Disclaimer: I don't own them – I'm just borrowing them for a bit. Sorry for the lateness – between being sick and a mini vacation, I've been busy.
Chapter 21:
Something heavy landed on top of Clint's right side of his body and quickly rolled off of him to land in between his and Emma's bodies. He had a pretty good idea what had landed on him – Audrey.
He slowly opened his eyes and glanced at the clock on the bedside table.
5:30 a.m.
Jesus. He and Emma had barely gotten to sleep a little over 2 hours ago after handing over Winter Solider to S.H.E.I.L.D.
Turning on his other side, he spotted a tangle of hair hiding underneath the covers of the bed next to Emma's now waking form. Turning over, she looked at her husband for an explanation as to what was going on. He mouthed 'Audrey' at her and pointed to the lump under the sheets.
"Audrey, what's wrong?" he asked, pulling the sheet back a few seconds later.
Their daughter lay in a tightly curled ball with her pink teddy bear clutched tightly in her arms, trying to act like she wasn't there. "Sweetheart was it a bad dream?" Emma gently asked, as she rubbed her daughter's back. Audrey nodded yes.
Given that Clint had spent very little time at home with his family, he really wasn't sure how to handle this situation. So he watched Emma work her motherly magic.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" she asked.
Audrey shook her head no.
"Do you want to stay in here with us?" she asked next.
The little girl looked up at her mom and shook her head yes.
"You know the rules," Emma said. "Go get a blanket and your pillow."
The little girl scampered off the bed and out the door.
Clint looked at his wife in utter amazement and confusion. Amazement about how she handled the situation and confusion about what she had said to Audrey. "Rules?" he asked.
"Yeah. My bed or our bed is ours. Hers is hers. So she sleeps on the floor if she is scared. It's called boundaries."
"You're a great mom," he said stealing a kiss, before Audrey returned dragging a blanket from the other room and her pillow. Clint got up out of bed and folded the blanket for Audrey so that it formed somewhat of a pad underneath her and still allowed her to curl up in it. He tucked her in all nice and tight.
"There you go," he said making sure a last time that she was all tucked in tight with her pink teddy bear.
"Promise nothing will get me daddy?"
"I promise nothing will get you in here. Plus I'll get them with my bow and arrows before they do," he said kissing Audrey's cheek before crawling back into bed with Emma.
As he lay back down to try to get a few more hours of sleep, Emma snaked her arms around him as she snuggled against his shoulder. "And you're a great dad," she whispered in his ear as she kissed his cheek.
Clint smiled and wrapped his arm around Emma as they both fell back to sleep. He couldn't help but hope that things didn't get out of hand with Lukin again. That was the last thing that Emma needed. It was the last thing that he needed. And if he found out that Lukin had used Audrey or his mother in any way to get to Emma, then Lukin was as good as dead.
"Who is the munchkin?" Bruce asked as he walked into the kitchen the next morning and found Clint attempting to make some sort of breakfast for a little girl. He had just seen Betty off. She had to get back to the university at a decent hour, which saddened him a bit. But at least he had been able to reconnect with her for a few hours. And they had made plans to meet up again in a few weeks in New York City.
"This is Audrey. She's mine and Emma's daughter." Clint said as he burned himself on a frying pan. He yelped and sucked on his burned finger lightly.
"Don't burn them daddy! I don't like them burned!" Audrey squealed from the chair she was sitting in.
Bruce walked over and glanced at what Clint was attempting to cook. He cocked an eyebrow as he looked down at the frying pan. All that he could see in the frying pan was two burned hunks of something that somewhat resembled a warped Pikachu. "What were those supposed to be?" Bruce asked.
"Kitty pancakes."
"Now I see why Emma does all the cooking around here," Bruce said patting his friend's shoulder as he went to go sit down by Audrey at the kitchen breakfast bar. Clint sighed and scraped the burned chunks of batter into the garbage can with his previous three tries.
"Oh wow, what smells like it crawled in here and burned to a crisp?" Tony asked walking into the kitchen a minute later, yawning a bit.
"I give up!" Clint said, throwing the frying pan into the sink. "That's it! We're going out to eat breakfast! Come on Audrey, go wake up your mom."
Bruce and Tony watched Clint usher Audrey out of the kitchen and down the hallway.
"Was it something I said?" Tony asked, looking at Bruce who was laughing.
The waitresses weren't really sure what to make of the group that had come into their diner for a late morning breakfast. Either they were shocked to see the Tony Stark in their presence or the large group he had brought with him or they were impressed with the appetite of the rather large man who was with them.
While everyone ordered normal size breakfasts, Thor ordered 12 pancakes, 12 eggs, 12 sausages, and 12 pieces of bacon. Then after he had finished off that ordered, he ordered it all once again.
"Sorry about my friend," Tony said as they were leaving. "He is training for the upcoming football season."
"Oh it's alright Mr. Stark. We've just never seen anyone who could eat 24 pancakes in one sitting," the waitress names Doris said. "Along with all the sides."
Tony smiled and paid for the meals, making sure that he left a generous tip. He headed to join everyone else outside on the sidewalk.
"So what is everyone's plans for today?" he asked pulling Pepper close to him.
Everyone, still worn out from the night before, didn't say anything. "Sleep sounds good to me," Steve said for the group. "It was a long night and an early morning."
"Boring!" Tony said. Pepper elbowed him.
"How about we all just relax," Bruce suggested. "I bet that Thor would love to spend some time with Jane and I know the Clint and Emma want to spend time with Audrey. We can kick back and relax for one more day before returning to the craziness of our real lives."
In agreement, the group began to walk through the town, glancing in the windows of various shops on the way back to the cars that they had ridden in. Everyone was actually talking and enjoying the late morning sun. Clint balanced Audrey on his shoulders as they walked.
"DADDY!" Audrey squealed. "PUPPIES!"
Clint looked at where his daughter was frantically pointing from his shoulders. In the window of a nearby store was a display of Labrador puppies – yellow, black and chocolate. Clint stopped for a second so that Audrey could look at the puppies. He took her off his shoulders and set her down on the ground.
"Aww they are cute," Jane Foster said walking over and looking at the puppies as well. "Which one do you like?"
"That one!" Audrey said pointing at the only black Labrador in the group. "He looks lonely."
"But his brothers and sisters are with him," Clint said picking her back up and putting her back on his shoulders before walking away. "So the puppy is fine."
"Aww daddy," Audrey said. "I really want a puppy!"
"No Audrey."
The rest of the way to the car, Audrey pouted. When Clint took her off his shoulders when they got to the car that Tony let them borrow, she was giving her father a sad face as he put in into the car seat and buckled her in.
Clint avoided looking at his daughter as he climbed in the drivers seat and Emma got in the passengers side. She snickered a bit at him.
"What?" he asked.
"She's going to bug you all day." Emma warned. "Be prepared for the Barton begging eyes that she inherited from you."
"My eyes do not beg."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "Really now? How about the other night when you got in the shower with me?"
"Well…that wasn't…"
"And the other day after working out the Steve and Natasha? I was all hot and nasty and you just had to turn on the Barton begging eyes…"
"It was just that you were looking so sexy!" he said in a hushed whisper so Audrey couldn't hear him.
"Believe what you want, but Clint she has your eyes. Just you wait and see," she whispered back.
Clint really hoped that she was wrong. He hated to tell Audrey no, especially since he had been gone so often. He felt like he had to make things up to her at times even though Emma pointed out that Audrey didn't remember many things before her third birthday.
He'd just wait and see.
"So who was Audrey staying with while you two are at Stark Tower?" Tony asked sitting down at the table, with Emma and Clint, who were watching Audrey swim with Thor, Jane and Bruce. Pepper and Natasha were lying out on the other side of the pool.
"My mom came to stay with her and run the book shops as well." Clint said.
"Book shops?" Tony asked.
"Yeah they were my aunts before she died and when I became pregnant with Audrey, I took a leave of absence from S.H.E.I.L.D. and began running them. They really aren't that big but they pay they bills." Emma explained.
"You do know that you have an inheritance waiting for you," tony said. "My father's long time attorney told me last night. He had known all along that you were alive. But it was some deal with S.H.E.I.L.D. to keep it from you and I both until you were like 32 or something."
"Twenty five years," Emma said. "It was what everyone told me about my personnel file. I could read the sealed parts and find out about my family when I was 32. Oh well I found out sooner!"
"Please let her get drunk and so I can feel her up," Clint mumbled. "I want a repeat of that birthday night…"
Emma's eyes shot over to look at him and he smiled. He knew that he'd better behave himself for the next little bit or else it would be a very cold few nights in bed.
"Anyways, I'm not really sure how much the inheritance is. But I'm pretty certain it's over a..."
Tony scribbled down a number on a piece of paper and handed it to Emma. She and Clint looked at it then at each other. "Are you shitting me?" she said. "That's like 9 zeroes!"
"Give or take one or two. It's just a guess but with interest and all, it's just a rough estimate. I based it on the amount that I inherited after mom and dad died."
"I think we can buy an island and send Audrey there to be safe," Clint said. "It's either there or boarding school."
"Boarding schools are a bad idea. You and I both hated boarding school growing up – myself more than you since you only had to go for one year. So please don't send my only niece to boarding school. Plus she's still too young. And I think sending her to an island isn't a good idea either. Too isolated. How would you know if anything happened to her until it was too late."
"Wait…you own an island?" Emma asked.
"Yeah a few, but that's not the point I'm trying to get at here. What I'm trying to say is, I'm pretty sure that Audrey would be a lot safer with all of us at Stark Tower."
"Whoa. Wait a minute. Where is this coming from?" Clint asked.
"After Fury left last night, I got to thinking. How could of Winter Solider known we were here? Jane Foster is still under S.H.E.I.L.D. protection and Betty Ross is under surveillance. That left only your daughter. I contacted Fury and suggested that your townhouse be swept for listening devices, wiretaps, and other things of that nature. He said he would send a mop up crew out there to see what they could find. And yeah, your house had been bugged. And don't worry Clint, your mom is safe – she was out running errands when the mop up crew was there."
Neither of them knew what to think. They had thought that by removing themselves from their daughter's life that she would be protected, but they had been wrong. Perhaps Tony was right, she needed to be with them.
"We'll think about it Tony," Emma said. "But if she does come to live there then you know that the floor Clint and I are on now isn't big enough for her to stay on with us and Thor."
"Oh I've figured that out already too! We'll move Thor to the floor with Bruce and then we'll remodel the floor your on to make it seem more like an actual home then a floor of rooms."
"Okay that is more then I needed to hear right now." Clint said. "This can all be discussed later if we decide to let Audrey move in to the tower."
"So I'll let you two discuss things then while I go and bother Pepper and Natasha some then!"
They watched Tony scamper to the other side of the pool, pick up Pepper and throw her into the pool. In response, Natasha shoved him in. it was actually pretty funny to watch. After the commotion had died down, Clint turned to look at his wife who was watching Audrey laughing at the antics of Tony, Bruce and Thor.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked.
"What if we were wrong at first Clint?"
"As in?"
"Leaving her behind," she said turning to look at him. "I've never spent more than a few days away from her since she was born. And this last week was horrible. That was one of the reasons why I went to get her last night. As much as I want to come back to S.H.E.I.L.D., be an Avenger, see you every single day and help save the world, none of its going to mean a damn thing if I can't see her."
"What about if the tower is attacked?"
"What about if Winter Solider had attacked her and your mother?"
Emma had a point. Having Audrey in the tower, she could be better protected from everything – including those who wanted to hurt them. Besides, Tony would probably figure out some way to get Audrey out of the tower in case there ever was an attack if they asked for it.
"You know that I missed her too Emma. I always missed you both whenever I was on assignment and not at home," he said, placing his hand against her cheek. "I know that I've missed so much of her growing up and I don't want to miss any more."
"And you shouldn't!"
"But our our lives aren't normal…"
"I just found out that Tony Stark is my brother. My life is NEVER going to be normal again. But in all honesty, this is the most normal I think that we're ever going to have. I mean look at us; we've all become each other's family. Yes some of us are related by blood, some of us by marriage, but we've all grown as friends."
Clint leaned in and kissed Emma's lips softly. "I want her to stay with us. And I know you do too."
Emma nodded. "Thank you, Clint."
Steve sat in the living trying to read one of the history books that he had bought from Emma's shop a few weeks ago. But his eyes just kept glancing over the words on the page because his mind was still trying to process the scenes from the night before.
Natasha turning over the body of Winter Solider and him seeing the face of Bucky.
Winter Solider saying that he had been sent to kill Emma and Natasha.
Emma's shot grazing past his eye and impaling in the wall.
Hulk hitting him on the head for saying that he was going to kill Emma and Natasha.
The one thing he still wasn't clear on, besides the entire thing about how Bucky had become Winter Solider, was why Emma and Natasha both hated this Lukin guy so much. He didn't dare ask Natasha because she seemed to be in pretty much a bad mood since last night and Emma was too preoccupied with her daughter being there. Plus she might shoot him for asking.
"What are you reading now?"
Steve looked up, startled out of his thoughts and saw Emma standing next to him looking down at the book he was reading. He hadn't of even heard her come inside.
"Oh one of the books I bought from your shop a few weeks ago."
"Is it good?"
"I'm barely into it. But I will let you know."
She nodded and began to walk towards the kitchen, which seemed to be her original destination. But he had to know why she – and if she would tell about Natasha – hated Lukin so much. Perhaps it would shine a light on the entire Bucky situation. "Wait Emma, I need to ask you something."
She stopped and turned around. "Why do you dislike this Lukin so much?"
"I hate him with every fiber in my body."
"What did he do to you?"
"Oh it was his son who did it to me. But he was the one who funded his son's creation. So I blame him."
"Creation?"
"Some weird type of drug that makes you feel like you are burning on the inside."
"Damn."
"But I was given too much."
Steve looked at her funny for a second as she walked back towards him and took the book from his hands. "Watch," she said turning her focus to the book.
He watched both her and the book. Briefly he swore that he eyes flashed a vivid yellow color before the book burst into flames. "Oh my God!" he yelled jumping up. "Are you ok?"
Emma smiled as she walked into the kitchen still carrying the burning book in her hand. She turned on the kitchen sink and dosed the book along with her hand with water. "see no burns," she said holding up her hand. "Sorry I owe you a new book."
Not sure what to say, Steve just gaped at her. "Somehow, though no one has been able to explain it to me, one of my genes go rewritten thanks to the injections of that drug. After a while, I learned that it was caused by anger. So just holding something, I won't set it on fire in case you are thinking that."
"Does anyone else know?"
"On this team? Just Clint and now you. It's no big deal to me. But that is the reason why I hate Lukin and anyone associated with him."
Emma turned and reached into the refrigerator for an apple juice for Audrey before heading back toward the outside where everyone else was. "Why don't you come out and join us? It is the last day of vacation before returning to the craziness of our lives."
"I'll be out there in a minute."
She nodded.
As Emma left, Steve couldn't help but wonder what other secrets she or the other team members were holding back from him and each other. He had his secrets for sure.
AN: Think of what happened to Emma, like what happened to the Fantastic Four to a certain extent except with a drug instead of cosmic radiation. Please leave me comments below in the snazzy new comments box!
