The sound of wheels on the gravel road alerted Clint to the car pulling up. The kids were at school, which was good since they didn't want everything to be complete chaos. Clint opened the door and waited on the porch, "You made it!"

Peggy walked up on the porch, "You have quite the location here Clint. It's very tranquil."

"Just wait till the kids come home." He opened the door for them, "Or Natasha riles them up." Peggy checked to make sure she wasn't tracking in mud before looking at the house. The house was the warmest thing she'd seen since waking up. It was tidy but she could see the traces of actual people living there, shoes collected by the door, the TV was on, dishwasher running. Laura came out from the kitchen, "This is my wife Laura."

"Yes I saw you on the…" Peggy couldn't remember what it was called and looked to Steve.

"Oh the picture thing."

"Yes!" Peggy pinched her brow trying to think of what it was, "The phone.."

"Skype." Natasha walked in the door, "Don't hurt yourself."

Laura nodded, "Lila's so excited to meet THE Peggy Carter. Thanks to Natasha she's really into the whole spy thing. Clint will you go get some wood for the fire?"

It didn't matter how many times people told her, it was never natural to be told you were an Icon for something. When she went in the ice, she was known but she never would have guessed she was a historical figure.

"Sure, maybe we can convince Steve and Peggy to have a contest to see who can chop the most. That'll get us through the fall and winter."

"Well thank you for letting us come early. I didn't think I needed a few days off until right about now." Steve put the bags down.

"You've been so busy, I didn't think we'd ever get you back here." Laura walked to Peggy and took her by the arm, "Would you like some Tea? I think we have some left over from the last time Bruce was here..."

Steve went to the coat rack and took off his leather jacket. Natasha leaned against the wall next to him, "You haven't been back here since the Ultron fight."

"There was a reason for that." Steve looked over his shoulder at Natasha. "It was just a reminder that I could have had all this before. The family, the kids…" He looked through the living room to Laura and Peggy in the kitchen, "It's not so impossible now."

"You're a bit nauseating you know that right?" Natasha teased, "When's the wedding?"

"Oh shut up." Steve blushed, "I haven't even thought that far ahead yet. It's been a matter of trying to get to know each other, or get to know Peggy. Which- as it may seem- is even harder than it looks. She make you look transparent."

Natasha smirked, "Coming from the world's leading expert at waiting too long?"

"It has to be right." He exhaled in frustration and embarrassment, "I been looking at rings but-"

Natasha put her hand up, "Holy shit man, you're actually thinking about it?"

"Yeah." He said like it was obvious.

"Can I be your best man?" Natasha nudged him.

Steve rolled his eyes, "I can't tell you anything."

Laura put Nathan's carrier down on the porch, "Okay Barton's, everyone in their Cars!" She stopped Cooper fixing his football uniform before letting him run to the car, the kid was in every sport the small town had. If they had a cricket team she was certain he would sign up. Clint held the cooler up as he walked by, "We are going to be early for the first time in Barton history. Where's Steve and Peggy?"

They walked out in their best disguises, zip up sweatshirts, sunglasses, and Steve wearing a baseball cap. Peggy skipped the hat since she wasn't convinced it didn't make her feel silly. "Will we blend in?" Steve held his arms out proud of their handy work.

"People are pretty used to strangers wearing sunglasses and hoodies showing up with us." Laura laughed pushing them along.

"Can I go with them!" Lila jumped putting her hands together in front of Clint. "Please!"

Clint looked at Natasha who had already gotten the booster seat installed in her car, "When did you-" he waved her off, "Yeah go to the fun car!"

Natasha jumped in the driver's seat to the second car, "Come on old people!"

Peggy crossed her arms walking with Steve to the car, "Calling us that isn't as cute as you think it is." She looked at the car and then at Steve and bolted to the front passenger seat. "Shot gun!"

Steve gladly took the back seat, "Fine Lila and I are going to have a blast in the back seat."

The Bartons pulled out of the farm first since Laura was so close to being early. Natasha however took her time since they were all well entertained with Lila asking Peggy and Natasha to say things in different languages and accents. Steve was as equally entertained as Lila was. They parked the car and walked out to the almost empty bleachers where they could see the other members of the Barton Family. "Wait I thought he was in Soccer?" Steve looked over at Natasha who was carrying Lila on her shoulders.

"He is. But that season just ended and now he's playing Football, then he'll do soccer again and then it's baseball. The kid's nuts." Natasha jumped up, making Lila laugh.

"Do you do sports Lila?" Peggy leaned forward so Steve wasn't blocking her view of the girl.

She shook her head, "No. I wanna do Ballet but I don't think dad's going to let me. It's dumb."

Natasha nodded, "It does sound dumb." Peggy and Steve could see Natasha's face shut down at the idea. They both knew that kind of look but could understand that Natasha was the kind of person that to ask her would just push it deeper inside. The two looked at each other silently agreeing to discuss it later. Natasha walked up the bleachers and helped Lila jump down. "The happy family, ready for a rousing game of 12 year olds playing football?" Whatever had disturbed her, was clearly pushed away for later.

"He'll be a really good football player one day." Clint laughed taking a sip from a thermos Laura packed.

Lila looked over and started waving, "Oh can I go hang out with them!"

Laura looked over to see who the kids were, "Sure. Take your coat, check in every once and awhile." She was rocking Nathan's carrier with her foot. Lila skip down the stairs and ran off with other girls her same age. "What's the worst that can happen."

Clint looked over, "You know every time you say that something terrible happens."

"That's not true. I say it all the time, and good things happen sometimes." Laura held her finger up to protest.

"She's going to come back crying by halftime because some kid pushed her into mud." Clint watched Lila running, "Or something else that could happen."

Laura put her hand on Clint's cheek and patted it a few times, "Put the bow away Hawkeye and watch the game. You have the best Agent in the history of SHIELD, whatever identity Natasha is going with this week, and the guy that ended World War II. We're fine."

Clint rolled his eyes and leaned back so he was resting on the bench behind him. The game went slowly as the kids jogged with the ball up and down the court without really making any game moves.

Natasha sighed and looked back at Clint, "Why don't you want Lila to do ballet?"

Laura rolled her eyes, "Not this again."

Clint looked between them, "How do you know about that?"

Peggy decided to pull Natasha out of the frying pan, "I asked her if she was doing sports since Cooper is so involved."

"She'd like to be." Laura put her eyes back on the game.

"Is this you trying to protect her, or is this you thinking I'll have a problem with it?" Natasha turned to face Clint.

Clint shrugged and took a deep breath, "Both? I don't know, out of the people I know that did ballet there's a 100 percent chance of it being terrible."

Natasha laughed at how ridiculous of an opinion he had, "Right because it was the arabesques that made the Bolshoi terrible." She held up air quotes around the words Bolshoi.

"The Bolshoi?" Steve raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know that."

Peggy intercepted, "It wasn't really."

"You read my file?"

She shook her head, "No, that whole operation was around in my day."

"Our day?" Steve asked.

"No, my day." Peggy clarified, "It's a rather long story that I don't really feel like sharing due to this being a highly public event."

"Agreed, but to get back on track- You should let Lila do it. She could be good, and she could have fun doing it."

Clint nodded, "I'm just trying to protect her from our world. But you're right, she'd have fun doing it." He looked down at Nathan bundled up in the carrier, "And as a plus, dance recitals are warmer than football games."

After the game every drove back in the same cars, Lila dozing off instead of keeping the car entertained with her antics and everyone else remaining quiet. The Barton house was still there waiting for them in the farm. Clint got out of his car by himself and went into the house alone peaking inside for a moment before giving a thumbs up. The other car came out of the car after the hesitation. Even Lila waited before getting out. Peggy hesitated, "What was that about?"

"When Clint's here, he goes in the house first. To make sure the coast is clear." Natasha got out of the car, "Not that he needs to do that anyway. The house is as well secured as some of the SHIELD bases. Thermal cameras on the entire farm, sensors. A leaf can't drop without catching it on an Alarm. Not to mention… the whole thing is invisible outside of the forest perimeter."

Peggy had almost forgotten what kind of danger Clint's family could potentially be in. He was removed, in his own place where he could protect the people around them. It made her worry about what it would be like for she and Steve to have a child, a child with an even bigger target on their backs than a child should have. She tried not to think about that again.

Natasha picked Lila up and within seconds the small girl was back asleep on Nat's shoulder. Laura offered to take her off her hands, but Natasha waved her away. Steve took his hat off then his jacket, feeling warmed up just by taking it off, "You played a good game kid," He said to Cooper when he thought no one was listening.

"We lost." Cooper raised an eyebrow at Steve, "We've lost like 3 times in a row."

"Yeah but you played a good game. Winning all the time won't be a good story, but that year you got your butts kicked, you can tell that story for years." Steve sat down at the table, "It'll be more memorable than winning every battle."

Laura came in and kissed the top of Coopers head, "Good game, go get ready for bed. The party's tomorrow so you can't sleep in."

"Used to it." Cooped rolled his eyes. He and Laura both went on their way to get ready for sleep.

Peggy walked into the kitchen but stopped to kiss Steve on the way, "You're very good with him, Steve." She said when they were alone.

"With Cooper?" Steve stood up from the table to follow her in the kitchen, "The barton kids don't make having my own seem so terrifying."

She put a kettle on the stove and leaned against the counter facing Steve, "I've jumped out of planes, disabled bombs, gone under cover… all of those things seem less frightening than what Clint does every day… Laura too." She looked down at her feet, "I'm not sure I could manage being that afraid all the time."

Steve took a step forward and pulled Peggy closer to him. He put a hand on her waist and took her hand with the other, mostly to pass the time before the water boiled, "We'd figure it out."

"We?" She looked up with a smirk.

"Yeah." Steve said confidently, "We."

Peggy thought about it for a few moments before smiling. Steve had a talent for breaking her deadpan, "I like the sound of that." He started to sway until they were dangerously close to dancing. "There's a lot of things we need to discuss before that becomes a problem."

"Like?" Steve prompted.

"A place to live?" She said simply, "I'm not sure I can manage living in-between The Playground and The Avengers base for much longer."

Steve laughed, "I think we can manage that."

Peggy walked down a dark hallway. Her gun was out and held carefully in front of her. Despite her steady hand and lethal aim, her arms were shaking. "Thompson cover-" She turned around remembering she was all alone. She didn't know where she was but it wasn't good.

She reached the end of the hall, "Peggy Carter." she remembered that voice, the women she'd been tracking for years. That's why she was there. Dottie Underwood, "Aren't I glad to see you." she was in front of Peggy at the end of the hall.

Peggy turned around noticing she was where she started out. "Where is she?!" Her voice echoed through the space. The only answer she got was laughter. "WHERE IS SHE!" Peggy shouted again.

"PEGGY!" There was a scream of pain coming from everywhere. An untraceable cry of misery.

"ANGIE?!" Peggy started running, trying to trace the noise.

"Peggy!... Peggy!..."

"Peggy…" Steve's voice pulled her out of a less than ideal dream. She imagined that to another person her dreams would be night terrors, the kind of dream that made you wake up in the middle of the night, covered in a sweat. But the bar had to be raised higher for her, given her life experience. "Peggy….".

"What could possibly be so important?" She opened one eye.

"Breakfast is ready." He sat down at the edge of the bed, "Well… Breakfast was ready… I let you sleep in. People should be arriving soonish, and by people I mean a swarm of children."

Peggy stretched and covered her face with a pillow, "Okay… okay." She sat up. "I'm going to go for a run first."

Steve could see a cold sweat on Peggy, "Bad Dream? Do you need some company?"

She shook her head, "I just need to think."

"Want to talk about it?" Steve asked mostly as a joke. He knew the answer.

Peggy actually considered it, "I believe this one wasn't a memory." It troubled her that she was never sure. "I'll be back soon." She kissed Steve's cheek, "I'll tell you when I figure it out."

He stood up and went to the door letting her change, "I trust you." He closed the door behind him.

"It's my birthday!" Lila danced around the living room.

"Yes it is!" Clint was pouring his 3rd cup of coffee that morning. Maybe his 4th.

Laura was feeding Nathan from a bottle in a large plush chair. Something about the two parent read that they were preparing to go into Battle. Clint's phone made a small chirping sound that he immediately reacted to. "Is Peggy still out running?"

"Yep." Steve was looking out the kitchen window, "Around the outside of the Farm."

Clint relaxed, "She set something off." He tapped the screen a few times and settled back into drinking his coffee.

"You know it'll save a mug if you just drink it from the coffee pot." Steve suggested.

"Laura won't let me. She says that sort of thing is for 'single Clint Barton', not married with three kids Clint Barton…. But-"

He was cut off by a crack of thunder and lighting on the front lawn, followed by a sheet of rain. "Thor!" Cooper and Lila ran out to the porch.

"NO RAIN!" Laura shouted.

"My apologies Lady Barton." Thor walked in with the two barton kids hanging off of him. "Steve my friend! It is great to see you." He carried on like the two kids weren't climbing all over his armor.

"Good to see you too." Steve laughed.

Peggy walked in off the back porch like a cat who'd been thrown in the lake, "Why do I feel like Thor had something to do with this?"

"My apologies M'lady." The two kids jumped down, "Now I believe it is the smaller princess's day of birth today."

Peggy went up to their temporary room and got dressed for the party. She hadn't had too many opportunities where she wasn't dressing to go to work, in this century. Everytime she wore Jeans she worried that she'd never wear anything else, their comfort was unlike anything she'd worn in her life.

By the time she dried her hair and put her makeup on, she walked down to the horror of a large cluster of kids. Laura was trying to direct them all outside, since she didn't want them in her house. She was trying to persuade them to play outside but they were a bit distracted by the superhero's in the house. Most of the kids were dressed up like other super heroes the team was mostly sure were fake, but there were some little Iron Man's and Captain America's. Even one black widow, which Natasha was busy teaching some self defense moves too.

"Thi is a lot of children." Peggy looked around.

"Can someone distract them?" Laura walked over to the group of adult.

Thor picked his hammer up off the counter, "Allow me… Young soldiers, let us go outside and try picking up my weapon."

Peggy gave the situation a laugh, "What's the worst that can happen there."

"Yeah, an 8 year old ruling Asgard?" Clint laughed.

Steve shrugged, "Can't be worse than Loki."

"Avengers, Assemble elsewhere. I have to get Lunch ready." Laura announced to the kitchen.

They followed their orders and went outside to watch the kids try and pick the hammer up. Peggy looked at the line of adults, "I'm not sure I understand. Is it just very heavy?"

"Thor's the only one who can pick it up." Steve explained, "Something about being worthy to rule Asgard."

"It's lame that's what it is." Clint said with a hint of bitterness. "No one on the team can pick it up."

"Well I never tried." Natasha grinned, "So you don't know if I could or couldn't."

Steve rolled his eyes, "But yeah, everyone's a bit bitter about it."

Peggy nodded, "I'm going to try it." She walked down off the porch. "Worst case scenario I rule Asgard right?"

"This can't end well…" Steve prophesied.

Peggy walked down to the patch of grass the hammed was sitting on. Apparently the grass was worthy. She started to lean down to try and pull the happed up. But in the corner of her eye she felt like she saw a ghost. Peggy stood up and looked in the direction and saw what she felt was there. A dark figure, standing away from the farm, but slowly making it's way closer. They didn't look armed but there was a metal reflection that made her feel uneasy. She tried not to alert the party to what was happening.

She ran to the porch, "There's someone on the farm. And it's not someone late for the party"

"That's impossible," Clint pulled his phone out and checked the security around the farm. Every camera was down. He ran inside, "Laura, Get everyone in the basement."

"What?!"

Clint hurried inside grabbing his bow, "Lockdown. We'll handle this." The Avengers were scrambling to get themselves together as the kids were calmly distracted back in the house. Natasha ran to the car and opened up a compartment retrieving some weapons. She threw one to Steve then to Peggy who were camped out behind the car. Within a minute the 4 of them were ready to take down whoever decided to mess with Lila's birthday party. Within two, they noticed the figure hadn't moved. Within three Steve was getting curious.

"I'm going out to figure this out." Steve started to move out of cover.

Peggy stopped him, "Yes why don't you invite him in for Tea and Cake while you're at it."

"Staying here won't solve anything either." Steve took a breath before moving outside of cover. He kept the gun pointed down, just incase the stranger was hostile. "You picked the wrong day to do this Son… Drop your weapons."

The figure held their hands up and then lowered a large bag to the ground. Slowly the reached up to their baseball cap and pulled it off, throwing it on the bag.

Steve froze, but had learned not to drop his weapon from the last time. He couldn't believe it. For months he'd combed through the entire world, and here he walked right up to them. "Bucky?"