Chapter 18

A detainment team, with some medical agents, was waiting only ten minutes away, so Daisy only passed out once. Clint had fallen back unconscious not too long after Daisy lay down next to him, his face covered in blood, from a cut on his forehead and his broken nose. They sat side by side on a gurney, after the medical personnel had stitched up any life threatening wounds and straightened both of their noses out. That hadn't been a fun experience at all, but Daisy had elected to go before Clint, which meant that she got to watch him freak out about his "money maker" and sulk when the physician just grabbed his nose and pulled. That kinda made up for the pain.

It was not too long after this that they shrugged off the medical agents that continued to try to work on them, and shared a smile when they both insisted they were fine. They got back in Clint's car, and just sat there watching as The Swordsman and Barney Barton were led out in handcuffs and put in separate prison transport trucks.

"Jacques is going to get the same chance that I gave Natasha thanks to you. Thanks, for sticking up for him. He was a bastard, but still as close to a good parental person I'll ever get." He gave her a shy smile, that with all the Band-Aids on his face, Daisy found adorable.

"Glad that it's him. I'm not mothering you, Barton." That earned her a chuckle, before he grew somber again.

"Sorry about my brother." Daisy cut him off before he could continue.

"Spare me the self-guilt. Your brother is a dick. He is going away for a while. Don't blame yourself. Bobbi was right about the self-guilt thing."

It was silent for a moment before he turned his head completely to her a large grin on his face. "You know Bobbi Morse?"

"Uh, yeah… should I not?"

His grin widened and he started the car. "No, that's cool. How is Mockingbird? Tell me everything."

And she did. She told him stories of missions, how she gained her powers, even some childhood stories from the orphanage. She even told that weird story about the blind kid that came in for a while. He listened and asked questions and laughed at her dumb jokes, just like she would think an older brother would be like. That thought pushed all the pain out of her mind until several hours had passed and they pulled down a now familiar gravel drive. They walked, with arms around each other's shoulders to support their weight, up the wooden stairs and knocked politely on the door.

Laura opened it several moments later and sighed as their beaten up visage came into her view. "Stay out here, you idiots. I'll take the kids upstairs." She rolled her eyes at the fake hurt expression on Clint's face and shut the door on them. After a couple minutes of leaning against the door, it opened causing them to almost fall in. But disaster was averted with Laura helping them over to the table. She took care of Clint's wounds first, since Daisy had more time to rest than he did in the car. She didn't have to do too much; the medical team had done their job, just weren't allowed by either of them to do a thorough check-up. "Ignore Medical" was the Hawkeye motto. They just had a few scrapes here and there that Laura put peroxide on and bandaged.

Laura looked at Clint who had gained a somber look on his face once again. She raised her eyebrow and he simply replied, "Barney." Laura went rigid before relaxing after a few seconds. When Daisy leaned over to see around Laura, she saw that Clint had caught ahold of her hand and was running his thumb over the back of it. She smiled at the scene, getting up and limping to go upstairs and check on the kids. She got to Nathaniel's room first and opened it to find him asleep in his crib. She sighed and went to Cooper's room, finding him reading a book in bed. She smiled and arrived at Lila's room. She cracked the door open and found her at her desk with crayons spread out in a vast expanse of different colors. She softly closed the door, not wanting to disturb the little girl until tomorrow morning.

As she turned around she had to bite down a yelp. Clint was standing right behind her. He grinned at her as she shot him a glare. She may like him now, but he was still a smug bastard. He cleared his throat, his eyes shining as he had caught her checking on his kids.

"I do the same thing. I'll even check on Wanda and Kate when they stay here. Kate doesn't usually; she likes to stay in her apartment in Brooklyn near mine. Wanda always comes home when she gets time off training with the Avengers." Daisy just stared at him with a raised eyebrow, wondering why he was bringing this up. "My point is that they both have rooms even though they aren't always here. I think my daughter has claimed you to add to her collection of superheroes. Might as well make you a room to go along with the gig. I'll call Coulson when I need to ask you about style choices." Daisy felt that warm feeling bubbling up again, but tried to keep her face impassive. She could tell from her burning eyes and Clint's kind smile that she was not succeeding.

"I. I- Thank you."

Clint nodded his head and turned to move into his own room, turning around slightly to smile at her. "Though, for tonight, Wanda has volunteered her room again. But if you want the room with a less chance of things blowing you up, I'd take Kate's room. I'll take the brunt of her wrath, so when you meet her she won't even remember."

Daisy nodded at him and disappeared into Kate's room and immediately face-planted on the sheets, barely finding the effort to pull the covers down and over herself. She thought very quickly about how all the kids were safe, how Clint and Laura were safe before she felt her body relax at the safety of the farmhouse and being surrounded by this family. Her new family. Her last thought was of what her room here would look like and how often she hoped to come stay in it.