Fated Marks

Rebekah and John took an hour to get through the kids schedule and all the little things we needed to know to survive the week with their kids. Honestly at one-point Clint and I thought they were leaving us with a pair of gremlins not a baby and a toddler.

When we finally did get them out the door they kept calling us or texting us little reminders.

It was a good day though. We had a picnic outside, I made cookies and we watched movies. Nate was a bit fussy at first but eventually he calmed down.

“Alright bud, three two one…” Clint said as he held his phone and recorded Adam.

“RAHR!!!” Adam roared as he knocked down a block tower.

“It’s the incredible giant Adamzilla!” Clint narrated.

I didn’t know who was having more fun, Clint or Adam.

I held Nate as I gave him his afternoon bottle before he went down for a nap. We were sitting on the couch watching the whole thing. By the time Nate was burped and down for his nap, the two of them had recreated the first three Godzilla movies.

“Okay time for dinner, I was thinking we could make pizza. We still have some dough…” I said.

“Pizza?” Adam said perking up.

“I think that’s a yes.” Clint said. “Come on let’s go wash up. Maybe your Aunt’s going to show you how to throw dough up in the air.”

“Pizza!!!” He cheered running to the bathroom.

So day one was pretty great… night one on the other hand.

“Okay buddy, you’re all tucked in.” I said pulling the covers a bit before combing his hair gently to the side.

“Night light is on.” Clint said pugging in the light. “And if you need anything we’re down the hall and or you can ask Friday.”

“Sky lady?” Adam said pointing up.

“Computer lady but yeah.” I said. “Night buddy.”

With that we exited the room leaving the door open a bit as we went to our room.

“That was fun.” I said.

“Yeah.” Clint said smiling. “What should we do tomorrow?”

“Hmm Coney Island?” I said “or maybe we should stick close by until we get a better feel for Nate’s schedule, I don’t think babies like napping on sand.”

“A short trip to the beach or maybe we could use the pool at the compound.” He said.

“Or the lake.” I said as we shut off the lamp and started sleeping.

“We should stop by the sporting goods store in town first get the kids life jackets… well Adam… Maybe you.” Clint said.

“Maybe.” I said cuddling closer and slowly drifting to sleep.

I don’t know how long it was but I was just getting to that nice deep sleep when…

“WAHHH!” Nate cried out through the baby monitor/ Friday.

“Ah!” I gasped. Clint who slept without his hearing aids woke up when I moved.

“What’s wrong?” He said.

“Baby’s awake.” I said getting out of bed.

“Want me to get up?” he said.

“No I got him…” I said before I saw Adam standing at the door with a sneaky smile signaling me to keep quiet so he could surprise Clint. “Besides I think someone needs to be tucked in again.”

“Wha…” Clint said before he spotted him and got up. “Oh buddy, what are you doing up so late?”

While Clint went downstairs to warm up a bit of milk to help Adam go back to sleep I went to check on Nate. One diaper change, half a bottle of formula and humming the imperial death march three times and he was out again.

“Adam down already?” I asked.

“Think so.” He said slipping back into bed.

“According to Bekah’s schedule we should be in the clear for the rest of the night.” I said hugging Clint.

“Hopefully.” Clint said.

Nate woke up one more time a few hours later. Adam did sleep through the night, or at least he stayed in bed but he woke up early. We let him watch cartoon while we made breakfast.

We also learned that he really could not eat scrambled eggs without ketchup. He put that on everything. And that’s where the day kind of took a turn for the worst. We decided to take the kids to the country fair and at first it was fine but all the sugar Adam ate because we didn’t think it would be too bad was a lot more than we expected. He screamed the entire car ride home which kept Nate awake and he also cried and screamed because he was cranky. Only plus side was that when he finally crashed he crashed hard.

“I think we need to ease up on the sugar.” Clint said as we laid in bed exhausted.

“Yeah.” I said just as the baby started crying again. “Uh.”

“Paper scissors rock.” He said raising a fist up. I copied it. We bounced our hands and on the third I put down rock and he did scissors. “Going.”

I ended up drifting off to sleep but jumped awake when Clint slipped back in bed.

“Sh go back to sleep.” Clint said.

“No sugar tomorrow.” I said.

“He’s a kid, we just have to tire him out after.” He said.

“Hiking, park, take him and Lucky on walks.” I said.

“Mhmm, now shh sleepytime.” Clint said spooning me. I sighed happily as I drifted off to sleep.

Tuesday Morning…

 The bad part about Adam crashing early meant he woke up early… really early. We woke up to him jumping onto us giggling.

“Hey buddy.” I said.

“Up already huh?” Clint said.

“cookie.” Adam said.

“Cookie?” I said. “Way too early for cookies.”

“is the sun even out yet?” Clint said.

“Almost out.” I said. “At least the baby’s still asleep.”

“Wahhh!” Nate screamed from down the hall.

“Spoke too soon.” I said.

“I got it.” Clint said getting up.

“No you got it last time. I’ll go but can you make coffee, lots and lots of coffee?” I said.

“Extra strong.” Clint said kissing me. “Come on bud, How about waffles?”

“Eggo?” He said.

“Mine are better.” Clint said getting up. “And we can add chocolate chips.”

“No chocolate chips but we have berries.” I said.

“With whipped cream.” Clint added as I headed to Nate.

Once we were done with breakfast we took a walk around the farm and let Adam and Lucky run around. Lucky was completely exhausted by the time we went back inside.

Clint was changing a diaper and I was helping Adam put in his shoes when Tony video called.

“Hey honey.” He said.

“Hey.” I said tying shoelaces together.

“Catch you at a bad time?” Tony asked.

“No just getting the kids ready to head out.” I said.

“Kids?” Tony said confused and I turned the camera so Adam appeared.

“Say Hi to Uncle Tony.” I said just as Clint came in with the baby.

“Hales can you, I’m going to get the kangaroo and extra diapers.” Clint said.

“Sure.” I said as I took the baby.” I said.

“Wow last week you broke up with Spangles and this week you have two and a half kids. You and Barton move fast.” Tony said.

“They’re Bekah’s kids.” I said. “She and John really needed a break so we volunteered to take the kids for the week while they’re on the honeymoon they never had.”

“A practice run huh?” Tony said.

“Just being a good sister and aunt and uncle.” I said. “So what’s up?”

“Oh nothing just missing my favorite soulmate. I know therapy sucked but it was also sort of our day.” Tony said.

“Oh honey.” I said flinching as Nate pulled a lock of my hair hard. Now I know why Beks cut her hair short. “Next week on Tuesday I am all yours because I love us time and I love you. Adam don’t touch that sweetie.”

“Great because I think I hit a breakthrough on the nanobots…” Tony said.

“Can’t wait to see it.” I said.

“Okay I think I got everything and put it on right.” Clint said coming with the harness on and taking Nate from me.

“Clint maybe we should hold off on that… we’re going to put him in the car seat anyway.” I said.

“Right.” He said. “Stroller?”

“Put it in the trunk just in case.” I said.

“Yeah I’m gonna go, I think you have your hands full.” Tony said.

“I always have time for you.” I said before Adam started playing with the stove knobs. “Except maybe right this second. Love you”

With that I ended the call just as Clint saw Adam.

“I got him.” Clint said running after him.

“Okay let’s go visit Auntie Nat.” I said picking up the diaper bag and picking up Adam. We had to go in Clint’s car because my car was not kid friendly. Once we got the kids buckled in we drove off.

Why was it so much easier for kids to get out of their car seats than it was to get them in? I mean they advertise convenience but it’s inconvenient.

“Adam hand sweetie.” I said holding out my hand as Clint adjusted the kangaroo thing.

“Got it.” He said before taking Nate and putting him in the carrier.

“Good to go.” I said taking the diaper bag as We headed in. We passed by a corridor with wall to ceiling windows that had a great view of a quinjet taking off.

“Wow.” Adam said letting go of my hand to climb a bench and press his face up to the window to get a better look.

“You like planes huh?” I said.

“They fwy.” Adam said.

“Maybe we can pass by the hanger later and take a better look at one.” Clint said.

“Fwy?” Adam said.

“Maybe another time buddy.” Clint said as I picked him up and put him down before he ran with his arms out imitating a plane.

We walked into the common room where everyone was relaxing, enjoying their time off.

“Look who decided to stop by.” Natasha said.

“Nat nat!” Adam said running to hug Natasha’s legs.

“Hey you.” She said picking him up. “You’re getting so big…”

“Wow, traded in your bow for a mini van huh?” Sam teased Clint.

“You even got the kangaroo thing going on.” Rhodey said.

“Laugh it up but it’s actually a great workout.” Clint said. “Did pullups with this thing on yesterday, good core workout.”

“And he managed to lull the baby back to sleep.” I said.

“Ah!” The baby started fussing.

“And right on schedule.” I said taking out a bottle and going to the kitchen to warm it up.

“Who wants a cookie?” Natasha offered.

“Just one.” Clint and I said at the same time.

“We learned our lesson the hard way.” Clint said.

“Here you go buddy.” Natasha said giving him a small plastic dish with the cookies in the so he could go play with his train toy. I warmed up the milk and tested it on my wrist.

“Alright.” I said as Clint let the baby out of the carrier and I handed him the bottle. “Perfect temp.”

“Okay Nate… ahhh.” Clint said opening his mouth so the baby would copy him and he did taking the bottle.

“boof.” The baby said before he took the bottle and started eating.

“Aw he’s so cute.” Wanda said.

“I know.” I said staring at Clint holding the baby. I don’t know what was going on with me but seeing Clint with the kids, whether it be play wrestling with Adam or making faces and playing peekaboo to make Nate laugh or something as simple as him feeding the baby just made me feel… like I wanted kids even more now.

“Hales?” Clint said.

“Hayley?” Natasha said putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry what?” I asked.

“Can you burp him?” He asked. “He fusses when I do it.”

“Of course. Who wants to cuddle with Aunt Hayley.” I said taking Nate.

“Don’t forget.” Clint said putting a nappy on my shoulder.

“Right, never thought something so little could make such a big mess.” I said gently patting him on the back.

“Eh.” Adam said tugging on Clint’s shirt. “Potty.”

“Oh, hold on buddy.” Clint said taking his hand and leading him out.

“You guys seem to have everything under control.” Natasha said.

“Well Beks left us an instruction manual for each of the kids, complete with a schedule, the rest is just trial and error.” I said as Nate let out a big burp.

“Hey Nat have you done the report on the…” Steve said as he came in before he stared at the baby in my arms. “Oh Hayley… didn’t know you were here.”

“Just came in for a visit.” I said. “Needed to get the kids out of the house for a bit.”

Then Adam ran in and hugged my legs.

“Oh there he is.” I said running my fingers through Adam’s hair.

“Plane?” he said.

“He really wants to see the jets.” Clint said. “I’m going to swing by the observation deck before I take him to splash around the lake a bit.”

“Don’t forget to put on some sunscreen and his wings.” I said.

“Got it.” Clint said taking everything out of the diaper bag.

“I’ll be by once I get this little guy settled.” I said.

“Are you going to do tummy time?” Clint asked.

“If he’s up for it yeah.” I said. “Have fun with your uncle, don’t go in too deep and have fun.”

“Come on.” Clint said picking him up and putting him on his shoulders. “Hawkeye airlines clear for take off.”

“Whee!!!” Adam cheered as Clint and him ran off.

“He is so good with him.” I said smiling as I gently rocked the baby.

“You have the kids…” Steve said looking at the baby weirdly.

“We do.” I said and I lifted up Nate a bit. “Yes we do.”

“hehe…” The baby smiled.

“He is so cute.” Wanda said.

“You want to…” I said offering the baby to her.

“Can I?” She said looking at me cautiously.

“Of course.” I said handing the baby to her.

“You’re so cute.” Wanda said cooing as she took the baby.

“Whee!!!” Adam said running back in with Clint behind him.

“He had to pee again.” Clint said.

“Auntie swim!” Adam said taking my hand.

“And apparently he just wanted his favorite aunt.” Clint said.

“In a bit sweetie, I can’t just leave you brother…” I said.

“It’s okay. I got him. I missed babysitting.” Wanda said.

“You sure? He’s teething so he’s extra fussy and he likes to pull hair.” I warned.

“I don’t mind.” She said. “Besides I don’t think he’s going to want to go without you.”

“Aunie!!” He whined.

“Okay.” I said. “But if you need to go or get tired just ask Friday to get us okay?”

“Alright.” Wanda said cooing at the baby.

“Alright buddy, let’s get your wings on.” I said standing up and going to get Adam ready to splash around in the lake. Once we were done we headed outside. We swung him around and let him splash water at us.

Third Person’s POV-

Steve stood by the window of his office and watched Clint and Hayley play around with Adam in the lake. He couldn’t get that image out of his head. Hayley with two kids by her side. Clint being a doting father… well uncle but it wasn’t that far of a jump.

“Got that report.” Natasha said.

“Yeah.” Steve said still staring out the window. Natasha walked over and saw what he was looking at.

“They look happy.” She said. “Don’t think it’ll be long before they end up with one of their own.”

“Mhmm.” He said walking away. “She’s seems happy.”

“Do you want her to be wrecked over your breakup?” Natasha said.

“No.” Steve said picking up a file and reading through it.

‘Though it wouldn’t hurt if she felt something about it’ Steve thought.

Wednesday-

Wednesday was as always farmer’s market day. It had also been three days since we had gotten the chance to work out or in Clint’s case go shooting. As much as he did love spending time with the kids he was feeling a bit antsy and he wasn’t the only one.

So we decided that we would take turns with the kids. We’d go to the compound and I’d take the baby with me to the gym. While he kept Adam busy in the common room. Then a little later when it was time for the farmer’s market I would take Adam with me and Bucky, we’d get some ice cream and let him tire himself out at the park before we came back.

“Okay kiddo you got everything?” I asked Clint and Adam as I put Nate into his harness.

“Hales, we got this. Go work out.” He said.

“Okay.” I said kissing him. “See you later.”

With that I ended up in the gym. I’m pretty sure bringing a baby to the gym was not the best idea but he was safely secured and comfy in the harness and I wasn’t running, just walking at an easy slow pace.

“You’re working out with the baby?” Natasha said.

“Yeah, it’s been hard squeezing in a workout the past couple of days so we’re splitting the kids up for the day.” I said. “Plus it’s a really good work out carrying baby Nate around. Like right now light cardio and weights.”

“He looks comfy.” Natasha said.

“He enjoys people watching.” I said smiling down at the same time he smiled at Nat. I walked on the treadmill for about forty five minutes before I went to so some lunges back and forth across the room.

“Wow you two weren’t kidding about using the kids as weights” Rhodey said.

“Nope, you should have seen Clint do push ups yesterday with Adam on his back.” I said as nate started jumping and squirming with each jump trying to imitate me. “Someone’s full of energy.”

“Speaking of people full of energy have you talked to Tony lately?” He asked.

“I talked to him yesterday I think… when you have kids the days kind of start to meld together mostly because you don’t sleep through the night so everything’s just one really long day.” I said not noticing Steve flinch a bit letting Natasha get a hit in where they were sparing across the room.

“Yeah well did he seem off to you?” Rhodey asked.

“No he seemed the same as always. Why? Is there something wrong?” I asked.

“I’m not sure…” he said. “He seemed more Tony than normal. Said something about making everything safer and remodeling for a new room…”

“Maybe he got bored again, or he’s trying to build his own super collider again. I’ll call him when I’m done here.” I said. “I’d do it right now someone likes to pull my hair when I’m on the phone for some reason.”

“Ah.” Nate babbled.

“Come on buddy. Auntie Hayley’s got another twenty lunges to go before your tummy time.” I said kissing the top of the baby’s head before I started again. Clint took Adam on a walk around the lake because Bekah had warned us against sitting him in front of the TV constantly. Not to mention Adam was a really energetic kid and didn’t like to be doing nothing.

I got to the common room and took out a slightly frozen piece of strawberry and put it in the teether while I took my phone out and dialed Tony.

“Hey honey, I was just thinking about you.” Tony said.

“Aww, was I wearing anything?” I retorted.

“Hales…” Tony groaned.

“Hey I had to ask.” I said. “Heard you were doing some remodeling? Got another lab project?”

“No just planning for the future.” He said sounding weird.

“Uhuh, new security system?” I asked.

“No well now that you mention it I should look into that. I’ll put it on the list.” Tony said.

“Tony have you been sleeping?” I said.

“Of course I have…” He said.

“Tony.” I said knowing he was lying.

“Maybe not as much as I should be…” he said.

“Okay, I want you to go upstairs. Shower and take a nap.” I said.

“I should…” Tony started.

“Whatever it is, it can wait.” I said. “Go.”

“Alright, I’m heading into the elevator now.

“Good and just to be sure I’m having Friday lock you out of the lab until you’ve slept for at least two hours.” I said as I hacked into Friday’s Tower controls and shut down the lab.

“Hales…” Tony whined.

“Bed.” I said.

“Okay. I’ll call you later for some design input.” He said.

“Okay.” I said before hanging up.

“Ah!!” Nate fussed.

“Ready for some tummy time?” I said standing up and going to get a blanket to put on the carpet as well as grabbing a few toys and spreading them out. Once I put Nate down he grabbed a silicone block toy and started chewing on it.

That’s where I was when Steve and Sharon walked in together.

“Oh I didn’t know anyone was in here.” Steve said.

“It happens.” I said wiping a bit of drool of Nate’s chin.

“Ahvababa…” Nate babbled making me smiled.

“Oh is that right?” I said. “Is that right?”

“Doh.” He said before chewing on his block.

“Okay now smile, I need to send your mom a photo of you so she knows you’re still alive.” I said holding out my phone. “Smile… And send.”

We kept playing ignoring Steve and Sharon before Adam started getting fussy. I picked him up and walked over to the kitchen and got him another strawberry.

“Come on say ahhh.” I said but he stuck his tongue out and started crying. “What’s wrong… colic again…”

I took him and put him on my arm and held him as he laid on his stomach. While I gently rocked him and rubbed him back which seemed to settle him.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.” Sharon said looking at me.

“He’s fine.” I said as I gently rubbed the baby’s back.

“That’s not how you carry a baby.” Steve said.

“The baby is fine.” I said before I noticed a familiar looking container that was on the counter next to Sharon’s coffee.

“His head isn’t supported.” Sharon said.

“Friday is there anything wrong with the position I’m holding the baby in.” I said.

“No ma’am in fact the position you are using has been proven to be very effective in improving babies comfort from colic and releasing trapped gas.” Friday said.

“Thank you Friday.” I said.

“Nevermind.” Sharon said awkwardly as I walked to the fridge and looked for Nate’s milk. One of the containers with breast milk was missing and I saw Sharon drinking her coffee.

“You should stop drinking that.” I told Sharon.

“It’s my first cup it’s fine…” Sharon said.

“You put breast milk in your coffee.” I said as I picked up the lid of the container she took and showed it to her.

“Uh! What! OH what is wrong with you?!” Sharon said spitting out.

“It was clearly labeled.” I said.

“AH!” She shrieked before storming off.

“You shouldn’t have put that in there.” Steve said.

“It was clearly labeled, I even put it in the back so no one would use it.” I said.

“You could have kept it in the diaper bag.” Steve said.

“Where it would have gone bad? You would rather let an innocent baby go hungry or get sick than let one of your agents who isn’t even supposed to be on this side of the compound be comfortable all because she couldn’t take a few second to look at the clearly labeled container cap?” I said showing it to him.

“Still you could have…” Steve started.

“There was a note on the fridge letting you all know there was breast milk in the fridge.” I said just as Nate started fussing and a bad smell hit me. “I’d keep talking to you about this but someone just passed something and needs a diaper change.”

So I went to Nat’s room and changed Nate’s diaper. It was a stinker but he seemed a lot more settled. Since Sharon ended up drinking Nate’s mid day bottle he got a bottle of formula.

He went down for his nap without a fuss so I barricaded him with pillows to make sure he wouldn’t fall off Natasha’s bed. Then I went to go find Clint who was at the observation deck with Adam looking at all the planes.

“And then there’s…” Clint started.

“Aunie!!” Adam said jumping to hug me.

“Hey sweetie.” I said picking him up. “Ready to go out to the Farmer’s Market?”

“Ice cream?” Adam said.

“One scoop after.” I said.

“Nate go down okay?” Clint asked.

“Yeah, gave him a bottle and left him in Nat’s room. I hooked up the video monitor to your phone in case you can’t hear Friday on the range.” I said.

“I was going to skip the range, the gym is closer to Nate for when he wakes up.” Clint said.

“Well he just went down so you have time.” I said.

“I’ll make it a quick one.” He said.

“Want me to bring you anything?” I asked.

“Just the usual.” He said. “I’ll see you in bit.”

“Yeah.” I said kissing him before he went to go find Nat. “Come on buddy, let’s go get Bucky.”

“Ucky!” Adam cheered.

We walked over to the common room where bucky was grabbing a glass of water.

“Hey you.” I said.

“Hey.” Bucky said.

“Ucky?” Adam asked me.

“Bucky you remember my nephew Adam?” I said.

“Yeah.” Bucky said with a small smile.

“He’s coming with us.” I said.

“Ice cream.” Adam said.

“He’s really looking forward to the ice cream.” I said.

“He’s not the only one.” He said. “Should we…”

“Yeah.” I said before we headed out. Took me a good ten minutes to get Adam into the carseat. Was it supposed to be safer for kids because it was impossible to get kids in the car in the first place?

Eventually I did get Adam buckled in and we were off.

I’m pretty sure a farmer’s market was not the most fun place for a three year old but Adam seemed to enjoy it. Mostly because everyone kept saying what a cutie he was or giving him free samples to try. He really liked strawberries and mangos.

When we finally got to the ice cream shop Adam was bouncing off the walls. Pointing at everything.

“What a beautiful family” The lady who owned the shop asked me.

“Oh we’re not…” I said.

“No we’re …” Bucky started.

“Balloon!” Adam said.

“And what would this little cutie want?” She asked.

“What to you want buddy? Chocolate?” I asked. “Strawberry?”

“Blue!” Adam said.

“Bubblegum.” I said. “one scoop of that. I’ll try the peanut butter cup and Buck?”

“Mocha?” Bucky said.

“Okay.” She said. We got our ice cream and walked to the park. Adam ate half of it then said he was full, probably because it was super sweet and he got tired of the flavor so he ran off to play on the jungle gym. Good thing too, I didn’t want to imagine how hyper he was going to be once the ice cream fully hit him.

“I talked to Steve.” Bucky said once Adam was away playing.

“Like talked talked or was it awkward small talk?” I asked and bucky just looked at me. “I mean either’s fine… but I should probably shut up and let you talk.”

“It was…small talk but then we talked…” Bucky said. “Steve talked most of the time. Apparently he’s still dealing with the break up something about being out of the group.”

“He doesn’t seem to be too hung up on it.” I said. “You think I should take him back?”

“No, you have your reasons.” He said. “I don’t remember our relationship. We were talking and he started talking about us and how it was different with you guys…”

I just gave Bucky a look.

“Not in a bad way…” Bucky said.

“You can be honest Bucky.” I said.

“It was… Steve’s never known how to talk to any dames.” He said.

“I’ve noticed.” I said waving to Adam before he went down the slide.

“He started talking about how it was with us and… I couldn’t remember that feeling. I knew I was there and I remember what happened but the feelings were just not.” He said. “Didn’t know how or if I should tell Steve.”

“You’re not broken.” I told him. “I know what you’re thinking… that there’s something wrong with you because you don’t feel what Steve feels about those memories and it’s not that. Steve spent seventy years on ice and as okay as he seems to be, he’s not. No one can go through something like that without some trauma. Everything has changed so much for him seemingly overnight that he hangs on to those memories so tight it keeps him from moving forward it’s why he’s so insistent on controlling everything. You’re not the same person you used to be. People change, that’s life. If you want a future with him you both need to let go of that and start over. Get used to the new normal together. Make new memories. At least that’s what I think… but then again I just broke up with the guy so… yeah.”

“You’re the most honest person I know.” Bucky said as he smiled and waved at Adam.

“Aunie!” Adam said running over.

“Hey buddy.” I said as he took my hand.

“Swing!” he said.

“You want me to push you on the swing? Okay.” I said before turning to Bucky. “Be back.”

After a while Adam started getting fussy, probably because he was getting hungry again so we headed back to the compound. Only to my surprise Tony was in the common room with Nat and Clint.

“Tony?” I said surprised to see him.

“Hey you.” He said hugging me.

“I thought you were napping?” I said hugging him back.

“I tried to but I just… I was freaking out and have been for the past couple of days.” He admitted.

“Tony what’s going on?” I asked.

“Hales I know.” Tony said.

“You know?” I asked confused.

“I got your message.” He said.

“I left you a message?” I asked still confused.

“Honey I was freaking out because I mean this is me we’re talking about. I have no experience whatsoever all of my houses end up getting blown up and getting shot up by murderbots and I can barely remember to do things like sleep and eat half the time… and so I’ve been trying to fix everything, I mean do you have any idea how dangerous the tower is, how much glass and sharp corners there are… and the windows… and the fucking balcony with even more glass rail guards what was I thinking!” He said having a full on melt down.

“Tony, breathe.” I said putting a hand on his shoulder while I rubbed his back while I tried to think why. “We’re all grown ups, we know what not to do around glass, not to mention its reinforced so it’s take a lot to break it.”

“But it’s not just breaking do you have any idea how many people die because they leaned on a glass window that wasn’t reinforced right? A lot Hales.” Tony said. “My glass guy is coming by on Friday to check every single panel.”

“I think that might be a bit much.” Natasha said.

“I was freaking out and then I was in bed trying to sleep when it hit me. I shouldn’t be freaking out because this is us. We’re doing this together. We’ve dealt with worse so no matter what this kid will be okay.” Tony said before Clint spat out his water.

“Kid?” Natasha said.

“Hales?” Clint said in between coughs.

“You’re pregnant?!” Steve said standing in the doorway.

“Tony I…” I started.

“I’ll admit it’s sooner than I expected it and I’m totally not ready but we can do this. I love you and I am going to love the crap out of…” Tony started.

“I’m not pregnant!” I blurted out.

“You’re not?” Tony said. “But the message…”

“Message from last Friday?” I asked.

“Yeah?” Tony answered.

“Yeah I was totally hammered and Rebekah and Will kept asking me how I felt about the break up and I told them I felt relieved because all the stress was just gone. I mean it was bad, my appetite was gone, I was nauseous and throwing up and my period was gone which could be caused by a lot things. They totally thought I was pregnant which I’m not.” I said. “Seriously as soon as I ended things and walked out of therapy everything was back to normal. Floodgates opened…”

“Are you sure?” Natasha said.

“Pretty sure.” I said.

“How sure is pretty sure?” Tony asked.

“Like a hundred percent sure.” I said and they all looked at me skeptically. “Would it make you feel better if I peed on a stick?”

“Couldn’t hurt…” Clint said.

“They have some in the infirmary.” Natasha said.

“Okay let’s… wait kids?” I said just as Wanda walked in with Vision.

“Hey guys mind watching the kids for a bit we need to do something.” Natasha said.

“Uh sure…” Wanda said before her confusion turned into a smile and she looked at me.

“Come on.” I said.

We all marched down to the infirmary. I was sure all the compound group chats were going to be buzzing about this later.

We walked in and asked Doctor Cho if I could have a pregnancy test. She turned to the three avengers behind me all either panicking smiling or tapping their foot anxiously.

“Here you go, just…” She said.

“Pee on the stick wait two minute and the plus is yes?” I asked.

“It’s pretty straight forward.” she said. “Restroom is through there.”

“Thanks.” I said going to the restroom but they all suddenly started following me. “Guys, you can wait here.”

“Oh, right.”

“We’ll just be here.”

“Take your time.”

I shook my head but went inside. I took my seat and did my business. I was totally not pregnant, this test would just confirm it. I had an IUD put in months ago that was almost 100% effective. Then again it wasn’t one hundred percent effective. And I mean it wouldn’t be the worst thing if I was… it would be a lot sooner than I expected but it would be a good surprise. Clint would be a great dad… fuck he looked really good holding a baby.

Was that creepy?

Tony’s ready he’s just over thinking it. I could see him goofing off in the lab with a toddler… He says he doesn’t think he’d be a great father but he’s apparently already baby proofed everything that could be babyproofed in the tower. Nothing screamed Dad more than that.

And Nat… she loves kids, she’s great with them.

Thor, loves kids.

So does Bruce when he’s not freaking out he might hurt them.

Though how would that work? I’d be mom, but would they all also be mom and dads or would it be one dad and everyone else is an uncle or aunt?

Man there was a lot to figure out…

Meanwhile…

Clint and Natasha just sat in one of the beds while Tony took a chair as they waited.

“So… “ Tony said. “A baby.”

“Yeah…” Clint said staring at the door.

“That kids going to be cute.” Natasha said.

“Uh not sure how to ask but… who’s… what are we… how…” Tony said.

“Who’s the Dad?” Clint finished for him.

“Does it really matter?” Natasha said.

“Well if it’s Cap’s… there’s the whole serum to think about.” Tony said.

“They broke up.” Clint reminded him.

“Doesn’t mean they weren’t…” Natasha said.

“Do you think they would have broken up if they were?” Tony said. They all paused for a second.

“Not Cap’s.” Clint said and everyone nodded in agreement.

“Could be Thor’s?” Natasha suggested.

“That was months ago.” Tony said.

“Thor’s thousands of years old and Asgardian who know how that affects thing.” Clint said.

“A half Asgardian, one quarter human and quarter something else baby…” Tony said as they all imagined how that would look. They all seemed to agree it would be a big baby with flowing long blonde hair, green eyes and super powerful.

“I still think that if it was Thor’s we would have noticed something weeks ago.” Natasha said.

“Okay so maybe Thor’s but not likely that just leaves us.” Tony said.

“Well you two.” Natasha said.

“You’d still be… mommy?” Tony asked. “or auntie… we never really went over how it would work.”

“We never really had to, there were more important things to think about.” Clint said.

‘So should we talk about it now?” Tony asked.

“I think it’s a conversation we should have with everyone and after we find out if there’s a baby to… parent.” Natasha said.

“You’re right.” Clint said.

“Sharing a kid though… wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. More people around to make sure I don’t screw them up.” Tony said.

“You’re not going to screw any kids up Tony.” Natasha said.

“The fact that you’re even worried about that is a good sign.” Clint said as he stared at the door. “Should it be taking this long?”

“She said two minutes…” Tony said. “Should we… knock?”

Hayley’s POV-

I was standing in front of the sink staring at the stick. It was face down and according to my phone there was another thirty second left before the test was done. Thirty second for a life changing answer.

There was so much to figure out. I mean… dads or uncles? Who was the father? Did they all even want to be co dads or involved at all? How would I let Thor and Bruce know? Was I ready for this? A few days with my nephews and I was exhausted. I mean we had more or less adjusted our schedules and it was working but this would change everything…

“Hayley?” Natasha knocked.

“Just a sec.” I said as I washed my hands and dried them. My phone rang and I hesitantly picked up the test.

Here goes nothing…

I looked down and let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

Negative, the test was negative. I’m not pregnant.

Okay. I already knew that but somehow I was still slightly disappointed. I mean there was a lot to figure out and there was a lot I still wanted to do but a baby, Can’t say I would have been sad if it had turned out to be positive.

Guess I should let everyone know.

I opened the door and the three of them were standing by the door.

“So… It’s negative.” I said showing them the stick.

“Oh-kay.” Clint said giving me a smile though his eyes said something else. Even Natasha looked a bit teary eyed.

“Guess you were right.” Tony said with a smirk. It wasn’t his usual teasing smirks more of his press, PR smile. “Guess I can de baby proof the tower… and the lab.”

“And call off the glass guy.” I said.

“Yeah… I should do that.” He said.

“Everyone okay?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Natasha said.

“We should probably go get the kids. Adam might have hit that full on sugar high.” Clint said.

“Yeah, Tony, want to come over for dinner? We’re making pork chops?” I asked.

“Thanks but I should probably go home and sleep. There are also some calls I need to make…” He said. “Private school interviews I should cancel…”

“You called Private schools?” I asked.

“Those waitlists are long.” Tony said.

Third Person’s POV- Hours Later

The only sound that could be heard in the penthouse was the sound of designer heels pacing across marble floored room.

“This is everything?” Allison said. “Calliope doing groceries and, running errands with her assassin turned farmer soulmate.”

“She sticks to her routine ma’am.” Her henchman said.

“Really, It’s been months and you haven’t found anything.” She said before she flipped over to a new set of photos. Calliope, Will and Rebekah out partying. “Wait when were these taken?”

“Last week on Friday.” He said as Allison kept looking through the photo until he came across one that made her freeze.

Calliope and the former winter soldier with a boy around three years old. Holding onto both of their hands as he swung forwards. She turned to another photo. A close up of Calliope and the boy in her arms.

“Hadrian…” She whispered before realizing that wasn’t her long dead son. “He looks just like his father… And we have our way in. We just need an opening.”

Hayley’s POV-

Tony flew home and Clint went to go get the kids loaded in the car. I found a bag that Bucky must’ve forgotten so I went to go leave it in the kitchen for him.

I walked in and saw Steve sitting there.

“Hayley.” Steve said.

“Hey.” I said as I opened the fridge. “Just came to drop off a bag Bucky forgot in the car.”

“Yeah.” Steve said before he stayed quiet. He looked like he wanted to say something and honestly it would have been best if he hadn’t said anything. “So you’re not pregnant…”

“I’m not.” I said.

“That’s good.” he said. I froze and took a deep breath. I hoped that would be enough time for him to think about what he just said, but no. “Not that I wouldn’t have been okay with you being pregnant.”

“Since when do I have to ask you permission for what I do with my body?” I said.

“I didn’t…” he started.

“No, you don’t get to make any decisions about what I do with my body or what I do with my significant others. I didn’t ask for your opinion so next time keep your opinions to yourself and keep your mouth shut. It shouldn’t be that hard for you.” I said slamming the refrigerator door shut and stormed out.

Third Persons POV-

“Hayley…” Steve started but she was already gone. “Shit.”

Bucky stood there with his arms crossed staring at Steve as he shook his head. Steve turned and saw Bucky.

“How much of that did you hear?” Steve asked.

“All of it.” Bucky said.

“I screwed up.” Steve said.

“Yeah.” Bucky said grabbing a plum and taking a bite. “No wonder she broke up with you.”

“Bucky!” Steve said. All Bucky did was shrug before turning around and walking away.

Hayley’s POV- That Night

Once we put the kids to bed, Adam knocking out after his bath. Same with Nate. We went down in record time.

“Nate is KO-ed” I said as I came down the stairs.

“Same with Adam, didn’t even have to read him a bed time story.” Clint said with a small smile but I could tell there was something on his mind.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He said reaching for my hand. I smiled and took it as he guided me to sit on his lap. “You know today when Tony thought that you might be pregnant, for a second I thought about it… about us having a kid…”

“Clint.” I said.

“I know we’ll have that one day and the timing right now would be completely off but as much as I was panicking, I was kind of disappointed when the test was negative.” Clint said.

“I was too.” I admitted. “I know it’s crazy but being with the kids this week and seeing you with them just made me realize how much I really want that. I mean you have no idea what seeing you with a baby or chasing with Adam does to me.”

“I know, it happens to me too.” Clint said. “You’re so good with the kids, it’s easy to imagine what it’ll be like when it’s ours.”

“We’re going to have that.” I said. “But I want to enjoy just being us for a bit longer. Traveling, weekends away, spending more time with Natasha and Tony too… Thor and Bruce whenever they show up.”

“I know, we have time.” Clint said.

“Tons of it.” I said. “And if we did have kids there’s a bunch of things we wouldn’t be able to do. Like go on random food road trips which we need to do more often.”

“Still need to go camping.” Clint said.

“We can’t stay out late.” I said.

“I can think of one more thing we wouldn’t be able to do without sneaking around.” Clint said whispering as he started kissing down my neck.

“I don’t think sneaking around would be such a bad thing.” I said threading my fingers through his hair and gently tugging his head back and kissing him. I felt Clint’s hands move up my skirt to my butt. He squeezed my cheek pulling me closer pressing me against him. I rocked my hips grinding against him.

“Hales…” Clint groaned as I kept rocking against him. Clint wrapped his arms around me before flipping us onto the couch so we were lying on the couch and I was pinned under him.

“Ah!” I shrieked.

“SH! You don’t want to wake up the kids.” Clint reminded me as he kissed me while slowly moving my leg over his hip as he grinded against me.

Yeah, sneaking around had it’s perks…

A Few Days Later…

Bekah and John were due back in a few days so we decided to make the most of the time we had left with the kids. We took them to Coney island, to Luna park, we even found something called the museum of ice cream…

Today we chose to take the kids to the Central Park Zoo.

Adam really enjoyed watching nature documentaries or animal movies so we thought he’d really like the zoo. Which he did.

“Iraffe!” Adam said pointing to it.

“Wow look it’s neck is so long.” I said as I pushed the stroller with Nate in it.

We kept walked seeing all of the exhibits before we went to the petting zoo. Adam was petting a sheep who kept going ‘baa’ when he pet him.

“Sheep!” Adam said smiling.

“Go gentle buddy.” Clint said. “You wouldn’t want him…”

“Her.” I corrected.

“Her to pull your hair.” Clint finished.

“Okay.” Adam said as he went to go say hi to the goats.

I was holding Nate who got tired of being in the stroller who was getting really fussy and was biting his hand.

“I think this little guy needs something to chew on.” I said.

“I packed some berries.” Clint said going to wash his hands so he could grab Nate’s things. “Adam you want to grab a snack?”

“No.” Adam said completely absorbed in brushing a goats hair.

“Okay then.” I said just as Nate started crying. “Oh sweetie.”

I turned him around and gently rocked him while rubbing his back. Then he grabbed a lock of my hair and gave it a firm tug.

“Ow ow ow Nate honey we talked about this. No pulling auntie’s hair.” I said taking his hand and gently untangling his fingers from my hair.

“Got it.” Clint said gently putting Nate’s hand on the handle and putting the fruit in hi mouth.

“mhm amma.” He said settling down.

“Life saver.” I said as Clint hugged me. He looked to the petting zoo while I fixed Nate’s bib.

“Hales where’s Adam?” Clint said.

“He’s with the goat.” I said.

“Uh which goat?” Clint said.

“The black goat.” I said looking and seeing a goat but not my nephew. “Adam?”

“Adam?” Clint said. looked around but not spotting him.

“I only looked away for a second.” I said. “Adam!”

“Excuse me have you seen a three year old boy, sandy blonde hair green eyes, wearing a blue shirt?” Clint asked one of the ladies.

“Clint he’s not here.” I said.

“He must’ve gotten out and couldn’t have gone far.” He said.

“Wait…” I said taking my phone out and activating the tracker I put in his shoe. “Got him go, I’m right behind you.”

I handed Clint the phone and he ran off after them. I took the stroller and went after him while holding the baby. Clint ran across the zoo to the exit. By the time I caught up to him he was just standing by the curve.

“I lost him, they got into a town car…” Clint said.

“We still have the tracker.” I said looking at the phone before dialing Tony. “They’re going down park. I’ll call Tony maybe he can catch up to them…”

“Hey sunshine how’s…” He started.

“Tony I need you to stop what you’re doing. We were at the zoo someone took Adam, and they’re heading down park avenue, I’m sending you a live feed of the tracker…” I said and the sounds on the other end sounded like he was running.

“You put a tracker on the guys?” Tony asked.

“No I put a tracker on Adam.” I said. “Just…”

“I’m suiting up, head to the tower I’ll meet you there.” Tony said before the call cut off.

“Tony’s on it. Let’s get to the tower.” I said taking Clint’s hand.

“Yeah.” He said before we rushed to the car. We got to the tower in record time leaving us to wait for Tony.

“Hales we’re going to get him back.” Clint said as I paced back and forth across the common room.

“Clint we lost our nephew.” I said. “I literally took my eyes off of him for a few seconds and someone took him from right under our noses.”

“We couldn’t have known this was going to happen.” Clint said. “But we were prepared. They only had a few seconds on us. You put a tracker on him and Tony’s on their trail. He’ll be back here with Adam any minute now.”

That’s when my phone started ringing…

“Tony?” I said without checking the caller ID.

“Good of you to answer Calliope.” Dragon Lady said.

“Fuck off.” I said before hanging up.

“Dragon lady?” Clint said.

“Yup.” I said just as Tony came in.

“I found the car.” Tony said “but they were gone. And I found this.”

Tony held out Adam’s shoe that I had places a tracker on.

“How could this have happened?” Clint said before my phone started ringing.

“What?!” I snapped.

“Are you ready to listen? Because someone here wants to say Hi.” Dragon Lady said. “Say Hi to auntie Cal.”

“Aunie!” Adam cheered.

“Adam?” I said surprised.

“He looks so much like his father don’t you think?” Dragon Lady said.

“What the hell do you want?” I snarled.

“First I want you to watch your tone.” She said. “Then I was thinking we should meet for a late lunch, so we can finally have that talk I’ve been asking for.”

“I swear if you hurt one hair on that kid’s head…” I started.

“Why would I ever do such a thing to my own grandson?” She said.

“You were willing to let Hadrian kill him so sorry if I’m not buying the caring grandma act.” I said.

“Oh Calliope, always so dramatic. I should get going. I want to spend some quality time with my grandson.” She said. “I’ll text you our reservation information, I’ll make it for four so you can bring one of your so called soulmates if it makes you feel safer.”

With that she hung up.

“I’m going to murder that fucking bitch.” I said making the baby cry.

“Dragon Lady?” Tony asked.

“Yeah. She has Adam.” I said.

“What?!” Clint said. “What does she want?”

“To have lunch.” I said. “Said she’s spending some quality time with her grandson. This is bad.”

“I’ll call in the team.” Tony said. “And maybe the cops?”

“No.” Clint and I said.

“We need to call Beks and John.” I said.

“Yeah.” Clint said taking the baby from me so I could call them. I decided to go for a video call.

They picked up on the third ring.

“Hales, have my little monsters driven you crazy yet?” Rebekah teased.

“Beks is John with you?” I asked.

“Where else would he be.” She said turning the camera so we could see him sitting on the beach chair next to her.

“Hayley this is the best vacation I have ever been on.” John said.

“Hold onto that feeling, we have a slight problem.” I said.

“How slight?” Rebekah said.

“We took the kids to the central park zoo and when we were in the petting zoo we lost Adam.” I said.

“But you found him right?” She said.

“The dragon lady took him.” I said.

“Are you fucking kidding me?! That crazy bitch has my baby?!” She said.

“Beks we’re going to get him back.” I said.

“You lost our son!” John said.

“Guys we’re going to get him back.” Clint said. “As far as we can tell all she wants is to talk to Hales.”

“The woman was going to let her son kill her grandson, she sold Hayley, you really think Adam is safe with her?” Rebekah said.

“Nothing is going to happen to him. We’re going to get him back. No matter what it takes. When you get home you’ll have both of your kids waiting for you safe and sound.” I promised. “We’re calling everyone in, as soon as she sets a meeting spot we’ll get Adam back.”

“We’re getting on the first plane back.” John said.

“Hayley no matter what get my son back.” She said. “Kill the bitch if you have to.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes.” I promised before they hung up.

“Team should be here in twenty minutes.” Tony said.

“Great, in the meantime I’m going to see if there’s any way of tracking down where they went after they ditched the car.” I said. “They couldn’t have disappeared into thin air.”

Half an hour in the lab and all I had to show for it was a cut off footage. One minute the town car was parked in that alley and an SUV was coming towards it the next the SUV was gone.

“Shit.” I said. Fuck she was good. It wasn’t a hacked looped feed she somehow actually turned off the camera.

“Find anything?” Tony asked.

“Nothing. She didn’t loop the feed she actually managed to shut off the camera.” I said. “Clean job, covered all of her bases, even checked the kid for a tracker. This wasn’t half assed this was planned.”

“Team’s all here.” He said.

“Great.” I said stepping away from the computer and heading upstairs. Soon as I walked in I was hit with the arguing and differing opinions about how to deal with this.

“We can start a search party, get the police involved…” Steve said.

“No!” Me, Clint and Natasha said.

“We need all the help we can get.” Sam said.

“Soon as you get the police involved she’ll disappear with Adam and we’ll never see her again.” Natasha said.

“Which is why time is of the essence.” Vision said.

“They can help us cover more ground…” Steve said.

“Okay and on the off chance they do actually find her and she says ‘this is my grandson that my daughter who took him from his mom before she died and later had his dad, my son killed and gave him away to complete strangers,’ then what?” I retorted.

“We have to do something.” Steve said.

“And we will but for now we wait.” I said.

“You can’t be serious.” Steve said.

“The woman faked her death and disappeared without a trace for almost seven years. If she doesn’t want to be found she won’t be.” I said. “We wait until she sets a time and place for the meeting and go from there.”

“There’s not really much we can do. The surveillance camera footage was useless.” Tony said.

“We’ll get the kid back while you guys…” Clint started.

“Actually I think you need to stay back.” I said.

“Hales you can’t go alone.” Clint said.

“You’re not going alone.” Steve said.

“I’m not. Dragon Lady isn’t like Hadrian. He was pure blind murdering rage. Her on the other hand, she’s a master manipulator, likes playing mind games. Turning people against each other and using that to her advantage.” I said. “She doesn’t get her hands dirty, she destroys from within. So I need someone who knows how to read a room, who can see through her crap and can play mind games of their own. So Nat, want to meet the dragon lady?”

“Sounds like fun.” She said.

“Now we just sit tight.” I said taking my phone and typing away. “And wait. She said late lunch and she’s probably going to text us the reservation info kind of last minute so we don’t have too much time to come up with a plan… give it two or three hours tops.”

“And you’re sure?” Sam said.

“Yeah, not my first kidnapping.” I said. “I’ll be in the lab trying to figure out how she got to Adam in the first place.”

Third Person’s POV-

“She seems oddly calm.” Rhodey said.

“Like she said not her first kidnapping.” Tony said.

“We can’t just sit around.” Steve said. “Tony where did they leave the car you followed?”

“In an alley on park and fifth.” Tony said.

“I’m going to check it out.” Steve said.

“I already did a scan and did a sweep of the area they were long gone by the time I got there.” He said. “Only thing in the car was the kid’s shoe.”

“Any prints?” Natasha asked.

“Nothing, they must’ve been wearing gloves.” Tony said.

“We can’t just sit around. Have our contacts found anything on potential links to hydra?” Steve asked Natasha.

“Nothing yet. She’s a ghost.” Natasha said.

“Hales learned how to disappear from her.” Clint said.

“So the one person who can find her is the one that won’t even try to find her.” Steve said. “Great.”

“She knows her best.” Tony said. “It’s her mom.”

“And when her brother came after her she said the same thing.” Steve said.

“Actually there might be someone else who does know the dragon lady.” Clint said taking out his phone and dialing the number.

“Clint did you get my son back?” Rebekah answered.

“Uh not yet,” Clint said.

“Oh god did that bitch hurt my baby?” She said crying.

“Rebekah everything’s going to be okay. We’re just waiting for the rendezvous point and Hayley and I will go get him.” Natasha said.

“You’re going with her to meet the dragon lady? That’s smart, you’ll see through her bullshit.” Rebekah said. “Do whatever Hayley tells you to do, she’s the only one qualified to deal with her.”

“What do you mean?” Steve said. “She’s her mom.”

“Oh and don’t let him go either, Hayley doesn’t need any distractions.” Rebekah said making Steve feel slightly offended.

“Who exactly are we dealing with?” Tony said.

“Guessing Hayley hasn’t told you much about her, has she?” Rebekah said.

“Besides that Hadrian was her favorite, she used to launder money, sell weapons, people, and drugs, had bad taste in men and that she sold Hayley to Chinese mobsters, nothing much.” Natasha said.

“Allison Adler is a manipulative bitch. She cares about nothing but herself and making money. She’s the complete opposite of her wanker son. She’s smart… basically she’s the self centered, money hungry gold-digging bitch version of Hayley without the empathy, the moral compass, or a conscience.” Rebekah said. “Natasha since you’re going, do us all a favor and after you get my son back put a bullet in her head.”

“Honey we have to go.” John said.

“I have a flight to catch.” She said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

With that she hung up.

“That was helpful.” Tony said.

“I’m gonna go talk to Hayley see if she has anything we can go on.” Steve said.

“No, You stay.” Natasha said. “And I’ll go.”

“I can…” Steve said.

“You have a tendency to say the wrong thing and the last thing we need right now is you two arguing.” Natasha said heading to the elevator.

Hayley’s POV-

I was in the lab going through the zoo’s security footage. I had one computer running facial recognition on every single person that went into the zoo while we were there then I retraced all of our steps from the second we walked in to when Adam was taken.

This was too well thought out. There was no way she would do this herself, so she must’ve sent someone. Someone with experience in extractions, able to hide in plane sight, blend in with a crowd… Experience with kids too. We probably would have noticed if Adam had screamed, that kid had really good lungs.

I started by looking through the first camera of us walking in. I didn’t recognize any familiar faces. A lot of people wearing baseball caps which is not that strange given we’re in New York.

“Friday I need you to highlight a few people in this frame.” I said.

“Which one’s boss?” Friday asked.

“Let’s start with… the Yankees ball cap, head scarf in the corner, huge sunglasses lady here… and Mister Manchester United, he’s a long way from home.” I said. “Skip about thirty seconds forward… lets take out any families or anyone that already had a kid with them.”

That cleared out most of the screen leaving only a few stragglers.

“Take out the two senior citizens…” I said. “Give me another thirty second skip, same thing… okay, let’s go to the next camera we show up in, see if anyone we marked showed up.”

“Ten matches and two where faces showed up.” Friday said.

“Take those out.” I said. “Next camera… Again…”

Finally we were down to three. Two of those were on a date with someone else or at least it seemed it was like a date.

“Zoom in on Adam.” I said watching the last few minutes of my nephew petting a goat before Clint walked over to help me with Nate. Before a man in a Mets cap and a varsity style jacket came over to him. He said something to Adam as they pet the goat before taking something out of his back pocket. When he did his shirt moved up a bit revealing a mark.

“Hello…” I said zooming in to reveal an interesting tattoo on the guy’s lower right side of his back. “Does that look like a bird to you?”

“It does seem to have a bird like shape.” Friday said.

“Okay let’s back track this guy’s movements. See if I can put a face to the guy’s who’s life I’m going to make a living hell after I get Adam back.” I said.

But that was a bust. Whoever this guy was he was good. He never looked up at all and when he did his hand or someone else was in the way.

“Hey.” Nat said coming in as I glanced from screen to screen as they ran at high speed showing a different camera frame.

“Hey.” I said not taking my eyes off the screen.

“Find anything?” She said.

“Besides getting a look at our kidnapper’s tramp stamp? I’ve got nothing.” I said.

“Tramp stamp?” Natasha asked and I pointed to a screen behind me. She walked over and took a look. “It’s a bird.”

“Yeah.” I said. “This guy’s good. He doesn’t look at the camera at all, or if he does his hands casually rubbing his face or there’s someone or something in the way.”

“Is Friday checking databases for any criminals with a tattoo?” She said.

“Yeah but I doubt we’ll get anything, bird tattoos are pretty common in ex cons, birds symbolize freedom.” I said.

“But there’s more to it, those markings…” Natasha said.

“The photo’s pretty grainy.” I said turning to see what she was saying. It looked like scratch marks in a circle around the bird. Part of it was cut off but from what I could see.. “Backwards F, Backwards E… Wait…”

I grabbed a pencil and started writing the markings recognizing the symbols immediately from a book I used to trace pictures on as a kid.

“They’re not scratches, it’s latin.” I said. “Ad astra per aspera.”

“To the stars through difficulties.”  Natasha said.

“Latin proberb first coined by Seneca the Younger, tutor and closest advisor to Roman emperor Nero.” I said.

“Is the history really important?” Natasha said.

“Dragon lady was an accounting and Classics double major in college.” I said. “Loved Roman history and mythology. Ironically Nero was known for being merciless, cruel and batshit crazy.”

“Uh, did you guys find anything?” Clint said.

“A tramp stamp.” I said.

“Looks like a bird.” He said. “Well uh… there’s a package for you upstairs.”

“A package?” I asked. “I didn’t order anything.”

“We think it’s from…” Clint said.

“Uh, what does she want now.” I said walking out of the lab and going upstairs. Everyone was crowded around the common room staring at the box.

I walked in and went straight for the box.

“Hales maybe you shouldn’t…” Tony started but I just opened it.

“She’s not Hadrian, she doesn’t send severed body parts.” I said opening the box and picking up the card in the box.

‘Le Bernardin 2 o’clock, Don’t embarrass me, Make yourself presentable, Love mom.’

“What a bitch.” I said picking up the pink fringe tiered dress. “Yeah I’m not wearing that.”

“There’s a yellow one in here too.” Wanda said and Natasha and Clint just shook their heads signaling to drop the dress.

“Le Bernardin has a dress code.” Tony said and I glared at him. “Right, Not the point.”

“Friday bring up the floor plan for Le Bernardin.” I said. “It’s game time.”