Summer 2014. Barton Farm. Age 30 In the fallout of Washington D.C. and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dissolution, Natasha needed to lay low. She had blow every cover she had. Her dirty secrets laid out in the open from her data dump a few weeks ago. Steve and Sam took off in search of James. Following cold leads on him in the backlash from events of the Potomac wreckage. She decided she shouldn't leave the country this time. Last time hadn't worked out so well for her. She hadn't seen Clint or the kids in over a year. Her missions rarely coincided with Clint's. Now that S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen, Clint opted to focus more on family. Owing to jump right back in when or if he was needed. Last Natasha had heard, Tony was taking over the Avengers. Using Stark Tower as an Avengers home base. She parked her car on the dirt driveway and walked up the familiar steps. She could smell barbecue. Laughter in the back yard of the house. Natasha had traded her penchant for boots and leggings for jean shorts and sandals. A summer on the farm would give her time to figure her life out once again. "Auntie Nat!" Cooper yelled and bounded for her as she walked around to the back. Laura was rocking with Lila on the wooden bench that hung from an old oak tree. Clint was tending the grill, and every member of the family beamed as they spotted her. An alarming feeling washed over her. A feeling of belonging. Family. Maybe Steve was right. She could have a family, just not in the way she had thought. "Cooper!" She dropped down and hugged the growing boy. "Buddy! You're so big now!" Lila was bounding across the lawn. "Lila! Look at you! You've lost some of your teeth! Did the tooth fairy come? The boy squeezed her tightly. "Daddy said you saved the world last week." "I got a dollar!" Lila beamed. Natasha smiled, "I sure did, kiddo." Clint had a way of exaggerating. But she supposed in a way she and Steve did save the world. "Oh, Lila! You're rich, huh?" She squeezed both of the kids again. "Cooper, those chickens need their dinner. Don't you forget." Clint reminded. Cooper tore off for the chicken coops down by the barn. Natasha walked over to Clint who set down some tongs. "About time you showed your face around here, Nat." He grabbed her and hugged her tightly. "I won't stay away this long ever again." She needed the Barton's. She needed to let herself feel how it felt to belong to a family. "Why did you?" Clint asked and reached into a cooler and handed her a beer. She shrugged, "I was ashamed after Rio. Then S.H.I.E.L.D. when belly up. James showed up again… He shot me again." She pointed to the pink scar on her shoulder. "My cover's blown. I need to hide out now." "You know you have a home here as long as you need it." Clint reminded. Choosing not to delve into the details of Rio that he didn't know or that she had been shot by her ex again. Assassin problems, he shook his head slightly at the thought. "I think I'm gonna need it forever." She sipped the beer and grimaced. "You know Laura and I would never turn you away. Our house is yours forever then." Clint smiled. "I don't deserve you." Natasha smiled. Clint laughed, "You can earn your keep with manual labor. I'll put you to work." "I'm looking forward to it." Natasha spent the next three months waking up at dawn with Clint and feeding animals. Cleaning stalls, where she found out she loved horses. The general upkeep of the farm kept her and Clint on their toes. From repairing lofts and siding, to mechanical problems from a very temperamental tractor. Laura always found ways to steal Natasha away to help with meals or the kids. Which Natasha loved he best. She tutored Cooper all summer in reading. Cooper showed her how to fish in the pond. Natasha baby sat once a week and insisted Clint and Laura get out of the house. Those nights Natasha was the fun auntie. She let Cooper stay up late and watch movies with her. They ate ice cream out of the container. Lila would make her color with her until her fingers bled. Lila liked it best when Natasha would take the little girls pictures and turn them into stories. When it stormed outside, Cooper and Lila had started climbing into her bed at night. Where Natasha would turn the lights on low and read them stories until he fell asleep again. Clint and Laura weren't surprised when the kids started running to Natasha's bed on nights when there were no storms. They'd wake and find Natasha's door open and the kids and her buried under blankets and pillows. Books scattered around the bed. On the nights Cooper didn't get scared or when she wasn't babysitting, she called Steve. In the light of the revelation that they both knew James, they sought refuge in that thought. Steve was off chasing James. She called every night to hear of developments. Sometimes Steve would call, disheartened from another cold trail that didn't lead to his life-long friend. He's ask Natasha to tell him stories about James from her time in the Red Room. He's always comment on them, regaling on how it was exactly like him to be that way. Most nights it was her calling Steve, asking for stories about James before the war. On those nights where the ache in her heart was too much to bear. She's lay in bed smiling as Steve told stories of old timey New York and the James she knew wasn't so different from the Bucky he knew. She learned that James had a thing for redheads and Steve called it fate that he'd fall in love with a redheaded Russian. "Where are you guys today?" She asked sleepily. It was nearing midnight where she was. Steve paused for a moment, "Romania." He sounded defeated again. "Cold trail?" She worried there wouldn't be a trail to lead to James. If he didn't want to be found she was sure that James had the skill set to make sure he wouldn't be found. "Yeah. I'm sorry." She heard Sam mumbling in the background. "Don't be. We knew this wouldn't be easy." She tried to remain positive. "We're coming back, Natasha." He said after a long pause. "Why?" She said quickly. "We've got nothing else to go on. We've exhausted every lead. Plus we discovered a HYDRA base. Cut off one head, two more grow in its place." Steve repeated the mantra. "Ugh… We have to go back to work then?" She didn't want her summer to be over. "Afraid so. I already called Stark and Hill. They've uncovered more. They calling in everyone tomorrow. Think you can find Clint? We're going for the biggest threat, a base in Sokovia." Steve commented. "I'm sure I can manage to find him. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Avengers Tower?" "Yes." He said quickly, "When this is all over. This HYDRA business, I'm going to look again. He made a promise to me years ago, I've got to follow through. No matter how long it takes." Natasha smiled, "I'll come with this time. What did he say to you?" Steve added, "He said 'I'm with you until the end of the line'". "That's something he'd say. So gallant of him." She smiled against the phone. "I would have teased him about that." "It's a miracle he liked you, Romanoff." Steve chuckled. "Mean. That's not the only way I teased him." Natasha huffed, knowing anything over PG-13 would get Steve all ruffled. He was very much an old man sometimes. "When we were faced with having to go our separate ways in Russia he said something along the same lines. Much more romantic but the same idea." "Eww." Steve mimicked the way she exclaimed "Mean" a few seconds ago. "What did he say then? Unless it's dirty, then I don't want to hear it." Natasha smirked, "Oh, I'll tell you about the dirty Russian things he'd say to me." "Please don't." Steve interjected quickly. She laughed, "Your loss then, Rodgers. You could learn a thing or two, You still need that practice." "I'll hang up. I didn't call for a trip down a dirty Russian road." Steve quipped. He usually wasn't quick about those. She was rubbing off on him. "Oooh, listen to you Steve Rodgers. You didn't miss a beat on that one. I'm so proud. And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks." She heard thunder rumble in the distance. In a few moments her room would be taken over. "I'm counting to three and hanging up if you don't get on with your end of the story." Steve replied, having a good laugh at his own expense. She breathed slowly and abandoned her playful banter. "He said it wouldn't matter how far we went or for how long we were gone. Whenever we found each other it would be like coming home. Where ever we were together would be all that we needed." She said softly. "See, once he gets over this shooting you business every time he sees you, he'll remember that. You'll have you home." Steve seemed to be the biggest champion of making sure James recovered and ended up with her. "I don't know. I've got a lot to work out on how I feel about him shooting me. Can't shake the nightmares." Steve gave a noncommittal noise, "You know it wasn't him deciding that. Someone is controlling him. We both know he wouldn't ever do that to someone he cared about." "I hope you're right about that." Lighting crackled in the sky. Thunder rattled the windows. Natasha sat up and reached for the basket of book she kept beside her bed. "I'm about to be overrun with little kids afraid of thunder and lightning. I've gotta go." "Tell the kids I say hi." He replied before yawning. "Goonight Natasha." "Bye, Steve." Like clockwork, Lila trudged into the room carrying her rainbow blanket, a teddy bear and a pillow. "C'mon, kiddo." She smiled and tucked Lila into bed next to her. Cooper entered a moment later. He had a dinosaur blanket, two pillows and a flashlight.
She patted the bed and he tucked himself in. She reached for the first book and started reading.
