Author's Note:

Massive hugs and lots of cookies to all of my amazing reviewers on the previous chapter! You've really given me the motivation I needed to continue this! Sorry if I haven't responded directly to you, I need to get better at that! Anyway, thank you to - ELOSHAZZY; bookwriter123456; Guest; Aquamarine6996; Mero; s.

I want to also thank ThisVioletofMine and Andromeda2000 who both helped me with this chapter! :D


Clint was pacing agitatedly outside of an out-of-the-way medical wing, the curtains of which had been drawn closed behind the glass walls, blocking any view of what could be inside. As soon as he saw Natasha approaching, as he'd been waiting for, he quickly met her halfway. "Nat, this was way deeper and way darker than we thought." He said quietly, wishing his hands would stop clenching and shaking simultaneously.

"What's going on?" She asked instantly, glancing around for clues.

Clint paused for a second before putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her over to the doors of the med bay, carefully opening one of them slightly enough for her to peer in. "They didn't just take children- they took women, too." Only a few beds were visible from their vantage point, and the lights inside were dim. The closest bed to the door was occupied by a very haunted-looking woman in her twenties. She was awake, but she kept staring at the ceiling.

"So?" She questioned unsympathetically. "They kidnap all ages. Were they going to sell them, too?"

Clint was sickened, though not at her, per se. He slowly pulled the door closed. "No. They… were using them like breeder dogs." He said almost shakily, his mind tormenting him with images of his beloved Laura forced into the horrors these women were surrounded by. "They were artificially inseminated, forced to carry children, never allowed to leave their beds, it looks like."

Natasha frowned. "You're right. That does suck." She commented, stepping away from the door. "How's Lila? Have you gone to see her yet?"

He sighed, feeling thirty years older than he was. "No. I've been so busy trying to gather information about this… how could they have done this with these girls with no one noticing anything? S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't even aware of it."

"Clint." Natasha said, grabbing his arm and forcing him to face her. "You have to let it go- don't let this get to you. You need to go home and see your wife and kids." She urged. She clearly knew his home life was pretty tense right now, with him not going to the hospital when Lila had her appendectomy, and she was right- he needed to show up.

Clint paced once more. "I know, I know. But, Nat- we owe it to these women to see that they get at least some sliver of their old lives back. Doctors are estimating that most of them were taken in their late teens. One of them," he cut off before starting again, "she was matched to one of the babies, but she wouldn't stop screaming until he was out of sight."

Natasha leveled out her look at him, appearing to be unaffected by everything that was going on. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is doing everything they can to find out who everybody is. There is nothing more you can do here, but, if you wanted, I'll hang around and update you."

He could have kissed her right then, he was so grateful. Instead he settled for smiling as much as his tired muscles would allow. "Thank you, Natasha." He said genuinely. "Call me if anything happens, alright? Oh, and they're still working on positively identifying the women, so text me the results."

"Of course. Text me about Lila, too." She replied, turning him around and pushing him towards the exit.

"Will do." He assured, pulling on his jacket and leaving.


It took Clint forever to finally be allowed to know in what room Lila was staying. First, the receptionist lady was highly skeptical of his claims of being the girl's father. Then, when she called her hospital room to request Laura come to the desk to solidify his identity, the phone glitched out on her and she ended up spending five minutes apologising to some random doctor two floors down for interrupting a test he'd been running on a very flighty child, who had gone into utter panic when the phone rang. Finally, exasperated, he'd planted a small bug on the computer when she wasn't looking and gleaned the desired information that way.

When Clint first peeked his head through the door, he smiled when he found Lila, peacefully sleeping on the hospital bed with Laura passed out on the sofa off to the side. Cooper was the only one awake, and he jumped up excitedly when Clint quietly cleared his throat.

"Dad!" The boy launched himself into his father's arms, making Clint chuckle. He hugged him tightly, relishing the contact he'd been missing for months.

"Hey, kiddo." He greeted as Lila's eyelids fluttered. She gasped when she saw Clint, and he quickly made his way to her before she ended up yanking out her IV in an attempt to run to him. He and Cooper sat on the edge of her bed, and he used his free hand to pull her to his side, mindful of the equipment attached to her small body. "Hey, Lila! I heard you had surgery- did they let you keep your appendix as a souvenir?" He asked jokingly. She pulled a face.

"Daddy! Gross!"

"Sorry." He pulled them both a little closer, giving them each a kiss on the top of their heads. "I missed you two so much. Did you behave yourselves?"

Cooper smiled and nodded proudly. "Uh-huh! We didn't be bad or nothing!" He reported.

"Except for when you insisted on tracking mud through the house after I expressly told you not to." Laura suddenly piped up from the couch, stretching. Cooper giggled in slight embarrassment.

"Sorry…"

Laura sat on the opposite side of the bed, gently running her fingers through Lila's hair and discreetly sending Clint a look that said they would be having a serious talk later, once the children were out of earshot. He nodded understandingly, hoping she wouldn't stay mad at him for very long- an angry Laura was an unpleasant Laura. "The doctors just told us a while ago that she can be discharged tomorrow morning." She informed him.

"That's great!" Clint said as cheerfully as he could, thanking his lucky stars that the images of those imprisoned women were being kept at bay with his happiness at holding his family taking over a majority of his thoughts. Still, he kept part of his attention constantly on the phone in his pocket, waiting for any updates from Natasha. "What say you, Liles, that when we get home, I make my world-famous pancakes?"

Lila smiled excitedly. "I can't wait!" She buried her face in his shirt. "I'm super happy you're back, Daddy."

He squeezed his children just a little tighter. "I'm super happy to be back."


Clint was ecstatic that his daughter would be allowed to go home so soon after he got back- he hated seeing her in the hospital, just as any other parent would. He was pleased when Lila fell asleep; she needed her rest, and it had already been discussed that Laura would go home with Cooper, so they both could rest and get cleaned up - and clean up the house - for tomorrow. He was happy to stay with his daughter, and gave his son extra hugs. However, instead of just leaving, Laura asked to talk to him in private first - and by her expression, it wasn't for an 'I missed you' kiss.

They paused just a few metres from Lila's hospital room, far enough that they wouldn't be overheard, even if the children were at the door, but close enough to keep an eye on their kids and ensuring nobody could go into the room without them being able to intervene first.

Clint and Laura faced each other, and her arm stroked his cheek. "I'm glad you're alright." She said softly, and before he was able to place his hand over hers, she retracted it. "But your daughter was not alright. Family first, that is always what you say - and yet, when your family- your daughter- needs you, you are nowhere to be seen."

And that was when he knew that he was in the doghouse. "Laura, I was in the middle of a mission, I couldn't just-"

"I am not going to accept that crap right now, Clint." Laura told him, her voice low and amazingly soft - and that was worrying. She was legitimately annoyed with him, and the worst thing about it was that he understood why. He had always said he'd come straight home if anything bad were to happen, even if it were Laura going to the hospital for cutting her finger. In the past, he had come home instantly upon any of the children, or even Laura, getting a bad flu. But him not coming home when his daughter was in the hospital, taking days before returning and his calls lacking throughout those days… Yeah, that was shitty of him. He looked down guiltily. "Lila needs you now, and Cooper, too. But… I don't. Not right now."

"Laura, please don't be like that." Clint said quickly, stepping to the side to stop her walking back to the room, his hand coming to rest on her waist. "I'm sorry, I really, really am. I should have come straight back. But… there were children at stake, and I knew you were taking care of ours."

"Cooper shouldn't have had to stay in the hospital because there was nobody to take care of him- Nat was with you, and Bobbi was also on a mission. And Lila shouldn't have had to be here alone when I did take Cooper home to shower, or when we went to go get food. That's not fair to either of them - or me, having to choose between both of them." Laura told him in a hushed tone.

Clint released her; he couldn't respond to that, even if he wanted to. He was pretty sure this might have already transcended most of their fights, and he didn't want to have a huge fight with his wife - but there were bound to be consequences to his previous actions. He took a breath and then followed her back into their daughter's hospital room. Giving his son one more big hug, he watched his wife leave without even saying a proper goodbye to him and then sat at his daughter's side.


Clint smiled softly as he watched Lila doing cartwheels in the yard - or at least her attempt at them. He looked over at Cooper, who was also doing cartwheels, but landing on two feet at once. It was a sweet sight.

He almost ignored the buzzing in his pocket, but at the last moment he answered it. "Barton."

"Romanoff." Natasha responded and then fell silent.

"Nat, what's going on?" Clint asked; he noticed Laura venturing out into the yard and then felt safe to stop watching the children so he could focus on Natasha for now.

There was a breath through the phone. "You were really concerned about the results of the mission, so I thought I'd give you an update."

Clint usually would have smiled at those words, at Natasha thinking about him and his feelings enough to call him. "Thank you." He said sincerely, and then waited patiently for her to start.

There was a breath, and then she started. "Forty-three children. Eight kidnap victims alive, three pregnant, two recovering from recent births, three others. Another thirty children were discovered at another fake orphanage, run by the same people - we've taken down a good amount of 'bad guys'."

He waited for more information, but none came. "And…?"

"What?"

Clint had to rolls his eyes at that; she was never one to go further than the main points unless prompted, and sometimes prompting her earnt the prompter a few bruises. "How are they all? What's going to happen to them? Have they found all of their parents yet?" He inquired.

There was another breath, and longer silence, and just when he thought she wasn't going to answer, she began speaking - her voice, though, was a lot softer. "Thirteen of the forty-three children had been kidnapped in the last six months, they have identified their parents and are arranging how it would be best to go about returning the children. Twelve of the children are actually orphans, who were transferred over from another home over the course of two years. And the other eighteen… they were born at the orphanage, in the basement."

Clint felt all breath leave him and he moved to be able to subtly watch his children again. He couldn't imagine how he would have felt if anything happened to them, or if they never were able to live as children. Children are not merchandise- they can't be born in a factory and sold to the highest bidder; that was just not right. He knew he had to say something, he knew he was meant to say something, but words just weren't coming out - he had asked for more information, and now wasn't sure if he wanted to know. But it was too late, and he had asked, and he couldn't back down now, even with the anger that was building within him. "Okay," he managed to get out, glancing at his kids one last time before forcing himself to look away - he knew they were safe, but there were children out there who needed his attention. "What's going to happen with the children?" He asked - not sure he wanted to know the answer.

Another pause from Natasha, which he couldn't blame her for this time; he could barely listen to what she was saying, let alone say it.

"The children who were from other orphanages - S.H.I.E.L.D is going to place them in homes; they've been through enough already. There are agents already volunteering." Natasha informed him. "They are running DNA tests on the babies born there, and have matched some with the teenagers we found in the basement." Another pause. "And the dead bodies which were… buried in the backyard."

Clint's eyes widened- buried bodies? How was this the first time he'd heard of them? However, before he could respond, she continued.

"So, either the children will stay with their mothers, or they'll be adopted by other parents - but S.H.I.E.L.D will sort that out, too."

Clint stood there silently, the meaning of those words slowly sinking in. S.H.I.E.L.D. helping to give all of the children a home was noble - agents already volunteering after barely twenty-four hours was amazing. It would change anybody's life dramatically. He felt the corners of his lips tug up - this was definitely a light at the end of the tunnel moment; he was glad that the months undercover with Natasha were paying off, that they were helping forty-three children and women who had been forced into having children. It was a good ending. It almost made up for the stiffness and tension between him and his wife - but there were always consequences of undercover work, and he could only hope this wasn't a permanent consequence. "Maybe you could put your name forward - you were smitten with Julio." He suggested, feeling tension slightly leave his body - although he was still pissed and wanted revenge for what happened to the children and mothers.

"I might do just that." Natasha replied. "I'll call you later, Clint. Good night."

He felt his eyes widen to the size of saucers. "What?" he spluttered out, but it was too late- she had already hung up. He wanted to rush down and tell his wife the revelation about Natasha actually joking about taking on a child - she had always been against it. Harshly so. But he refrained from doing so - there was a lot of making up that he needed to do, and talking about other matters were probably not the best place to start.


Thank you for reading!