Sorry that this took so long! Something in my life came up that caused me to stop writing for all of these months! I'm fairly confident it won't happen again in the near future!

Clint awoke to something wet and slimy being quickly and repeatedly dragged across his face. The first time this had happened he had jumped up and nearly woke up the entire safe house screaming, but now it brought a smile to his face.

He sat up in his bed so Lucky would stop licking his face. "Okay, I'm up, I'm up!"

Lucky barked happily before jumping off the bed, showing no sign that he was ever injured. His wagging tail picked up speed as Clint stood to get dressed. Unlike when he woke up many weeks ago, the sun wasn't shining in his window. In fact, it hadn't even cleared the trees. Lucky didn't care, of course. He wanted to go jogging with Sam and Steve, and he would take Clint with them whether Clint liked it or not.

Clint himself would prefer to sleep in, but he knew it was futile. If he stayed behind, so would Lucky, but he would be in a rotten mood all day.

"At least I'm getting my exercise," he said.

Once he was done getting dressed, the two headed downstairs and out the door. As always, Lucky would have to do his business before they went to the lake. "Make sure to do it where people don't walk. We don't want Fury to step in it again."

He didn't expect Lucky to listen. As obedient as he was, he went wherever smelt like the right spot. Thank God he was house-trained and that that "right spot" was never indoors.

As Lucky sniffed around, the door to the safe house opened and Sam stepped out. "Ready to go?"

"Once Lucky's done."

Steve shut the door behind him. "He's doing better and better each day. Even if we feed him more of our food than his own."

Clint smiled. Everyone in that cabin was guilty of feeding him portions of their own meals. Even when they tried not to, Pizza Dog was a master manipulator. He'll look at them with the saddest eyes as he lays his head on their laps and whimpers. It was impossible to resist, and Clint had been trained to resist torture. Nat and Fury had yet to be begged at since they never ate with them. He had a feeling it was so they could avoid giving in to Lucky's puppy dog eyes.

The dog in question ran to the trail leading to the lake, his signal that he was ready to jog. He looked back at the men and barked twice as if to say, "Let's go!" The three of them followed.

Sam's time as a soldier and Clint's time as an agent had given them roughly the same amount of physical training. It allowed them to jog at the same speed and make conversation. It was something Sam had voiced his love for, but it was only his second favorite thing about Clint and Lucky joining their jogs.

Steve can run faster than 60 mph and can keep that speed up for a long time. Steve constantly leaving Sam in the dust ticked him off. However, Lucky can run roughly 45 mph, and while he loved to stick by Clint's side, he preferred to be by Steve when jogging. On the first day Lucky ran around the lake, he had tried with all of his might to match Steve's pace. It ended with Steve, Sam, and Clint huddled around a wheezing dog as he tried to catch his breath.

That's why, as they ran now, Steve was going at what to him was a light jog, Lucky keeping him company. Clint knew Sam considered it an improvement to Steve's speed before. Seeing that Lucky was having the time of his life up ahead was just the cherry on top.

Clint asked Sam, "So are you still suspicious?"

"About what?"

"Remember when you commented about the lack of bad guys running around the place? I forgot to ask yesterday if you felt any better now that we found some."

The first thing Nat and Fury talked about when they visited the day before was how a new villain had made an appearance in New York. Apparently he had been selling weapons built from Chitauri technology.

Sam responded, "Oh yeah! I'm not relieved per say, but I feel less paranoid. You know what? I can't believe that Spider-Man of all people took him down."

"Why? He kicked your ass at the airport."

Sam met Clint's smirk with a scowl. "First of all I won that fight."

"That's debatable."

"And second, Barnes and I weren't trying to kill him like that Vulture thing was. Spider-Man's head wasn't even in the game when I fought him, so how he was able to stay focused enough to take down another dude with wings is beyond me."

"That just makes your defeat even more embarrassing!"

"Redwing threw him out a window!" Sam exclaimed.

"After he kicked your ass!" Clint yelled as he sprinted ahead.

Laura knocked on Cooper's bedroom door. "Are you working on homework?"

"...Yeah," came his hesitant reply. She heard movement from behind the door. If she had to guess, it sounded like a large book was slammed shut before a notebook was flipped open.

She opened the door to see Cooper sitting on his bed. He was scribbling in his notebook until he realized Laura had entered. Right behind him was a thick photo album.

Laura sat next to him as she picked up the album. "I haven't seen this thing in ages!"

He shrugged. "I found it in the attic. I thought it'd be nice to look back at the good old days."

Against Laura's hopes, Cooper hadn't gotten much more cheerful. Both kids expressed excitement and happiness about Lucky, but other than that, Cooper was still distant and even bitter. She couldn't tell if his interest in the photos was a good sign or not.

She opened to the first page. "The good old days. This book starts with one of the best days of my life."

Cooper stared at the photos of the much younger family. Laura was in a bed, a hospital gown visible by the parts of her not covered in a white blanket. Clint stood next to her, holding a tiny, pink baby. He had a genuine smile on his face while Laura's betrayed her long ordeal from before.

"You look too tired for this to be one of the best days of your life."

"Trust me. I was overjoyed. You certainly can't deny that your father was having the time of his life!"

Cooper tilted his head as he seemed to scrutinize one of the photos. "He does look really happy. How long until he went back to work?"

Well she didn't expect that question. "I don't remember for sure. He couldn't be away from work for too long. He and Fury had to be sure that we stayed secret. Why do you ask?"

For a moment he appeared to be frustrated, but quickly changed back to impassive. Whether she imagined the anger or not, he didn't answer her question. He had been distant for long enough. Laura had to get to the bottom of what was causing his sour mood and fix it.

"Tell me, what's going on in that head of yours? How have you really been since your dad had to leave?"

"Had to leave?" he asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

She was a bit taken aback. "It may not have been as urgent as when aliens and robots were about to destroy the world, but it was important. But back to my question. How have you been feeling?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Mom."

Laura was hesitant to push him for information. Doing so risked him becoming even more distant, and that was the exact opposite of what she wanted to happen. If she was going to get Cooper to talk, she needed a plan. Maybe having both Clint and herself talk to him would help. After all, she was certain that Clint had something to do with Cooper's mood.

"Okay," she said, "I'll leave it alone for now, but I want to talk about it eventually." She got up and stood in the doorway. "Make sure to get your homework done."

Cooper nodded, not bothering to say anything. Meanwhile, Laura had to call Fury to schedule another Skype meeting.

So how do you think this Skype meeting is going to go?