A/N: Toldcha.

"Dad?"

"Yes baby?"

"I've decided I'm going to save the world like Moana."

Clint blinked at his daughter. She was twelve years old now, and had by no means outgrown her love of Disney princesses, but that was out of left field, even for her. "Okay?" he said. "How...?"

"Well, like Maui, actually."

He thought back to the movie. "By shapeshifting and a magic hook?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I guess we could make that happen?"

Allie giggled and hugged him. "No, dad. What would a real lizard or a real hawk do against an actual villain? I mean, he uses the qualities of those creatures to aid him. So, I've decided to go into bio-mimetics. As a career."

Clint sighed in relief. "Okay. That actually makes sense."

She held out a form. "So, I've decided to apply to MIT. Tony's gonna be my sponsor."

Clint eyed the form like it was a snake. It was a college application. "Baby, you're twelve."

"I know." She continued to hold it out patiently.

"Did... you talk to your mom about this?"

"She said to ask you."

He literally felt the world dissolving under his feet. His baby, in college? No way Natasha would agree to that. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

She giggled. "So we could get that on video. FRIDAY!" She ran away before he could process that.

"Hey!" He chased after her, and found her safe in the circle of Tony, Steve, Bucky, and Natasha.

"Heeyyy dad, how's life?" she greeted him, giving him a smile that matched Steve's at his most aw-shucks.

Clint scowled at her and all the grownups. "My own team," he said, giving a disappointed sigh. "I am too old to be getting scares like that."

"Seriously though, I took the PSAT and I could get in to MIT in like a year or so," Allie said, and hid behind Bucky.

Clint groaned. "Are you serious?"

Natasha wrapped an arm around his waist and kissed him. "Clint, you knew we were raising a smart kid."

"Smart?" Tony said, insulted. "I educated her in circuit boards when she was five. She is way past smart! She is a genius."

"I'm not as smart as you," Allie pointed out.

"Baby, no one is as smart as me."

"Except for Bruce," Steve pointed out.

"And Reed," Bucky added.

"And T'Challa," Allie continued. The Black Panther was one of her favorite people of all time.

"And Stephen Strange," Steve said.

"And Steve," Bucky said, digging an elbow into his best friend's side.

"And Steve," Allie echoed triumphantly. Steve was still her number three favorite.

Tony shook his head. "Fine. Besides those six people, no one's as smart as me. But you're a genius too. Mid-range, I'd say. And you could totally start college at thirteen."

Natasha put an arm around Allie. "Here's a thought. Pre-requisite classes, but online. That way you can stay with us. How's that?"

Allie hugged her. "That sounds great."

"Good." Natasha kissed her hair. "So we're all agreed? College?" She looked at Clint.

"Yeah. Sure. Online only."

"Cool!" Allie hugged him tightly and ran down the hall, shouting, "I'm gonna go tell Pepper! She said she'd write me a reference!"

They all watched her go with a grin. "She's growing up way too fast," Clint sighed.

Steve patted him on the shoulder. "She'll be fine, Clint."

"Oh I know. My baby can do anything she sets her mind to."

A~A~A~A

Allie Barton-Romanoff started online pre-requisite classes at NYU the next semester. She could be found squirrelled away in any corner of the Avengers complex, nose in a tablet as she worked and studied and passed her tests.

Tony, Peter, and Bruce spent a lot of time teaching their favorite youngster the things in her online classes. She absorbed it all like a sponge, now that it really mattered, and built her own little models for the entrance to the grad program.

A~A~A~A

Bucky woke up from a post-mission nap feeling like someone was watching him. He opened his eyes, and found Allie standing on his left side, scanner in hand, her eyes half an inch from his arm. He cleared his throat and she let out a startled 'meep!' "You scared me!" she complained.

"What are you doing, doll?" he asked.

She held up the scanner. "I'm looking at your arm."

"Why?"

"Tony based it on an elephant trunk. I have to find a practical real-world example of bio-mimetics."

"Doesn't he have the schematics to this arm?"

"The professor said it was cheating if I used them. I have to build my own based on my observations." She gave him puppy eyes. "Please can you do some stuff with your arm and I'll watch you?"

Bucky sighed. "Fine."

"Yay thank you Buck!" She kissed his cheek. "Can you flex?"

The long-sffuering soldier went through the motions, following Allie's instructions. Finally he sighed. He recognied that look on her face. "Okay, new plan. How about I just take this off and you can tinker with it?"

She gaped at him. "Really? You'll let me?"

"All I'm doin' is napping, kiddo, why not?"

She helped him release it from the shoulder joint and he put it on the coffee table.

"Okay, go crazy, just, put it back together how you found it, okay?"

"I promise, Bucky."

"Cool." He threw his other arm over his eyes and went back to sleep on the sofa.

Rhodey entered hte room an hour later, and blinked. "Allie?"

"Yeah?" She didn't look up from prying open a plate on the arm.

"What are you doing with Bucky's arm?"

"Studying it."

"Does Bucky know you're studying it?"

"Yeah, he's right there." She pointed absently with the screwdriver.

Rhodey went over to look at his teammate. "He's just asleep, right?" he asked warily.

Allie gave him an insulted look. "I didn't knock him out, Rhodey, I just asked. Only mom knocks people out with poisons. He's just napping."

"Trying to nap," Bucky mumbled. "Quiet."

"All right, all right, I'm just checking." Rhodey ruffled her hair. "Carry on, cricket."

A~A~A~A

A/N 2: Thank you for sticking with me, as RL gets more and more complicated! I am still writing this story, as well as a few others that are inching towards publication on this site :) Here's to caffeine!