Part of the Family
The house is warm. The fireplace is on, blasting heat out into the room, and Cooper and Lila are sitting in front of it, a game of Monopoly out between them. Laura is curled up on the couch, watching the kids as Nathaniel snuggles into her side, dozy after a long day at school.
Clint shrugs off his coat, throwing it over the back of an armchair as he enters the room.
“Clint!” Laura says with a bright smile, and Nathaniel blinks slowly, shaking the grogginess out of his eyes. “I didn’t know you were coming back today.”
“I wasn’t, but Matt got hurt again and I just needed to get away,” Clint says, collapsing beside Laura, Nathaniel nestled between the two of them.
“Is he okay?” Laura asks with a glance to her older children; however, Lila and Cooper are engrossed in their game, not looking up at all.
“He’s fine – spending the night at the MedBay, but I just don’t know what to do with him. He’s completely reckless.”
“He’s a vigilante. They’re always reckless,” Laura says with a soft smile.
“I think we should invite him over to stay for a weekend,' Clint says softly, reaching over to grasp her hand in his. “The kids also need to know, because this affects them as well as us.”
“It’s your decision, Clint,” Laura says, taking her hand back so she can run it through Nathaniel’s curls. “It would make sense for everyone to meet, though. We are going to be family.”
“Then that settles it,” Clint responds.
After dinner that evening, Clint and Laura sit down their children and explain, as best as they can, that they are going to have another sibling. Immediately Cooper thinks that Laura is pregnant, and so Clint quickly corrects this, explaining that this pregnancy was with someone else, and that it happened when Clint went missing a few months ago.
“So you cheated on Mom?” Lola asks with disgust in her tone.
Clint’s eyes go wide and he defensively raises his hands, “No! A doctor wanted me to have a kid for him, and so he made this happen. I would never cheat on your mother.”
“Plus, he was he wouldn’t survive if he cheated on me,” Laura says with a smirk. “Kida, we’re telling you this because this baby is going to be part of our lives. We’ve discussed it amongst ourselves, and we’re having shared custody, and the baby is going to stay with us twice a week. If Dad is staying for the weekend, I thought it would be good if we all got together to decorate the spare room as a nursery and buy things for the baby.”
Lila’s eyes sparkle with joy and she claps her hands together excitedly, “Can I pick the colour?”
“Aa long as it’s sensible, Lila,” Clint says, reaching over to ruffle her hair.
“Do you know of it’s a boy or girl?” Cooper asks, nervously twisting his fingers together in his lap.
Clint shakes his head, “It’s going to be a surprise.”
“Whose the Mom? When are we meeting her?” Cooper responds.
Clint freezes slightly, unsure of what to say or how to go about this. “Um, I’m hoping you’ll be able to meet them soon. They’ve got a really busy job, but I’m trying to get them to come over at some point.”
“What does she do?” Lila asks, still looking mystified by the whole ordeal.
“They’re a lawyer,” Clint says, and Laura shoots him a disapproving glance. “He’s a lawyer. And a vigilante. His name is Matt, but you might have heard of his other name – Daredevil.”
...
Matt, Foggy and Karen are not used to the countryside. Since setting foot on the farm, Karen has realised she’s probably allergic to everything in the vicinity, due to the way her skin itches and her eyes are watering.
Foggy is carrying their overnight bags over his shoulders, his face red from the exertion. Matt, on the other hand, is standing in a patch of grass and taking on the smells and sounds of the world around him. It’s quiet here, not like New York.
Matt can hear the wildlife around him, squirrels and birds, as opposed to the usual sewer rats he hears scuttling past. He breathes in the scents, mostly smelling freshly chopped wood and hay.
“I am going to die out here,” Karen says cheerfully as she blows her nose into a tissue.
“You’re just too used to the city,” Foggy replies, heading up the path towards the house. Matt hooks his arm through Karen’s and they follow Foggy.
He knocks on the front door. Eventually it swings open, and Matt recognises the heartbeat as Laura Barton’s.
“Hello, come on in! We’re so exited to have you here!”
Soon Matt is being ushered into the house and towards a room that Laura tells him is their eldest son’s, however they’ve managed to convince him to bunk with his younger brother for a few days to accommodate their guests.
“This is how I imagine the room of every teenage boy to be,” remarks Karen as they step I to the room.
“I’ll leave you three to rest before dinner,” Laura says to them. “Bathroom’s down the hall, on the left if you need it.”
“Thank you, Laura,” Matt says sincerely to her, and then she disappears down the hallway, leaving the three of them in a teenage boy’s room that smells vaguely of stale sweat.
Foggy flops back on the bed, and Matt joins him. Foggy reaches over and places a hand over Matt’s swollen stomach. It’s too big to hide properly now Matt is 25 weeks, however to avoid the terrible dysphoria that comes along with pregnancy, Matt is sticking to wearing loose fitting clothing and baggy jumpers
It’s not his usual style, but at least it still makes him feel like a man.
“They’re really kicking today,” Foggy remarks, stroking down Matt’s bellum
“They’re just practising their back flips, obviously trying to take after their dad,” Karen says from her spot by the window.
“They just keep trying to kick me in the bladder,” Matt says with a sigh, hefting himself up onto his elbows. “I don’t think I’ve ever peed so much in my life.”
“It’s the miracle of pregnancy, Matthew,” Foggy says with a laugh.
Matt sticks the middle finger up at him and gets to his feet, shuffling to the door.
“Honestly, I can’t wait until this whole pregnancy is over,” Matt says, rubbing his swollen stomach. “I don’t know how people have multiple kids.”
“Because they forget how awful pregnancy and childbirth are,” suggests Karen with a smile in her voice.
“Yep, that sounds about right,” Matt responds, and then he wanders off down the corridor to kind the bathroom.
He feels along the walls, his fingers Domingo over doorframes and pictures and shelves, listening out for the sound of a faucet dripping or the smell of soap and shampoo. He eventually finds it. Once finished, he washes his hands and behind the journey back down the hallway, but he noticed a heartbeat stood a few feet in front of him.
“Are you Matt?” a voice asks.
Matt thinks back to the names of Clint’s kids and their approximate ages.
“Cooper?” he guessed.
“Yeah. Uh, I know this is weird, but it’s really good to meet you. My Mom’s super excited about the baby, and I’ve been researching your Daredevil stuff, and I have to say that you’re really cool.”
“Thanks,” Matt says with a smile.
“No problem, Matt. Anyway, welcome to the family.”