~:~

"What is this place?"

After shutting the car door, I walked around the car and took him by the hand.

"You'll see." We walked up the steps and I slowly opened the door. "Laura?"

"In the kitchen," she shouted. I led him around strewn toys and towards her. As we walked through the doorway, she looked up and smiled. "You must be Sam. I've heard a lot about you." They shook hands. "I'm Laura. Barton. Clint's….wife."

I squeezed his hand. "That's why I couldn't tell you outright."

"No one knew?" he asked, curiously.

Laura shook her head. "Not till recently. Nick Fury helped Clint set this place up when he joined SHIELD. Of the grid and of the books."

"To keep y'all safe," he added. She nodded in reply.

"Why don't you get settled? The kids will be up soon."

"Kids?" His eyes widened. "Wow, this is off the grid."

I laughed as I pulled him along. "Come on."

We tiptoed up the stairs and down the hall till we got to the guest room.

"Here you go," I whispered. "Should be better than the hotel."

"Much better than the hotel." He said throwing his bag on the bed. He took my hands and pulled me to him, wrapping me in a hug. "I know you haven't been sleeping."

"I'm fine. I'm just stressed."

"Ange…" he warned. "Don't lie to me, please." He caressed my cheek.

"I can't stop seeing it Sam." Tears trickled down my cheeks. "My family being ripped apart piece by piece. By each other and by…. something else."

"It could be a warning."

"Or it could be the truth." I let go of him and walked to the window. "The lines have been so blurred and I can't tell the difference anymore."

"Have you told the Xavier?" I shook my head. "Why not?"

"He'll tell me the same thing he always tells me, which is basically what you tell me."

"I guess we're like-minded."

I rolled my eyes. "Stubborn is more like it." He slowly started walking towards me.

"Stubborn, huh?" He lunged at me and started tickling me.

"Sam, stop! You wake the kids!" I said through my laughter.

"Fine…."he replied, kissing me softly. "You think they'll like me?"

"If they like Tasha, I think they'll like you."

~:~

Cooper and Lila took longer to get up than we expected.

"Man...what were they up to last night?"

Laura shrugged. "Probably too excited about our guests to sleep."

"They're gonna be bummed out when they find out they left."

Laura glanced at Sam. "I think they'll be fine."

And like clockwork, two pairs of footsteps ran down the stairs.

"Where'd they go?" Lila asked. Cooper muttered in agreement.

"Sweethearts, they had to go." Laura replied. "But your Dad will be back as soon as you know it."

Cooper looked over and saw Sam. "Hi, I'm Cooper. Who are you?"

"My name's Sam. And who might you be little lady?"

Lila hid behind Cooper and shyly answered, "Lila….How'd you know Auntie G?"

"Sam's a friend of mine." I looked to him, silently asking if we could tell them, and he nodded. "He's going to be your new Uncle."

Their faces lit up. "Really?"

"Uh huh. We're not married yet, but we will soon okay."

Lila ran up to me and sat in my lap. She leaned in and whispered, "Can I be your flower girl?"

"There isn't anyone else I would ask for." I let her down off my lap. "Now, eat up you two. You got chores to do."

"Can we take Sam with us?" Cooper asked.

Laura nodded in reply. "If he wants to, you can." Both children pleading looked to Sam.

"Sure, why not?" They silently cheered and quickly ate their food. Once they finished, they rushed up the stairs.

I turned to Sam and smiled. "See, told you they'd like you."

~:~

LATER THAT DAY

While Laura was inside taking a nap, me and Sam went outside to give her some peace and quiet. Cooper came up the stairs and sat in the rocking chair.

"What's up, Coop?"

He shook his head. "It's nothing."

I whispered to Sam if he could give us a minute and he got up to find Lila.

"Cooper…." I turned his face to look at me. "What's wrong?"

"Is it bad to want him here? To hate it when he leaves?"

I shook my head and wrapped him in a hug. "No, buddy. It isn't."

"Why aren't you sad when they leave?"

"I am sad, but I have hope that they'll come back." I replied. "When I was younger, I lost my mom and all I had was Tony. Anytime he left to go somewhere, I always made him promise to come back, no matter where."

"Anywhere?"

"Anywhere. Even the store. One day, I got a call from someone and they told me he was missing. I was angry and upset, and I drove all the way to Florida from New York to make sure he came home."

"What happened when he came home?" he asked.

"I had never been so happy in my entire life to see him. When I saw him walk out of that plane, I ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug ever. Then, I slapped him."

Cooper laughed. "Why?"

"Cause he scared me to death. I almost lost him."

"Is that why Aunt Nat hits my Dad when he does something stupid?" I nodded in reply.

"Answer me this: has your Dad never come home?" He shook his head 'no'. "You want to know why? Because he promised your mom that he'd do anything in his power to never ever leave you. That he'd always come back."

He gave me a hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, buddy." He got up and ran back towards Lila. I stood up and followed him. When I caught up, Sam saw me and walked over to me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"He okay?"

"Yeah, he just misses his dad. I know the feeling." He kissed the top of my head in reply.

"How do they do this? Balance family and his work?"

"One day at a time. She knew what she was getting into when she met him."

He tugged at the tags around my neck. "Could we do this?"

"I choose to believe we can. We'll get through it one day at a time."

~:~

THE NEXT DAY

As I helped Laura clean up the table, I felt a strong wave of uneasiness. Something's not right…. Clint, no….Suddenly, my legs gave out. Sam noticed and quickly caught me.

"Take it easy, Ange. Sit down."

"Something happened. I can feel it." My chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. "God, my back is burning."

Laura walked around the table and lifted the back of my shirt. "Dear God...what did you do?"

"What are you talking about?"

"There are five huge marks on your back."

"Gunshots," Sam added.

Laura walked over to the counter and grabbed the phone. "I'm calling Hill."

"No," I exclaimed. "Call Fury."

"Why?"

"He knows about her….you know...," Sam replied. She nodded her head and walked out of the room, dialing the number.

Sam rubbed circles on my back. "You okay?"

"I wasn't even trying that hard and it winded me."

"What?"

"I saw what happened. I don't know who died. If Clint-"

Laura walked into the room. "He wants to talk to you."

"Hello?"

"First of all: stop trying to link up with us over here. You're going to wear yourself out."

"Sorry, I just needed to know they were okay. What happened?"

"Barnes, it was the Maximoff boy. He saved Clint and another civilian."

"Then, why did I feel it?"

"The girl felt him die and she broke down. Her blast killed over a dozen bots."

"Is it over?"

"Yes, they'll heading back now."

"Do me a favor: Keep the boy under lockdown till I get there."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I'll explain later." Click.

"I guess our trip is going to be short then." Sam implied.

I shrugged. "Depends on how fast Clint gets here."

"What are planning on doing?"

"If my assumptions are correct, that boy should have healed. He could still be alive," I replied.

"You're going to bring him to the School aren't you?"

"It's the only chance we got."

~:~

A FEW WEEKS LATER

"Angie!"

I ran into the kitchen. "Laura, what's wrong?"

"It's time."

"I'll grab the stuff." I ran up the stairs. "Sam! Get the kids. We need to go!"

His head popped around the corner. "The baby?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, the baby."

~:~

"Clinton Francis Barton, if you don't get your freakin ass down here, I will strangle you myself….Oh, you better believe it buddy….Uh huh, thank Tasha for me….Bye." I hung up the phone and threw it in my bag.

"He coming?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, he's on his way."

"How long will that take?"

"Fifteen minutes if they put the Quinjet in high gear."

The doctor came out of the room and walked over to us. "You the family of Laura Coulson?"

"She's my sister-in-law, yes. How is she?"

"The contractions are still pretty far apart. We'll check her in a bit. Is the father here?"

"No, her husband is on his way right now. He got caught up at work."

"Alright, we'll keep you updated on her condition as it progresses." I thanked him and shook his hand.

"Wait….Coulson?" Sam asked. "Why do I know that name?"

"Phil Coulson was one of the few people that knew about my…." I dropped my volume lower. "Gifts. He died during the Invasion."

"I guess this is a story for Clint to tell me."

"It's funnier when he tells it."

"I believe it." I heard running down the hall and I turned around.

"Where is she?" Clint worried.

"That was fast. What'd ya do, put it in hyperdrive?"

"Something like that. She had the baby yet?"

I shook my head. "Not yet. Let me go tell the doctor you're here."

Three hours of labor later, Nathaniel Pietro Barton was born.

"He's so handsome, Laura. Hate to say it, but he's another Clint."

She smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

~:~

Hey, guys. You're probably going to see this again in a later chapter, but I decided to give y'all a heads up now.

Over the last few days, I've re-read the Proxima series and saw some errors. Even though i love where this story is going, I feel I didn't edit it very well. When I'm finished, I plan on rewriting it and putting under one story. I thought it would last three stories, but I see it didn't.

If there is anything y'all would like to explore in Angie's story, review or PM me some ideas for a one-shot series I can do while I'm rewriting.

I hope you guys understand. Thanks.