A/N:Sorry for the longer wait this time. I'm incredibly busy with uni! Thank you for understanding. :)

After playing Monopoly had almost ended in a fist fight between Hunter and Clint over a dispute involving the 'Go to jail' rules, Melinda and Phil had sent them all to bed. Hunter had grumbled for a while about being twenty-six and treated like a child, but then Bobbi had given him a box on the ear and he'd shut up.

Clint hadn't been too concerned about being sent to bed. He knew Melinda and Phil well enough to know it was mostly them just messing with Lance, but in reality, Clint was tired. He was very happy to get to his nice warm cosy bed and cuddle with Natasha until they fell asleep. It was a plan he was very supportive of.

That was until his plan went awry, and Clint Barton awoke, not to his lovely girlfriend beside him, but to one Lance Hunter's face in his own.

Clint jerked back. "What the hell?"

Lance's mouth moved, but whatever he said was too much of a mumble for Clint to read his lips. He frantically felt around on his bedside table until his hand closed over the two little aids. Sitting up while simultaneously putting in his hearing aids and flicking on the lamp, Clint kicked Hunter in the shin.

"Dude."

Hunter groaned and pulled the duvet up further. "Shut up, man. Some of us are trying to get some sleep."

"What. The. Hell?" Clint repeated slower. "Why are you in bed with me, Hunter? Where's Tasha?"

Lance cracked open one eye. "Listen, I don't like this any better then you do, but-,"

"Why are you in my bed?"

Hunter opened both eyes and gave Clint his most shit-eating grin. "I just love to cuddle."

Clint thumped Hunter on the shoulder.

"Ow!" He rubbed his arm. "Unnecessary violence."

"Not that unnecessary."

Lance huffed. "S'not my fault I'm here. It was your girlfriend who kicked me out of bed with my…my girlfriend."

Clint rubbed a hand over his face. "Huh?"

"Y'know what those two are like." Lance said. "Apparently something very important needed to be discussed and it couldn't wait until the morning." He sighed and closed his eyes. "Apparently it was also something that needed to be discussed while they cuddled, so…" Hunter yawned. "Anyway, Nat told me just to come in here with you."

Clint frowned. "I'm not sure how I feel about this."

"Don't overthink it." Lance said. "We've shared a tent when we've been camping loads of times."

"It's not really the same though." Clint grumbled. Ideally he wanted to argue with Hunter until the other man got out of his bed, but Lance's breathing was already getting heavier and Clint was just tired enough that he conceded.

"Fine." Clint said. "But keep on your side of the bed."

"Whatever." Lance mumbled.

Clint glared at Hunter one last time before he took out his hearing aids again and switched off the lamp. As he settled back in bed, Hunter's foot touched his and he jumped.

"What is my life?" Clint sighed.

…

"Natasha." Bobbi whined, covering her eyes when her sister switched on the desk lamp. Bobbi felt the bed shift next to her and Natasha settled herself on her side.

"If you're going to be telling me something important, I at least want to be able to see you." Nat said.

Bobbi dared to open her eyes once more and glanced at the clock on her desk. "Nat, was it necessary to come and have this conversation with me at two in the morning?"

She heard Natasha huff. "Yes. You told me you would tell me 'later'." Nat said. She poked Bobbi in the ribs. "It's later."

The older woman turned on her side to face her younger sister. "I meant 'later' as in 'not two in the morning'."

"I couldn't sleep." Nat said. She shuffled closer to Bobbi until they were sharing a pillow. "And anyway, Hunter didn't mind."

Bobbi chuckled. "Did you see his face when you told him to go cuddle with Clint? I think he minded."

Tasha smirked. "Well, he's gone anyway. So are you going to tell me? Why couldn't you just tell me before?"

"I didn't want Skye to hear." Bobbi admitted. "She doesn't need to know what's been going on with Hunter's family."

Tasha propped her head up with her arm. "If Hunter doesn't want me to know…" she said. "…I don't mind if you don't tell me."

"I thought you were so curious that you couldn't sleep."

"I am curious!" Nat said. "But I wouldn't want you telling him all of my secrets. It works both ways."

Bobbi searched for her sister's hand under the Captain America covers and laced their fingers together. "He said I could tell you." She said. "Lance doesn't mind if you tell Clint, either. To be honest, I think he'd prefer to not have to talk about what's going on." Bobbi sighed. She squeezed Natasha's hand. "You know I'd never tell anyone anything you didn't want me to, right? Not even Mom and Dad."

"I know. I trust you." Nat smiled. "And same for you. Cross my heart." She signed crossing with their joined hands.

The sisters shared a moment of appreciation for one another. It was a relationship that neither had even experienced before meeting one another. Something special.

Bobbi had been twelve when Melinda and Phil had taken her in. Before that, when she was much younger, almost too young to remember, she'd had a half-brother. Ben. She didn't know if that was short for something or if he was just 'Ben'. He was older than she was by a fair few years. At one point he had been left in charge when her biological parents had gone out and left them both alone for over a week, but he couldn't have been old enough to care for her because that was when little Barbara Morse had her first experience with the CPS. She had seen her brother maybe twice since that day. Not that Bobbi could recall many memories with him. After she and her brother had been removed from her biological parents' care, Ben had been taken to stay with someone from his dad's side of the family and Bobbi had been shipped off to stay with an aunt.

All of Bobbi's good memories of family began at the age of twelve, and began with her Mom and Dad.

All of Bobbi's great family memories began five years ago when a viscous little Russian teenager barrelled into her life and somehow between threatening her in a language Bobbi couldn't understand, and picking fights with her despite the language barrier, they had become sisters.

Bobbi loved Natasha.

"You know Lance's relationship with his Mom and stepdad has always been strained?" Bobbi said. Natasha nodded as Bobbi brushed some of her red hair away from her eyes. "Well it got a lot worse."

She sighed. Lance hid it well with sarcasm and cheeky grins, but the past few months had been hell for him and his family.

"It was back at the start of September. We went to go pick up his sister," Bobbi said, "to take her out."

Natasha nodded. "You guys take her out often."

"Yeah. Exactly." Bobbi said. "So we go to the house to get her and there's no one there. No cars in the driveway. No curtains at the windows. All the furniture was gone." She recalled looking through the windows of his parents' house while Lance knocked on the neighbours' doors, desperate for any information. "We were asking everyone we knew if they had seen them. It took almost a week before we found where they were."

Natasha pulled their joined hands up to her cheek. "You never told me on the phone."

"Lance asked me not to." Bobbi explained. "We didn't have a clue what was going on, then one of the neighbours called me and said his wife was friends with Hunter's Mom on Facebook and she saw they had moved."

"Moved?"

Bobbi nodded. "Up and left without telling him where they were going. Eventually we found them." She sighed. "His Mom, stepdad and sister, all living with his uncle in his apartment."

Natasha's face was a picture of concern. "But why?" She asked. "Without telling Hunter?"

Bobbi shrugged. "Because his stepdad is awful. When we got to the apartment, Lance's sister asked if she could come home with us." Bobbi swallowed past the lump in her throat at the memory of that little girl begging them to take her with them. "We would have taken her if we could." She told Nat.

"You should have."

"We would. But they're her parents, and while they're both terrible humans, they're not technically being abusive." Bobbi thought to her new little sister. Little Skye, only a year younger than Lance's little sister. God, Bobbi thought, she was so happy Skye had her parents.

Natasha absentmindedly stroked Bobbi's knuckles against her cheek. "But why did they think it was a good idea to move into a tiny apartment? It seems stupid."

"I know." Bobbi said. "I know. They sold the house to get enough money to," she sighed and rubbed her eyes in frustration, "to move to Benidorm."

"Benidorm?" Nat said.

"Spain." Bobbi clarified. "They were going to take his sister to Spain without even telling Lance. That's why we really wanted to come home. Here. We wanted to be around family we knew we could trust."

Natasha nuzzled their joined hands. "You've got us. Both of you."

"I know, little Bubba." She said. "And everything else just worked out for us. Izzy offered me a job here. Our lease on our apartment was up. Hunter got into a fight with his boss and got fired. It just all worked out."

Nat smirked. "What was that last one?"

"Our lease was up?"

"Right." Nat giggled.

"The only other thing is…" Bobbi said. "His parents still want to cart his sister off to Spain. She doesn't want to go. But what can we do?"

"Bring her here." Nat said.

"It's not that simple. I wish it were."

The two lay quietly for a while, Natasha's eyes gradually drooping the more time that went on. Past Nat's head, Bobbi could see the desk drawer, slightly ajar, that still held the pencil case containing her and Hunter's wedding rings. She wanted to tell Nat. She desperately did. After all, it was her who earlier that day had told Skye that sisters told each other everything, but the admission stuck in her throat.

I married Lance.

It was only three words. Bobbi should really just come out and say it, but for years Nat and Bobbi had discussed their potential weddings with each other in their rooms late at night. They had talked about how marriage was pointless, and only beneficial for those who wanted to marry for money and people who felt pressured by society to do so. But then they would pick out wedding dresses and assure the other that they would be their Maid of Honour and it seemed both had a hidden desire for a wedding day, or perhaps just an excuse for a huge party given the majority of their planning consisted of finding a venue with a suitable dance floor and a karaoke. Neither Bobbi, nor Nat, were very fond of crowds, but when it came to fake- wedding planning, both became party fiends.

I married Lance.

It would take mere seconds to tell Natasha. But Bobbi was nervous. It wasn't just that she was keeping this secret from her now, it was that she and Lance had got engaged and then eloped three weeks ago, and she hadn't said a word. And Bobbi really couldn't explain why. She was terrified of what her parents would say, but Nat, she could tell Nat, surely.

I married Lance.

Bobbi swallowed. What if she told Tasha, and then she got mad at her for keeping it a secret for so long? Or what if Bobbi had misjudged, and Nat actually disapproved of her marriage? Or what if Tash was just hurt she hadn't even been invited to her own sister's wedding?

"I should probably go back to my own bed." Nat said.

"Oh, okay."

"Not that I don't love getting hugs from my big sister, but I doubt Clint will want to cuddle with Hunter all night." Natasha leaned forward to peck Bobbi's nose. "Night night, Bob."

Nat climbed out of bed and walked towards the door. Bobbi's eyes landed on the desk drawer again.

"Hey, Nat?"

Tasha turned, half way out of the door. "Yeah?"

I married Lance.

Bobbi confidence faded. "Night, Tasha. I love you."

Nat smiled. "I love you, too. Night, Bobbi." She left her room and gently closed the door behind her.

Bobbi groaned.

…

It had been a nightmare that woke up Skye. Not one of the worst she'd had, but bad enough that she woke up sweating and hyperventilating.

Skye took a second to try and calm down. Deep breaths. That's what people did when they were panicking, right? That's what people always said on the TV. She attempted to follow her own advice and focus on breathing deeply. The bedroom glowed with the dull blue light from her star lamp, and Skye tried to keep her attention on the starry shadows it cast on her walls, rather than on the horrible memories of the dream.

She shivered.

Now that Skye was calming down, she was becoming more aware of how she was physically feeling. At some point in the night she must have kicked her duvet to the ground. It lay on her rug in a tangled heap with her blue blanket and Mr. Snow. Skye shifted in bed with the intention of saving her poor polar bear, and her heart sank.

"No." She whispered, sitting up and pushing herself backwards on the bed. "No."

The blue glow of the lamp made everything a little more difficult to distinguish, but once Skye knew what she was looking for, the dark patch on her pyjamas and her bed seemed to stand out like it was mocking her. The fabric of her pyjamas was getting cold. She would have to get up soon or it would start itching.

Skye felt a sob bubbling up. She tried to quell it, but to no use. Big fat tears began falling down her cheeks. She wasn't sure what to do. When she wet the bed back at St Agnes', Skye had a routine. A tried and tested way to cope.

Strip the sheets.

Wash up in the bathroom.

Change Pyjamas.

Put the dirty laundry in the washing machine and collect it before breakfast.

No one really cared at the orphanage. Sure it was humiliating if anyone caught her, and the other kids (and even some of the nuns) took great pride in taunting her, but generally they left Skye to it to clean her things. Here, living with Mel and Phil, she didn't know what to do.

Skye bit her bottom lip to try and stem her tears. They still persistently leaked from her eyes, but she was able to control her sobbing. Unsure what to do next, Skye decided to go back to her old faithful steps and began stripping the bed of its sheets as quietly as possible.

Once the sheets were off the bed, Skye shuffled over to her bedroom door. It was late, she wasn't sure how late, but there was no sound of anyone downstairs when Skye pushed her ear against her door, so she was confident everyone was asleep. Perhaps she could slip into the bathroom and get cleaned up before anyone realised she was out of bed.

Slipping through her door however, Skye was horrified to see Natasha standing down the hall, halfway into Bobbi's room. She had her back to Skye, and if Skye had been quick she probably could have got into the bathroom without

Natasha seeing her, but fright had her glued to the spot, shivering in soaked pyjamas.

"Night, Bobbi." Natasha said quietly, though her voice carried down the hall to Skye. Nat turned, closing Bobbi's door, and her eyes caught Skye's. She took a few steps towards Skye. "You okay?"

The tears had never really stopped, but Skye started to feel her lip begin to quiver again. She sniffed hard.

Natasha sped up her last few steps to where Skye was standing. Skye could see the change in her expression from confusion to concern, and she dropped her head in embarrassment.

"Oh, malyutka." Nat said quietly. She got on her knees in front of Skye.

"M'sorry." Skye mumbled through the tears.

Natasha hugged her, even though she was all wet. "It's not your fault. It's not." Nat pulled back, but brushed her thumbs over her cheeks to wipe away the tears. "Come on." She said, standing up. She held out her hand and Skye automatically took it. "Let's get you all cleaned up."

Skye allowed Natasha to take her back into her bedroom. A new wave of mortification overtook her when she saw Natasha spot the pile of wet sheets on her floor. Natasha squeezed her hand.

"Go get some new pyjamas, malyutka." She said.

Skye nodded and shuffled over to her dresser. She chose a clean pair and held them out to Nat.

"Come on." Nat smiled, taking her hand again and leading her into the bathroom.

Still far too embarrassed to look her big sister in the eye, Skye kept her eyes trained on the tiled floor of the bathroom. Nat made quick work of helping Skye to take off her wet pyjamas. She wet one of the washcloths on the radiator with warm water and passed it to Skye.

"Clean yourself off, malyutka." Nat said. "I'll be back in a second."

Skye did as she said and cleaned herself off. As humiliating as the situation was, cleaning up in a warm bathroom with the help of her big sister was far more preferable to the lonely nights in St Agnes' where she had shivered through her shame.

As promised, Natasha returned to the bathroom, with a clean towel in one arm and Mr. Snow in the other. She smiled comfortingly at Skye and took the washcloth from her, throwing it into the bath. She kneeled down on the bathroom floor and wrapped a warm fluffy towel around Skye.

"Feeling a little better, malyutka?"

Skye nodded. "Yes."

"Good girl." Nat smiled. "Let's get you in some new jammies and then we can go back to bed."

The towel came off and Skye put on the clean pyjamas Natasha passed to her.

"What's it mean?" Skye asked, pulling the shirt over her head.

"Huh?" Nat said, passing Mr. Snow over to her.

Skye hugged him tightly. "You keep saying a funny word. 'Malkutta'." Skye frowned. It didn't sound the same coming out of her mouth.

Natasha chuckled, standing up. "Malyutka." She said. "It means 'little one' in Russian." She took Skye's hand and led her out of the bathroom.

"That's me?"

"Yeah." Nat said. "I can stop if you don't like it."

"No." Skye said quickly. "I like it. I want it to be a nickname."

"Okay then, malyutka. Sounds like a good idea." Natasha stopped them outside of a door, except it wasn't Skye's bedroom door, it was her own.

"This is your room." Skye stated the obvious.

"I know, but your bed is wet." Nat said and Skye felt her face flush. "And that's fine. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. But I don't want you to sleep in a wet bed so you can come in with me and Clint?"

"Really?" Skye asked. She didn't think Natasha would ever want to offer her bed to her after she'd seen her wet one.

"Only if you want to. Or you can go and stay in Mom and Dad's room."

Skye considered it. She had loved cuddling with Mel and Phil the night before, but she didn't want to wake them up and have to tell them she had wet the bed, like a stupid little baby. And Skye loved Clint and Nat. A thought hit her.

"Won't Clint mind?" Skye asked.

Nat snorted. "Believe me. Given who he's sharing with at the minute, he won't mind."

Natasha gently pushed open the door and stepped inside her bedroom, Skye following. Nat's room was much darker than Skye's because she didn't have a nightlight, but when they reached the bed Natasha switched on a lamp. Skye had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

There, tangled up in each other's limbs, for all intents and purposes cuddling was Natasha's Clint and Bobbi's Hunter.

"Phone." Nat whispered to Skye, and Skye rushed over to the desk to retrieve her big sister's phone. Natasha took it and quickly snapped a few images before handing it back to Skye to return to the desk.

Skye watched as Natasha kicked Hunter. He groaned and pulled away from Clint a little, only to immediately move even closer. She tried kicking him again.

"Hunter. Hunter wake up." Nat punctuated with a punch to the shoulder.

Lance started awake and stared up at her. "Why am I constantly being punched in the shoulder?" He said. He looked at the person in the bed next to him. "And why am I hugging Clint?"

It took Lance's frantic efforts to remove himself from Clint's embrace, for Clint to actually wake up. Skye giggled. He looked just as horrified as Hunter at his position.

"You can go back to Bobbi now." Nat smirked.

Lance stumbled over to the bedroom door. "Oh God. We never speak of this again. Never." He closed the door behind him.

Clint still seemed a little startled at the situation. He was looking at Skye now, smiling but looking a little dopey with sleep.

"What's happenin'?" He mumbled.

To Skye's surprise, Nat didn't reply to him. Instead she tapped his shoulder until he was looking at her, and then began making various hand gestures at him. Skye tried to decipher the movements but had no suck luck, however, Clint nodded understandingly a few times before looking back to Skye.

"You gonna come keep me company?" He asked, sitting up.

Skye looked up to Tasha.

"You get into bed, try and get to sleep. I'm going to go clean up." Nat rubbed her shoulder.

Skye thought that maybe she should tell Natasha she could clean up after herself, but Tasha was already moving towards the door.

"You okay?" She said to Skye.

"Yeah." Skye said. She climbed into bed next to Clint and he tucked both her and Mr Snow in beside him.

"I'll be back soon, okay, malyutka." Nat left the room and Skye snuggled down next to Clint.

Now that she was clean and dry, and Mr. Snow was safely in her arms, the exhaustion began to overtake Skye. She looked up at Clint. He was still sat up in bed, resting his back against the headboard.

"Aren't you sleepy?" She asked.

Clint held up a finger for her to wait, and Skye watched as Clint picked something off the bedside cabinet. He pushed the things into his ears then turned back to Skye again.

"Say again, lil sis?" He smiled.

"I said 'aren't you sleepy'?" Skye craned her neck to get a better look at Clint's ears. At her angle she could only see one, something tiny and purple protruding slightly from his inner ear. Something Skye realised she had simply never noticed before. Natasha's hand gestures suddenly made sense as it dawned on Skye. "Are you deaf?"

Clint smiled. "A bit." He said, then shrugged. "Actually, a lot. Almost all the way deaf."

"That sucks." Skye said, because she literally couldn't think of anything better to describe what she wanted to convey.

He laughed. "Yeah, it kinda does. But I got these, you see." He tapped the purple thing. "As long as I wear my aids, I can hear pretty well."

"Oh," Skye yawned widely. "I like the colour. I like purple."

Clint turned his head the other way and Skye saw the other ear. He leaned down so that she could see into his ear properly. That hearing aid was silver.

"Cool." Skye smiled. "I like 'em."

"Yeah? Well they recommend you get either clear ones or flesh coloured ones when you're an adult, but that seemed a bit boring."

"Purple and silver is way…" She yawned. "…way better."

Clint sat back up. Skye yawned again. He stroked some hair out of her face.

"You going to sleep now?" He asked as Skye closed her eyes.

She didn't really answer him. Just made some sort of affirmative noise. Skye was aware of Clint's chuckle. She was aware of the light behind her eyelids dimming, perhaps as someone turned off the lamp. She was also aware of the bed dipping next to her, and some murmurings of Natasha's voice. It was to the soothing sounds of her big sister and Clint talking softly, that Skye fell into a deep sleep, no longer scared of her nightmares.

…

For years Melinda and Phil went jogging together. It was an hour of just spending time with one another, without the distractions of the modern world and their children, and a chance to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Both of them hated it.

Spending time together was one thing, but jogging sucked and Mel and Phil were the first ones to admit that they were more attached to their phones than was strictly healthy. Their motivation to go on early morning jogs hadn't been very strong to begin with when they were eighteen. Twenty five years later, and it was a miracle if they both got out once a month. Although Phil was always better at biting the bullet and just getting out there.

"Are you coming with me?" Phil asked, pulling a hoodie over his head.

Mel groaned into her pillow. She was exhausted and the last thing she wanted to do on a Sunday morning was wake up at the crack of dawn and jog.

"I take that as a 'no'." Phil laughed.

Mel had no problem getting up early on weekdays to do Tai-Chi, but the weekends were her days off. The two days she didn't have to get up early, and now with Skye to chase around during the day, lie-ins were like gold dust. Plus, it was almost November. It was cold outside and if she really wanted to exercise there was a gym full of equipment that she owned that was far more comfortable than the dreaded outdoors.

And she was so tired. Yes. Bed was way better than outdoors.

"Fine." Phil said. "I'll just go without you."

"Great." Mel said as she felt the bed dip beside her.

Phil flopped on top of her, nuzzling her cheek. "It's always more fun when you come with me." He said against her face. "Please. We can run by the bakery and get cake to eat for breakfast as a reward."

Melinda wrinkled her nose. The thought of cake this early in the morning made her stomach turn.

She kissed Phil's cheek. "No thank you. But feel free to go on your own."

He huffed and sat up on the bed. "Natasha and Clint are going back to DC at the end of next week and Bobbi and Hunter aren't going to be here forever. We won't be able to go on our jogging date when there's no one to stay with Skye."

"Phil, please. I'm tired. I don't want to go jogging."

"Fine." Phil kissed her gently and combed through her hair with his fingers. "You okay, Mel? You look a little pale."

"M'fine." She smiled. Phil tended to be the 'worrier' of the two of them. "I just need a little longer in bed."

"Okay then." He kissed her again and climbed off the bed. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Have fun on your terrible jog." She said.

He rolled his eyes. "What happened to us, Mel? Remember when we pledged to spend quality time together by going jogging at least three times a week?"

"Yeah, I remember. And I'll tell you what happened. We realised staying in and watching movies was far more preferable than jogging."

"But it's good for you." Phil argued feebly. He didn't really sound as though he believed his own words.

Mel made a show of snuggling into the duvet. "I can go running at the gym."

"But the fresh air…"

"Fresh air sucks." Mel declared, closing her eyes.

Phil huffed and grabbed his running shoes. On the way out of the door, Melinda was sure she heard him say, "You're so right."

…

When Melinda awoke for the second time that morning, she could hear the shower in her and Phil's ensuite running, and the melodic tones of her husband singing in the shower. Apparently it was an 'ABBA' sort of day. She smirked.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, grimacing at the grit in the corners. A glance at the clock told her Phil must have only been out jogging for an hour or so, but the hour of extra sleep had apparently made all the difference when it came to Melinda. The exhaustion had dissipated, and she felt more eager to get out of bed. That being said, it was Sunday, and Melinda was perfectly happy to meander around in her pyjamas for a while before getting dressed.

Her first port of call was to wake Skye. The little girl would probably sleep until noon if she let her, but then she'd be awake until two in the morning, and there was no way Mel was putting up with that. Plus, in the commotion of Bobbi and Hunter's return, Melinda and Phil hadn't really had the chance to speak to Skye properly about the incident in the youth gym, and it would be nice to get it out of the way before the older kids woke up.

The only issue with Melinda's plan was that Skye wasn't in her room.

When Melinda gently pushed open her door, she was met not with the sleeping form of her youngest daughter, but with an empty bed. She stepped further into the room and inspected the stripped bed. The sheets were gone, and Skye's pillow lay on the ground. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened during the night. Mel had cared for enough kids, many much older than Skye, who had accidents in the night. The question still remained, however: where was Skye now?

Mel left Skye's room and stood in the hallway for a moment. It was entirely possible that Phil had cleaned up in Skye's room while she had been sleeping, but he would have woken her to let her know, surely. She listened for any clues to Skye's whereabouts, but was met with only a quiet house and the distant sound of the shower running from Phil.

It seemed illogical for Melinda to worry for Skye, she couldn't have actually gone anywhere, but despite this, Mel could feel the anxiety tightening in her chest. Propelled undoubtedly by concern for her youngest daughter, she walked towards Natasha and Clint's bedroom in the hopes they may have some idea of Skye's whereabouts.

Knocking on the bedroom door awarded Mel nothing, so she prayed to God that she wouldn't be walking in on anything that would scar both her and her daughter for life, and pushed open Natasha's door.

"Oh my." Mel whispered at the sight before her. She bit her lip to keep from grinning and shook her head as tears inexplicably welled in her eyes. Perhaps she was getting sappy as she got older, or perhaps she just got emotional when her children were involved.

When Natasha had first arrived with Melinda and Phil, she had been a nightmare. Mel loved her little Bubba, but Nat had been an absolute nightmare. She wouldn't let anyone get near her, physically wouldn't let anyone get near. She picked fights with both Mel and Phil over nothing and she purposely caused physical fights with Bobbi that more often than not ended with Bobbi bruised and bleeding. She screamed at them in Russian until she sobbed herself into exhaustion and constantly ran away, only to return in tears once she realised there was no way she could cope alone. Natasha had been the only child Melinda had truly, positively thought she had failed.

And now, there she was, lying in bed fast asleep with her body curled protectively around her baby sister, and her fingers laced with her boyfriend's.

All three of the kids, Clint, Nat and Skye, looked so peaceful. Three kids who due to no fault of their own had been forced to experience things no child, no person should ever have to. Skye's thumb was pressed against her lips and her other hand held the hem of Natasha's t-shirt. Nat's arm was draped over Skye, her fingers twined with Clint's, and her nose pressed into Skye's hair. Clint slept with his mouth wide open, the hand that wasn't holding Natasha's, held onto Mr. Snow.

Melinda wiped her eyes again, grinning madly. She was so lucky to have her children.

Arms wrapped around her waist from behind. "That's cute." Phil said into her ear and kissed her cheek. He smelled of his shower gel and Mel could feel the dampness from his hair on her cheek.

"I went to wake up Skye and she wasn't in her room." Mel said quietly, leaning back into Phil's embrace.

"I guess she decided to climb in with her big sister." He said, rocking them a little from side to side.

"I think she wet the bed."

"Oh?"

"Mm. There's no sheets on her bed. And," Mel nodded at Skye, "she's wearing different pyjamas from when I put her to bed."

"You think Nat got her all cleaned up?"

Melinda smiled. "I think so." She turned in Phil's arms to look at him. "I want to have a talk with Skye about yesterday." She said. "And Nat, for that matter, but Skye's priority."

"Yeah, we can't have her going around beating kids up." He grimaced. "No matter how much the little shits might deserve it."

"Phil." She berated.

"He totally deserved it, Mel."

She shook her head but smiled at him fondly. "Don't let the kids hear you say that."

"Too late." A voice came from the bed and Mel turned around to see Natasha sitting up rubbing at her eyes. "Dad's right. He did deserve it."

"Natasha." Mel warned. "This is serious."

"I know, Mom."

"Skye looks up to you." Mel said quietly to avoid waking her youngest. "You can't let your emotions get the better of you in situations like that."

"I know." Nat said quietly, looking down at a still sleeping Skye. "I'm sorry."

Phil left Melinda's side to walk over to the bed. Nat perched herself on the edge, her back to Clint and Skye, her head dropped. Red hair obscured her face from Melinda, but all Mel needed to see was the slumped line of her shoulders to know how upset Nat was becoming. Melinda knew her kids better than the back of her hand.

Phil crouched down in front of Natasha, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay." He said gently. "We all make mistakes."

"But it wasn't just me." She said. "I made Skye do something I don't think she would have done if I hadn't told her to. I made her get into trouble." A hitch in her breath had Melinda by her side in half a second.

Melinda brushed Natasha's hair behind her ears. "You don't know that, Natasha. Skye's only eight. She might be easily influenced, and about that you need to be careful, but she's also just a kid. Skye's going to do things regardless of your influences."

Natasha looked at her with wet eyes. "I'm a bad big sister."

"You are not." Mel said with finality.

"Tasha," Phil smiled, "you're an amazing big sister. Honey, the fact that you're so upset about this just proves that."

Melinda looked around Natasha to peek at Skye. "Nat, you love her. And that's all it really comes down to."

"I do love her, Mama. I do."

"I know." Mel sat bedside her on the edge of the bed and Phil squeezed in on Nat's other side. "And thank you for taking care of her last night."

Nat's brow wrinkled in question.

"Your Mom went to wake Skye up and the sheets were off her bed."

Natasha nodded. "I was in Bobbi's room last night until pretty late and when I came out Skye was in the hallway. She'd wet the bed and she was really upset about it."

"You could have woken me, you know." Mel rubbed Nat's arm.

She shrugged. "I didn't mind. And she was okay once I got her all cleaned up. She went straight to sleep in bed with Clint while I put the sheets and stuff in the washing machine."

Phil smiled. He leaned over and kissed her temple. "You're an amazing big sister, Bubba. I'm so proud of you."

The bed shifted behind them, causing all three people perched on the edge to turn around. Skye's eyes fluttered open as her little arms stretched and she turned over to face them.

For a moment, confusion clouded Skye's expression as she appeared to assess her surroundings, then realisation seemed to dawn on her and she blushed, looking between Phil, Natasha and Melinda.

"M'sorry." Skye said.

"Why are you sorry?" Mel asked, reaching out to pat down some of Skye's bed head.

The little girl nibbled her thumb. "I wet the bed."

"It doesn't matter, baby." Mel assured her. "It was an accident."

"M'still sorry."

Phil tugged on Skye's sleeve. "C'mere."

She crawled over the bed, avoiding kicking Clint who remained sleeping with Mr. Snow the bear, and Phil lifted her onto his lap. He cuddled her and kissed her cheek.

"You see this girl here." He pointed at Natasha, resting his chin on Skye's shoulder. Skye nodded. "She's been feeling guilty about what happened at the gym yesterday."

"But it's not your fault." Skye said to Nat. "You didn't do it. I kicked him."

"I shouldn't have told you to hit him, though. I'm so sorry, Skye."

Skye shrugged. "S'okay."

"See," Melinda nudged Natasha, "Skye doesn't blame you. You're a wonderful big sister."

"You are." Skye said with utter certainty. She looked down at her lap. "Thank you for being nice to me in the night, Tasha."

Nat beamed and Melinda felt herself getting teary again. When she looked over at Phil, he was smiling brightly.

Natasha opened her arms and Skye crawled over, settling in her lap.

"I'll always help you, malyutka. Always. No matter what." Nat hugged her baby sister. "I love you."

Skye gave Natasha a kiss. "I love you, too."

Melinda watched as her two youngest daughters cuddled for a few minutes. For now all was well. Her children were happy.

"We still need to have that talk." Phil said to her.

"I know."

"What talk?" Skye asked.

Mel smiled at her. "Phil and I want to discuss what happened yesterday at the gym, with you."

"Oh. I'm in trouble."

"We just need to have a talk." Mel said.

Skye pouted.

Phil stood up. "Come on, Skye. Why don't we let Nat wake Clint and we can go and have a chat over some breakfast?" He held out his hand to her.

She looked reluctant, but Natasha patted her leg, and Skye slid off her lap to take Phil's hand. She held out her other hand to Melinda.

Skye took a deep breath when Mel stood up and took her offered hand. "Okay, Mel, Phil." Skye nodded determinedly. "Let's get this over with."

Phil and Mel couldn't help but smirk at their sassy little girl. Oh, she was going to be a handful. And frankly, Melinda couldn't wait.

A/N: For those asking, YES there will be spin-off fics posted regarding the early lives of Nat, Bobbi and Clint (and maybe even others). These will be posted eventually...give me a break, I'm really busy. Haha.