A/N: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...(I'm not.)

About thirty minutes earlier.

"I guarantee, that Tasha and I can do this without either of us dying." Clint called from the top of Tony's ten metre diving board. "We did it from the five metre board in D.C. Y'know, before they banned us."

"Unlawfully." Natasha added from a position Bobbi felt was dangerously close to the edge.

Bobbi grimaced from the edge of the diving pool, feet dangling into the water, a beer in her hand. "What about doing your insane diving acrobatics without either of you getting seriously maimed? Can you guarantee that?" She shouted back.

"Probably." Nat called, already climbing up onto Clint's shoulders.

"No." Bobbi shouted up to them. "Don't give me 'probably', give me 'definitely'. As in 'we definitely won't seriously injure ourselves doing this ridiculous acrobatic diving trick'."

"They'll be fine." Hunter said far too casually from his perch on the lifeguard chair. He was supposed to be 'minding' Clint's beer, but seemed to be sipping from both beers, one in each hand. "They're professionals."

"No, they're not, Hunter." Bobbi said. "They're two stupid kids with not enough fear and far too much flexibility."

"Come on, Bob." Hunter grinned. He pointed to the two people arranging themselves on the edge of the ten metre platform with his beer, and sloshed some out of the bottle. "Remember when we used to be like that."

She stared at him incredulously. "No."

"That's because we were wimps." He licked some of the spilled beer off his wrist. "Bravest thing we ever did was get married."

"Yeah." Bobbi mumbled, turning her attention back to her sister and her idiotic boyfriend. "I'm starting to regret it." She had to look away again when Natasha lay her back flat against Clint's, relying solely on his grip on her ankles to keep her situated on his shoulders.

"What was that, love?" Lance asked from his perch. For someone supposedly acting as the lifeguard, he was significantly over the acceptable sobriety level.

Bobbi couldn't help but smile fondly at him. She teased, but she was pretty sure she'd never actually regret marrying that man. Marrying Lance Hunter was perhaps the best thing she'd ever do in her life.

"Oh God." She groaned when Nat sitting back up caught her eye and she saw Clint shuffling backwards to the edge of the platform. Natasha stretched her arms up into the air, gracefully perched atop Clint's shoulders. Bobbi covered her eyes with her hands. "I can't watch."

"I'll tell you when it's over, love."

"Thanks." Bobbi replied dryly.

"Ready?" Clint called down.

Bobbi kept her hands over her eyes. "Please don't hurt yourselves."

Hunter whistled. "Let's see it, then!"

As much as Bobbi was feeling sick at the thought of her sister and Clint back flipping from the top board, the sheer anticipation of their acrobatics was making her unbearably anxious. She glanced up to them with the intention of telling them just to get on with it because her nerves were too shot to cope, but before Bobbi could even open her mouth, Clint was diving himself and Nat off the edge.

"Bloody hell." Hunter shouted, jumping off the lifeguard chair.

Bobbi watched in horror as her little sister and Clint spun through the air towards the water. Her hand gripped the edge of the pool. Clint and Nat separated about half way down, and Natasha hit the water feet first. Clint followed on top of her a split second later, his side taking the brunt of the fall.

Hunter ran over to Bobbi's side and stared into the dark diving pool. "Shit." He breathed, when a second went by and neither Clint nor Tasha emerged.

The diving pool was deep, deep enough that it was difficult to swim all the way to the bottom with one breath, and the sheer capacity of the water and dark navy tiles on the bottom, made it almost impossible to see deep into the pool.

Another second went by and the water on the surface of the pool began smoothing out. Bobbi reached up and grabbed Hunter's hand.

"Fuck." He said. "Fuck, Bob, I thought they'd be fine." He dropped to his knees, beers forgotten, and inspected the water, squinting to see anything.

"Can you see them?" Bobbi tried to keep her feet still despite the panic, in order to not disturb Hunter's view.

He paused for another second, and Bobbi was seriously considering ignoring the fact that she wasn't a particularly strong swimmer, and diving into the pool herself.

"Lance." She squeezed his hand. "I knew this was stupid, I knew-,"

On the other side of the diving pool, Natasha broke through the calm water, laughing and spluttering, squealing when Clint popped up almost immediately after, throwing her across the pool. He flicked the wet hair out of his eyes, and swam over to Nat. She pushed his head under the water with a grin, and swam to Bobbi and Hunter.

"I won." Nat said smugly, and pushed herself onto the side of the pool next to Bobbi. "No matter what he says."

Bobbi stared at her. The sheer relief of seeing Tasha and Clint not dead, was being quickly overwhelmed by her utter anger at the terror the two of them had caused her. The fact that Hunter was now laughing along with them, rather than sharing in her fury was also not helping matters.

Clint treaded water in the centre of the pool. "You're a cheater, Tash."

"Oh, shut up." She smiled. "You're just pissed because I won."

"I thought you were dead." Bobbi said quietly. Her heartbeat was still far too quick. She dropped her head into her hands. "Fuck, Tasha. When you guys didn't come up, I thought…."

"We were racing to the bottom." Clint said. He lay on his back. "Nat, you know the rules are always both hands on the bottom before you come back up."

"I did!" Natasha argued, accidentally nudging Bobbi when her animated arm gestures got too wild. "I didn't cheat."

Bobbi looked up.

"Whatever." Clint grinned. "Cheater."

"I hate both of you." Bobbi muttered. She grabbed Nat's hand and held it to her chest. "Feel that?"

"Yeah." Nat frowned. "Bobbi, your heart's racing."

"It's 'cause I'm in close proximity." Lance said. "She can't help it. I make her heart race."

"Shut up." Nat said.

"It's because," Bobbi said, "you and your boyfriend like trying to give me heart attacks."

Clint swam over and rested his chin on Natasha's knees. "What did we do?"

"You fell into the pool and then didn't come up again." Bobbi said and flicked his ear. "Forgive me for thinking you might have hurt yourselves and were slowly sinking to the bottom."

Clint gave her a grin. "I forgive you."

"Fuck you." Bobbi said, but Clint's smirk was making it difficult to remain mad at them. Sometimes they were just stupid kids, and maybe she was being a little uptight.

Natasha covered Clint's mouth with her hand when he made a move to say something else. "I'm sorry we scared you." Nat said. "But we knew what we were doing."

"Didn't look like it, love." Lance smiled, sitting himself next to Bobbi. She leaned into him and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "You two aren't exactly Olympic level."

Nat looked genuinely offended. "We were awesome." Her hand was still over Clint's mouth, but he nodded enthusiastically along with her words.

Hunter scoffed. "I'd give it a three out of ten, because you didn't actually die."

"What would you know?" Nat huffed.

"Hey," Lance argued, "I watched all of the diving. London twenty-twelve." Hunter said proudly. "I know what I'm looking for."

Natasha rolled her eyes and moved her hand from Clint's mouth to run through his hair.

Bobbi leaned over and kissed her sister's cheek. "I'm getting too old for your antics."

Natasha bumped her shoulder. "I thought you were acting like you were fifteen today?"

"I was." Bobbi quirked an eyebrow. "I would have reacted the same way when I was fifteen."

Hunter walked his fingers over her bare stomach. "When I was fifteen, I was a right little shit."

"For good reason." Bobbi said. She stopped his wandering fingers and laced her own through them. Fifteen year old Lance Hunter had every right to act out. Bobbi was just lucky she'd had amazing parents. Teenage Lance hadn't been so lucky.

"When I was fifteen," Nat said, using both hands to spike Clint's hair into a mohawk, "I met you." She smiled at Clint. "Remember?"

"Of course." He grinned and kissed her knee. "Best day of my life."

"I punched you in the face that day."

"Well, " Clint shrugged, "I deserved it."

"First day I met Bob she slapped me." Lance said far too proudly. "Must be part of the charm, eh, Clint?"

"Yeah," Nat smirked at Bobbi, "I'm sure that's what that is."

Bobbi grinned. "It's definitely nothing to do with the fact that you were both immature dicks when we met you."

"To be fair," Clint said, "I was sixteen. So I had every right to be immature."

Bobbi turned to Hunter. "You were twenty-two. What's your excuse?"

He wrapped both arms around her and nuzzled his face into her hair. "You were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Still are."

"That's not an excuse."

"No." Hunter smiled. "But I just wanted you to know that."

Natasha and Clint were muttering to each other, but Bobbi ignored them in favour of her husband. She bumped her nose against Lance's and he stuck his tongue out to lick it, making her giggle.

"You're gross." She laughed.

"Give over." Lance grinned and dropped his voice. "You don't complain when my tongue's in your-,"

Bobbi kissed him to shut him up, blushing furiously. She kissed him again, gently this time, running the backs of her fingers over his stubble. "I love you, you know. I do." She gave him another kiss, this one chaste but no less loving. "I hated you then, when we first met, but I love you now."

Lance nipped her lip. "I loved from the second you cracked your hand against my cheek, darlin'. Think you knocked some sense into me." He kissed her cheek, then the corner of her mouth. "You're going to get sick of me one of these days."

Bobbi shook her head. "We've been together four years. If I haven't left you yet, then I'm never going to leave you." She pecked his jaw. "We'll be together forever, you and me."

"Yeah." Hunter grinned. "Like Bonnie and Clyde."

"Posh and Becks." Bobbi laughed.

"Romeo and Juliet." Hunter said then grimaced. "Maybe not."

"Clark Kent and Lois Lane."

"Thelma and Louise." Lance said. "I'd be Louise."

"Oh, obviously." Bobbi agreed. "What about, Sonny and Cher."

Lance nodded. "Erm… Mario and Luigi?" He said uncertainly and Bobbi shook her head.

"You ruined it."

"Yeah, I know." Lance said. "But I'm half-cut so you'll have to give me a break."

Natasha tapped Bobbi on the shoulder and she turned to her sister. "You're on."

"What?" Bobbi said dumbly.

"We're playing and go seek, and you're on." Nat said. "We'll hide and you count to a hundred and then come find us."

Bobbi rolled her eyes. "I'm aware of the rules. I was just wondering when it was decided that we were playing hide and go seek."

"When you two were making heart eyes at each other." Clint said. He climbed out of the pool and began drying himself off with a towel. "Come on. It'll be fun."

"I love hide and seek." Lance grinned. "There's not nearly enough opportunities to play hide and seek as an adult."

"Fine." Bobbi smirked. She'd do anything for her ridiculous husband.

Nat and Lance both jumped up and immediately ran over to where their clothes were, pulling them on over their damp bodies. Lance muttered to himself, struggling pulling his jeans over his wet legs.

"Okay," Clint said when Nat was ready, "start counting!"

"No!" Hunter shouted, trying to put his head through the armhole of his t-shirt. "No, wait."

"Ready?" Bobbi said. She watched Hunter navigate his shirt. "I'm going to start counting in…" She trailed off, now smirking as Lance tried and failed to put on his shoes. "…five….four…."

"Wait." Hunter said.

"three…two…"

"Hang on, Bobbi." Lance glared at his shoelaces. "Fuck."

"One and a half…" Bobbi said, "come on, Teacup, hurry up."

"Almost there."

"One…"

Hunter gave her a thumbs up. "Ready, love."

"Zero!" Bobbi shouted and put her hands over her eyes. "One, two, three…"

…

Lance had always loved hide and seek. Maybe it had something to do with his horrendous relationship with his stepdad and the fact that it had at some point in his childhood become a necessary skill rather than a game to play with his mates. Maybe Lance Hunter was just better at hiding than running. No, that couldn't be it, Lance though to himself as he tore across Tony Stark's lawn, Lance was an amazing runner. He'd had the trophy to prove it.

Competition was fun for Hunter, but it was competition and no matter how 'fun' it was to take part, he wanted to win. He wanted to be the best. Lance was determined to outlast Clint and Natasha in this children's game. He would hide from Bobbi for longer than they would, even if that perhaps meant bending the rules to his will a little.

Technically, there was nothing in the rulebook stopping him from going outside during their game. Technically, there wasn't even a rulebook to begin with, but Lance knew that there was usually an unspoken agreement to remain within certain boundaries, especially when they were playing in Tony Stark's ten thousand square foot mansion. It probably wasn't fair to Bobbi to extend their game to Tony's many acres of land, too, but Hunter wanted to win their game of hide and seek, so he wasn't playing completely fair.

It turned out, however, Lance's plan to make full use of the grounds in the game was not really that great. Most of Tony's land was flat plains of grass, oddly thrust on the outskirts of Chicago, and didn't provide many hiding places. After wandering aimlessly for a while, Lance caught sight of the patch of trees they'd been playing spies with the kids in before, and made the split second decision to camp out and wait for Bobbi to find him there, up one of the trees, one of the high trees, while still feeling significant effects from the beers he'd consumed.

Even as Hunter began climbing the tree, he could admit that this was perhaps not one of his greatest ideas, but then he heard voices in the distance, panicked, and clambered up the branches regardless. A green streak marked his jeans from rubbing up against the lichen on the tree bark.

"That better come out." He muttered to himself, hoisting his body up onto a more secure branch. "I like these jeans."

Hunter muted his lonesome ramblings and held himself stock still when he caught sight of Skye walking through the trees below him. The little girl seemed to be inspecting the tree trunks, and as she sat herself below Hunter's hiding place with Melinda, he silently begged the Gods to stop either of them looking up.

Apparently the Gods were not on Lance's side though, because seconds after he had even had the thought, his arm slipped from the branch and the leaves around him rustled, making Melinda look up to the tree curiously. Lance closed his eyes, as if that would somehow conceal him, and waited to be called out, however, Skye began speaking and when he opened them again, Melinda was no longer paying the tree any mind.

Below him, mother and daughter continued their conversation. Hunter's focus was really on not falling out of the tree and not being caught, so he wasn't exactly listening to what they were saying. Leaves obscured most of his view, but he could just about make out Skye cuddled on Melinda's lap and he found himself smiling at the two of them. It was lovely to see just how well Skye was adjusting to her new parents.

He stretched out on his stomach across the branch, grimacing when a sharp bit of bark poked into his ribs, and wrapped his limbs around to secure himself. From this angle, Lance could remain securely in the tree and spy on Melinda and Skye.

Despite their previous game, Hunter was well aware that spying wasn't necessarily a stand-up thing to do, but he was bored, drunk, and still determined to win hide and seek, so his judgment was slightly skewed. Plus, it was an eight year old talking to her mother, he was hardly going to hear anything interesting. They were talking quietly, but if Hunter strained, bits and pieces of the conversation reached his ears in the tree.

Most of Skye's little body was obscured by the leaves, but Hunter could plainly see her hand resting on Melinda's stomach.

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" She asked innocently and Hunter almost fell off his branch.

Holy shit, he thought, then shook his head and began debating just how drunk he was because there was no way he was either hearing things correctly, or putting two and two together properly. No way.

Skye said something else but he only caught the back end, hearing, "I don't want the baby to die."

The baby.

So maybe he was putting two and two together and getting four. Well then. When he had first climbed the bloody tree, Lance had not prepared himself for this new revelation. Mel was up the duff. Wow. And from the rest of the conversation Hunter managed to pick up, only Skye and Melinda knew.

Little did they know he was clinging onto the tree for dear life above their heads.

Skye was being adorable, like super adorable and Hunter made the mental note to give her an extra cuddle at some point in the day for mentioning him in her spiel of family. The little girl was hugging Melinda sleepily sucking her thumb. God, she was cute, Hunter thought.

He hoped when he had kids they'd be as cute as Skye. Who was he kidding? Him and Bobbi? Their kids would be freaking adorable. They'd be like a combination of Skye and Lance's little sister, and didn't that thought just break his heart. His baby sister, back in England with his Mum and step-Dad. She should be with Hunter. He could take care of her better than anyone else could.

Dwelling on his baby sister turned out not to be one of the best things Hunter could have done in the tree, as his grip on the branch slackened in his lack of concentration and he slid to the side.

Lance yelped. A sound he would forever swear to never uttering.

It was fairly easy to regain his grip, but Lance's main concern was the fact that Melinda glanced up again, and he stopped breathing. Lance was one of three people to know of Melinda's pregnancy, and he wasn't meant to be. He didn't imagine she would be too happy to find out he was eavesdropping.

As it happened, Melinda didn't dwell on the sound for too long and went back to hugging Skye. The two of them sat like that, wrapped up in each other a little longer, before Mel urged a sleepy Skye up, and they walked back to the house.

Once they were at a safe distance, Lance jumped out of the tree. His white shirt was now streaked with green to match his jeans but Hunter didn't care.

Fuck hide and seek, he would turn this game on its head. He had to find Bobbi.

…

When she couldn't find Hunter, nor Nat and Clint, Bobbi gave up and went to find the rest of her family instead. Given they weren't hiding, it was significantly easier to find them hanging out in the kitchen, although her mother and Skye had apparently gone on a walkabout. The fact of the matter was, Bobbi would much rather play with the dog and tease her dad about his fear of the fluffy creature licking her to death, than scour the house for her drunk husband and her buzzed sister and her boyfriend.

"Dad," She grinned, "look at him, he's so cute." Bobbi beckoned Lucky over to where he was standing stiffly by the counter.

Her dad took another step back. "Bobbi, you're grounded."

She rolled her eyes and threw the dog's toy back to Grant. Lucky bounded back over to him and Pepper. "Dad, I'm twenty-five. You can't ground me."

"I can try." He muttered, and then frowned at her. "Why is your hair all wet?"

Bobbi kept a straight face. "No reason."

"Where's your husband? And your sister? And Clint?" Phil asked.

She smiled at her father sweetly. "I love you, Dad."

He chuckled. "Yeah, whatever. You're not as subtle as you think you are."

"Hey, you." Tony grabbed Bobbi by the elbow and pulled her over to another corner of the kitchen, away from the suspicious attentions of her father.

"I have a name." She smirked.

"Right, Barbara." Tony yanked on her ponytail.

"I'd prefer 'you'."

"Thought so." He smiled. "Where are the rest of the rebels?"

Bobbi shrugged. "There was an impromptu game of hide and go seek. I got bored, so they're probably still hiding."

Tony gave an exasperated sigh, but smirked at her as he walked back over to his son and girlfriend. Skye bounded in through the French doors and skipped over to Lucky and Grant, immediately taking her place in their game.

"Come and play, Bobbi." Skye called.

Bobbi grinned. "Best invitation I've had all day."

…

Talking to Skye had been more therapeutic than Melinda really wished to admit. She thought the little girl should start charging by the hour for her counselling services, because talking to her really did wonders for Mel's state of mind. That was until they made their way back into Tony's house and Skye ran off to play with the dog, and Melinda was left with Phil.

If she wasn't so anxious, Mel would probably find his utter terror hilarious. Tony's kitchen was massive and the kids and dog were all the way on the other side of the room, and Phil was still standing awkwardly in a position to flee if needed.

"Everything okay?" Phil asked, bravely taking his eyes away from Lucky. "You seemed to disappear with Skye."

"Yeah." She said flippantly. "We just had a little talk, that's all."

"About anything interesting?"

Melinda pressed her lips together. She didn't want to lie to her husband, no matter his opinion on their situation. "Just about some things we needed to talk about." Mel said, stumbling over her words. "Just some things."

Phil frowned at her. "I know I've been asking this a lot recently, but are you sure you're okay?"

He was getting on her nerves. "Yes, Phil." She snapped. "I'm fine."

"It's just," he put a hand on her arm, "you're looking a little pale."

Melinda was about to tell him to quit worrying when the reasoning behind the pallor of her skin seemed to catch up with her, and an overwhelming wave of nausea caused her to grip the wall and close her eyes.

"Mel?"

She ignored Phil in favour of running into the hall and ducking into one of Tony's bathrooms. There wasn't enough in her stomach to constitute a thorough bout of vomiting, but Mel still found herself on her knees retching into the toilet.

There was a gentle knock on the bathroom door. "Mel?" Phil called. "Mel?"

The nausea passed quickly, leaving her feeling more exhausted than anything else, and Melinda stood up, flushing the toilet and washing her hands.

"Mel?" Phil knocked again. "You okay?"

Because Tony had some semblance of normality about him, his downstairs guest bathroom only had hand wash and lotion on the sink, and no toothpaste or toothbrushes she could use. There was however, a bowl of mints on the counter, so Mel gargled a few mouthfuls of water and popped a couple of the mints in her mouth to take away the taste of the last five minutes.

"I'm coming in, Mel." Phil announced.

She let him, the door was unlocked anyway, and sat down on the closed lid of the toilet when he entered.

"I'm fine, Phil."

"Please," he said, closing the bathroom door, "just tell me what's going on. I'm not stupid."

"I know you're not."

Phil sighed. "Something's going on with you."

Melinda looked down at her hands. She wasn't one for caring about the upkeep of her nails, and she'd never been a biter, but the nail varnish she had quickly painted on a few days ago had been almost completely picked off. It was something she would reprimand her children for, like Bobbi with her sleeves or Nat chewing her lips, but she hadn't even noticed she had been doing it. A wave of empathy for her daughters passed over her.

"Melinda?" Phil said more firmly, and she met his gaze.

"What, Philip?" It came out harsher than she had intended and the hurt on his face was soul destroying. It was the same feeling she'd felt when he'd said he didn't want any more kids.

"Did I do something?" He asked quietly. "I'm sorry if I did. I'm just worried about you."

Melinda didn't want to tell him. She had to. She didn't want to, because if she told him about the baby, and he told her again that he was against having another child…she was keeping this baby whether he wanted her to or not. Melinda had always thought that there was not a thing in this universe that would give her an excuse to leave Phil, but then she had met her children. Her children came even before her husband, no matter how much she adored him. The baby was no different.

If Phil said he didn't want the baby, then Melinda would leave, and she'd take Skye with her.

Oh God, she loved her husband. She didn't want to have to make that decision.

"Why are you making me choose?" Mel hadn't meant to say it aloud.

Phil touched her hair. "Choose what?"

She closed her eyes as the tears began and shook her head. "You're making this very difficult."

"I have no idea what's going on, Mel." Phil said. "Please, I want to understand."

"We've got far too many kids already, around here." He'd said. "No more babies."

Melinda stood up. She could cope with a lot things but not this. She needed to get out.

"Mel?" Phil stepped aside and let her push past him. "Mel?" He followed her back into the kitchen.

"I can't, Phil." Melinda tried to explain. "Not right now, I just can't."

"Can't what?" Phil held her elbow. He frowned. "What's going on?"

"I, I just, I can't talk about it. Not right now. I need to think."

"Melinda." Phil dropped his voice, glancing across the room at the kids and Tony and Pepper playing with the dog. "Please, tell me."

She shook her head. "I have to go." Melinda pulled away from Phil and wiped at her eyes. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself and crossed to room to reach Bobbi and Skye.

Bobbi smiled at her, then frowned, and Melinda ducked her head. "Mom?" Bobbi asked. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She lied to Bobbi. "But I don't want Skye out too late, so I'm going to take her home now."

Skye grumbled. "Do we have to go?"

"Yes." Mel said to her. "Come on, honey. Say 'goodbye' to Grant." While Skye said her goodbyes, Mel turned back to Bobbi. "You just come home when you want. I'll see you later."

"Yeah." Bobbi said, still frowning. "Okay then." She gave Melinda a tight hug. "I love you, Mom. Everything I said to you when we fought, I didn't mean it. I love you."

"I know, beautiful. I love you, too, Bob." Mel said, pulling back. "I'm okay." She tried to assure Bobbi.

In a blur of goodbyes and thanks, Melinda led Skye out to the car, got her strapped in and situated herself in the driver's seat.

"Where's Phil?" Skye asked curiously from the back seat. "Isn't he coming home with us?"

"Not yet." Mel reached back and squeezed her hand. "Just you and me for the minute."

Skye nodded and when she started sucking her thumb, Mel let her. Even herself Melinda could feel the waves of uneasiness coming from her. There was no doubt in her mind that Skye was picking up on it.

"I love you." She told her little girl, reluctantly taking her hand back.

Skye rubbed her nose with her fingers. "Love you." She muttered.

Melinda was already reversing out of Tony's driveway when the passenger door opened and Phil clambered in.

"What are you doing?" She hissed at him, more shocked than angry at his actions. "The car was moving."

"We're not leaving this," he gestured between them, "like this." He gestured again. "I don't know what the hell's going on, but I want to."

She gripped the steering wheel and glanced in the rear view mirror. Skye was watching the whole exchange with glassy eyes. Mel didn't want to frighten her daughter.

As calmly as she could, Mel turned to Phil. "Get in the car."

He got in, put on his seatbelt, and Melinda pulled away without a word.

…

Bobbi watched her father run after her Mom and pull the front door closed behind him. She sank down into one of the chairs by the kitchen table.

"What was that about?" Tony asked when Pepper took Grant and Lucky upstairs.

"No idea." Bobbi said. "Something was up with Mom."

Tony leaned against the counter. "Lover's spat?"

"Maybe." She sighed. "They never fight, though. Not really."

"Mm." He hummed. "Everyone fights sometimes. I wouldn't worry."

"You're probably right."

Tony smirked cockily. "I'm always right."

Bobbi shook her head. "Whatever." She glanced over to the glass doors at the end of the kitchen and blinked, just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. "What the hell?" She muttered as Lance stumbled into the kitchen, one shoe untied and his clothes stained green.

Tony sniggered. "Hide and go seek get out of hand, did it?"

Hunter walked over to the table and sat down on Bobbi's lap. "Something like that."

Bobbi inspected the green on his shirt. "Were you up a tree?"

"I was, love, yeah." He said.

"Okay, then." Bobbi smirked. "I guess now that you're here, you can help me look for Clint and Nat."

"Oh." He said. "I thought hiding in a tree would be a winning idea. Suppose not."

Tony slapped him on the back. "To be fair, your wife didn't really make the effort to find any of you, so you just lost in terms of stamina and dedication to your hiding place."

"I had dedication." Lance argued. "I just had a shock while I was up there."

"A shock?" Bobbi asked, poking him in his side.

He waved her off. "Not the time. Where's the kids, then?"

"Mom and Dad were acting all weird." Bobbi told him, wrapping both arms around his torso and resting her cheek on his back. "They took Skye home."

"Weird, eh?"

"Yeah." Bobbi kissed his shirt. "Come on, then, Teacup." She patted his leg. "Let's go find the acrobats."

Tony grinned. "Yeah, Teacup, go find them."

Lance craned his neck to press a kiss to her forehead. She reached up to give him a proper kiss.

"I love you," He smiled, "but, darlin' that nickname always makes the lads take the piss out of me."

She kissed him again. "Oh, you love it. My little English Teacup."

Tony was wandering out of the room. "See you later, Teacup."

"See." Hunter whined. "I call you 'Hell beast', there's no consequences."

"Teacup?" Bobbi grinned.

"Yes, Hell beast, dearest?"

"You're crushing me. Get off." Bobbi shoved him onto the floor.

Hunter looked up at her and glared. "This is why you're a bloody beast from Hell and I'm a delicate piece of china."

Tony's voice carried through the walls. "Ha! Teacup, you're so delicate and dainty."

Lance groaned. "Does he have mics in here or something?"

"Yes." Tony's voice said again. "…Teacup."

…

Usually, Skye didn't mind car rides. Even though they could be boring, she liked to sit back and look out of the window, and half listen to Mommy and Phil's conversations. It was nice. It was safe.

This car ride didn't feel that that.

They were mad at each other, and Skye didn't know why. She didn't like it.

Melinda kept her eyes on the road the whole time and Phil just kept glaring at her from the passenger seat. He didn't speak, but his lips were pressed together tightly and the way neither of them said a word to each other was making Skye's tummy hurt. She sucked her thumb furiously and closed her eyes.

If she hadn't left Mr. Snow at home, Skye would have held his paw and rubbed his white fur over her cheek. That always made her feel better. With her eyes closed, she could almost pretend he was there. Maybe he was strapped into the back seat like her, but on the other side of the car and that was why she couldn't touch him.

With her eyes closed, Skye could almost imagine Mommy wasn't mad at Phil, and that he wasn't glaring at Mommy.

"Are we going to have a conversation about this, or just sit her in silence until we get home?" Phil broke Skye from her imaginings and she cautiously opened her eyes. "Melinda?"

"What?" Mommy snapped, and Skye jumped in her car seat. "Can't you just leave it, Phil?"

"No I cannot, Melinda." He waved his hands about. "We're fighting, and I have no clue what we're even fighting about."

Skye shrank back in her seat. She wanted to be somewhere else. She closed her eyes. She wanted to be somewhere with trees to climb and bad guys to fight, and she would be Agent Skye who wasn't scared of anything.

"Stop, Phil." Mommy said.

"We need to talk about this." Phil said loudly. "Stop pretending we don't."

It was hard to imagine Agent Skye's special place when real Skye was feeling frightened and everyone seemed to be shouting. There was nowhere to escape to inside the car.

"Philip, stop. Skye doesn't need to hear this."

That seemed to stop Phil for a moment. He was quiet, and when Skye opened her eyes, he was looking at her with a sad expression. Skye didn't like that look. She didn't want to see him sad. She turned to her window and looked out there instead at all of the cars going by.

"I get that you want to have this conversation somewhere more private, I do." Phil sighed. "But what I don't understand is why you're acting this way."

Mommy laughed, but she didn't sound happy. "In what way? What way, Phil? If you only knew what I was going through you'd see that this was a perfectly rational reaction."

"I would, would I?" Phil's voice was getting louder again and Skye dug her teeth into the base of her thumb. "Then tell me, Melinda. I need to know."

Mommy took her eyes off the road to look at Phil, Skye watched in the reflection of her window.

"Yeah? Well, I don't want to tell you. This is hard for me Phil." Her voice was getting louder, too, almost shouting. "You just don't understand."

"Of course I don't understand." Phil said to Mommy. "You're being a crazy person."

Mommy's focus was still on Phil. "I have more to consider than just you, you know." She wasn't paying attention to the road. "I didn't ask for this."

Phil wasn't looking either. "Me neither. One second we're fine, the next, God, I just don't know what to think, Melinda."

Skye took her thumb out of her mouth. Mommy was still driving, but she was shouting at Phil and he was shouting back. There were cars coming, and the lights were changing. They needed to stop soon.

"Mommy." Skye said, but it came out too quietly and she didn't hear her. "Mommy."

They were still fighting, and lights were on red, but they were still moving forward and Phil shouted something really loud.

"Oh, oh, that's rich, Melinda."

"Daddy, stop."

He didn't hear. They weren't listening to her, and Skye couldn't breathe.

She was scared.

Agent Skye wasn't there. It was just Skye trapped inside of the car and she was terrified and they weren't stopping and Mommy still wasn't looking at the road.

Skye didn't know what to do.

They weren't listening.

The car wasn't stopping.

It wasn't stopping and Skye screamed and Phil and Mel turned back to her and then-

…

"They can't be this dedicated to hide and seek." Lance grumbled. They had been looking for Clint and Nat for ages, and although he was loath to admit it, Hunter was mostly pissed off that they were so good it, rather than just being bored of looking for them.

"I feel like we've looked everywhere." Bobbi said, leading them down from the upstairs. "I mean, where else could they be?"

He shrugged. "Maybe they're shagging in one of the bedrooms."

She slapped his arm but he had already braced for it. "Hunter!" Bobbi scolded. "Anyway, you know they can't be, we've checked all the bedrooms."

"They wouldn't just go home without telling us, right?"

"The car's still here." Bobbi said. "And they're not stupid, they wouldn't drink and drive."

Lance rubbed his chin. "Yeah, you're right. You could try ringing one of them again?"

They'd tried calling both Clint and Nat's cell phones from upstairs with no luck, both phones just ringing out.

"They won't answer if they're really this dedicated to the game." She said, pulling out her phone. "But I'm getting genuinely concerned."

Lance slid down the wall and lay on the floor while she called. The booze had well and truly worn off and now he was just tired and starving. Bobbi rolled her eyes at him but didn't tell him to get up. She pressed the phone to her ear and started tapping her foot impatiently.

"No answer." She said, and Lance reached out to stop her foot. "What're you-,"

"Shush." He said, and froze to the spot.

Bobbi was giving him a funny look but Hunter ignored her and listened carefully. He strained to hear, but the repetitive sound of Natasha's terribly boring ringtone, was definitely there. He frowned and pressed his ear to the ground.

"Tony hasn't got a basement…" He said, looking up to Bobbi. "I can hear Tash's phone." He tapped the floor. "Under here."

Understanding flooded Bobbi's face and she took off across the hall. Lance scrambled after her.

"Bob, where are you-,"

"Wine cellar." She said shortly, then jogged ahead. "They're in the freaking wine cellar."

Hunter had only ever been in Tony Stark's wine cellar once before. The reasoning behind this was that on the one occasion Tony had taken him down there, he had spotted a bottle of Macallan 1958 (and really, what was whiskey doing in a wine cellar anyway?) and had proceeded to drink over half of it before Tony noticed and took it from him. From what Lance could remember, it was good whiskey, but it didn't taste like it was worth five thousand dollars, no matter how often Tony told him.

Bobbi was already at the bottom of the stairs by the time Lance got there. She didn't even look at him, just pointed in the direction of the plush couch where her sister and Clint were passed out. There was a single bottle of red, some dregs still in the bottom, on the table to the side.

Bobbi nudged him. "Are you seeing this?"

"Yeah." Hunter grinned. "Bloody lightweights."

He wasn't prepared for that particularslap, and he rubbed his arm grumpily. "This is spousal abuse."

She pointed at the sleeping couple. "This is child abuse."

Hunter scoffed. "They're not children."

"They're not old enough to drink."

"They're fine. In England we'd be having to drag them out of the pub four nights a week. Let them live a little."

"I'm all for 'living a little'", she used air quotes, "but in case you've forgotten, we're in America, they're not exactly heavy drinkers, and if Tony thought it necessary to keep that wine down here, they've probably drank two thousand dollars worth of fermented grapes."

"At least."

Bobbi glared at him. "You're not helping."

"Not trying to, love." He admitted. "Right, then." Hunter clapped his hands and mimed rolling up his sleeves. "How we going to get them out?"

She rubbed her eyes. "We'll have to call a cab and leave the cars here. We've all been drinking."

"I was actually talking about in the short term. Like how we're going to get them up the stairs." He gave the steep steps a cursory glance. "Clint's heavy."

"Try and wake them. See just how drunk they are." Bobbi shook her head. "I'm gonna call a cab and tell Tony we found them."

Natasha was draped across Clint's body on the couch, most of her face obscured by her hair, but Clint had lipstick on his neck and his fly was open so Hunter deduced they must have been adequately drunk before passing out. He eyed Clint's open jeans and shuddered.

"I don't want to touch them, Bob." He said. "I think they've been engaging in amorous activities."

Bobbi didn't get to reply to him because her phone started ringing.

"Tell Tony to bring some disinfectant." He grimaced and pretended not to notice where Clint's hand was situated on Nat's body.

"It's not Tony." Bobbi said. She frowned at the screen. "I don't know who it is."

He was about to tell her not to answer in case it was some cold caller asking about their life insurance preferences, when Bobbi picked up.

"Hello?" She paused. "Yes, that's me." Bobbi paused again and she looked over to Hunter, her face white. "What?" She whispered, her voice cracking, and he rushed to her side.

"Bob?"

She gripped his arm painfully. "Yeah, okay, yes." Bobbi's nails dug into his bicep, but Hunter just rubbed her back. She was shaking under his fingertips. "Thank you. Bye."

"Bobbi? Love?"

The phone clattered to the stone floor of the cellar and she looked at him blankly. "There was an accident."

His blood ran cold. "What?"

"Mom and Dad, and um, Skye." She shuddered and gasped. "It's bad."

A/N: *peeks out from behind door* Review? Please? *ducks away again*