"Please tell me you didn't invite…" Laura looked around the kitchen for any sign of Lila and whispered, "Thor…"
Clint laughed and took the coffee pot straight out from the brewer and drank it straight, "No. I don't think we have enough Turkey's in Midgard to feed him and Peggy and Steve and Bucky And Nat…" He sighed, "We better start cooking…"
"Why are we doing this?" Laura went to the kitchen to check on the large turkey defrosting in their deep sink. "Who's bright idea was this?"
"Yours dear." Clint said with forced charm. He put on a very bad Laura impersonation, "Clint, let's invite all of the Avengers save Thor for Thanksgiving dinner. I'd love to spend 7 hours peeling enough potatoes to feed 3 modified soldiers, Banner- although he's probably going to bring some healthy organic something or other he likes from one of his runaway sessions- the bottomless pit that's Natasha's stomach, 4 non modified humans and 2 and a half children."
"Who's the half child?" She turned on the sprayer feeling like it would get them somewhere faster. It didn't.
"Nathan… I figured he's not really going to be a strain on the buffet table." Clint jumped up to sit on the counter and drink his pitcher of coffee. "You'll do fine. Steve and Peggy will be here soon, I can put them to work."
Laura nodded, "You're right." She said to herself, "Everything is under control. I made the pies yesterday. I'll just tell Steve and Bucky that whoever peels the most potatoes gets…"
"First draft of the left overs." Clint finished her thought.
"Yes!" Laura walked over to give Clint a high five, "I'm gonna throw the best damn Thanksgiving the Avengers have ever seen."
"Damn straight you are."
Clint Barton: Master Marksman. Class A dad. Laura Barton's personal Cheerleader.
Peggy closed the door of the car SHIELD was unknowingly lending them for the weekend. She was a bit tired of not having anything of her own. Every element of her second life had been gifted to her or loaned so far, but finally she had signed her new contract with SHIELD and was starting to get an actual paycheck. Her phone buzzed with some trivial news, nothing about Angie.
"I hope for the sake of SHIELD's budget they are paying you a salary not by the hour." He leaned over and plucked Peggy's phone from her hands.
She started to protest, "Steve Rogers… Fine." She conceded, "But this is your country's holiday."
"And not yours? You've technically been here longer than I have." Steve wrapped his arm around her as they walked up the Barton family's gravel driveway, "You must have one hell of a workers visa."
Peggy stretched up and kissed him on the cheek, "You have no idea, Darling."
Before they got to the door Lila opened it up and announced they were there, "MOM! DAD! PEGGY AND STEVE ARE HERE!"
"Lila!" Clint hissed and walked into the door frame, "Nathan is sleeping. Hi guys."
"We're not early are we?" Peggy looked inside to see no one else there besides the family.
He opened the door for his friends, "No we told you earlier, we figured staggering the guests would be the simplist."
"Let me guess Tony's coming last?" like a gentleman Steve assisted Peggy with taking off her coat.
"Hey it's not like that." Clint defended, "The last time he was there, he almost made the Tractor transform into some Jarvis mobile. Is Nat not with you?"
Peggy made sure her heels weren't tracking in any mud, "She and Bucky were running late.." she made a suspicious face with Steve, who rolled his eyes.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
Clint walked with them closer to the kitchen; he was supposed to be boiling cranberries for the sauce. "I don't think they're dating."
Laura laughed turning the kitchen sink from washing her hands, "Honey, they are." she walked out of the kitchen to give Peggy and Steve hugs. "I'm glad to see you! No running off this time."
"Yes Ma'am." Steve nodded.
"They're too similar" Clint went back to the original topic. "I mean when Bucky has what I assume was his old personality. Like when they were here the other day. I think Natasha goes for a bit more obstacles than that."
Steve agreed, "I've seen Bucky with girls he liked and… I just don't get the same thing from him."
Peggy objected, "But what about Natasha. She's with him almost as much as you are."
"But couldn't that just be because they went through similar things!" Steve sat down at the counter. He looked at Clint, "We've had this conversation many times."
"So have we." Clint sighed, "They better not be together, because I bet a month of dishes on it."
The back door opened and Cooper walked in, kicking his shoes off under a bench, "What are you guys talking about?"
Laura shook her head, not believing the 4 of them were such gossips"Noth-"
"Aunt Natasha and Bucky."
"The guy with the metal arm?" He started snooping in the kitchen for something to eat, but only found a mountain of unpeeled potatoes and decided to avoid that before his mother put him to work. "Yeah they're totally dating."
"The boy's smart." Peggy nodded matter of factly.
Clint had a bit of pout on, "That's what I'm afraid of."
Lila sat at the table with some papers and colored pencils busy working away at something that looked official… for an 8 year old. Peggy walked by with her cup of tea and noticed the project, "What is this Ms. Lila?"
"It's for school." she sighed and looked over her shoulder, "I have to draw everyone who went to my Thanksgiving… but I keep running out of room and not everyone is here yet!" She was genuinely concerned.
Peggy sat down and examined the work. There were some talented stick figure portraits of the guests so far. Clint was labeled DAD holding a scribbled blob that was labeled NATE and was wearing a purple shirt. Laura-labeled MOM-had a spatula in her hand and an apron with the right details. Steve and Peggy's figures were holding hands and wearing their same colors for shirts and their stubby forms were holding hands. Peggy's 'U' shaped smile was in red labeled with a PEGGY , and Steve was labeled like everyone else STEVE. But that was crossed out and CAPTAIN AMERICA was underneath it.
"These are wonderful!" she picked a draft of herself, "You have my skirt just right."
"Thanks… mommy helped with the spelling." she said bashfully "But I'm running out of room!"
Peggy looked at the work and started to think, "Well I can see a few strategies. You can redo it so everyone fits on one page.. which I don't you should since these are so wonderful. Or you can draw on a second page and when you're done we can cut them out and put it on one pig page."
Lila looked at the pages taking to heart what her consultant suggested. "That would work!"
"Well I'm glad I can help." Peggy picked her tea up taking a sip.
The sound of a car stopping on the driveway made Lila jump, "Is it Aunt Nat!?"
"Go check for us." Peggy suggested, and Lila bolted out the front door. Before the door could close behind her she made a sound of disgust, "EW! THEY'RE KISSING!"
"Knew it!" Laura could be heard slapping Clint hard on the shoulder.
They walked in the house, "Hi everyone.." Natasha announced.
Bucky followed, his face blushed to bright red, "Happy thanksgiving…" He looked over at Steve, who slow clapped. "Shut up twerp."
Natasha picked Lila up, "Why were you kissing Bucky?"
"Don't worry about it." She walked off to cause some mischief.
Peggy joined Steve in waggling their eyebrows, "Sooo." she requested.
"It's nothing." He loosened his tie.
"Why were you late Buck?" Steve kept giving him a hard time.
"Wow, the turkey smells great…" He looked at a distraction, "Hey let's go out and play some football…"
Laura perked up, "Yes! Everyone get out of the house. Go wrestle or something."
Peggy protested, "I'm not really dressed for-" Steve bent down and threw Peggy over his shoulder. "God dammit Steve!" she cursed as he ran outside, "I'm not your bloody football."
"Come on! Have some fun." Steve laughed, running around in circles with her. She took a moment to be happy she wore solid black tights and not nilons.
"I will if you learn how to."
Peggy started hitting him in the back, "You wouldn't know a good time if it bit you on your wonderful backside."
"Same goes to you." He pinched her upper leg. She turned sideways and hooked her leg around him as she fell. They both hit the ground but Steve broke her fall. "I deserved that."
Lila ran out from the house and jumped on top of them, "DOG PILE!"
Peggy saw Bucky running towards them, "Be careful before you get squished." She stood up and pulled Lila with her before Steve and Bucky started to wrestle. "I'm not washing that shirt when you have unbelievable grass stains on it."
"Don't worry Peg. You'd be surprised how good stain removers are now." Natasha assured her from the safety of the porch. Peggy dropped Lila off at a safe distance and joined Natasha on the porch. "Is Steve… angry?" She said due to the fact that she felt like she should.
"No, of course not. Well... " Peggy stopped to think, "He's only looking out for Bucky. They're inseparable and he doesn't want to see his friends heart getting broken."
Natasha nodded, "He has merit to be worried. I mean, I don't have the nicest track record with relationships. It just kind of… happened."
"I think you're a good match. The only thing hypothesised was that you're too similar. Which I don't think is that bad of a thing. I've been with people I have almost nothing in common with, and it was a disaster." Peggy could feel herself giving motherly advice, and it felt strange.
"Who?" Natasha chuckled, seeing Steve in a headlock from Bucky's metal arm.
Peggy could see an expensive car driving up to the House. Tony- perfect timing. To be safe she moved their conversation into Russian. "Howard and I-"
"Oh my god." Natasha laughed seamlessly following Peggy's language jump, "You're way more interesting than I ever expected."
"I do hope that's a good thing."
Natasha put her arm around Peggy, "The best… but might I add… never tell Tony."
She laughed, "Don't worry. Only you and Steve know at this point. I can trust you with secrets, I can't trust Steve anymore."
"What happened?"
Peggy pinched her brow, "He told you all about Angie and I."
"RIGHT." Natasha said under her breath, "Like I said, 'Peggy Carter, way more interesting than I ever would have expected'... and that's saying a lot since Steve hardly talked about you."
"I rather wish he'd stop." Peggy looked over at Natasha, "I apologize if my Russian is a little rusty, it's been awhile since I've used it."
Natasha shook her head, "No, it's really good actually. Bucky and I talk like this sometimes, it helps him."
"Good to know." Peggy watched Steve and Bucky continue to wrestle. It was hard to believe the things that had happened to the two of them, even happened. They were carrying on like two schoolboys, or even worse. They were acting the same as they did during the war. "
The bright red car stopped Bruce, Pepper and Tony stepped out. Peggy was so used to Pepper's business attire she almost didn't recognize her dressed so casually. But the look suited her. Tony… Tony looked like he always did. A little disheveled, and like he hadn't slept in 3 days. "The good ol' Barton farm." He walked by Steve and Bucky, "Good thing you're settling second place because… I would take first."
"In your dreams, even in the suit." Pepper followed him to the porch.
Steve was about to stop the fight when a metal arm jabbed into his face, "Jesus!"
"Language." Tony scolded without looking back.
Bucky stood down and winced, "Sorry." Then they both noticed the triage of cuts and bruises each of them had.
"I'll be fine." He touched his hand to his nose and saw the blood, "This shirt might not be."
Peggy rolled her eyes, "Come on children. First Aid is required."
Steve got up and shoving Bucky one more time, followed Peggy into the house, "I guess that's the universe's form of payback for messing with you."
"One could say that." Peggy went to the kitchen, "First aid kit."
"No blood in the kitchen!" Laura shouted as the larger-by two- group came inside.
Clint handed Peggy a small white container, "Bucky can start peeling potatoes."
"Yeah yeah, I said I was sorry!" He smirked, "I'm great at peeling potatoes. Peggy made me do it all the time."
Without missing a beat she retorted, "How else do you expect I was going to get Steve to myself?" She stood in front of Steve who was holding a paper napkin to his nose.
"Touche." Bucky got himself ready to peel.
Pepper and Tony walked in with two bags, "We brought the most important element of any Thanksgiving Dinner…" He pulled out an assortment of wines. "Enough wine for an entire oldfolks home to spill the beans…" Tony reached into the bottom of the second bag, "And some Hard ciders and beers for Clint."
"Grown ups always get fancy drinks." Lila pouted getting ready to catalog the new guests into her assignment for school.
Tony turned, "That's cause we deserve it." He eyed Lila, "It was your birthday wasn't it."
"Yeah!" Lila could feel a present coming along.
Tony looked at Pepper, "Did we remember it?"
"No crazy robots before dinner." Clint pointed at Tony.
Tony defended himself, "None of my robots were crazy… overly determined yes." Tony was slowly getting tired of defending himself from Ultron.
"We'll get the present after Dinner." Pepper looked around the house. "It nice here… very peaceful."
Laura stopped examining one of the wines, "Thank you. I mean, it's no Tower or Malibu Beach house."
"It doesn't need to be." Pepper walked to the couch, where Bruce had found his spot for the night, peacefully away from standing groups of people. Cooper was sitting in a chair watching a football game.
Steve rolled his sleeves up once Peggy was done, "Am I cleared to beat Bucky at a potato peeling contest."
She kissed him, "Go defend your honor. Laura do you need any help?"
"No. Once the potatoes are cooked everything should be on schedule. Bruce did you bring something?"
"No, I figured I'd just save the kale salad for myself. I'm the only one who likes it anyway."
"That's not true." Pepper encouraged, "But I'm not wasting any time on anything healthy this year, now that it has virtually no side effects."
Tony walked through the room to sit next to Pepper, "I guess extremis was good for something." After she had been tested on, Tony tried to get her as back to normal as possible. With regular tests and medication she didn't flame up. But she burnt through at least 20 phones before they adjusted everything correctly. The only problem now was her metabolism which made her a contender with Thor as far as an eating contest went.
Lila walked over looking at the new guests to take note of what color shirt they were wearing and any other identifiable items. She saw the arc reactor glowing through his blue dress shirt, "What's that?"
"My arc reactor.." It wasn't that Tony hated kids, he just never was around them. He didn't know what to do. They weren't old enough to talk about anything important, and what ever they ended up talking about was nonsense. In addition to that, they always had an inhuman like skill of bringing up a certain hole over the center of New York.
"Why is it there?"
Tony crossed his leg, "It keeps my heart working."
"How?"
"Science."
"Yeah but how?"
It finally occurred to him that Lila actually wanted to know, and wasn't just being a kid asking questions for the sake of talking. "It uses parts of decaying elements that creates a current that goes through gamma-ray-mediated beta decay which works with the vibranium to keep some pieces of metal from going into my heart and killing me. So it keeps me alive but it also powers the Iron Man suits."
Lila eyed the light and shrugged before walking off, "I'll believe you I guess."
Tony checked his phone to pass the time, "Tough crowd."
"They're Clint's kids. They're probably used to it." Pepper saw Peggy walking closer into their circle of the room, "Any new wedding plans?"
Peggy sat down on the couch on the opposite side of Bruce across from Pepper, "God no. We've barely talked about it. We don't have a date, I haven't started looking at dresses, we don't know where-"
"We don't even know where we're sleeping tomorrow night." Steve spoke up from the kitchen before he dropped the last potato and peeler. "Finished!"
"I did more!" Bucky was quick to point out.
"No you didn't, count them!"
For a moment Peggy couldn't believe that this was the man she picked. A man that would fight with his best friend over who peeled the most potatoes at Thanksgiving. "Our life is a mess at the moment."
"You should move out of the SHIELD headquarters." Pepper suggested, "It's kind of far away from everything."
Peggy nodded, "You're right, I just don't know where."
"I have some ideas. But you're the director, if you want the head quarters to be in Portland-they'll be in Portland. If you want them to be in London, they can be in London." Pepper leaned forward and sorted through her phone, "I had some ideas as far as a partnership with Stark and-"
"No business." Steve shouted. "No more!"
Clint started chopping up the potatoes with frightening speed when his phone started to ring, "Laura will you-"
"Sure." She reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone to answer, "Laura speaking." She laughed, "Sure thing. See you soon…" She put the phone down, "Sam says he's on his way, and to make sure nothing shoots him once he's on the property."
"No promises," Clint smirked.
Natasha walked up with Nathan in her arms, "Your son would like to know when his favorite Aunt will get dinner."
Laura opened the oven to check the temperature of the large turkey, "Tell Nathan it will be as soon as the potatoes are done." she took a step back, "Can someone with preferably super strength of some sort get the Turkey out?"
Steve volunteered himself and took the oven mitts and pulled the turkey out setting it in the designated spot, "Best looking Turkey I've ever seen."
"What? You mean it's better than that year my sister dropped the Turkey?" Bucky laughed walking out of the kitchen to keep out of people's way. He pulled a chair over to where everyone else was sitting. The only space open was next to Peggy, and that had a Steve sized reservation sign on it.
"And the dogs got to it before your mom could even be angry." Steve took the mitts off and followed Bucky out of the kitchen sitting next to Peggy, "And your sister was just… bawling." They were starting to crack up which caused the rest of the group who was listening to laugh.
"I ruined Thanksgiving!" Bucky mocked, "But we went to have Pizza instead."
"Cause everyone was cryin' over the turkey no one noticed everything burned!" Steve put a hand on his stomach to compose himself, "The only place in Brooklyn open on Thanksgiving day. That crummy pizza window by the theater."
Bucky couldn't remember the last time he laughed so hard, "It was the worst Pizza I think I've ever had." The factoid only made the whole thing better.
"I think I've eaten there." Peggy joined in the laughing, "Howard swore by it."
"It was awful." Bucky said out of breath.
She grinned, "I made him quit, saying it was a stain on your memories."
"It was!" Steve bursted out laughing.
Sam walked in a few minutes after everyone had managed to stop laughing from sharing stories of hilarious Thanksgiving memories. "Alright everyone, you can have fun now. I'm here."
"Hey Sam." Steve smiled.
"Damn man, what happened to your face?"
Natasha laughed, "Bucky's fist happened."
"Well it looks pretty bad." Sam pulled the falcon wing pack down by the door with his goggles.
Steve looked at Peggy, "Is it really that bad?"
She winced, "It's… well… you certainly have a black eye. It'll go away soon."
"Okay Bartons, and Avengers and… Pepper… assemble into the dining room! Dinner is ready."
After dinner and dessert Tony, Pepper and Bruce left since they had plans for tomorrow; leaving Sam, Natasha, Steve, Bucky and Peggy at the Bartons overnight. Sam was already out from the excess of food and wine. The fire Clint had built didn't help keeping everyone awake. He, Laura and Natasha had divided up putting the kids to bed leaving the downstairs quiet besides Peggy fixing herself a cup of tea.
Bucky and Steve sat in front of the Fire leaning against the bottom part of the couch, beers in their hand and the glow of the fire lighting them. "Thank you for fighting for me Steve. Fighting to bring me back to normal.." Bucky said quietly.
"Don't even say that like it was an option." Steve insisted, "I'm only glad you came back. I didn't have to dismantle the earth looking for you."
They both chuckled as Peggy walked back and sat next to Steve. He put his arm around her holding her close. "This is much better than the last Thanksgiving we all shared."
"I remember that." Bucky sighed, "We were in that trench weren't we?"
"It was raining." Steve leaned his head on Peggy's.
Peggy sipped her tea, "We were miserable. The food was as terrible as Dugan's singing."
"But that was the warmest fire I've ever sat at." Bucky remembered, "I'm so tired of being cold."
"You won't have to be." Peggy assured. "Happy Thanksgiving you two."
"Happy Thanksgiving." Steve kissed the top of her head, feeling himself start to fall asleep thanks to a wonderful day, and a wonderful life.