They were all enjoying their time home together. They had a fairly relaxed day and an at-home dinner. After some fun family bingo, the adults all decided to call it a night. Everyone was going to bed again. Of course, while Clint, Laura, and Natasha all fell asleep fairly quickly, the Barton kids wouldn't sleep in their rooms. Lucky walked over to the couch that Kate was trying to sleep on, and curled over next to her. She saw him, and joyfully hugged her dog. She and Lucky both fell asleep shortly after. Nate stayed in his bed, hoping to catch his sister off guard. When she wasn't paying attention, he suddenly sprung out and began mercilessly tickling her. He'd jumped out, digging his fingers into her ribs with his knee on her belly and the other hand under her arm. After struggling and laughing a lot, she managed to push him off of her, and said, "Nate, what was that? You kneed me right in the tummy." He tried to apologize, but in the middle of it, she suddenly pinned him down, and mercilessly tickled him. Ribs, armpits, belly, she even grabbed his ankle and got his foot, and he laughed uncontrollably. She took a little break, and said, "That didn't actually hurt, I needed a distraction. And I got you good!" Cooper was happily watching his little siblings having fun from the other bed. She tickled him some more. Next, they both continuously tickled each other, with Lila getting most of the hits in since she was the bigger person. Cooper got up, and was about to join them and catch them by surprise. He lightly chuckled, watching the fun his siblings were having. Unfortunately, the joy of their tickle fight wouldn't last much longer.

They were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. Everyone immediately stopped laughing. Poor Nathaniel, terrified for what it could be, immediately clung to his sister. He tightly hugged her around the ribs, and put his face in her chest. He was starting to cry, as he didn't know what it could be. Unfortunately, Cooper and Lila knew exactly what it was. Yelena's night terrors were getting the best of her again. He slowly whimpered while hugging his sister. Lila was hugging him back, and stroking his back. "It's gonna be okay. I've got you, Nate. You're safe with me." She lightly kissed him on the head. Cooper came in, and began hugging his sister. He knew that this was also a lot for her to deal with. She whispered to him, "I love you so much, Cooper." He whispered back, "I love you too, Lila." She then said, "Can you please hug Nate from the other side? He's not doing too well..." He immediately complied, and hugged his little brother. He leaned down closer to him and said, "You're good, kid. I've got you. Always." Yelena was unfortunately dealing with her troubles. Nate was still crying, "Make it stop, make it stop..." Lila kissed him on the cheek. She tried to explain, "Nate, auntie Yelena sometimes has these really bad nightmares. They cause her to scream and be terrified. She sadly can't help it. But know that you're okay. Aunt Yelena would never hurt you. No one is gonna hurt you. Especially not with me or Cooper around." His face still buried in her chest, he just sniffled and kept hugging her. He finally spoke to them.

"Can both of you keep hugging me? I feel safer this way." He spoke in a very soft and weak voice. He wasn't even 7 yet, this was too much for someone so little to have to witness. Cooper quickly replied, "Anything for you, Nate." Meanwhile, Yelena was still not in good condition. She was having more night terrors about Dreykov. Laura could hear it as well, but decided not to wake up her husband this time. Clint took his hearing aids out in the night, and the reason why he came to the room to help Yelena when she was at his house was because Laura had woken him up and let him know. She wanted him to do it as she knew that he was someone they would feel safer and more open around. Laura hugged her husband, and despite being asleep, he hugged her back. Natasha decided to get out of bed to help Yelena out. As Yelena was still screaming in her sleep, Natasha softly stroked her face. She made sure to be as gentle as possible. She did it again, and this time it woke her up. She knew instantly what her baby sister needed. No matter how old they got, she'd always be sweet little Yelena to her. She hugged her sister tightly, and whispered, "I'm here for you, младшая сестра." Yelena didn't say anything, she just continued hugging. Eventually, when Natasha sat next to her, she said, "It never goes away, you know?" Natasha nodded, "Yeah. We don't deserve this."

"No one does. Dreykov may be dead, but what he did to us still haunts us. And thousands of other poor girls around the world." Natasha nodded. "But you will always have me. And the Bartons. And Kate. And the Avengers. Never forget that, 'Lena." She nodded, "I won't. Hopefully I didn't wake anyone else up." Natasha laughed, "They're kids, if they heard it, they probably weren't even asleep yet. Don't worry about it." Yelena nodded, "I love you, сестра."

"I love you, too. Sweet girl." They hugged for a bit, and Yelena smiled, "That never gets old. I really am still your baby sister after all these years." Natasha said, "Hell yeah you are. Feeling better now?" Yelena assured her, "Much better. You should go back to bed and get some sleep now." "Okay, sweet dreams, sis." Yelena replied, "Good night, Natasha." She kissed her on the cheek. Meanwhile, little Nathaniel was still hugging his big sister. He weakly asked, "is...is it over?" She said, "Yeah, I think so. You're safe here, don't worry." She hugged him again. However, this turned out to be a clever trap by Lila, as she slid her hands under his arms and began tickling him. While laughing, he put his hands down at her side, and pressed. She was laughing as well now. Suddenly, their feet started feeling cold. This made sense, as Cooper had snuck up on them. He then mercilessly started tickling their feet, startling them. He joined in on the tickle fight. As he got on the bed with them, he first targeted Lila. He got her in the ribs, making her laugh uncontrollably. Suddenly, Nate jumped on him, and slid behind him. He sat on his legs, and went to town tickling his feet. This caused the big brother to laugh, too. He wasn't as ticklish as his siblings, but his feet were his weakness. As he was laughing, he noticed his sister trying to get up, and he immediately poked at her sides, and then in her stomach. She then started coughing, being overwhelmed with the laughter. He began patting her back, making sure she was fine. Eventually, she stopped laughing. She sighed. "You okay, Lila?

"Yeah, I'm good now. I guess you win this round, huh." Nate said, "But really, I win. Because I made Cooper laugh." Cooper immediately pinned Nate down and tickled his ribs mercilessly for ten seconds straight. Once he was done, he said, "Saying something?" Nathaniel responded, "Okay, okay, you win!" He then hugged his little siblings. "I really do love you guys." Lila smiled, "Me too." Nate said, "Me three" Cooper smirked at Lila, "Consider it payback for yesterday." Nate said, "You mean when you cried?" Cooper looked in shock. Nathaniel said, "I wasn't fully asleep. I was only half asleep. I could still hear you guys." He knew his big brother was embarrassed about this sort of thing. "Don't worry, big bro. Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell anyone. I know you're a big boy, and don't want people to know." He nodded, "Yes, I don't. You're a good kid, Nate. I'm glad I can trust you." He then asked, "Are you guys okay? Hopefully what happened won't affect your guys' sleep much." Nate said, "I'm still a little scared, but I know I'm safe with my big sister. And you." Lila said, "Not gonna lie, my stomach kind of hurts right now. But honestly, the night terrors make me more sad than scared. But you both have my back and I have both of your guys'." Nate told his sister, "You're too good at tickling. It feels good that I can breathe air again!" She asked, "I didn't hurt you, did I?" He smiled, and said, "No. I don't get hurt from tickling, I know you do it because you love me. You're my big sister!" She beamed hearing this, and thanked him. Cooper left back to his bed. "This was an eventful night. I'm glad we could have our little tickle fight after all. Goodnight, both of you." Lila and Nate both said "goodnight" back together. Lila figured that since Nate was still a bit scared, she made sure to give him a goodnight kiss on the head, and lightly embrace him. He embraced back. Lila told him, "You had a pretty tight grip on me. It looks like you'll also be able to give the monster hugs some time soon." Nate laughed, "yeah, maybe. I feel warm and safe when you hug me, can you keep doing it?" She replied, "Yeah. Now that your elbow is away from my stomach, I think I'll be fine. I love you, Nate." He quietly said, "I love you too, big sis. Which speaking of, your tummy doesn't still hurt, does it?" She happily said, "I'll be okay." They continued hugging, and they all eventually fell asleep.

NOTE: The next chapter will just be a miscellaneous flashback one, talking about old stories mentioned in this.