I was so excited about this chapter that I had to upload it a day early! I hope you guys like it, and PLEASE don't hate me too much for the end. . .

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, they are the property of their creators, nor am I seeking to make a profit from this.

Chapter 8

The next day Natasha and Clint had a meeting with Fury and Coulson. They gathered around a long oval shaped table with a television screen set up on one end. Natasha's legs and arms were crossed and she was glaring so hard she thought it was a good thing that she didn't have a superpower, because she was sure that the television would have exploded by now.

The screen showed two separate rooms on either side. Each small room had only a table and two chairs, and a SHIELD agent, with a woman in one and a man in the other. The man was alone, having already been questioned, but the woman was glaring at a SHIELD agent who was staring impassively back at her. The interrogator, Agent Cobb, was having trouble getting anything out of her, as she refused to say anything. Little did she know that her accomplice had already told Cobb everything.

"Let me talk to her," Natasha had asked heatedly when the woman refused to speak. Fury had only shaken his head and said, "We want them alive, Romanoff." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Clint smirk and suppress a laugh.

They were Sarah and James Bates, and they were part of a much larger human trafficking organization that worked within the East coast of the United States. Natasha had felt sick at first, but had quickly moved past that into murderous rage. Every now and then she glanced at Clint, who looked exactly like she felt.

Yes, she had done horrible things in the past, killed innocent people, killed people that deserved a second chance, tortured, blackmailed, but she had never enslaved anyone. She had never sold another person - that went beyond even her warped morals.

Natasha turned her attention back to the screen, Sarah had started talking.

"Why did you take him?" Cobb asked, sitting down in the chair across from her.

"Because he can shape-shift, and would make me a lot of money," she said smiling. She seemed to have accepted the fact that she was caught. The fact that she knows she's going to jail probably makes it easier for her to give up her accomplices, since she thinks they can't get to her in jail.

Natasha stood up and started pacing the room. "Natasha calm down," Nick said. "They'll get what's coming to them."

"I'd like to give it to them." She stopped pacing and stared at Fury. He stared back.

"I would like nothing more than to let you do that. If not for what almost happened to our tiny supervillain, than for what is happening to every other child that wasn't able to connect himself to your brain. Which, barring the fact that it led us to this, I am not happy about." Natasha stared into Fury's eye, refusing to look abashed. She was closer to Loki than she meant to get, but one cannot change the past, they can only deal with the present and plan for the future. She only hoped that her attachment to him wouldn't cause Fury to do something drastic.

"One does not simply keep an emotionally damaged man-turned-child at arms length. I may even have a lasting effect on him once this is all over and he's back to normal," Natasha's eyes narrowed at the end of that sentence. Fury didn't respond at first.

"Well, either way we now have intel on a huge trafficking ring that the FBI has been tracking for years now. Thanks to our little trickster," he said sardonically. "Now, if you two will excuse me I have bigger fish to fry." Natasha wanted to ask who he meant by "bigger fish" but he was already walking out the door, waving one hand over his shoulder as he walked out of view. Clint stood up and turned to her after he was sure that Fury was gone.

"Come on," he said, turning to leave. Natasha followed, figuring he meant that they were going to go home, but then he turned left instead of right, towards the parking garage.

"Where are we going?" She caught up and kept pace at his side.

"You'll see." Natasha didn't respond, instead only sped up when he sped up. Three minutes and three flights of stairs later they were in the second sub-basement and Clint stopped in front of a door marked 15. "I saw which rooms they were keeping those fuckers in and thought you'd want to say a few words before they cart them off God knows where to juice the rest of the info from them." Clint was looking pretty pleased with himself, and only looked more smug as a dangerous smile spread across Natasha's lips. "I'll keep guard, don't be too long."

Natasha gripped the door handle and opened the door slowly. She slipped inside and smirked at the look of surprise and fear on Sarah Bates's face. Natasha quickly crossed the room, skirted around the metal table and grabbed a fistful of Sarah's greying brown hair, jerking her head back so that the woman was looking into her eyes. "Remember me?" She hissed.

"Who are you?" She tried to sound strong, but her voice shook and Natasha could see the terror in her eyes. She hadn't realized how much she missed this, striking fear into people just before she killed them. Not that she was going to kill this woman, but oh how she wanted to.

"They call me the Black Widow, and back before I was one of these guys I would have broken your neck and walked away without a thought. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to kill you." Natasha lowered her voice. "But know this, if I'm not satisfied with whatever SHIELD does to you, I will find you, and I will come after you, and I will make you wish that you had never been born." Natasha let go of her hair, punched her in the face, hard, and walked out of the room.

"Want to talk to the husband?" Clint asked when she closed the door with a definitive click.

"I think I got my point across," she didn't stop walking, and she smiled when she heard Clint scramble to catch up to her.

"Is this the old Natasha I'm seeing?" He asked under his breath as they walked shoulder-to-shoulder. She looked over at him and winked.

They got back to Stark Tower twenty minutes later, and when they reached the 80th floor there was no one there.

"JARVIS where is everyone?"

"They are one floor down, in the gym." Clint looked at Natasha, one eyebrow raised, and together they turned around and went back to the elevator. Once they reached the 79th floor they opened the door and immediately Clint was hit in the face with a rubber exercise ball. Natasha couldn't stop the laugh that burst out of her mouth as she walked around him into the room. The five boys were running around throwing various sized rubber balls at each other in some variation of dodgeball.

"Hi Natasha!" Steve yelled as Tony threw a ball at her head. She caught it and threw it back at him, knocking him on his backside.

"Hey guys, hey Pepper," Natasha said, crossing around the mat to the elliptical Pepper was on.

"Hey Nat, what happened?" Natasha recounted the events of the meeting, omitting her own visit with Sarah Bates, and then asked how they boys were during the three hours she and Clint were gone.

"They've been fine, they started to get restless so I decided to bring them down here and we could all get some exercise." Pepper started to slow down, breathing deeply in through her nose and blowing forcefully out her mouth. "They haven't had lunch yet, the only one complaining is Thor, but I figure they're all hungry."

Natasha turned her gaze from Pepper to look around the room. Clint was being pelted over and over again by rubber balls as the boys roared with laughter and threw them harder. "Alright guys, that's enough, I think you killed him," she said taking the ball out of Tony's hand as he lifted it over his head to throw it at Clint's face. Clint took the hint and faked an exaggerated death, falling face-first onto the mat. The boys cheered and followed Natasha back toward the elevator. Clint and Pepper joined them after a few seconds and together they headed back upstairs.

As they ate lunch, chicken nuggets and French fries, Tony declared that he wanted to go swimming.

An hour later they found themselves on the fiftieth floor. Natasha couldn't see the logic behind putting the pool right in the middle of the tower, between labs, and workshops and gods know what else was in Stark Tower, but it was Tony, so she didn't think too hard about it. Tony also had a pool on the roof, but being that it was November Natasha didn't think it would be a good idea, even if the pool was heated.

Natasha watched from the lounge chair on the edge as the boys played in the pool – thankfully they had all retained the ability to swim, and they seemed to be a lot more proficient than children their age should. Once again Natasha didn't think too hard about it, because this time it was Loki and there didn't seem to be any logic in what he did sometimes. Pepper had shown them where Tony kept his pool toys – because of course Tony would have pool toys, Natasha thought, the bastard has everything – and Tony, Steve, Bruce, and Thor were battling Clint in a water-noodle-war, the sounds of them hitting each other echoed loudly, and their squeals of joy echoed even louder, but Natasha didn't mind the noise. Pepper was sitting on the ledge, her legs in the water. She wore her swimsuit, but a t-shirt over it. Loki was holding on to an inner tube at least twice his size, and only from his knees down was actually in the water; he seemed content, however, occasionally cheering Thor on. Mostly he was quietly observing.

Natasha wanted to ask him about what happened after he was taken, talk to him about it, but she didn't know how to broach the topic, or how he would react. For now he seemed content to act as if it hadn't happened, but Natasha saw subtle changes that she knew no one other than Thor saw. He absolutely refused to be alone, following Thor around like a duckling following its mother. He was having nightmares, and both nights since the incident he had spent most of the night in someone else's bed, the first night hers, and then the next when Natasha had checked on them after she woke up he was in Thor's bed, and they were curled up together, Thor's arms wrapped tightly around Loki. Natasha wondered if when they were children for the first time if they shared a bed, because Loki never seemed entirely comfortable in his own bed alone. She couldn't count the times she had checked on them if she woke before them to find Loki in Thor's bed, and, on occasion, Thor in Loki's.

Natasha was starting to wonder when SHIELD would find a way to fix the boys. She wondered how much longer she would be charged to care for them. It was changing her, steadily, and she wasn't sure she liked it. She was softer than before, she allowed herself to feel for the first time in her life and it was just so easy.

She hated it.

She had lived her entire life working herself to the bone to get what she wanted, and despite having to watch after five young boys every day she was bored. I don't know how I ever thought I could settle down, she thought, staring at Clint's head as he struggled to stay above water when he had four boys trying as hard as they could to push him under. He grabbed Tony from in front of him and picked him up, lifting him up out of the water and he threw him to the other side of the pool. The boys stopped for a split second, and Tony sputtered back out of the water. "Do it again!" he screamed, and swam as fast as he could back to Clint. The other boys wanted in as well and Clint spent the next twenty minutes throwing them all across the pool.

The reality of how domestic her life had become freaked Natasha out - she longed to go out and assassinate someone. She would have liked to start with Sarah Bates.

Natasha turned her head from the pool and stared out the window. It was four thirty and cloudy outside. It looked like it was going to start raining soon, maybe even thunder. That'll make Thor and Loki happy. . .

When Natasha thought about what could have happened to Loki if he hadn't had magic, if he hadn't been able to reach out to her, she felt a strange mixture of rage and fear settle in her gut. If it had been any of the other boys, and indeed, it is thousands of other children and teenagers that are taken from their families every day that don't have magic, and aren't able to reach out for help.

If she weren't on a mission right now Natasha would go locate and kill every member of whatever organization the Bateses worked for. And she wouldn't be nice about it. No, there would be no quick painless deaths for kidnappers and enslavers.

Natasha closed her eyes and willed herself to think of something else. She stood up, took off her t-shirt, and jumped into the pool, joining in on the boys' play.

"I wonder if they're going to remember," Clint said later that night as he, Natasha, and Pepper sat around the table drinking and talking. Pepper laughed.

"I hope they do. I can't blackmail Tony with anything he's done – he wouldn't care, but he definitely owes me for throwing up on me twice when he was sick." Natasha smirked.

"I just want them to be changed back." She took a sip of her drink. "But it would be nice if they did. Especially Loki. Maybe he'll have changed a bit when he's himself again."

"Or maybe he'll just be as fucked up and crazy as he was." Natasha shrugged slightly, conceding the point.

"I just wish I understood what went wrong," Pepper said. Clint and Natasha stared at her. Natasha hadn't thought about that. Of course something must have gone wrong somewhere during his youth that led him on this path. Normal people don't just wake up one day and think 'I think I'll take over another planet today.' "It seems that they are acting mostly how they did when they were actually that age, and Loki's was a perfectly normal kid – for being an alien, I mean. He's smarter, quieter, and more prone to mischief than normal three-year-olds, but not completely abnormal."

"Thor said he found out quite suddenly that he was adopted, that probably messed with his mind. Especially since a ton of shit happened right after and he never really got to talk to his parents about it, as far as Thor knew," Natasha said.

"What happened after he found out?" Pepper asked, Natasha guessed that Tony hadn't told her – hell, Tony probably hadn't even paid attention when Thor was telling them about Loki.

"Thor said that their father went into some kind of scheduled coma that he does, and Loki was made king for a while because Thor had been banished – grounded more like it – to earth. Then Loki let Asgard's enemies into the city and then killed said enemies – including his birth father, and then tried to kill Thor and it ended with Thor breaking their means of travel between the worlds and Loki falling into the abyss between them. Then after that you know, because the next time Thor saw him was when he got here." Clint scowled at the memory of that time immediately following Loki's arrival, and Pepper looked sad.

"I know he's our enemy, but poor guy. I know that if I found out late in life that I was adopted I would be pretty shaken up about it."

"At least you grew up with parents," Clint said through his glass before downing the rest of it. Pepper didn't respond, and Natasha shot him a glare.

He stood up to take his glass back to the kitchen and Natasha mused out loud, "if only there were a way to get in touch with Asgard." Pepper looked over to her, immediately catching on to her train of thought. "They have to have other sorcerers, maybe they can send someone to fix them. I mean, let's face it. SHIELD is good, but they don't deal in magic." Natasha looked out the window and could distantly see the Statue of Liberty, still with its helmet.

Peter's been busy, Clint thought as he saw a big picture of Spider-Man on the front page of the next day's morning paper. Another red-suited mask-wearing man had been teasing him with crimes here and there that he knew Spider-Man would show up to, but then getting away after only chatting a bit. Clint's eyebrow raised and he shook his head. Sounds a little nuts. Clint had heard stories about Deadpool. He's absolutely insane, and Clint had no desire to deal with him.

Clint wasn't exactly looking forward to the scheduled events of that day, a wet and dreary Monday. Coulson had called the night before after dinner and informed Clint that the scientists working on their case wanted to examine each boy, and run some tests on them to see if it would help them find a way to restore them to normal. Clint could see how it would be a good idea, however he also knew the boys as they are now, and knew that they weren't going to like it. Especially Loki and Thor. The two boys were rarely apart these days. Clint wondered if there was a way they could be together during the process, but quickly dismissed the idea – SHIELD scientists were cold and fairly rigid. They would have their system, and not let it be adjusted. Clint thought they just need a drink. Oh god I'm starting to sound like Tony.

An hour later Clint was riding the elevator down to the parking garage with Bruce. They hadn't specified which boy they wanted to see first, so Clint and Natasha decided that Bruce and Tony would probably be the most cooperative, being of a scientific and curious nature, and so they should go first. Bruce asked question after question about what he was going to be doing that day, and after the first few basic questions Clint started bullshitting answers. Bruce didn't seem to notice, however, and continued happily chattering away.

When they arrived at HQ Clint took Bruce to the wing where all the science labs were located, and met Coulson along the way.

"Hey Phil," Clint said when the other man fell in step with him and Bruce, who was looking around with wonder – the hallway had floor-to-ceiling windows on the left side that looked out over the city.

"Hey Clint, hey Bruce." Bruce looked away from the window just long enough to give Coulson a smile and a wave.

Twenty minutes later Clint was walking back to his car with a scowl on his face. When he and Bruce had arrived where the scientists, Drs. Brown and Lamar, had specified, they took Bruce by the hand and took him away, telling Clint that they can pick him up tomorrow morning at 8. Clint had followed them, a little dismayed at the lack of information being offered to him. He was met, however, with a reprimand – they told him that they were just trying to do their job to fix the Avengers, and you're not the boy's father. That had particularly angered Clint, and he couldn't figure out why. He asked them what kinds of test they were going to run on him, and they wouldn't tell him. Just that they were hopefully going to give them more insight as to how they were changed, and help them find a way to fix them.

Clint didn't really remember the drive back to Stark Tower, but as soon as he was back on the 80th floor he was dragged into a game of hide-and-seek and for a few hours he could forget how irritating SHIELD could be.

Natasha wasn't so pleased when Clint told her that night, when the two assassins and Pepper sat around the table after dinner, what Drs. Brown and Lamar had – or rather, hadn't – told him when they led Bruce away. Clint and Pepper tried to placate her, telling her that SHIELD is humane and knows its boundaries.

"You two seem to forget that SHIELD tried to blow up New York City with a nuclear bomb that almost killed Tony. I just don't like it, they're our teammates, and they're four years old right now. I just want to know what's being done to them." The table had gone silent after that.

"Well. . . We'll see tomorrow morning at 8am."

That night Clint walked into his and Natasha's room, finally being allowed to share her bed again, he was met with Natasha sitting on her bed, in only her bra and panties. His eyes went wide and she smirked. He stripped his shirt off, and surged forward. Their lips connected as he pushed her down onto the bed, straddling her to kneel on the bed. They kissed for a few minutes before Natasha reached for his jeans button and a minute later their clothes lay mixed up in a heap on the floor.

A few hours later they lay in each other's arms, Natasha tucked under Clint's chin. "I hope Bruce is okay. . ." She murmured.

"I'm sure he is," Clint whispered, and kissed her temple.

"They're probably going to do blood work, and a physical, but what else could they do that would take all night?"

"Maybe memory tests? They want to see exactly what's changed and what's not. We know roughly how their memories are changed just from being around them for three months but SHIELD doesn't really."

"He'll come back in one piece." Clint hugged Natasha tighter and closed his eyes.

About ten minutes later Clint was on the brink of sleep when Natasha said something that he thought she would never say. It was barely audible, but to Clint it felt like it was screamed out in a cave where it echoed back and reverberated through his head, burrowing itself in his memory and vowing never to leave.

"I love you."

Clint smiled.

The next morning when Natasha returned from SHIELD with Bruce he looked no worse for the wear. He wore a Band-Aid on the inside of his elbow where blood was drawn, and he looked exhausted but other than that he was fine. Clint saw a visible change in Natasha's stress levels over the next few days. The excitement of Loki's kidnapping and then her worry over what SHIELD was going to do to the boys was dying down, and they were settling back into their schedule – and the great sex was only beneficial. Steve went next, and then Tony, and though Tony was in a very bad mood when he came back – Tired Tony is not a Happy Tony – he napped for a few hours and then went to bed early that night and was fine after that.

When it was Thor's turn to leave, however, Loki threw a fit. He hadn't really cared when the others left – after Bruce came back safe and sound he knew that the others were going to be fine when they came back and paid it no mind. But when Clint told Loki that it was Thor's turn to go spend the night at SHIELD Loki seemed to forget that, and cried as Clint left with Thor.

As they rode down the elevator Clint glanced down at Thor and saw that he was trying to keep a tough face, but his lip was trembling. Clint reached down and took Thor's hand and squeezed.

"Don't worry buddy, you'll be back tomorrow morning and Loki will be fine. I promise." Thor looked up at him and beckoned for Clint to come down to his level. Clint squatted next to Thor.

"Do not let him out of your sight." Thor's finger was in Clint's face, and he looked as serious as a tow-headed five-year-old with bright baby blue eyes could. Clint wanted to smile, but he suppressed it and nodded solemnly.

"You can count on me, sir." Thor nodded, and Clint stood back up – finally allowing himself a wide smile and a chuckle.

Clint returned home an hour later, and was greeted with a quiet apartment. There was no one in the living room, but Clint could hear the tell tale signs of a movie playing. He followed the instrumental music to his and Natasha's room where she and Steve, Tony, and Bruce were curled up on the bed watching the Muppet Show, hosted by Vincent Price. Clint grinned – he was one of the few who knew that Natasha actually enjoyed that show, and that this was her favorite episode. It seemed that she had decided to share this secret with the team though, and all three boys had smiles on their faces. He leaned against the doorframe and stared at Natasha, but was startled when he realized that she was stroking a lump of black fur on her abdomen. It seemed that Loki had calmed down and decided to shift – he was curled up as a kitten on Natasha's stomach, and looked like he was fast asleep.

Clint pushed off from the door frame and walked over to the bed, picking Steve up and sitting down in his place, settling him on his lap. Natasha looked over to him and quirked an eyebrow.

"He's fine, he's tough kid," he whispered. "And him?" He nodded to Loki.

"He cried for a bit and then turned into a cat, he's fine though."

The next morning Clint retrieved Thor at 8am as usual, and he sported the same Band-Aid on his arm and tired look in his eye, but he was his usual happy self. He walked in, gave Loki a hug, assured him that he was okay, and promptly passed out on the couch.

When it was time to take Loki to SHIELD the next day he was much braver than he had been when Thor left. Natasha took him by the hand and together they left the apartment. Thor told Clint that he didn't like the idea of Loki being alone, but Clint assured him that there were many people there to watch over him, and that he was extremely safe.

At around lunchtime JARVIS informed Clint and Natasha that Fury was on the line for them, and they both went into Tony's office.

"Agent Romanoff," Natasha said after she told JARVIS to connect the call.

"Good afternoon Natasha," Fury's voice came over the line. "I'm calling about Sarah and James Bates, I thought you would like to know what is to become of them." Natasha scowled at the mention of their names, and Clint squeezed her shoulder to ground her.

"I trust you've decided what to do with them?" Natasha said, suddenly calm as ever. She was good at that.

"Yes. They are to be tried on numerous counts of kidnapping, as well as aiding and abetting the sex and slave trade in New York. There is no chance of them getting anything less than life sentences, I will personally make sure of that." Clint snickered, he would hate to be anyone was so far on Nick Fury's Bad Side that there was no coming back. "We were also able to get names and addresses of numerous of their accomplices, so we are well on our way to shutting this thing down once and for all."

"That's very good news, sir," Clint said.

"Yes it is Agent Barton." Clint thought that Fury was going to sign off after that, but he cleared his throat. "Another thing that you need to know, Drs. Brown and Lamar need to keep Loki for a little longer than they did the others. Since the magic came from him they want to do a few more tests to see if they can tap into the magic that seems to be dormant inside of him, we will contact you when you can come get him. That's all," Fury said, and Clint quickly responded with his goodbye; the look of anger on Natasha's face scared him a little, and he didn't want her to say anything that she would regret later.

"They what?" She started, but Clint took her by the shoulders.

"Natasha please don't hate me for this, but you need to distance yourself. I know that you've grown to care for Loki, I have too and so has Pepper and the rest of the team, but you are forgetting that he isn't one of our teammates, he isn't even an ally – he's the enemy even though it doesn't seem like it at the moment. I know that the line between enemy and ally can be blurred for you sometimes, but you need to ground yourself. He'll be fine, and he'll come back in a few days." Natasha's eyes narrowed dangerously for a few minutes, and they stood in the office staring at each other; Clint pleaded with his eyes for her to understand. Finally she relaxed, her eyes closed for a moment, and then opened again, most of her anger gone.

"You're right, thank you." Clint dropped his hands. "We'll see him again in a few days, and hopefully the scientists will be that much closer to figuring out how to fix them all.

But five days later Clint could tell that Natasha was starting to get irritated again, and the look on her face every time Thor asked when he brother was coming back had started to piss Clint off.

So he called Fury again, and asked when they were going to be done with Loki.

"Agent Barton, the war criminal Loki is not longer your responsibility."

PLEASE DON'T KILL ME.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

I would like to announce that the next chapter will be the last, as far as I know, with an epilogue to follow. I'm so thankful to each and every one of you who have stuck with me on this journey. 110 reviews is more than I have ever gotten, and I am just overwhelmed with the positive reaction to this story. It's just something that I came up with when I was half asleep in my philosophy class!

Since the next chapter is the last, there is going to be a LOT going on in it, and I'm expecting it to be twice as long as most of these chapters have been, and on top of that I move back downstate to start my sophomore year of college on Friday, so I will try my HARDEST to get chapter 9 and the epilogue up before classes start on Monday, but I cannot promise anything. Wish me luck, and PLEASE REVIEW! They make me so happy, and seriously every time I get one all I want to do is sit down and write more.