clint didn't come home after a mission. She knew it was awful to even think that, but in her life, that was something to take into account. Clint was a world-class spy. His work was dangerous, that was just how it was. If Clint died Laura would manage. Yes, it would be hard, but Clint had saved more than enough money from his work at SHIELD, she had some savings as well.

Laura hoped that would never be the case. Clint hadn't come home with even a scratch on him lately. Most of his solo missions were easy "babysitting jobs" as they called it. And if he ever got sent on a more dangerous mission Natasha would always be with him. It was like Natasha was there purely to protect him. This both scared and comforted Laura. She was happy Natasha was there, but she was just as scared at losing her as Clint. Yes, she had only known her for a few years, but she was part of their family now.

Natasha had recently got the title of SHIELD's most efficient spy and was currently working closely with Maria and Phil to keep on improving her skillsets. This was something Laura was slightly concerned about. Because yes, she was happy Natasha was so successful at her job, but she was working a lot. And again, Laura was happy for her, but she was starting to think it was a small chance of a bit too much work.

Day 23 Natasha and Clint came home after what seemed to be a particularly long and hard mission. Laura wasn't used to Clint being gone for so long. Before they had Cooper he had missions go over weeks, maybe months, now they were traded for shorter missions, on max two weeks.

They had been in Sokovia again and had come home around 11 pm that same night. This was the third time they had been sent there, which seemed like a lot. Sokovia seemed to be unstable, and just like last time they had come home with countless bruises and cuts. Or at least Natasha.

Laura had spent a good hour trying to patch up the younger woman. She had seemed especially tired and had soon fallen asleep while Laura had worked. She hadn't meant to fall asleep in her room, but Clint had already gone to bed and soon Laura fell into a restless sleep beside Natasha.

Laura woke up at 6:30 in the morning after with Natasha still sleeping beside her. Just looking at her made Laura's heart sink. Natasha had always been excellent at hiding her feelings, but whenever she was sleeping all of her personas and facades fell. The woman looked tired even in her sleep. Her eyebrows with a slight frown and worried look. Laura couldn't quite explain it, she just seemed... vulnerable.

Have known her for three almost three and a half years Laura knew how much she needed the sleep and decided to let her sleep in. Natasha was covered in bandages from her last mission, and Laura had very clearly exclaimed her frustration when Natasha had walked into the house bleeding from literally everywhere the night before and still claimed she was "fine".

Laura walked downstairs to find Clint and Cooper both awake.

"Good morning," Clint said as she walked up to him and gave him a kiss.

"Morning," she said back smiling slightly. Cooper was eating from a bowl of watermelon slices and Clint was sipping on some coffee.

"How are you?" Laura asked carefully letting her fingers slide down Clint's arm feeling his strong arms under her fingertips.

"A bit sore but fine," Clint said with a small twisted smile. Laura knew that look.

"What are you thinking about?" Laura asked looking at her husband with a small worried look.

"I'm only thinking about Natasha. She somehow always ends up in the crossfire or have to protect me because I do something dumb. And I just feel… bad" Clint mumbled back. Laura only looked at him and nodded.

"It's not your fault though. You know Nat. She does whatever she can to protect her love once. You don't need to do something dumb to make her jump in front of you. Besides, you got her back. So as long as both of you are on the same page." Laura answered slowly.

"I guess. I just feel like she somehow always ends with all of it." While Laura had to agree she didn't want Clint to blame himself. Natasha would always be there, and she would always take the bullet if she could. It was just how she was.

Laura and Clint ended up taking a slow morning together. Taking their time with both eating breakfast and everything after. It had been a while since they had the opportunity to just enjoy each other's company.

She spent most of her morning reading while the boys caught up with lost time playing on the floor. Laura watched the two boys for a while but decided that she had to check up on Natasha soon. While she was all for her sleeping in, she wanted to make sure she was fine.

Laura made her way upstairs and slipped carefully into the room. Natasha was curled up with her back towards the door when Laura peeked inside. Her breathing was a bit faster than usual making Laura believe she was awake.

"Natasha?" Laura whispered as she made her way over to the bed. Natasha didn't answer, she didn't even move. Laura sank down beside Natasha and slowly let her hand glide over her forehead brushing away her red hair.

Natasha opened her eye under Laura's touch and looked at her for a few seconds before she closed them again. She didn't ask before she walked into Natasha's bathroom and looked through her cabinet. To Laura's frustration, Natasha had either emptied or brought with her most of her medication making a 500mg Tylenol the only thing she had left.

Making the best out of what she got she made her way back with the box and a small glass of water. "Talia "she whispered as Natasha slowly made her way up into a sitting position.

It felt like they had already done this a million times before. Every time it turned out just the same. Natasha would take whatever Laura gave her then she would lean on Laura, let out a sigh before Laura would play with her hair until the headache slowly passed.

Laura wished she could make the girl fall asleep just because she seemed to be in less pain when she was. Instead, Natasha was forced to be awake for hours. Every goddamn time. Natasha's breathing was heavy, and Laura could tell it was stronger than usual by the way Natasha seem to tense up even more.

"Shhh. Breath Natasha." Laura whispered as she felt the woman gasp after oxygen.

Throughout the years Laura had gotten to know Natasha better and better. Just by tone of voice, Laura could tell if she was tired, stressed or overworked. Natasha had constantly been on missions the last few months and she knew she would get a burnt-out Natasha in return.

Natasha would never admit that that was the case. She would never say: it's too much, or say she needed a break. She would always say yes to whatever Furry asked, but Laura knew. Even Coulson seems to get it as he seems to try to keep the missions more spaced out. Not that it mattered, Furry could overwrite whatever he said, and if he needed Natasha, he would ask Natasha. Nothing could quite compare to her skills, so he never hesitated to ask her. Because Natasha is comfortable with everything.

Every time Natasha came back home burnt out Laura was stuck with someone who seems to be almost drowning in exhaustion. She would sleep for hours only resulting in another headache. This could go on for hours, sometimes days. It was even times she had to watch Natasha force herself on a mission when she clearly wasn't close to ready. Always just falling into the same emotionless Natasha she had met years ago as she pushed through.

Natasha was leaning on her and seem to almost fall asleep when a sharp sound of a phone broke their comfortable silence making both Natasha and Laura jump. Natasha let out a loud groan massaging her temple. Laura slipped out of the bed in search of the spy's phone. She found it on the other side of the room beside a pile of Natasha's clothes she had so carelessly thrown away last night.

To Laura's surprise, it was Maria Hill who called. She threw a look at Natasha who had curled up again. She knew Natasha didn't mind her answering her phone, but it still made Laura's heart skip. She slipped out of the room before she answered the phone.

"Hello. This is Laura." Laura tried to keep her voice as calm as possible not doing a very good job of it.

"Laura? Where is Roma-Natasha?" Laura could hear Maria's tense voice.

"Not in any state for a phone call, that's for sure" Laura regretted it the second she said it. "I mean, she is in bed. Migraine. Burnt out." Her voice softened and she could hear Maria let out a sight on the other end.

"Oh. I should have figured. She has been working really hard lately." Maria's voice was softer now, she seemed calmer.

"How hard?" Laura wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"About 12 hours a day," Maria said with a low voice.

"12 hours are you- what?!"

"Furry seems to be working on something. His superhero plans or whatever." Maria mumbled back.

"Avengers initiative, right?" Laura finished earning an approving sight from the director.

"Yes. I think part of Natasha's work hours with him basically him trying to test her, to see if she is a worthy candidate. The other half is him being lazy and not contacting anyone else when she is already there. And Colson and I have our hours as well." Maria said in a soft voice. Laura understood. She knew that Maria and Phil were working very hard with her and Nick Fury is, well he is Nick Fury.

"Can I ask you something?" Laura asked with a weak voice.

"You are going to ask if I can give her some time off?" Maria finished. Laura knew she couldn't see her but nodded anyway.

"I know it's a long shot. But I would love to have at least one of them home when I am. You know…." Her voice trailed. This felt dumb. She was literally begging the Deputy Director of SHIELD not to use her best agent. This was dumb. Really dumb.

"No, I get it. You're expecting another child." Maria said with an understanding voice. "I can't promise them both to be home all the time, but what if I made sure at least one of them is at all times?"

"Really?!" Laura answered in disbelief was she just going to give them up like that?

"Yeah. I think it's good for the- Natasha. I think it's good for Natasha." Maria drifted off.

"Well thank you, Maria. If you ever need some time off, you're more than welcome." Was that a mistake? Inviting the director if SHIELD right and over to their home? Instead of blowing her off like Laura though Maria would she answered softly.

"Maybe I will. Thank you. Laura.".

Laura was confused. She was happy but confused. Maria kept her promise and Natasha and Clint never got sent on any missions together. Of course, that came with a cost. All of the missions Clint and Natasha usually would take on together Natasha was either sent on alone or in the worst-case scenario, Maria herself had to move her schedule around and go with her.

For the next four months, Natasha kept on going back and forth between SHIELD and home. After every mission, she got sent home by Maria before Furry could say something stupid. Laura could tell some of the missions were really getting her, but of course, she didn't complain. She never complained.

Natasha was sitting in a chair by the fireplace sipping on some tea while Clint was playing with Laura's hair. Week 36 and Laura was not kidding when she said she was feeling like she was going to pop. It was 9-pm, and Cooper was in bed. They could all just go to bed, but this was the one time in the day where all of them were together not getting interrupted by a child needing something. It was nice just enjoying each other's company.

A knock on the door shattered the comfortable atmosphere making both Natasha and Clint shoot their head up and Laura jump in her seat. Natasha only nodded at the kitchen making Clint drag Laura with him into the kitchen. Laura watched as Natasha click off the safety of a Glock she kept under one of the shelves in the bookcase.

She moved slowly to the door and Laura saw her open the door carefully. To everyone's surprise, Maria Hill was standing at the door with a small bag in her hand. Laura felt her heart calm down in her chest as Natasha embraced the other woman.

"Maria. Please, you have all of our numbers what happened with giving us a heads up?" Natasha let out a sight clicking the safety on again before putting the gun away.

"Sorry, Natasha, Fury doesn't always give me room for that." Natasha only huffed in reply and Laura watched the small interaction before walking into the living room.

"Sorry, Laura," Maria said with a soft voice giving Clint and Laura a small hug.

"It's okay. What are you doing here?" Laura responded slumping down back into the couch. She watched Natasha walk into the kitchen while Clint put away his bow.

"Needed a break for one. But I need to talk to you guys-" Natasha interrupted the superior agent asking her.

"Want something Maria, coffee, tea, wine a beer?"

"Wouldn't complain about a beer."

"Yeah me neither" Clint replied dryly. Natasha nodded at the two before moving back to her chair handing them the bottles on the way.

"As I was saying. I need to talk to you guys. But I don't think we'll do that now. I was hoping tomorrow." Maria looked at Laura with a small smile before she picked up an orange highlighter and popped off the cap on the bottle. Laura nodded shortly before saying.

"Yes. You are more than welcome to stay for as long as you want." She smiled at her. Maria smiled back. Clint looked between the woman with an annoyed look while Natasha didn't seem to be quite following. Her eyes were tired, and she was slowly massaging her temple.

"Why can't we just do it now?" Clint asked. As always straight to the case.

"No. Like I said, tomorrow. I don't think Romanoff needs anything like this now." Maria's comment was final. The message was clear, and the discussion was over.

They all finished their beverages before Clint helped Maria with the guestroom downstairs while Natasha and Laura moved upstairs. Laura watched as Natasha stumbled into her room. She gave her one painfilled look before she closed the door to her room. Oh god. Laura was really hoping whatever Maria was going to talk about wasn't too heavy because like she said, Natasha wasn't in a state where she could handle that.

It was weird having someone new in their house. Cooper seemed way more thrilled over Maria than Maria was over him. Still, she tried to answer all of his questions about her work in the most kid-friendly way you could to a four-year-old. Natasha came downstairs around 10 in the morning and Laura could just tell the was going on only a few hours' sleep.

"Good, now that everyone is here, I need to talk to you about a mission." Laura turned her head slowly towards Maria. A mission? They never got their mission delivered like this. It was always a call or an mail.

"We need someone to escort a nuclear engineer." Maria continued. Clint looked at her with a confused look while Natasha's face had lost all its emotions and her agent Romanoff face was put on display instead.

"Okay? Why is this a big deal?" Clint asked looking at Maria for more information.

"Well, I need one of you to do it. I don't have time and we need a high-level agent on this. Preferable a spy." Maria looked between the three of them and Clint was fast to reply.

"I'll do it."

"No, no, no, no. hang on. We don't know what this mission is. I don't really think it's that easy. Is it, Maria? For example, where are we escorting said engineer?" Natasha was fast to cut Clint off giving Maria room to continue.

"From Tehran, Iran through Odessa to Munich, Germany… By car." Laura let out a small gasp.

"You gotta be shitting me, Maria?! That's like" Laura watched as Natasha's eyes moved around probably going through a few numbers in her head.

"That's like 3000 miles or something." Maria nodded in conformation.

"Yeah no, Clint, you are not doing this." Natasha looked at them and Maria nodded again.

"Yes. I agree, but I needed to talk to you because Colson and Nick wanted to send him instead." Laura was really, really happy Maria took the time to talk to the three of them, because what kind of mission was that. That seemed crazy, even for them.

"What why? I want to do it." Clint defended looking at Natasha with two hurt eyes.

"No," Natasha answered coldly.

"Nat you are being really unreasonable here." Clint stood up from the kitchen table.

"Don't," Natasha replied not even wanting to meet his eyes. She turned around towards Laura and Maria before she said with a softer voice.

"Give us a second here okay?" She smiled kindly at them and Laura nodded slowly before she picked up Cooper and they left the room.

"Well, that went smoothly," Maria said dryly as they walked out of the kitchen. Laura nodded. This was never going to end well.

"Thank you for coming to Maria, I really appreciate it," Laura said as she put down Cooper and watched him run over to some drawing equipment on the floor.

"Like I said. I get it." Maria replied.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME CLINT?" Laura and Maria turned their heads when they heard Natasha's angry voice through the closed doors.

"NO CLINT. I WON'T LET YOU." Laura couldn't help herself when she slowly moved towards the door to hear better.

"Natasha, I want this mission. Pluss you are tired. I saw you yesterday. I might not be as good as Laura to read body language but I'm not dumb. You need to rest."

"You idiot. If you want to take care of anyone stay with your wife. She is about to have a baby. You are not missing the birth of your daughter for this. Laura needs you, Clint."

"Nat… I…"

"No. I mean it, Clint. Maria came here because she knows this mission is more dangerous than Fury and Coulson it is making us believe. Nothing can happen to you, Clint. You need to stay here." Laura's heart sank. She hadn't quite understood why Maria was here before. But Natasha was right. Maria would never have confronted them if the mission had a low risk.

"But what about you?" Laura could hear Clint's worried voice.

"Nothing will happen to me, Clint, I mean I get most of my injuries when I'm saving your ass so…" Laura listened to Clint's soft laughter.

"Okay. I guess it's settled. You win Romanoff." Laura heard Natasha's fast movements over to the door and she moved backward to act less suspicious. Natasha opened the door and threw a fast look between the two of them before she nodded them into the room again.

"Natasha will go," Clint mumbled, still not happy about the whole thing. Maria nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So, what's the plan then?" Natasha said shortly. Laura could tell she wasn't talking to Natasha anymore; she was now full-on Agent Romanoff. Maria walked over to the small coffee table and put down a tablet whit a map on it.

"I am thinking you should go down to Tehran yourself. The engineer is aware we are sending someone down. He probably wants to talk to you about the route. All we known is that we need to go through Odessa" Maria pointed on the map Odessa wasn't even close to Iran.

"Any backup?" Natasha answered with her cold tone. Laura watched as she studied the map. Laura was guessing she already had a route in her head all planed out.

"Yes and no. We will always have a team behind you. A few miles not to make it any suspicions than it needs to. But because the route is long the team will be switched out through the route." Maria answered. Natasha nodded slowly still studying the map.

"Approximate time?" Clint asked looking between the two of them.

"Long enough," Natasha answered back shortly.

"Yes," Maria confirmed. "We are thinking about a month or so" Laura looked at Natasha who still hadn't moved her eyes from the map. A month. All Laura thought about was that that was past the baby's due date.

"It's a lot of doughy places we have to drive through," Natasha mumbled more to Maria than anyone else. Maria nodded again. It was no point of interfering with Natasha, her head had already left the family life.

"When are we leaving?" Laura knows Natasha didn't mean to sound so harsh, but her heart still felt a little heavy hearing the words slip out.

"Whenever you want," Maria replied with just as little emotions in her voice as Natasha.

Well fuck there she goes again.

A/N: I think we all know what happens next am I right?

S-B