The Safehouse

Chapter 3

***Third Person POV***

Clint re-enters the living room looking heartbroken.

"Clint, what just happened?" Steve asks gently.

"That was MY Juniper." he replied "She was my Junie bug or baby bug her entire life.  I raised her.  She called me Fox because I was sneaky."  He sighed heavily before continuing. "She joined the Marines at eighteen, moved to the Navy at twenty-one.  Discharged at twenty-four with full honors.  She had finished her medical degree during her Navy years but went back to school at twenty-five for early childhood education.  Graduated early at twenty-seven.  She hasn't called me Fox since before boot-camp.  

"She's so exhausted that her brain is reverting back?" Bucky asked.  Clint nods sadly.

"I've seen her bad before but NEVER bad enough to call me Fox."

"How about you show us where we are sleeping and we can talk more in the morning." Steve suggested.

"We promise to help convince he to take time off while we are here and once we head back." Nat added.

"Yeah, just follow me." Clint replied motioning for them to follow him.  As they made it down the hall he directed them to three spare bedrooms before sighing heavily and heading back towards the living room.

"Clint, where are you going to sleep?  The only other extra rooms I saw were full of reptiles."  Bucky whispered from his door.

"I'm going to lock up and sleep in her room.  Normally I sleep in the room Nat is in but since there are three of you and you aren't used to sharing a bed it's the safest option.  Plus, I wanna be there if she's reverted badly enough because she could wake up with nightmares like she did when we were kids." he sighed heavily.

"She's going to be alright Clint.  We will all help.  Plus, we can send Sam to help with the horses since he doesn't have a place to go until we can safely return to the compound."  Steve smirks.

"Hey, he is a therapist.  Maybe tomorrow we can give a call to her therapy ride clients and give them all a session with Sam and the horses?" Nat chuckles.

"Oh, can I please be the one who tells Sam?" Bucky giggles.

"Alright you kids get to bed.  We can discuss in the morning.  If you hear any screams that are not familiar feel free to do a sweep but do NOT go into her room.  She is a very well trained woman and can take me down in seconds.  She's tiny, but mighty." he laughs lightly before giving one last nod and heading to Junipers room.

Creeping his way inside he quietly pulls the trundle bed out and lays down to sleep.  His mind is whirling with how he's going to convince his sister tat she's had enough of running herself ragged.  With one last heaving sigh he allows sleep to take him.

**Time Skip to Morning**

***Juniper POV**

I woke up to light shuffling coming from my bathroom.  Strange.  I slowly got up and made my way to the door.  There I found my brother searching the drawers.

"Clint, are you looking for something I can help you find?" I ask causing him to startle slightly.

"Shit." he says "I didn't wake you did I?"  Chuckling lightly I shake my head.

"Whatcha looking for  Hawkeye?" I wink.

"I'm looking for a spare toothbrush.  Nat was in her bathroom and I know that's where mine is.  Figured maybe you kept the spares in here." he grumbles.

"Yeah.  They are in the cabinet.  Second shelf down and to the left in the back.  Don't use them often but there should be at least one in there."  Clint follows my directions and quickly find a toothbrush.

"Thanks Junie." he smiles before brushing his teeth quickly.  "Now, get yourself dressed and we can assign chores and give directions as to how you want the chores done since I know how particular you are."

"Alright." I say simply before I head back to my room and grab clothes.  Moving back to the bathroom once Clint has vacated it I get dressed and make myself feel more human with a quick wash of my face and brush of my teeth.  As I walk back out Clint is pulling on his new shirt and I throw my hair into a messy bun.  "Let's get this over with."  Giving me a nod he opens the door and our noses are assaulted with the smell of fresh waffles and bacon.  I give Clint a surprised look which he snickers at.

"Steve likes to cook." he explains.  With that we head into the kitchen where I am greeted with the smiles of my brothers colleagues and my furry piles of love.

"Good morning my babies." I chuckle as I'm once again tackled with no remorse.  "let's feed you shall we?"

"We were going to feed them for you but we didn't know how much or if they would listen to the commands from us." Nat says from near the coffee pot.

"Well, since this is going to be one of the chores you'll be doing why don't you follow me and I can show you exactly how to do it?" I reply.  She simply nods and follows me as I go to where I keep their food.  "So Gunny gets 2 cups dry and half a can of the purple wet food.  Sarge gets 2 cups dry and half a can of blue wet food as well as two of the green pills.  Then Cap gets 2 cups dry and half a can of red wet food as well as one blue pill and one orange pill.  You heard and I'm sure recall the commands from yesterday.  They will listen to you if you give them.  What I wanna know is which bowl you think belongs to which dog."

"Well I'm assuming the Captain America bowl is for Cap, Sarge's bowl is probably the Winter Soldier themed one, which leaves the Black Widow bowl for Gunny." she says skeptically.

"Correct, and since Gunny is the sneaky one." I tell her with a wink.  She chuckles in reply.  "Why don't you go ahead and make their food.  I know your memory is insane so I don't need to explain it again."  She nods with a smirk and starts prepping their food.  Once she's done she walks out to the kitchen and places the bowls in their spots.  I would have been slightly surprised that she knew where each dog ate but I have vinyl decals of their name on the floor where the bowls go.