I've been unable to publish stories for the past few months, but now I'm back!

This story idea has been in my head for a long time. Hawkeye is one of my favorite Avengers and I wanted to write a story focused on his character. This takes place after Captain America: Civil War and is going to feature some elements from Hawkeye's comics. It will feature the characters Crossfire and Lucky.

So far, I am planning a character death, but I've changed my mind about character deaths before. I'm not going to say who it is, but I will say that it is a person who is already in the MCU. Whether or not I kill this character will probably depend on the reviews I get about the character.

Anyway, enough of my yapping!

Clint Barton shielded his eyes from the sunlight coming in through the window. All his mind could comprehend was that he just woke up and that his nose really itched.

When his eyes adjusted to the light, he sat up and stretched his arms before scratching his nose. To his surprise, he was not in his bedroom with Laura. Instead it was a small room with nothing but a dresser and the sheetless bed he was sitting on. The green wallpaper was falling off at multiple spots. There was only one window, the dust particles dancing in the sunlight that shone through it.

He sighed when he remembered the airport fight, being arrested, and then busted out by Steve. This had been his room in the European safe house for two months, and he really missed his family. Nat had been kind enough to exchange letters between him and Laura as well as the occasional drawing from Lila, but it wasn't nearly as satisfying as being with his wife and kids.

He stood, the wooden floor creaking under his weight. Judging by how bright it was, Sam and Steve were already back from their jog through the woods. Their jogs were noticeably shorter since they became fugitives. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, everyone took extra precautions to be sure they weren't caught.

Already dressed, Clint walked down the stairs to the conjoined kitchen and living room. Just as he had predicted, Sam and Steve were eating cereal and having a conversation. "Morning."

"Morning," said Steve as Sam nodded in acknowledgement.

Clint opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs. "What's the plan for today?"

"Nick should be here in a few hours. He'll let us know if anything's going on that needs our attention," Steve answered.

Sam said, "You'd think with the Avengers being split that all the bad guys would be wrecking havoc. Makes me very suspicious."

"You think they're biding their time?" asked Clint as he placed a pan on the stove.

"I'm not sure what it is that I'm suspicious of, but I'm suspicious."

Clint cracked the egg and carefully slid its contents onto the pan. The lack of any criminal activity hadn't really concerned him. It just meant they could focus more on staying hidden, and more importantly, that the public was safe. He whistled to himself as he cracked open another egg.

Scott Lang entered the kitchen, his hair disheveled and his beard in desperate need of a shave. "I hate this place. Why can't I just freeze myself until this blows over like Bucky?"

Steve flinched before looking down at his cereal. It had been a few weeks since Bucky was frozen in Wakanda. Steve had been extremely down, depressed even. Most of them had figured out not to mention Bucky going under. Lang was the only one whose skull was too dense to realize the impact of his words.

Clint couldn't even begin to imagine what Steve was feeling. He thought his friend died, then the guy shows up seventy years later trying to kill him, then they seemed to at least somewhat patch things up, and now Steve had to say goodbye to Bucky for who knows how long. To cope, Steve had tried to keep himself busy, but it was proving difficult when in such a small space with little to do. That's why everyone tried to talk to him as much as possible.

"Shut up, Tic-tac," said Sam.

"Geez," Scott replied as he sat at the table with them.

Clint grabbed a spatula from a drawer, successfully drowning out the argument that proceeded between the two of them. He had plenty of practice making breakfast while two children were arguing in the morning.

"Do I smell eggs?" Clint turned his head to see Wanda had entered the room, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

He turned his attention back to his breakfast. "That'd be me. You want me to make you some?"

"No, I think I'll make my own when you're done."

Clint nodded. Ever since defeating Ultron, Clint had subtly looked after her whenever they were together. She had been the most important person to Pietro. If Clint could do anything to pay Pietro back, making sure his twin sister was safe would be the best thing he could do. It's what Pietro would be doing if he were still alive. He just tried to refrain from smothering her. So far he seemed to be doing alright. He knew she would say something if he wasn't.

He heard Wanda scooch a chair away from the table and take a seat. "I hope Natasha and Fury bring new puzzles. I've put together the ones they gave us and I'm getting bored."

"You could tear them apart and do it all over again," Steve suggested.

"I did. Three times."

Clint looked over. "You could watch Pride and Prejudice or Dirty Dancing. Nat gave them to me as a joke about three weeks ago."

Steve took out a little notebook-his list of things he needs to catch up on Clint realized-and flipped through some pages. "Tony said that I should watch something called Magic Mike. Maybe we could request that."

Wanda and Scott looked at Steve in total shock. Sam nearly choked on his cereal, some milk spilling out of his mouth and Clint nearly dropped the spatula.

Steve observed all of their reactions. "That's the movie about a magician, right?"

For a superhero, Stark is pretty evil.

Nobody seemed to have the heart to tell Steve what Magic Mike was actually about. Clint got a plate to put his eggs on, Wanda stood to make her own breakfast, Sam stared at his cereal, and Scott tapped his foot as he looked everywhere but at Steve.

Before Steve could inquire more about the movie, the door opened, saving them all. The first person to come in was Natasha, carrying a few paper bags filled with groceries. Behind her was Nick Fury, carrying a laptop and charger.

"Oh thank God," Scott breathed out.

Natasha set the groceries on the counter by Wanda. "We have a surprise for everyone!"

"Oh?" Clint said before sitting at the table. He figured it had something to do with the laptop. Fury and Nat never brought phones or computers for fear of being tracked to the safe house. The only electronics in the building were the TV in the corner and Sam's game boy that Nat managed to smuggle out of headquarters.

Natasha reached into one of the grocery bags, but instead of food, she pulled out a thick book. "For Wanda."

Wanda looked over at her gift, her hands still occupied with the pan and spatula. Clint craned his head to try and look at the book. He couldn't understand the title of it, but whatever it was, she sure seemed happy to see it.

"How did you even find it?!" she asked.

Nat shrugged before setting the book on the counter. "It wasn't hard. It just took a few online searches."

"Anything for me?" asked Sam.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a little game boy game. "I finally found that game you lost. Turns out Tony had borrowed it before everything happened. I managed to sneak it away from him."

She tossed it to Sam, who caught it with ease. "When this whole fugitive thing is over, I'm putting all of my games in a safe where Tony can't get them."

"You honestly think that will stop him?" asked Steve.

Sam seemed to consider Steve's question. "He is persistent."

"Steve," she said as she pulled out a brand new sketchbook. She threw it at him like a frisbee. He caught it before nodding in thanks.

Scott was holding his hands up, ready to catch something, and smiling in anticipation for his gift. Clint knew Natasha had seen him but was pretending like she didn't notice. She simply began unpacking the groceries. He couldn't help but smirk when Scott let his hands flop to his sides.

"Oh come on. You said everyone," Scott whined.

Clint hadn't noticed that Fury had gone to the couch on the other side of the room and set up the laptop on the coffee table. "You'll have to wait for Barton to finish talking to his family before you can talk to your daughter."

Clint nearly choked on his eggs as the words registered in his mind. He honestly wouldn't have cared if he did. All that mattered was that after months of not being with his family, he'd get to see them again. Sure it was through a computer screen, but Clint still felt like he could fly or cheer.

He practically ran to the couch and plopped down next to Fury, "And no one's going to track us?"

"This is completely private. I've been repeatedly checking for over a month now. However, we need to keep this brief. Just a precaution"

Clint refused to take his eyes off the screen as Fury opened Skype. Excitement bubbled up inside him. The seconds it took for Fury to call and Laura to answer took too long.

The image of Laura sitting in their computer room and holding Nathaniel popped onto the screen. She had her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and there was dirt on her clothes from working in the garden, but to Clint, it was like looking at a goddess. Her smile reflected his own joy. The type that spoke volumes about how much she missed him.

His year old son was wearing a blue onesie and was too preoccupied biting his knuckles to look at the screen. Since the last time Clint had seen him, Nathaniel had seemingly grown a couple of inches as well as some more light hair on his head. He suddenly felt very lucky that he was able to witness all of Nate's firsts. Had he left home a month earlier than he did, he would have missed his first steps.

Fury tilted the laptop so that only Clint's face was showing in the window at the bottom corner. "All yours."

Laura waved while exclaiming, "Surprise!"

Clint was initially lost for words, but settled with, "I'm... I'm so happy to see you!"

Having heard his father's voice, Nathaniel stopped chewing his fist and looked at the computer. His eyes lit up, he smiled, and he reached for the screen.

Laura chuckled, "Me too. The kids were worried that you wouldn't call before bedtime."

"Are they there now?"

"They're downstairs," she said before calling, "Cooper, Lila, your father's skyping!"

A few moments of silence. Then, Clint was able to hear running footsteps getting louder and louder. Lila was the first to enter the room, her face beaming and braided pigtails swinging behind her. After her was Cooper, whose expression was harder for Clint to read. Unlike Lila, who ran over to stand by her mother, he stayed back near the wall.

"Hi, Dad!" Lila exclaimed as she waved.

"Hi, Lila! How are you?!" he responded.

She shook her head. "My name's not Lila right now."

Clint raised his eyebrows at that. "Really? Because I could have sworn that's the name that Mom and I chose."

She stood up straighter with her shoulders back and her hands on her hips. It was an obvious attempt at a heroic stance. "I'm Kate Bishop, Defender of Earth!"

Cooper looked like he was about to sigh or groan, but one look from Laura stopped him.

"Well Kate Bishop, Defender of Earth, how are you?" asked Clint.

"I'm okay. Since you left I've been drawing and reading more. And I've been using my toy bow and arrow to defeat the bad guys. Mom says I can't use your arrows."

"I think she's right. Maybe when you're a little older, Sweetheart." He moved his eyes to focus on Cooper. "What have you been up to, Buddy?"

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"You had to have done something these past two months."

Laura looked back at Cooper. "Tell him about the party you went to."

"All we did was have pizza and play video games," he replied.

"Weren't you outside at some point? By a fire pit?"

"For a little."

Clint asked, "What was this party even for?"

"Jack's birthday," Cooper answered.

Clint knew he wouldn't be able to get much more out of Cooper. He had always been a quiet kid, only saying a few words when necessary. As much as he wanted to hear more about what Cooper was up to, Clint felt pushing him wouldn't be a good idea.

The sound of cooing drew in Clint's attention. Nathaniel was still reaching toward the screen and was now even grabbing for him.

"I'm afraid that's not going to work, Nate," he said, "You can't grab me through a screen."

Nathaniel cooed more at his nickname. A bit of drool began leaking out of the corner of his mouth. Laura, being the experienced mother she was, noticed and wiped it off with her finger.

Lila was looking quizzically at her brother. "He still doesn't do anything."

Laura chuckled. "He just needs to get used to walking and he'll be running along side you." She explained to Clint, "Nate still prefers to be carried everywhere."

"Who wouldn't prefer that?' said Clint.

He felt Fury nudge his arm. "I'm afraid we need to wrap this up."

Clint felt his heart break a little, but he knew Fury was right. Keeping his eyes downcast, he nodded.

"We have to eat dinner anyway," said Laura.

Clint smirked at her. "And I have to eat breakfast."

Laura gently held Nathaniel's wrist and used it to wave at Clint. "Say bye to Dad!"

The disappointment Lila was feeling was evident on her face. "Bye Dad. I miss you." Cooper waved a little behind her.

Laura was the one who hesitantly ended the call. Their faces disappearing didn't stop Clint from staring at the screen. He smiled, his mood lifted since he woke up.

"Can I use it now, Arrow Guy?" he heard Scott ask.

He suddenly remembered that he and Fury weren't the only ones in the room. Turning back, he saw that everyone was sitting at the table either eating or smiling at him. Scott's foot was bouncing as he waited eagerly for an answer.

Clint thought it was best not to keep him waiting. "Sure."

Anyone catch a reference to the comics? ;)

I'm already editing the second chapter. I would love to hear your thoughts!