Notes: CC, I completely agree with you that I'm singing 'Hail, Hail, the Witch is Dead' with Creed gone here. He is such a jerkwad, and I'm glad to see him permanently out of the way of this happy family.

Arly: I know, right? These poor boys are just getting hit left and right and it's just not even fair to them. *wraps around them protectively even though I'm the one directing this train* Still, even with Sabretooth beheading going on, this *is* a lighter universe than other ones. (To be honest, I think this and the 664 universe are the fluffiest, then CC's 907 universe tends toward the fluffy but with a lot of rough as well, with the 714 being sort of the middle ground and then CC's 906 is pretty rough and her "Age of Magneto" is just concentrated evil...)

Chapter 14: Bury the Past

When they got back to the cottage, Logan was sure to put K on her bed and double check that the fire was crackling pleasantly before he pulled in the groceries that had been long forgotten and then crouched down by Clint, who was curled in on himself in his brother's shadow on the couch. "I won't be long," he promised before he handed Clint a comm. "If you have any trouble, hit the red button. Kurt will be here in a blink."

Clint nodded wordlessly and clutched the comm a little tighter before Barney nodded over his shoulder. "I got this," he said. "I know how to patch him up."

Logan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Barney. "What about you?"

Barney glanced down at his shirt and finally seemed to realize that there was a lot of blood there. "I can patch me up too. Probably. I think."

Logan shook his head at that and then crossed the kitchen to the sink to wash up — at least up to his elbows — before he came back. "Nothin' doin. Come on. I'll patch you both up first. Nothin' out there is gonna run off on me anyhow."

Barney glanced at Clint, but when Clint didn't seem to have any objections to Logan helping, he shrugged lightly. "Okay," he said, following Logan back to where the two of them could sit down and Logan could get a better look at what he was dealing with.

"Doesn't look like you'll need stitches," Logan said after he got Barney cleaned up. "Little dermabond oughta do it …" He didn't explain before he closed up the wounds "We can get Hank out to make sure it doesn't have a chance of gettin' infected."

"Who's Hank?" Barney asked with his nose scrunched up.

Logan took a deep breath and let half of it out in a woosh. "Right. You haven't met him yet. Goes by Beast. He's a doctor. He's on the X-Men and the Avengers too"

Barney nodded slowly. "Alright," he said, then bit his lip and glanced toward Clint and whispered, "D'you think he can look and see… Clint's real… quiet."

Logan looked over at Clint and nodded very slowly once. "He's in shock," Logan said quietly.

"That's why he's ... "

"Yeah," Logan agreed, then looked around the cottage before he headed over to Clint to start to get him cleaned up too. "Where are you hurt?"

Clint glanced up at Logan for a moment before he swallowed and tapped his side. "He kicked me," he said in a whisper.

"Can I see, or do I need to jump in the lake first?"

Clint shook his head lightly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "No, then you'd have cold hands."

"Natch," he said with a little smirk of his own. "Might wake K up that way, though."

Clint shook his head again and carefully slipped his shirt over his head so Logan could see the tender-looking discoloration there.

"Can you take a big, deep breath?" Logan asked, barely touching the bruises.

Clint glanced at Barney, who nodded, wordlessly watching the whole exchange, before he tried his best to fill his lungs up, his eyes wide when his chest hurt too.

When Logan saw him flinch, he nodded and took a moment to take his comm back from Clint and make a call, not moving from where he was. "Kurt, I need you to bring Big Blue to the cottage. Clint broke a couple ribs."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Kurt promised, sounding honestly concerned.

It only took a few moments before Kurt arrived with Hank, and Barney let out a little yelp of surprise that was covered by the sound of the teleport. And of course, Kurt immediately zeroed in on the fact that Logan was bloody."Was is los? Du rufst mich hier an, wenn du wie ein Horrorfilm aussiehst?"

Logan hung his head as soon as Kurt started in. "I killed Creed," Logan said. "It got messy."

"What?" Kurt was staring at him in obvious shock, his tail still behind him. "Logan, mein Freund, this was supposed to be a holiday vacation… what happened?"

"He attacked 'em," Logan said as Hank started to look over Clint. "And if it's all the same to you, I'd like to go back and make sure he can't find some way to come back."

"Yes. Of course." Kurt shook his head quickly, letting out all his breath before he simply seized hold of Logan's arm and teleported off with him, leaving Hank to care for the other three.

Barney was naturally sticking close to Clint as he watched Hank gently look over the bruises there, wincing in sympathy every time Clint did. "Is he gonna be okay?" he asked.

"A few weeks of taking it easy will have him back to full steam," Hank said. "I don't know that they're broken — but they're certainly not very happy." He finished looking at all of the bruises, tutting to himself at the clear pattern where Creed's shoe had left its mark, before he finally produced a Twinkie seemingly out of thin air.

Barney grinned even as Clint knocked the sign for 'thanks' and unwrapped the Twinkie. "Hey, that's pretty good sleight of hand," he said. "You'd be good at magic tricks."

"I'm afraid the only circus I take part in is the one that speaks to Congress from time to time," Hank said with a troublemaking smile.

Barney smirked at that. "Too rich for my blood."

Hank nodded and took a seat across from Clint. "And what about you, my fine young friend? You could only be the famous Barney that I've heard so much about."

"I'm not famous," Barney said, shaking his head.

"We all know your name, so I'll simply be forced to disagree."

Barney shook his head again and looked over at Clint. "Telling stories on me, shorty?"

Clint smiled lightly and nodded. "Good ones," he promised quietly.

Barney rolled his eyes at that. "Little brothers," he told Hank in a conspiratory whisper, earning a little smirk before he excused himself to grab some food and water for the group.

Hank didn't move from his spot — simply keeping watch over the boys until Logan and Kurt returned. But when the two X-Men did come back, they didn't come in the house right away, and it wasn't long before he could clearly hear the sound of digging outside the window. "What on earth are the two of them up to now?"

"I can check," Barney offered, already heading to the window before Hank could respond, only to go sort of still and bite his lip, glancing over at Clint. "Oh." He let his shoulders drop. "They… brought the dog back."

Clint's eyebrows shot up, and before Hank could say anything, he had all but scrambled up to go to the window, his nose nearly touching the glass as he watched Logan and Kurt digging up the earth to bury Sicem. In a flash, he had dashed away from Barney, too, ignoring Hank's warnings to take it easy as he rushed out the door and simply grabbed onto Logan as soon as he made it there, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug.

Logan stopped his digging to put his arm around Clint, hushing him quietly. "Hey. You okay, bud?"

Clint shook his head quietly. "He killed Sicem," he said. "For no reason."

Logan handed his shovel to Kurt and then turned to wrap Clint up in a better hug and just kept him there, careful not to hold him too tight when he was still bruised up. "He was just a mean sack of crap," Logan said.

Clint nodded, rubbing at his eyes with the back of one hand balled in a fist. "Thanks for — for bringing him back," he whispered.

"I could tell you where my first dog is buried — still," Logan said.

"Really?" Clint glanced up at Logan.

Logan nodded at that. "I was smaller than you."

"Wow," Clint said. "I'm real sorry."

"A jerk killed mine too," Logan said. "But you'll always know where he is."

Clint nodded again and put his head back down on Logan's shoulder and stayed put for a long time before he finally straightened up a little and sniffed. "You smell really rotten."

Logan let out a little laugh — nothing compared to the laugh Kurt got out of it though. "Yeah. I'm sure," Logan said, shaking his head. "When I finish up here, I'll clean up. You should do the same."

Clint nodded. "I wanna not smell like jerk when my mom wakes up," he told Logan quietly.

"If you wanna wait until we bury Sicem, you can head in and take a shower."

"Thanks," Clint said, though he took a seat on the porch to watch Logan and Kurt going back at it — somehow in the process winding up with a blanket on his shoulders and Barney at his side, though he wasn't paying enough attention to know when it had happened.

When the hole was deep enough, Logan made his way over to the Jeep and pulled out the old worn plaid blanket that he kept behind the backseat, then wrapped Sicem up before he carried him over to finish up.

Almost as soon as the job was done, Logan and Kurt both stood up straight, and it was clear something was up when Kurt grinned at Clint and Barney just before he took a hold of Logan and then disappeared in a poof of smoke — though the mystery was solved fast when they heard Logan swearing and then a splash a moment after they heard the bamf of a teleport. And another a moment later, Kurt reappeared near the boys.

"He did say he would go in the lake, didn't he?"

Clint started to giggle, and Barney grinned outright. "That's the express ticket to clean," Clint said, smiling up at Kurt.

"But I'd rather not swim in the lake," Barney said, holding up a hand. "I'll take a hot shower. I haven't had one in a while anyway, and I like 'em."

"Then it's good that Logan's had too many of them lately," Kurt said, still grinning at them. "He could use a cold swim." He held up one hand. "I will, however, take a towel to him before you two clean up. No reason to scar you unnecessarily."

"Appreciated," Barney said, helping Clint up to his feet. "Thanks. For… you know. All of it," he added

Kurt didn't answer but to bow deeply before he teleported to the house — and the boys could almost track where he'd gone by the renewed swearing from the other side of the house shortly after.

Barney grinned at Clint as they headed inside. "You have a weird new family," he told Clint in an undertone.

Clint nodded. "Yeah. We do."

Barney shook his head at that. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up," he said, shepherding Clint away from the sound of swearing for the time being.

When the boys got inside, K was up — shaky, but up — and had made her way into the kitchen, with Hank halfway supporting her. "You guys hungry?" she asked quietly. "I can have something done in two shakes."

Clint made a dash away from Barney, stopping just short of crashing into K as he looked her over in obvious alarm. "Mom, you don't look so good," he said.

"I'm fine," she said, resting her hand on his shoulder. "You're the one that has busted up ribs."

"Only 'cause you don't stay busted," he argued.

"See? I'm fine, you just said so yourself," she replied.

Clint shook his head. "We can — we can have Logan make food. You don't gotta be up. I'm just gonna shower off so I don't smell like stupid and then we can — we can make a fire and just… not do anything…"

"S'mores?" she suggested.

Clint nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we can do that."

"You sure this isn't just your way of telling me you like his cooking better?" K teased.

Clint rolled his eyes at that and motioned her down so he could kiss her cheek. "No way," he promised.

She smiled at him for a moment then pulled him into a hug. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Clint glanced up at her for a moment and opened his mouth before he seemed to remember himself and close it. "I don't feel real good," he admitted.

She nodded at that. "Go ahead and clean up, When you get out, I'll be on the couch, okay?"

Clint nodded at that and then hugged her once more. "Love you," he said quietly.

"Love you too, handsome," she said then kissed the top of his head.

Clint gave her arm a quick squeeze before he headed off to get cleaned up — and he and Barney were gone for a long while after that. Barney helped Clint get changed now that the adrenaline and shock was giving way to more exhaustion and Clint was starting to really feel his bruises. But eventually, both of the boys made their way back to where Logan did have some food going.

K was sitting on the couch by the fire, so that's where the boys went. Clint practically crawled into her lap, curled up on his side and still clearly shaken, and Barney didn't think about it before he curled up on her other side.

"You okay?" he whispered.

"Me? I'm always okay," she said. "How about you?"

"I'm okay," he said. "I'm just — I'm just mad." He glanced at Clint, who was still fairly curled up. "I'm mad he got you."

"Logan told me what happened after you two got there," K said. "And he told me what he and Kurt did. I will honestly be surprised if he can come back."

"Good, because… because he… he needs to stay dead," Barney muttered.

"Kurt didn't try to slow Logan down — and he even let a little demon out, so … apparently there are a few fires burning in the woods tonight."

"Oh, is he…. I thought he just looked like a demon," Barney said, his eyes wide.

"Half demon," Logan corrected. "None of the magic, all of the charm."

Barney let out a low whistle and turned slightly to see that Logan was bringing some food over. "Do you want … can I help?"

"Sure," Logan said. "I just don't want her getting up for the night."

"Why?"

"That drug he hit her with is nasty," Logan said. "Made to take down healers. She's gotta clean it out — and that will take some time."

Barney nodded. "That's… not real good."

"No," Logan agreed. "Must not have been the right stuff though — or it was made for me and not her. Otherwise, she'd have forgotten everything before he snatched the two of 'em."

Clint picked his head up a little and bit his lip. "Yeah," he said softly. "He… he wanted her to forget me."

Logan paused and put a hand on Clint's shoulder. "Didn't work."

"Can't forget the gossamer wings," Barney teased lightly. "That's what she tells people at my circus when they ask where she found him."

"Yeah, she's added to it," Logan said. "Gossamer wings and purple cupids."

"Oh, can't forget the purple cupids," Barney said dryly.

"Shuddup, Barn," Clint muttered, curling into K a little better.

"Well she is still groggy," K said. "But she isn't gonna listen to this like she's not here."

Clint giggled at that. "Hi, Mom."

"Hey handsome," she said. "Logan's right. That drug has to be made for each healer. He had the wrong stuff."

"I'm glad," Clint said. "I don't want you to forget me."

"I don't think I could," she said. "They've always had a harder time messing with my non-traumatic memories."

"I think that means she likes us," Barney said with a smirk.

"Well, any memory with adorable Barton boys is a good one," K said.

"Even if it includes a scary blonde?" Barney asked.

"What scary blonde?" K said. "The dead one? Not a problem."

"Yeah, Logan kicked his butt," Clint said softly.

"She gets mad and switches to Swedish," Logan said with a smirk. "I get mad and turn on the good training… sometimes."

"I get mad and throw things," Barney said. "Clint just gets sort of quiet and turns all red."

I like Logan's better, Clint signed, still with his head in K's lap while she gently played with his hair.

"Yeah, you would,' Barney said. "Seeing as that's what saved our butts."

Clint nodded quietly at that but didn't say anything further — not when there was food to focus on. And after a good meal, both boys were starting to feel tired, even if it was clear that they didn't want to go anywhere.

Eventually, both of them drifted off, using K as a pillow between them, and K simply shifted so that she was comfortable to snuggle up with the boys as well.

…

Translation from German:

"Was is los? Du rufst mich hier an, wenn du wie ein Horrorfilm aussiehst?" - "What is going on? You call me here looking like a horror movie?"