Lots of special thanks to be given out this chapter. First, a shoutout to independentalto for giving me the perfect word to describe how the younger agents were acting last chapter: like ducklings! Second, an enormous mountain of gratitude to VanillaAshes, my usual beta, for putting up with me. I'm not the easiest person to get along with, much less work with - I know. Last but definitely not least, daisiesinajar: I discovered that not only are you great to talk with about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Marvel's Most Wanted (official pilot order!) or politics or whatever we happen to feel like, you are a wonderful and amazing beta reader as well as a wonderful and amazing person. You restored my faith in this chapter and made me love it again, which is pretty much priceless to me.

Onwards!

Black Widow

Having guests at the Playground was one thing. They didn't get a lot of them, this being a secret base and all, and those that they did get were often all business. Having Hawkeye and Black Widow as guests, however, was quite another—and all the agents loved it. Coulson liked reminiscing the "good old days" with Clint back when he used to be his S.H.I.E.L.D. handler and the archer was, to use Clint's own words, a "punk-ass kid." May liked having a new sparring partner who could actually keep pace with her. Skye, Fitz, and Simmons liked following STRIKE Team Delta around like little ducklings with excited and awestruck expressions on their faces whenever Romanoff so much as took a drink of water. Mack liked discussing building and repairing things with someone who admitted he always had to have a project or two on the side with the Avenging. Bobbi liked just having them here and reuniting with them. Isabelle absolutely adored Clint.

And Hunter...well, Bobbi couldn't honestly say he was thrilled with the idea of them being here. In fact, quite the opposite. On the third day of their visit, he was still going all guard dog.

"Hunter," she said, motioning from the doorway to the lounge at her ex-husband.

"What, Bob?" He looked up at her and then back to where Clint and Isabelle were playing with Hoppity.

"Come on, I need your help with something," Bobbi told him, motioning him out the door again.

"I can't; I'm watching right now."

She stepped into the room, stopping at the edge of his armchair. A book was open in his lap, but backwards. Bobbi doubted he had even noticed. "Watching Isabelle? Clint's got it, Hunter. Let's go; I need you."

"Fine, fine, I'm coming," Hunter grumbled, getting up and following her with one last glance at Hawkeye and their daughter. He stopped barely two feet out the door. "What do you need?" She merely grabbed his wrist and dragged him along until they were a suitable distance from the lounge.

"I need you to stop hovering," Bobbi told him flatly.

"What?" He feigned surprise. "I'm not hovering!"

"You haven't let Isabelle out of your sight when Clint was in the room since they got here," she reminded him.

"Well, forgive me for being protective of my daughter," Hunter said sarcastically.

"Over-protective. And our daughter."

He scoffed. "Not wanting to leave her alone with a known assassin is over-protective now, is it?"

She shot him a look. "It is when the assassin in question is my former partner and best friend and is totally great with kids."

"I think you forgot a 'former' in there, love," he drawled.

Bobbi glared at him, hissing, "Don't give me that shit, Hunter."

"Well how the hell am I supposed to feel?" Hunter exploded. "Your bloody ex-boyfriend comes around unannounced and now all of a sudden he's making her snacks and she's giving him drawings and they're best mates! I'm just trying to make sure she knows who her daddy is!"

"He cut her one apple—" She stopped, staring at him. "Hunter, Isabelle's not going to forget that you're her father." The beginnings of a smile took over her face. "That's what this is all about?"

"I know it's stupid, Bob…"

"It's not stupid," she promised him, encircling her arms around him, lips close to his ear. "Well, it is, but it's the good kind of stupid," she whispered.

They stayed like that for a few seconds before breaking apart. She smiled at him. "I promise you, there is nothing between Clint and me. And Isabelle loves you more than anything; having a new friend to play with isn't going to change that. Got it?"

"Seeing you around him again, Bob, acting all chummy...and then Isabelle…"

"Clint has no interest in being with me," she laughed.

Hunter looked her up and down. "I'm looking at you right now, Bob. Any guy on Earth would be crazy not to want you."

"Trust me, Clint Barton doesn't." She smiled at the thought. "He's already got everything he needs."

Hunter glanced back the way they'd come and then looked at her again. "Wait, you don't mean he's...and he's got his own…"

Damn. "All I'm saying is that Isabelle might have some playdates in the not-so-distant future," Bobbi replied evasively. Hunter's features lit up and he opened his mouth to say something but she pressed a finger to his lips. "Not a word, Lance. And don't say I never tell you anything I'm not supposed to." He nodded and she released him, still looking like Christmas had come early.

"All right, then, I should probably make it look like we were doing something productive out here before going back in there then." She gave him an incredulous look. "Not to spy! But I did leave my book on the chair."

"Because you read," Bobbi scoffed. "And if you're thinking what I think you're thinking—making it look like we snuck off to have sex—I'm thinking you've got another think coming."

He grinned. "Nice tongue-twister, Bob. And fine, I'll just go get Thor out of my room so that they can each have one to play with. Also, it's your book. I stole it."

"Good idea," Bobbi nodded approvingly, falling into step with him as he began walking towards his room. "Wait, what?!"

"Although now that you bring it up, it sounds like you wanted to have sex—" She hit him in the shoulder. "—and I wouldn't ever want to deny you what you want."

She rolled her eyes, pulling his room door open and holding it for him. "Just get the monkey, jackass," she said affectionately. "And then get me my book back."

He plucked the monkey off his dresser quickly and she let the door close again behind them, heading off back towards the lounge. When they arrived, Isabelle squealed happily at the sight of her other stuffed animal and showed him to Clint. "This is Thor!" she said proudly. "Leo gave him to me. He's a monkey!"

"Did you say 'Thor'?" Hawkeye asked, raising an eyebrow and looking to Bobbi and Hunter for confirmation. They all nodded in unison.

"Yeah!" Isabelle chirped. "He and Hoppity are best friends."

"Hold on, I have to take a picture of this," Barton chortled, pulling out his phone. "I have to show this to Thor. Say cheese!"

"But he is Thor," Isabelle said confusedly.

"Where did you get the idea for that name?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I heard Daddy say it once. It's pretty. But why are you going to show Thor himself with a picture? You could just use a mirror," she said knowledgably.

"I'll explain when you're older," Clint winked. "And I'll introduce you. Cheese!"

"Cheese!" Isabelle said, grinning widely and holding Thor the monkey close to her face.

"There goes one of your introductions," Bobbi whispered to Hunter.

He grunted. "And I was just starting to think Barton wasn't so bad, too."

A few hours later, Hunter and Isabelle were off getting her a change of clothes—if anyone could find water guns hidden in their armory, it was Clint—and Bobbi, Clint, and Natasha were sitting in the lounge. "Okay, guys, this has got to stop," the archer said. On the couch across from them, Fitz jumped, and Bobbi nearly laughed at the way the three young S.H.I.E.L.D. agents all abruptly turned to him at the same time from their own hushed conversation. He looked at Natasha, who was sitting in the next armchair over from his with her legs curled up onto the cushion. "Don't you think we should just get this over with?"

"I suppose," she agreed reluctantly. "What do you have in mind?"

"They get to ask you three questions, to break the ice," he suggested.

"Any three?" Simmons squeaked out.

Clint laughed. "Well, yes—"

"—but I would keep in mind that I can kill you with my pinky if you ask the wrong one," Natasha finished. Skye gulped. "And if they get to interrogate me, shouldn't I get to ask them questions too?"

"Enough with the threats, Nat," he smiled, shaking his head. "But yes, that makes sense." He looked at Skye, Simmons, and Fitz. "Does that sound fair?"

They all nodded eagerly.

"Wait a second, why do I get to be the only one on our side under scrutiny?" Natasha asked. "Why can't they ask you questions too?"

"No one ever wants to ask me questions," Clint shrugged. "No one cares about Hawkeye when they're in the presence of the Black Widow."

"Aw, I care about you, Clint," Bobbi teased.

"Exes don't count," he rolled his eyes. Smiling, he looked at the three agents. "Now, we'll let you start."

Skye whispered something in Simmons's ear, and the biochemist promptly turned and repeated it to Fitz. He leaned over towards Bobbi across the space between the large couch and her armchair and she obliged, curious. "Protect us," he whispered, and Bobbi laughed.

"I won't let her kill you," she promised, glancing at Natasha with a sly grin.

"Why don't you ask us a question first?" Skye suggested. "We haven't exactly had time to come up with a good question yet."

"Yes, you go first," Simmons agreed.

"Yeah," Fitz added.

Natasha smirked; she seemed to be enjoying their awestruck nervousness. "All right. I only really have one question, but I'll still answer your three. How is Coulson alive?"

The atmosphere in the room dropped perceptibly for a moment as Skye, Simmons, and Fitz glanced at each other uncertainly. Even Bobbi was caught off guard by the question, although now that it had been stated she felt that this had been the Black Widow and Hawkeye's plan all along. None of this "I suppose, what do you have in mind?"-crap; they had been aiming towards this since the beginning in true STRIKE Team Delta style.

"Don't you think that's a question you should ask Director Coulson himself?" Simmons asked timidly.

Natasha took a sip of her drink before setting it back on the side table. Three anxious pairs of eyes watched her movement to a centimeter. "What makes you think I won't?"

"Well..." Simmons looked helplessly at Skye.

"Could you give us a minute to discuss this out there?" the hacker asked, gesturing towards the hallway. The three of them got up and practically scampered out of the room.

"You scared them, Tasha," Bobbi admonished lightly. "Nicely done."

The Black Widow chose not to respond, and Bobbi could tell from the slight quirk of Natasha's lips in an otherwise hidden smile that she could hear everything said in the corridor too, even though she was all the way across the room. "Can we tell her?" Fitz was saying.

"He told us it was a secret," Simmons added. "He wouldn't even let me research the GH-325 serum at the Hub after we injected you with it!"

"Yeah, a year ago," Skye replied. "Guys, I really want to ask her some questions. Can we pass an opportunity like this up?"

Simmons let out what sounded like a huff. "Oh don't ask Fitz that; he's had a bit of a crush on her ever since the Academy."

"I do not!" came the engineer's hushed reply. Bobbi could imagine him turning a bright scarlet. "She's just very...nice-looking!"

"She's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s premier spy, if we can't trust her..." Skye said.

"That's true," Simmons agreed.

"She could easily just find out another way," Skye rationalized. "But if we're going to do this, no stupid questions, okay? We should each get one, but no asking about...I don't know, hair-care products or something."

"Yeah, yeah, we're not stupid," Fitz told her.

"All right, let's go back in," Simmons said. Bobbi glanced back at Natasha and pretended she hadn't just been listening in on that entire conversation.

The three younger agents filed in almost guiltily and retook their seats on the couch. Fitz's cheeks were pink-tinged, and he was studiously avoiding looking at Natasha directly. When none of them spoke, Black Widow raised a questioning eyebrow at them.

"We've decided we'll tell you," Skye informed her. "He...he was injected with alien blood, and it healed him. Coulson was actually dead for days, but they replaced his memories of that time with memories of Mai Tais and massages in Tahiti."

"It's a magical place," Fitz added helpfully. Then the three of them fell silent. Bobbi noticed they hadn't said a word about carvings on walls or the alien city they were now trying to find based off of them. Then again, that wasn't what the question had asked...

Natasha simply nodded, seeming to have no reaction to that statement. It occurred to Bobbi that maybe she already knew, although in that case she couldn't fathom what kind of game Natasha was playing. "Your turn."

"That's it?" Skye asked, relief coloring her voice. "I mean, okay." She exchanged glances with Simmons and Fitz. "We're gonna need a minute, or do you guys have one...?"

"Back at S..H.I.E.L.D., where did you live?" Simmons asked, looking at Natasha. Clint's grin widened, but Skye looked positively flabbergasted.

She elbowed Simmons. "I thought we said no stupid questions!"

"It isn't a stupid question!" the scientist insisted. "You don't know; you were never at the Academy. Before S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, for about a year she used to work out of the New York base, and there were these rumors... She was always already there in the morning and no one ever saw her leave at night, but the base had no living quarters. It was quite the mystery back in the day!" She looked expectantly at Romanoff.

"Skyrise apartment in the city," the spy replied, glancing at her partner. "And there was a door joining Clint's and mine, so we could go back and forth without arousing talk from the neighbors. And I've always been both a night owl and an early riser."

"She's just like May!" Simmons leaned close to Skye. Then she looked back at Natasha. "Where do you live now?" Simmons asked.

"Stalker," Skye coughed.

"Avengers Tower," Natasha answered.

"How is that, by the way?" Bobbi asked. "You know, constantly living within a couple hundred feet of Stark."

"JARVIS is very polite," Natasha said. "He plays a knocking sound whenever Stark approaches a door."

"It's been interesting," Clint grinned. "But man, when Thor comes to visit...I never knew it was possible to clean out a multi-level pantry in one night."

"Next question," Natasha prompted.

"Okay, I'll go next," Skye said. "Did you really lose to Fury's lie detector in Providence base?"

"Good question," Bobbi told the hacker with an appreciative smile. It was actually one she didn't know the answer to herself.

The Black Widow considered her response for a moment. "I took the test three times in a day and couldn't beat it, but I convinced Fury to give me another seventy-two hours on the base. It couldn't detect my lies after that."

"What did you do?" Skye asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"I brainwashed myself into nearly believing them to be truth."

Skye's mouth was open slightly. "Can you teach me?"

The Black Widow appeared amused. "To whom do you need to lie?"

"Oh, uh...no one," the hacker said. "I just think it'd be a cool skill to have, that's all."

"It's dangerous," Clint advised. "And near impossible to learn. But if you do manage to be able to manipulate your own psyche like that, you run the risk of permanently taking on your own lies."

"But you did it...to test a lie detector?" Simmons asked.

"Well, I couldn't let Fury win," Natasha replied lightly. "And some of my friends had placed bets I couldn't let them lose." She looked pointedly at Bobbi.

"I didn't!" Bobbi exclaimed. "I didn't even know about the machine!"

"Yeah, I may have lied about that," Clint told her. "I wasn't really collecting money from Sitwell for Bobbi; those were my winnings." Natasha punched him hard in the arm.

"Hey, that's my bowstring arm!" he complained.

Justice exacted, Natasha merely turned to Fitz. "Next question."

"If you could change history and have a normal childhood, would you?" Fitz asked. They all stared at him for a moment.

"Oh, Fitz," Simmons lamented under her breath. "Why did you have to go for the hard question? She's going to kill you…and we'll never even find all the pieces..."

Bobbi shifted in her seat, eyes on Natasha. The spy had gone silent, dark thoughts brewing, but Bobbi couldn't tell if she would tell him to choose another question or simply walk out of the room. Even her partner seemed unsure of what the Black Widow's reaction would be.

"I never would have met Clint," Natasha said finally. "Or joined S.H.I.E.L.D. I wouldn't be who I am—I cannot choose to unmake myself." Her answer hung in the air for a moment, no one quite willing to speak after that.

It was Skye who eventually took the plunge. "One more question," she requested. "A compound one."

"Go ahead," Natasha sighed.

"Do you have nightmares, and if so, how do you overcome them?" Skye asked quickly, as if wanting to get the words out before the Black Widow could change her mind. Bobbi wondered if Skye herself-the always-cheerful hacker-had nightmares. And what they were about. It occurred to her that there was still very much she didn't know about Skye.

Natasha nodded. "You find someone who'll take on a share of the pain," she said simply, glancing at Clint.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Isabelle—in fresh clothes—burst into the room at full tilt, arms outstretched towards Bobbi. She immediately stood and scooped her up, settling her on her hip.

"What is it, Isabelle?" she asked, smiling at the girl's rosy cheeks and excited blue eyes.

"There's a kitty! I saw it!" her daughter answered proudly, twisting in Bobbi's arms to point back the way she'd come.

"She tried to pull the poor kitty's tail, too," Hunter came in.

Clint stood to address Isabelle. "Are you terrorizing Natasha's cat?" he accused in a teasing tone. "You know, we have punishments for this sort of thing...tickle punishments!"

Isabelle squealed and nearly writhed herself out of Bobbi's arms. She barely managed to set her on the floor before Isabelle took off out the door to escape him, laughing all the while. "You can't catch me!" Hunter sighed and ran after her, making sure she didn't get too far away.

"You're really good with kids," Skye said admiringly.

Barton looked at her. "Maybe you'd know why if you'd actually asked me some questions when you had the chance."

"Oh, right," Skye ducked her head ruefully. "Sorry."

"No problem," Clint replied. "I'm used to it. And I like being right." He looked after Isabelle. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a small child to chase." He took off after her.

Bobbi smiled, watching them disappear. It was times like these that she wondered why she had ever doubted that she could raise a child with all of these amazing people around to help her. Skye, with her patience and understanding and kid-like attitude, FitzSimmons with their kind and caring natures, Clint and his father-induced antics, Tasha with her... Wait, where was Natasha?

"Hey, where'd Romanoff go?" Fitz asked, following Bobbi's same line of thought.

"She must have slipped out while we were all distracted," Skye said. "Wow, she's really that good..."

"She probably went to check on her poor traumatized cat," Bobbi laughed. "I'll go find her."

"Okay," Simmons agreed absently.

Bobbi headed out of the room and turned down the corridor, catching a glimpse of red and black disappearing around the corner. There was a meow! as she approached, and when she rounded the corner she was greeted with the sight of Natasha herding her black cat—Liho, Clint had called it—into its carrier. "Protecting him from the terror of a rampaging four-year-old?"

"Something like that," Natasha replied, snapping the lock closed on the cage door. She didn't meet Bobbi's eyes as she started to walk past with it.

"Hey," she said, making the dangerous move of grabbing the Black Widow's wrist before thinking better of it. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing," Bobbi said. "It's...whenever you see me with Isabelle, you treat us like this. What's your problem, Natasha?"

"I can't have kids," the spy replied suddenly, staring Bobbi straight in the eye. "The Red Room...they made it so I can never have what you have."

"Tasha, I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. Seeing you with a kid...it just brings everything to the surface." Natasha shook her head. "It's my problem, not yours, and I'll get over it," she said intently. "But do you remember when you first called me about her, five years ago?"

"Of course," Bobbi nodded. "I'd just found out I was pregnant, had just divorced Hunter. I was terrified; I didn't know what to do."

"You called me panicked," Natasha reminded her. "I calmed you down. And then you told me that you weren't going to keep the baby." Bobbi swallowed, nodding. "At first when you said that I was selfishly happy, because you were making the same choice I did when I didn't escape the Red Room before they could take that from me. Then I became angry with you, because you were throwing away something I could never have. But I kept my opinions to myself, and that was the last I heard from you about it. I was assigned the long-term undercover op as Natalie Rushman at Stark Industries. Until two days ago, I thought you had aborted her."

"I couldn't do it," Bobbi answered. "She was my child, no matter how much harder that made things for me or how much pain it put me through knowing she was Hunter's as well. That was the only night I ever seriously considered it, and I think I was just overwhelmed."

"I understand," Natasha nodded.

"I gave her up for adoption a few weeks after she was born to give her a chance at a normal life," she continued, "but that didn't exactly go as planned, and she and I were reunited almost a month ago."

Natasha nodded again. "I'm happy for you. Or at least, I'm trying to be."

"Clint and his kids don't bother you?" Bobbi asked.

She gave a slight shrug. "That's different, somehow. You and I...we're more alike. Or I've always thought so. Dedicated to our work above all else, and...there being nothing wrong with that."

"You want kids?" Bobbi asked gently.

"I don't allow myself to want what I can't have," Natasha replied evenly. "But I would have liked the option." She set the cat carrier on the floor as Bobbi went in for a rare hug, embracing her friend tightly.

When they pulled apart, Natasha smiled. "But don't worry, I'm working on it. I still want to be Aunt Natasha, just like I am to Cooper and Lila."

"She'll love that," Bobbi smiled back. "Isabelle's of the opinion she can never have too many aunts and uncles. Although she just knows them as friends for now; we'll be explaining to her later what exactly their cover is while she's at school."

"Right," Natasha nodded. "Friends with a four-year-old. I think I can handle that."

"I know you can."

This chapter was written almost when I first started posting this story, so the bit about Natasha was written before Age of Ultron came out. Called it. Just sayin' ;)

I'd love to hear from you! I have nothing more written for the future of this story (but it will continue) except one random scene about oysters (don't ask), so I'm open to any and all suggestions going forward. Not that I wasn't before, of course. I'm also not sure whether how many chapters Barton and Romanoff will be around for, so if you have any opinion on that, do tell. Only once they leave will we continue on with the AoS storyline...the alien city comes next, as you all know.

I guess what I'm asking is how long you need me to extend this bubble of relative bliss before we go back to the real timeline.

And wow, that's a depressing thought. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to be a happier show.

Until next time!