A/N: Kay, not a three-parter, but more of a five-ish parter! Thanks to everyone who read, favorited, etc.

Bree Colbern: YaY! I'm so glad you liked :D There's a lot more Natasha coming in this one! Thanks so much for your review!

JanelleGimbus.8: Aww, thank you so much! Isn't Kate the best ever? I hope you like this chapter as well!

…

Chapter 3

Clint never thought it would be so hard to sleep, out under the stars, with the open country all around and the city so far away.

This was where he belonged, after all. He'd slept outside almost every night of his childhood.

All his girls were so close, too, safe where all he had to do was crack one eye open and see them all sleeping soundly.

It should've been a good day. Natalia's sweet sixteen was in the morning, and they had so much to be proud of. She was so happy now. So relaxed and settled in the American world, and in the first family she'd ever had.

For a girl jaded so harshly as a young assassin; for someone who, less than a year ago, had firmly believed killing whoever her supervisors told her to was the highest form of good in the world; and who had done just that every single day to be sleeping innocently, with her face buried in the golden fluff of a giant mangy dog in a tent covered by a canopy of New York summer stars, was just more than Clint could fathom.

He was too nervous to sleep.

Laura wanted an answer. Heck, HE wanted an answer. "Oh, God," he muttered silently, so as not to wake the rest of them, "how am I supposed to know if I'm good enough?"

He knew, of course, that it wasn't really about him. God was good. God had brought him and Laura together. That should've been enough, but it just wasn't. Clint needed to KNOW this was what he was supposed to be doing, that he'd be able to take care of Laura, to never hurt her, to never get bored with her and move on, to never let her down when she needed him most. To never give up on her, even if she clammed up and hid her problems from him like Bobbi had.

Why couldn't relationships be simple?

A faint, sleepy moan roused him from the slight doze he'd settled into, and he rolled over on his stomach to see Nat turning in her sleep.

A frown worked its way onto his lips.

Nat didn't stir in her sleep. That wasn't normal at all.

His eyes shot up to her wrist, even in the dark noticing that she'd tied it to the tent rod without any of them realizing. She'd tied herself up again. Why was she reverting back to that all of a sudden?

Lucky stirred as well, lifting his head up and sticking his long tongue out in a wide yawn before licking his jaws and panting, staring across the tent at Clint.

Without warning, Natalia screamed bloody murder, yanking her arm, still tied to the tent pole, so hard the entire pole snapped and half the tent collapsed on the campers, rousing everyone including Clint. He bolted across the small room, batting one of the poles out of the way, and grabbed Natalia, holding her down as she thrashed, still caught halfway in sleep and something that obviously wasn't there but was terrifying.

"Nat!"

"Clint?"

"What the—"

Nat screamed again, the last one ending in a partial sob and her eyes flew open, fists flying. Clint caught one of them and took another across the jaw before Lucky bounded to his feet and put his paws on Natasha's chest, licking her face violently to wake her up the rest of the way. "Nat, wake up! It's just a dream, kiddo. Just a dream—it's all right."

Natalia jumped nearly a foot in the air and her eyes flew open before she burst into tears. Sobbing, she clung to Clint's chest, badly scared. Laura gasped and sat upright, coming to her side as Clint subconsciously wrapped his arms around her and Kate started rubbing her eyes, confusedly.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," he murmured soothingly, "What's wrong? What'd you see? It's okay now. Just a dream."

Natalia quieted a little, but her breathing still hitched violently. "I thought I had killed you," she finally confessed, clinging to him all the tighter.

Clint's face went slack, and he held her tighter in his own grip as well. Across the room, he exchanged a glance with Laura and Kate. The other women gathered around Nat as well, rubbing her back and adding soothing words to what Clint was saying.

Laura pressed a kiss to Nat's forehead, and reached up to squeeze Clint's shoulder in reassurance.

Nat's fingernails dug into his sides. She refused to let go of him.

… … … … …

"Aww! Dog!" Clint grunted as Lucky woke him unceremoniously by stepping on his middle, en route to the great outdoors. The smell of bacon and eggs was already starting to waft dangerously through the walls of the partially-destroyed tent.

Clint yawned tiredly and slowly inched himself up, only to roll over and accidentally fall asleep again.

"Wake up!" Kate's voice hollered five minutes later. "Clint! I'm drinking every last drop of this coffee if you don't get your butt out here!"

"I paid for that!" Clint hollered back, too irritated to add anything humorous on the end of that sentence. He groaned, rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes, before crawling out of the tent on all fours.

"I think they're burning," Nat spoke up from the direction of their little campfire. Her red hair was falling slightly in her face, and she scooped it back with a rubber band as she crouched next to the logs and watched a small pan of eggs with an almost alarming intensity.

"Do they smell like they're burning?" Laura asked concernedly, coming up with a thick, fireproof glove halfway up her arm.

"I think the stuff on the bottom started burning and the stuff on top isn't done," Natalia analyzed the situation for her, pointing to what she was talking about. "I think we need to flip them."

"Do you need a fork?" Kate called from where she had dumped out a backpack searching for the rest of the eating utensils.

Clint started laughing. "You tried frying eggs in a measuring cup?"

"It's made of metal!" Nat protested.

"I wanted to let her try it—it's her birthday," Laura explained, reaching for the handle with her glove, careful not to lose her balance over the fire. "See, I really think we should just mix them up," she advised.

"I don't like scrambled eggs," Nat complained. "They taste like rubber and give me stomachaches. Maybe we should just start over."

Clint shook his head and blinked, not interested in getting any deeper in this conversation until he'd had his coffee. Kate handed him the pitcher and, since he was in front of Laura, he felt he had enough decency in him to pour a mug instead of drinking straight out of it.

He and his protégé exchanged a glance of approval as they took their first sips. Nothing had ever tasted this dreamy. They both yawned at the same time and Laura unabashedly pointed and laughed.

"I thought you wanted crepes?" Kate yawned again and nodded to the young assassin, who was still micro-examining her eggs by the fire and poking at them with a fork.

"I guess we should make crepes," Nat agreed reluctantly. "It just looks a lot harder now that we're out here than it did in your kitchen."

Kate yawned again, finishing with a smile. "My kitchen is magical that way," she agreed. "Or maybe it's just me." She grabbed her mixing bowl and whisk, along with the flour and sugar and the remainder of the eggs from their supplies. "You can kiss the cook later. Go on, Nat, I'll have these ready in a minute."

Nat crawled over by where Clint was sitting cross-legged on the ground, drinking his coffee, and leaned her tousled head on his shoulder. "You okay, kiddo?" he asked softly, nudging her with his chin before taking another sip.

She nodded, her head bumping against his.

Clint sighed, staring off into the fire. The smoke wafted across the ground to where they were sitting, stinging their eyes for a moment before the wind's direction changed. The smoky smell was comforting and welcome. "Guess I won't ask, then," he told her, when she didn't say anything. "Katie's right, though. You are our kid. That means—well, it doesn't mean you're not a crazy assassin who could knock the SHIELD records through the roof. I'm as mad as anyone that you're not allowed to join them until you're eighteen. But we've still gotta look after you. Alright?"

Natalia nodded again, and Clint pressed a kiss to her forehead.

After a few minutes, she scrambled off to feed Lucky, and Laura took her place on Clint's shoulder, giving him a warm smile.

"You're something special to her, you know that, Tiger?"

Here she was, calling him pet names and loving on him even though he hadn't done anything for her this morning but drink coffee like a zombie. "I don't deserve you," he grinned, leaning his head into her neck. She smiled as he kissed her ear.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"No, Clint," she shook her head, pulling away, "I mean I really, really do."

Guilt welled up in him. She was bringing it up again, the whole need for a proposal thing. Clint wasn't stupid enough to miss it this time, not when she was frowning at him like that. "Aw, Honey. I love you too, and I promise I'll propose or something by the time you graduate. Alright?"

Laura graduated that May, and it was April. Clint resisted the urge to start chewing on his own knuckles. He was running out of time.

She was going to be a special education teacher.

She was unbelievably good at teaching him and Nat, so he figured she wouldn't have a problem with any other kids. She was made to help people who just needed that little extra-personal touch.

Clint loved her so much he could hardly stand it. But how could he marry her if he was still so afraid, and didn't know how to stop it?

She nodded when he made that promise, a little cuddlier after that. Clint held her in front of his chest with his arms around her shoulders and they watched Nat teach Lucky to play dead.

Watching her demonstrate was the best part. She'd get over on the grass and lie down, eyes closed, arms and legs splayed wildly just as though she'd been struck down unexpectedly, freeze in the position just long enough to make the dog wonder and sniff at her hair, and then spring to life with a battle cry and burst into laughing and petting the dog so hard her cheeks were apple-rosy.

Clint grinned. This was perfect. Why couldn't it stay this way forever?

"Also, you wanna talk about how she was strong enough to literally rip the tent in half in her sleep?" Laura added, wrinkling her eyebrows and taking a sip of her own coffee.

"Crepes are ready," Katie announced, interrupting them, smug pride dripping from her voice as she handed around the plate of hot buttery flat cakes.

Clint was glad not to have to answer THAT question. He—well. He had his suspicions, but that didn't make them pleasant ones.

They all grabbed as many as they could possibly manage to eat, smothering them in jam and Nutella and whatever else they could find to add more calories. Lucky stuck his nose in the marmalade and ruined it for Kate, so they had another fight over who got the most Nutella and how much was each person's fair share.

Natalia happily ate almost all of hers with mushroom sauce and caviar, making her Lucky's primary target for begging. She shared liberally with the dog—so liberally Clint had to tie him up so he wouldn't consume her entire meal for her, since she nearly allowed for it.

Nat was a sucker for dogs. He'd known it since the day he met her and she'd nearly jumped out of her own skin when Lucky chased her down. It hadn't taken long for her to warm up.

"Now for cake," Kate grinned, hauling the sealed container carefully out of its travel box.

The other three groaned, and Lucky excitedly wagged his tail.

"Just after breakfast, really?" Clint arched an eyebrow.

"Well, we won't eat all of it in one sitting!" Kate flapped her dishrag dramatically over one shoulder.

The grungy towel looked hilarious over her fifty-six-dollar designer tank top with the fashionable ruffles, striped shorts, and patent one-of-a-kind specialty sunglasses.

"So we have to eat it all today?" Laura asked skeptically, sticking her tongue out as she rubbed her full stomach.

"I don't want it in my fridge," Kate snorted. "Hobby might find it."

"And that would be soooo horrible," Clint nudged a stick back into the fire lazily with his foot. She gave him a glare in return. "What?" he shrugged. "Just saying. You've got to be careful. A few bites of sugar might stunt his growth, you know, or put him in a coma."

Natasha pulled out her knife (she was always pulling out knives from places normal people wouldn't know knives could come from) and cut a piece for each of them. Laura ran and got her camera and insisted on taking so many pictures the girl blushed profusely.

Clint burst out in warbled, totally off-key song and they all joined in unabashedly, hounding him afterward for how awful he sounded.

"Pick on the deaf guy's singing, why don't you?" Clint huffed good-naturedly, starting to wake up a little more now that the sun was nearly overhead. He reached out for his piece of the cake, took a huge bite, and wrinkled his nose.

He met Kate's eyes as she took her first bite. The two exchanged a horrified glance and spit it out as quickly as possible.

"What?" Laura started, holding her own first bite ten inches from her mouth. Natasha was staring, probably thinking they'd been poisoned or something.

Clint coughed. "That is not cake."

"No SUGAR!" Kate nearly bawled, pounding a fist on the ground and pouting. "I knew I was forgetting something!"

"How do you forget the most important part?" Clint exclaimed, downing half a mug of coffee to get the taste out of his mouth.

"I kept saying I was going to borrow some from you, but you don't ever BAKE, so you didn't have any, and neither did Simone, and I was going to ask Laura but then I ran out of time and just completely forgot because I knew I had to finish it!" Kate ranted, mad at herself.

"And you don't have any in YOUR apartment, because little four-year-old Hobby isn't allowed to have sugar under penalty of death, not even on his darling big sister's sixteenth birthday," Clint reminded her.

"Shut uuuup!" Kate groaned, throwing the dirty rag at him and collapsing into the grass. She turned and shrugged apologetically at Natalia. "Sorry. We'll get more cake back in the city, I guess."

Nat merely scooped up her own slice and took a careful, testing bite, chewing slowly. "Oh, this is no problem," she assessed at last, jumping up. "We can fix it." She ran to the canvas bag Kate had stored most of their food in, rummaging around.

"If you pull out mushroom sauce I'm going to puke," Kate warned, eyes going wide in her direction.

"Oh, no. My ideas are much better than that," Nat replied smugly. She held up the jar of Nutella and winked. "We use the love potion."