Archive of Our Own ^beta

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August… God she loathed August. She hated the heat. She was a usual Russian child who preferred the freezing cold to overwhelming heat. She had hoped she would get lucky this year, and Fall would start earlier in August rather than late September, but she knew that could never actually happen. However, this year was more bearable for the fact she had access to her best friend… well not best friend, Widows didn’t have friends. She reminded herself. But Annie called her, her best friend, so she went along with it allowing her to call her that to maintain their cover. Every tiny thing she did was important to the mission. Melina... no mom would tell her to just have fun be a kid while it lasted because there was no telling when it may end.

What was she thinking about again… she sighed shaking her head, oh the pool. Annie’s pool. Her “best friends” swimming pool across the road. Annie was her first “friend” here in Ohio on this strange, slightly boring but kinda good mission. Melina... no Mom told her on their second day here just over a year ago to “Go play outside and be a kid it’s important for the mission to keep up the cover” She had nodded and headed for the back door before hesitating. She contemplated whether it would be okay to ask a question before like Melina… Mom had read her mind “If you’re not sure how to be a normal child Natasha why don’t you play out the front and try and make a friend with one of the children in the neighbourhood. You can watch and copy them” she’d nodded and headed for the front door. “Take a ball” Melina... Mom said grabbing one from a box and tossing it toward her.

Not 5 minutes later of awkwardly kicking a ball around had Annie appeared. She didn’t shut up the entire time they had played together. She’d only gotten one word answers out but Annie was happy and didn’t seem to notice how awkward she was and to be honest Natasha was glad and enjoyed hanging out with the girl without the possibility of eventually having to kill her one day. She had been grateful they ended up being the same age, and that she was going to be going to Annie’s school in the new school year. While she would never be as bubbly, happy and outgoing as her, Annie had taught her a lot about being a well-rounded kid and had helped her fit in this last year.

“Natasha when you girls finish your lunch be sure to head over to the Greyson’s house. Mrs Greyson said she’s happy to watch you both while I head to the store” Melina said pulling her out of she thoughts.

“Mel... Mom I was going over to Annie’s to swim... do I have to go to Mrs Greyson’s? Can’t Yelena just go and I go to Annie’s?” She could still sometimes almost slip up and call her Melina instead of mom, Yelena never seemed to notice thankfully.

“I want to go swimming with Nattie! Please mommy!” Yelena yelled pulling out her puppy dog eyes, Natasha would always roll her eyes at that, she’d never in her whole life made ‘puppy dog eyes’.

“Sorry Natasha it’s not fair for you to do that while Yelena has to go to Mrs Greyson’s.” Melina watched her eldest “daughter’s” face fall. She always felt bad disappointing the girl. “When I get back you can go though.” She smiled watching Natasha’s face brighten a little. “I should only be an hour and a half, two tops. Okay.” Natasha nodded.

“Can I go swimming then too mommy?” Yelena begged. While Natasha was becoming more comfortable asking for things, Yelena had never been shy in begging or throwing tantrums.

“I’ll ring Annie’s mother when I get back and see what she says okay Lena?” Melina said while going through her purse to check she had everything.

“Otay mommy” Yelena said with a mouth full of peanut butter sandwich. Natasha grimaced.

“Alright I’m off... straight to Mrs Greyson’s as soon as you’re finished okay” Melina said sending Natasha a serious look knowing it was entirely possible Natasha would drop Yelena there and head to Annie’s, even if Yelena would end up ratting her out. Natasha has recently started pushing boundaries and not doing exactly what she was told, she didn't overly care though, it was nice to see the young girl acting like a regular kid. She just hoped it would stop when they returned, rebellion in the Red Room could get you killed.

Natasha watched her “mother” walk out the front door. She sighed it was always a small weight lifted when she was left alone without her “parents”. While she had begun to somewhat trust them, she knew that no matter what as soon as this mission was over, she would be back there in a heartbeat along with her “baby sister”. Glancing toward the small blonde girl as she chatted away, mouth full of food unaware that her “big sister” wasn’t listening to her.

Natasha still found her “little sister” to be incredibly annoying and well dumb to put it bluntly, but the little girl had never been there before and so her childlike wonder and happiness much like her “friend” Annie’s was fully intact neither knew any of the things Natasha had experienced in her 11 and a ½ years of life. Looking at her “little sister” again she thought of how she would actually give anything to save her from her fate of ending up there even if she was annoying, No one deserved to ever go there. It was something she had found herself thinking about recently when she realised that she was actually beginning to care for Yelena, and that she wasn’t just pretending for the sake the mission.

“Nattie you weren’t listening to me” Yelena pouted, crossing her arms. Pulling Natasha from her thoughts again.

“Sorry Lena. I was just thinking and daydreaming”

“What about?” Yelena said perking up with wide eyes. Her big sister was very intriguing to her. Often quiet, always thinking and really smart. She always wanted to know what she was thinking but Natasha would never really tell her.

“Just about Ohio and you.” Natasha sighed looking down sadly. Yelena wasn’t sure why that seemed to make her sad.

“Why are you sad… Did I do something mean?” Yelena pouted. Natasha smirked, Yelena’s pout/frown was something else and always made Natasha laugh a little. She had never seen anyone actually make a sad face like the kids at school would draw.

“No, you didn’t Lena. Don’t worry about it. I was just thinking about how I wish we could live here forever.” Yelena tilted her head, not sure what on earth her sister was talking about. Then she thought about how daddy said they might go on an adventure one day. Maybe that was it. But it was only going to be for a while and then they would come back home.

“You’re silly Nattie. Daddy said we might go on a venture one day, but we will come home again, like Lilly. She went away with her mommy and daddy and brother, but they came home and with lots of cool stories” Yelena smiled trying to cheer her sister up.

Natasha shook her head. There was no point talking about this anymore Yelena was too little and had no idea what was probably going to happen someday, hopefully not too soon. Natasha didn’t want this to end too soon. She smiled at her “sister”. “You’re right Lena. I’m silly I don’t know what I was thinking of” Yelena grinned happy her sister understood.

The pair returned to their lunch unaware what was happening outside their house.

-

“Barton are you still in place? Do you have eyes inside?”

“Yea I’m here... I can see the two children at the table eating… No other movement in the house. Doesn’t appear the main target has managed to sneak back in without me noticing.”

“Alright... Andrew, Lloyd, are you still following the car?”

“Car is in our sight, doesn’t seem like she has noticed us.”

“Okay. Gunner, Is your team in place.”

“We are set sir.”

“Miller is your team still following Andrew and Lloyd?”

“Right behind them sir.”

“Alright, Team 2 keep following the car, move in when she stops. Team 1 stay ready. Only the children are home. If these people are from where we suspect, then the children could still be trained and unpredictable. Move with caution. We move when Barton, gives the word.”

From his vantage point, hidden up a tree in a neighbouring property he watched the two young girls. One couldn’t be older than 5 if she was lucky the other might be double digits but there was no way of knowing till, they could ask her. She would be the definite wild card but even the little one could be too, if they were dealing with the Red Room here. He watched them eating and felt his stomach doing flips. They were using tranquilliser guns as the worst case scenario if the girls fought back, but this all felt so wrong and strange to him. How could anyone use these little girls… well he did know but hated to think about it.

They had lost eyes on Alex this morning, it was Dalton and Kent’s fault they were tasked with following him to work, they were still alive but lost him when he must have noticed them following. Clint had been watching the house since last night and nothing had seemed off. Alex must not have had the chance to warn his wife… if she was his wife. She appeared to have left the house normally and she had left the girls behind which was either a good sign or not…

Now was their best shot to get the children though and hopefully his wife and hope they could tell them where Alex was. “Alright move on 1… 3. 2. 1... Go Go!” He watched from the tree as 4 agents broke through the front door and another 5 were spread around the backyard and sides of the house in case the girls tried to run out the back.

-

Natasha had almost finished her food when she suddenly felt like something was off. It felt quiet… not inside, her “sister” was still yapping away about anything and everything, Natasha was letting out a few yeps and uh huhs which kept her happy. Outside felt off though and quiet… Suddenly there was a few quick loud bangs against the front door, then it was flying open and she could just see from her spot as, 1, 2, 3, 4 men, she quickly counted ran through the door holding large guns, terror spread through her like fire, then she felt a tiny bit of relief when she realised they appeared to be tranquilliser guns, the thought of Yelena getting shot but an actual gun made her stomach drop. The smidge of relief was short lived when they started shouting to freeze and stay where they were. Yelena immediately started screaming in terror while Natasha sprung into action, this is what she was trained for.

She quickly scanned the room for the best potential weapons. There were knives on the bench that would be helpful, but she needed to get there, while keeping Yelena safe. She dropped to the ground and moved toward her sister, grabbing her arm she pulled her off her chair toward herself. “Stop screaming and follow me!” She pretty much growled, leaving no room for questions from Yelena. Yelena shut her mouth quickly, for once in her life and nodded, tears still falling from her terrified eyes.

Natasha looked around the room from the ground for a possible hiding spot for Yelena. She quickly spotted one behind a large indoor pot plant in the corner of the dining room. She crept quickly pulling her sister behind her, she then pushed her behind the plant. She held her finger to her lips and mouthed ‘stay’ with the most serious look Yelena had ever seen. The little girl nodded and curled herself up trying to stay hidden. Natasha turned and looked around and listened to the 4 sets of footsteps moving quietly through their house. Not quiet enough for her though. She took a deep breath and started to move away from her sister. Thinking Natasha was going to stay and hide with her, Yelena watched her begin to move away and immediately began to freak out again, reaching out to grab her hand, even more tears pouring out of her eyes, she squeaked out, “No Nat!”

Natasha’s eyes widened as her sister spoke, and the movement stopped and then started again toward them. They were already coming her way, so she stood quickly and angrily told her sister “Do Not Move” - no need to be quiet now - she spun around as the first man came around the corner. She started running toward him, before he could react, she dropped to the ground and swung her leg out, knocking him over, the gun falling from his hands. He landed on his back and she moved into a flip so she could use her whole body weight to hit him in the face. He was knocked out quickly as his partner stood shocked, truly not expecting a child to be able to take out a grown man, even if he had been warned. His hesitation meant Natasha had enough time to grab the unconscious man’s gun and shoot him. She fired two shots into the second man knocking him out. She then artfully dodged a shot fired from behind her from a third man making him also hesitate in shock at the skilled young girl, allowing her to fire four shots, two at him and another two at the fourth man behind him, also having a moment of hesitation, what a bunch of idiots she thought.

She let a breath out, before she swiftly ran back toward her crying sister. “Yelena, we have to run! Stay behind me and stay quiet unless I tell you to speak and run as fast as you can okay!” Natasha dropped the current gun she was holding and instead grabbed two of the other men’s guns, ones that were fully loaded. She put one over her back and held the other in her hands. She preferred small handguns, but these would do for now, unless she could find one of Melinda’s hidden weapons that she actually preferred using.

Barton watched as the inside team got taken out within just a couple of minutes with a shocked look. He realised his mouth was hanging open and promptly shut it before snapping back into work mode. “The older girl just took out everyone inside, she has some of their guns. Outside team do not let your guard down, Do Not Hesitate! Try and get to the younger girl, she doesn’t seem like a threat but stay cautious. The older one may stand down if we have the little one.” He spoke into his comm. “She’s looking around for an out. You two closest to the front of the house move NOW. Everyone else move in through the back. Go Now! Coulson I’m moving in” He grabbed his bow and quickly climbed down the tree then jumped over the thankfully low back fence before running toward the house.

Not realising there were more agents outside she pulled her sister up and began running toward her “parents” bedroom. She knew they kept weapons hidden in there. Pulling her sister into the room she ran toward the bed and threw the pillows behind her hoping for a knife or handgun but came up empty. “Think Natasha where would you hide a gun?!”

“A Gun!?!” Yelena squeaked with wet, wide and scared eyes. She hadn’t stopped crying since the scary men broke inside. All she wanted was her mommy she had no idea how her sister wasn’t as scared as she was.

Natasha ignored Yelena and scanned the room but before she could look somewhere else, they heard glass breaking and more people entering the house “дерьмо” (shit) Yelena’s eyes somehow got bigger in fear as she let out a scream. They heard a man yell “This way” Natasha looked toward the window and then the bedroom door. She ran to the door and slammed it and locked it. No point being quiet now they knew where they were now, thanks to Yelena. “Yelena, we need to go out the window! Come on” she moved toward her sister and grabbed her arm again. Yelena cried out and tugged her arm back, refusing to move.

“I want mommy!” she cried holding her arm which was sore from her sister pulling her around.

Natasha let out a panicked breath and tried to think of something quickly. Her sister was stubborn and if she picked her up, she would just scream and fight against her which she didn’t need. “If we don’t go through that window right now! You’re not going to get to see mommy again! Do you understand Yelena? This is serious!” Natasha said and held her hand out. Her sister continued crying but grabbed her hand and let herself be pulled toward the window.

“Barton, I have eyes on the girls in one of the bedrooms. They are heading towards the window I need you round the front now” Coulson yelled into the comms watching from the street. He prepared himself to engage with the girls “Anyone else closer to the front, get out here now. Those near the bedroom door go in that way.” He grumbled as he rubbed his forehead. This was a fucking mess. Thankfully everyone in the neighbourhood seemed to be inside due to it being lunchtime and the silencers helped keep the gun shot sounds to a minimum to stop unwanted attention being drawn. Although the glass breaking was probably going to draw attention any minute, hopefully they could get the girls before anyone came looking, they didn’t need witnesses to what was pretty much kidnapping… kind of.

“Running along the side of the house boss almost at the front.” Clint said. As he rounded the corner, he saw a window fly open and soon after a small girl was jumping from it. He saw his moment, if he could grab the her, before the older one got out the window too, they stood a chance of getting the older one to stand down. “The little one is outside! I’m grabbing her now. I need back up asap the older one isn’t going to be happy” He ran toward the little blonde girl who had wide eyes fulled with fear.

Yelena let out a piercing scream as a man with a bow and arrow ran towards her. She continued screaming as he picked her up and continued running. Natasha watched in horror as a man grabbed her sister before she could also jump out the window. Her eyes followed the man as he ran toward another man who was pointing another tranquilliser gun at her. She froze for a moment her mind spinning, she heard someone yell to stand back from the other side of her “parents” door. If she stayed here, they would grab her, she was cornered in this room and they probably knew not to underestimate her like the first lot, and then she probably wouldn’t know where Yelena might end up. Making up her mind, she jumped out the window and moved carefully toward the two men holding Yelena hostage, while yelling out, “Give Me The Girl Or I’ll Shoot!” Also pointing the gun toward them. One was using Yelena as a shield, but she could get him in the leg if she could take out the other man that was holding the gun.

“Stand down kid. We aren’t going to hurt you or the little one, we are only here because we needed to ask you some questions about your father. So please stand down so this doesn’t get uglier.” Coulson spoke calmly, hoping to get through to the older girl. But Natasha just narrowed her eyes her glare hardening and gun still trained on him. Trying again he spoke again “I promise you aren’t going to be separated. Please put the gun down, so we can talk.” His words fell on deaf ears as she clenched her teeth in annoyance, he wasn’t scared of her. Her eyes searched him for a weakness but before she could do anything, two men came into her sight, having come from inside the house, via then front door. They both had a tranquilliser gun trained on her too. The brief distraction was enough for them all to now have the upper hand. Her eyes snapped to them and then back to the man with the gun helping hold Yelena hostage. Her mind was reeling, trying to figure a way out, she was the best widow in her year, but she was only just over halfway through her training and even though Melina had still been doing some training with her, this last year it was nothing like she had been doing before Ohio. She was rusty. They had Yelena. Then she heard her “parents” door be broken through and listened to them yell to stand down from the window behind her, more guns trained on her. The chances of getting out of this, with Yelena, was slim, especially because they were using tranquillisers, they were arguably worst than bullets because they actually knocked you out.

Evaluating everything, she made a decision. She dropped the guns and slowly stepped forward with her hands up away from the guns. The two men that had come from the house carefully moved toward her. She could see the man with the gun near her sister watching her like a hawk, the gun still trained on her. Deciding in her mind as the two men moved toward her, that they still looked like they were going to knock her out (they weren’t going to) even if she was giving up without a fight… well she might as well put on another show and take these two out, before they knocked her out. She smirked in her head but kept her face neutral. She took a breath and waited for the men to get closer, before she pounced. She heard the shot and then felt the needle in her back. She heard her sister scream and felt the man she had jumped at grab her before she could fall to the ground and then everything went black.

Chapter Text

Everything felt like it was spinning. Like she was on a fair ride or maybe she was on a boat on the water. For a moment she felt panicked as to why everything was dark till she calmed herself and realised she still had her eyes closed. She didn’t open them though, she wouldn’t have the upper hand if she opened them and someone was watching then they would know right away she was awake. She wondered for a moment if her breathing may have given it away in her brief panic, but she had quickly focused and calmed her breathing and hoped no one had noticed.

As the spinning/rocking motion began to settle she was able to focus better on her surroundings. She could tell she was likely lying on a bed from the softness underneath her or possibly a couch. She pondered why the bad guys/her kidnappers would put her on something comfortable and then her heart skipped a beat at another possibility… She focused and calmed herself and hoped for another reason. Mentally shaking her head, she refocused on what she could hear around her she came up blank. Everything was silent, till she heard a slight shift nearby.

“You’re pretty sharp and well trained” Someone spoke fully breaking the silence in the room. She tensed up slightly at the sudden voice before relaxing again and wondering for a moment if she could keep the act up, that they would think they were mistaken. “I know your awake”

She weighed her options, she could leap up and attack, but they were probably ready for that, she could just continue to pretend and see what they might do, they would have slapped her by now, but these people or this person hadn’t done that… yet. Then the thought of Yelena popped into her head. She couldn’t hear her in this room, so where was she? She felt herself start to panic a tiny bit again. After mentally telling herself to calm down, she decided to play along so she might be able to get back to her sister sooner and then she could figure out a way out of here, wherever here was.

Natasha opened her eyes and slowly sat up, she still felt a bit dizzy “Where am I?” she scanned the room quickly and then the man sitting on a chair in the corner. The room was clean and plain, possibly a med room but it was definitely secure. There wasn’t a large mirror on the wall, but she spotted two small cameras in separate corners, no blind spots in this room.

She stared at the man as he shifted in his seat, he was watching her closely before he spoke softly “My name’s Phil, Phil Coulson, What’s your name?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, weighting up how she would respond, she decided she’d be blunt and to the point. “I don’t really care… I would rather know where I am?” she opted to skip over answering his question for her name.

Phil chuckled, he liked this kid already. “I could tell you that… if you tell me your name?” The younger girl hadn’t told them any names since they managed to catch the two. They had hoped she would talk but she had been going between asking for her mom or sister or crying. The plan had then quickly become, see how much information this girl would give and then reunite the two sisters.

Natasha narrowed her eyes again, watching this man, Phil, carefully. She could lie and tell them a fake name, but Yelena wasn’t trained like her, and never actually shut up, so they probably already knew her name and were testing her. She clenched her jaw, might as well get this out of the way. “My name is Natasha.”

Phil smiled “Thank you for sharing. I’ll hold up my end of the deal. I work for S.H.I.E.L.D have you heard of us?” he asked watching her face flash a moment of surprise before it was gone and back to a scowl.

Natasha had heard that name before, in the early days of the mission when she didn’t trust Alexei and Melina in the slightest, (not that she still overly trusted them, but they hadn’t hurt her or Yelena as of yet, so she wasn’t as nervous around them anymore). She had spied on them more frequently then and had overheard the mention of shield a few times but had always been slightly confused by it as a shield was just something used to protect you. Keeping her face blank she asked, “What do you want with me and my sister?” She paused before adding “And where is my sister?”

“We just want to ask you some questions. About your parents mostly. Maybe where you lived before here?” Phil said hoping for some kind of reaction, but she didn’t even flinch. “Your sister is safe, she’s in a room across the hall, one of my agents is with her. You can see her in moment if you answer my questions.”
Natasha studied his face for any lies. She decided to try her luck. “And if I don’t answer your questions” she raised her eyebrow.

“I’ll need to speak to my boss first” Phil said, hoping she would make things easy, so he did not have to leave her and speak to Fury.

Two options, one was easy and hopefully not a trick, the other she was not sure what it could mean, but it would prolong her getting to her sister. She mulled over the choices before deciding to negotiate. “I could answer some of your questions, and finish answering them if you take me to my sister.” She could answer them all, but they could end up just leaving her here anyway. She glared at the man in the corner. Even for an 11 year old her glare could make a grown man fidget.

“Fair question… I suppose I can agree to that.” Phil said holding in a chuckle, he knew that the chances of her trying to negotiate were pretty high and had already planned to allow her to answer a few questions before bringing the little girl in. “We will start small, question 1, How long have you lived here in Ohio?”

She let out a sigh, better to get it over with. “Over a year”

“What are your parents’ names?”

“Alex and Melissa” she said giving him their cover names.

“Are they your parents?”

She hesitated for a moment, but Phil caught it “Yes”

“Are you sure?”

“And what if they’re not?” She tried.

He decided to skip over her counter question. He wasn’t sure what they would do or what they were going to do anyway as unless Natasha knew the answer to where her “parents” would go, it was likely the pair had gotten away. Leaving two young girls behind, and one that probably couldn’t be put in a simple foster home. He was getting ahead of himself though. Moving on he asked, “How old are you?”

Again, she contemplated lying, even if she said something else it was easy to tell she was nowhere near 18 and any other age was useless like her actual age. “11”

Phil raised his eyebrows, he had realised she was young after they had knocked her out, but to actually hear her age was something else. He was definitely going to give the boys taken down by her a hard time later. “And your sister?”

“4” she sighed

“What’s her name?”

She narrowed her eyes yet again, she really couldn’t tell if he knew already and was just wanting to see what she would say. She needed to see Yelena though. “Her name is Yelena”.

“Has she had training like you?”

“No”

“Last question and you can see your sister. Do you know where your parents would go in an event like this? A safe place?” He asked watching her closely

She thought about the question for a moment. She had heard them in the early days talking about a getaway location, but they hadn’t discussed many details about it near her. She could easily answer this question truthfully. “No. Can I see her now?” she asked inching to the side of bed she was sat on. Phil glanced up at one of the cameras and nodded before facing her again quickly, he did not want to take his off her for even a few seconds too many, he’d seen what she could do.

Natasha waited with a bated breath for something to happen. After a minute or two, the door opened and a woman with dark brown hair and warm eyes, holding Yelena’s hand stepped into the room.

“Nattie!!” Yelena shouted pulling her hand from the woman’s and rushing toward Natasha. She barrelled into her sister, trying to hide herself in her sister’s arms.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” Natasha asked trying to pull her sister back slightly to look at her for any injuries, Yelena was having none of it and wouldn’t budge. She could feel her nod yes and then shake her head no to her questions. Making Natasha feel slightly better.

Phil and Laura watched the girls interacting, before deciding to leave them alone. “We will leave you alone for a bit. I still have more questions, but they can wait for now.” Phil said heading to the door that Laura had kept open with her foot. The two swiftly exited and let the door close. They ensured it was locked securely, before they nodded to the two agents that were assigned to watch the door, in the off-chance Natasha managed break out, although those chances were almost impossible, they then headed down the hallway. It felt wrong to lock the girls in, but they couldn’t take any chances with Natasha, after what she had managed to do at her home.

-

“Did the little girl say anything to you Lau?” Phil asked as they walked to one of the large office rooms that had been set up as briefing room for the small lead taskforce members.

“She told me her name after I told her mine. Her name is Yelena but likes to be called Lena” Laura chuckled “She just a baby. I’ll never understand how some people can use children like this” she sighed sadly.

“The older one is Natasha, I wasn’t sure if that was her name or not but the little one… Yelena called her Nattie when you brought her in so it must be true. I asked if Yelena had any training, she said she didn’t or at least not like herself maybe, again could be a lie to throw us.”

“I don’t think any, After I managed to get Yelena to stop crying, she even let me give her a little cuddle while we waited for word from you. I was tad nervous at first and Clint told me not too through comms but her little eyes, my motherly instincts had too.” She rolled her eyes as she walked through the door Phil held open for her. Laura wasn’t a mother yet, but she wanted to be in the near future.

Clint and Fury looked up at the pair from their spots sat at a large desk watching the girls from two computer monitors. “Nice work Coulson. At least we got some info from her. I probably would have asked a few more questions before bringing the little one in but too late now.” Fury said watching the two girls cuddled together in the corner of the bed that was against the wall. He couldn’t hear or see the older girl’s lips moving as she had them hidden in Yelena’s hair.

“Any word from Andrew or Lloyd or Miller?” Coulson asked. They had been following the mother, Melissa, no one was sure how, but they had lost her.

“No” Fury grumbled, he was beyond pissed that both “parents” had gotten away. “She’s definitely an agent too. Only way to explain how she got away from them.”

“I certainly think they are Russian sir, the girls’ names are Natasha and Yelena. And I definitely don’t believe the parents’ names are Alex and Melissa. They are aliases for sure.” Coulson said sitting at the round table in the middle of the room.

Joining Phil at the table Laura asked, “What else did you get from Natasha?” She hadn’t heard anything Phil had asked as she had been with Yelena.

“Just names and ages… They are 11 and 4… I’d say it’s true, seemed too specific.” Phil said as he sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. Laura’s face fell at hearing the girls ages. “I asked if Alex and Melissa... oh, she told me the woman’s name too. I asked if they were their parents, she hesitated but said yes” Phil added.

“She... Natasha said she doesn’t know where the parents would go, she answered that sounding pretty sure, so that’s definitely no help for us but I’m not really surprised, while the older one can fight and is… was… in training… I’d bet good money they are only here for the cover.” Clint said speaking from his spot in front of the computer screens watching the girls.

“So how are we going to locate them team?” Fury asked his tone was that of a pissed off man. The mission was going to shit, and he wanted it back on course ASAP.

“I could try speaking with and bonding with the girls see if I can get their guard down and maybe get more information from them?” Laura suggested glancing at the computer screens.

“Lau... the oldest one is not to be messed with…” Clint started worrying about his wife. He’d watched the live show Natasha had put on at the house and he did not want anything happening to her.

“Clint, I can handle myself just fine, plus if a dozen armed men broke into our house like that, with my training I’d do exactly what she did… and so would you.” Laura said cutting her husband off and giving him a pointed look.

“Fine but I’m waiting outside the door.” Clint replied.

Fury rolled his eyes at the couple. “Alright Bartons, you two tackle the girls. Coulson, you head back to the house and see what the strike teams have found, and I’ll monitor you and the girls from here and find out what team two are up too in the search for the mother.” He assigned to the agents in the room before turning back toward the computers.

The three agents were up and heading toward their assigned destinations. Phil wished the couple good luck as they headed back to the girls’ room and he headed toward the parking garage.

Laura felt Clint grab her hand as they walked. She gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand as he spoke “Maybe I should come in, in case they gang up on you.” He rubbed his other hand on the back of his neck, he was nervous, he knew Laura was skilled, but he never wanted anything to happen to her.

Laura took a moment to contemplate as they kept walking down the hallway. The girls could be fine with Clint in the room, but they could also shut down and not talk or maybe Natasha would get aggressive… but if she kicked Clint out the second either of the two scenarios happened maybe that would gain some of their trust… Clint raised an eyebrow at her waiting for her response as the couple arrived at the door to the girls. “Alright you can come in with me, but if I tell you to get out if Natasha gets agitated you need to listen to me” She said, giving him a I’m serious look. He nodded and she smiled as she began unlocking the door.

-

Natasha and Yelena had been tucked up in the corner of the bed against the wall, snuggled together since Phil and the dark-haired women who brought Yelena in had left. Yelena had started crying again shortly after, Natasha had started rocking them and whispering comforting words in her sister's ear trying to calm her. After what felt like forever Yelena’s sobs had turned to sniffles.

The little blonde pulled her face away from her sisters' chest and wiped at her eyes before asking “Nattie why are we here? Where’s mommy and daddy?”

Natasha felt her breath catch in her throat as she looked at Yelena’s wet big brown eyes. She bit her lip before looking down at the bed, she had no idea what to tell her, Yelena knew nothing, she didn’t know that ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ weren’t their parents or that they weren’t actually sisters or that until today she hadn’t even thought of her as her sister… she didn’t know what to say so she replied “I don’t know Lena.”

She couldn’t look Yelena in the eye. She had been taught to lie since she could speak but lying to Yelena had always felt bad, now more than ever. Pushing aside her guilt Natasha decided to see what the woman that had been with Yelena had asked her.

“Lena what did that woman ask you when you were with her?”

Yelena turned her head from looking around the room toward her sister. She took a moment to think before answering. “She asked me my name, and she told me her name was Laura after I told her mine. I was crying lots too because I thought you died and I wanted you and mommy, and I was scared but she asked if I wanted a hug and I said yes because I was scared. She was nice” the blonde rambled on.

Natasha blinked taking all the information Yelena told her in. She felt a lot of emotions, sadness and anger that Yelena had thought she had died but also uncertain and nervous that the woman had hugged Yelena, nothing good could come from that.

She knew Yelena was too trusting and decided she needed to give the little girl a crash course in staying alive and safe till they escaped, or Melina and Alexei or the Red Room could save… no that didn’t sound right… get them back maybe because save and the Red Room did not go together.

“Yelena whatever these people ask or tell you don’t listen to them. Don’t answer their questions or take anything from them unless I’m with you. Do you understand?” Natasha said her tone serious.

Always one to ask questions and not be quiet Yelena did not just answer with a simple Yes. “Why? Laura was nice?”

“Because… it will keep you safe. Please Yelena just listen to me, just this once” Natasha pleaded.

Yelena couldn’t understand why her sister was worried and scared, pretty much anyone Yelena had meet was nice, but her sister had always been more quiet than she had and she had never known why. But for once after what had happened at the house she decided to listen to her sister.

Yelena nodded and replied, “Okay Nattie.” Just as the girls heard the locks on the door opening. Natasha’s eyes widened and she grabbed Yelena and dragged her behind her on the bed as she moved forward ready to fight if need be.

Chapter Text

Laura slowly pushed the door open, ready in case of an attack, Clint was close behind, He had wanted to go first but Laura thought it would be better if the girls saw a familiar face first. She poked her head through the doorway and smiled softly at the two nervous girls.

She moved carefully and slowly into the room as not to spook them, she felt Clint following behind carefully too. She noticed the oldest, Natasha tense up and level a glare toward her husband, obviously recognising him. She stepped in front of Clint to try and block Natasha’s view of him.

“Hi girls” she smiled and waved, keeping her hands where the girls could see to show them, she wasn’t a threat. Yelena gave her a small smile, but Natasha kept her glare trained on Clint, almost daring him to try something.

Laura glanced around the room and noticed there was only one chair. Staying standing was only going to continue to intimidate the girls and she could tell with one look at Natasha that having Clint in the room was not going to help get anything from her. Yelena even looked nervous as Clint had been the one to grab her at the house. Turning towards Clint she quietly spoke to him “You need to go, we aren’t going to get anywhere with them with you in the room at the moment. Why don’t you go grab something for them to eat might help them warm up to you.” She gave him a small smile hoping he would actually listen.

Clint nodded “Okay what should I get?” he asked.

Turning back toward the girls who were both watching them closely she asked, “My husband, Clint here is going to go and get you some food, whatever you want.”

Before Natasha could speak for both of them and tell them they didn’t need or want anything, her sister spoke loudly and quickly, excited by the opportunity of having a choice of anything.

“Mac n Cheese!!! Pleaseeee!” She grinned before it fell with the look her sister was giving her. Natasha was quickly fuming after Yelena happily answered Laura’s question. Yelena had never really seen her big sister give her a look like she was currently giving her, and so she slowly began to shrink down, trying to hide from Natasha’s glare.

Turning back to the couple who were waiting to see what she would do, Natasha levelled the pair with her signature glare and told them “We don’t need or want anything from you.”

Trying to calm the situation down Laura said, “Okay we won’t get you anything, don’t worry” She watched Natasha’s face relax slightly but her eyes never left Clint. “Would you prefer if Clint left while we talk?” she asked.

“Not that I trust you at all but if he comes near my sister again, you may need to look for a new husband.” Natasha stated calmly, her eyes still not leaving Clint. Laura couldn’t hide the shocked/surprised look that popped up on her face, she wasn’t used to children speaking like that. Clint let out a chuckle.

Laura turned to Clint again, trusting him to watch her back while he was here. “You better go.” She said quietly, before mouthing the words ‘Get food’ knowing he would understand. She turned around and softly smiled at the girls as she heard Clint leave the room.

Natasha watched Laura move toward and sit on the only chair in the small room. She studied the woman, she appeared kind as Yelena had said, but many people can appear kind. She looked to be average height and a slim but stronger than she looked build. She had kept her kind, soft smile and had noticed that she and Yelena were uncomfortable by her husband. Natasha observed but she couldn’t decide how she felt about the woman, for now she was sticking with trusting no one.

“How are you girls doing?” Laura asked, taking Natasha out of her thoughts.

“How would you be doing?” Natasha snapped, narrowing her eyes at the woman.

Laura sighed, pressing her lips together as she looked at the girls trying to decide how to approach this situation. It was obvious Natasha was angry and in no mood to trust anyone, she wouldn’t either if her house had been attacked and she was pretty much kidnapped and held in a secure room in an unknown building and place. Yelena was nervous and obviously scared, with no idea what was happening or why. Natasha was sat in front of Yelena, protective and ready to fight anyone who tried to get close. But it was definitely making Yelena more nervous.

Natasha didn’t like how Laura was watching and studying her, she wouldn’t be the one to speak first but she couldn’t help but clench her jaw. Laura waited to see if Natasha would break but it didn’t come so they sat like that for a while, Natasha and Laura watching each other.

What felt like at least an hour but really had only been about 10 minutes but felt like forever for Yelena who had started to fidget within the first couple of minutes of their standoff. First, she played with the back of Natasha’s shirt, then she started to shift around (she never liked to stay in one place for long). Shifting around slightly she then started to play with Natasha’s hair before her slight shifting got worse. Natasha realised what was happening before Yelena could or would say something… she needed the bathroom… and the longer she and Laura were waiting each other out, the worst the fidgeting would get before probable disaster, but she couldn’t be the first to break, she wouldn’t have the upper hand then.

Laura watched Yelena’s fidgeting get worse and a flash of nervousness cross Natasha’s face. She wasn’t sure what was going on but she could tell she needed to be the first to speak. “Is everything okay?” she asked watching the pair carefully.

Never one to want help and certainly not to ask these people for it, Natasha glared at Laura but before she could speak and tell Laura they were fine, Yelena bet her to it again.

“I need to go to the toilet!” the little girl said almost bouncing up and down now, trying to hold it in.

Laura’s eyes widen and her head began to spin trying to figure out what to do. Logically Laura and the team knew the girls would need to use the bathroom at some point, but they hadn’t thought about exactly when or how they were going to get the girls there without issue. Because Natasha mostly likely wouldn’t let Yelena go without her, but they couldn’t have both girls out of the room at the same time this soon, Natasha was pretty skilled, and most agents would not be comfortable fighting her properly and the chances of the girls escaping could be quite high.

Knowing with young kids they can only hold on for so long. Laura jumped into action, Natasha wouldn’t like it but there was only one solution. “Okay Yelena, it’s alright, there is a bathroom just down the hall.” Laura said standing and holding her hand out toward the girls “I’ll take you now, it will be alright sweetie” she smiled.

“Nope you aren’t taking my sister anywhere!” Natasha shouted jumping up and blocking Yelena from moving toward Laura.

Laura felt stuck, she couldn’t push the girls, but the clock was ticking.

“Nattie please, I need to go so bad” Yelena whined, she was trying so hard not to wet her pants, because she really didn’t want too.

Biting her lip Natasha said “Well I’m coming too then” she held her arms out toward Yelena and the little girl shuffled forward so Natasha could help her off the bed.

“I’m sorry Natasha but you have to stay here… I promise you I will bring your sister back here as quickly as possible” Laura said feeling awful as Natasha stilled with Yelena in her arms.

Natasha stood still as a statue, with Yelena in her arms, contemplating her options. Her heart was racing in fear of her little sister leaving her sight, anything could happen to her while she was gone, she didn’t want to have to trust anyone here, but she didn’t want Yelena to wet her pants, she could be a baby a lot of the time, but she was 4 years old and always used the toilet.

Yelena began to fidget again and moaned almost in pain “Nattie I really need to go, Laura is nice please” she pouted, her frown fully on display.

She sighed and bit her lip again “5 minutes and if you’re not back, I’m not responsible for what I do after that.” She said putting Yelena down and watched her run/shuffle toward Laura’s hand and the pair quickly headed for the door.

She was soon pacing the room and counting the seconds since Laura left with Yelena. She was almost at 5 minutes when the door opened, and Yelena barrelled into the room with a grin feeling much better.

“I’m back!” she giggled, and Natasha let out a breath “I told you Laura was nice!” she said putting her hands on her hip giving her big sister a ‘I told you so’ look. Natasha just rolled her eyes.

“Do you need to go to the bathroom Natasha?” Laura asked from the doorway, keeping the door open so it was easier for the pair to leave if she needed it. Natasha shook her head no, not wanting to be away from Yelena again so soon. Laura then stepped into the room and let the door close.

“Okay can you answer some of my questions now?” Laura asked as she sat down, ready to try again.

-

Pulling into his parking spot, he turned the vehicle off and let out a sigh. He glanced at the takeout food on the passenger seat and grumbled. He’d been grumpy since he left the girl’s room. He trusted his wife, they both knew that the older girl, Natasha, was just a scared kid trying to protect her sister from a bunch of kidnapping strangers, but he wanted to stay with Laura while they worked to gain Natasha’s trust, and logically he knew that this early, Laura needed to take the lead.

Getting out of his vehicle and making sure to grab the bag of takeout, he heard another vehicle pull into its parking space nearby and immediately recognised the SUV as his handler Phil’s.

“Hey Coulson” He waved heading toward him as Phil got out of the SUV.

“Barton. Where have you been? Thought you were working with Laura and the girls?” Phil asked as he moved toward the boot of the vehicle.

“Got sent out for food for the girls. Larua is taking the lead. Need any help?”

“Yes please, I grabbed a bunch of the girl’s stuff from their house. Mostly clothes and some toys” He pulled a box out and handed it to Clint.

“Jesus how much shit did you grab?” Clint groaned taking the box and looking at the other three boxes in the SUV.

“Kids have a lot of shit Barton, better get comfortable with that fact if you and Lau are gonna have kids someday soon” Phil chuckled “I also have a ton of evidence for us to go through, which is in those two boxes, I looked at a few things already that hopefully Natasha can have some answers about” He grabbed another box out and closed and locked the car, leaving the other boxes for someone else to grab once they got upstairs.

They made small talk till they reached the taskforce bullpen, Phil and Clint placed the boxes down and Phil asked a couple of nearby agents to go back to his car and get the other boxes out.

They greeted Fury before Clint asked. “Laura get anything from the girls?” He had moved to the computer monitors to see the live feed, which showed Laura and the girls speaking to each other.

“Natasha won’t answer any questions about their parents, where they lived before here or where she learned to fight, she just goes quiet till Laura asks something to do with the life they are currently living. I’m getting the feeling the younger one knows nothing. Yelena is getting confused and has been asking questions about what Laura is asking though” Fury said watching the screens closely. Natasha appear to be getting flustered by Yelena.

“Maybe a break and some food might help?” Clint asked nodding toward the bag of takeout on the table.

Fury nodded “Just knock and hand it to Laura, tell her to get them sorted with eating and then to come out here. I have an idea”

Grabbing the bag of food Clint headed toward the girl’s room. He knocked on the door and started to unlock it. He opened it a crack and waited to see Laura’s face. She smiled and told the girls she’d just be a minute and moved into the hallway with Clint.

“How’s it going?”

“Slow. Natasha won’t answer any questions about before here, Yelena is confused and keeps asking her questions about what’s going on. Natasha is going to snap soon” Laura sighed rubbing a hand over her face.

Clint pulled her into a hug and rubbed a hand over her back. “I got the Mac and Cheese. Fury said to get them sorted and eating and then come back to the bullpen, he has an idea.” Clint said and handed her the bag of food. “I’ll wait here, you got this” He smiled, and Laura gave him a small smile back and returned to the girl’s room.

Yelena perked up as soon as she saw the bag in Laura’s hand and Natasha just glared at it. Her nerves were fried, and it was getting hard to hide. Yelena had that effect on her.

“What’s in the bag?!” Yelena asked bouncing slightly, happy for a distraction from all the confusing questions Laura was asking.

“I know you said you didn’t want or need anything from us… but it’s getting late, and I know the last thing you ate was lunch and that was about 7 hours ago. You’re growing girls and it’s been a very stressful day. So, we got you the Mac n Cheese” Laura said with a smile.

Yelena squealed and started to move toward Laura, she was starving but had been too nervous to ask. Natasha however clenched her jaw, her nerves were still on the edge, and all this was making it worse. She quickly grabbed Yelena as she was getting off the bed. The little girl let out a yelp at her sister sudden move, she was about to protest till Natasha gave her the same look from earlier and she shut her mouth.

“I’ve gone a lot longer than seven hours without food. We will be fine!” Natasha snapped “Also who knows what you put in it, I’m not stupid” she added before she suddenly realised what she had let slip, she was then clenching her teeth harder and avoiding eye contact with Laura.

Laura was fast to school her features and promptly reevaluated the room. Yelena had gone from excited about food, to anxious and quiet from Natasha outburst. Natasha had finally been tipped over the edge and actually looked nervous.

Taking control of the situation, Laura ignored the girls and moved toward the small table against the wall between the bed and one chair in the room. She pulled the food out and cardboard utensils (Less likely to be a weapon… less) Thankfully there was 4 sporks (Cardboard usually got soggy fast). She opened both food containers and water bottles and took a small drink from both bottles and then a spork full of Mac n Cheese from both containers. Then finally she spoke “Everything is safe I promise.”

Natasha had watched Laura closely, somewhat intrigued to see an adult (not counting Melina and Alexei – they had been a whole different can of worms, which would take her years from now to fully wrap her head around) trying so hard to make her feel safe-ish. She had been in similar situations to her current one and never felt so off her game and flustered. But maybe it was because she truly had no idea what these people were going to do next, they hadn’t yelled or hit them, there was a bed, and the room was clean. It was all so strange and put her on edge.

Yelena broke her from her thoughts when she shifted and asked her, “Can we eat now Nattie? Please I’m so hungry I’m gonna die” she complained, and Natasha couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the dramatics. Natasha let out a breath, released her hold on her sister and nodded.

Yelena grinned and pretty much bounced over to the table, grabbing a spork she began shovelling Mac n Cheese into her mouth. Natasha grimaced, her sister’s table manners definitely left something to be desired.

Laura smiled, glad things were under control again. “I’ll let you eat in peace, I need to go speak to my team, I’ll be back as soon as I can okay.” Natasha only gave her a quick glance before turning her attention to her sister, while Yelena nodded and said with a mouth full of food. “O-a Ora” adding a thumbs up too, Laura somehow managed to hold back her laughter as she left the room and heard Natasha say “Oh my god Yelena! Don’t talk with your month full” she could hear the absolute disgust in her voice.

Yelena had almost finished her food by the time Natasha finally started eating or picking at it was a better way to describe what she was doing. Natasha could feel Yelena watching her, but she (for once) hadn’t said anything yet and Natasha wasn’t in the mood to speak.

She wasn’t sure why she felt so tired, it wasn’t the food, because she so far had barely eaten anything and Yelena still seemed wide awake. Maybe it was the fact that since lunch (apart from the hour or so she was knocked out) she had been running on pure adrenaline, and she hadn’t felt like that in well over a year. God she was slipping. Also, SHIELD was doing a good job of luring her into what could only be a false sense of security, making her adrenaline wear off.

As usual Yelena broke her from her thoughts “Nattie why are you scared of the food?” she asked then continued before Natasha could answer her. “Why do they keep asking about mommy and daddy? And where we lived before here? Did you live somewhere else before I was borned?”

God she was sick of questions. Closing her eyes and breathing out a long slow breath to ground herself “Don’t worry about it Lena” pausing she added “and it born not borned”

“But I want to know” she whined

She closed her eyes again and tried to remain calm “I’ll tell you tomorrow okay. It’s been a long intense day and I’m over it okay.”

Yelena contemplated what Natasha had just said before nodding. “Fine but you have to tell me tomorrow”

-

About 20 minutes after Laura had left, she returned with Clint. The team had a game plan for tomorrow at least. They had decided to let the girls be for the rest of the evening and night and were going to start again in the morning.

The couple had a small box with them with a change of clothes aka pyjamas, a couple of activity books and crayons (safest option) and a few of most likely Yelena’s toys. The current game plan was to get them ready for bed.

Clint was coming along to give them the box of items to hopefully build a tiny bit of trust, and to also take the empty food rubbish with him. Laura knocked on the door and began unlocking it.

“Hi girls, are you feeling better after having some food?” she smiled entering the room.

“Yep! And Nattie let me finish hers too” Yelena grinned rubbing her tummy. “Can we have ice cream?”

“Yelena!” Natasha scolded

Laura just laughed and shook her head “Not tonight, Missy, maybe tomorrow.”

Grumbling the 4 year old said “Why is everyone saying tomorrow”

Skipping past that Laura decided to properly introduce Clint to the girl. “Natasha, Yelena, I know you met in the least ideal circumstance, but I would like to actually introduce you to my husband, Clint” She gestured for Clint to come in. Yelena moved behind Natasha quickly and Natasha glared at Clint as he entered the room and let the door close behind him.

“Hi girls” He waved awkwardly still holding the box. Natasha’s glare didn’t falter, but Yelena’s attention was caught by the box.

“Girls I promise he’s a big teddy bear. He never will and never had any intention to hurt you today. He was just trying to get you here as safely as possible so we can figure out what was going on with your parents okay?”

Yelena nodded not really understand her attention still mainly focused on the box in Clint’s arms.

Natasha just stared at the couple for a while, making Laura shift uncomfortably. Finally, she spoke calmly “I don’t trust him… or you… and if he grabs my sister again then well… like I said earlier you will need to look for a new husband”

Laura was surprised yet again but just chuckled like earlier. “Deal” He said. Natasha just narrowed her eyes at the man not amused.

Before the room could become stagnate again, Yelena blurted out “What’s in the box?” The man, Laura’s husband, still made her nervous but her curiosity always got the better of her.

Clint smiled and moved slowly toward the table to put the box down pushing the takeout containers toward the wall. “One of our coworkers grabbed some of your stuff from your house.” He said stepping back so the girls could look.

Natasha leaned forward first to make sure it wasn’t a trick, she saw the clothes and toys and nodded to Yelena it was safe. Yelena squealed when she saw some of her my little ponies “My ponies! Thank you!” she grinned pulling some out of the box.

“No problem kid” Clint smiled “Right I’m gonna leave you be now, I was just here to deliver some of your stuff and be the rubbish removal guy” he chuckled slowly moving toward the table to clean up what was left of their dinner.

Once Clint had left, Laura moved into action. “Okay girls, we are going to leave you be for tonight, let you get some sleep” she smiled “You can get changed and go to the bathroom down the hall. I have to take you separately though sorry”

Natasha sighed but nodded. “You go first Lena”

“But I want to play with my ponies” she pouted.

“The faster you get ready for bed the longer you can play before you need to go to sleep” Natasha said, repeating what Melina would say almost every night.

Natasha grabbed Yelena’s things and handed them to Laura as the tiny blonde groaned and slowly got up from the floor like it was the hardest thing she had ever had to do (something she did almost every night).

“Right, I guess I’ll leave you be till tomorrow” Laura said once both girls were changed and ready for bed. “There is a light switch here” she pointed toward it, “and if you need anything in the night, bathroom or water or anything else just yell out, someone will be keeping an eye on the cameras and they will let me know and I’ll be here as quick as I can, Okay?” Both the girls nodded.

“Okay Goodnight” she smiled and headed for the door.

“Goodnight Laura” Yelena smiled. Natasha just stayed quiet, she definitely wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight, nighttime was always when bad stuff happened.

Chapter Text

It had been a long night for Natasha, any sound from outside their room, any shift from Yelena sleeping next to her, she was awake in seconds. Around 1 am Yelena woke up needing to pee. It was a long almost 10 minutes, waiting for Laura to arrive to take her. Yelena had fallen back to sleep quickly after that, but it had taken Natasha almost an hour. In total she probably got 3 hours sleep if she was lucky.

Laura and Clint had brought them breakfast. They had tried to ask a few simple questions, but she was in no mood to talk and had just ignored them. Yelena had filled her silence though. Telling the couple (mainly Laura) about her toys and had then asked if she could watch TV. Natasha had just rolled her eyes while pushing the cereal they brought them around.

Laura and Clint left them alone for a while after eating breakfast, so Natasha had decided to shut her eyes and try and get a bit more sleep, which wasn’t easy as Yelena was playing not so quietly with her toys beside the bed. But she thought she might have managed 10 minutes extra sleep in the time the couple were gone.

Natasha was awoken again when the door unlocked and soon after Laura was walking through the door. Natasha rubbed a hand over her tired face as Yelena jumped up from the floor where she was playing with her toys.

“You’re back!” Yelena grinned.

“I’m back” Laura smiled before it dropped looking at Natasha. She had noticed how tired she looked earlier, but she had hoped she would perk up after some food. “Are you alright Natasha? Do you need anything?” she asked.

“I’m fine” Natasha said avoiding Laura’s concerned face.

“Did you ask if we could have a TV? I can only play with my toys for so long” Yelena said pouting, hoping that would help in her quest for TV time.

Laura chuckled at the little girl “Yes we did, Clint is looking into finding a little TV” she smiled. “We are also working at putting you two into a different room. One with two beds and a little bathroom”

“How long do we have to be here?” Yelena asked

“Not sure sweetheart”

“Why do we have to stay in this room?” Yelena was getting bored already and it hadn’t even been a day.

“To keep you safe” Laura said looking at Natasha face discreetly and seeing her roll her eyes.

“What do we need to be safe from?”

“We aren’t quite sure yet but hopefully your sister might be able to help?” Laura said looking properly at Natasha who let out an annoyed breath and rolled her eyes again.

Yelena spun around and looked at Natasha “Nattie what do you know?” she asked curiously.

Glancing between her sister and Laura, Natasha felt anxious, she knew she wasn’t meant to talk about the red room or the mission, but so far these people hadn’t hurt her or Yelena, and well the thought of Yelena ending up in the red room made her sick. But also, Yelena fully believed (was probably brainwashed) that Melina and Alexei were their parents and she really didn’t want to know how Yelena will feel finding out the truth. But maybe she could deal with Yelena hating her, because maybe she could make a deal with these people, that they keep Yelena safe and away from the red room. She could deal with that she’d been alone till this point anyway. And Yelena would be safe even if she hated her.

Laura watched Natasha thinking, deep in thought, she could only hope Natasha was deciding that she would speak to them. She was happy to wait for the girl to decide in her own time… Yelena however was soon annoyed her sister hadn’t answered her question and was soon tapping Natasha on the leg, pulling her from her thoughts.

Natasha ignored Yelena and made eye contact with Laura. “I’ll speak to you but not with Yelena in the room and I…”

“What!? Why do I have to go?” Yelena interrupted, crossing her arms and pouting. Laura held back a smirk at how adorable it made her look.

Ignoring Yelena again, Natasha continued. “I also want to make a deal before I talk.”

“Nattie!” Yelena tried again to interrupt.

“Yelena stop. I would also prefer to speak to your husband or the man, what was his name… Coulson” she said pausing for a moment. “I still don’t trust you, but I definitely don’t know or trust anyone else to watch my sister while I speak to you guys”

Laura nodded. “Of course, I’m sure we can work out some kind of deal. I’m also happy to stay here with your sister. You can speak to Clint and Coulson and my boss in our briefing room. You can also keep an eye on me and Yelena from the computer monitors in there as well.”

“No Nattie don’t leave me!” Yelena cried, throwing herself onto Natasha. Natasha rocked the little girl and rubbed her back trying to calm her down.

“I’ll just go and get Clint and Coulson. I’ll be back in a minute.” Laura said leaving the room and allowing the girls a few minutes alone.

“Don’t go Nattie” Yelena sobbed.

“It’s just for a little while. I promise you I’ll be back, okay”

“Why can’t I stay with you?” Yelena said as she wiped her eyes and then nose with her sleeve as small children did.

“Because you can’t right now. I’ll tell you what you need to know after I talk to them, okay?”

“But…” Yelena started as the door opened again with Laura walking into the room and Clint standing in the doorway, Coulson behind him. “Natasha, I promise you, they are only going to ask questions. They won’t hurt you.” Laura said seriously. “And if they do, well they will have to deal with me”

Natasha let out a small breath as she disassociated and let her Black Widow mode take over. “You will be fine with Laura. I’ll be back soon.” She said emotionlessly. It was easier to let her training take over, safer.

“Nattie!” Yelena cried moving to chase after her. Laura caught her and watched as Natasha didn’t even turn around as she moved into the hallway. Clint had a moment of hesitation before Laura told him to go, and so he closed the door.

Once the door closed Yelena let out some louder sobs and thankfully instead of fighting Laura, she fell into her arms, letting Laura comfort her. Laura was honestly surprised Natasha had left the way she had, it was concerning but she pushed it from her mind and worked on calming the little girl and trying to distract her till Natasha returned.

-

Natasha sat at the table in the large briefing room, watching the 3 men who sat across from her. They had moved one of the computer monitors to where she could see it easily. Their kindness and accommodation with the computer so far, was making her feel slightly uneasy. Nothing good usually followed when men in power treated girls like her, like this. She didn’t believe what Laura had said earlier but god she wanted too but she wasn’t a trusting foolish child like her little sister.

They had also sat her on the side of the table as far from the door and had positioned themselves in front of it. She wouldn’t get out of here without a fight, not that she was planning to if she didn’t need too, especially without Yelena.

She swallowed the knot in her throat as she watched Laura try to comfort and calm Yelena down. Pushing aside the small feeling of guilt she turned her full attention back to the men, Clint, Coulson and their interesting boss, Fury who only had one eye and wore an eye patch. “As I said to Laura before we start, I want to make a deal… in writing.” She said folding her hands together on top of the table, she was ready to get this over with.

Fury’s lip twitched slightly, this child would almost amuse him if he wasn’t almost sure on why she appeared to be pretty calm and collected in this interrogation. “Go ahead.” He said waiting to hear what she might ask.

“I will answer all of your questions with whatever knowledge I have as long as you can protect and keep my sister safe. I don’t care about myself but where I come from, Yelena has not been there yet, at least not like me and I don’t ever want her to have to go there if I can do something to save her.” Natasha said

Fury hummed, mulling over her proposition. Hiding and protecting her sister shouldn’t be too hard and even though she said she didn’t care what happened to herself. They couldn’t just throw her to the wolves.

He gestured to Coulson to leave the room and the pair moved into the main office. He quickly told him to write up the contract but to include Natasha in it as well, they would figure out later how exactly they would protect the girls but for now they needed answers. Coulson nodded and ran off to type up the agreement so they could start, while he rejoined the small red head and Barton.

“Alright Natasha. I can agree to your terms. I have sent Coulson to type up a quick contract, and we can work out more details later” Fury said holding his hand out toward the small girl.

Natasha scanned the mans face looking for an indication of deception, his face while somewhat intimidating, appeared to her eyes to be telling the truth. She shook his outstretched hand, but she didn’t let the slight feeling of relief she felt show on her face.

“Right can we get started now?” He asked taking a seat beside Clint.

“I’ll answer one question till the contract gets here.” She said calmly.

“Great” Fury smiled. “Where do you come from?” He asked.

“Russia”

Raising an eyebrow Fury waited for her to continue.

“I said I would answer one question.” She said unbothered by the man’s slight irritation.

Biting his cheek, they waited in silence for Coulson to return and thankfully a few minutes later he was walking through the door, semi out of breath, with a pen and paper. He handed them to Fury who read over what was written. He nodded and signed his name on both copies before sliding them over to Natasha. The girl quietly read over what was written, a small slip of surprise came across her face when she read her name along with Yelena’s, but it was gone fast. She signed her name and slid the papers and pen back.

“One is a copy for you” Fury said sliding one of the copies back. Again, a small look of surprise flashed across the girl’s face. This was something that the Red Room hadn’t prepared her for in an interrogation. She carefully folded up the paper and put it in her pocket.

As Coulson took a seat, Fury continued “Alright you’re from Russia. Why and how are you in America?”

Pressing her lips together, she fought the feeling to remain silent “I am here on a mission. I was told I am to be a normal, average child. A good daughter and big sister. So, no one will notice us.” She watched the three men across from her glance at each other.

“What was the mission?” Coulson asked worry etched on his face, endless possibilities of what kind of mission she was apart of, was running through his mind.

“I don’t know. I was never told, and I never overheard much either. I did hear them mention a shield a few times, but it always confused me till you told me that’s who you guys are.”

The men glanced at each other, silently wondering if she was speaking the truth, they couldn’t be sure but decided to continue on. “Who is them? Your parents?” Clint asked and Natasha nodded “Are they your parents?” he added.

Glancing down Natasha shook her head. “No, I’d never met them till the day I was told I was going on this mission, then I was handed off to them as well as Yelena….” She told them, pausing for a moment “She was asleep when they handed her to Melis… Melina.” She decided to finally just use their real names. “I’m pretty sure Yelena had been drugged” she added.

The men slowly took in what she had just said and looked between themselves silently deciding where to continue the questioning. Clint and Coulson nodded slightly telling Fury to decide. “Alright… so, your ‘mothers’ name is Melina, what about your ‘father’?” Fury asked

“Alexei, I don’t know last names if that’s your next question” Natasha said

“How did they treat you?” Clint asked nervously, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she could say, especially after telling them that Yelena had been drugged.

“They were kind and nice… I still didn’t trust them because I knew once they got what they needed they were going to send me… and Yelena back there…” She paused and looked down “I’ve never had any adult treat me that way before… at least not before hurting me” she trailed off avoiding the men’s eyes. She didn’t show any other weakness though.

Clint especially had to push the nausea down. But they gave her a couple of minutes before asking their next question. “Who sent you on this mission?” Fury asked trying to keep his tone calm.

“Dreykov” was all she said.

“Who is he?” Fury asked raising an eyebrow, he had never heard that name before.

“He runs the Red Room”

“Red Room?” Coulson asked

“They train little girls like me and Yelena to become Black Widows. We learn to fight and kill… Be the prefect spy” she said squeezing her hands, trying to remain in control of her emotions. She despised talking about him and that place. The thought of Yelena ending up there always made her feel sick.

The men all fell silent and ended up taking a couple of minutes to collect their thoughts while Natasha emotionlessly watched Yelena playing with her toys with Laura through the computer screen. Natasha was betraying her country for that little girl, and she knew it was worth it. She just hoped Yelena wouldn’t hate her for lying to her.

“Where do we find this Red Room and Dreykov?” Clint was the first to ask and his question pulled Natasha from her thoughts. He himself was having some intense feelings at the moment.

“If I knew I’d tell you” She sighed. “It’s definitely in Russia though” she added before her attention was drawn back to the computer screen, her sister’s imagination was in full swing as she moved one of her my little ponies around in front of Laura.

Fury grumbled, while they had a lot of new information, most of it wasn’t overly helpful. He glanced at Coulson and Barton on either side of him and both men were deep in thought, also trying to figure out where they went from here and whether they had any more questions at the moment. He leaned back in his seat and studied the petite 11 year old. It was easy to see she loved and adored her sister… his thoughts trailed off as he realised, they hadn’t asked any questions about the tiny blonde.

“Is she your sister?” He asked he was already sure what the answer was going to be.

Fury’s question drew her attention back to the men and she mentally scolded herself for falling into a daydream. Widows didn’t do that. That’s how you got hurt or killed. She was better than that.

The men watched her having an obvious war in her head. Worry etched its way onto all of their faces. “Natasha?!” Clint called out. Natasha’s head whipped up, and she looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Are you okay?” Clint asked gently.

She felt her face flush, and she bit her cheek, embarrassed she had gotten lost in her head and lost control. She silently contemplated whether she should ask (and admit) she had missed what they asked or just waited till they asked again. Clint put her out of her misery and asked their question again. “Is Yelena your sister?”

She stared at them for several moments and the men wondered if she hadn’t heard them yet again, finally taking a breath and hoping that her answer wouldn’t somehow affect their deal she said “No she’s not… I met her the same time as Melina and Alexei… I’d never seen her in the red room before either, I don’t know where she came from”

Clint furrowed his eyebrows together and frowned “Yelena has spoken about your parents like she genuinely believes they are her… and yours, parents… Do you know why?” He asked

Natasha pursed her lips together, she wasn’t sure how to answer. Taking a deep breath she said “I don’t know why exactly… but from the moment Yelena woke up she acted as though we had always been a family. That Melina was our mom and Alexei our dad, I was her big sister, she was completely comfortable with us. Melina and Alexei never seemed surprised by it, so I guess they knew why…” sighing she added “I never asked… you don’t ask questions in the Red Room… but I know they use brainwashing, so I’d guess that’s why” she looked down at her hands in her lap, she felt almost guilty that Yelena had been through that… she wasn’t really sure why.

After a couple of minutes of ignoring the men across from her and them not asking anymore questions she finally subtly glanced up to see them having a silent conversation, she furrowed her eyebrows as she watched them till Clint noticed her and elbowed Fury who raised an eyebrow at the agent, Clint then subtly moved his head towards Natasha and she quickly looked down at her lap again.

Deciding they had enough new information for today Fury cleared his throat, gaining the young girl's attention. “Alright, I think that’s enough for today, Natasha. You’ve been very helpful. Barton will take you back to your sister.” Fury said doing his best to sound cheery, but it really didn’t come across that way.

Clint stood up and smiled at Natasha “Come on then Natasha.”

-

He guided her through the hallways till they finally arrived at the girl’s room. “I think the new room we were sorting for you two might be ready now, I’ll go check after this” Clint said before opening the door.

“NATTIE!!” Yelena screamed jumping up from her spot on the floor where her and Laura had been playing, she ran full force into Natasha who only had seconds to brace herself. Natasha couldn’t help the small smile that popped up on her face. “You came back!” She grinned bouncing on the spot in front of her sister.

“I told you I would” Natasha said moving into the room properly.

Laura smiled at the pair and got up from her spot on the floor. “How did it go Natasha? Are you alright?” She asked trying to rain in the motherly feelings she felt towards the two girls.

“It was fine” Natasha shrugged

Raising an eyebrow and nodding she decided not to worry, she’d find out from Clint and the team soon anyway. “Alright, it’s almost lunchtime, what would you two like?” She asked

“Anything we want?” Yelena asked with wide, excited eyes.

“Within reason but sure” Laura smiled

“Mac n Cheese!” She squealed

Natasha rolled her eyes at her sister, but decided to ask for something she’d want, Mac and Cheese was not something she enjoyed much, especially not two days in a row “Can I have a peanut butter sandwich… please?" she said quietly. She rolled her eyes again when Laura’s eyes lit up and she smiled

“Of course, we’ll leave you two alone for a bit and be back with your lunch soon, okay?”

Clint who had been watching them quietly from the door added “I told Natasha I’d check if their new room was ready, we can let you know that when we come back and maybe you can have lunch there” he smiled

“Yay! Will there be TV?” Yelena asked excitedly

“I told them to find one so there should be” Clint replied and then laughed as Yelena squealed and started doing a happy dance.

Natasha sighed as she lay down on the bed and shut her eyes once Clint and Laura left. She finally felt some of the tension she’d been feeling since agreeing to talk this morning, leave her.

Yelena managed to calm herself down slightly as Clint and Laura left, only slightly though because she was feeling pretty antsy since she’d been cooped up for almost 24 hours now. But as she watched her sister lie down and shut her eyes, she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to and tried (for almost 30 seconds) to leave her alone, but she needed to know what Natasha had told Clint “Nattie can you tell me now?” She asked climbing onto the bed.

Natasha eyes snapped open and she pursed her lips together as she looked at Yelena. She felt exhausted but there was no way Yelena was going to leave her alone. “Fine” she sighed.

Chapter Text

Yelena had been so mad and upset when she told her. She had explained that Melissa and Alex weren’t their parents, and that their names weren’t even that. She had told her that she had grown up in Russia before coming here, but she had no immediate plans to well, hopefully never tell Yelena where exactly it was, she was raised, if she could help it.

Yelena had first gotten confused and then went into denial. Then she had started to get angry and began yelling at Natasha, which had brought Laura and Clint back into the room. Yelena had started properly sobbing when the couple entered the room, and in between sobs had spit out that Natasha said her mommy and daddy weren’t real and she wasn’t her sister. She had then thrown herself into Laura’s arms.

Natasha had hoped her sister wouldn’t hate her that much for telling her the truth but obviously she did and seeing her seek comfort from Laura had stung, a lot.

Clint had been the one to suggest the girls have a bit of time apart and Natasha had numbly gone along with it, when Yelena had readily agreed, so the couple had taken Yelena to the girl's new room for a while. Thankfully despite still been angry with Natasha, Yelena had asked for her sister to join her in the new room a couple of hours later since she didn’t want to be alone for the night.

Since then, for a whole week, they had been coexisting miserably while Yelena had continued to ignore Natasha, only speaking to her if she absolutely had to. Natasha had been what she thought, was prepared for this outcome… but in her 11 and ½ years on this planet, where she had been mentally and physically abused countless times, and made to do some of the most horrendous things to other people and children just so she could survive another day… and well all that hurt less than having Yelena hate her like this.

-

Laura was watching the girls through the computer monitor from the briefing room where the team was having yet another meeting. She’d almost lost count on how many meetings they had had this last week, agents had searched just about all of Mount Vernon and the nearby area, trying to find Alexei and Melina but they had vanished.

Fury was beyond frustrated that everything had now stalled after losing the pair. Even though they had the girls, neither knew anything about why exactly they were here in Ohio and then to add to everything they were already dealing with, what Natasha had told them about where she came from now meant more work for the team.

“So, I have been trying to decide what to do now that things have stalled” Fury began, drawing Laura’s attention away from the upset and currently distant sisters. Fury turned his head to where Laura had been staring and took a moment to watch the girls before addressing his small, most trusted team. He had decided after speaking with Natasha, that anything to do with the girls was only to be discussed between him, Clint, Laura and Coulson. “We can’t keep the girls here for much longer, they need somewhere safe to go… and a backyard. Because if what Natasha has told us is true, then I think this Red Room is going to try to find them and get them back.”

“I agree but where do we send them? They can’t go just anywhere, to anyone, if they are likely to be hunted.” Laura said, it had been an extra hard week for her, she had grown incredibly close to Yelena, since the little girl was still heartbroken from learning the truth from Natasha, because of this, while she still wanted Natasha near, she also wasn’t speaking to her and so had been relying on Laura instead. Laura had also been trying get through to Natasha who had completely closed herself off since Yelena had stopped speaking to her. She hadn’t really expected it to happen so fast, but she wholeheartedly cared for the girls, so it mattered to her what was going to happen to them.

“That I’m not sure of. I just know it needs to be off the grid and books.” Fury said sighing. On top of everything going on this last week he had been trying to come up with an idea of where on earth the girls could go where they would be safe.

Clint could feel the idea brewing as Fury spoke. It almost felt insane, but he was sure Laura would be on board once he could speak to her about it.

“For now, we need to at least get the girls out of Ohio. I’m going to leave a couple of agents here in case of any leads, but we, along with the girls, are all going back to DC. I also have a safe house we can take the girls. But it can’t have too many people coming and going…” Fury trailed off, glancing around at his most trusted agents, his eyes fell on Laura though, asking an unspoken question.

Clint and Coulson followed Fury’s gaze to Laura and knew right away what he was asking. “You want me to stay with them?” Laura stated.

“They trust you the most.” Fury said.

“Where is this safe house? How secure is it?” She asked.

“It’s just outside DC. There are neighbours, but they are spaced out a bit… Only issue may be, is school is starting again and the girls can’t go, so kids not at school could draw unwanted attention from nosy neighbours” Fury frowned.

“I could go with them, then Laura can play a part of a housewife, and I can still come into work. Homeschooling is a thing and with a stay-at-home mom there it should mean people won’t end up being too nosy.” Clint said.

Fury mulled over what Clint had said. Before he agreed that it could work for the time being. “Do you want to do this Laura?” He asked.

She nodded. Before turning her attention to the girls again. She couldn’t explain the pull to protect them. She had always been maternal, but this felt different for some reason.

“Good it will buy us some more time to actually figure out what to do in the long run, once we get back to DC. I’m not looking forward to having one of my favourite agents out of the field though.”

Laura chuckled as she turned her attention back to the team and saw the offended looks on Clint and Coulson’s faces. “When are we going?” She asked.

“Ideally tomorrow. Coulson, I need you work out transport, the drive is only about 6 hours, but they’ll need to change vehicles a couple of times to insure they won’t be followed.”

“On it, sir” he said before getting up and heading to his desk to sort everything.

“Why don’t you go and explain to the girls what is happening Laura? Barton, you go back to the girl's house and pack anything else that’s theirs.” Fury said before dismissing the pair.

Before separating to head to their assigned locations, Clint pulled Laura into an empty office. “Are you okay with this Lau?” He asked grabbing her hands and squeezing gently. She had been feeling so down the last couple of days due to Yelena feeling so betrayed by Natasha.

“Yea it will be good to finally get the girls out of that little room, Yelena is slowly going mad.” She sighed.

“True” he smiled he had been taking Yelena into the hallways and getting her to do sprints to release some energy, and during this time it allowed Laura to try and get Natasha to talk, always without success. “But are you okay with taking care of them 24/7 for who knows how long?”

She smiled at him and nodded, she was already looking forward to getting to know the girls better. “Yea I think it will be fun, mostly… I hope” she was going to tell him that she was excited to look after them, but she wasn’t sure how he would feel about that, she knew he liked the girls, but she hadn’t told him the crazy idea she had, they had been speaking about having kids a lot lately before this case but nothing about like what she was currently thinking. “I’m also hoping that finally getting the girls out of here will mean Yelena might finally forgive Natasha” she sighed.

Clint chuckled “She’s a stubborn one isn’t she, I’m still surprised she’s kept it up for this whole week, I didn’t think little kids could hold grudges like that.” Laura laughed too.

“Right, we should get back to work before Fury yells at us” she smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss which Clint happily returned.

-

Natasha was sat on her bed trying to do a sudoku puzzle from an adult puzzle book Laura had got her, she had already been through several kid activity books, but they were too easy so Laura decided to see if she could do a hard one, it was definitely challenging but it was making her use her brain which helped distract her from her “sister”.

Yelena was currently watching an extremely irritating cartoon, she had been able to tune it out, but for some reason Yelena had turned it up again and well the tension between them had almost reached its boiling point and Natasha could feel herself finally breaking. “Turn it down Yelena.” She said trying to keep the bite out of her voice.

Yelena glanced over at her and scowled before grabbing the remote and instead of turning it down, she turned it up again. She didn’t spare Natasha another look as she turned her attention back to the tv.

Natasha bit her cheek and glared at the little girl. Her temper was rising fast. She was so over the silence treatment. She threw the puzzle book aside, got off the bed and stalked toward the remote.

Yelena saw the quick motions from Natasha from the corner of her eye and realised quickly that she was going for the remote. She snatched the remote up before Natasha could get to it, and the screaming match began.

“Give Me The Remote Yelena!!” Natasha yelled trying to get to it. Yelena might not have ever been to the Red Room, but she had always been scrappy, she hugged the remote to her body and wiggled around as Natasha tried to grab at it.

“NO! ITS MINE!” She screamed “LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“Then Turn It Down!!” Natasha yelled back, doing everything to contain her anger so she didn’t actually hurt Yelena. Because she easily could.

“NO! I Don’t Want Too!” Yelena screamed, somehow managing to turn the tv up louder again.

Before Natasha could actually attack Yelena, Laura burst into the room, Clint hot on her heels having heard the screaming match before he could leave. “What is going on?!” Laura yelled over the noise of the tv.

“I was just watching tv!”
“I just asked her to turn it down!” Both girls shouted over each other.

Laura looked between the pair, Natasha was standing over Yelena her face red with anger and Yelena was curled up like an armadillo below her, the tv was blaring some kids cartoon Yelena had obviously been watching. She let out a breath and ran a hand through her hair, trying to figure out what to do. She glanced back at Clint before finally speaking “Clint can you take Yelena to the break room?”

Clint still in a bit of shock, he hadn’t been expecting to deal with something like this, this afternoon, finally nodded after a moment. “Uhh.. yep, I can do that, come on Yelena.” He said holding his hand out for her.

“No! I’m watching TV!” She shouted, uncurling herself from the fetal position, and then locked her attention back on the television.

“Now Yelena” Laura said seriously, while folding her arms. Yelena however just narrowed her eyes and continued watching the tv, ignoring her.

“You're such a brat” Natasha said rolling her eyes and headed back toward her bed, she was more than happy to let Laura and Clint deal with the irritating little girl.

“You have 3 seconds to go with Clint or he’s going to carry you out of here.” Laura said, she was doing her best to stay calm and collected.

Yelena just furrowed her eyebrow in anger and glared at Laura. Pretty much daring them to give it a go and see what would happen. Laura looked back at Clint, who took a deep breath, getting himself prepared for the fight ahead. Laura began to count.

“1… 2…” She watched the blonde continue to ignore her and raised an eyebrow, this was a new side to the little girl “3”

Clint gave Yelena another couple of seconds till Laura gave him a look and he moved forward to pick her up. He wasn’t deaf but he felt like he was going to be after this. He scooped her up and carried the screaming and struggling child to the small break room down the hall, leaving Laura and Natasha in peace. He himself not so much.

“Well, that was dramatic wasn’t it” Natasha said rolling her eyes. Laura couldn’t help the small laugh that slipped out as she picked up the remote, turned the tv down and then off, no need to have it blaring when it was next turned on.

“Is she normally like this?” Laura asked moving to sit on Natasha claimed bed.

“Sometimes, she was loud and dramatic right from the start of the mission. She would throw a tantrum at least a couple times a week to begin with. Alexei hated it, he got mad a couple of times, but Melina told him to cut it out and take a walk. She managed to get Yelena to communicate properly and control her emotions a little better too, so the last couple of months hadn’t been too bad.” Natasha said.

Laura’s face flashed quickly with shock that she had opened up a little, but she felt like she had schooled her features fast enough that Natasha hadn’t noticed. She had but she didn’t let Laura know.

“Melina sounds like she was nice all things considered.” Laura said, fishing for more information in the hope Natasha still felt like opening up.

Natasha kept her face blank, but she felt a bit of emotion stir inside as she replied “Yea, it was strange for me I hadn’t met an adult female who was kind before, Melina was good with Yelena and she was always teaching us something, sometimes science stuff, other times things that would definitely be helpful in the Red Room… I always play games with Yelena to help her be ready for there, I keep them fun though… she should be a kid for at least a while” she said biting her lip to stop her emotions spilling out.

Laura felt a mix of emotions as Natasha spoke, all she wanted to do was pull her into a hug and tell her none of that was ever going to happen again, and that she was a kid too, but Natasha didn’t like to be touched so she settled for words instead. “You’re a good sister Natasha. Don’t let Yelena being angry with you, make you feel like you're not. You’re saving her honey, saving both of you” Laura smiled softly at her as Natasha turned away.

It took longer for Natasha to get her feelings in check than she would have liked but once she did, she asked “So were you already planning on stopping in here, or did our screaming match bring you by?”

Laura chuckled, Natasha always got to the point it seemed. “I was already on my way, Clint wasn’t though, I should probably go check on him and Yelena in a minute.” She said, she felt kinda bad she left Clint to deal with Yelena.

“Were you coming to play mediator again? Or something else?” Natasha asked, she still didn’t trust Clint, but he hadn’t hurt her or Yelena and Yelena liked him as they had bonded a bit over this week, so she was comfortable enough with Yelena being alone with him for short periods of time as long as Yelena was still acting like her usual self when she returned.

“A bit of both, Fury has decided we are going to head back to DC, where SHIELD’s headquarters are located.” She said waiting for how Natasha could respond.

Natasha raised an eyebrow with a questioning expression on her face. “Who’s we?”

“Me, Clint, Fury, Coulson, you and Yelena.” She smiled.

“Where are Yelena and I going, do we get to move to another room like this but there now?” Natasha asked, annoyance could be heard in her voice. She was sick of this room and being in here, and with Yelena so mad at her, it just made it worse.

“No, you, me and Yelena… and Clint sort of, are going to a safe house. It’s completely off the books, no one but us and Fury and Coulson know about it.”

Natasha face was unreadable as she thought over what Laura had told her. Laura waited patiently for a hopefully okay response. A few minutes later she finally replied, “So it will pretty much be like what we were doing with Alexei and Melina?” She said raising an eyebrow.

“I suppose so, but you get to just be yourself. And there will never be a threat of going to a place like where you were from. I can promise you that Natasha” Laura said doing her best to convey she was serious.

Natasha bit her lip, scepticism clear on her face, but she nodded. Just like with the Red Room, there wasn’t much she felt she could do except agree, it was obviously going to happen whether she wanted it to or not, but she felt like maybe, just maybe she could trust Laura and Clint better than she could Melina and Alexei.

Laura smiled softly when Natasha nodded. “Alright good, I’m glad you’re on board.” She then glanced over the room before landing on the tv and her thoughts turned to Yelena and Clint and she grimaced, making Natasha raise an eyebrow in question again.

“I forgot about Clint and Yelena again” she said making Natasha laugh. “I’ll be back soon” she said as she left the room to find her husband and Yelena.

Natasha let out a soft sigh, she was glad to be alone. She looked over at the puzzle book she had been doing before Yelena decided to piss her off, she thought about continuing it but soon zoned out as her thoughts ran wild with what ifs once they would be in DC.

-

Clint let Yelena yell and cry and basically throw herself on the ground and kick and scream for what felt like forever, especially when several of his coworkers had popped their heads through the door out of concern and curiosity at the commotion.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been, but it had been long enough for him to leave her alone once he realised nothing he said was going to get through to her. So, he pulled up a chair near the doorway so he could tell the nosy coworkers to bugger off and keep Yelena from running out (which she had tried 3 times already).

By the time Laura got to the break room, Yelena had stopped screaming and kicking around and was curled up in a ball under the table, completely ignoring Clint who was sat nearby on the floor trying to get her to at least look at him.

“Hey, how’s everything in here?” Laura said quietly trying not to startle either of them as she took in Yelena’s demeanour.

“Not the best” Clint said frowning.

Laura frowned as well while she accessed the situation. “Thanks for staying with her Clint, I’ll take over now and you can finally do what Fury asked you to do” she said. She gave him a quick peck on the lips as he left, wishing her luck.

She sat down on the floor beside where Yelena was curled up “How are you honey?” she asked. When Yelena didn’t respond she tried again. “You’re not dead, are you?” she said jokingly, with a small smile. She managed to get a tiny reaction from the girl as her eyes met Laura’s in an unamused look. Yelena still didn’t speak though.

She mulled over what else she could try before maybe using bribery in the form of candy or ice cream. “Sweetheart is there a reason you’re still so mad at Natasha?” she tried.

Yelena felt the tears well up in her eyes at the question and quickly tucked herself up tighter in a ball, hiding her face from Laura but she couldn’t stop a small sob from escaping.

“Oh honey” Laura said moving closer and slowly rubbing Yelena’s back trying to comfort her. “Do you want a hug?” she asked. After a few seconds Yelena nodded and slowly crawled into Laura’s arms. They sat like that till Yelena stopped crying.

“Do you want to tell me why you’re so mad at Natasha?” She asked but Yelena just shrugged. “Do you know why?” she said looking down at the small girl curled up in her arms.

Yelena took a deep breath, then sighed loudly and then croaked out “I… I don’t know” she pouted with her bottom lip beginning to quiver.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, no need to get upset again. Why don’t we try and figure out why you’re upset with Natasha okay” Laura said trying to soothe her. Yelena let out a stuttering breath and nodded slowly.

“Okay good, good job Yelena.” She let out the breath she had been holding while she had been waiting to see whether Yelena was going to become overwhelmed again or not. “Right, you said you don’t know why you’re mad at Natasha… so how about this, whenever you have looked at her this week, what do you feel that makes you upset?” Laura asked rocking slightly doing the best she could to keep Yelena calm.

She was beginning to wonder whether Yelena had heard her till the little girl finally spoke. “I’m not sure I… I feel mad because she said mommy and daddy aren’t our real mommy and daddy and I… I don’t know why” Yelena said quietly.

“I see… well why do you think she would say that?” she asked.

“I don’t know… she said they were bad too, but they aren’t!” Yelena said sitting up in Laura’s arms so she could see her face properly. “Why would she say that?” she said sadly.

Laura bit her lip, she could feel her heart hurting for the little girl in front of her. “Yelena, why do you think you’re here?” she asked.

“Ummm… I don’t know” she said furrowing her eyebrows together.

“Well sweetheart, your dad, he was working at one of our labs and he was doing some things that made us suspicious. So, we followed him and found out about you and Natasha and your mom… but before we could talk to him or your mom, they ran away…”

“What?” Yelena interrupted raising an eyebrow and making Laura’s lip quirk as she tried not to smile at how cute Yelena was.

“Natasha told us what she knew and why, and that she knew they weren’t her parents or yours. They weren’t bad, bad people but they weren’t good either.”

“Where are my real mommy and daddy then?”

“I don’t know honey.”

Concern was etched on her face “Where do I go if I don’t have a mommy and daddy?”

“Well for now you and Nat are going to stay with us. That’s what I was coming to tell you when I walked in on you and Natasha arguing” she laughed “We are all going back to DC where Clint and I live and we are going to stay at a house for a while, It will be you, me, Natasha and Clint. You two will be safe and won’t have to be couped up in a little room” Laura waited quietly while Yelena took in what she had said.

“Okay and then what happens?” She asked nervously, fidgeting with Laura’s fingers and her rings.

“I don’t know honey, but you will be safe and with Natasha and we will take it a day at a time, till we work out what’s going to happen. Okay?”

“Okay” Yelena nodded.

“How are you feeling now? About Natasha?” Laura asked.

Yelena shrugged while thinking about how she felt about her so called sister. She started wondering why Natasha called her, her sister if she actually wasn’t… “Why…” she started before changing her mind, “Is… umm…” she stopped pursing her lips together.

Laura raised an eyebrow, wondering where she was going with her thoughts. “What are you thinking Lena?”

“Nattie said they aren’t our parents and she’s not my sister…. Why did she know that and I didn’t?”

Laura pursed her lips together, trying to figure out how to explain things to Yelena “Well Nattie is older than you honey, and she was told not to tell you the truth.”

“Why?”

Laura sighed, “I’m not sure why Yelena, but I think it was to keep you safe. That’s all she wants to do Yelena. Because she loves you so much even if you aren’t real sisters… she loves you just like real sisters though” Laura paused for a moment while Yelena smiled softly. “I know you have more questions, but the answers are ones you don’t need to know or worry about till you’re older because me and Clint and our bosses are taking care of it, Okay?”

Yelena sighed and nodded slowly. She still had so many questions, so much didn’t make sense but her main worries, the ones that had made her so upset with Natasha, Laura had answered them. Nattie still loved her like a sister even if they weren’t real sisters, and she had a home to go to with Laura and Nattie and Clint. She missed her mommy and dad (or her not mommy and dad). But she liked Laura and Clint… maybe they could be a mommy and dad… She shook her head, making Laura raise an eyebrow at her, she was very deep in thought and Laura couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking about.

Laura continued letting her sit with her thoughts till her foot began cramping. Her movements to try and stop the cramp, pulled Yelena from her thoughts, she giggled as Laura told her that her foot was asleep.

“Wake up foot!” Yelena giggled, shaking Laura’s foot. Finally, her foot settled and she sighed in relief.

“Thanks Lena, that helped a lot” She grinned, happy that Yelena was smiling. Both their heads turned when they heard a knock on the break room door and someone called out, asking if they could finally eat their lunch. Laura turned back to Yelena and asked “Should we get out of here? Go back to Nat?” Yelena nodded. They both stood up and told the person outside the door they could come in, before heading back to Natasha and Yelena’s room.

-

The door burst open making Natasha jump and look around quickly for a possible weapon. Her search halted as Yelena bounced into the room, yelling she was back, Laura trailing behind her offering Natasha an apologetic smile for the jump scare.

Before Natasha could say something sarcastic or snarky, Yelena ran full speed at her and hugged her, making Natasha freeze up. “I’m sorry I was mad at you Nattie” Yelena said. Natasha couldn’t help the shocked expression on her face at her sister’s change of heart.

Laura wished she could have taken a photo of Natasha face.

Chapter Text

Clint, Laura, and Natasha had all had the exact same thought, not that they shared it with each other, especially Natasha, she was certain that would make Laura and Clint fidget uncomfortably.

Their same thought, long road trips with a small child was actual torture and could be a good interrogation technique. If only it didn’t involve a child.

Clint truly couldn’t tell you how many times Yelena had asked “Are we there yet?” Natasha could, 358 times. There had also been 124 of, “I’m bored!”

They had stopped every hour and a half to change vehicles, for a total of 3 different cars, after the first change, they were sure they weren’t followed, but you might as well be extra cautious then not enough. There were 8 bathroom breaks, 5 of them because Yelena would suddenly blurt out that she desperately needed the bathroom and it would be a race to figure out how far the next town was. 2 of those bathrooms stops had to be on the side of the road.

They also ended up stopping twice for Yelena to get some energy out at a playground, this was only to stop Natasha from strangling Yelena when the fidgeting had begun to grate on her nerves.

“Nattie come play with me!” Yelena shouted as she ran ahead toward the playground, making a beeline for the slide, one of her favourite things to do.

She let out a breath, making the couple beside her, holding hands glance over while they were following, at a normal pace after Yelena. She was contemplating whether she should join Yelena as she watched her launch herself down the slide, causing Laura to let out a gasp of alarm, making Natasha smirk, this was typical Yelena (probably one of the things that the Red Room had liked about her, she was definitely an adrenaline junkie).

Once Yelena reached the bottom of the slide, she leapt up and raced toward Natasha, grabbing her hand and pulling her over to the playground “Come on Nattie! I want you to play too!” She told her, Natasha rolled her eyes but allowed herself to be dragged.

Natasha didn’t allow herself to become carefree like Yelena, but she did indulge her little sister and swung on the swings, making sure to be going higher than her, even when Clint started pushing Yelena. They were soon asked to do something else or not swing so high by Laura who had clenched teeth and wide nervous eyes, she really didn’t want to have to make a trip to the ER too, because one of the girls flew off the swings.

Clint and Natasha ended up in a pull up competition, after Clint decided to do a few pull ups on one of the bars - to show off to Laura - and Yelena loudly exclaimed that “Nattie can do that too! Show them Nattie!” Laura had to put a stop to that too when they were both at 20 and she could tell Natasha wasn’t going to stop and she knew Clint would forget that Natasha was only 11. Yelena almost fell over from laughing when she called him Clinton, and gave him a look that said enough, stop. Natasha had what was definitely her signature smirk on her face, when she let go of the bar and landed perfectly and somehow quietly on her feet, puffing only slightly.

Yelena managed a few more goes on the slide before they were on the road again.

-

They made one stop at a small diner in some small town for an actual meal for lunch. Yelena thought it was fantastic, they hadn’t eaten out often with Melina and Alexei. So, Yelena of course had ordered Mac n Cheese, her very apparent favourite meal, while Natasha ordered a simple grilled cheese, only after Laura had to politely push her to pick something, because she should and needed to eat.

While reading the menu, Clint noticed they made milkshakes and asked the girls if they wanted one, to which Yelena had squealed and loudly asked if they had a chocolate one.
“Natasha, would you like one?” he asked, drawing her attention from looking out the window, she just shook her head and went back to staring out the window. Laura frowned at Natasha’s behaviour, yesterday she had finally felt like she was getting her to open up, but since she woke up this morning, she had retreated back into herself again. Laura could only hope it was the change of moving, and soon enough she would open up again.

The waitress, after taking their order, brought over an activity sheet and a pack of crayons for the girls, Yelena had excitedly shouted a thank you making the young woman chuckle and comment how adorable she was. The activity sheet managed to keep Yelena busy and somewhat quiet till their food arrived, it even kept Clint busy as he helped Yelena do the word search. Natasha had sped through everything on the sheet, even the colouring picture on the back, that was done perfectly.

Lunch ended up being a success, the food had been great, they all pretty much cleaned their plates, even Natasha despite picking at her grilled cheese to begin with, she finished it as Laura told the group they should hit the road again. They paid and thanked their waitress, and Yelena had very enthusiastically told her how amazing the Mac n Cheese was before they left.

-

They arrived in DC just after 7pm, they met Fury and Coulson and swapped vehicles one last time. Laura and the girls getting in a boring mini van and Clint a small, older model SVU. Perfect cars for their cover as a young family. They quickly filled the cars with most of the girls stuff, anything that wouldn’t fit could be grabbed by Clint later, since he was going to have to go back to his and Laura’s apartment and pack more clothes and other bit and pieces they would need for the foreseeable future. Then they were off with the keys to the safe house.

They stopped through a McDonalds drive-through for dinner and then the girls and Laura waited in their new driveway, snacking on fries while Clint cleared the house just in case. Once he gave the all-clear, they all headed inside, Yelena running ahead and through the whole house checking everything out, she returned to the couple and her sister who had gathered in the kitchen and were pulling the rest of the food out of the paper bags and onto plates, loudly exclaiming “I love it!” while bouncing on the spot.

After finishing dinner, they got the girls to take a shower each and then into bed. The house only had two bedrooms and both with double beds, so the girls were going to have to share till they could get two singles delivered, whenever that might be.

-

By a week's time they were finally beginning to settle into their new normal, mostly. Fury had given Clint the week off, so they were able to get sorted easier.

Day one had consisted of Laura and Natasha unpacking the girl's things and putting them away, while Yelena had slowly unpacked her toys, everyone she pulled out, she played with for at least 5 minutes before leaving it where she was when she remembered to continue “unpacking” and so, they were all scattered around their room, as well as in the living room.

While they unpacked, Clint had gone back to the couple's apartment and packed up clothes and some other bits the safe house didn’t currently have and they needed. He’d muttered to himself about buying Yelena a toy box when he returned to toys everywhere. Natasha had watched him like a hawk for the rest of the day after that comment, worry and fear had spread through her instantly, his tone had not held any malicious intent, but she truly had zero trust in men. She ended up grabbing an empty box and picking up all Yelena’s loose toys. Laura and Clint had raised an eyebrow, neither realising how what Clint had said, had affected the red head.

Laura had then headed to the grocery store for much needed supplies, leaving Clint to watch the girls. Natasha had wanted to hide out in their room, but Yelena was completely and utterly over being cooped in a small room, she’d rolled her eyes and asked Clint if she could play outside. So, Natasha ended up having to kick a ball around, to keep a close eye on her sister.

The next few days included: finishing organising, getting settled and getting use to each other. Natasha learnt Clint and Laura’s footsteps within the first day. Clint was pretty light on his feet but not like Natasha, it definitely unnerved him how she could silently move through the house, Yelena however was like an elephant.

Yelena settled in quickly and would follow Laura around like a baby duck while asking a million questions too. But Laura would answer every single question, with a smile and zero annoyance. Natasha remained closed off and quiet, constantly observing the couple, Laura wanted to reach out, but decided letting her be for now was a better way to regain some trust again, but she would always include her in anything and everything they were doing (within reason, they had already decided to keep the work talk to a minimum near the girls).

For Natasha it felt exactly like it had been when she was with Melina and Alexei, and while she felt like she should be calmer because the threat of leaving at a moments notice to return to that horrible place was gone, she had been having her usual silent nightmares, ones that involved the Red Room finding them, killing Laura and Clint and dragging her and Yelena back to hell.

She had also been having dreams about Clint finally showing his true personality, one that was mean and enjoyed hurting the girls, she’d always wake with a gasp, (thankfully never waking Yelena - she slept like the dead.) It would take her forever to fall asleep again, because of that she’d then be cranky most of the day and spend it watching Clint closely, Yelena too, to ensure she didn’t end up doing something to set him off, like what always happened in her dreams… or nightmares.

Laura had watched Natasha, watching Clint with caution for most of the week before she felt it was time to step in and talk to her, any trust either she or Clint had built, was back to square one and she wanted to work out why and how to start to rebuild it.

“Clint, do you think you could take Yelena outside to play? So, I can talk to Natasha” She asked quietly while drying the last of the breakfast dishes. Natasha was hiding in her room but no doubt listening closely to Yelena who was playing not so quietly in the living room. With Clint’s help they had made a city out of blocks a couple of days ago, ever since Yelena had been having a ball playing with her toys, her imagination running wild, it was absolutely adorable to watch.

“Sure, but I’m not sure Nat’s gonna be very perceptive of that idea.” He replied, drying his hands on the hand towel hanging on the oven door.

“I know, but might as well give it a go, I’ll go tell her you’re going outside with Lena, hopefully she’ll at least let me talk to her for a minute.” Laura took a deep breath in preparation before she headed towards the girl’s room, while Clint headed into the living room to ask Yelena if she wanted to play outside, she’d enthusiastically said yes and raced toward the back door.

It wasn’t hard to hear Yelena’s excitement from Clint’s question so as she approached the door, Natasha was pulling the door open ready to follow after her sister. “Hey woah, could you wait a minute?" Laura asked, politely and carefully blocking Natasha from getting past.

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance, glaring at the older woman that was stopping her from getting to her sister. “What?” She asked, crossing her arms.

Laura chose to ignore the attitude, “I just wanted to talk to you; I’m worried about you” she said softly.

Natasha narrowed her eyes irritation “Well I’m fine, now can you please move I need to get to Yelena.” She started to move forward but Laura blocked her again, making her clench her teeth and fists.

“Please can we talk, five minutes then you can check on Yelena, but I promise she… and you are safe with Clint.” Natasha pursed her lips in irritation but sighed and turned around to go sit on the bed. Laura followed after her and added “I think I’ve said it before, but I wouldn’t have married him if I didn’t think he was a good person.” She smiled and let out a little laughed when Natasha gave her a very deadpan look. “So do you want to tell me what’s going on in your head?” She asked.

Natasha rolled her eyes and folded her arms; she could wait Laura out forever, very easily. “I know you’re trained not to talk no matter what, but I only want to help you not feel so uncomfortable here, I’m not sure how long we will be here, but while we are, you shouldn’t have to feel so on edge the entire time… please tell me what’s going on so I and Clint can help you feel safe.” All she wanted was for the girls but mostly Natasha to feel safe with her and Clint. She mentally crossed her fingers as she watched Natasha begin to actually contemplate her words over and hoped she would finally talk to her.

Natasha in turn, studied Laura carefully, looking for any signs of deceit, while Laura waited her out, she’d said what she could and left it with Natasha to decide whether she was going to talk today or not. A tiny piece of Natasha wanted to talk, but it was too soon. They might had earned some of her trust in Ohio, but that was different, she really had no other option but to somewhat trust them, it was the only way she stood a chance of saving Yelena. But here, here was away from their boss and other agents, and there was no way she was going to let her guard down so quickly when there still a possibility that Clint was actually just putting on a show and patiently waiting for her to drop her guard, men were always two-faced in her experience.

So, Natasha sat silently on her bed and continued to count down in her head, till the five minutes Laura had asked for were up. As soon as she got to zero, she stood up, “you asked for five minutes, I listened, I have nothing to say, so I’m going to check on my sister now.” She stated before quickly leaving the room to get outside. As soon as she stepped outside and saw Yelena laughing and grinning, while running around and kicking a ball with Clint, she let out the breath she had been holding for the last five minutes.

Laura sighed deeply, once Natasha had rushed out the door. She had really hoped Natasha would talk to her. She ended up staying sat on the girl’s bed for a few more minutes, while she created a game plan in her head, she would include Clint in on her plan that evening once the girls were in bed asleep.

The game plan; just be themselves and show Natasha that she really could trust them, no matter how long it took – she didn’t tell Clint that part though, she still hadn’t spoken to him about how she kind of, really wanted to take the girls in forever. She wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the girls and definitely didn’t want to rush anything with Clint and to be fair, Natasha as well.

Chapter Text

Natasha always woke up early, well before Yelena and even Clint and Laura. Sleep in the Red Room was not overly valued, she had learnt, even younger than Yelena, how to function on very little sleep. The Red Room enjoyed waking them up at random hours to train as intensely as possible, whenever they felt like it, teaching the girls to be light sleepers and to be alert at a moments notice, were important spy skills. But they also had rigid routines, 4am (when they weren’t waking them earlier) being the time the girls were always woken at till they were around six years old or had been in the Red Room for a couple of years, and after that if they didn’t automatically wake at the time they would be punished. So, Natasha’s body always woke at 4am no matter what.

In Ohio, she and Melina would always wake at 4am. Melina had decided that would be when she and Natasha would train. Right at four, they would go for a run, it was always so early, that none of their neighbours would be awake to question why she and her 10-year-old daughter were up and running, extremely fast and exceptionally long distances too.

After their run, they would go to the basement and train hand to hand combat or practice ballet. Melina was told not let Natasha’s training slip, but she could never be hard on the child like madam B was. They would train together till around 6:30, when they would both shower and then start the day like a normal family would. Melina would make breakfast, wake Yelena, and then make sure both girls were ready for the day, before seeing Natasha off to school and Alexei off to work.

Now that Natasha was here in DC, safe from, the Red Room, with Clint and Laura, her body still couldn’t shake her Red Room programming. She would wake at 4am but sit in bed till she would hear Clint wake at 5:30am. She would hear him quietly say goodbye to Laura before heading on a run, that she desperately wanted to go on too. It had been close to a month since she had been on a run and her body was feeling awful, she had been running long distances since she was Yelena’s age, and this was the longest she as gone without doing it. She wanted to go too, but wasn’t sure how to ask, she also didn’t think they would let her.

Laura would get up at 6am, she would go into the living room and do a quick 30-minute workout. Natasha would lurk in the hallway watching. Each day slowly becoming slightly more desperate to ask if she could join in, Laura always knew she was there everyday, but she knew acknowledging her presence would scare her away, so everyday she would hope Natasha would get up the courage to make her presence known. She wasn’t overly comfortable with the girl working out, but they knew it was something she had been doing since she was a toddler, so she was just waiting to finally say yes when Natasha was ready to ask.

But she would always chicken out of asking, so Laura would finish her work out and go shower, while she retreated back to her room. Clint would return soon after Laura got out of the shower, and once she’d hear Laura in the kitchen making breakfast, she would finally get up and get ready for the day, pretending she had only just woken up, the couple were still yet too realise she had been up since 4am and not 6am when Laura got up.

Yelena would wake and crawl out of bed before 7am, right when Laura would have breakfast ready and the four of them would sit down and eat together. Yelena chattering about anything that entered her head. Clint would ask what their plans for the day were mainly to try and engage Natasha in conversation, but Yelena would take charge of the questions and answer with everything she wanted to do. Once they finished eating Clint would shoo Laura from the kitchen so he could clean up before heading to work, he had returned a couple of weeks ago.

Laura and the girls had slowly fallen into a routine together, after Clint left for work. Since it was now mid September and schools had started up again, they had made the decision to enroll Natasha in a homeschooling program, so everyday she would sit at the dining room table and work through her 6th grade homeschool booklets. While Laura, in between helping Natasha when she needed it, would keep Yelena busy either in the living room, playing education games, or reading, or playing outside when Yelena started getting too loud.

After Natasha finished her schoolwork – it would only take her a couple of hours to complete a whole day's worth of work – the trio would head to a nearby quiet park to play, after an hour or so, they would go back home for lunch and then they’d spend the afternoon doing a few chores, then maybe some baking sometimes, or a crafty activity. Going to the library was also something they did twice a week, they had started going once a week because they needed certain reading books for Natasha’s schoolwork, but then Laura had realised that the older girl really enjoyed reading and was quick at it too, so once a week had turned into twice a week. Natasha could get through a large chapter book within a day, so she she normally got 3-4 chapter books each time, the Librarian was definitely impressed.

Later in the afternoon the girls would have quiet time so Laura could get some paperwork done. Quiet time activities included, watching tv, reading or playing with their toys - usually only Yelena would do that but sometimes she’d manage to get her sister to put her book down and join in too - although she wasn’t very good at playing with the dolls and ponies, in Yelena’s opinion.

Around 5 o'clock Laura along with the girls, would start making dinner. Clint would get home about 5:30 and by 6 they’d all sit down for dinner and talk about their days. Like at breakfast Yelena would dominate the conversation, but they had recently, starting earlier this week managed to get a few mumbled sentences from Natasha about her day, each day, a huge win to the couple. Clint would always contribute a couple of simple, kid friendly stories from work, something Natasha found intriguing mainly because of how he talked about his job.

Clint appeared to love his job and the people he worked with, something she struggled to understand. Because she knew he was a spy just like what she was being trained to become, but she knew that being a spy wasn’t enjoyable, because already from her training and from what she had seen of older fully trained widows they were nothing, nothing but puppets with no place in this world, controlled by whoever had the most power and those people were always bad… but Clint would share funny and silly stories about Fury or Coulson – the people that had power over Clint and Laura. He’d also share stories about a couple of other agents named Bobbi and Hunter, who were apparently the couple’s best friends. Having friends in the Red Room was always a bad idea. So, every night after Clint would share some new stories she’d be filled with more questions, but every night she still couldn’t bring herself to ask them.

When dinner was finished, Clint would clean up while Laura would make the girls have a shower each, then they’d all sit down together and watch some tv till it was Yelena’s bedtime, Yelena would always start protesting till Natasha would claim she was going to go to bed too. Yelena would end up giving in after that and settle down quickly while Laura tucked them in. The couple would always tell Natasha she could stay up for longer if she wanted to, but her answer was always “I’m alright.” She never actually went to sleep though, not till Laura and Clint went to bed, would she fall asleep.

The days would continue like this, boring and predictable, Yelena didn’t seem to care much so long as someone gave her attention, but Natasha was really beginning to struggle with being cooped up in the house, at least with Melina and Alexei they could get out and explore the neighbourhood. It had been important to the mission to blend into the community by making friends and getting involved in things, but here they needed to keep to themselves, to keep from drawing too much attention and endangering the girls, even if it did make them strange to their neighbours.

-

Wednesday had been really difficult for her, she had woken up feeling so antsy. She had been the closest she’d ever been since getting here, to asking Laura if she could join her that morning, but she’d still chickened out. Later after breakfast, while doing her schoolwork, she’d struggled to concentrate and had also required Laura’s help a bit more than usual. It had also taken her an extra hour to complete the day’s work, making Laura concerned, but she didn’t mention it, because she knew her reply would be that she was fine.

It was raining today too so they don’t go to the park, at least when they go to the park Natasha is able to get a little exercise, not the kind she prefers but it normally eases the tension that starts every morning when she wakes up and doesn’t get to work out. But today was the worse she had felt since she’d stopped working out and now, she wasn’t even able to move around at the park today. Also, the lack of park for Yelena, would also mean she’d end up more restless than usual too.

She’s on the phone to Clint when it happens. She’d rang to ask him to pick up a few things she forgot to get at the grocery store the other day. She’s in the middle of listing off the items when she hears Natasha yelling at Yelena. She pauses and waits a few moments to see whether Yelena is going to back off or scream back. A couple of seconds later, she hears Yelena. She quickly tells Clint she’ll call him back and she hangs up and rushes toward the girl’s room before he could even respond.

“Why Can’t You Ever Listen!!” Natasha yelled, her fists clenched. She’d been reading quietly when Yelena had come into their room, she had been playing in the living room but decided she wanted to play in their room instead. Natasha had asked her nicely to either play silently or go back into the living room. Yelena had agreed but was soon making noise. Natasha told her to stop or leave through clenched teeth multiple times, till finally yelling at her to shut up and get out. Yelena of course didn’t just listen.

“It’s My Room Too! I’m Allowed To Be In Here!” She shouted back, hands on her hips

“Well, I was in here first and I want quiet, Which of course you can never be! You’re so annoying!” Natasha groaned.

Before Yelena could respond Laura burst into the room, “What is going on?!” She asked slightly frazzled from the out of the blue fight.

“I was reading quietly and wanted the room to stay quiet, when she came in here!”
“I was just playing!” They both responded over top of each other. Before beginning to bicker with each other again.

Laura just blinked as she took in what they said and then tried to process what they were yelling back at each other. “Okay Okay enough Enough!!” Her voice rising when the girls didn’t hear her straight away. They both stopped yelling and turned to Laura, Natasha had a glare plastered on her face, while Yelena looked annoyed that her sister was in a grump.

“Right Yelena can you please go and play in the living room or watch some tv. I’ll come and see you soon okay.” She silently prayed Yelena would agree and not put up a fight. Thankfully after a few moments of deciding whether to be difficult or not, she nodded, poked her tongue out at Natasha, and then raced out of the room before Natasha could do anything in retaliation. Natasha let out a little growl, clenched her fists again and scrunched her lips and nose together in anger.

Laura studied Natasha as the young girl narrowed her eyes toward her, she looked like she was going to say something, but she stayed mute, so Laura spoke instead, “Alright what was that?” She asked crossing her arms.

“She’s annoying” Natasha replied letting out a slight breath to get her emotions back under control. She hated feeling like this.

“Little sisters can be annoying but that never seems to bother you, so why is she today?” Laura asked. Natasha just shrugged and turned to go and sit on the bed. Laura studied her again for a moment, but Natasha didn’t even shift, “The only other time I’ve seen you get annoyed at her, like this, was when she was mad at you and the tension got to much…” she trailed off watching her closely for any tells, that might give away what was wrong.

Instead, Natasha just stared back at her, waiting and hoping she would give up and leave her alone. But Laura wasn’t going to back down today, she wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on. “I’m not going anywhere till you talk to me.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame.

Natasha waited her out, she knew Yelena would need something soon and that would pull Laura away, but as five minutes turned to ten minutes, to fifteen, she contemplated whether she should talk or not. She was soon thinking about how she felt about Laura and Clint.

Since they had been here the couple had given her space, and Laura spent everyday taking care of her and Yelena, making sure they were happy and comfortable, but she never pushed Natasha to act or feel anyway she didn’t want too, she kind of liked that. She still felt wary of Clint, but so far, he had never slipped up, he was always helping Laura, sometimes he’d ask her what she needed, other times like after breakfast and dinner, he’d kick her out of the kitchen and tidy up, no matter what, even if she protested that she wanted to at least help. And Yelena was always asking him to play with her, and he’d always drop whatever he was doing (within reason) and play with her, and Yelena was always telling her how much she liked Clint, even more than dad (she still called Alexei and Melina, mom, and dad).

Even though Clint and Laura gave her space, they still made sure to include her in things they’d be doing, Laura would ask her to help with making breakfast or dinner, but it was always optional, sometimes she said yes, sometimes no, but her answer was always accepted with no issue. They would always ask her about her day at dinner or try to get her involved in whatever conversation they’d be having. They’d make her pick a movie or a tv show, when it was her turn, when they’d get both her and Yelena to sit down to watch tv, but they still let her hide in her room if she really wanted to, but that had become less and less lately.

And the biggest thing, they still hadn’t yelled at her - Not that she’d given them a reason to yell at her yet - or Yelena and she definitely had, there hadn’t been too many tantrums but there had been a few.

As she zoned back in to the room, after losing herself in her thoughts, she realised it had now been about twenty minutes now since there stand off had begun and Yelena still hadn’t interrupted them, the tv could be heard playing some annoying cartoon, that always irritated Natasha to no end.

But after sitting still, staring blankly at Laura the entire time, Natasha’s eyes finally flicked away, and she pursed her lips together as she tried to figure out what to say. Laura stayed still and silently prayed Yelena wouldn’t choose now to interrupt the pair.

“I’m… I’m feeling, I don’t know… flustered, I…” she said stopping and starting, trying to work out how to tell Laura how she felt.

Laura gave her a couple of minutes, waiting to see if she would continue talking but she went silent again. “Why are you flustered, honey?” She asked. Natasha pursed her lips together in uncertainty but still didn’t speak. “I can’t help you honey if you don’t tell me what’s going on… but whatever it is I’ll do my best to help, okay?” She moved into the room and approached the bed carefully, like one would approach a scared animal. She didn’t sit but crouched down beside where Natasha was sat, hoping making herself small might help Natasha open up again.

Natasha’s eyes followed her as she moved and once she was beside her, she took a deep breath before she spoke. “I… I feel really cooped up, I really want… and need to exercise, it’s something I’ve done for years and this is the longest I’ve ever gone not running or fighting or dancing.”

Laura kept the shock of the fact Natasha had finally opened up off her face while she processed what Natasha had said. A small part of her wanted to tell her she didn’t need to do that anymore, but it was obviously something that she needed to do, after years of doing it, but maybe they could compromise, let her workout but not as intensely.

Natasha waited a little nervously, it was the first time Laura had seen her like this, and in her mind, she was worried this is what would finally make Laura show her true colours, because this wasn’t what kids did and even though they gave her space and let her be, Natasha felt like she had to hide who she was and be what was a normal kid, but she wasn’t one, hadn’t been for a very long time.

But instead of getting mad like she was sure she would, Laura smiled at her, making her raise an eyebrow a tiny bit. “I’m really glad you opened up sweetheart, if you really want to, I know Clint would be happy to have a running buddy again, or I do Pilates in the morning around six that you can do with me if you want.” She then waited patiently for Natasha to process and respond to her.

Natasha’s mind spun as she realised that she wasn’t told she couldn’t exercise like she had honestly been expecting. She slowly nodded with a very tiny, barley there smile on her face. She also felt the tension that had been hovering over her for weeks ease just a little too.

“If you want, we could do a workout now?” Laura asked, she wanted to jump around and celebrate what was definitely a huge break through, but she kept it bottled down only a smile escaping.

“But you already did one today…” The words slipping out before she could think about what she was saying. She swiftly shut her mouth as she realised what she just said.

“I did. I didn’t know were you up, you should have joined me, I wouldn’t have minded” Laura quickly responded with a smile. Pretending that she didn’t know Natasha had been lurking nearby. Natasha shrugged and looked away. “So, would you like to do a workout now?” She asked.

“Yes, I’d like that.”

“Come on then” Laura said smiling as stood up, managing to stop herself from holding her hand out.

Chapter Text

The days were passing by quickly and it was kind of hard to believe that they had been at the safe house for a month now, or that her and Clint’s lives had changed so much, so quickly only about five and a half weeks ago, when two little girls became apart of their world.

She never would have thought that night, lying in that motel bed wondering how her husband was doing, while he was sat in a tree watching the suspicious employee, Alex and his family to ensure, they didn’t flee in the night, before they could bring them in for questioning in the morning, that everything was about to change.

They knew it was a possibility but she never would have guessed what was going to happen after Alex - or who they now knew as Alexei - had ultimately gotten away, along with his “wife” Melina, that they’d leave behind the two girls, and that those two girls would turn their world upside down, in what she felt was the best way. A small part of her wondered if they left them on purpose, most of what the girls had told them about life with the couple had been positive, maybe one day they’d get answers.

Now she was sat in another different bed, still not her own, but one in a safe house, thankfully this time with her husband beside her and a book in her hands that she’d now completely forgotten about when she had gotten lost in her thoughts. A smile had formed on her face as she thought about the girls and how far they’d all come so fast, especially Natasha.

Since her breakthrough with Natasha over a week ago, she and Clint were finally beginning to get to know the girl better. It had taken Clint a couple of days of chattering to her on their morning runs before she had begun to respond to him. He had started asking her random questions, mostly about what she was working on and learning through her homeschooling or what books she liked most, as those were easy topics he knew she did or liked doing, he had been asking her about those things at dinner but because Yelena was such a chatterbox, her usual response was a shrug or that it wasn’t that interesting or only okay.

But on their morning runs, there was no Yelena as a buffer and so Natasha had decided to drop her guard just a little and had started answering him. She still wasn’t having long, detailed conversation with him, but she had told him she liked working on English and Math, and she had let slip that she missed learning languages, so later that day at work he looked into homeschool language courses and that night when he arrived home, he excitedly showed Natasha what he had found and all the possible options she could choose from. She’d been very hesitant, as she looked through all the pieces of paper with each language and the course details, but in the end, she did end up asking to do Swedish and Italian.

Clint and Laura had asked her if she was sure, they weren’t really languages someone normally started with. Clint had thought she would pick something like French or Spanish, but then, she again ended up spilling that she already spoke English, Russian, French, and Spanish fluently, and then decided to blow their minds further, by adding she had also been learning Latin, Sokovian, Polish as well as Italian and Swedish before leaving the Red Room, but she was really becoming a bit rusty on them now, so that’s why she picked the last two to start working on again.

She thought about how well things had been going between her and Natasha since they’d started working out together. She had ended up deciding to change up when she did her daily workout. Because after their first workout session, Natasha had told her she had actually really enjoyed doing the Pilates/Yoga exercises, but while she’d like to do it again, she would rather go for a run in the morning instead. So, instantly she decided that she’d sleep in and simply workout later in the day so that Natasha could join her, not that she told Natasha that at that moment, instead she waited till dinner time and had asked Natasha if she’d like to, every second day, work out with her after she finished her schoolwork. So, a new routine had been formed for work out days.

Realising she hadn’t turned a page in awhile, Clint glanced over at his wife and smiled, he held back a chuckle so as not to disturb her from her thoughts, but couldn’t help but stare, wondering what she was thinking about. Feeling his eyes on her, Laura was pulled from her thoughts when her eyes moved on their own and met his, she couldn’t help - and didn’t mind - her smile growing as she looked at her husband. “Hi”

“Hi” He chuckled, “You alright? You were pretty deep in thought there.”

She let out a little laugh “Yea I’m good, was just thinking about how much has changed” she smiled.

Clint hummed and placed his own book down, no longer interested in it, “A lot has changed… change I never could have guessed would happen.” He smiled.

She scanned his face before speaking “but good change” she half asked, half declared, hoping he agreed.

His smile brightened and he nodded, “definitely good change.”

“Right answer” she replied and he let out a laugh but quickly shut his mouth when he realised it was a little louder than he had intended it to be and not wanting to possibly wake the girls.

“Want to chat a bit before we go to sleep or are you too tired?” He asked. It was something they did almost every night, once the girls went to sleep, they would chat in more detail about their days, as well as check in with each other about how they were feeling. Clint would fill her in on what was happening at work, and Laura would tell him how the girls were that day. Sometimes they had their daily catch up on the couch after the girls were in bed or in bed before going to sleep.

“Maybe a quick catch up” Laura replied, then turned away to place her book on the nightstand while he did the same with his own, also switching the lamp on his nightstand off.

The pair lay down next to each other in the dark, with Clint pulling Laura into his arms. “So how were the girls actually today?”

Laura smiled as she wiggled around slightly, making herself comfortable. “Not bad.” She chuckled “One minor argument, Yelena wouldn’t leave Natasha alone at the library. Got a couple of sympathetic looks from other parents, which felt a little strange but also good. Oh, and a very displeased look from one of the librarians.” She laughed quietly thinking about the irritated, judgmental look on the old woman’s face. Natasha had also noticed it and thank god Laura had been able to see her face, because Natasha had been about to return the look with one of her own signature glares, which probably would have made everything ten times worse, the old lady did not seem like she would be okay with disrespect from a child. Clint had to slap a hand over his mouth to stop from laughing loudly as he listened to Laura retell the incident.

“Kind of would have loved to see an 11-year-old stand up to a grumpy old woman” he said between snickers.

She hit him on the chest lightly and rolled her eyes, “Sure… if you were there you would freak out and not know what to do once the old woman would lose her shit at the disrespect.”

He chuckled again and hummed softly in agreement. “Yea… probably.”

“Something else really cool happened today.” She said as the memory popped into her head suddenly. He raised an eyebrow in interest, waiting for her to continue. “Natasha happened to tell me today after our yoga session, that she missed dancing.” She smiled.

He raised both eyebrows in surprise, “Really?”

“Yep, that was all she said though, it was just a comment as we were packing up, but I didn’t get to ask her more about it, because while I was trying to keep my cool and not make a big deal out of it, she had already headed back to her room.” Laura sighed.

“Well, it’s not like she’d be able to take a class or anything at the moment anyway, so maybe just hold onto that info for later in the future” he said nonchalantly, not really thinking about what he’d just said was something they had both been thinking about, but hadn’t actually brought up with each other yet.

Laura froze as she processed what he’d just said, her thoughts spinning. Clint also froze after he realised what he had said. They lay in silence for a couple of minutes as they both tried to work out what to say.

Laura ended up speaking first. “Future?” She glanced up at his face, studying it in the moonlight.

“Ummm… yes? I uhh… it’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile. Especially lately since Fury doesn’t know what to do with the girls…” he also studied her face as he spoke trying to work out what she was thinking as he spoke.

She pondered what he said, uncertain if he was actually thinking and talking about what she also had been thinking about. “What have you been thinking about?” she asked vaguely, hoping his answer was on the same page as her. She had definitely not seen this talk happening so suddenly, especially tonight when she was feeling more tried than usual.

He took a breath in and let it out slowly, deciding too just go for it and hope he didn’t freak her out too much. “I’ve been thinking that maybe the girls could stay with us indefinitely… I know we talked about not having kids for a couple of years… but well I uhhh… I kind of feel like they are already our kids… and every time Fury talks about how he still doesn’t know where to send them… it hurts, it feels like someone’s trying to send my kids away…” he trailed off as he finally locked eyes with her again. He’d purposefully not looked at her face as he spoke so he wouldn’t lose focus.

She blinked at him as she processed his words, a small smile began to grow on her face as she realised, they were thinking and feeling the same way. He almost released a sigh of relief but held it back till she actually spoke, just in case. “Hmmm… indefinitely is a long time… a lot of work too… probably more than if we were to just have our own kids… Nat’s been through a lot. You definitely want to take that on indefinitely?” She asked.

Clint’s smile grew as he replied “Very true, but I have absolutely thought about that and well it would keep things interesting, and I think that we’ve handled it alright so far and we can only get better. I think it will be worth it.”

Laura leaned up, pursing her lips asking for kiss, which Clint happily obliged, meeting her halfway. “Well then since we are on the same page, maybe tomorrow we should start working on an actual plan?” She said after pulling away from the kiss with a soft smile. A million thoughts running through her head.

“Tomorrow.” He smiled. Neither spoke again, as they tried to fall asleep, but it was easy said than done, now that they both had plans and ideas running through their brains. But after awhile they both fell asleep.

-

Good thing it had been a Friday night when the topic of keeping the girls had finally happened between each other. It meant they had the whole weekend to quietly work together to come up with a plan.

The way they normally spent the weekend meant it was easy enough to quietly plan. Natasha tended to hide away in her and Yelena’s room on the weekends, she just still wasn’t that comfortable around Clint. Yelena was the one that demanded the most attention.

So, they worked around that. When the television grabbed her attention for awhile, they were able to sit at the table and quietly discuss their ideas. They were also able to hide away in their own bedroom and plan when Yelena demanded Natasha’s attention.

They wanted to come up with a decent idea and plan by Monday so Clint could speak to Fury and get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. They were never meant to stay at this safe house for long anyway.

They first discussed where on earth it might be safe to live, staying in DC didn’t feel right, too close to headquarters. New York was big with a lot of people but there could always be a chance the wrong person might recognise the girls. Clint had jokingly said it needed to be the middle of nowhere and Laura had agreed. Clint had laughed till he realised she was actually serious. They ended up genuinely talking about it properly and decided that while the middle of nowhere was the best option, they didn’t want to completely isolate the girls, so they reached a decision that they needed to be near a small town, so maybe a small farm could be a good idea.

Their next point of discussion was who would stay with the girls. Would Laura retire or maybe they both would (Clint wasn’t that keen on that idea, nor was Laura just yet) or maybe they could continue working at shield but separately, one would do paperwork from home and be with the girls while the other could be on a mission or working in DC and then they’d switch. They both agreed they liked that idea best.

By Sunday night they had a plan for Clint to take to Fury in the morning. They had tried to be as subtle as possible as not to alert or scare Natasha, but she had noticed something was up. She managed to make sure they had no idea she had noticed anything, but inside she was freaking out her, mind running wild with what might be happening. She lay awake all Sunday night scared she and Yelena or maybe just her, could be going to be sent away, maybe Clint and Laura were sick of taking care of them or maybe just her, they definitely seemed to like Yelena. Yelena was bright and bubbly and happy. She was moody and quiet and distant…

As her mind continued to spin around all the worse case scenarios, she didn’t even notice that her normal 4am wake up time came and went, it wasn’t till Clint quietly knocked on the bedroom door just after 5:30, that she was pulled from her racing thoughts.

He had been confused and a little concerned when she hadn’t been waiting by the front door for him like normal. He’d almost woke Laura up so she could check on the girls but then he thought about how he should at least give it a go first and if Natasha reacted badly then he could grab Laura. He knew the knock would wake her if she was still asleep, she was an incredibly light sleeper – something they had discovered when, every time in the early days, they had gone into the girl's room to check they were asleep before going to bed themselves, Natasha’s eyes would always snap open and she’d be wide awake in seconds, they had since stopped doing that. He waited about 30 seconds before calling out very quietly, “Natasha? Are you awake? Are you coming on our run this morning?”

She’d bolted upright immediately, if Yelena didn’t sleep like the dead, she probably would have woken her, her eyes flew to the alarm clock on the beside table and she cursed in her head. Now they’d know something was wrong. She got out of bed and went to the door and poked her head out. “Sorry I overslept, let me just get changed and I’ll be out.”

Clint scanned her face; she looked tired and it felt like she was lying, but he nodded. “Okay, are you sure you want to come today?” She nodded “Alright then, I’ll wait by the door” he gave her a small smile as she closed the door.

She was quiet on the run, he’d tried to make a bit of conversation but like when they first started running together, she didn’t give him much. He was sure he and Laura had covered their tracks and been acting as they normally did over the weekend, so it put it down to maybe she was getting sick or just hadn’t slept well. So, he let her be and they ran in silence. But he made sure to let Laura know something was a bit off with her today, before he left for work.

-

He’d kissed Laura goodbye and yelled out a goodbye to girls before closing the front door and getting into his car. He drove to work like always, taking extra, random streets to ensure no one could follow him and find out where he worked. Today though he had a silly goofy grin on his face. It stayed there the entire drive and as he made his way into the building.

Files under one arm and a coffee mug in his hand. He pushed the door open to the building he waved at the reception ladies and couple of security guards and headed toward the elevators. He pressed the button and waited patiently. As he waited, he felt a couple of people stand behind.

“Hey Barton” A voice said behind him.

He tensed before relaxing once he realised, he knew who the voice belonged too. He glanced over his shoulder at the voice. “Hey Bobbi, hey Hunter.” he greeted.

Bobbi grinned at him and Hunter waved, "Heard from Laura? How’s her mission going?” To explain where Laura currently was, they had said that she was on a long undercover mission.

He kept his face neutral and shook his head. “No, she in deep cover.” He sighed to really sell it, the couple knew how much he and Laura missed each other when they really were on missions.

The elevator dinged, the doors opened, and Clint and the couple got on. Nobody else was in the there already and no one else was waiting either. Hunter hit number 5. Bobbi waited for the doors to close to finally speak again. “Do anything fun this weekend?”

Clint hummed “Not really, moped and did paperwork, what about you two?”

Bobbi lifted an eyebrow “We just got back from a mission; we just have to fill out the paperwork and then get the rest of the day off” she smiled.

“Thank God, because I did far too much running for my liking this mission. Thankfully no injuries occurred though” Hunter pipped up leaning against the elevator wall.

Clint chuckled, “That’s always a win.” Clint said as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. He stepped off and to head toward Fury’s office.

Hunter called out as he walked away “Let us know when Laura’s back, we need to catch up and have drinks.”

Clint smiled and threw out a “Will do.” He reached Fury’s door and knocked. Hearing a “you’re late” come from inside, he opened the door to see Fury sat at his desk and Coulson on the other side sat in one of the armchairs facing him.

“Sorry minor concern about Natasha, that I needed to let Laura know about before I left.” He sat in the chair next to Coulson.

“Is it something I need to be concerned about?” Fury asked and he shook his head. “Alright then let’s get started.” He gestured toward Coulson to start.

Coulson sighed, definitely not a good sign. “This will be quick. I checked in with the team in Ohio. Everything is still quiet, no signs of anything, still no chatter either. They have really gone deep. Losing the girls or Natasha really drove them unground.”

Fury grumbled “She knew enough to make them hide, but I know they are watching and waiting, just silently the sons of bitches. Barton have you or Laura found anything?”

Clint shook his head, “I’m coming up blank too. When searching anything and everything possible. Laura too… Have you figured out what’s happening with the girls?” He asked

Fury raised an eyebrow toward him and sighed. “Why getting sick of them?” And Clint quickly shook his head no, making Coulson also raise an eyebrow. “Hmmm… I still don’t know where to send the girls that is safe and secure enough. I know those fuckers are watching us. Don’t know where from though…” he grumbled again and rubbed a hand over his face. “There isn’t really anyone else I trust enough that won’t fuck up hiding. Because the girls really can’t enter any normal system.”

They were stuck. The room suddenly feeling heavy as Fury and Coulson tried to figure out what to do next. Clint shifted in his seat, trying to build up the courage to broach his and Laura’s plan and decision with his bosses. He cleared his throat and both of the old men turned their heads toward him. “So uhh… Laura and I have been talking…” they were both looking at him with slight intrigue. Coulson gestured for him to continue.

He rubbed his hand not holding the folder with their plan in it on his pants. “We have both separately been thinking about this for awhile and finally spoke about it with each other the other night,” Fury looked mildly irritated, wanting him to get to the point. “We have decided that we want to keep the girls, with us, forever.” Clint sighed as the weight lifted off his chest.

Both of Fury’s eyebrows lifted so high that they almost reached his hair line. “You want to keep the girls?” He asked in a disbelieving tone. Clint nodded. “Do you have a plan or…”

He didn’t normally interrupt his superiors but couldn’t help himself. “Yes, we do.” He opened the folder in his hand and placed it on Fury’s desk. “We talked all weekend, weighed up lots of options and this is our best idea.” He explained their plan to move to a small town somewhere, buy a small farm and raise the girls there. Far away from shield, completely off the books, only Fury and Coulson would know about it. The girls would be safe, get to grow up safely. Fury looked completely bewildered while Coulson looked like he had already seen this coming.

“So, I’d be losing two of my best agents?” Fury grumbled, leaning back in his chair, glaring at the folder on his desk.

“No, no. We talked about that too. I don’t want to retire or leave shield anytime soon. Laura either, really. But obviously someone needs to be with the girls, so we came up with a way we can both keep working here. One of us stays at home and does paperwork, while the other is here for a couple of weeks and then we switch.”

“That sounds like a decent plan” Coulson said.

Clint smiled. “For the time being, till we decide to expand our family even more, we had already talked about this ages ago anyway, well before the girls entered our lives. Laura wants to retire when we decide to have a baby.”

Fury glared at him “I knew the minute you asked her out I was going to end up losing one of my best agents somehow.” He interlaced his fingers together and leant forward placing his elbows on his desk.

Clint chuckled nervously. “Sorry boss.”

Fury sighed, “Right, let’s wrap this meeting up. I think we should still keep an eye on the chatter in case anything pops up. We aren’t closing the book by any means, but let’s focus on finding you a new home. Go with Coulson and work on it in his office. Let me know details. I’ll make sure everything is untraceable.” Both men nodded, thanked him and then headed to Coulson’s office.

Coulson chuckled as they walked, “I so saw this happening the minute Laura took them on in Ohio.” Clint smiled.