A.N. Just letting ya'll know, I have published a book of Huntingbird One-Shots, which will also include AUs that I want to write about, but don't really want to make into a whole book. There is also be a chance of Clintasha in some of the chapters and if that happens I'll post on here what chapter that is so that even if you don't like Huntingbird, you can still enjoy Clintasha in some pretty interesting universes.

Clint's P.O.V.

"How much longer is this drive going to be?" Nat asked, looking over at me, her feet resting on the dash and her hair moving in the breeze that the cracked window next to her created.

"Only a few more minutes," I said, turning my attention back to the road.

"You said that like an hour ago. Besides, what kind of house is out here? I haven't seen a powerline pole for at least ten miles. If this is just an elaborate was for SHIELD to off me I'm sure they could have found a more fuel efficient way to do it."

I sighed, "Yet again, SHIELD doesn't punish a mission gone wrong with death. Besides, SHIELD doesn't even know about this plane."

Nat sat up and turned to me, I could tell that she was still sore even though she didn't want to admit it. "But Coulson?"

"Coulson and Fury know about it, but that's it. It's kind of personal." I lift up the center console and begin to dig through it until I find a bottle of aspirin. "Take one of these, I know that you're still hurting, and you aren't going to want to be hurting once we arrive."

"Your vague answers really make a girl comfortable."

I chuckled, knowing that she was messing with me, "Don't worry, the only thing that you need to worry about is an overexcited three-year-old, Cooper Barton."

"Barton?"

"Not mine, my brother's"

"The son a bitch brother you told me about in Rome?"

"One and the same, but he won't be there. He died about a year ago, not long before I brought you back. Left behind a pregnant wife and a toddler. I might have hated Barney, but Laura was family and where I was raised, you did everything you could to help family, or at least that's what the rest of the family in the town did."

"Waverly, the one we passed a little while ago."

"The exact one. So, I told Fury what happened, and he helped me move them into a house where I knew they would be safe, it's completely off the grid. I send most of my paycheck to Laura, figured she has enough to deal with, with the kids and stuff to have to worry about finding an actual job."

"You really do love being the hero don't you Barton." The statement was rid of its usual teasing tone.

"Figure that if I pretend for long enough, it'll come true." I throw on the blinker and turn into the long drive, "Looks like we're here, Casa de Barton, it's only a half a mile before you'll get to see the actual house."

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Natasha's P.O.V.

We got to Barton's safehouse, which looked like an old farmhouse, complete with white paint and an old barn behind it. The minute that Clint closes the truck's door, a small figure came streaking out of the house. I moved my hand to the knife that was in my coat pocket.

"Uncle Clint," The small voice cries as Clint scoops him up to hold the child against his side.

"Man, you've gotten so much bigger since the last time I saw you," Clint said, as I went to grab our bags from the back of the car. I knew Clint would say something about me aggravating my injuries, but I didn't want to disrupt a moment that I was never supposed to be a part of.

"You've got one more munchkin coming your way," A woman calls from the porch. She must be Laura, and true to her world a little girl that looked like she couldn't have been more than a year old was toddling toward Clint.

This is what a normal life looks like. This is what you will never have. I felt like a trespasser at the moment.

Clint must have noticed the lack of my presence because he quickly turned his head back toward the truck. "Woah, woah, you shouldn't be lifting that stuff," He said setting down who I could only imagine was Cooper and running to take the bags from you.

"I was handling them fine."

"No, remember the doctor said nothing over ten pounds." I shake my head as he grabs my duffle bag and his backpack - he was going to be staying for a couple days to make sure that I adjust well - before leading us toward the farmhouse. I feel sorry for Clint as we make our way to the porch because besides dealing with the duffle at his side he was also trying to not stumble over the children scurrying around his feet, but he also seemed to be taking it in stride.

"You must be the Bobbi that finally got this dummy tied down," Laura said once we got to the porch reaching a hand out for me.

"No Lau, this is Nat she's just a partner from work." I don't why, but that statement rocked me, and I looked down. "Bobbi and I aren't a thing anymore," Clint added, stepping into the house.

"I'm so sorry about that," Laura said and upon looking up I noticed that the comment was directed to me.

"It's okay, a simple mistake-" I was cut off by a tugging on the bottom of my jacket. I looked down and saw the little girl reaching her arms toward me. "I'm sorry but I-"

"It's okay you can pick her up," Laura says. I didn't know what to do, I felt like saying the last time I had interacted with a child was right before I set the hospital ward that they were in on fire.

"No she can't," Clint said, resting against the doorframe, now free of baggage. "At least she can't pick her up before Lila's favorite uncle does." He picked up the little girl and I shoot him a look of thanks, I am sure that he could read the discomfort, he was one of the only people that could get a read on me. It scared me.

"You're her only uncle, Clint. Now, why don't we get in before it starts to rain." I had to agree with Laura, the clouds were getting eerily dark.

"Hey, Nat, why don't you clean yourself. The first bedroom on the right, top of the stairs is where I put your stuff and it has an en suite. You have the stuff you need to change your bandage right?"

I nodded and headed to the room that I would be staying in. I figured that Clint would want to fill Laura in on what's going on, as well as giving me time to prepare the room in the way that I needed to.

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Once I had stashed my weapons in places where I could easily reach them but the kids couldn't, taken a shower, and changed my bandaging, I went back down to the living room to check in with Clint.

I was at the bottom of the stairs when I heard Laura ask, "So, tell me about this partner of yours."

"I already told you, Laur, she got hurt on a mission and I thought that this would be a good place for her to recover."

"That's it?"

"Well yeah. What else would there be?" Clint said, moving to check the fire that must have been started while I was in the shower. I tried to dart back

"I don't know, something about how would didn't even bring your wife here to meet me, but you just happen to bring your partner, who is the same girl that you risked your job to save."

Clint sighed, "Something about her I need. I know it sounds crazy, but I look at her and I just need to be next to her. It's not like I need to protect her, she can do that fine on her own, but I need to know she's okay."

"When did this feeling start?"

"I felt something after Budapest, but it wasn't until after Abidjan that it really started like something was tugging on my stomach whenever I saw her."

Laura crossed over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "You've got it bad."

Clint stood up abruptly and the comment, "Yeah, I know. And it's not like it matters, nothing's going to come out of it. I mean there's SHIELD protocol, -"

"Not like that's stopped you before."

"There's also the fact that Coulson told me not off of it. She's messed up pretty good."

"So are you, no offense."

"None taken, but she's been through a lot, mind wash and abuse since she was a kid. I mean can you be imagine being told since you were a child that your sole purpose in life is to kill those that stand in the way of the regime that raised you, as well as the fact that your body doesn't belong to you, but is rather just a tool to be used, either as a weapon or a way to attract targets. Besides," he looked up and I swear he was staring right at me, even though I was practically completely hidden from the living room, "She deserves a lot more than a carnie reject like me."

I was about to make a retreat to my room when Cooper ran down the stairs into me. I jumped, surprised that I had let down my guard enough to allow a child to sneak up on me. He grabbed my hand and began to pull me into the living room, "Come on. Uncle Clint said that we were going to smores inside."

"After you have dinner," Laura said, getting up and moving away from Clint.

The boy shot a glance toward Clint, hoping that the other adult would help sway his mom's ruling, but to no avail. "Sorry, what she says goes. But how about you and I go to the barn and I'll show you some cool tricks while your mom makes dinner and Lila naps."

That seemed to make the boy happy because he ran over to where a bunch of shoes were piled up and began to put on some Velcro sneakers, "What about your friend, what's she gonna do?"

"It's her choice." He looks toward me, "Want to join me while I teach Coop cartwheels,"

"Or, you're more than welcome to stay here with me, Lila will probably wake up in thirty minutes and I could really use someone keeping an eye on her once she does."

I take a moment to weigh my opinions, as much as I would enjoy watching Clint interact with his nephew, if he really did see me listening in, he would have more than enough opportunities to try and talk to me about.

"I think I'll stick with Laura on this one, sorry boys."

With that, the two left, while I got put on baby watching duty.