Chapter Text
The Battle of New York was over. The team were exhausted and had been for shawarma where they had eaten in silence, reflecting over the whole thing. Clint finished his food and looked at his hands, wondering how many people had been killed by those hands while under Loki's spell. Natasha seemed to read his thoughts and kicked his leg. He looked at her and she handed him a phone. He nodded and took it, heading to the back to make a call. He listened to it ringing before he got the answerphone. He hung up.
A few hours later they were at a S.H.I.E.L.D. base debriefing. Clint had just finished his lengthy report, a frown on his face the whole time. At the end of it Hill gave him a nod.
"I've been told to offer you time off. Do you want it?" Clint thought for a moment.
"Have I had any calls?" He asked. The pitying look on Hill's face answered that for him. "I don't think I'll take it. Thanks." She nodded and wrote it down. Clint left the room and headed for the cafeteria to get some coffee. He was just passing the weapons store when an alarm started ringing. It wasn't the usual tone though, it sounded almost like - morse code. He listened to it for a second before he began running, biting down on the grin on his face as he headed to the side entrance. When he arrived on the floor above the other Avengers were already there, looking down as Fury argued with a woman with her hands on her hips and a furious look on her face. Fury seemed to be trying to placate her but was refusing her entry.
"What's going on?" The Captain asked, almost yelling over the sounds of the alarm.
"Whatever it is, Fury almost looks scared." Bruce mused. Natasha sent a grin at Clint before her gaze slipped to something over his shoulder. He turned and saw a toddler toddling along the corridor, one hand on the wall, the other in his mouth as he sucked his thumb. His blue eyes met Clint's and he gave a delighted giggle and stumbled forward. Clint scooped him up and placed him on his hip.
"Hey there little man, what are you doing here?" The boy gave some baby babble and gestured with his fists as Clint nodded along as if he could understand the garble. "I see, and does your mommy know that you ran away?" The boy shook his head.
"Moomy jim glab ooba pie-rat."
"Right, well, you shouldn't run away from her should you, she's probably worried about you." The boy nodded and put his chin on Clint's shoulder and looked out the window.
"Moomy!" He cried pointing. Clint turned to see the woman whose hands were now in fists as she yelled. It was clear she was one wrong move away from punching the Director.
"Yep, that's your mommy. She looks angry." The boy seemed to agree with this and patted the man's hand. Clint put him down and the toddler dropped onto his behind with a sigh. Clint grinned and sat by him. "Good plan, delaying the inveitable. I'll make a procrastinator out of you yet." The boy flopped onto his back and the Avengers watched in confused silence as Clint copied him.
A thump from below caught their attention as the woman kicked Fury's southern region and ran into the base. A few seconds later she emerged at the top of the stairs and stopped when she saw the two boys lying on the floor. Her angry expression softened and she walked forward and looked down as they smiled innocently up at her. She picked up the toddler and rested him on her hip. Fury appeared behind her, but didn't try to stop her.
"Coop, what have I told you about running off without mummy?" She asked.
"Noop a doobilieda."
"Exactly, if I don't know where you are you could get hurt. So don't run off okay?" He nodded and she kissed his cheek before looking down at the archer. "Get up, bird boy." She said. He rolled over and pushed himself up. She looked at him, eyes scanning him for a tense moment. He tried to search her face but she was the queen on the poker face, she could probably even beat Natasha she gave away so little unless she wanted to. Her eyes met his and he saw she was holding back tears. They both stepped forward at the same time and crashed into a hug. As her free hand went onto his back, the Avengers got a clear view of a silver wedding ring on her finger.
Clint buried his face into her neck and breathed in the smell of her perfume. They stayed hugging for a moment before Coop patted their faces, demanding attention. "Yes, okay, I love you too." She told him, kissing his cheek. She looked at Clint and he stared back at her as if they were trying to drink in as much of each other as possible.
"Right, well this is lovely, but would someone like to explain?" Tony asked. Clint glanced over at the confused faces of the men on the team and the smirk on Natasha's.
"This is my wife, Laura and my son Cooper." He said simply. Tony's eyes searched Laura's face.
"Have we met?" He asked.
"Nope." She said, a little too quickly. He peered at her before a look of recognition flashed across his face, quickly followed by rage.
"You!" He yelled. She quickly handed Coop over to Clint and dashed behind him. "You're the one who hacked me!"
"Nope!" She called as he stalked towards her, causing her to run behind Thor.
"JARVIS wasn't right for weeks! He could only speak in Romanian. Who the hell even speaks Romanian?"
"Aproximativ 24 de milioane de oameni , măgar fundul." She told him. Tony paused before glaring again.
"You do not mess with a man's AI! You just don't!"
"Fury-" She started as Tony looked as if he would get too close.
"Mr Stark, do I need to remind you that you withheld information from our organisation? Did you think that we would give up in our attempts to find that information after Miss Romanov's attempts?" Fury said stepping forward. "And if you touch that woman I won't need to punish you, she will." Tony glanced back at where Natasha had a hand on her hip where her gun was. He huffed and stormed off back to Bruce's side.
"Thanks for jumping in." Laura said to Clint.
"Hey, you're the one who gave me the kid. And I knew you had it. You kicked Fury three minutes ago.
"Yeah, but Fury is not a billionaire who can sue me for touching a single hair on his head. If he had any." Fury gave a bark of anger but she had already grabbed Coop. "You wouldn't hurt a lady holding a baby would you?"
"No. Take him home. Barton, don't come back in for at least a week."
"Yes, sir." She grabbed his hand as they watched Fury disappear, Hill materialising at his side and handing him files. "So, I'm gonna get this one home, it's nearly nap time." Clint fist pumped.
"Hell yeah!" Tony eyed him suspiciously.
"And what do you two do while the kid is napping?"
"Coop? Coop hasn't had a nap since he was 9 months old. Clint's the one who needs naps." Laura told him. "It was nice to meet you all." She said and led her husband off who trotted along behind her.
"Is it safe for her and the boy to be alone with him after all he's been though?" Steve asked Natasha in concern.
"Trust me, the best thing for Clint is to be with her."