Okay, so back to the Avengers kids again: In this chapter Evie is 13, the boys are 10, Alexis is 5 and Cecelia is 4 (And Natasha is 3 months pregnant)

Clint was stood in the centre of the warehouse, frozen by fear; his anger reaching unbearable levels as he glanced from one end of the room, to the other.

To his right was Natasha; her hands cuffed behind her back, forced to her knees on the floor and a gag tied tightly over her mouth as a man stood either side of her, a gun pointed squarely at her head.

Opposite Natasha, on Clint's left was their terrified little girl. Cecelia was held in place by a large man, a heavy hand on her shoulder and a gun aimed at her as she was forced to watch her parent's torment

"Choose" one of the men by Natasha growled, looking over at Clint; knowing he'd finally got him beat

Agent Sims had worked with Clint at Shield, even been his partner for a short stint before he'd brought Natasha in. Sims had felt shunned, he was furious when Clint and Natasha had gone on to become Shields best agents as he'd fallen by the wayside. His missions were often disastrous, his attitude was awful and no one wanted to work with him. Meanwhile, Clint got everything; he'd become part of the Avengers even after working against them, he got Natasha; the happy family with his wife and children, and it drove Sims mad.

Sims had been fired when Clint had exposed his dirty deals with a local gang of drug dealers and terrorists; and now, he was going to get his revenge.

Natasha struggled under the hold of the men stood by her, the gag slipped from her mouth as she fought;

"It's okay Clint! Clint, it's okay. Just do it!"

It was her permission; she knew he couldn't choose, so she made the decision for him

Anger flooded through Clint as his eyes met his wife's; set in determination, he knew she'd never forgive him if she lived and their daughter died, but Clint would never forgive himself either way. The small swell of Natasha's stomach was a small reminder that it wasn't just her life on the line; Clint doubted Sims knew Natasha was pregnant, not that it'd make the slightest bit of difference to him, but it was just one more innocent member of his family that'd been dragged into this whole mess.

Clint clenched his fists, facing Sims; "Let Cecelia and Natasha go. You can have me"

Sims' grip tightened on Cecelia's shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain. Clint took a step towards her desperately, but stopped when he heard a gun cock behind him.

He shot an apologetic look to his wife. The gag was once again firmly in place as the two men tightened their grip on her

Her eyes were pleading, begging him to choose Cecelia; to save their daughter and let her die.

Cecelia's muffled sobs were the only sound in the warehouse as time ticked on

"Choose Agent Barton, or they both die"

Clint nodded, he was stalling but he was running out of time

"Why Sims? Why?"

"You destroyed my life Barton, now you'll watch while I destroy yours"

Clint thought back to the four children he had at home; Sims had walked into the preschool wielding a gun at a class of four year olds. He'd grabbed Cecelia and left, leaving Evie, Elijah, Henry and Alexis to be told by their teachers that their sister had been taken. He'd received the phone call while he was training, and phoned Nat to tell her to abort her mission. After several attempts at reaching her failed, he eventually found out that Natasha had never made her meet and she'd not made contact in over 20 hours...

That was when he was sent a message from Natasha's phone; an address, and strict instructions to come alone. Clint knew he couldn't take any chances, not when Natasha and Cecelia's lives were at risk, so he obeyed and sped right over...

"Don't- don't make me do this Jason, please?"

"It's too late for that Barton, if you don't choose in the next ten seconds they'll both be dead"

"Okay! Okay!" Clint answered as Cecelia winced when the gun was pushed closer to her head.

"I chose Cecelia"

Sims nodded, and the man holding her released his hold on the little girl, who sprinted across the large warehouse to her father. Natasha breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Clint's arms wrap protectively around their daughter.

"I wouldn't look so relieved Mrs. Barton" Sims said with a grin, taking a step back to aim. Clint spun round to look at her, tucking Cecelia's head in under his chin to shield her from what was about to happen

Natasha nodded at him; 'It's okay' she told him silently, closing her eyes to brace herself for what was to come.

The whole building shook as part of the roof fell in. Clint dove out of the way with Cecelia in his arms as his back up arrived; their team, their other family. The ones Sims hadn't remembered to take into account because he'd never really know what it was like to work as part of a team.

Tony quickly shot the two men holding Natasha while Steve's shield knocked Sims off his feet. It didn't take long, but soon all the men working with Sims were in custody and Coulson had arrived with a team of agents to take them in

Steve dragged Sims off, throwing him roughly into the back of a Shield van so he could taken into custody

Once her hands were finally free, Natasha took her daughter from Clint's arms, holding her tight and leaning into Clint's open embrace

Bruce checked over Cecelia, the trembling four year old never leaving her parents arms; not ready to be without them yet

Once Bruce had reassured them the baby was fine, Natasha declined the rest of his check up, choosing instead to head back home and comfort her other kids who'd been left with their Aunt Pepper without much of an explanation as to what was going on.

XxX

That night the five Barton children all slept in their parent's room; Elijah and Henry sleeping on a pile of pillows on the floor while Evie, Alexis, Cecelia and Natasha slept in the large bed. Clint didn't any sleep that night; instead he stayed up, watching over his family and vowing to always keep them safe. He sat in the chair in the corner of their room and processed the events of the day.

Today had scared him more than he'd ever thought possible; being faced with the possibility of losing two of the most important people in his life was more than he could cope with.

Natasha's eyes flickered open around 3am to find Clint watching her closely;

"You should get some rest" she told him through a yawn

"There's not a lot of room" he grinned, taking her hand in his own and giving it a gentle squeeze

"You can have my place, I need to pee" she told him, her hand gently brushing over the small bump that had only recently started showing

He smiled at her; "but you look so comfy"

"I'm actually really warm" she said, untangling herself from Alexis' limbs, who'd practically been lay over her

"I'm not surprised" Clint laughed, watching Natasha carefully climb over their sleeping sons who'd sprawled out across the floor

"It's like a child obstacle course in here" she commented when she came back from the bathroom

Clint pulled her down into his lap as she passed, kissing her and placing his hand over her stomach

"I love you Tasha" he said, with as much honesty he could convey in his words

"I love you too, Clint" she replied, lying her head on his shoulder and falling back to sleep in the comfort of his arms.