Clint woke when he felt something poking him in the side, he rolled away from it, sighing and trying to get back to sleep, but it started again; an annoying and consistent poking in his back, but this time it was accompanied by a small whisper of his name;

"Clint... Clint..."

He opened his eyes and rolled back over, seeing Natasha stood by his bedside, clutching the penguin toy she'd been given by Pepper, silent tears streaming down her face

"Bad dreams?" he asked knowingly, she had them a lot; sometimes she'd scream and writhe in bed; waking up Tony and Pepper too, other times she'd just wake herself; sitting bolt upright sweating and breathless as she struggled to shed the images from her head, and other's she'd cry; tonight was one of those nights.

Clint shifted backwards in his bed, making room for her to crawl in beside him. He always got too hot with Natasha curled up beside him, and never slept well because he was so concerned watching her. Before 'the fix', a bad nightmare would cause her to de-age almost as much as an injury, he'd lie next to her and watch to make sure they didn't return; it was hard to get out of that habit even now there was no risk of her de-aging any further.

She curled up into an impossibly small ball next to him, relaxing instantly as he rubbed her back soothingly. She murmured and lashed out slightly as she fell back to sleep, but fell into a peaceful sleep soon after. Clint lay awake for a while, thinking about how strange his life had become; one minute it was 1984 and he was a ten year old circus performer; now it was 2014, he was living with a team of superheroes and was an eight year old... It didn't seem real, it sounded mad to even him when he thought about it but this was his life now, and until Tony and Bruce could fix him, he'd make the most of it.

Pepper stood in the doorway to their room, watching the two of them sleep curled up beside one another

"They're cute when they're like that" Tony whispered, appearing behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist

"It reminds me of last time" she told him, leaning back into his embrace

"It's a shame they're not asleep and quiet like this more often" Tony joked

"I heard that" Clint warned, opening his eyes

"You want breakfast kiddo?"

Clint shook his head "I'm gonna wait til Tasha wakes up"

It was another hour before Clint and Natasha appeared in the kitchen, Natasha still yawning; she'd had a tough few nights and they seemed to be catching up on her

They sat down with Darcy to watch Finding Nemo while Jane cooked pancakes for them, but Natasha had fallen asleep again by the time they were ready

Clint happily ate her share before heading to the gym with Thor to play a game of basketball

"Tasha, Natasha" Darcy woke her gently; it was nearing lunch time and she'd slept half her day away

She spent the afternoon drawing; she made a picture for each and every person in the tower (except for Clint, she made him two)

Clint and Natasha helped Jane bake a cake, before Tony burnt the dinner so they called for takeout. Once again Natasha fell asleep on Tony's lap

"Clint, is Natasha sleeping okay?" Jane asked, noticing the young girl sleeping once again

Clint considered his answer, it wasn't really his problem to tell, but he was worried, so he shook his head; "She has nightmares"

This, of course, was not news to any of them. Her adult self had nightmares, she'd also had them a lot last time this had happened, they just hadn't realised she'd been suffering with them so badly at the moment

To try and help Steve pushed the two beds together, so she could be near Clint, without the two of them being too cramped in one bed, Jane bought her a dream catcher and explained how it worked while Bruce built her a nightlight. Pepper got the picture of the team reprinted and framed, the original copy had been folded and carried around by Natasha for far too long for it to be suitable for framing.

The nightmares still came, but she knew she was safe, really safe, because she was surrounded by people who cared.