Work Text:
Natasha stopped as soon as she realized that Clint had. She half turned, waiting for him, but instead of catching up to her, he was staring into a window front. She walked back to him. The store--a bookstore for children--had decorated the store front with something that she vaguely recognized as Hogwarts, complete with a small village and train.
"They still won't let you see her?" she asked.
Clint shook his head. She watched the train make a circuit of the castle. "Have you bought her anything?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I asked if I could give it to her myself, but Nick told me that I couldn't. I was still under review." He laughed darkly. "I don't even know who's she with, Nat. Is she with some foster family? Or are one of the agents taking care of her? Do they know that she's expecting an orange in her stocking and hot chocolate before breakfast?" His voice cracked at the end, tears threatening to spill out.
Withholding a child from someone was not an American practice--or so Natasha had always thought before this. And now it was Christmas. Memories flashed in her mind, the first time she really understood Christmas back in Russia, alone and with no hope of ever having something so special.
Clint sighed. "Come on. Let's go to that cafe you were talking about."
Natasha looked once more at the store front and made her decision.
~~~
"Papa, where's Daddy?" Elizabeth asked again.
Phil rubbed his forehead and put down the folder. "I'm not sure, sweetheart."
Elizabeth frowned and put down her bear (who had, Phil thought, been terrorizing the small village of barbie dolls). "But what about Christmas? He's supposed to make me my hot chocolate."
He was, Phil thought. For all of them. The first Christmas Phil had shared with Clint, he found the archer awake early. Clint had curled up by the windows with a cup of hot chocolate. He said it was something he had always done, back in the circus. Chocolate in any form had been rare and having some on a special day was like a gift. Clint preferred to enjoy it in the morning because there had been fewer people to make fun of him for it.
When they had decided to adopted Elizabeth, she had been awake with Clint at the break of dawn on Christmas and rather than try to calm her down, Clint had invited her into his ritual. Phil let them have the time to themselves, but there was always a cup of hot chocolate for him whenever he woke up.
Phil was working damn hard to find out what was going on and who was keeping Clint away. "He'll be here. I promise. Come Christmas morning, he'll be waiting for you."
Elizabeth frowned and didn't look all that trusting. It broke Phil's heart--there had been once upon a time that he and Clint both could do no wrong in her eyes; she really had believed that they could pick a star from the sky for her. And now, when Phil couldn't bring home his husband and her other father, well, a trust had been broken. And it continued to be broken.
He tried to smile bravely for her, but she only collected her toys and left the living room. Phil groaned and sat back on the sofa. "Where are you, Clint?"
~~~
Nick sighed as Natasha jumped down into his office from the air ducts. "Agent."
She raised an eyebrow. "Sir."
He closed his laptop and sat back. "Is this about what I think it is?"
She calmly sat in the guest chair in front of his desk and crossed her legs. "It's cruel, to a child, to keep her away from her family."
"And it is cruel to let a man we know was compromised near a child."
"I have had a long interview with Thor regarding what happened to Clint," she pointed out. "I logged the report."
"I understand that Asgardian...magic is quite different from what we normally consider compromising. However--"
"There is no however about it, sir. You will give Clint custody of his daughter again and she will be spending Christmas with him." Unspoken, however, was a threat that Nat held close. A secret that she had kept for emergencies, but this was far more important.
He sat back in his chair, quiet and contemplative. She waited, studied him. Frowning, she sat forward. "If I find out that you have sent her off somewhere, unprotected, and are now about to tell me that something has happened to her--"
He held up a hand. "Nothing like that. This is actually...difficult."
"Tell me," she demanded.
~~~
"Daddy!" Elizabeth yelled.
Phil shot up, hand reaching for the gun he kept under his pillow. Half asleep, but mind completely functioning, he stumbled out of his bedroom into the living room. He had leveled his gun for the average chest height, praying that Elizabeth wasn't in the way.
"Phil," Clint breathed.
Phil blinked and forced himself to wake fully. Dressed casually, holding two cups of hot chocolate, Clint stood in their living room, scared and hopeful and alive. Elizabeth clung to his pants, face bright and wondering. The gun didn't worry her, not after the events that had brought her to Phil and Clint's attention.
"Are you--real?" Phil asked.
Clint half smiled. "As real as anyone can be."
Phil lowered his gun and cautiously approached his--husband. "In Bogata, we found a shipment."
"Bananas filled with cocaine," Clint answered.
There hadn't been bananas--it had actually been books whose covers had hidden forged money. But the bananas had always been their whispered code, a security for situations like this.
"Icky," Elizabeth said.
Clint and Phil laughed. "I agree," Clint said. "Why would anyone do that to bananas?"
She nodded sagely. "Can we have our Christmas chocolate now?"
Clint smiled and handed her the porcelain cup--a special part of the ritual. They usually gave her plastic cups, but Christmases were special. Clint looked up at Phil. "I'll make you one in a moment."
Phil shook his head. "No. The morning is for you two. Go sit."
Clint hesitated, but when Phil nodded his head toward the bay window and its lone chair, Clint relented. He called over his shoulder, "Nat asked me to pass along a note. It's in the kitchen."
Phil put the safety on the gun and returned it to the bedroom. He put on something warmer and went to find the note.
Phil,
Enjoy your gift. I'll be waiting tomorrow for you and Clint both--we need to talk.
Nat
Phil had known something was wrong, but this note implied it was really bad. He ripped it into pieces and tossed it into the garbage disposal. Tomorrow. They would deal with it tomorrow.
Clint stepped into the kitchen. "Hey. Elizabeth and I have decided that because this is an extra special Christmas, we want you to join us this morning."
Phil raised his eyebrows, but smiled. "Okay."
Clint licked his lips and walked closer. "I've missed you."
Phil cupped his cheek. "Later. We'll talk about it all later." He leaned in and found Clint meeting him half way for a kiss that burned.
"Merry Christmas," Clint whispered as it ended.
Phil leaned his forehead against Clint's and smiled. "Yes."