Chapter 1
It was Sunday afternoon when Clint got the call from his partner. Just four words before she hung. But those four words struck fear in his heart. “S.H.I.E.L.D has been compromised.” Then the click of the call ending.
Clint waited until the kids were in bed before he told Laura. “So, Nat called me while I was in the barn this afternoon.” He started the conversation trying to make it sound as normal as possible just in case someone was currently listening to their conversation.
Laura smiled, she had grown fond of the Russian spy. Something she hadn’t thought was possible when Clint told her that he had disobeyed orders and instead of killing the spy had recruited her. He had then told Laura that he was going to be bringing her to the farmhouse when Fury deemed her no longer a threat. Laura had been mad beyond belief at her husband, he was bringing an assassin to a place his wife and newborn son lived without thinking about what could possibly happen. Then she had met the redhead and she wasn’t at all what Laura had expected. Standing next to her husband was a five foot three, red haired teenager. She couldn’t have been older than nineteen. And suddenly she understood why Clint had disobeyed his orders and insisted she come home with him as soon as possible.
The girl had been incapable of meeting their eyes for weeks and struggled to understand that she didn’t need to repay Clint and by extension Laura for her current situation. She had flinched every time Clint had approached her and on more than one occasion placed herself between Clint and Laura when an argument got heated, her eyes betraying her emotionless mask and showing her fear and determination to keep Laura safe. During one particular interaction she had wedged herself between Clint and Laura and proceeded to pin Clint to the ground when she thought that he had ignored Laura smacking his chest as her telling him no, when she spied the pair sharing a kiss in the kitchen. After explaining to Nat that what she thought she had seen wasn’t what was happening, Laura had teased Clint mercilessly with the fact that Natasha had put him on the ground faster than he could react. Needless to say after that situation Nat had quickly wormed her way into Laura’s heart and had become the younger sister Laura had always wanted.
“Oh? Did she say when she was coming back?” Laura asked, busying herself with the dishes from dinner.
Clint situated himself next to her at the sink, sliding his phone in front of her, the notes app open on his phone already displaying the message Nat had given him. “She said it might be awhile. Fury just gave her a new assignment.” He lied, observing his wife as she read the message.
He took the phone back quickly, as Laura nodded slightly. “I was thinking we should take Coop and Lila on a hike tomorrow.” He said casually, picking up a towel and starting to dry dishes.
“I think that’s a lovely idea.” Laura agreed, knowing that they needed to talk to Cooper and Lila before anything happened.
Clint nodded, finishing the dishes and spreading the towel out to dry. “We should head up to bed then.”
They made their way up to their room, checking on Lila and Cooper as they went. “Is she safe?” Laura finally asks once they’re both in bed. Her voice is quiet and full of worry for the younger woman.
“I don’t know.” Clint admitted. “She gave me the message and that was it.”
Laura sighed, rolling onto her side to cuddle into his side more. “What happens now?”
Clint wrapped his arm around Laura pulling her as close to him as he could. “We lay low. Wait for Nat to contact us. We have no reason to believe anyone knows about this place, Nat and Fury are the only ones who know about this place about you and the kids. I think we should tell the kids though, just in case something happens. I have a bad feeling about this situation.”
“As much as I hate to tell them about what you do while they’re so young, I think you’re right.” Laura agreed.
“We’ll figure it out in the morning. Let’s get some sleep, we’ll need it to keep up with those two in the morning.” Clint felt Laura chuckle against him as they settled into bed and let the serious conversation drift away.
The ringing of Clint’s phone woke Laura. Glancing at the clock she realized there was only one person who had Clint’s personal number and would use it at three in the morning. Attempting to shake her husband awake she grabbed the phone before it could stop ringing. “Hello? Nat is that you?” She asked, shaking Clint harder. Clint slept like the dead when he wasn’t wearing his hearing aids.
“Laura, where’s Clint? Are you all okay?” The concern in the other woman’s voice didn’t reassure Laura.
Clint finally let out a groan as he woke. “He’s right next to me, you know how he sleeps without his hearing ads. We’re all fine. Worried about you but we’re okay.”
“Who is it?” Clint muttered as he reached for his hearing aids.
Laura switched the phone to speaker so they could both hear Nat. “Natasha.”
Clint’s eyes widened as he hastily shoved his hearing aids into his ears. “Tasha, what the hell is going on?” He asked.
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Nat if it’s not safe to talk-”
Nat cut him off. “No, I’m at one of my safe houses right now, I’m trying to figure out how to explain everything that’s happened within the past forty-eight hours. There was an assassination attempt on Fury several days ago ordered by Alexander Pierce. Apparently Fury was getting too nosey for Pierce’s liking and wanted him out of the picture. He faked his death, and Rogers ended up getting accused of killing Fury. By that time Rogers and I had figured out that a fair amount of S.H.I.E.L.D had been infiltrated by HYDRA and that Pierce was the man behind things for this HYDRA branch at least. Rogers and I were taken into custody briefly before Maria got us out. We then launched an attack on the helicarriers bringing them down before Pierce could carry out his plan. I unfortunately had to dump all of S.H.I.E.L.D’s information onto the internet exposing both HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D.” There was another pause as she allowed everything she had just told them to sink in.
Laura looked over at Clint who was leaning against the headboard with his eyes closed and his fist clenched. “Nat are they...was there anything about-” She cut off his rambling again.
“No. I deleted all the data pertaining to you from S.H.I.E.L.D’s database. As far as the world is concerned Hawkeye and Clint Barton are not the same person. No one can find you or your family Clint, I made sure of it.” She reassured him.
“And what about you Nat?” Laura spoke up for the first time since she had answered the phone.
Nat sighed. “I didn’t have time to delete everyone’s files. I had to choose. Though it was never going to be a choice for me. You and the kids are always going to be my first priority. I’ll handle the fall out that comes with people finding out I’m Black Widow, an ex-KGB assassin and former Red Room graduate.” She said, her voice conveying that this topic was not up for debate. “I might however keep the kids off the internet and away from news stations on tv for a bit. The data dump is going to be the biggest news story for a while.”
“We will, and Nat?” Clint called knowing the spy was ready to hang up and move to her next safe house. He took her silence as an answer. “Thank you, for protecting my family.”
“They’re my family too now, Clint. I’ll call you again in a few days from a burner phone.” And with that she was gone.
Laura and Clint sat in silence for a few minutes. “We need to tell the kids about S.H.I.E.L.D. If we don’t they’ll hear it from the tv, the internet or their friends.” Laura said.
“That’s why I suggested taking the kids on a hike tomorrow. I figure we get them out of the house early before they get online and see the news.” Clint murmured, Settling back down into the bed pulling Laura down with him. “Sleep a little longer, I have an alarm set.” Laura didn’t say anything but allowed herself to be pulled back into her husband’s arms and tried to fall back asleep.