Chapter Nine

The night outside was cold and wet, my fast-paced footsteps slapping loudly against the puddles that had formed from the earlier rain. I ran away from that house as fast as my legs would carry me, struggling through my fear and tears to keep breathing. Soon enough things began to quiet down, and I could no longer hear my footsteps or the plinking of raindrops slipping off leaves and hitting the pavement.

My vision darkened, and a hushed voice began whispering things that, even though I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, were comforting. One by one my senses disappeared from me- all but my hearing, and the voice grew louder with each of my slowing steps. "Charlie, can you hear me?"

Eventually I couldn't see or feel anything, but this numbness didn't last long. Slowly, light began to blur into my vision and the hands cupping my neck became more noticeable. I could feel my hands shivering uncontrollably in my lap. As my sight cleared, I saw that it wasn't an endless rainy street in front of me, but Tony kneeling with a worried expression.

I took in a shaky breath as my eyes darted around the quinjet I had somehow ended up on, taking in my surroundings. The team was scattered- Clint was in the pilot's seat, Natasha and Steve were staring at the walls on opposite sides of the jet, Thor stood towards the back with his arms crossed tightly across his chest, Bruce was huddled with his back against the wall as he clutched a blanket around himself, Tony's thumbs lightly traced my jawline as he watched me observing everybody else.

"You back with me, Tiny?" I returned my gaze to Tony's, nodding my head faintly at him. "You were pretty freaked out when I came to get you. More freaked out than I've ever seen you, even more than in Malibu... What did she show you?"

Images of... whatever it was had happened to me back there played in a seemingly endless loop in my mind. Images that I had spent a long time trying to forget. Images that forced me underground for years. Images that made me who I was today. Images I never wanted to have to see again.

Normally I could pretend that the bad things had never happened, but whatever Wanda had done to me left me unable to forget again. Normally I could play it off, but I couldn't stop the quivering of my bottom lip this time. I couldn't stop the stinging in the back of my eyes that signaled the inevitable breakdown.

Not wanting everyone to see, I closed my eyes and leaned forward to rest my head against Tony's chest while his arms slid around my back and I focused more on staying quiet than stopping myself from crying. He laid his head on top of mine, and I gripped at his sweat-stained shirt to find some type of anchor to hold on to while my chest racked with silent sobs.

"It'll be all right," Tony promised in a sigh. "We'll stop them, honey. I promise."

I had fallen asleep across Tony's lap at one point, and was woken up by the jet landing heavily with a small shake. Rubbing my tired eyes, I pushed myself up into a sitting position before waiting for Tony to stand and pull me up with him. Clint was the first one to leave the jet, opening the door and revealing that we were on a field in the middle of nowhere. "Come on," he encouraged the lot of us, motioning towards a large farmhouse down the hill from where we had landed. "I'll show you guys inside."

We followed Clint as he helped Natasha inside, much in the same way that I was holding onto Tony. All arguments between the two of us was forgotten, as I needed something to keep me from running to the nearest basement and locking myself inside and he was uncharacteristically afraid of letting go of me.

When we took the three small steps up to the front porch, Thor looked back at the land over his shoulder. "What is this place?"

"A safe house," Tony answered with a slight question in his tone.

"Let's hope." Clint pushed the front door open, patting Natasha on the shoulder before letting go of her and walking further into the house with the rest of us filing in after him. "Honey? I'm home," he called out as we made our way into a living room. A brunette woman walked around a corner with several large pieces of construction paper in her hand that she set down on a nearby coffee table. "I brought company," Clint loosely explained, gesturing towards us before walking forward and kissing her. "Sorry I didn't call ahead."

"This is an agent of some kind," Tony guessed, keeping one arm wrapped firmly around my waist and using the other to motion towards the woman.

Clint turned back to face us with one arm around the woman's shoulder. "Guys, this is Laura."

Laura chuckled, smiling at us. "I know all of your names."

I glanced at the rest of the group and saw that they were all wearing the same confused expressions before looking back to Laura, who looked nervous and a bit uncomfortable. Not wanting anyone- especially not Clint's wife- to feel that way in her own home, I smiled back and offered a small wave that she returned with a nod.

Footsteps rumbled through the hallway to our left and Clint released Laura to hold his arms out towards the sound. "Oh, incoming!" Seconds later, two children came sprinting into the room and straight into Clint's waiting arms. "Hey, sweetheart! What's up, buddy? How you guys doin'?"

"These are... smaller agents."

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" the little girl asked Clint, swinging her arms down by her side.

"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Natasha growled playfully, stepping forward and kneeling down to hug the young girl.

While Steve apologized for barging in I focused more on the happy reunion in front of me with mixed feelings of jealousy and confusion, taking a small step back and away from the laughing family.

Tony glanced down at me and lifted his hand from my waist the back of my head, brushing his fingers through my hair before looking back to Clint and Laura. "We would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea you existed."

"Yeah, Fury helped me set this up when I joined." Clint brushed his son's hair out of his eyes before wrapping one arm over his shoulder and the other over Laura's. "I kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."

A cracking sound called my attention to the floor, where I saw Thor sweeping a cluster of crushed Legos under the couch with his foot. When I turned back, I saw that the little girl had moved to stand in front of me and was staring up at me with her head tilted to the side. I rolled my shoulder back, not sure what to say in this situation- which was a pretty new feeling for me.

Then, she reached up and ran her fingers over the tips of my hair before her face cracked into a small smile. "I like your hair," she complimented. "It's pretty. My mom does my hair. Does your mom do your hair?"

I stumbled over my words, glancing back over my shoulder when I heard Thor storming out of the room and Steve following after him. "I- um... What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Lila."

I nodded at Lila, taking a hold of Tony's wrist to remove his hand from my hair before fiddling with the orange bracelets on my wrists and moving around the little girl. "Well, I think your hair is very pretty too, Lila. You know who loves hair? Tony," I pointed towards him. "You should ask him about his. He'll talk about it for hours."

Before she could say anything else, I worked my way through the group of people in the room and towards what looked like the kitchen. I was getting too claustrophobic with all the people chatting and smiling in there, and I needed room to breathe- to recollect my thoughts so that I could go back to happy-go-lucky Charlie instead of this depressed mess I hated being. I wonder if Laura keeps any lollipops in the kitchen.