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shanachie_quillTitle: While Daddy’s Away, The Girls Will Play
Characters: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Ariana Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, JARVIS
Fandom: Avengers 2012
Series: Assassin Baby
Written For: whogeek, chrismouse
Prompt: Clint has a mission
Summary: Clint has to leave for a mission not long after the Chitauri Invasion and the Avengers try to entertain Ariana to varying degrees of success.
Rating: NC-17 (what can I say Natasha missed Clint too)
Spoilers: Avengers, rest of the series
Warnings: Ariana is adorable, she loves everyone, Clint & Natasha love their daughter, Avengers are a dysfunctional family
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me. Ariana belongs to Clint and Natasha. Not making any money off this.
Author's Note: I could not do this without my wonderful, fabulous whogeek, who I bug entirely too much. She is both my enabler and my sanity. And is completely awesome in so many ways. Hopefully Dead Animals next, sweetie. And no, I will not title it that!
Three Months After the Attempted Chitauri Invasion
“I don’t want you to go!”
Clint sighed, but didn’t pause in his packing. “This is not up for discussion, Ariana.”
“Someone else should go,” she demanded. When he turned to get a shirt out of the drawer, she quickly pulled as much as she could out of his duffle.
Clint turned back around to see Ariana sitting on top of the clothes she’d removed from his bag. “Ariana Natalia, this is not appropriate,” he told her as he picked her up so he could get to the clothes.
She clung to him as he tried to repack his bag. “Daddy, don’t go.”
Sitting down, he settled her on his lap. “Hey, what’s wrong? You’ve never had a problem with me going away before. Mommy’s gonna be here and everyone else. And Uncle Coulson’ll be here tomorrow.”
“But last time you went away for-eeever,” she whined.
“You know I never want to leave you, right?” he asked, waiting until she nodded. “But sometimes I have to because of work?” When she nodded again, he continued, “I’m only going for a couple of days this time. So three sleeps. Go to bed and get up. To bed, get up. To bed and when you get up that day, I’ll be home. And you’ll have lots of things to tell me.”
She sniffed a little, but was clearly considering his words. “What things?”
“The Captain and I were thinking we could take you to the park,” Natasha commented from the door. “Uncle Coulson will need someone to fetch things for him, so I’m sure he’d love for you to spend some time with him. Even if you just read stories with him. You’ll have to practice your shooting so you can show Daddy how much better you are. And of course we’ll watch movies like always.”
Ariana grinned. “And make cookies for Daddy?”
“I think we could do that,” Natasha agreed.
“So you think you could let me finish packing?” Clint asked.
“I still don’t want you to go,” Ariana informed him.
Clint squeezed her tightly, delighting in the squeal she let out. “I don’t want to go either, Button, but I have to.”
Ariana threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Wiggling until Clint let her go, she ran from the room. Natasha looked at Clint as he began to put his things back in his bag. “What was that all about?” she asked him after a minute.
“She’s getting older,” Clint commented. “Apparently me leaving is starting to make an impact. Be prepared for actual wailing and gnashing of teeth when you go next time.”
“We’re Russian, she’ll keep her tears until I’m actually gone,” Natasha replied.
Clint snorted in response. “She’s half-American, Tasha. She’s gonna wail and throw herself down.”
“Then she’s your daughter.”
Ariana tumbled back into the room before Natasha could respond to that, a well-loved stuffed animal clutched in her hands. “Daddy, you need to take Yastreb with you,” she insisted, clambering up onto the bed and shoving the plushie into his duffle. “He’ll keep you safe.”
“Then who’s gonna keep you safe?” Clint asked.
“I have Mommy.” She leaned towards Clint, almost overbalancing before Clint caught her. “Please, Daddy. Mommy’s not going with you. And neither is Uncle Coulson. Take Yastreb.”
“All right,” Clint agreed. “Now kiss me, Button, because I’ve got to get going.”
Flinging her arms around his neck again, she hugged him tightly before kissing him on the cheek. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you, too, Button,” he whispered to her. “Be good for Mommy and I’ll see you in three sleeps.” She nodded in response and he tossed her gently onto the bed, landing her in the middle of the pillows. She giggled as she bounced. He scooped up his duffle and turned to Natasha, who had watched the entire scene with a blank face. “I love you, too, you know.”
“I know.”
“Good.” Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her to him, kissing her until she wacked him on the shoulder. “What?”
“Your daughter is watching. And you need to go,” she reminded him.
Clint grinned, asking over his shoulder, “Whose daughter are you, Ariana?”
“Mommy and Daddy’s,” Ariana immediately answered.
“Smart girl,” Clint praised.
“Clearly not your daughter,” Natasha told him dryly. “Now go. Before you’re late.”
Clint kissed her again quickly before blowing a kiss to Ariana and striding from the room. Ariana held her arms up to Natasha who scooped her up from the bed, snuggling her daughter to her. “Three sleeps, Mommy?”
“Three sleeps,” Natasha promised, hoping she could keep her word. “What are we going to do first?”
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Ariana kept close to the floor as she squirmed along. She had a target and so far the strange computer hadn’t alerted Mister Tony to her presence. The man in question was seated at a table, that under normal circumstances would draw her attention, but right now she wanted to see how close she could get without him noticing. Mommy had gone to talk to Captain for a few minutes and left her to her own devices, with the only directions being that she couldn’t leave the tower.
Reaching the table, she got to her knees and then to her feet, resting her hands on the table. “What’cha doing, Mista Tony?”
Tony shrieked, throwing what was in his hands up into the air. He spun on his stool, looking everywhere but in the right direction until he finally realized Ariana was at his hip. “Where? How? What are you doing here?”
“Mommy’s talking to Captain. Daddy went away. What’cha doing?”
Tony launched into a long winded explanation, his hands waving as he spoke. After a few minutes he wound down, looking at her. “You have no idea what I’m saying, do you?”
“You talk funny, Mista Tony.”
Tony made a face at her. “And people say I have no manners. JARVIS, where is this child’s mother?”
“Agent Romanov is in the main living room with Captain Rogers, Sir,” the AI promptly responded.
“See. There. Go. Off.” Tony waved her away. Ariana shook her head. “No? What do you mean no?”
“Don’t want to go by myself. Take me, please?”
Tony huffed a sigh. “Fine. Let’s go.” He stood up, motioning for her to proceed him. Ariana responded by holding out her hand. “What’s that for?”
“Hold my hand, silly.”
“Is it sticky? Are you going to get me dirty?”
“You’re already dirty,” she told him, pointing to a grease spot on his cheek. “And I’m not sticky. Daddy washed my hands after lunch. Mommy and Daddy always hold my hand when we walk somewhere.”
“Fine. But just this once.”
“You know I’m the child, right?” Ariana asked, as Tony took her hand and led the way from the lab.
“Are you sure?” he responded.
Ariana just giggled in answer.
When they entered the living room, Natasha and Steve were standing in the middle of it, already dressed to go out. Ariana dropped Tony’s hand, running to her mother. “I think that belongs to you,” Tony commented as Natasha picked her up.
“She’s not a ‘that’, Tony, and she has a name.” Natasha squeezed her before setting her down. “Were you bothering Tony, Ariana?”
“I snuck up on him, Mommy!” Ariana exclaimed. “I did good! Just like Daddy showed me!”
“How close did you get?” Natasha asked.
“Right next to him!”
“That’s good, baby,” Natasha praised. “You’ll have to tell Daddy when he gets home.” Ariana grinned at the praise and bounced a little on her feet. “Right now you need to go get your pink jacket from your room though. We’re going to the park with Captain.”
“Okay, Mommy.” Ariana started to dart away, then turned back. “Mista Tony, do you want to go with us? Please?”
“Well, I. Um. I. Have.” Tony flailed towards the way they’d come. “I have.” His expression folded as he met with her sad eyes. “All righty. Fine. Stop. Stop looking at me like that. Your eyes are lethal.”
Ariana grinned. “Yay!” Running from the room, she called back, “I get my coat!”
“Well that didn’t take long,” Natasha commented.
“What? What didn’t?” Tony asked.
“Ariana and the puppy dog eyes. She’s got you now. Be prepared for her to deploy them when she really wants something,” Natasha told him. “She learned from the best.”
“And who would that be?” Tony demanded.
“Her daddy,” Natasha replied just as Ariana ran back into the room, struggling to put her jacket on. “Better go get a jacket, Mister Stark. You just agreed to go to the park with us.”
Tony looked confused for a minute. “How did that happen?”
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Tony was still trying to figure it out as the group settled themselves at the park. He wasn’t sure when or how he’d agreed to this outing, but he’d managed to snag a tablet when he’d grabbed his coat, so hopefully he could get some work done all the same. Ariana didn’t seem to require the adults play with her. In fact, Steve had a sketchbook and had settled with it. Natasha fussed over Ariana for a few minutes, but once she was satisfied the little girl would stay within the playground, she came back to the table where the two men had settled.
“She’ll be fine, ma’am,” Steve reassured her, as Natasha sat down beside him. He tapped his ear. “I can hear her easily.”
Natasha smiled. “I think you can call me Natasha, Cap. And I’m just not…we haven’t really had the chance to go to the park like this.”
“It’s good for her then,” Steve commented. “We, Bucky and I, used to love going to the park on nice days. Even when we were older. It was cheap entertainment.”
“Cheap is only in the eyes of the beholder,” Natasha countered. “I would have…” she broke off. “Never mind. Did you spend a lot of time in parks as a child, Tony?”
“When your entire backyard is a park, no. Not so much. Besides I was too busy.” Tony’s answer was distracted and he never looked up from his tablet.
Steve opened his mouth as if he was going to respond, but Natasha shook her head, tapping his sketchbook. “I meant to ask you earlier. Would you be willing to draw a picture of Ariana? I think Clint would like it.” The two fell to discussing the options; Steve protesting that he wasn’t nearly good enough.
Ariana carefully climbed the steps to the top of the castle. This was easy compared to some of the obstacle courses that she tried to follow Daddy up, but to make it a little more difficult; she had to dodge the other kids. When she got to the top, she could see Mommy and Captain and Mista Tony sitting at the table. She waved emphatically until Mommy waved back, smiling when she saw how high Ariana was.
Turning around, she tried to decide where she was going to go next. If Daddy was here, he’d sneak up on her and tickle her or chase her around the castle. She had a moment of sadness where she missed her daddy intensely, but she knew what he was doing was important. And that he would want her to play and have lots of stories to tell him when he got back.
Decision made, she squirmed her way to the other edge of the turret and clambered down the ropes. She was halfway across the sand when someone scooped her up, catching her against an unfamiliar body. She wasn’t alarmed immediately since it wasn’t unusual for someone to grab her from behind. It was only when she heard the voice that she got scared. “Pretty little girl. Pretty red hair. Come home with me, pretty little girl?”
Ariana started to struggle at the words, trying to get enough leverage to swing her arms around. At the same time she started to scream, “Mommy! Captain! Mista Tony!” over and over again. The man turned her in his hold so she was facing him and she swung her small fist, hitting him in the eye. As she swung again, she let out a blood-curdling scream; hoping it would bring her mommy running.
Steve’s head shot up as he heard the first scream of “mommy”. If not for the air of desperation to it, he would have ignored it. When it was followed by his name and Tony’s, he shot to his feet. “Natasha, Ariana’s…”
But Natasha had already shot to her feet, her green eyes scanning the park. Within seconds she had picked a direction and taken off running, leaving Steve and Tony to follow or not. “What? Did she just…?” Tony started.
“Someone has Ariana,” Steve responded, leaping to his feet and following after the lithe woman.
“What? Someone…” Tony grabbed his tablet and Steve’s pad, following after the super solider as he ran after Natasha. “Where?” he demanded as Steve paused, obviously trying to locate them.
“This way.” Steve wheeled abruptly, heading towards the sound of the little girl’s voice; Tony struggling to keep up.
Natasha gaged the angles, saw where she would end up, and launched herself. Hitting the edge of the wooden step, she used it to spring herself towards the man; catching him in the back. She knew Ariana could be hurt, but trusted that her daughter would be able to get herself free or only get minimally hurt.
The man went down under her assault, yelling in pain. She reached for him, bending the arm that wasn’t around her child, her life, back; almost to the breaking point. She could see the marks where Ariana had obviously scored hits. “Let. Her. Go.”
Someone scooped Ariana up from where she had landed and Natasha whirled, the threat moving with her because she didn’t dare let him go. The size and shape of this man was familiar to her though and her baby was clinging to him, even as she cried. Ariana crawled over onto Steve’s back, clinging to his sweatshirt.
Tony shifted the items he carried to one hand and reached up, plucking Ariana from where she perched. “Hey, let’s get you out of the way,” he said, stepping back. “Hi,” he greeted her, when she turned wide eyes to him. “Hey, you have the same color eyes as your daddy. Did you know that?”
She sniffed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Want Mommy.”
“I think your Mommy’s a little busy kicking as…butt right now,” Tony responded.
Steve grabbed the shirt of the man Natasha had taken down, lifting him easily off the ground. “Natasha, your daughter needs you. Let me deal with him. Your daughter. Please. Your little girl.”
Refocused, Natasha turned, seeing Ariana perched in Tony’s arms; her tear-streaked face watching the commotion. “Dyetka, are you…?” She reached out for her daughter. “Did he hurt you?”
Freed of his burden, Tony dug his phone out of his pocket. “Cops? We want the cops, right?” he asked, already dialing.
Natasha didn’t look up from where she was wiping Ariana’s face, but Steve shook the man he was still holding as the man started to struggle. “That would be good, Tony,” he answered.
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By the time they finished with the police that Tony’s call had summoned, Ariana was almost asleep in Natasha’s arms from the excitement. Tony had quietly called Happy while they gave their statements and the bodyguard was waiting with a car at the entrance to the park. Over Natasha’s protests, Tony got them all into the car, pointing to Ariana’s nodding head as a reason and that none of them really wanted to carry her back to the Tower.
Natasha came out of Ariana’s room to find Steve sitting at the dining room table, his sketch book open in front of him. “You don’t have to stay with us,” she commented, moving into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.
“I had some ideas for the sketch for Clint,” Steve responded. “I wanted to go over them with you.”
“Tea?” Natasha offered.
“Sure,” Steve replied. He waited while Natasha went through her routine of steeping the tea and pouring mugs for both of them. She added honey to her own, before offering him the choice. He took it plain out of habit, not having been given the option growing up and then being used to rationed sugar during the war. Turning his book so she could see it as she sat down, he said, “So I was thinking, you were saying she’s got a bow, right?”
They were deep in a discussion about what the final sketch would look like when Natasha’s phone vibrated. Without looking, she picked it up; flicking the accept and answering, “Da?”
“Hey, Tasha,” Clint’s familiar voice was a comfort to her and she felt the last of the tension from the afternoon leave her. “How’s my girls?”
“We’re fine. We took Ariana to the park and she wore herself out,” she told him. “I just put her to bed.” Steve’s head jerked back up at her lie, but he didn’t say anything, choosing instead to simply stare at her.
“I’m sorry I missed that. We’ll have to take her again. Who went with you?”
“She conned Tony and we’d already invited Steve,” Natasha answered. “How’s the mission going?”
“It’s fine. Lonely. Sitwell’s not the company you are.”
“I would hope not,” she replied.
“I…” He stopped, obviously cutting off what he was planning to say. “Just wanted to check in. I have to go now. I love you,” he added in a rush.
“I know,” she replied, allowing herself a slight smile that he couldn’t see. Without another word, he hung up.
Steve waited until she set the phone back on the table before asking, “Why didn’t you tell him what happened to Ariana?”
“It would upset him for no reason. I’ll tell him when he gets home.”
“Seems to me that he’d want to know his daughter was in danger,” Steve answered.
“Not when he’s in the middle of an op,” Natasha replied coldly. “And I honestly don’t think it’s any of your business, Captain.”
Steve winced at the ice in her voice. Gathering up his supplies, he excused himself. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Agent Romanov. I didn’t intend to. You’re right, it’s not my business.”
Natasha sighed after he left. Clint had always been better than her at interacting with people unless she was undercover or at least better at showing his emotions better. She knew she’d hurt Steve’s feelings, but no one was going to tell her how to raise her daughter or what she should or shouldn’t tell Clint about her.
Putting the tea cups in the sink, she moved through the apartment, turning off lights and locking up for the night. Finally she found herself at the door to Ariana’s room. The little girl had kicked off her blanket and was sprawled across her bed, starfished in the same way her father did when he had the bed to himself.
Natasha smiled at the sight, comforted to see Ariana sleeping with such abandon after the events of the day. Moving into the room, she pulled the blanket back up, smoothing it into place. Pressing a kiss to the crown of her daughter’s head, she whispered, “My precious dyetka. I would not let harm come to you.” Ariana stirred in her sleep and Natasha soothed her, singing softly until she settled back to sleep. They’d learned early on that nothing got her to sleep faster than one of them singing to her and Natasha was no longer shy about singing to her and with her.
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Natasha oomphed as something landed on her stomach. “Mommy! Wake up! Wake! Up!”
The former Russian assassin wrapped her arms around the small body and twisted, tickling her as she turned them. “I’m awake, Ariana. Why are you?”
“Because it’s morning! When’s Uncle Coulson coming? Can we go to the park again? Can I go see Unca Tony in the lab? Where’s Greenie?”
“Slow down, dyetka. How about breakfast? And let me get dressed,” Natasha replied as she sat up. She looked at her daughter, who had managed to squirm out of her clothes and was now clad in just an old t-shirt of Clint’s. “And you need to get dressed also.”
Ariana wrapped her fingers in the edge of the shirt, holding onto it as if Natasha was going to take it away. “Daddy’s shirt!”
“I know it’s Daddy’s.” Natasha brushed her hair back, looking into her daughter’s eyes, identical to her father’s. “And you can keep wearing it, but you need to put on jeans at least.”
“I can do it myself!” she announced.
“Okay. You do that. Do you want pancakes?” Natasha asked as they got out of bed.
“Not till Daddy gets home,” Ariana told her. “Pop-tarts.”
“Fine. But your daddy and I are going to have a discussion about your eating habits when he gets home.”
“Not Daddy!” Ariana yelled back as she ran down the hall towards her room.
“No running in the house,” Natasha reminded her.
By the time Ariana returned, now wearing a pair of jeans and the laces of her tennis shoes flapping with every step she took, Natasha had located a box of Pop-tarts. She hadn’t even realized they had the pastries. Lifting Ariana up and setting her on the counter, she showed her the box. “Where did these come from?”
“The store?” Ariana attempted.
“Ariana,” Natasha started, then sighed. “How do you know about Pop-tarts?”
“JARVIS!” Ariana bounced on the counter, clearly quite proud of herself.
“JARVIS?” Natasha questioned.
“Yes, Agent Romanov?” the AI replied. “How may I assist you?”
“Why did you introduce my daughter to Pop-tarts?”
“She was awake before you and Agent Barton. It was something I could direct her to eat.”
Before Natasha could respond to that, the bell at their door chimed. “You. Stay.” She pointed at her daughter. “I’m going to see who’s at the door.”
“I wanna come, Mommy.”
“No. I won’t be more than a minute,” she replied. “Tie your shoes while you’re waiting.”
Ariana pouted, but pulled her foot up, beginning to slowly work on her laces as Natasha went to the door. She wasn’t concerned about it being a stranger at the door because the security on the Tower was tighter than anywhere she’d ever been outside of the helicarrier or SHIELD HQ. Opening the door, she nodded at the man there. “Coulson.”
“Good morning, Agent.”
“Good morning, Sir. We weren’t expecting you this early,” she said, stepping aside so he could enter.
“I thought my goddaughter might be in need of a distraction,” Coulson told her.
“We’re just eating breakfast. It seems JARVIS introduced her to Pop-tarts.” Natasha led the way back to the kitchen, where Ariana looked up as they entered. “Look who came, Ariana.”
“Uncle Coulson!” Ariana held her arms out. “Hug!”
Coulson held a finger up to stop her. “No jumping. No leaping at me. I’m still not allowed to pick you up. You can hug me, but you can’t squeeze too tightly.”
Ariana nodded her understanding and waited for Coulson to move towards her, wrapping her arms gently around his neck when he was close enough. “I love you,” she whispered into his ear.
“I love you, too, Ari.” He released her, letting Natasha help her down from the counter. “How about watching a movie while you eat breakfast?”
Ariana tipped her head back so she could see Natasha. “Can we, Mommy? Please?”
“May we,” Coulson corrected.
Ariana let out a huff, but corrected herself, “May we, please?”
“I think that’s something that won’t be stressful on Uncle Coulson,” Natasha decided. “What movie would you like?”
“Men in Black!” Ariana declared, already heading for the living room.
“I don’t think so,” Natasha called after her. “I know that’s your father’s influence. And that is not an appropriate movie!”
“But it has an agent like Uncle Coulson!” Ariana protested. When she saw her mother’s unyielding face, she replied, “Fine. Independence Day? It has aliens, too!”
“Your daddy and I are going to have a long discussion about appropriate movies when he gets home, little girl,” Natasha answered as Coulson joined them in the living room. She looked at him. “And don’t think I’m not aware of your influence here.”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about, Agent Romanov,” Coulson responded mildly. “Ari, what about a Robin Hood movie? Or one of the Narnia ones?”
Ariana’s expression turned mulish. “No archery movies without Daddy.”
Natasha opened her mouth to scold Ariana, which was her normal reaction to this action from her child. Then she realized why Ariana was acting this way right now. The last time the little girl had been separated from her father, the man had been brainwashed, taken away from them both, and then attacked the place they’d been sent for safety. She was most likely living in fear that she’d never see him again. Instead of her first thought, she suggested, “How about Monsters, Inc? Or Mulan?”
Ariana eyed her mother suspiciously for a minute, then decided, “Mulan. Can. May Greenie and Captain come up, too?”
“I believe the Captain has other things to do right now,” Coulson responded. “But. JARVIS?”
“Yes, Agent Coulson?” the AI replied.
“Would you see if Doctor Banner is able to interrupt whatever he’s engaged in? Tell him that Ariana has requested his presence at a movie viewing.” Coulson cocked an eyebrow at Ariana. “Is that acceptable?”
“Yes!” Ariana bounced on her toes for a moment before running towards the couch, yelling, “JARVIS! Movie, please?”
“Ariana, don’t run in the house,” Natasha said. “And settle down. Or you will lose privileges.”
Ariana skidded to a stop, looking to Coulson as if expecting him to say it was okay. When he didn’t, she looked mulish again, but obeyed. She set herself up on the floor in front of the television, waiting patiently for the movie to start and for Natasha to bring her breakfast. “Would you like some help?” Coulson asked.
“No. I’m fine,” Natasha replied. “Go watch the movie with Ariana. I’ll bring breakfast out for the two of you in a few minutes.”
Coulson settled himself on the couch as JARVIS cued up the movie Ariana had requested, easing down until he was sitting comfortably. Ariana twisted around, looking at him in concern. “Are you okay, Uncle Coulson? Can…May I come sit with you?”
“Of course. Just be gentle. Like I know you can be.” He had automatically sat down so that his left side was against the couch arm, just in case Ariana wanted to sit with him, and now he was glad he’d done that. Now he patted the cushion next to him. “Come on up.”
Ariana scrambled up beside him, sitting down about five inches from him. Coulson wanted to smile at her caution, but knew that would be a bad response. “I’m being careful,” she informed him. “You have to feel better.”
“I’d feel better if I had a hug from my favorite girl,” he confided in her.
Ariana considered him for a minute. “Snuggles?” she asked.
“I think that would make me feel a lot better,” he told her.
Ariana rested her head against his torso, twisting to peer up at him. “Daddy went away. Mommy said he’s coming back.”
Coulson stroked her red hair, trying to figure out how to reassure her without lying to her. “Your daddy always tries to come back to you,” he finally said. “If he doesn’t, you need to remember that it wasn’t because he didn’t want to.”
Ariana was clearly pondering this as the movie played on. She’d turned to say something else to Coulson when she noticed someone coming towards them. “Greenie!” she cried, obviously happy to see the doctor.
“Good morning, Ariana,” Bruce greeted her. “You didn’t wait for me?”
“We can start it over,” Ariana replied. “Right, Uncle Coulson?”
“If Doctor Banner wants,” Coulson agreed.
“Why don’t you continue this movie?” Natasha suggested as she entered the room, a tray in her hands. “And you can watch another movie from the beginning with Bruce.”
Ariana considered this idea as Natasha set the tray on the coffee table and Bruce settled cross-legged on the floor. Ariana scrambled down from the couch to pick at her food. After a moment, she looked up. “Thank you, Mommy.”
“You’re welcome, dyetka,” Natasha replied. “Coulson, I have coffee. And tea, Bruce, if you’d like.”
“Yes, thank you,” both men replied.
“Mommy, watch with us,” Ariana demanded when Natasha returned a few minutes later with the requested items.
“All right,” Natasha agreed, sitting down on the couch. Once Ariana finished eating, she crawled up until she was sitting between Natasha and Coulson; alternating between leaning on each of them until she finally dozed off against the assassin.
Bruce smiled when he saw that the little girl was sound asleep. “I brought up a bag. I have coloring and some paints. For when she wakes up. Cap told me what happened yesterday and I figured you probably wouldn’t want to take her outside today.”
Natasha nodded at his words. “Yes. Thank you. She’s got plenty of toys, but something new is always good to distract her.”
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“Mommy!” Ariana screamed as she bolted upright from her nap.
Natasha hurried in from the kitchen, catching Ariana as she leapt off the couch, and holding her tightly. “I’m here. It’s okay. I didn’t leave,” she hastened to reassure the sobbing four year old. When Ariana calmed enough that Natasha thought she would be able to talk coherently, the assassin asked, “Did you have a bad dream?”
“You left,” Ariana accused, her voice muffled from where it was still buried in Natasha’s neck.
“All I did was go to the kitchen when you fell asleep,” Natasha assured her. She smoothed Ariana’s hair, smiling when the curls tried to wrap around her fingers. “Your Greenie is still here. He has coloring books and paints for you two to play with.”
Ariana’s head popped up. “Greenie’s here?”
“In the kitchen. Just waiting for you to wake up. Uncle Coulson had to go back to his room to rest, but he’ll see you later.”
Ariana kicked her feet, wiggling until Natasha let her down. “Greenie?” she asked and Natasha pointed towards the kitchen with a smile. “Greenie!” Ariana yelled as she took off full-tilt towards the other room. Natasha didn’t even bother calling after her to slow down.
Bruce looked up from the tablet he was working on as Ariana pelted into the kitchen, almost skidding into the table in her haste. “Slow down, little Hawk,” he said. “What’s the rush?”
“Mommy said you had coloring? And paints? Can… May we paint, Greenie? Please?” Ariana asked.
“I do. And we may. Why don’t you go change into something that you can get dirty?” he suggested.
Ariana shook her head. “Daddy’s shirt.”
“Ah, I understand. Well I suppose Clint will understand just this once.” He winked at her and Ariana giggled in response. “I’ll get my bag then while you get settled in your chair, okay?”
“Okay.” As Bruce left to fetch his bag from the living room, Ariana scrambled into her booster seat. When he returned, she was wiggling in her seat; impatiently waiting for him. “Coloring?” she asked.
“You want to color first?” he questioned. When she nodded in response, he dug through his bag, producing after a minute an Avengers coloring book and both crayons and colored pencils.
Ariana looked through the book, carefully considering each page until she finally picked one that had Captain America on it. Bruce was surprised, he would have figured she would pick one of her parents first, but when he looked at her questioningly, she said, “Uncle Coulson likes Cap.”
“He does,” Bruce agreed.
“It’ll make him feel better,” Ariana continued.
“I’m sure it will,” Bruce said. “Especially since you’re the one that colored it for him.”
For a few minutes they colored in silence until Ariana was apparently satisfied with her picture. She set the picture aside and began to look through the other books for something to color for Clint.
After spending the afternoon and most of the evening coloring with Bruce, Ariana went to bed surprisingly easy. She did insist that Bruce read her a story first and Natasha was surprised when the scientist readily agreed. Ariana was asleep before he got even halfway through the book, but he kept reading until he finished it.
“You’re good with her,” Natasha said quietly as she walked him to the door.
“She makes it easy,” Bruce responded. “You and Clint have done a wonderful job with her.”
“It’s mostly Clint. He seems to have a knack with her.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Natasha,” Bruce said gently. “She screamed for you when she had her nightmare earlier. And she clearly adores you. Just because it isn’t easy for you, doesn’t mean you aren’t a good mother or she doesn’t love you.” When Natasha just stared at him, he added, “I’ll let you get some sleep of your own. I’m sure she gets up pretty early. It was nice to spend some time with her that wasn’t testing or being questioned or questioning her. Good night.”
“Good night, Bruce,” Natasha recovered enough to say before adding, “Thank you.”
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Natasha expected to be awoken by Ariana jumping on her again the next morning, so was surprised when instead she was disturbed by JARVIS’s voice. “Agent, I’m sorry to wake you, but Sir is at your door and would like your attention. Should I tell him you’ll meet him in the common room?”
“No. Ask him to wait a minute,” Natasha replied as she got out of bed. “Is Ariana still sleeping?”
“Miss Ariana is still asleep, but she is stirring,” JARVIS responded. “I calculate that she will be fully awake within ten minutes.”
Natasha nodded as she quickly pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, forgoing shoes for now. “Admit Stark please, but direct him to the living room. And remind him not to stray.”
Tony was fidgeting when she entered the living room, walking back and forth within the confines of the room and pausing every now and then to look at the package in his hand. He looked up as she entered, glancing quickly to her side. “Where’s the fledgling?” he asked when he saw she was alone.
“Good morning to you, too,” Natasha said. “Do you mean Ariana? I suppose it’s an improvement on calling her ‘that’. And she’s still sleeping.”
“Oh. I have. Something. Something for her. I had an idea. Something I thought she might like.”
“Stark, have you had any sleep in the past twenty-four hours?” Natasha asked.
“Yeah. An hour or two.” He thrust the package towards Natasha. “It’s for her. The fledgling. Ariana, right? It’s for her. She can shoot, right? She’s Barton’s kid. What am I saying? Of course she can. Anyway. It’s for her.”
“Ton-ney, what did you do?” Natasha asked, even as she unwrapped the package he had shoved into her hands.
“Well, the park trip, and I didn’t know what to do, and I just figured, Barton’s daughter, so she should have a bow. And the arrows aren’t quite as lethal as his, but anyway. It’s something.”
Natasha looked down at the miniature and no doubt working bow and quiver, then back at Tony. “You do realize she’s four, right?”
“She is? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Very sure. Eighteen hours sure. This is not exactly an appropriate gift for a four year old, Stark. Especially if it works.”
“Oh, um. Oops?”
“Mommy?” Ariana asked from the hallway.
"Dyetka," Natasha started, as Ariana spied the bow in her hands.
"What's that?" the little girl asked.
"This? Is your Uncle Tony not quite thinking things through," Natasha responded.
"Are you telling me she doesn't have a bow?" Tony asked.
"She has a bow," Natasha acknowledged. "She does not have a working replica of her father's high tech bow."
"And that's a bad thing why?" Tony waved at Ariana, who had taken the bow from Natasha and was examining it with a focus not unlike her father.
"Stark, it's not appropriate."
Tony waved his hand again. "She loves it. And it's not like you can teach her what you know yet. I mean I'm sure you will at some point but I thought for now."
"Mommy." Ariana tugged on Natasha's shirt. "Can I keep it? Please? Unca Tony made it just for me."
"All right. But you only use it with Daddy or me supervising," she instructed.
"Yay!" Ariana cheered as Tony grinned.
"Come on, fledgling," he said, snapping his fingers. "I'll show you how to use it. And you can show off for your daddy when he gets back."
"Daddy's coming home today," Ariana informed him seriously.
"Yes he is," Natasha said. "And you're not showing her anything, Stark. You're going to bed. You'll probably shoot yourself in the foot. I'll take Ariana down to the range after she's had breakfast and gotten dressed."
Ariana pouted but turned the bow over to Natasha when her mother held her hand out. She started towards her room, then turned back and ran towards Tony; throwing her arms around his waist. "Thank you, Unca Tony!" she told him, peering up at him.
"Oh ah well yeah. You're welcome." Tony awkwardly patted her on top of the head.
"Ariana, please go get dressed," Natasha requested.
"Okay, Mommy." Ariana squeezed Tony's waist one last time and then ran towards to her room.
"All right. So I'll go. And. Okay. Sleep. Right," Tony babbled, heading for the door.
"JARVIS," Natasha asked, "is he safe to get back to his rooms?"
"I'll monitor him, Agent, but he should be fine," the AI responded.
"Thank you, JARVIS." Natasha turned her attention to Ariana as the little girl ran back into the main room.
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Ariana was focusing with intense concentration on what she needed to do to use the new bow when she heard the voice she'd been waiting for. "Hey, Button."
"Daddy!" she cried, turning around.
Clint grinned at the sight of his little girl with a bow clutched so tightly in her hands. "Hi," he said softly.
She shifted on her feet, obviously wanting to run to him, but being too well trained in etiquette with the bow that she couldn't just drop it. "Daddy," she repeated.
"Come here," Clint said, crouching down and holding his arms out to Ariana. She ran to him, almost hitting him in the back with the bow. Clint laughed as he scooped her up, taking the bow from her, and balancing her on his hip. "What's this?" he asked, trying to examine it and hold her at the same time.
"Unca Tony made it for me," Ariana explained. "Like yours."
“Oh, really?” Clint turned his attention to the bow, realizing that it was in fact a replica of his bow. “And Uncle Tony is it?”
Ariana grinned at him, hanging off his arm. “Unca Tony went to the park with us.”
Clint raised his eyes as a familiar step came closer. “The park?”
“Your daughter insisted,” Natasha informed him. “And the Captain also. It was good that they were with us.”
“Problems?” he questioned, as he slipped his arm around her, careful to set the bow down first.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” she assured him. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, relaxing against him. “I’ll tell you the whole story later.”
Ariana tugged at his shirt. “Daddy, my bow! I have to show you.”
Natasha smiled. “She’s been waiting all day to show off for you.”
Clint allowed his daughter to squirm her way back to her feet. “Go get set up. I want to say hello to Mommy.” As Ariana gathered up her bow and the quiver that she’d abandoned, he pulled Natasha more firmly to him. “Hi. Good to see you.”
“Good to see you in one piece,” she responded, kissing him more fully.
“Daddy! Kiss Mommy later. Look!”
Clint laughed at his daughter’s yell and turned his attention to their little girl, slinging an arm around Natasha’s shoulders to keep her by him. “I’m watching, Button,” he called.
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“Is Ariana asleep?” Natasha asked as Clint stepped into their bedroom.
“Story read, water fetched, story read, another glass asked for.” Clint grinned. “She has definitely leaned how to procrastinate.”
“She missed you,” Natasha replied. “And she was very worried that you weren’t going to come back.”
“Hey, I do my best,” Clint pointed out. “Was she the only one? Are you glad I’m back?”
Natasha finally looked up from the e-reader she’d been focusing on. “Strip and I’ll show you how happy I am to have you home again.”
“Ma’am. Yes, Ma’am.” Clint’s grin widened as he immediately reached for his t-shirt, hands almost clumsy in his haste to get that and his cargo pants off. He’d showered at HQ and ditched his boots as soon as he walked through the door so it was a matter of shimmying his clothes off and then crawling up the bed until he was braced over Natasha. She looked up at him as his eyes traveled down her body. “Was she…”
Natasha put a finger over his lips, stopping his words. “Do you really want to talk about our daughter now?”
Looking down at her, at the pale pink negligee edged in black that hugged her curves and gave him hints of the body he knew so well, he shook his head. “No. No. Not really.”
Natasha smirked at him before kicking his legs out from under him. Both of them oomped as his full weight landed on her, but she didn’t hesitate, wrapping her legs around him and using his surprise to flip them over. “I can think of much better things to do,” she purred as she ran her hands up his arms. She was very careful not to actually pin his arms in place, knowing he needed a warning before she did that.
Clint pressed up towards her, the negligee preventing him from just sliding inside, and he moaned as she ground back against him in response. “Tasha,” he begged. “Please don’t tease.”
Instead of replying, Natasha sat up; slowly pulling the satin up her body until it was free and she could toss it away. Clint’s hands followed the trail up, his calluses moving over smooth skin until he could cup her breasts in his hands. It was Natasha’s turn to moan as he rubbed his thumbs across her nipples until they stood out as if begging for him to lick them. He moved, intending to sit up and take them in his mouth, when she pushed him back down. “No more foreplay,” she ordered.
“Tasha, wha…?” His words cut off into a strangled moan as in one smooth move she knelt up and took him completely inside her. Immediately, he grabbed her hips, digging his fingers in so he could exert a little control. “Slow. Down,” he begged.
She grinned in response, rolling her hips against his. “Why?” she asked. “That’s just really no fun.”
He moaned as she rotated her hips, squeezing him tightly on each pass. “God, Tasha, you feel…”
It was her turn to moan as his finger slipped inside her beside his cock, massaging her clit gently. They rocked together, both of them crying out as they came. Natasha slumped down against Clint afterwards, allowing him to run a hand gently down her back. “Mmm,” she hummed, as their breathing settled.
“Now that’s a welcome home,” Clint murmured.
“Glad you approve,” Natasha returned. She wiggled off him, bringing another moan and flopped gracefully next to him. Clint reached out, pulling her to him until she was lying with her head on his shoulder.
Clint played with a lock of her hair, winding it around and around his finger as they lay in the bed together. “Hey, Tasha,” he said after a few minutes. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Clint, conversations never end well when you start with that.”
“What about that time…?”
“No.”
“But there was that…?”
“No, Clint.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He huffed in response. “Fine. Can I tell you what I was thinking about at least?”
Natasha tilted her head up, leaning her chin on his shoulder. “I suppose so. Although I’m sure I’m going to regret this.”
“What would you think… How would you feel… About maybe having… ?” He paused, clearly attempting to gather his words.
“Clint, as much as you think I can read your mind, I really can’t.”
“Don’t you think Ariana should have a sibling?” he asked.
Natasha twisted, shoved, and Clint hollered as he rolled out of bed. His arms flailed as he tried to grab something to prevent himself from falling, but he hit the floor with thump. “Tasha!” he yelped.
“You deserved that,” she snapped.
Clint sat up, trying to unobtrusively rub his ass. “How did I deserve that?”
“I already have you and Ariana, why would I need another child?” she demanded. “And I am not going through that again.”
“I thought you love Ariana,” he replied.
“I do. I love her more than you could ever understand. But I can’t. I can’t do that again. I can’t take the risk, Clint. We got lucky. You know that.”
“You gonna hit me again if I come back up there?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No.”
He climbed back up onto the bed, taking her into his arms. “I wouldn’t ask you to, Tasha. There are other ways for us to have a child.”
“No, Clint.” She pressed a kiss to the nearest skin she could reach. “Just no.”
“So that means no pets either, right?” he questioned.
“Please tell me you didn’t bring home something alive, Clinton.”
He smirked. “No. Not exactly.”
“Clint. What does not exactly mean?”
“It’s electronic?” he hazarded.
She sighed. “I don’t even want to know. Just make sure it’s something she isn’t going to use to take over the world.”
“N…” Clint considered it. “I won’t let Tony get his hands on it.”
“Good. Idea.” She patted the pillow next to her. “Come sleep with me.”
Clint settled down next her, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I love you. I have a present for you, too.”
“I know.”
Characters: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Ariana Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, JARVIS
Fandom: Avengers 2012
Series: Assassin Baby
Written For: whogeek, chrismouse
Prompt: Clint has a mission
Summary: Clint has to leave for a mission not long after the Chitauri Invasion and the Avengers try to entertain Ariana to varying degrees of success.
Rating: NC-17 (what can I say Natasha missed Clint too)
Spoilers: Avengers, rest of the series
Warnings: Ariana is adorable, she loves everyone, Clint & Natasha love their daughter, Avengers are a dysfunctional family
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me. Ariana belongs to Clint and Natasha. Not making any money off this.
Author's Note: I could not do this without my wonderful, fabulous whogeek, who I bug entirely too much. She is both my enabler and my sanity. And is completely awesome in so many ways. Hopefully Dead Animals next, sweetie. And no, I will not title it that!
Three Months After the Attempted Chitauri Invasion
“I don’t want you to go!”
Clint sighed, but didn’t pause in his packing. “This is not up for discussion, Ariana.”
“Someone else should go,” she demanded. When he turned to get a shirt out of the drawer, she quickly pulled as much as she could out of his duffle.
Clint turned back around to see Ariana sitting on top of the clothes she’d removed from his bag. “Ariana Natalia, this is not appropriate,” he told her as he picked her up so he could get to the clothes.
She clung to him as he tried to repack his bag. “Daddy, don’t go.”
Sitting down, he settled her on his lap. “Hey, what’s wrong? You’ve never had a problem with me going away before. Mommy’s gonna be here and everyone else. And Uncle Coulson’ll be here tomorrow.”
“But last time you went away for-eeever,” she whined.
“You know I never want to leave you, right?” he asked, waiting until she nodded. “But sometimes I have to because of work?” When she nodded again, he continued, “I’m only going for a couple of days this time. So three sleeps. Go to bed and get up. To bed, get up. To bed and when you get up that day, I’ll be home. And you’ll have lots of things to tell me.”
She sniffed a little, but was clearly considering his words. “What things?”
“The Captain and I were thinking we could take you to the park,” Natasha commented from the door. “Uncle Coulson will need someone to fetch things for him, so I’m sure he’d love for you to spend some time with him. Even if you just read stories with him. You’ll have to practice your shooting so you can show Daddy how much better you are. And of course we’ll watch movies like always.”
Ariana grinned. “And make cookies for Daddy?”
“I think we could do that,” Natasha agreed.
“So you think you could let me finish packing?” Clint asked.
“I still don’t want you to go,” Ariana informed him.
Clint squeezed her tightly, delighting in the squeal she let out. “I don’t want to go either, Button, but I have to.”
Ariana threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Wiggling until Clint let her go, she ran from the room. Natasha looked at Clint as he began to put his things back in his bag. “What was that all about?” she asked him after a minute.
“She’s getting older,” Clint commented. “Apparently me leaving is starting to make an impact. Be prepared for actual wailing and gnashing of teeth when you go next time.”
“We’re Russian, she’ll keep her tears until I’m actually gone,” Natasha replied.
Clint snorted in response. “She’s half-American, Tasha. She’s gonna wail and throw herself down.”
“Then she’s your daughter.”
Ariana tumbled back into the room before Natasha could respond to that, a well-loved stuffed animal clutched in her hands. “Daddy, you need to take Yastreb with you,” she insisted, clambering up onto the bed and shoving the plushie into his duffle. “He’ll keep you safe.”
“Then who’s gonna keep you safe?” Clint asked.
“I have Mommy.” She leaned towards Clint, almost overbalancing before Clint caught her. “Please, Daddy. Mommy’s not going with you. And neither is Uncle Coulson. Take Yastreb.”
“All right,” Clint agreed. “Now kiss me, Button, because I’ve got to get going.”
Flinging her arms around his neck again, she hugged him tightly before kissing him on the cheek. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you, too, Button,” he whispered to her. “Be good for Mommy and I’ll see you in three sleeps.” She nodded in response and he tossed her gently onto the bed, landing her in the middle of the pillows. She giggled as she bounced. He scooped up his duffle and turned to Natasha, who had watched the entire scene with a blank face. “I love you, too, you know.”
“I know.”
“Good.” Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her to him, kissing her until she wacked him on the shoulder. “What?”
“Your daughter is watching. And you need to go,” she reminded him.
Clint grinned, asking over his shoulder, “Whose daughter are you, Ariana?”
“Mommy and Daddy’s,” Ariana immediately answered.
“Smart girl,” Clint praised.
“Clearly not your daughter,” Natasha told him dryly. “Now go. Before you’re late.”
Clint kissed her again quickly before blowing a kiss to Ariana and striding from the room. Ariana held her arms up to Natasha who scooped her up from the bed, snuggling her daughter to her. “Three sleeps, Mommy?”
“Three sleeps,” Natasha promised, hoping she could keep her word. “What are we going to do first?”
Ariana kept close to the floor as she squirmed along. She had a target and so far the strange computer hadn’t alerted Mister Tony to her presence. The man in question was seated at a table, that under normal circumstances would draw her attention, but right now she wanted to see how close she could get without him noticing. Mommy had gone to talk to Captain for a few minutes and left her to her own devices, with the only directions being that she couldn’t leave the tower.
Reaching the table, she got to her knees and then to her feet, resting her hands on the table. “What’cha doing, Mista Tony?”
Tony shrieked, throwing what was in his hands up into the air. He spun on his stool, looking everywhere but in the right direction until he finally realized Ariana was at his hip. “Where? How? What are you doing here?”
“Mommy’s talking to Captain. Daddy went away. What’cha doing?”
Tony launched into a long winded explanation, his hands waving as he spoke. After a few minutes he wound down, looking at her. “You have no idea what I’m saying, do you?”
“You talk funny, Mista Tony.”
Tony made a face at her. “And people say I have no manners. JARVIS, where is this child’s mother?”
“Agent Romanov is in the main living room with Captain Rogers, Sir,” the AI promptly responded.
“See. There. Go. Off.” Tony waved her away. Ariana shook her head. “No? What do you mean no?”
“Don’t want to go by myself. Take me, please?”
Tony huffed a sigh. “Fine. Let’s go.” He stood up, motioning for her to proceed him. Ariana responded by holding out her hand. “What’s that for?”
“Hold my hand, silly.”
“Is it sticky? Are you going to get me dirty?”
“You’re already dirty,” she told him, pointing to a grease spot on his cheek. “And I’m not sticky. Daddy washed my hands after lunch. Mommy and Daddy always hold my hand when we walk somewhere.”
“Fine. But just this once.”
“You know I’m the child, right?” Ariana asked, as Tony took her hand and led the way from the lab.
“Are you sure?” he responded.
Ariana just giggled in answer.
When they entered the living room, Natasha and Steve were standing in the middle of it, already dressed to go out. Ariana dropped Tony’s hand, running to her mother. “I think that belongs to you,” Tony commented as Natasha picked her up.
“She’s not a ‘that’, Tony, and she has a name.” Natasha squeezed her before setting her down. “Were you bothering Tony, Ariana?”
“I snuck up on him, Mommy!” Ariana exclaimed. “I did good! Just like Daddy showed me!”
“How close did you get?” Natasha asked.
“Right next to him!”
“That’s good, baby,” Natasha praised. “You’ll have to tell Daddy when he gets home.” Ariana grinned at the praise and bounced a little on her feet. “Right now you need to go get your pink jacket from your room though. We’re going to the park with Captain.”
“Okay, Mommy.” Ariana started to dart away, then turned back. “Mista Tony, do you want to go with us? Please?”
“Well, I. Um. I. Have.” Tony flailed towards the way they’d come. “I have.” His expression folded as he met with her sad eyes. “All righty. Fine. Stop. Stop looking at me like that. Your eyes are lethal.”
Ariana grinned. “Yay!” Running from the room, she called back, “I get my coat!”
“Well that didn’t take long,” Natasha commented.
“What? What didn’t?” Tony asked.
“Ariana and the puppy dog eyes. She’s got you now. Be prepared for her to deploy them when she really wants something,” Natasha told him. “She learned from the best.”
“And who would that be?” Tony demanded.
“Her daddy,” Natasha replied just as Ariana ran back into the room, struggling to put her jacket on. “Better go get a jacket, Mister Stark. You just agreed to go to the park with us.”
Tony looked confused for a minute. “How did that happen?”
Tony was still trying to figure it out as the group settled themselves at the park. He wasn’t sure when or how he’d agreed to this outing, but he’d managed to snag a tablet when he’d grabbed his coat, so hopefully he could get some work done all the same. Ariana didn’t seem to require the adults play with her. In fact, Steve had a sketchbook and had settled with it. Natasha fussed over Ariana for a few minutes, but once she was satisfied the little girl would stay within the playground, she came back to the table where the two men had settled.
“She’ll be fine, ma’am,” Steve reassured her, as Natasha sat down beside him. He tapped his ear. “I can hear her easily.”
Natasha smiled. “I think you can call me Natasha, Cap. And I’m just not…we haven’t really had the chance to go to the park like this.”
“It’s good for her then,” Steve commented. “We, Bucky and I, used to love going to the park on nice days. Even when we were older. It was cheap entertainment.”
“Cheap is only in the eyes of the beholder,” Natasha countered. “I would have…” she broke off. “Never mind. Did you spend a lot of time in parks as a child, Tony?”
“When your entire backyard is a park, no. Not so much. Besides I was too busy.” Tony’s answer was distracted and he never looked up from his tablet.
Steve opened his mouth as if he was going to respond, but Natasha shook her head, tapping his sketchbook. “I meant to ask you earlier. Would you be willing to draw a picture of Ariana? I think Clint would like it.” The two fell to discussing the options; Steve protesting that he wasn’t nearly good enough.
Ariana carefully climbed the steps to the top of the castle. This was easy compared to some of the obstacle courses that she tried to follow Daddy up, but to make it a little more difficult; she had to dodge the other kids. When she got to the top, she could see Mommy and Captain and Mista Tony sitting at the table. She waved emphatically until Mommy waved back, smiling when she saw how high Ariana was.
Turning around, she tried to decide where she was going to go next. If Daddy was here, he’d sneak up on her and tickle her or chase her around the castle. She had a moment of sadness where she missed her daddy intensely, but she knew what he was doing was important. And that he would want her to play and have lots of stories to tell him when he got back.
Decision made, she squirmed her way to the other edge of the turret and clambered down the ropes. She was halfway across the sand when someone scooped her up, catching her against an unfamiliar body. She wasn’t alarmed immediately since it wasn’t unusual for someone to grab her from behind. It was only when she heard the voice that she got scared. “Pretty little girl. Pretty red hair. Come home with me, pretty little girl?”
Ariana started to struggle at the words, trying to get enough leverage to swing her arms around. At the same time she started to scream, “Mommy! Captain! Mista Tony!” over and over again. The man turned her in his hold so she was facing him and she swung her small fist, hitting him in the eye. As she swung again, she let out a blood-curdling scream; hoping it would bring her mommy running.
Steve’s head shot up as he heard the first scream of “mommy”. If not for the air of desperation to it, he would have ignored it. When it was followed by his name and Tony’s, he shot to his feet. “Natasha, Ariana’s…”
But Natasha had already shot to her feet, her green eyes scanning the park. Within seconds she had picked a direction and taken off running, leaving Steve and Tony to follow or not. “What? Did she just…?” Tony started.
“Someone has Ariana,” Steve responded, leaping to his feet and following after the lithe woman.
“What? Someone…” Tony grabbed his tablet and Steve’s pad, following after the super solider as he ran after Natasha. “Where?” he demanded as Steve paused, obviously trying to locate them.
“This way.” Steve wheeled abruptly, heading towards the sound of the little girl’s voice; Tony struggling to keep up.
Natasha gaged the angles, saw where she would end up, and launched herself. Hitting the edge of the wooden step, she used it to spring herself towards the man; catching him in the back. She knew Ariana could be hurt, but trusted that her daughter would be able to get herself free or only get minimally hurt.
The man went down under her assault, yelling in pain. She reached for him, bending the arm that wasn’t around her child, her life, back; almost to the breaking point. She could see the marks where Ariana had obviously scored hits. “Let. Her. Go.”
Someone scooped Ariana up from where she had landed and Natasha whirled, the threat moving with her because she didn’t dare let him go. The size and shape of this man was familiar to her though and her baby was clinging to him, even as she cried. Ariana crawled over onto Steve’s back, clinging to his sweatshirt.
Tony shifted the items he carried to one hand and reached up, plucking Ariana from where she perched. “Hey, let’s get you out of the way,” he said, stepping back. “Hi,” he greeted her, when she turned wide eyes to him. “Hey, you have the same color eyes as your daddy. Did you know that?”
She sniffed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Want Mommy.”
“I think your Mommy’s a little busy kicking as…butt right now,” Tony responded.
Steve grabbed the shirt of the man Natasha had taken down, lifting him easily off the ground. “Natasha, your daughter needs you. Let me deal with him. Your daughter. Please. Your little girl.”
Refocused, Natasha turned, seeing Ariana perched in Tony’s arms; her tear-streaked face watching the commotion. “Dyetka, are you…?” She reached out for her daughter. “Did he hurt you?”
Freed of his burden, Tony dug his phone out of his pocket. “Cops? We want the cops, right?” he asked, already dialing.
Natasha didn’t look up from where she was wiping Ariana’s face, but Steve shook the man he was still holding as the man started to struggle. “That would be good, Tony,” he answered.
By the time they finished with the police that Tony’s call had summoned, Ariana was almost asleep in Natasha’s arms from the excitement. Tony had quietly called Happy while they gave their statements and the bodyguard was waiting with a car at the entrance to the park. Over Natasha’s protests, Tony got them all into the car, pointing to Ariana’s nodding head as a reason and that none of them really wanted to carry her back to the Tower.
Natasha came out of Ariana’s room to find Steve sitting at the dining room table, his sketch book open in front of him. “You don’t have to stay with us,” she commented, moving into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.
“I had some ideas for the sketch for Clint,” Steve responded. “I wanted to go over them with you.”
“Tea?” Natasha offered.
“Sure,” Steve replied. He waited while Natasha went through her routine of steeping the tea and pouring mugs for both of them. She added honey to her own, before offering him the choice. He took it plain out of habit, not having been given the option growing up and then being used to rationed sugar during the war. Turning his book so she could see it as she sat down, he said, “So I was thinking, you were saying she’s got a bow, right?”
They were deep in a discussion about what the final sketch would look like when Natasha’s phone vibrated. Without looking, she picked it up; flicking the accept and answering, “Da?”
“Hey, Tasha,” Clint’s familiar voice was a comfort to her and she felt the last of the tension from the afternoon leave her. “How’s my girls?”
“We’re fine. We took Ariana to the park and she wore herself out,” she told him. “I just put her to bed.” Steve’s head jerked back up at her lie, but he didn’t say anything, choosing instead to simply stare at her.
“I’m sorry I missed that. We’ll have to take her again. Who went with you?”
“She conned Tony and we’d already invited Steve,” Natasha answered. “How’s the mission going?”
“It’s fine. Lonely. Sitwell’s not the company you are.”
“I would hope not,” she replied.
“I…” He stopped, obviously cutting off what he was planning to say. “Just wanted to check in. I have to go now. I love you,” he added in a rush.
“I know,” she replied, allowing herself a slight smile that he couldn’t see. Without another word, he hung up.
Steve waited until she set the phone back on the table before asking, “Why didn’t you tell him what happened to Ariana?”
“It would upset him for no reason. I’ll tell him when he gets home.”
“Seems to me that he’d want to know his daughter was in danger,” Steve answered.
“Not when he’s in the middle of an op,” Natasha replied coldly. “And I honestly don’t think it’s any of your business, Captain.”
Steve winced at the ice in her voice. Gathering up his supplies, he excused himself. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Agent Romanov. I didn’t intend to. You’re right, it’s not my business.”
Natasha sighed after he left. Clint had always been better than her at interacting with people unless she was undercover or at least better at showing his emotions better. She knew she’d hurt Steve’s feelings, but no one was going to tell her how to raise her daughter or what she should or shouldn’t tell Clint about her.
Putting the tea cups in the sink, she moved through the apartment, turning off lights and locking up for the night. Finally she found herself at the door to Ariana’s room. The little girl had kicked off her blanket and was sprawled across her bed, starfished in the same way her father did when he had the bed to himself.
Natasha smiled at the sight, comforted to see Ariana sleeping with such abandon after the events of the day. Moving into the room, she pulled the blanket back up, smoothing it into place. Pressing a kiss to the crown of her daughter’s head, she whispered, “My precious dyetka. I would not let harm come to you.” Ariana stirred in her sleep and Natasha soothed her, singing softly until she settled back to sleep. They’d learned early on that nothing got her to sleep faster than one of them singing to her and Natasha was no longer shy about singing to her and with her.
Natasha oomphed as something landed on her stomach. “Mommy! Wake up! Wake! Up!”
The former Russian assassin wrapped her arms around the small body and twisted, tickling her as she turned them. “I’m awake, Ariana. Why are you?”
“Because it’s morning! When’s Uncle Coulson coming? Can we go to the park again? Can I go see Unca Tony in the lab? Where’s Greenie?”
“Slow down, dyetka. How about breakfast? And let me get dressed,” Natasha replied as she sat up. She looked at her daughter, who had managed to squirm out of her clothes and was now clad in just an old t-shirt of Clint’s. “And you need to get dressed also.”
Ariana wrapped her fingers in the edge of the shirt, holding onto it as if Natasha was going to take it away. “Daddy’s shirt!”
“I know it’s Daddy’s.” Natasha brushed her hair back, looking into her daughter’s eyes, identical to her father’s. “And you can keep wearing it, but you need to put on jeans at least.”
“I can do it myself!” she announced.
“Okay. You do that. Do you want pancakes?” Natasha asked as they got out of bed.
“Not till Daddy gets home,” Ariana told her. “Pop-tarts.”
“Fine. But your daddy and I are going to have a discussion about your eating habits when he gets home.”
“Not Daddy!” Ariana yelled back as she ran down the hall towards her room.
“No running in the house,” Natasha reminded her.
By the time Ariana returned, now wearing a pair of jeans and the laces of her tennis shoes flapping with every step she took, Natasha had located a box of Pop-tarts. She hadn’t even realized they had the pastries. Lifting Ariana up and setting her on the counter, she showed her the box. “Where did these come from?”
“The store?” Ariana attempted.
“Ariana,” Natasha started, then sighed. “How do you know about Pop-tarts?”
“JARVIS!” Ariana bounced on the counter, clearly quite proud of herself.
“JARVIS?” Natasha questioned.
“Yes, Agent Romanov?” the AI replied. “How may I assist you?”
“Why did you introduce my daughter to Pop-tarts?”
“She was awake before you and Agent Barton. It was something I could direct her to eat.”
Before Natasha could respond to that, the bell at their door chimed. “You. Stay.” She pointed at her daughter. “I’m going to see who’s at the door.”
“I wanna come, Mommy.”
“No. I won’t be more than a minute,” she replied. “Tie your shoes while you’re waiting.”
Ariana pouted, but pulled her foot up, beginning to slowly work on her laces as Natasha went to the door. She wasn’t concerned about it being a stranger at the door because the security on the Tower was tighter than anywhere she’d ever been outside of the helicarrier or SHIELD HQ. Opening the door, she nodded at the man there. “Coulson.”
“Good morning, Agent.”
“Good morning, Sir. We weren’t expecting you this early,” she said, stepping aside so he could enter.
“I thought my goddaughter might be in need of a distraction,” Coulson told her.
“We’re just eating breakfast. It seems JARVIS introduced her to Pop-tarts.” Natasha led the way back to the kitchen, where Ariana looked up as they entered. “Look who came, Ariana.”
“Uncle Coulson!” Ariana held her arms out. “Hug!”
Coulson held a finger up to stop her. “No jumping. No leaping at me. I’m still not allowed to pick you up. You can hug me, but you can’t squeeze too tightly.”
Ariana nodded her understanding and waited for Coulson to move towards her, wrapping her arms gently around his neck when he was close enough. “I love you,” she whispered into his ear.
“I love you, too, Ari.” He released her, letting Natasha help her down from the counter. “How about watching a movie while you eat breakfast?”
Ariana tipped her head back so she could see Natasha. “Can we, Mommy? Please?”
“May we,” Coulson corrected.
Ariana let out a huff, but corrected herself, “May we, please?”
“I think that’s something that won’t be stressful on Uncle Coulson,” Natasha decided. “What movie would you like?”
“Men in Black!” Ariana declared, already heading for the living room.
“I don’t think so,” Natasha called after her. “I know that’s your father’s influence. And that is not an appropriate movie!”
“But it has an agent like Uncle Coulson!” Ariana protested. When she saw her mother’s unyielding face, she replied, “Fine. Independence Day? It has aliens, too!”
“Your daddy and I are going to have a long discussion about appropriate movies when he gets home, little girl,” Natasha answered as Coulson joined them in the living room. She looked at him. “And don’t think I’m not aware of your influence here.”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about, Agent Romanov,” Coulson responded mildly. “Ari, what about a Robin Hood movie? Or one of the Narnia ones?”
Ariana’s expression turned mulish. “No archery movies without Daddy.”
Natasha opened her mouth to scold Ariana, which was her normal reaction to this action from her child. Then she realized why Ariana was acting this way right now. The last time the little girl had been separated from her father, the man had been brainwashed, taken away from them both, and then attacked the place they’d been sent for safety. She was most likely living in fear that she’d never see him again. Instead of her first thought, she suggested, “How about Monsters, Inc? Or Mulan?”
Ariana eyed her mother suspiciously for a minute, then decided, “Mulan. Can. May Greenie and Captain come up, too?”
“I believe the Captain has other things to do right now,” Coulson responded. “But. JARVIS?”
“Yes, Agent Coulson?” the AI replied.
“Would you see if Doctor Banner is able to interrupt whatever he’s engaged in? Tell him that Ariana has requested his presence at a movie viewing.” Coulson cocked an eyebrow at Ariana. “Is that acceptable?”
“Yes!” Ariana bounced on her toes for a moment before running towards the couch, yelling, “JARVIS! Movie, please?”
“Ariana, don’t run in the house,” Natasha said. “And settle down. Or you will lose privileges.”
Ariana skidded to a stop, looking to Coulson as if expecting him to say it was okay. When he didn’t, she looked mulish again, but obeyed. She set herself up on the floor in front of the television, waiting patiently for the movie to start and for Natasha to bring her breakfast. “Would you like some help?” Coulson asked.
“No. I’m fine,” Natasha replied. “Go watch the movie with Ariana. I’ll bring breakfast out for the two of you in a few minutes.”
Coulson settled himself on the couch as JARVIS cued up the movie Ariana had requested, easing down until he was sitting comfortably. Ariana twisted around, looking at him in concern. “Are you okay, Uncle Coulson? Can…May I come sit with you?”
“Of course. Just be gentle. Like I know you can be.” He had automatically sat down so that his left side was against the couch arm, just in case Ariana wanted to sit with him, and now he was glad he’d done that. Now he patted the cushion next to him. “Come on up.”
Ariana scrambled up beside him, sitting down about five inches from him. Coulson wanted to smile at her caution, but knew that would be a bad response. “I’m being careful,” she informed him. “You have to feel better.”
“I’d feel better if I had a hug from my favorite girl,” he confided in her.
Ariana considered him for a minute. “Snuggles?” she asked.
“I think that would make me feel a lot better,” he told her.
Ariana rested her head against his torso, twisting to peer up at him. “Daddy went away. Mommy said he’s coming back.”
Coulson stroked her red hair, trying to figure out how to reassure her without lying to her. “Your daddy always tries to come back to you,” he finally said. “If he doesn’t, you need to remember that it wasn’t because he didn’t want to.”
Ariana was clearly pondering this as the movie played on. She’d turned to say something else to Coulson when she noticed someone coming towards them. “Greenie!” she cried, obviously happy to see the doctor.
“Good morning, Ariana,” Bruce greeted her. “You didn’t wait for me?”
“We can start it over,” Ariana replied. “Right, Uncle Coulson?”
“If Doctor Banner wants,” Coulson agreed.
“Why don’t you continue this movie?” Natasha suggested as she entered the room, a tray in her hands. “And you can watch another movie from the beginning with Bruce.”
Ariana considered this idea as Natasha set the tray on the coffee table and Bruce settled cross-legged on the floor. Ariana scrambled down from the couch to pick at her food. After a moment, she looked up. “Thank you, Mommy.”
“You’re welcome, dyetka,” Natasha replied. “Coulson, I have coffee. And tea, Bruce, if you’d like.”
“Yes, thank you,” both men replied.
“Mommy, watch with us,” Ariana demanded when Natasha returned a few minutes later with the requested items.
“All right,” Natasha agreed, sitting down on the couch. Once Ariana finished eating, she crawled up until she was sitting between Natasha and Coulson; alternating between leaning on each of them until she finally dozed off against the assassin.
Bruce smiled when he saw that the little girl was sound asleep. “I brought up a bag. I have coloring and some paints. For when she wakes up. Cap told me what happened yesterday and I figured you probably wouldn’t want to take her outside today.”
Natasha nodded at his words. “Yes. Thank you. She’s got plenty of toys, but something new is always good to distract her.”
“Mommy!” Ariana screamed as she bolted upright from her nap.
Natasha hurried in from the kitchen, catching Ariana as she leapt off the couch, and holding her tightly. “I’m here. It’s okay. I didn’t leave,” she hastened to reassure the sobbing four year old. When Ariana calmed enough that Natasha thought she would be able to talk coherently, the assassin asked, “Did you have a bad dream?”
“You left,” Ariana accused, her voice muffled from where it was still buried in Natasha’s neck.
“All I did was go to the kitchen when you fell asleep,” Natasha assured her. She smoothed Ariana’s hair, smiling when the curls tried to wrap around her fingers. “Your Greenie is still here. He has coloring books and paints for you two to play with.”
Ariana’s head popped up. “Greenie’s here?”
“In the kitchen. Just waiting for you to wake up. Uncle Coulson had to go back to his room to rest, but he’ll see you later.”
Ariana kicked her feet, wiggling until Natasha let her down. “Greenie?” she asked and Natasha pointed towards the kitchen with a smile. “Greenie!” Ariana yelled as she took off full-tilt towards the other room. Natasha didn’t even bother calling after her to slow down.
Bruce looked up from the tablet he was working on as Ariana pelted into the kitchen, almost skidding into the table in her haste. “Slow down, little Hawk,” he said. “What’s the rush?”
“Mommy said you had coloring? And paints? Can… May we paint, Greenie? Please?” Ariana asked.
“I do. And we may. Why don’t you go change into something that you can get dirty?” he suggested.
Ariana shook her head. “Daddy’s shirt.”
“Ah, I understand. Well I suppose Clint will understand just this once.” He winked at her and Ariana giggled in response. “I’ll get my bag then while you get settled in your chair, okay?”
“Okay.” As Bruce left to fetch his bag from the living room, Ariana scrambled into her booster seat. When he returned, she was wiggling in her seat; impatiently waiting for him. “Coloring?” she asked.
“You want to color first?” he questioned. When she nodded in response, he dug through his bag, producing after a minute an Avengers coloring book and both crayons and colored pencils.
Ariana looked through the book, carefully considering each page until she finally picked one that had Captain America on it. Bruce was surprised, he would have figured she would pick one of her parents first, but when he looked at her questioningly, she said, “Uncle Coulson likes Cap.”
“He does,” Bruce agreed.
“It’ll make him feel better,” Ariana continued.
“I’m sure it will,” Bruce said. “Especially since you’re the one that colored it for him.”
For a few minutes they colored in silence until Ariana was apparently satisfied with her picture. She set the picture aside and began to look through the other books for something to color for Clint.
After spending the afternoon and most of the evening coloring with Bruce, Ariana went to bed surprisingly easy. She did insist that Bruce read her a story first and Natasha was surprised when the scientist readily agreed. Ariana was asleep before he got even halfway through the book, but he kept reading until he finished it.
“You’re good with her,” Natasha said quietly as she walked him to the door.
“She makes it easy,” Bruce responded. “You and Clint have done a wonderful job with her.”
“It’s mostly Clint. He seems to have a knack with her.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Natasha,” Bruce said gently. “She screamed for you when she had her nightmare earlier. And she clearly adores you. Just because it isn’t easy for you, doesn’t mean you aren’t a good mother or she doesn’t love you.” When Natasha just stared at him, he added, “I’ll let you get some sleep of your own. I’m sure she gets up pretty early. It was nice to spend some time with her that wasn’t testing or being questioned or questioning her. Good night.”
“Good night, Bruce,” Natasha recovered enough to say before adding, “Thank you.”
Natasha expected to be awoken by Ariana jumping on her again the next morning, so was surprised when instead she was disturbed by JARVIS’s voice. “Agent, I’m sorry to wake you, but Sir is at your door and would like your attention. Should I tell him you’ll meet him in the common room?”
“No. Ask him to wait a minute,” Natasha replied as she got out of bed. “Is Ariana still sleeping?”
“Miss Ariana is still asleep, but she is stirring,” JARVIS responded. “I calculate that she will be fully awake within ten minutes.”
Natasha nodded as she quickly pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, forgoing shoes for now. “Admit Stark please, but direct him to the living room. And remind him not to stray.”
Tony was fidgeting when she entered the living room, walking back and forth within the confines of the room and pausing every now and then to look at the package in his hand. He looked up as she entered, glancing quickly to her side. “Where’s the fledgling?” he asked when he saw she was alone.
“Good morning to you, too,” Natasha said. “Do you mean Ariana? I suppose it’s an improvement on calling her ‘that’. And she’s still sleeping.”
“Oh. I have. Something. Something for her. I had an idea. Something I thought she might like.”
“Stark, have you had any sleep in the past twenty-four hours?” Natasha asked.
“Yeah. An hour or two.” He thrust the package towards Natasha. “It’s for her. The fledgling. Ariana, right? It’s for her. She can shoot, right? She’s Barton’s kid. What am I saying? Of course she can. Anyway. It’s for her.”
“Ton-ney, what did you do?” Natasha asked, even as she unwrapped the package he had shoved into her hands.
“Well, the park trip, and I didn’t know what to do, and I just figured, Barton’s daughter, so she should have a bow. And the arrows aren’t quite as lethal as his, but anyway. It’s something.”
Natasha looked down at the miniature and no doubt working bow and quiver, then back at Tony. “You do realize she’s four, right?”
“She is? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Very sure. Eighteen hours sure. This is not exactly an appropriate gift for a four year old, Stark. Especially if it works.”
“Oh, um. Oops?”
“Mommy?” Ariana asked from the hallway.
"Dyetka," Natasha started, as Ariana spied the bow in her hands.
"What's that?" the little girl asked.
"This? Is your Uncle Tony not quite thinking things through," Natasha responded.
"Are you telling me she doesn't have a bow?" Tony asked.
"She has a bow," Natasha acknowledged. "She does not have a working replica of her father's high tech bow."
"And that's a bad thing why?" Tony waved at Ariana, who had taken the bow from Natasha and was examining it with a focus not unlike her father.
"Stark, it's not appropriate."
Tony waved his hand again. "She loves it. And it's not like you can teach her what you know yet. I mean I'm sure you will at some point but I thought for now."
"Mommy." Ariana tugged on Natasha's shirt. "Can I keep it? Please? Unca Tony made it just for me."
"All right. But you only use it with Daddy or me supervising," she instructed.
"Yay!" Ariana cheered as Tony grinned.
"Come on, fledgling," he said, snapping his fingers. "I'll show you how to use it. And you can show off for your daddy when he gets back."
"Daddy's coming home today," Ariana informed him seriously.
"Yes he is," Natasha said. "And you're not showing her anything, Stark. You're going to bed. You'll probably shoot yourself in the foot. I'll take Ariana down to the range after she's had breakfast and gotten dressed."
Ariana pouted but turned the bow over to Natasha when her mother held her hand out. She started towards her room, then turned back and ran towards Tony; throwing her arms around his waist. "Thank you, Unca Tony!" she told him, peering up at him.
"Oh ah well yeah. You're welcome." Tony awkwardly patted her on top of the head.
"Ariana, please go get dressed," Natasha requested.
"Okay, Mommy." Ariana squeezed Tony's waist one last time and then ran towards to her room.
"All right. So I'll go. And. Okay. Sleep. Right," Tony babbled, heading for the door.
"JARVIS," Natasha asked, "is he safe to get back to his rooms?"
"I'll monitor him, Agent, but he should be fine," the AI responded.
"Thank you, JARVIS." Natasha turned her attention to Ariana as the little girl ran back into the main room.
Ariana was focusing with intense concentration on what she needed to do to use the new bow when she heard the voice she'd been waiting for. "Hey, Button."
"Daddy!" she cried, turning around.
Clint grinned at the sight of his little girl with a bow clutched so tightly in her hands. "Hi," he said softly.
She shifted on her feet, obviously wanting to run to him, but being too well trained in etiquette with the bow that she couldn't just drop it. "Daddy," she repeated.
"Come here," Clint said, crouching down and holding his arms out to Ariana. She ran to him, almost hitting him in the back with the bow. Clint laughed as he scooped her up, taking the bow from her, and balancing her on his hip. "What's this?" he asked, trying to examine it and hold her at the same time.
"Unca Tony made it for me," Ariana explained. "Like yours."
“Oh, really?” Clint turned his attention to the bow, realizing that it was in fact a replica of his bow. “And Uncle Tony is it?”
Ariana grinned at him, hanging off his arm. “Unca Tony went to the park with us.”
Clint raised his eyes as a familiar step came closer. “The park?”
“Your daughter insisted,” Natasha informed him. “And the Captain also. It was good that they were with us.”
“Problems?” he questioned, as he slipped his arm around her, careful to set the bow down first.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” she assured him. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, relaxing against him. “I’ll tell you the whole story later.”
Ariana tugged at his shirt. “Daddy, my bow! I have to show you.”
Natasha smiled. “She’s been waiting all day to show off for you.”
Clint allowed his daughter to squirm her way back to her feet. “Go get set up. I want to say hello to Mommy.” As Ariana gathered up her bow and the quiver that she’d abandoned, he pulled Natasha more firmly to him. “Hi. Good to see you.”
“Good to see you in one piece,” she responded, kissing him more fully.
“Daddy! Kiss Mommy later. Look!”
Clint laughed at his daughter’s yell and turned his attention to their little girl, slinging an arm around Natasha’s shoulders to keep her by him. “I’m watching, Button,” he called.
“Is Ariana asleep?” Natasha asked as Clint stepped into their bedroom.
“Story read, water fetched, story read, another glass asked for.” Clint grinned. “She has definitely leaned how to procrastinate.”
“She missed you,” Natasha replied. “And she was very worried that you weren’t going to come back.”
“Hey, I do my best,” Clint pointed out. “Was she the only one? Are you glad I’m back?”
Natasha finally looked up from the e-reader she’d been focusing on. “Strip and I’ll show you how happy I am to have you home again.”
“Ma’am. Yes, Ma’am.” Clint’s grin widened as he immediately reached for his t-shirt, hands almost clumsy in his haste to get that and his cargo pants off. He’d showered at HQ and ditched his boots as soon as he walked through the door so it was a matter of shimmying his clothes off and then crawling up the bed until he was braced over Natasha. She looked up at him as his eyes traveled down her body. “Was she…”
Natasha put a finger over his lips, stopping his words. “Do you really want to talk about our daughter now?”
Looking down at her, at the pale pink negligee edged in black that hugged her curves and gave him hints of the body he knew so well, he shook his head. “No. No. Not really.”
Natasha smirked at him before kicking his legs out from under him. Both of them oomped as his full weight landed on her, but she didn’t hesitate, wrapping her legs around him and using his surprise to flip them over. “I can think of much better things to do,” she purred as she ran her hands up his arms. She was very careful not to actually pin his arms in place, knowing he needed a warning before she did that.
Clint pressed up towards her, the negligee preventing him from just sliding inside, and he moaned as she ground back against him in response. “Tasha,” he begged. “Please don’t tease.”
Instead of replying, Natasha sat up; slowly pulling the satin up her body until it was free and she could toss it away. Clint’s hands followed the trail up, his calluses moving over smooth skin until he could cup her breasts in his hands. It was Natasha’s turn to moan as he rubbed his thumbs across her nipples until they stood out as if begging for him to lick them. He moved, intending to sit up and take them in his mouth, when she pushed him back down. “No more foreplay,” she ordered.
“Tasha, wha…?” His words cut off into a strangled moan as in one smooth move she knelt up and took him completely inside her. Immediately, he grabbed her hips, digging his fingers in so he could exert a little control. “Slow. Down,” he begged.
She grinned in response, rolling her hips against his. “Why?” she asked. “That’s just really no fun.”
He moaned as she rotated her hips, squeezing him tightly on each pass. “God, Tasha, you feel…”
It was her turn to moan as his finger slipped inside her beside his cock, massaging her clit gently. They rocked together, both of them crying out as they came. Natasha slumped down against Clint afterwards, allowing him to run a hand gently down her back. “Mmm,” she hummed, as their breathing settled.
“Now that’s a welcome home,” Clint murmured.
“Glad you approve,” Natasha returned. She wiggled off him, bringing another moan and flopped gracefully next to him. Clint reached out, pulling her to him until she was lying with her head on his shoulder.
Clint played with a lock of her hair, winding it around and around his finger as they lay in the bed together. “Hey, Tasha,” he said after a few minutes. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Clint, conversations never end well when you start with that.”
“What about that time…?”
“No.”
“But there was that…?”
“No, Clint.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He huffed in response. “Fine. Can I tell you what I was thinking about at least?”
Natasha tilted her head up, leaning her chin on his shoulder. “I suppose so. Although I’m sure I’m going to regret this.”
“What would you think… How would you feel… About maybe having… ?” He paused, clearly attempting to gather his words.
“Clint, as much as you think I can read your mind, I really can’t.”
“Don’t you think Ariana should have a sibling?” he asked.
Natasha twisted, shoved, and Clint hollered as he rolled out of bed. His arms flailed as he tried to grab something to prevent himself from falling, but he hit the floor with thump. “Tasha!” he yelped.
“You deserved that,” she snapped.
Clint sat up, trying to unobtrusively rub his ass. “How did I deserve that?”
“I already have you and Ariana, why would I need another child?” she demanded. “And I am not going through that again.”
“I thought you love Ariana,” he replied.
“I do. I love her more than you could ever understand. But I can’t. I can’t do that again. I can’t take the risk, Clint. We got lucky. You know that.”
“You gonna hit me again if I come back up there?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No.”
He climbed back up onto the bed, taking her into his arms. “I wouldn’t ask you to, Tasha. There are other ways for us to have a child.”
“No, Clint.” She pressed a kiss to the nearest skin she could reach. “Just no.”
“So that means no pets either, right?” he questioned.
“Please tell me you didn’t bring home something alive, Clinton.”
He smirked. “No. Not exactly.”
“Clint. What does not exactly mean?”
“It’s electronic?” he hazarded.
She sighed. “I don’t even want to know. Just make sure it’s something she isn’t going to use to take over the world.”
“N…” Clint considered it. “I won’t let Tony get his hands on it.”
“Good. Idea.” She patted the pillow next to her. “Come sleep with me.”
Clint settled down next her, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I love you. I have a present for you, too.”
“I know.”
