Notes: Griezz, The "Arrow" name was a callback to Lucky's original name in the comics. And since Clint is a teeny eight-year-old archer... it had to be done :P

Arly, I KNOW! I AM DYING OF CUTE TOO! I love getting to work on this universe, because it always makes me grin. I'm like... giddy giggling over here, I swear to you.

And CC, I disagree. That was a totally called-for move. Jean says so. :P

This is the last chapter of this volume, but volume 4 of this universe will be up soon. I'll be calling it "Thicker Than Blood." :D

Chapter 17: Permission

One of the nice side effects of Jean and Scott's little girl being around was that the institute felt even safer with everyone in such obviously protective moods. At least, it seemed that way to Barney and Clint, neither of whom had really been able to see it when that same feeling was directed their way.

Still, it was enough that both boys were able to relax a little — and for Barney, able to hunker down on schoolwork in the compressed semester that he had to learn.

It was a little hard to focus, though … not only because Barney had chickened out of trying to even talk to Kitty when he had such an obvious crush on her… but because with no Sabretooth threat and with the department at least for the moment backing off, presumably waiting for the mansion to be a little less high-security… well, there was plenty going on.

If it wasn't K's slow process of finding riding horses for a spring training, it was Kurt's Danger Room pirate sessions or Remy already making plans for Mardi Gras or Jean getting gooey about whatever new thing Rachel was doing.

There had been a late winter storm that dumped plenty of snow on the mansion grounds recently, and that was the perfect excuse for the boys to put homework aside for a little while and play — not just throwing snowballs but watching their mom working with the few horses she had found thus far and training them in the snow.

There were also forts to be made and fellow students to be assaulted. That was a high priority. The boys were excellent at it, too, practically sniping students and teachers alike with well-aimed snowballs — until Logan snuck up behind them and nearly scared them both out of their boots with a growl right behind them.

"Thought you two were used to growls by now," Logan chuckled.

Barney shook his head at Logan, and Clint was dramatically holding onto his heart. "You scared us!" Clint said. "You snuck up on us!"

"I coulda pounced on you too," Logan teased as he packed up a handful of snow, then tossed it Clint's way. "But then I mighta scared you half to death."

"Yeah, don't kill my brother," Barney said with a crooked grin.

"Not gonna kill either one of ya," Logan said before he leaned against the nearest tree. "You two overly busy?"

"Not really," Barney said. "I mean, I'm probably supposed to be doing my science stuff…"

"If you're too deep in homework, I'll catch you another time," Logan said.

"Nah, we're taking a break," Clint said, waving his hand. "Soon as Barney's done with science, we're done for the weekend anyway."

Logan nodded his head at that. "Then I needed to have a word with the two of you."

"Okay, what's the deal?" Barney asked, plopping down and leaning back against the wall of their fort.

Logan watched both of them for a moment and then drew in a breath. "I wanted to talk to you about your mom." He paused to let the statement hang — and to see how open the boys were to even have a discussion — before he pressed further. "You know I care about her. A lot. And if the two of you are alright with it, I'd like to ask her to marry me."

Barney's eyebrows shot up faster than Clint's, though he was obviously more open to the idea, judging by the sort of awed, "Really?" that he breathed out.

Logan nodded, holding Barney's gaze. "Really. But I'm not lookin' for an answer today. Think it over. Hash it out between you. I know it's a big deal."

"Yeah," Clint said quietly. "Yeah, okay."

Logan nodded. "Just come find me when you decide. Take your time."

Barney glanced at Clint and then shrugged. "Well, I think it's a great idea, but … I'll talk to Clint, okay?"

"No pressure," Logan said before he pushed himself off of the tree. "You won't hear a word from me until you come to me about it. Let him make his own choice."

Barney nodded at that, though he didn't say anything until Logan was gone and he turned to face Clint, clearly confused and almost mad about it. "What happened? I thought you liked Logan."

Clint frowned and glanced down at his hands. "Yeah, I do."

"So what's the hangup?"

"I dunno."

"You know he won't hit K, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you know he won't hit us, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you know he's real protective of all of us and he ain't gonna let no one screw with us, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so what part of having an X-Man and an Avenger for a stepdad is bothering you?" Barney asked outright, his arms crossed. "Because from where I stand, that just means we got someone on our side."

"Yeah." Clint folded his arms so he was holding his elbows. "I dunno."

Barney shook his head and made a little scoffing noise. "Well, hurry up and figure it out, Clint, because I bet she'll ask you to give her away and everything." He shrugged. "It's not so bad, you know. Miranda's a lot happier with Paul. I figure it's kinda like that."

"Yeah, okay," Clint said, but he didn't really have all that much to say. "I don't feel like playing snowballs anymore."

Barney shook his head. "Fine," he said, rolling his eyes. "I guess you'll just have to abandon me to homework."

Clint smirked slightly at that. "Yep. Not even sorry."

Clint took the next few days to think over what Logan had said. He wasn't actually opposed to the idea… it was just hard to wrap his head around it. He didn't really want to share his mom... but on the other hand, Logan and K were already together all the time anyway….

Still, Clint was very grateful that Logan didn't actually press him on it. In fact, Logan just kept right on acting like everything was the same.

That didn't mean it was the same, especially because Clint was pretty sure Jean had figured out what was going on, because she kept grinning every time Clint and Logan were in the same room and Clint found himself wondering if Logan would be okay for his mom — and she didn't even bother to hide her delighted smiling if Clint ever thought maybe it would be fun.

But Clint knew what was actually going on with Jean, and when he had finally decided Logan could marry his mom if he really wanted to, when he saw Jean in the morning, he stuck his finger in her face. "Don't spoil this for my mom," he warned her seriously.

"I won't," Jean promised quickly, one hand over her heart, and Clint held her gaze for a long time.

"Good," he said before he spun on his heel and headed to the garage, where he knew he'd find Logan. He didn't even give Logan any time to say hi, either, just went right into, "You gotta promise you're never gonna hurt her. You gotta swear it on something important."

Logan looked up at him from where he was sitting on the creeper seat next to his motorcycle. "Clint, I'd promise that anyhow."

"So do it," Clint said.

He nodded. "What do you want me to swear it on?"

Clint thought about it for a really long time before he nodded slowly. "You gotta swear it on your honor," he said.

Logan nodded and raised his hand. "I swear on my honor and my life, I'll never hurt her."

Clint watched Logan for another very long time before he finally nodded. "Okay. I believe you," he said. "So I guess… I guess that means you just gotta ask her now, right?"

Logan nodded again. "Yeah, but I'll give it a little time in case you change your mind. I'm in no rush. And you gotta be okay."

"You don't wanna marry her?" he asked with his nose scrunched up.

"I do," Logan said. "But I want to know for sure that you don't change your mind and decide I'm not good enough."

Clint kept his nose scrunched up for a long time before he shrugged. "Okay, I just thought you were gonna ask her, like, right this very second if you like her so much."

"I do, but I figure she might deserve something a little better than over coffee with Jeannie drooling on the counter to see what she says."

Clint grinned wickedly. "I made her promise not to spoil anything. Because she's really bad at that, and she's totally going to implode." He illustrated his point with a little explosive noise as he pushed his hands together and apart.

Logan grinned back at him. "Yeah. And you know who's gotta listen to all of her psychic rants?"

"Scott, right?"

Logan just started to chuckle at that.

Clint's grin widened a little more. "Okay, well, just… take really good care of her, I guess," he said as he scooted toward the door.

"You too," Logan said. "I know it's a package deal."

"I can take care of myself," Clint insisted. "There ain't no stupid Sabretooth anymore."

"Yeah, but you know the kind of trouble she causes … she'll need both of us watching out."

Clint grinned and nodded. "Oh yeah, for sure." He leaned forward. "It'll be good to have help when Barney's gone, because I still ain't forgotten about how there are bad guys after Mom. You gotta help me keep 'em away from her, okay?"

"I'll fight 'em tooth and nail," Logan promised. "Far as I'm concerned, she doesn't need to go anywhere she doesn't want to."

"Good." Clint nodded and then looked Logan over one more time. "And… and I dunno if I wanna call you 'dad', okay? So… don't get mad if I don't."

"You can call me 'Logan'," he said. "I don't mind one bit."

"Okay, good." Clint took a deep breath, held it, and then rushed out of the room — leaving Logan shaking his head, since he knew the kid would need the time.

It was still another week before Logan asked K — and the way that the boys knew was not any actual big announcement but the fact that Jean was pacing and doing a very bad job at pretending to be patient to wait for the boys to hear the news.

Not that they waited, either.

"He asked her, huh?" Barney said with a smirk.

"Why are you asking me?" Jean asked, her eyes dancing with laughter.

"Because you know," Barney said, gesturing to her.

"Yeah, I mean… you're pacing and you ain't got Rachel," Clint pointed out. "So it's big, and you're happy, and you're waiting for us so you can celebrate. So… yay!" He did a little dance without breaking eye contact with Jean — which had Barney snorting laughing.

"Have you told anybody else?" Barney managed to ask when he had (mostly) composed himself.

"Besides Scott," Clint put in, earning another snort of laughter from his brother.

Jean finally paused at that and turned their way, tipping her chin up slightly. "No, I have not."

"Good, 'cause I don't think Mom would like to be mobbed," Clint said, nodding seriously.

"No, she really wouldn't," Jean agreed, looking torn between waiting to pounce and trying to play it cool. "Good thing there's no mob."

The Barton boys glanced at each other and then, almost in unison, rushed over to go hug Jean — and, sneakily, sit on her to keep her from rushing over to Logan and K. They could tell that she wasn't far from breaking all form and simply celebrating right there on the spot.

"We told him he could ask her," Barney said.

"But Mom's real good about letting us make our own decisions," Clint added. "So you gotta let her decide when to do stuff like tell people."

"I wasn't going to tell anyone," Jean defended. "Not … until we threw the party anyhow …"

"Mom's not a big party person," Clint said.

"Yeah, but…" Barney paused. "When Miranda and Paul hear, there's gonna be a party at the circus too."

"Good point," Clint said.

"They can come to the wedding, right?" Jean said, smirking at the boys halfway planning out their own arrangements.

"Yeah, as long as it's in the off-season," Barney said.

"It's gotta be," Clint pointed out. "Because you gotta be there."

"Oooh, yeah, good point," Barney said, nodding along.

"Aww man. That means I gotta wear a suit, doesn't it?"

Barney cackled. "Sure does!"

"Ugh. I hate those!"

It wasn't too long though, before Logan and K came down — though they were acting just as casual as they ever did on their way to grab some coffee. "Hi boys," K called out. "Jean."

The boys glanced at each other and then at Jean before they seemed to decide without words that they had to beat Jean to the punch and simply rushed over to hug both Logan and K, both of them wearing huge grins.

"He got you a ring, huh?" Clint said, tipping his head toward K's left hand.

"He's old-fashioned like that," K said, offering her hand so the boys could look the ring over. "What do you think?"

"I think it looks pretty sharp," Clint said with a crooked grin.

"Ouch. Bad pun," Barney said, shaking his head.

"So you both gave him the green light, huh?" K asked, one arm around each of them.

"Yep!" Barney grinned over at her. "I mean, how could you not want him in the family? I'm gonna learn how to shoot with him next winter — he already said so."

"Then it'll just be a matter of time before he gets you started on motorcycle work, too," K said before she turned to Clint. "You alright, too, big guy?"

Clint nodded and gave her a quick hug. "I thought about it for a long time," he admitted. "And… and I think if you like him… then that's okay with me."

She looked surprised and turned to glance at Logan for a moment before returning her attention to Clint. "How long did you think about it?"

"A few days," Clint admitted sheepishly.

She smiled at him and nodded. "I don't mind; I'm not mad. I'm just … a little … I didn't expect him to give you time, that's all."

"Yeah?" Clint glanced between K and Logan. "How come?"

"Just doesn't fit his usual 'go get it' attitude," K said.

Clint glanced over at Logan for a second before he couldn't help but smile. "Yeah," he said. "But that's … that's good. I think that's good for me and Barney, because if he's gonna marry you, that makes him our stepdad, so… that's good," he said softly.

"Yeah, I think so too," Barney agreed.

"Worth waitin' for," Logan said.