AN and Disclaimer: I don't own them! So please don't sure me….I gotta pay back student loans soon!

Anywho, I know that I promised a chapter yesterday, but real life got in the way…..so its better late then never. So enjoy and please leave me some feedback!


Chapter 12:

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. Natasha eventually joined the rest of the group in common area for dinner and movies the rest of the first night as an official team. The only downfall, that Clint saw the entire night, was that Emma wasn't curled up right next to him like she always was whenever they watched a movie together. Sure she was still sitting next to him on the couch, but it was almost like they were being held apart by an invisible barrier. He knew exactly why she was doing it – it was because of her earlier request: to tell the others that they were married. He would make it through the movie, and then he would talk to Natasha.

When Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was over - it had been Banner's choice; he had claimed never too have seen it – Emma bid everyone a good night and turned in for the night. She was both tired and sore from her workout from earlier that day. Steve had decided to go read a book in his room while Banner and Tony headed up to their labs to do work. That left just Clint and Natasha sitting in the common room.

Natasha went to get up to leave, but Clint grabbed her arm for her to stop. "Wait Nat, I need to talk to you for minute," he said pulling her back down. He took a deep breath.

"I know about you and Emma." Natasha said beating him to the punch. "I saw the two of you in the park with a little girl a few weeks ago."

"What?" he asked confused.

"I followed you to the city when you left the helicarrier. I was worried about you! I knew you were hiding something from me, I just wasn't sure what. I never knew that it would be that you had a family."

Clint couldn't believe what he was hearing. Natasha had basically stalked him when he had asked her to give him some privacy. "I had told you that I had to clear my head. Wasn't that good enough?" he asked as he stood up in disbelief.

"I did it because I care about you!" she said looking up at him.

He sighed. "I'm sorry that you had to find out that way Nat. I really am."

"She was your partner before I was, right?"

"Yeah," he said nodding.

"Can I ask why did she leave?"

A rare smile formed across Clint's face. "We fell in love. While it made our partnership stronger, but after a particularly bad mission - where we both almost ended up dead - things got a little heated. Hell, I'm not complaining one bit because that little girl your saw us with was born. Emma left S.H.E.I.L.D. to raise our daughter full time, while still serving as a consultant and I stayed in the field."

"But why keep it a secret?"

"You know that my past is just as troubling as yours. I couldn't afford to let anyone know about my new family. Sure Fury knew, that's why he would typically give me time off if I asked for it. But that's about all who knew at S.H.E.I.L.D. Everyone else assumed that she left to take over her aunt's bookshop after she died, which she actually did."

Natasha sat there speechless. What could she do or say? One of the few people in the world that she truly trusted had just spilled his heart out to her – but about another woman. When she had first found out on her own, she was hurt and upset. Yet for some reason, now she was ok with it. Only time would tell just how ok she really was with it.

"Anyways," Clint said after Natasha didn't say anything in response to him. "I just wanted you to know the entire story before any other the others found out. You above all deserved to at least know the entire thing. But I'm going to head to bed now. I'll see you in the morning."

"Thank you for telling me."

He gave her a nod then turned and headed towards the elevator. After Clint left, Natasha sat there for a few more minutes by herself. What the hell was wrong with her emotions? A few weeks ago she was torn up about Clint having kept his personal life a secret from her but now things felt different. This was exactly why love was for children.


A little girl sniffled as tears ran down her rosy red cheeks from the previous tears that had been shed. She had fallen down the outside stairs while running after her ball. As a result, she had bumps and scraped up hands and knees. She had been found by the family's trusty butler, who had carried her into the house to patch her up. "No more tears, Ms. Emma. I'll have you patched up in no time," he had said to her.

"But it stings,"

"Only for a few more minutes," he said as he placed the last bandage on the scraped up knees. "Good as new! Now I seem to remember that I baked some cookies for a happy little girl, not a sad one."

Emma smiled and hugged the butler, who was more like a member of the family. "Thank you for taking care of me, Jarvis…"


Emma couldn't sleep.

She was physically exhausted but sleep could not come to her. Not matter how hard she tried, not matter how many sheep she counted, she still couldn't get to sleep. Ever since her interaction with the computer system, JARVIS, and hearing its accented voice, her mind had been replaying this new memory over and over again. The first time she had it was after she had returned to the room for the night. When Clint had joined her after his talk with Natasha, she told him about the memory. He didn't seem too concerned about it and told her that he knew that she would figure it all out soon. She knew that he was probably right. Besides, so far this was only they second memory of her childhood to surface.

For part of the night, she actually managed not to think about the memory too much all thanks to Clint. She made a mental note to have him shoot arrows more often at her if he was going to treat her as well as he had.

But all that was hours ago. Next to her, Clint's steady breathing typically could lull her to sleep like a lullaby, yet tonight it wasn't working. Silently, she slipped out of bed and made her way to the living room where there was a small kitchenette. Perhaps a cup of tea would help her relax enough to finally get to sleep.

A few minutes later, with a cup of tea in hand, Emma sat in front of the glass windows and gazed out onto the city that never sleeps. The memory of her childhood butler named Jarvis ran itself through her mind again and again as she sipped her tea.

She was beginning to come up with more questions then she had answers for the longer that she sat there and thought.

"you ok baby?" a sleepy voice asked from behind her. She turned her head to see Clint standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Couldn't stop thinking is more like it," he said walking towards her. He took the cup of tea from her hand and set it on the table. "I know how that brain of yours works. You think and think and think about something until it drives you crazy or you collapse from exhaustion."

"I do not."

"Whatever. It's too early to argue," he said yawning. Then in one swift move, he picked up Emma out of the chair and began to carry her back to the bedroom. He gently set her back down on the bed, and then crawled in next to her – pulling up the sheet as he did so around them. He pulled his wife into his arms and began to gently rub her back. "It's ok to think, Em. Just don't over think things. You always figure it out anyways. Now try to get some sleep. We've got more training in the morning."

Emma nodded as she lay against her husband's chest; letting his gentle rubbing motions on her back relax her.

Finally, sleep came to her.