A/N: Hello! It is I! This chapter, nothing but fluff and castles...
After the incident with the Time stone, things settled down. The Avengers were busy going on little side missions, high-profile bodyguard duty, and building and outfitting the new Avengers facility.
It was also summer vacation for Allie, so she was underfoot. A lot. Not that it was a bad thing, but...
"She's too cute," Tony said. "She's gotta go. Every time she walks in the room, any room, productivity drops by ten percent." He pointed at Sam. "Him, too." He pointed at Pietro. "Also this one. And that one." He pointed at Clint.
"Hey, I'm just giving design input," Clint protested.
"'Put perches everywhere' is not design input," Tony retorted. "There are only two snipers in this whole team."
"Hey, you wanted my idea for security," Clint said, shrugging. "That's my idea."
"I vote we go to Scotland," Allie piped up.
They all looked at her. "Scotland?" Bucky asked, after a second.
She nodded emphatically. "Like a family vacation. That way we won't bother people."
"You're not a bother," Tony reassured her. "You're just, a really adorable distraction."
"I like Scotland," Sam said. "Good beer."
"Nice views," Natasha added.
"Why do you want to go to Scotland?" Pietro asked.
"Because it's pretty," Allie said. "And I like the funny accents. And there's castles. And, unicorns."
"Unicorns?" Wanda echoed, confused.
"It's the national animal of Scotland," Allie informed them. "I learned it." She looked at her parents. "Can we go? Can we stay in a castle? Please, please, pwease?"
They all smiled at the childish accent, which Allie (now six) had decided she was too grown-up for. It still came out sometimes, when she was excited or stressed. That, plus puppy eyes, was the deciding factor.
"Sure," Clint said, kissing her head. "We can go to Scotland. Who's in?"
"Me!" the twins said instantly, sharing a glance.
"Totally me," Darcy added.
"Sure," Bucky said. "Could be fun."
"I'm in," Sam said.
"Me too," Steve decided.
"Hey, hey, what happened to planning the thing?" Tony asked indignantly.
"We've got the plans already," Steve said, shrugging. "All that's left is the actual building and besides moving stuff I'm useless."
Tony frowned. "That's true, I'd kick you out anyway." He nodded graciously. "You may go."
Allie looked at Vision. "Are you going to come too?"
"I don't know..." He frowned uncertainly.
She hung onto his waist. "It'll be fun," she promised.
"All right."
Tony looped his arms around Bruce and Loki's necks. "Just the three of us," he said, sighing dramatically. "It'll be so lonely."
"Just think of how much we'll be able to get done," Loki added dryly. "If you'll cease your theatrics and get off me." He zapped Tony's arm with a little frost poof.
"Ouch. That's cold, man."
The departure date was set for a week hence, since with private jets and Tony Stark's name anything was possible, and they would stay on the other side of the pond till they were no longer deemed "in the way."
Allie was so excited, she packed that very afternoon and just lived in pajamas for the next five days. Wanda decided that was a good plan, and the two of them were pj-buddies.
Stark's private jet took them from New York to Edinburgh, and they rented a couple of cars to get from the airfield to the B&B they were staying in.
Allie was practically vibrating with glee. "It's a castle it's a castle! It's a castle."
Vision scooped her up before she rocketed into high orbit. "Let's get checked in first before we explore, yes?"
She grinned up at him. "Okay, Vis." She stayed with the group until they were ready to climb the stairs.
Clint gave her the key. "Go find the room, munchkin."
"Yay!" She bolted for the stairs, Pietro at her heels.
By the time the adults made it up the stairs with the luggage, Allie and Pietro were already in the room, half hanging out of the windows to look at the view.
"Fall out and you'll be in trouble," Wanda told her twin. "I'm not catching you."
Allie hugged her around the waist. "You'll catch me, right?"
"Yes."
Pietro mock-scowled. "That is favoritism."
"Yes, it is."
They divided up the rooms. Clint, Nat, and Allie had the one in the top of the tower. The twins had the one under them, and Steve, Bucky, and Sam had the larger one underneath them.
Five minutes to stuff luggage away and they were all outside again. It was just getting to late afternoon, and even with the long flight, they were all ready to go do something new.
"What are we gonna do, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna dooooooo?" Allie chanted, skipping in circles around the adults.
Nat caught her by the shoulders and held her still. "Did someone give you caffeine, baby?"
"Nope!" Allie beamed at her mom. "Steve gave me candy on the flight."
The super soldier cleared his throat nervously as the super spy gave him the stink-eye. "I had gummy bears," he explained. "She gave me puppy eyes."
Natasha sighed. "Fine. But you get to watch her."
"Okay." He grinned. "So, where are we going first?" he asked.
They decided to walk around the small town and the first person to find a nice place to eat, they would all meet there.
The twins and Sam wandered off, Bucky, Vision, and Darcy headed off in another direction, and Steve, Allie, and the spies started to walk in another. Steve gave Allie a little piece of flexi-rope to hang onto, and he held the other end of it so she wouldn't get lost or run off in her excitement.
"Seriously? A leash?" Clint asked, smirking at Steve's tactic.
"Hey, you didn't want to get her a monkey backpack leash," Steve said, shrugging.
Allie waited for them in front of a storefront window, showing little trinkets. "Can we go in, daddy?" she asked, bouncing in place.
"Okay, but you have to be very careful. You don't want to bounce and break something, right?"
"Right." Allie took a couple of deep breaths and did a full body wriggle to get the last of her hyperactivity out. "Okay," she said, handing the end of the rope to Steve. "We's good."
The shopkeeper was a little wrinkled old man, who didn't look the least bit fazed to see three Avengers in his shop. "Evening," he said, nodding to them.
"Evenin'," Clint replied genially.
Allie poked her nose into all corners of the shop, and found a little painting of a unicorn standing in heather in full bloom. "Ooh," she said, pausing to stare at the painting. She brought it up to the shopkeeper. "Scuse me, sir?"
He smiled at her. "What can I do for you, lass?"
"Why is the unicorn the national animal? Have you ever seen one? Why is the unicorn the national animal if it's not real? Why is this one in the painting so small? Oh. Also, my name's Allie. Hi."
"Hello, Allie. My name is Rob. And as for the unicorn..." He started to tell her the history of the mythical unicorn. "You see, people used to believe they were real, and in the 1300's the king of Scotland declared it the national animal because the unicorn and the lion were enemies. And the English national animal is the lion."
Allie's eyes went wide. "Oooohhhh. But why's this one so small? And why's it's horn black?"
"Because they come from ancient Babylon, and nobody really knows where the myth got started. They looked more like a goat or an antelope instead of a horse."
"Oh. So, we won't see one?"
He smiled. "Not in the cities you won't." His voice dropped to a whisper. "But if you go way out on the moors, at twilight, you just might see one."
Allie gasped. "Really?"
"Really."
"Whoa. Awesome." She held the painting out to her mom. "Can we get it? So I can play pretend?"
Natasha smiled. "Sure."
They bought the little painting, and Allie let Steve put it in his jacket pocket for safekeeping.
Sam called as they were leaving the store, and started with, "I found a pub that does a monster steak. Quick before Pietro orders them all."
"Be there in five," Steve replied, glancing at the GPS of Sam's location. "Dinner, guys?"
"Yes!" Allie said, pumping her fist in the air. "I'm so hungry." She looked up at Clint. "My feets hurt."
Clint picked her up and put her on his shoulders. "How's the weather up there?" he asked.
She giggled. "Good."
They met everyone at the pub. Allie had a tiny chicken pot pie and a cup of hot cocoa, and everyone else had burgers, fish and chips, and steaks, and pints of Guinness. Except Vision. He had a hot cocoa with Allie.
After dinner, they walked back to the B&B, Allie resting comfortably on Steve's shoulders. She yawned. "How far's'it?" she asked sleepily.
"Five more minutes," Steve replied. He pulled her off his shoulders and carried her so she could rest her head.
Natasha slowed to walk next to them. "Tired, baby?" she asked, smiling.
Allie yawned again. "Yup."
They got to the B&B, and everyone separated to go to bed. As soon as Allie snuggled into the very center of the fold-out couch, she fell asleep.
"Did she even brush her teeth?" Clint asked, coming out of the bathroom.
"Nope."
Clint smiled. "Sleep well, munchkin," he said softly, kissing his daughter's hair.
A~A~A~A
The next morning when Clint and Natasha woke up, the room was empty. There was a note next to Clint's head.
'Daddy, went outside to play with Bucky Steve Darcy maybe Sam if we find him some coffee. - Allie' It was carefully dated 7 AM.
Clint grinned and showed the note to Natasha. "Did you notice when she left?"
"No I didn't." She looked chagrined. "We must be losing our touch."
"Or we taught her too well," Clint replied, swinging his legs out of bed. "You wanna shower and I'll rustle up some breakfast?"
"Sure." Natasha kissed him and headed to the bathroom. "We can find the others afterwards."
They had a leisurely breakfast and after a last cup of coffee, ventured out to find the others.
"Your friends said something about going out to the meadows," one of the maids told them.
"Thanks."
They walked out of the castle, and headed towards the open fields. "Found 'em," Clint said, pointing to the small group of people on one of the hills.
Everyone was sitting on the ground, eating scones and drinking coffee, and a little further away there was a-
"Unicorn," Clint said, somewhat stupidly, watching the horse-like creature. "That is a unicorn."
Everyone else laughed. "Not a unicorn," Bucky replied. "She's an Alicorn."
"Did anyone get pictures?" Natasha asked.
Darcy held up her phone. "She posed for me."
Clint walked over to the 'alicorn' and it trotted up to him and nuzzled his stomach, careful not to poke him with its delicate blue horn. "Good morning sweetheart."
She transformed back into her normal self. "Good morning daddy." She hugged him. "Did you like my alicorn?"
He grinned and kissed her forehead. "Yes I did. You looked very ethereal with the morning mist."
She grinned. "Good. I like the word 'ethereal'. It's a pretty word." She took his hand and tugged him back to the others. "Let's go see what we're gonna explore today. And I want another scone. Alicorns have a very high met-a-bo-lism."
"Oh really?"
"Yup."
A~A~A~A
They spent a week and a half in Scotland, going to museums, ruins, and the lakes. They went to Loch Ness, and Allie wanted to shapeshift into the Loch Ness monster.
"Can I daddy?"
"That's probably not a good idea," Clint said gently. "There's lots of tourists around, and we don't want to end up all over social media, right?"
"Nope, never mind."
A~A~A~A
Tony called and told them to stay another week while things were finishing up.
So they went to London, and spent a week playing tourist there. They even made a trip down to Stonehenge.
"It's weird knowing that this is actually a warning about the Convergence," Darcy said, as they stood and stared at the stone monuments. "Like, we did that. Stopped that, I mean."
"And Dr. Selvig ran around without clothes on," Allie reminded her.
Darcy sighed. "That too."
A~A~A~A
A/N 2: Coming soon, more fluff. Maybe a plot. Dunno, really...