Notes: Arly, I love them meeting this young too! Now they really get to be besties their whole lives, and who can't love the Hawkeyes?

And CC, the mental image of Logan and his Tiny Girl Army following him like ducklings is never NOT going to be funny to me, okay? It's just not.

Chapter 3: What's Love Got to Do With Getting Married?

The following morning, the extended group that had gathered up in Logan and K's suite made their way downstairs. Susie had slept in a little harder than Katie — mostly because Katie had woken up not long after Logan and K had while they were chatting and trying to decide how to handle things. But that was a good time all the same, since Barney and Clint were sleeping lightly with the newcomers in their suite, and both boys were quick to offer Katie a hand getting around the place.

Clint in particular knew how scary it could be to explore a new place and to try to get used to a new home when everything was so much bigger than she was — since he'd been much younger than Barney was when they started bouncing around. And he made sure that she wasn't even alone as she got up and moving — and made sure she knew where all the important things were (like the movies, snacks, and best places to play).

It was a little overwhelming, and there was no way Katie was going to remember all of it, but Clint promised that he'd stick with her until she was okay.

By the time the kids met back up with Logan and K, K was half curled up on her chair and Logan was fixing up their coffee. He took both of their mugs and made his way across the room, only to set K's mug down in front of her and steal a good morning kiss before he sat down next to her. The two of them half curled into each other as they started reading the paper together after that — and to most of the mansion's residents, that was a perfectly normal and reasonable morning occurrence.

What's more, the peaceful quiet continued — and when Logan was out of coffee, K picked up both of their mugs and went to refill them without a word spoken between them. And again, when she returned with fresh coffee for both, he lifted his arm for her to settle in as they got back to the paper.

For Clint and Barney, it was totally normal — though Barney was distracted saying hello to Susie and Hank when they finally got downstairs as well (with Susie rubbing her eyes tiredly the whole time), so Barney didn't see what Clint did: that Katie was watching Logan and K with a sort of bright-eyed confusion.

She was still pretty new to everything, though, so Clint didn't say anything until Jean and Scott came downstairs with Rachel too — and then Katie looked even more confused as she watched those two teasing each other over coffee and stealing kisses. Even if most of their flirting was in their heads, it was pretty obvious they were being affectionate and holding hands and stuff.

Clint tipped his head to the side as he watched Katie. She was so very intent on the two couples, and it had his gears turning….

After Logan and K had worked through a few cups each, K leaned over to steal a little longer kiss. "I'm headed to the barn if anyone wants to help," she said — clearly directed more at the kids that were hanging around than at Logan, though he was simply smirking back at her.

"I can help," Barney said quickly — which, surprisingly, had Susie perking up and nodding.

"With horses?" she asked.

"Yep," K replied. "We have twenty that need breakfast. Barney can tell you their names."

Susie broke into a wide smile at that, and Barney drew himself up and nodded. "Yeah, I can show you where to get the grain scoop and all that," he said, which had the little girl totally starry-eyed as she bounced in place.

"Please oh please!" she sang out.

"We'll be back before you know it," K said as she gave Logan's shoulder a squeeze, then ruffled Clint's hair on her way past, with Barney and Susie in tow.

Clint patted his hair back down into place and grinned at his mom before he scooted closer to Katie, who was munching on her Pop Tart and watching Scott and Jean.

"You can say hi if you want," he said.

"Okay," Katie said, though she didn't actually get up to do so.

Clint tipped his head to the side and then jumped down off his chair to go grab Jean's hand and tug on her a bit. "You should meet Katie. Logan brought her and her sister home last night," he said.

"He did what now?" Jean asked, turning his way. "I didn't hear anything last night about new kids."

"I'm not surprised," Logan said. "All that time wrapped up in your heads … prolly hard to hear anything else." He got to his feet and booped Katie on the nose. "I'll be three doors down the hall. Clint can help you get there if you need to."

Katie nodded but made sure to give Logan a hug first. "No goin' far."

"Nope. Just my office." He gave her a little squeeze and started off, leaving Katie with Clint alone for the first time, since she wasn't done with her breakfast yet, and clearly Clint was already watching out for her. "Hey, Scotty, if you want a debrief about this, you'll have to talk to Carol and Matt."

"Nuh-uh," Katie giggled. "Me! Talk to me! I dunno Carol'n'Matt!"

"Right. And talk to Katie," Logan agreed. "She's the expert here."

"Uh-huh." Katie grinned and drew herself up.

Jean couldn't help but smile as she sat down by Katie — and Rachel helpfully tried to give Katie the toy she was finished playing with. "Where did you come from, sweetheart?"

Katie smiled at Jean and waved shyly. "I'm Katie. Me an' Susie got to ride in the Wolv-ner-veen car!"

"Logan said they were in trouble, so he brought 'em here," Clint put in helpfully.

Jean raised an eyebrow at that and shared a look with Scott before she simply peeked into Katie's memory of the whole thing so they could both learn what had happened. When she saw what had gone down, she let out a little noise and reached over to pull Katie into a hug. "You can stay here as long as you like, sweetheart."

Katie scrunched up her nose. "That's what Logan-Wolver-need said. Duh."

It was obvious Jean was only just holding back her laughter as she covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh yes. Of course."

"And Mom is helping too," Clint said. "So we got it."

"We got it," Katie echoed, beaming over at Clint, who grinned and helped her down from her seat too.

"We're gonna play with Arrow," he said. "And go to the barn to check on Mom and our big siblings, okay?"

Jean couldn't help but smile after them. Scott, he's bringing them home and adopting them in pairs.

Pretty sure the first pair was K.

Yes, but he married her so he could adopt them. It was a two-step process, but it still counts, Mr. Summers.

Oh, is that why they got married? Scott couldn't help but tease.

Jean reached over to hit him in the shoulder. You're being terrible.

Scott simply grinned and kissed her cheek. And you're jealous.

I am just pointing out that there's a pattern here — and no one else is even getting a chance to help the littlest kids before he scoops them all up!

Well, to be fair, I think Susie is attached to Hank, not Logan, Scott said, trying to find a way to bring Jean around.

But she's being baited by horses. Jean gave him a significant look as she pulled Rachel closer to snuggle and kissed the top of her head.

Scott let out a breath of a laugh at that. What, do you want me to try and bait one with the blackbird or something? he teased. I can't help that we weren't fighting Fisk last night. You know how he is when he thinks it's personal.

It was personal, Scott. I might have peeked a little. And if history was any indicator, he should have been swamped with Hand ninjas last night, not … sweet little girls.

Dumb luck. Scott shook his head and then smirked and leaned over to steal a kiss. But if you really want more, you know…

Don't tempt me. Family man.

Scott grinned a little wider. Who's tempting who again? You're the one complaining that Logan's stealing the little ones!

So you're saying … what exactly? Jean smirked at him. "What do you want?"

"Jean, if you have to ask, you're losing your touch."

"I just want you to admit it and say it out loud," she said. "Instead of putting it all on me."

Scott shook his head at her and then kissed her again. "Well, when do you want to start trying? Because I'm game."

She couldn't help but grin up at him. "Well... I hate for Rachel to be an only child for too long."

"Read my mind, Mrs. Summers."

Meanwhile, Clint had taken Katie outside to play for a while. Arrow always had fun with new people to play with, and Katie seemed to be totally in love with him, so Clint showed her where Arrow's favorite spot to be scratched was and that kind of thing.

She didn't look nearly as confused anymore, and Clint was starting to suspect why that was.

"My mom and dad are real sweet, huh?"

Katie glanced up at him. "What?"

"I mean, they love each other a lot. I got to see 'em get married, and they're real happy," Clint said. "And Scott and Jean are like that too. They're real lovey-dovey, even if they do most of it quiet."

Katie tipped her head to the side and then frowned a bit and shrugged her shoulders up. "Yeah."

"You can tell 'em to knock it off if it bothers you," Clint said.

Katie shook her head. "No," she said slowly. "I just… it's a lot."

"Yeah, I know," Clint said, plopping down in the grass beside her. "You okay?"

Katie started to nod and then seemed to think better of it, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes. "I want my mom," she said, and Clint was only slightly faster than Arrow coming over to snuggle her — so that she got a hug and a slobbery dog kiss.

Katie giggled and pet Arrow's head before she latched onto Clint. "My mom's gone, an' — an' my dad an' they din' kiss like that," she said, half hiding in Clint, who didn't really know what else to do except to hug her.

He didn't exactly blame her for being upset — he remembered how upset he was when he'd gone to a new home for the first time — but when she started to cry again, he tried something else: "Maybe we can help Susie and Barney with the horses, huh?"

Katie hiccoughed a little "uh-huh," and Clint helped her stand up, grabbing her hand to walk with her. He was sure she just needed hugs and something to do that wasn't thinking about her mom.

When they got there, it was clear the older kids were having a blast. Barney was grinning as he helped Susie get on one of the ponies, and K was supervising the whole thing with a quiet smile — until Katie utterly abandoned Clint to rush over to K and tug on her sleeve.

"Inna pony!"

"You do?" K said, turning toward her. "Do you want to take a ride on my horse?"

Katie's eyes were wide as she nodded along. "Uh-huh. Please!"

K smiled and made her way across to the barn, then pulled out a bright-white horse with a very long tail all braided up. She took a moment to put a rope on the halter, but instead of picking Katie up, she kissed at the horse and stepped back with one arm held out to her side as she faced him. The horse tossed his head and then tucked his chin to his chest and bowed low before he simply laid down. "You can climb on now if you want," K told her. "Just hold on to his hair … right here." She pointed to the hair at the very base of his mane.

Katie was wide-eyed as she followed K's instructions, and then she started to giggle madly. "This is fun!"

"Got a good grip?" K asked as she stood next to the still down horse and put her hand on Katie's back. When Katie nodded, K clicked to the horse, and he sat up, then stood up with a soft nicker. "Clint, you want to walk alongside her?"

Clint nodded. "I said I'd stick with her."

"I like Clint," Katie whispered to K.

"Is it because he's got such soft, fluffy duck fuzz hair?" K asked wide-eyed. "He likes it when you quack at him."

"M-o-o-o-o-om! No I don't!"

K grinned at Katie. "Quack, quack," she said, and Katie fell apart giggling.

"Don't teach her that!" Clint said.

"Try it Katie … quack quack," K whispered as they started to walk out to the arena where Barney was still walking Susie around. K did the same, simply walking alongside the horse as Katie got to ride the big white horse — and Barney was no help at all by pointing out that Katie looked like she was on a knight's horse. Especially the way that Galahad had his chin tucked to his chest the whole time, almost prancing with every step.

"Inna be princess," Katie argued. "No knight!"

"Katie loves princesses," Susie put in.

"That's fine, Kate. The horse's name is Galahad — that was a knight," K said. "And knights carry princesses around, right?"

"That's right, Katie!" Susie said encouragingly.

"Okay." Katie smiled and nodded. "Princess Katie!"

"Mind if I ride with you for a few minutes, Katie? Galahad likes to show off," K said.

"Okay!" Katie sang out happily.

K smirked at that then dropped the rope and gave Galahad a command to stand still — and he did, chin tucked under, perfectly squared up as K walked around behind him then leap-frogged onto his back right behind Katie. "Alright. You know how I said he does tricks?" She pulled his head over to take the rope and lay it across his neck in front of Katie. "He does all of his tricks without any saddles or bridles on him. So …"

She made sure Katie was holding on solidly and then got Galahad going through his routine — high steps, marching and then trotting along, with Katie giggling madly and clutching to his mane. It was all fun and giggles until K had him trotting sideways and Katie simply fell to pieces laughing to the point K had to hold onto her to keep her from falling off.

When they were all done with the little ride, Galahad was huffing, and K kept a decent hold on Katie as she had him bow, touching his nose to the ground as he stretched out low. K hopped off and then offered to pick Katie up. "Nice job, Princess."

Katie grinned and threw her arms around K's neck. "That was fun!"

"Of course it was," K agreed. "And you did great."

"Yeah, Katie!" Susie said, beaming at her sister and running over to K. "I wanna learn how to do that stuff!"

"Well, stick around, sunshine," K said.

"Mom's teaching us how to shoot arrows on horseback!" Clint said, and Susie spun to face him with wide eyes.

"Wow."

"Inna do that!" Katie said, though she was getting tired from all the playing and was halfway snuggling into K.

"We have plenty of time to do all of that," K agreed before she handed the rope to Clint. "Can you boys put these two away? We can wait for a minute before we head up if you're fast."

"Okay," the boys said together, then grinned and rushed to do just that — as Susie tugged on K's sleeve.

"I like them," she whispered. "They're nice."

"They're good boys," K agreed. "And they take care of everyone they can."

"Barney was saying you saved his little brother," Susie said.

"We travelled together," K said, tipping her head. "He had a jerk following him. I stopped that."

Susie nodded and bit her lip. "Dad had a jerk," she said quietly.

K rested her hand between Susie's shoulders. "I'm sorry you had to deal with a jerk."

"Dad was scared of him," Susie said, her eyes wide as she whispered what she knew — some of which, of course, she'd already told Hank. "Really, really scared."

"Jerks are like that," K agreed, then offered Susie her hand. "I knew a jerk when I was little, too."

"You did?"

K nodded slowly. "I had an evil stepfather," she said in a quiet tone.

Susie looked over both shoulders before she leaned in. "My dad had evil guys over. Lots."

"That sounds really scary," K said, matching her tone.

Susie nodded. "Uh-huh. Dad said we weren't allowed when they came over, but I heard 'em talking about Mom."

K frowned at that. "What did they say about your mom?" she asked.

"Well …" Susie bit her lip. "I didn't understand a lots of it. They were speaking in, like, a code? I think? Mom's skinny; she's not 'broad'."

K nodded at that. "Yeah, really jerky guys sometimes call ladies broads," K told her.

"Oh." Susie blinked and then nodded. "So… so they said they were making a stage for a broad?"

"That … really doesn't sound very nice," K said, giving Susie's hand a little squeeze.

"I didn't think it did, but I didn't wanna ask," Susie said.

"Sweetheart, even if you're scared, you'll be smart if you follow what that little feeling is in the pit of your tummy," K told her. "Most of the time, if it feels scary or wrong … it's kind of your way to protect yourself."

Susie nodded. "I get real scared when those guys come."

"You don't need to worry about them while you're here," K promised.

"Are you sure?" Susie asked, glancing at Katie, who was still tiredly rubbing her eyes. "They… they came an' got me an' Katie…"

"Those guys won't come anywhere near Logan or his friends," K said in a soft rumble.

"Because he's scary too," Susie said.

"Only toward bad guys," K told her with a little smile. "He's a big squish for kids and ladies."

"I dunno," Susie said, one eye closed. "I like Hank."

"Oh, well. You can't go wrong with the real-life cookie monster," K said, nodding her head. "He's very snuggly."

"He was real nice and said I could stay here if I want," Susie said. "He said lots of kids stay here."

"They do," K agreed. "This is a place that takes a lot of kids that need homes. They give them a place to live and clothes to wear and teach them everything they need to know."

"But we got a home," Susie said softly.

"Do you have a grown-up to take care of you too?" K asked.

"Oh." Susie looked between K and Katie. "Um. No. Mom… Mom died, and Dad…"

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," K said in a low rumble.

Susie nodded, and then her lip trembled and she darted forward to hug K tightly and start to cry — just as the boys finished up and got there in time to look worried.

"What's wrong?" Clint asked.

"She was just thinking about her parents," K admitted, holding Susie close one-handed.

"Oh." Clint let his shoulders drop, and Barney nodded grimly.

"It sucks sometimes," Barney said.

"The boys were orphans," K told Susie. "That means their original parents are gone."

Susie picked her head up to look at the Barton boys and then sniffled. "That's really sad."

"Yeah, well…" Barney shrugged. "We did okay. And we got adopted, and we have Logan and K for parents now, so we're good."

"They did amazing," K said, smirking at Barney. "And we have fun now."

"And Barney is gonna run a circus when he grows up," Clint said. "He'll be the ringmaster!"

"Clint's exaggerating," Barney said.

"Nuh-uh. Paul said you'd be good at it and you could do it while he's bein' a dad 'cause Miranda li-i-i-ikes when Paul says stuff like that," Clint said, then made a face K's way. "She's weird."

"Barney spends his summer with a circus," K explained to Susie. "And then he comes to school in the fall."

"Like a summer camp?" Susie asked. "Mom signed me up for one last year because I'm big enough now!"

"It's … a lot longer than a regular camp," K said. "And he's a weapon's master in the circus. He runs away to perform every year."

"I don't run away," Barney said, shaking his head at K.

"He does. He gets tired of me fussing over his hair and has to run away."

"At least you're not as ridiculous with me as you are with Clint," Barney said with a smirk.

"Wait until I drop you off in a few months," K warned. "I'm just waiting to see that little girl … trapeze?"

"Ana," Barney said, turning a brilliant red.

"Yeah, Ana," K agreed. "She needs someone to give her the look."

"Oh no," Barney said at the same time Clint said, "Oooh, yes!"

"She needs someone to warn her that there will be surprise stop-ins through the season," K said. "Just in case she decides to kiss you too much."

"Please don't," Barney said, looking mortified — though Susie was giggling and Clint was practically cackling.

"Oh, you want Logan to do it instead?" K asked innocently.

"That's worse."

"What about if it was Jean?" K asked. "I'm sure she'd do it, too."

"Jean would want to know if we were getting married," Barney said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay," K said, nodding. "Jean for sure, then. Scott can stand behind her with that whole … very serious look."

"Mom, no," Barney groaned.

"Mom, yes," Clint said, and burst out laughing even harder, clutching his stomach when Barney looked positively betrayed.

K smiled at the boys' antics and then looked down at Susie, who was watching the Barton boys carefully — but slowly starting to smile, too. "What do you think we should do for dinner, Susie?"

Susie giggled and looked up at K. "Oh, can we have Italian? I like the long noodles and stuff."

"Yep," K agreed. "We can do that. It's been a while since we did that, right, boys?"

"Mom makes really good spaghetti," Clint said, though he was wiping tears from his eyes still.

K tipped her head to look at Katie. "Do you want to watch cartoons and snuggle with Arrow?"

Katie nodded tiredly. "Uh-huh. Inna watch Looney Tunes."

"You can use Logan's pillow, to get comfy," K offered.

"Inna use Logan-pillow."

"Logan's teaching," K said.

"It's like when Daddy works," Susie said helpfully.

"Oh." Katie frowned and hid her face in K's shoulder. "I don' wike it."

"I don't know what your dad did when he worked, but we can go peek into Logan's class," K said. "He's teaching older kids how to be heroes."

"Okay," Katie said, then paused. "After Looney Tunes."

"You got it, Princess Katie," K agreed, then carried her up to the suite.