I had someone ask about age, so just to clarify, Spencer is nineteen and a half in this chapter.

For about the fifth time in the last ten minutes, Clint found himself using the mirror to check on his kid in the backseat. No matter that he knew nothing had changed in the past few minutes he still couldn't stop himself from checking again and again. For most of their trip Spencer had been in an overly alert state. She'd basically be 'on', as Clint liked to put it. Full agent mode. But that took a lot out of a person, and with the stress she was already under, she wasn't able to hold on to it. Little by little she'd been shutting down on them for about the past two hours now.

Clint could see the worry in the angles of Natasha's face. She had on her calmest mask, the one that meant she was worrying the most. The both of them had been worrying from the minute they'd gotten their calls from Phil. The words 'Something's happened with Spencer' were some of the most terrifying ones that Clint had ever heard. He'd been in the middle of a wonderful night with Laura, celebrating some huge news she'd been holding on to, but she'd practically pushed him out the door when she found out what was going on. "Go get her!" She'd snapped at Clint, that no-nonsense tone she'd perfected when directing people at all the different medical camps she'd been in through the years. "Go get her and bring her home, Clint. She doesn't need to be there with that, that monster. You bring her home where she can be with family."

She was an amazing woman. God, he was lucky to have her and he knew it.

When he sent her a text to let her know that they were on their way home, and that things had gotten a little worse, she'd sent him one back letting him know she'd be waiting, and that she was armed and ready for any trouble that might come her way.

Because of that, it was no surprise to Clint when they pulled up to the farm and found Laura already waiting on the porch. He'd been texting on and off with her most of the drive, so she knew round about when they were going to arrive. He wouldn't have put it past her to be out here for the past hour even just waiting for them to arrive. Waiting for her family. She had a blanket around her shoulders and her hair was piled up into a loose bun. Really, she was the most beautiful sight that Clint had ever seen.

Clint watched carefully once he'd parked the car. Though Natasha got out, Spencer didn't. She didn't move from the spot she'd been in the past few hours. Her whole body was just one tense line waiting there for trouble she was so sure was going to come. Using that alertness as a buffer, he was guessing, against what she had to be feeling inside. She always felt things so strongly, his kid. Now would be no different.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with her, though. Right now she wasn't the easiest to approach. Neither he nor Natasha had been able to get a word out of her through the second half of the trip. He wasn't expecting it to be any easier now.

Of course, he hadn't factored in Laura.

She didn't hesitate at all to come right up to the truck. Even when Clint tried to stop her, reaching out to catch her arm, she just ducked past him and kept going. Clint exchanged another look with Natasha and then the two turned to watch the scene unfolding in front of them. Both of them stayed at the ready; Spencer wouldn't typically hurt Laura. But… they weren't quite sure where her head was at the moment, or if she'd even realize that it was Laura coming up to her. If she hurt her by accident, it would only add to her pain later on.

Laura opened up the car door and slipped into the small space it created. What she said, Clint had no idea. He could only hear the low murmur of her voice. It went on for a few minutes with no response at all from Spencer. Then Laura moved a little closer, one hand coming out to lay on Spencer's back. The young woman flinched yet didn't pull away from the touch. As Laura continued to talk, she started to rub that hand ever so gently, though Clint could see she was making sure to put a firm pressure there. IT was something he'd told her once. How Spencer didn't seem to like the lighter touches. She'd told him before that they didn't feel right when it was too light. That it could be a sensation almost like pain. Firm, real touches were what she liked best.

After another few minutes of this, Clint watched as Spencer slumped a little. The sharp, ready feeling in the air, one that Clint had always associated with missions and that he'd barely even noticed right now, slowly started to fade away. The heaviness that took its place made him cringe. God, Spencer was projecting hard right now!

"Clint." Laura's gentle voice coaxed Clint over to her. He came round the door, right up to her side, and found Spencer slumping a little more towards the woman. Laura was mostly holding her up against her chest. Warm, worried eyes lifted to his. "Can you get her inside, please?"

"Yeah." Of course he could do that. It felt good to have something that he knew he could do.

He kept his hands and voice gentle as he moved to take Laura's place. "All right, peanut. It's just me now, okay? I'm gonna get you on out of here and inside where we can find a nice, comfy bed. If I know Laura, she's got the best quilt out. Probably that one that she made when we first got together. You'll love it—the thing's super warm and it's got these cool looking star things all over it."

"Take her to our bed." Laura interjected.

Clint didn't even pause in his movements. He slipped one arm behind Spencer's back and the other one down behind her knees. "See? That's even better. Our bed has the best quilt of all. And those sheets? It's like sleeping on a cloud." Carefully, he drew her up out of the car and against his chest. Like always when close with her it was easy to notice just how small she was. She didn't eat enough; no matter how he tried to watch it, she never ate enough. Well, they'd fix that now.

He took her straight into the house and upstairs to the master bedroom. Laura stuck behind for a moment to talk with Tasha, but she was back just as Clint started to tuck Spencer in.

"I've got your things." Laura murmured. She set the bags down against the wall and shut the bedroom door behind her. "Tash is watching out for us downstairs. She said to tell you she'd take first watch, and that she'll wake you when it's time to switch. For now… what do we need to do?"

The way she asked him was like she expected him to somehow know what was right here. Clint stared up at her, not quite sure how to tell her he had no idea what he was doing here. Who on earth would think he was capable of being in charge of a traumatized kid?

As if sensing his thoughts, Laura came up to him and cupped his cheek in her palm. "Clint, you've been taking care of her for years now. She loves you and she trusts you, and those are the most important things right now. There isn't a soul out there that knows her better than you. Now… what does she need right now?"

He wasn't sure that she was right, that he was the best one to be taking care of her, but she was right in that there was no one that knew her better than him. "Warmth." He blurted out. It was the first thing he could think of. "Not just, ah, body, but inside too, you know?"

Maybe to someone else it wouldn't have made sense. Laura nodded at him. "Okay. We can do that."

That was how the two of them ended up in their bed with Spencer's shaking form sandwiched between them. She still wasn't talking, wouldn't even open her eyes, but Clint could feel her shaking and he could tell by the tension in her that she wasn't asleep. She didn't move, though. None of them did. For hours they lay there together until Clint felt the very first sign of Spencer's walls breaking away. It came in the form of one single tear landing on the arm that he'd used to pillow her head. She was curled into him, face to his chest, with Laura against her back, so they couldn't see it when she started to cry, but Clint felt that tear and it broke his heart, and just kept breaking it with each new one that fell.

"Ah, peanut." Clint bent his head in, pressing his face against her hair.

He felt Spencer shudder. There was something, a mumble, and he thought he caught something like 'dirty' or 'wrong' in it, and it made his grip tighten. Laura's too.

"You're not dirty, Spencer." Laura said before Clint could think of a response. "We don't care what happened in your past. All that matters to us is who you are now. And who you are is fantastic."

Clint nodded his agreement. "She's right. I know you, kid. You're a good person no matter what any of those bastards said."

"I hurt him." Spencer whispered. Her hands came up, gripping at Clint's shirt, and her voice dropped down to something childlike, something so broken. "I hurt him, Abbu. I ripped it all right out of his head and I… I broke him. I couldn't kill him so I broke him. An I'm not… I'm not sorry. I'm not!" Her hands tightened in his shirt and her trembles grew stronger. "I won't… he… he hurt me. He hurt me all the time and he always, he liked it, and he wanted to do it again and I just… I won't…"

The bed started to shake. It wasn't just Spencer anymore—the bed itself was shaking. Phil had warned him about this, that Spencer had seemingly showed or developed a power none of them had known about before. Telekinesis had been his guess. Some kind of invisible energy she'd used to blast them all away on the mission.

Clint and Laura met in a wide-eyed stare over Spencer's head. Then the both of them immediately set to soothing her down as best as they could. "Shhh." Laura whispered, stroking over Spencer's arm. Clint opted to pull her in closer and let her bury herself against him so she could hide like he knew she liked to do. "Hey." He said, right up against Spencer's hair. "I got you. I got you and no one's gonna come in here and hurt you, you hear me? I'm right here with you and Tasha's downstairs keeping watch. You think anyone's going to get past her? You're ours, Spencer. Ours. Like hell if we're gonna let anyone take you from us."

The fierce proclamation seemed to do more for her than anything else. The bed stopped shaking. But the girl in his arms shook even more. Clint held her to him and wished to God he could do something more. Something to make those bastards suffer. As he felt the last of Spencer's walls crash down, as she gave into the grief and tears that she typically never let herself show, he swore he'd go out and find them some day and make them pay for everything they'd ever done to this kid. Judging by the fierce look on Laura's face, she'd be more than happy to help.

The single message that Clint had sent to Phil had been coded but it'd been enough for him to pass along the pertinent information. The archer wasn't surprised when he got a message back that basically told him to lay low. While Clint personally approved of what Spencer had done to Scott, he knew SHIELD wasn't going to be as happy about it. There were going to be a lot of repercussions from her actions. They just had to wait and see what they were. For now he just had to trust that Phil would be looking out for them.

It left him free to focus on the most important thing of all—Spencer.

That first night wasn't an easy one. Spencer clung tightly, just like she did when she went into an overload, and there was no pulling her away from Clint. They quickly discovered that she liked having the others there too. She just, didn't really like the idea of them seeing her like this. Usually no one got to see her in her most broken moments. No one but Clint.

By the time morning rolled around, Spencer had somehow found some semblance of control again. A little too much, in Clint's opinion. He'd watched her as she finally extracted herself from the bed to go and take a shower, and it broke his heart a little more to actually be able to see it as she drew her walls up around her, putting all her protections back in place.

He sat down at the kitchen table while Spencer took her shower. Laura was at the stove, making breakfast, and Natasha sat by his side, the two of them silently drinking their coffee. Clint cradled his mug with one hand, his other hand coming up to run over his face. He couldn't help but let out a gusty sigh. "This is one hell of a shit show."

"We'll get her through this." Laura said, her voice confident. She moved to transfer some pancakes to the tray that sat in the oven. "Whatever's going on, we'll get her through it."

"It's not just her I'm worried about."

Clint's words had Natasha giving a small nod. When Laura turned to look at them, the question was obvious on her face, and Clint sighed again. "From what we know, Spencer was on a mission with a few other people and she came across someone from her past. From before she came to us. She wasn't exactly gentle when she went after the guy, and one of her teammates," there was a wealth of scorn that he threw into that word, "tranq'd her and then took the guy down for her. Then they kept knocking her out until they had her back at base."

The look on Laura's face as she spun towards him was both horrified and furious. She held the spatula in her hand like it was some sort of weapon and she was more than ready to use it. "They knocked her out? Shouldn't her healing factor prevent that?"

"It's not perfect." Natasha said. She sat back in her chair, cup cradled between her hands and legs crossed, looking by far the calmest of them. At least, until you looked at the hardness in her eyes. Then it was easy for those who knew her to see just how pissed off she was. "Her healing factor is fast-faster than most we know-but it doesn't heal instantly. There's a small window of time that it takes to fully heal."

"Meaning there's just enough of a window to knock her out, and keep knocking her out." Laura filled in. At Natasha's nod, Laura made a sound that was part growl, and full of disgust. "That's horrible. So, they knocked her out, captured this person from her past, and brought all of them back to base?"

Clint nodded at her and took up the story once more. "Yeah. And the guy wasn't quiet on the way home, Lore. From the sounds of it, he got a lot of pleasure out of telling them anything and everything he could about who Spencer used to be. She's always been a bit of a wildcard for SHIELD. People were never sure what to think of her, or of the things she used to do. This? For them, it just confirms every bad thought they've ever had on her."

"Her recent actions didn't help." Natasha added in.

No, they didn't, though Clint couldn't bring himself to fault her for it. How could he? From the sounds of it, this man had been a monster in her childhood, one who had tortured her in the name of science and enjoyed it. No, Clint couldn't fault her for what she'd done at all.

He just wished he knew how the hell to protect her from the consequences.

While the others were downstairs discussing events, Spencer stood upstairs in the master bathroom, staring at her reflection. Her wet hair hung down her back, just barely starting to curl from being dried, and the rest of her skin was still just a bit damp and pink from the boiling shower she'd just taken. Her towel was hung up on the rack, and her duffle bag was on the bathroom counter, yet she made no move to dress herself. No move to cover herself up or to step away from the mirror.

Spencer stared at herself with eyes that were just a bit too wide, too afraid, for her liking. The past few hours-hell, the past few days-felt like they'd been a part of some sort of nightmare. Her past had come back to haunt her the way she'd always been terrified it would. It'd come back and destroyed everything-she'd destroyed everything. Just like she always did.

Her lips parted and she let out a shaky breath. This whole thing was such a mess. I destroy everything I touch. The thought pulled across her mind and made her wince. Yet it was true. Everything she touched, she found a way to destroy.

Everything she touched.

That small distinction made Spencer go very, very still. Her mind backtracked over everything; these recent events, her years with the Facility, her life before here. Everything that had gone so wrong, all the very worst things, they were all things that she could lay at the feet of her female half.

A shudder ran down her body. There was the urge, for just one moment, to reach her hands out and smash the mirror in front of her. To break it and take away the image of her reflection .To break and smash and shatter all that glass until there was nothing left but pieces on the floor, until her hands were just as broken and bloody and maybe she could finally be a bit satisfied. That part of her wanted to reach out and destroy the part of herself that she felt brought all of this on.

Only, she had a much more effective way of doing that. One that wouldn't destroy Clint and Laura's home.

With a breath, Spencer switched.

It was oddly satisfying to stare at his reflection now. To see that she was gone and he was there. In his head, there'd always been a difference between the two parts of himself. Only now that difference seemed to be even more. Erinyes… she belonged to the Facility. To SHIELD. To those that hired her and those that chained her. But Spencer? He didn't belong to any of them.

He was Spencer. Spencer Reid. And he didn't belong to the Facility anymore. Or to SHIELD. Not after all this. Maybe Erinyes still did-maybe SHIELD would still want her around, and maybe she would answer-but this? This part of him? This didn't belong to them at all. If it belonged to anyone, it would be the people sitting downstairs waiting for him. The family that he had somehow found and that had pulled him in. A family that was now preparing breakfast and waiting for him to join them so that they could eat.

Spencer's lips curved up just the slightest bit. He reached out, letting his mind brush against Clint's, letting him know that he'd be down shortly. He felt the touch back in response, the protectiveness and love that was always in Clint's emotions around Spencer, and it made the young genius finally give in to his smile. Things weren't okay. He had no idea if they were ever going to be okay. But… he was here, he was with family, and for now, that would be enough.

He threw on some clothes from his bag, just a simple pair of comfortable slacks and one of Clint's t-shirts, and paused in the bedroom only long enough to put on socks and shoes, before finally making his way downstairs. His steps were a bit lighter and a bit easier than they had been before. Things weren't better, but he was okay. He refused to be anything other than okay. Compartmentalizing was a skill that Spencer had perfected before he hit age ten. He put it to use now, shoving aside all his problems, all his worries and fears, and focusing instead on the warmth of the emotions that were waiting for him as he moved into the kitchen and dining room. He focused on the family in front of him, and the little hint of something different in the air. Something that he'd noted before and hadn't paid any attention to.

Spencer stopped just barely inside the room. Neither Natasha or Clint had noticed him yet. Laura had, though, and she was turning, a smile already forming on her lips, when Spencer realized what it was he was sensing. Shock had his eyes going a bit wide and his mouth dropping open just the slightest bit. He couldn't help himself-he reached out to Laura mind-to-mind for the first time, only two words echoing over the link he made between them, though they were backed by so much emotion he saw her stagger a bit.

When she realized what was happening, and what he'd asked, everything about her went soft and bright. /Congratulations/ she thought back at him, a bit hesitant as if unsure that he'd catch her thoughts, yet so full of joy she didn't care. /You're going to have a baby brother or sister/

Laura's joy was infectious. Spencer felt it fill him, warming up the places that had still felt so cold, chasing away the last of the chill that he'd been fighting when he came in here. There was just a brief pause, a moment of hesitation as Spencer debated on what to say or what to do, or what was allowed, and then Laura turned to him and opened his arms and that hesitation vanished. Spencer was across the room in a few short steps and taking the smaller woman into his arms. Laura laughed out loud as she flung her arms around his neck. She held on tight, laughing and squeezing him, and her joy just bled right into him, making him let out a laugh of his own as he spun her in a circle.

When they pulled apart, Laura was beaming, Clint was grinning, and even Natasha was giving her small smile that was as good as grinning.

Laura reached up and caught Spencer's hands with hers. She drew them down, pressing them to either side of the small swell of her stomach. She couldn't be far along, he knew. Just outside her first trimester most likely. She confirmed that just a moment later. "I'm at fourteen, almost fifteen weeks. We don't know the gender yet, but everything seems to check out just fine so far." She smiled softly at Spencer and pressed on his hands a little, pushing them against her stomach. "I wanted you to be the next to know, after Clint."

That feeling that Spencer had noticed in Laura grew a little now with the closeness of his hands. He closed his eyes and let his fingers curve so that he was better touching her stomach. It brought him a little closer to that tiny ball of sensations that he'd been feeling. "Amazing."

He looked up to see that Laura had tilted her head and was watching him curiously. "Spencer, are you…" She paused, looking surprised and yet pleased, her lips once more curving up. "Can you feel the baby in there?"

Spencer licked his lips and nodded his head. He was too focused on what he felt to really take note of too much else. "Not much, yet. In the first trimester I can usually only feel the flash of things as their brain slowly forms. But into the second trimester, a baby starts to develope more. Their mind, their heart, their emotions. It's not just a body that grows. It's them." He'd brought his eyes back to her stomach as he spoke. Now he looked up at her again and offered a shy smile. "Would you, um… would you like to feel it?"

Her eyes went wide. "Can I?"

"Of course." Then, breaking away from her for a moment, Spencer turned to look at Clint for the first time since he'd come in. He held one hand out to the older man. "Abbu?"

There was no hesitation on Clint's part. He was up and across the room in a flash, taking hold of Spencer's hands.

It only took a second for Spencer to close his eyes and focus. Then, he carefully gathered up what he was feeling from the small life forming inside of Laura, and he projected it out to his adoptive parents.

The joy it made in them was one of the most amazing feelings he'd ever had.

"Oh." Laura breathed out. Her eyes were wide and a tear was already sliding down her cheek. "Oh, Spencer. I can feel them. I can really feel them!"

"It's beautiful." Clint said, voice soft and full of love.

Spencer smiled as he found himself drawn into their arms and cradled once more between the two. Another of those broken places in him felt like it healed a little more as they held him. "Thank you." Laura whispered against his ear. "Thank you."