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Two Years before the fall of SHIELD

Natasha's POV

For the next few days, Clint and Laura monitored me carefully. They never wanted me to be alone and made sure I was occupied with some activity. I appreciated the concern, but I had yet to experience another episode. Nevertheless, they worried about me.

It was a late Saturday evening, the Barton family was holding a Pixar movie marathon. Mostly, it was for the entertainment of Lila and Cooper but I enjoyed the children movies. We began with Ratatouille, Lila fell asleep just before the end credits. Next was Wall-E, Cooper fell asleep half way through the film. By the time I popped in the Incredibles, Laura was curled up in Clint's arms nodding off resting her head on his chest. I was wide awake, studying the outlawed heroes of the films. I was stretched out on the couch opposite to the couple, Lila was lying on top of me her head snoozing on my chest.

"Nat?" Clint grumbled from across the room, quiet enough to not wake his sleeping wife.

"Yeah?" My eyes remained peeled to the screen.

"How are you?" He sounded genuinely sympathetic.

"What do you mean?" I frowned and turned to look at him.

He shook his head, "You know what I mean, Nat. You went through a lot, you experienced pure fear."

I snapped my head back to the screen, "I wasn't afraid."

We both knew this was obviously false. Clint gripped Laura a bit closer before he spoke, "You were afraid when we fought on the helicarrier. I'm still getting over that."

I didn't look at him to respond, "It's different, Clint. I did it to save you, I'm alright with that."

"Well what about Banner? You avoided him."

I stayed watching the film, "I'm not afraid of Bruce."

"Then why did you avoid him on the quinjet?"

His persistence began to irritate me, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Natasha, you don't have to pretend to be fearless. It's not realistic and I won't think any less of you."

I wanted him to stop, I wasn't afraid of Banner but I couldn't prove it. I opted to shift subjects and hopefully cease the conversation, "Don't call me Natasha." He frowned but didn't speak. We both fell asleep before the movie ended.

"Aunt Nat?" I snapped awake, Cooper was standing over my spot on the couch. Lila was no longer on top of me and only Clint was asleep in the living room.

"Aunt Nat, mommy made pancakes!" The house smelled heavenly and sat up to take in the scent. Cooper ran back to kitchen to fix a plate.

"Hey Tasha, can you wake the sleepy head so he can eat," Laura called from the kitchen, gesturing to Clint.

I nodded and pulled myself into a standing position. Clint was sprawled out ungracefully with his mouth hanging wide open. I checked over my shoulder in ensure no one was watching before I punched his arm with considerable force.

"What the-… Tasha!" Clint swung lazily in my direction.

I fell into a fit of laughter, "You consider yourself an assassin with those skills?"

He sent me a glare, "We're sparring today, I need a chance to demonstrate my skills since apparently you need a reminder."

I could help the sarcasm that boastful attitude elicited, "Ah, yes! Perhaps you'll last a whole five minutes before I pin you down."

Clint shook his head and laughed. He held out his hand prompting me to help him up. "Old man," I mumbled as I took his hand. He smirked just before he applied excessive force into the pull and used his free hand to flip the rest of my body on the couch. The children, whose attention we had now captured, cheered for their dad. I geared to wrap my legs around his neck, using my core to build momentum.

"Children!" Laura scolded over the stove. Lila and Cooper shakily turned around to face their mother. Laura expression softened when she saw their nervous faces, "Oh no babies, I wasn't yelling at you," she looked up to glare at Clint and I while smirking, "I meant those children."

"Clint, stop holding her down and Tasha put your legs down before you break his neck!" we swiftly adjusted ourselves to standing side by side, "Better. Now come eat, please." Laura turned back to the pan on the stove.

I nudged Clint, "Even she thought I was going to win."

After breakfast Clint and I settled on the front porch while Laura was off gardening. We both kept silent, focusing on the kids playing in the front of us. Clint kept looking up at me, then would quickly glance away again.

I sighed, "Barton, if you have something to say to me, just say it."

Clint made an unpleasant sound, "It just, last night when we were talking about Banner," he looked extremely uncomfortable.

I rolled my eyes, "what about Banner?"

"I don't want it to seem like I was trying to force you to prove anything to me," Clint studied me for a response, but I didn't offer one. This matter was sensitive for the both of us, I knew that I felt some form of hesitance toward the doctor but I never wanted that to be publicly known. Clint recognized this but refused to drop the matter for cautionary reasons that I might do something overly dramatic to get my point across.

Thankfully, Clint's SHIELD phone interrupted our conversation, Clint excused himself and headed into the house. I tilted my head back and enjoyed the view, while taking in the giggles and squeals of the children.

A few minutes later both Clint and Laura appeared in the doorway.

"Fury has a mission for us, we leave tonight." Clint looked disappointed.

"Well, I guess we couldn't hide from them forever. What do you know about the mission?" I stood up to head inside.

His faced began to glow with amusement, "Super-secret agent intel stuff. In Vegas."

"We're going to Vegas?" I couldn't help the widening of my eyes. Clint and I had long ago made a mental list of cities we wanted to be assigned too, Las Vegas was near the top of that list. "Well I better get packing."

Clint's POV

As Tasha headed inside, Laura and I overlooked the picturesque view of our two kids playing an endless game of tag under the afternoon sun while their parents observed.

"I'm not sure I'm ready to be Hawkeye again." The words passed my mouth without any forethought.

"I don't think I'll ever be ready either, but the world certainly is." I knew she wasbeing as blunt as possible.

"You make me sound some kind of hero."

She reached out to touch my face, "but you are." I pulled her closer to me so that our lips touched, slowly and carefully. We closed our eyes to enjoy the moment.

"Get a room!" Nat's footsteps marched passed where we stood on the porch as she made her way to Lila and Cooper.

"Oh, I got a room, sweetheart! I've got a whole house!" I yelled from the porch to the yard. Laura was giggling and blushing at our interruption.

Nat turned around and smirked, "I'm mentally giving you finger, Barton!"

"Once again, children, the two of you!" Laura shouted.

Okay so hoped you like the fluff! The next two or three chapters will cover the Las Vegas mission (I'm excited!). Also if you're reading my other story, A Broken Union, that will also be updated today. Thank you!