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After everything else, it was only a matter of time before Natasha showed up at the farm, then Clint showed up at the new Avengers team. She pulled up near dusk, and Clint met her on the front porch. He always seemed to know when she needed to talk.
"So Bruce, huh?"
Natasha sighed and leaned against the railing. "I wanted what you have," she said quietly.
Clint followed her gaze in through the open window, toward Laura humming to herself as she made pie. He had already had Laura when Natasha came in and she'd become a part of their family. He just hadn't expected...
"Is that why you keep trying to matchmake Steve?"
She shot him a rueful grin. "Maybe."
He settled on the front step, patted the wood beside him, and she settled into the space, looking out on the scenic sweep of land he and Laura kept together, with a little paid help from the neighbors.
"I didn't see him coming," he admitted, a failing on his part.
"We were flirting." Natasha jabbed him softly with her elbow. "You're slacking."
"You were acting!" he protested.
Natasha sobered, glance toward that window again. "Cheesy pickup lines worked for you."
Clint shook his head and tucked his arm around her. "I am not a good role model, Nat."
She just shook her head against his shoulder and huffed. "Yes, you are."
Laura had fallen for him in spite of his cheesy pickup lines, but he decided to let it go. He didn't know how to make it all better, but he knew how to be there for a friend.
Laura found him an hour later, staring into their little girl's room as Natasha told her a bedtime story, complete with laughter and tickles. Natasha should have been a mother, not just an auntie. Anyone could see that.
"Hey," Laura greeted softly as she leaned her head on his shoulder, watching with a gentle smile.
Clint kissed the top of her head and drew her away so they could talk. "What do you think about Steve? You think they'd make a good couple?"
Laura just gave him a rueful, but compassionate expression. "Didn't you tell me Maria was wearing his jacket?"
"She was cold. He's chivalrous," Clint protested, then shook his head. "Really?"
"You can be so oblivious sometimes." She pecked him on the mouth affectionately anyway.
"What about Sam?"
"Just don't start," Laura warned. "You'll annoy your partner if you try to matchmake her."
"Fine, fine," he conceded.
They reached the bedroom and readied themselves for bed. Bruce just wasn't the right guy for her though, and Clint wasn't sure what made him think that, but there had to be a right guy for her, if he could just keep his eyes open this time.
"I wasn't paying attention," he admitted quietly.
Laura looked up. "Clint."
"I wasn't paying attention to Natasha." She was his partner, his best friend. He should have been there for her.
"You were too busy worrying about me," Laura reminded him. The latest birth had promised to be more complicated than the first two, and both were more than a little relieved that Nate was fine and so was Laura. "She still trusts you."
"Yeah." Clint didn't say anything more about it, but Laura knew it was still there at the back of his thoughts.
"You're leaving with her," she said, half question and half resigned to the inevitable.
Clint kissed her hand apologetically and drew her under the covers into his arms. "Yeah."
In the end, it was what she'd agreed to when she married a field agent, so she sighed and said, "Okay."